During the ninth and tenth centuries Old Russia turned from an unstable alliance of tribes into a united feudal state. Close diplomatic, trading and cultural ties with its southern and western neighbours brought the country into the sphere of European politics. The accep­tance of Christianity marked a most important stage […]

We shall begin our examination of Old Russian literature of the early period with a survey of translated literature. And not without good reason. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries translations often preceded the creation of original works in a given genre. Generally speaking Russians read foreign works before writing […]

Literature as an Intermediary. There is yet another specific feature characteristic of mediaeval literatures—the existence of literatures which acted as intermediaries or “go-betweens”. For the Southern and Eastern Slavs the intermediary was Old Bulgarian literature. It included both works of early Christian literature (translations from the Greek) and works created […]

In Old Russian, as in any other mediaeval Christian literature, great authority was attached to patristics, the writings of Roman and Byzantine theologians of the third to eleventh centuries who were revered as “Church Fathers” (Greek patros and Latin pater mean “father”, hence the name given to their writings—patristics). The […]

The collections of sayings and aphorisms had an openly didactic aim. Addressing themselves directly to readers and listeners, the preachers and theologians extolled virtues and condemned vices, promising the righteous eternal bliss after death and threatening the remiss and the sinners with Divine retribution. The Christian virtues were also preached […]

Paterica, collections of short stories usually about monks famed for their piety or asceticism, were well known in Kievan Russia. The Sinai Patericon, translated in Russia in the eleventh century, contains a story, for example, about a stylite[1] who was so self-abnegating that he even left alms for beggars on […]

(Greek apokrythos—hidden). As well as the legends that formed part of the canonical books of the Bible, i.e., the Old and New Testaments, mediaeval literature abounded with apocryphas, legends about Biblical personages, which differed from those contained in the canonical books of the Bible. Sometimes the apocryphas adopted a different […]

Among the first translations and first books brought to Russia from Bulgaria were the Byzantine chronicles. The chronicle or chronograph was the name given to historiographical works recording world history. A particularly important role in the development of original Russian chronicle-writing and chronography was played by the Chronicle of Georgios […]

The Chronicle of John Malalas, who lived in the town of Antioch in the Byzantine province of Syria in the sixth century, also became known in Russia not later than the eleventh century. Unlike Georgios Hamartolos, John Malalas wrote in simple, plain language, intending his work not for learned monks […]

This exceptionally popular work in European mediaeval literature was translated in Russia not later than the beginning of the twelfth century. The History was written between 75-79 A.D. by Josephus, the son of Mattathias, who took part in the rebellion in Judaea against Rome, and later went over to the […]