The coming of writing with the first South Slavic Influence
Two Byzantine monks of South Slavic origin, the brothers Cyril and Methodius,
invent a unique alphabet called glagolitic, the first Slavic writing.
Because of rivalry with Rome, this is soon replaced by cyrillic whose
letters are patterned more closely after Greek (universally considered an acceptable
writing form for Bible translations). The first known use of Cyrillic in Russia
dates after the Christianization (Slavic pagans had no writing). From the Russian
point of view there were distinct cultural advantages to writing Christian texts
in a Slavic language . The East Slavs could readily understand church slavonic
and quickly mastered the art of writing. Very soon the South Slavic literary
language came to show distinctly East Slavic features. Church Slavonic was skillfully
mixed with the East Slavic vernacular. Polish and Czech literature developed
much more slowly due to the foreignness of Latin.
Kievan literature
The earliest known Russian writing dates from about the middle of the 11th century
and include sermons and saints lives.
Sermon on Law and Grace by Hilarion, the first native Russian metropolitan
of Kiev (1037-1051).
Byzantine Greeks were generally hesitant to appoint native Russians to high
church offices.
The Sermon contains a skillfully crafted political message: Discusses the primacy
of the New Testament over the Old, then switches astutely to the topic of equality
of the newly converted Rus with the old Byzantium.
After Hilarion, the Byzantines were careful to send in loyal Greeks to the churches'
highest positions. Greeks did not send teachers to Rus to develop a local elite
(though some russians went to Byzantium to learn), nor did they send any secular
literary works. There was a deliberate attempt to keep the Russians culturally
subordinate. Essentially, it was the form and ritual of Byzantine christianity
which was imported, not the philosophical underpinnings of hellenistic learning.
Saints' lives (hagiography or vita ("itie)
Greek saints, as well as the moralistic stories about them called hagiographies,
were some of the earliest types of literature to be imported from Byzantium.
Recall the story of Boris and Gleb, the first Russian saints. The cult was emphasized
by Yaroslav, to condemn his brother Sviatopulk (accursed, supposedly conceived
from a defrocked nun and not really of Vladimir's direct line, proud, greedy,
hateful, allied with Pechenegs; he was portrayed in the saints' lives as totally
evil and corrupt-and goes straight to hell; even his grave stinks eternally).
Readers were also admonished to follow Boris and Gleb's example of humility
and the acceptance of fate in imitation of the suffering of Christ--said to
be one of the spiritual hallmarks of Russian Christianity. Saints lives did
not emphasize the actual biographical details so much as provide a stylized
example for all Russian Christians to follow (use of epithets such as good,
humble, for the hero vs. accursed, evil, for the villain). The same can be seen
in the Byzantine saints life (humility and selflessness to the point of childlike
defencelessnes, otherworldiness; the scent of myrrh issued from Alexis' grave).
Paterikons (pateri¡k) were instructional tales about the lives of good monks, used to emphasized the rules of living in individual monastaries. Paterikons and Saints' Lives were the most popular readings in pre-Petrine Russia (before 1689).
Izbornik (izbo¡rnik) was a book of proverbs and rhetoric; it is likely that instruction in reading and writing was established for children of the ruling classes during the reign of Jaroslav the Wise (1036-1054)
Legends (skaza¡nie) were also sometimes written down; many of them survived by being incorporated into a chronicle.
Also noteworthy were the chronicles (le¡topis;), the most
famous being the Tale of Bygone Years, begun about 1040 and continued
to 1118, by at least six individual monks. The monk Nestor is considered
the primary compiler; his work was re-edited by Sylvester in 1116 on
orders from Vladimir Monomakh. Each major monastery had a chronicle, which mixed
historical truth with legend. Princes were the heroes (most women were faithful
wives or affectionate mothers, except Olga; no romance). Main themes include
glorification of the defence of the Russian land, generosity of the prince to
his subjects.
The first epic tales were also written down during Kievan times, the only surviving
one being the Tale of Igor's Campaign.
Finally, there is the Russian Law (Russkaq Pravda), which was
mainly a codification of Scandinavian law written down in Russian and used by
the Rurikids.