L. G. Panin Church Slavonic language and Russian literature. Historical aspects of the influence of the Church Slavonic language on the modern Russian language

Writing among the ancient Slavs began to actively develop during the period of the emergence of statehood in the territory of their residence and the legalization of the new Orthodox faith. Before this period, even if ancient Slavic writing was in its infancy, its further development was gradually slowed down, since it did not find constant use.

Old Church Slavonic as the basic written Slavic language

In the mid-19th century, a new name for the language appeared among linguists - “Old Church Slavonic”. This language is not tied to any specific territory inhabited by the Slavs: it was a means of communication for all Slavs, since it was originally created as an exclusively written language. The need for its creation was dictated by the historical situation, the emergence of a new faith for the Slavs and the desire of the princes to promote it to the people in a language understandable to the Slavs.

For accessibility and understanding of liturgical texts, it was decided to make translations from Greek into a language close to the Slavs. The first translations, made in the middle of the 9th century, were written in the Glagolitic alphabet, however, over time it was replaced by a more convenient Cyrillic alphabet, specially created for these purposes. From this moment on, we can assume that the Old Church Slavonic language took shape as a written book language.

In the literature on paleoslavic studies one can read the names of other, perhaps more ancient, languages ​​than Old Church Slavonic. But those were the languages ​​of speech communication in individual Slavic territories, and this one became the common written language that was used from the 9th to the 11th centuries. Over time, the Church Slavonic language emerged from the Old Church Slavonic language, which was enriched with modern Russian speech in order to understand church texts by parishioners.

The history of the emergence of Old Church Slavonic writing.

The history of the creation of the Slavic language begins in Moravia. Here, in the middle of the 9th century, a situation arose when bishops from Germany, receiving the support of German feudal lords, pursued an aggressive policy, and the local prince wanted to get rid of their influence. Prince Rostislav found a reason why it was possible to remove representatives of Rome from the principality without exacerbating aggression: its bishops read sermons only in Latin, inaccessible to the people of Moravia.

The local prince knew that the Byzantine church allowed services to be conducted in their native language and wanted his people to be familiar with the Christian faith in a language they could understand. Then he wrote a letter to the emperor in Byzantium with a request to send preachers to his principality who could teach him to conduct services in the local language. Since Byzantium and Rome were in a struggle for spheres of influence, Emperor Michael III responded favorably to the request and soon Constantine and Methodius arrived in Moravia.

Moravian stage

The brothers received an excellent education, one took monastic vows, the other taught philosophy, both were on missions in the Arab Caliphate, Khazaria and Chersonesus and spoke Slavic languages. While in Moravia, Constantine developed an alphabet that reflected the phonetic nuances of the Slavic language, and with its help he made a literary translation of the Gospel texts for worship. While working on the creation of Christian texts, the brothers translated the Liturgy for services into the Slavic language. Constantine also wrote two works in Old Church Slavonic: one was devoted to poetry, and in the second he outlined the basic terms of religious philosophy.

At the time of the arrival of Constantine and Methodius, Moravia was under the official jurisdiction of the Bavarian episcopate, which did not want to lose control over a large territory. Fighting here for local influence, German priests resisted the activities of the brothers sent from Rome. Under these conditions, they prepared students and, in order to ordain them, in 867 it became necessary to travel to Byzantium. A year later, in Rome, the pope consecrated texts for divine services, translated into Slavic, and ordained the disciples Constantine and Methodius as priests.

At the same time, in Rome, Constantine fell ill and, at the beginning of 869, died, and Methodius, having become the bishop of almost all of Moravia, returned back with his disciples. With his arrival, Moravia gained independence from the German episcopate and began to conduct sermons in the Slavic language, into which several church books were already translated. Methodius, making translations first with his brother, and then alone, used the Glagolitic alphabet to write them, and only in the last years of his life the Cyrillic alphabet began to be developed for writing the Old Church Slavonic language.

At the end of the 9th century, Methodius and his disciples translated and wrote a number of church books, which later became the most ancient monuments of the Old Church Slavonic language (Old Testament, Liturgy, Law of Judgment for People). And all this time, until his death, despite the fact that he became an archbishop, Methodius was constantly hindered in the development of the Slavic language and divine services in it.

Bulgarian stage

After the death of Methodius, his disciples were forced to leave Great Moravia and move to Bulgaria, where they were received favorably. From this time on, a new stage began in the development of the Old Church Slavonic language. The followers of Constantine and Methodius developed a new alphabet for the Old Church Slavonic language, which was based on Greek, supplemented with stylized letters from the Glagolitic alphabet to fully reflect the features of Slavic speech. This new alphabet became widespread in the southeastern territories of the Slavs and became known as the “Cyrillic alphabet” in memory of Constantine.

The peculiarity of the Old Slavonic (Church Slavonic) language is manifested in the fact that, created as a literary and written language, it never contained words from simple speech, it does not contain everyday expressions. The purpose of this language has always been to write sacred texts, therefore one cannot look for worldly meaning in its words and verbal expressions; it is imbued with other, sacred content.

Old Slavonic language, even in its modern interpretation as Church Slavonic language, with Russian words artificially introduced into it, is not suitable for conveying worldly concepts. The language was created and developed over the centuries as a means to convey the meaning of the sacred scriptures to the Slavs.

Muslims learn Old Arabic in their schools, in Europe they study Latin in schools, in Jewish schools they teach ancient Hebrew... But in Russian schools, children do not learn their parent language, and perhaps they do not know that the basic national language of the Russian people is Slavic.

The secret of the Russian language!

What is included within the boundaries of the native language? When does a little-known or completely unknown speech become intelligible? Undoubtedly, from the earliest years, when a child with a pure heart listens to the lofty wisdom of God, assimilates rich Russian literature, and is saturated with multilateral living communication. A soul attached primarily to Divine verbs, having accepted the teachings of Christ, is strong in faith and selfless in love.

In Orthodox Russia, who would dare to instill in children, to tell adults, that the language of the Church is not their native language? And the whole people, who have had book knowledge for centuries, whose generations mastered their native speech using Church Slavonic literacy, were instilled with this and lost their memory. And people became like Ivans, not remembering their kinship, as they say, “even I don’t remember how I was baptized; but I completely forgot how I was born.” They scattered throughout the cities and wilds of error in the name of false knowledge and science, and separated from the Church.

But everything in the World is created not by our mind, but by God’s judgment and mercy. “So, reason returns to us, and little by little we gather in the Father’s house, where we can hardly listen to the language of the sacred books. Even with the closest, blood relationship, it still seems incomprehensible to many. On this luxurious verbal tree, we found ourselves as a withering branch, because how, born in a single nation, they are familiar only with the most widespread literary form of the Russian national language, but both in time and in the importance of its existence it is secondary. Together with the “wonderful language of the Church, living and detached from earthly life,” our language is crowned. autocratic crown, like the double-headed Russian eagle.

In ancient Byzantium, he embodied the union of Church and state in a common national body. For us, it also personifies verbal unity; One head strictly looks to the west, not missing the slightest sensible thought, with an open beak it speaks in everyday Russian, entering into a difficult conversation with an insidious neighbor; the other head looks to the east - to the Holy Land, it utters the sacred words of the Divine Prayer in Church Slavonic, and talks with God. Two heads, but one heart, and in it is St. George slaying the serpent. Two book elements, but one language - Russian, literary, national.

All historical geography is in the eagle's claws: the scepter of the city of St. Peter and the Moscow State, Italian beauty and German usefulness were cast in stone, they are freely conveyed, if desired, in poetic, academic and army-state style; The Orthodox people offer their prayers to the Almighty in Tobolsk, Irkutsk, and Vladivostok; serves God in Church Slavonic, and the authorities in Russian. The people are one and the language is one, but they find different words: some for the King of Heaven, others for those who hold the earthly reins of government.

“For centuries, the people’s soul has tuned in, adapted to the living perception of Christian teaching - precisely in the form of Slavic speech, to its simple and majestic flow, to its melody... Historically, it has developed in such a way that the power of thought and feeling stands in connection with the power of Slavic speech.”

Shouldn't we now, having gathered our will, heed the good advice of another Russian teacher:
“Whoever you are, I pray to you: study the Slavic language, dear to us, and read the divine books written in it; draw from this rich source the strength of life and spirit; decorate your Russian speech with lofty sayings - great, beautiful and in nature; remember that the great artists of the Russian word did not shy away from this source and, borrowing from it, imparted to their works the majestic simplicity of style and high imagery; follow their example, and know that no language in the world has such advantages as our native Russian language has, thanks to its communication with the high and solemn Slavic language.”

And the more intelligently our mind is open to the words of Truth, the more understanding will be given. And science, and education, and knowledge of life - these means of spiritual grace - flourish and are glorified if they are not separated from prayer, brotherly love and sober chastity, without which there is neither growth nor life for them.

Through the church syllable, the Slavs received grace, the Divine word. In the first verses of the Gospel of John, namely with its translation, Slavic writing began, a simple word immediately acquired the deepest meanings (Revelation of the Living God and His plan, the law and rule of life, the effective power and light of revelation about the meaning of things and events, promise, announcement of the future ; the eternity of God the Word - the second Person of the Holy Trinity, His Divine essence, likeness (equality) to God, the omnipotence of the Creator, the embodiment of God the Word - the light of the World and salvation, the final victory).

( In. I, 1-5)

The Russian dialect never severed its connection with the Church Slavonic: each performed its own ministry, and together they created the completeness of the Russian language, the necessary volume of the picture of existence, the integrity of the worldview, which has always distinguished the Orthodox consciousness from the European mind: both from Protestant analyticism and worldliness, and from Catholic “pseudo-sacred” (Latin-national) duality.

Now the harmony of the three foundations on which Russian speech prosperity rested: the church language, the language of Russian classical literature and folk dialects has been disrupted. The latter, who kept the spring word, were compromised as illiterate speech, were forcibly eradicated and exist in the form of a wretched vernacular. Spoken language, deprived of a life-giving national basis, drowned in a dirty and unprincipled play of meanings and forms, becomes a vessel and conductor of harmful ideas.

Classical literature that is not supported by the state is being squeezed out by bad, hastily made translations of Western bestsellers, and interest in it is being drowned out by aggressive mass culture. But it was Russian literature, which grew in the bosom of the Church Slavonic language, that revealed Christian ideals to the whole world and entered into the spiritual strength of the Russian people.
The reverent church language, sounded both in church and in prayer, during the reading of the Psalter, lives in a small family cathedral, has undergone severe persecution and has not yet been returned to the people in the former greatness of its holy letter. The people lose courage, cease to possess the “power of the voice,” that is, the meaning of the gospel word, becoming strangers in their homeland (1 Cor. XIV, 11).

Our ancestors perceived book teaching as knowledge of God. In one ancient grammar, in instructions to the wise reader, it is said that it is difficult to understand the Holy Scriptures without the “osmnopartial order” (eight parts of speech), which helps “in discourse to speak and reason without error,” and those who do not know about faith sin by “falling into their worldly opinion ".

Since the baptism of Rus', the Church Slavonic language has gone through several stages of development. Modern norms were established in the 2nd half of the 17th century, after the great book “right”.

The famous “Grammar of Slovenian correct syntagma” by the learned monk Meletius Smotritsky, first published in 1619, became a true lamp of Orthodox literacy. It was with her that Mikhailo Lomonosov came to Moscow, who saw the prosperity of Russian literature in the unity of all three styles of language: high, middle and low. He gave a brief description of them in the “Preface on the Use of Church Books in the Russian Language,” where he noted that the high style is based on the “Slavic language.” The scientist’s famous words about the “Russian” language, which he compared with the boundlessness of the sea and emphasized in it such advantages and merits of others as the splendor of Spanish, the strength of German, the aphorism of Latin, the “subtle philosophical imagination and reasoning” of Greek, relate most of all to the Church Slavonic language .

M.V. Lomonosov explains the integrity of the Russian people by the unity of the Orthodox faith, liturgical language and a single sovereign, while in countries that are separated religiously and state-politically, for example, in Catholic-Lutheran Germany, the language is also divided. This idea is embedded in the famous statement, which, outside the context given below, is perceived inaccurately: “The Russian people, living across a great space, despite the long distance, speak everywhere in a language intelligible to each other in cities and villages. On the contrary, in some other states, for example, in Germany, the Bavarian peasant understands little of the Mecklenburg or Brandenburg Swabian, although they are still the same German people.”

The scientist called our language Slavic-Russian, or Slavic-Russian, or Russian, seeing in it the unity of varieties: Church Slavonic, which formed the basis of the written form; and Russian, giving it extraordinary liveliness and soulfulness.

Now we are accustomed to the combination of the Russian literary language both as a subject of study and as a subject of teaching. In addition, the adjective Russian defines a state, nation, people. In a narrow sense, the Russian folk language is East Slavic in origin and is usually studied in isolation from the language of the Church. The Russian national (literary) language, in a broad sense, inherited the common Slavic heritage, mastered (that is, made its own) the treasury of Church Slavonic literature as a consanguineous common linguistic whole, only South Slavic in origin. Such assimilation cannot be compared with the borrowing of individual Turkic, Latin, German, French, and English words.

Throughout the 19th century, with the zeal of educators - priests, teachers, scientists - a huge number of alphabets, primers, grammars, anthologies, and dictionaries of the Church Slavonic language were compiled. Some of them have gone through dozens of editions: “ABC and reading lessons, Russian and Church Slavonic” by N. F. Bunakov (100th edition), “Russian Reader” by P. I. Baryshnikov (17th edition), “Primer for joint learning” by D. . I. Tikhomirov and E. N. Tikhomirova (161st ed.), “Elementary textbook of the Church Slavonic language” by A. M. Gusev (24th ed.), “Guide to teaching Church Slavonic reading” by S. F. Grushevsky (34th ed.) , “Educate Church Slavonic literacy in parish schools” by N. Ilminsky (12th ed.), “Russian-Slavic primer” by T. G. Lubents (19th ed.), “Dictionary of not entirely clear words found in the Four Gospels. ..” (33rd ed.) and many, many others.

Textbooks were published not only in capital cities, but throughout vast Russia, even beyond its borders. They were compiled for gymnasiums, commercial schools, seminaries, parish schools, for children and adults. Both ABCs and grammars were part of the educational program. The revival and study of the Church Slavonic language and its direct entry into wide circles of the Russian people (clergy, teachers and students and, partly, the Russian intelligentsia), the creation of parochial schools throughout Russia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries is inextricably linked with the names of Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev and people's teacher Sergei Alexandrovich Rachinsky.

Teaching the Church Slavonic language has become the cornerstone of education, revealing the inexhaustible riches of the Orthodox liturgical circle and providing the opportunity to become familiar with the highest achievements of the spirit and art forms: icon painting, church reading and singing. It made it possible to fill the spiritual and intellectual needs of Russian society with content, to protect it from the ersatz culture of the West.

On the initiative of K. P. Pobedonostsev and on the basis of the experience of S. A. Rachinsky (at his school on the Tatevo estate, Belsky district, Smolensk province), a Commission was established under the Holy Synod, which in 1882-1884 developed the “RULE on parish schools,” which, in essence, meant a state program for their development and study of the Church Slavonic language. Along with the state, it was carried out by the Church and private philanthropists.

And schools began to grow. If in the first year 55,000 rubles could be allocated for their maintenance, then after 10 years the expenses amounted to 18 million, and the total number of schools reached 45,000. They appeared not only in central Russia, but also in the Volga region, Siberia, and Central Asia. So-called “model schools” were opened at almost all theological seminaries.
Restoring the veneration of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius - Slavic educators and teachers, the fraternal feeling of unity with the Slavic peoples in the Balkan liberation wars and, finally, the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the baptism of Rus' (1888) with the introduction of new programs in the alphabet and the Church Slavonic language became possible thanks to the efforts of two remarkable Russian people, with the support and participation of Emperor Alexander III, and then Nicholas II. This was the response to the revolution. These works in the field of spiritual culture gave a whole layer of Russian intelligentsia, educated millions of Russian people who survived and retained their faith in the dark years of godlessness.

Much has been lost... The ability to pray, to understand the service, the icon, and the church language itself has been lost. Teachers have nowhere to turn.

In our time, we can name only a few new publications that serve for public self-education: “Grammar of the Church Slavonic Language” by Hieromonk Alypiy (Gamanovich), “Grammar of the Church Slavonic Language: Notes and Exercises” by Hieromonk Andrey, “Church Slavonic Language” by A.A. Pletneva and A.G. Kravetsky (M.: Prosveshchenie, 1996). It should also be noted that the first publications of Church Slavonic language lessons appeared in the early 1990s in the magazines “Literary Studies”, “Slavic Studies” and “Russian Literature”. Surely this review is far from complete, since information about this kind of publications has not been systematized and teaching experience has not been studied. Unfortunately, the description of grammar is given everywhere without connection with other styles of the Russian language.

The new book attempts to, to some extent, reflect the picture presented by the Orthodox consciousness and outline the devastated linguistic space with the dominant role of the Church Slavonic language.

The high, middle and low styles identified by M. V. Lomonosov in a transformed form are preserved to this day as “Church Slavonic language”, “book language” (normative) and “colloquial speech”. That is why, in addition to canonical books, a monument of ancient Russian literature, facts and examples of modern literary language, dialects, and examples of poetic speech are brought here.

Not daring to consistently pursue the historical principle, the compilers, meanwhile, use brief historical information that has explanatory power. On the same basis, in relation to the “Church Slavonic language” and Russian antiquities, a church font is used, for the author’s text and examples of fiction - a civil font with two types of spelling: old and new (according to the spelling rules of the time the work was created).

“Learning is light, and ignorance is darkness,” - this Russian proverb, in addition to everyday wisdom, also contains Divine wisdom. With the comprehension of language we are renewed spiritually. The difficulties are great, but the reward is also great.

The meaning and role of the Church Slavonic language in the development of the Russian literary language.

Today, all over the world, schools teach the leading language of their cultural and historical heritage: Latin to the peoples of Western Europe, Arabic to the Muslim peoples of the East, Hebrew to Jewish children even in Moscow... Whereas today the Russian national school, the modern Russian literary language, the Russian people artificially torn off from their linguistic foundation: the Church Slavonic language dropped out of the programs of secondary schools.

Can a people’s culture exist without the language of its speakers?The Church Slavonic language has always been and still remains the native language for Russian Orthodox people. For a whole millennium, he shaped the Russian personality and literary language.

The Church Slavonic language is our ancient treasure. Ancient scribes compared it to an icon.

M. V. Lomonosov was the first to seriously think about the role of the Church Slavonic language in Russian culture. The great scientist, deeply aware of the spiritual origins of the Russian literary language, commanded us to read church books and preserve the Church Slavonic language in worship. Forgetting the warning of the apostle of science and faith, the enemies of Orthodoxy tried to expel the Church Slavonic language from the memory of the Russian people. But the word of God did not burn in the fire, and the Church Slavonic origins of the Russian language were not destroyed.

According to Alexander Semenovich Shishkov, Minister of Public Education of the first half of the 19th century, a famous admiral, the Church Slavonic language is the root and foundation of the Russian language, it imparts wealth, intelligence, strength and beauty to it.

The Russian literary language cannot be studied in isolation from the language of the Church. According to the calculations of academicians L.V. Shcherba and A.A. Shakhmatov, more than 55% of its elements at different language levels are Church Slavonicisms. G. R. Derzhavin and A. Kantemir wrote their odes actually in Church Slavonic. Their works contain up to 90% of Church Slavonicisms.

Some scholars compare the Church Slavonic language to a vine, and the Russian literary language to a branch grafted onto a vine. It was and remains a historical memory of Russian culture, fostering a sense of the Motherland. This is a language embedded in the genetic memory of our people.

What do we have today?

If at the turn of the 17th – 18th centuries the Church Slavonic language served the needs of church and secular thought, was not only the language of worship, but also the language of public enlightenment and education, then at present the functions of the Church Slavonic language have been narrowed. It is the liturgical language of the Russian Orthodox Church, serves as a means of churching and modern Orthodox education and upbringing of Orthodox Christians.

The Church Slavonic language has returned to the modern Orthodox-oriented school, which is due to the revival of the traditions of pre-revolutionary classical gymnasiums, in which the study of ancient languages ​​was the foundation for the formation of the linguistic consciousness of schoolchildren.

In the Orthodox gymnasium of Belgorod, the Church Slavonic language has been taught since the formation of the gymnasium (since 1995). The result of my work in teaching this subject was the creation of an elective course program “Church Slavonic Language” for grades 2-7, adapted to the profile of our educational institution.

The first section is devoted to initial language teaching. Getting to know grammar and syntax is the task of the second section of the program.

A small number of hours are allocated for teaching the Church Slavonic language, which limits the possibilities of studying it, leaving no time to deepen knowledge and consolidate the material covered. Provides an opportunity to overcome this problem integration subject with other courses.

I have developed recommendations for integrating the Church Slavonic language course with the Russian language course, and in the process of development - recommendations for integration with such subjects as the Law of God, literature, history, music, and fine arts. With optimal teaching methods and optimal time allocation, these courses can promote in-depth study of each of them.

The most fruitful thing, in my opinion, was the integration with in Russian .

I developed and taught lessons on the following topics: “The use of the letters b and b in Russian and Church Slavonic” (grade 3), “Full and partial vowel sound combinations in the root of a word” (grade 5), “Historical alternations of consonants using the example of verbs” (6 Class).

Studying the Church Slavonic language in a modern school will give life and meaning to the study of Russian, the unshakable strength of the literacy acquired at school. The vocabulary itself will be enriched, Russian literature will be discovered, the texts of which are taught in schools without understanding many words.

What does it mean to “lie on a bed”, what are “hands”, “lanits”, etc.? Take the title of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace: what does it mean? Ask any schoolchild. He will answer that peace is the period between wars. And for Tolstoy, the world is society. Often even cultured people with a university education do not know this. This is the result of a separation from one’s speech roots. By removing the i - decimal from the civil letter in 1918, the new apostate rulers monstrously confused the two meanings of the word peace: in the middle with and/like / – the octal word has the meaning - “calmness, silence”, with i / and /– decimal – “universe, society.” It was the second meaning that L.N. Tolstoy put into the title of the novel “War and Peace.” When the priest in the church proclaims “Let us pray to the Lord in peace,” then how should we understand: “all the laity begin to pray together” or “pray with peace and tranquility in the soul, in silence”? The second one will be correct.

It is necessary to explain to students the reasons for the appearance in the modern Russian literary language of unique synonymous series such as: finger - finger; eye - eye; city ​​- garden - fence; head - head; side and country, one and united, unit; hot – burning; enlighten - enlighten; alien and alien; ignorant and ignorant, etc.

The result of the integration of the Church Slavonic language with music The lesson “Christmas Carols” (7th grade) appeared.

I would like to talk about the immediate future plans for establishing interdisciplinary connections.

The possibilities for integrating the Church Slavonic language with the visual arts are quite high. Of course, this is, first of all, work on illustrations for Biblical stories. You can also make drawings of initials or fonts.

It is also possible to integrate the Church Slavonic language with mathematics . When studying the system of writing numerals in the Church Slavonic language, it is useful to give children the simplest examples of addition and subtraction in both Arabic and Slavic numbers to consolidate the material. You can give chains for mental counting for a while. In addition, children will be interested in knowing how chronology is recorded.

Today, the fate of the Russian people is in the hands of the teacher and is closely connected with the fate of the Russian school. History shows that if there is no school that educates active native speakers of a language and there is no one to read the texts of a given language, then the language is dead. The people, the creator, bearer and custodian of this language, are also leaving the arena of history.

At present, there should be a nationwide awareness of the need to study the sacred Church Slavonic language. It is necessary to recreate the conditions for restoring the teaching of the Church Slavonic language in Russian schools and to develop a methodology for teaching the Russian language that would provide for the penetration of material from Church Slavonic and Russian literary languages. An urgent problem also becomes the identification of the spiritual functions of the sacred language of the Slavs. In our time, when there is an irreconcilable struggle for the souls of people, the Church Slavonic language is the right path leading a person to God.Thus, teaching the Church Slavonic language in school should pursue a dual goal - divinely inspired and strictly linguistic.

It is a great blessing that we speak the beautiful Russian language, but it would not be so beautiful if it had not been enriched by the special, sublime Church Slavonic language.

Literature

Zhuravlev, V.K. Improving the content and methods of teaching the Russian language in elementary school / V.K. Zhuravlev, T.A. Zhuravleva. – M., 1990.

Zhuravlev, V.K.. Russian language and Russian character / V.K. Zhuravlev. – Moscow Patriarchate, Department of Religious Education, 2002.

Zhuravlev V.K. Church Slavonic language in modern Russian national school / V.K. Zhuravlev. – Vyatka, 1994.

Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, No. 2, 1994.

Magazine “Glinskie Readings”, publishing house “Samshit-izdat”, No. 6, 2005.

Magazine “Glinskie Readings”, publishing house “Samshit-izdat”, No. 11, 2005.

Lomonosov, M.V.. Reasoning about the benefits of reading church books / M.V. Lomonosov. – M., 1935. – Works. – T3.

Sobolev, Archbishop Seraphim. Russian ideology / Archbishop Seraphim Sobolev. – St. Petersburg, 1993.

Collection of reports of the XIV, XV Christmas readings. – M., 2005,2006.

Church Slavonic language: refraction of traditions. Reports of the section “Church Slavonic language”. – M.: “Krug”, 2006.

C Church Slavonic is a language that has survived to this day as the language of worship. Goes back to the Old Church Slavonic language created by Cyril and Methodius on the basis of South Slavic dialects. The oldest Slavic literary language spread first among the Western Slavs (Moravia), then among the southern Slavs (Bulgaria) and eventually became the common literary language of the Orthodox Slavs. This language also became widespread in Wallachia and some areas of Croatia and the Czech Republic. Thus, from the very beginning, Church Slavonic was the language of the church and culture, and not of any particular people.
Church Slavonic was the literary (book) language of the peoples inhabiting a vast territory. Since it was, first of all, the language of church culture, the same texts were read and copied throughout this territory. Monuments of the Church Slavonic language were influenced by local dialects (this was most strongly reflected in spelling), but the structure of the language did not change. It is customary to talk about editions (regional variants) of the Church Slavonic language - Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.
Church Slavonic has never been a spoken language. As a book language, it was opposed to living national languages. As a literary language, it was a standardized language, and the norm was determined not only by the place where the text was rewritten, but also by the nature and purpose of the text itself. Elements of living spoken language (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian) could penetrate Church Slavonic texts in varying quantities. The norm of each specific text was determined by the relationship between the elements of book and living spoken language. The more important the text was in the eyes of the medieval Christian scribe, the more archaic and strict the language norm. Elements of spoken language almost did not penetrate into liturgical texts. The scribes followed tradition and were guided by the most ancient texts. In parallel with the texts, there was also business writing and private correspondence. The language of business and private documents combines elements of a living national language (Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.) and individual Church Slavonic forms. The active interaction of book cultures and the migration of manuscripts led to the fact that the same text was rewritten and read in different editions. By the 14th century I realized that the texts contain errors. The existence of different editions did not make it possible to resolve the question of which text is older, and therefore better. At the same time, the traditions of other peoples seemed more perfect. If the South Slavic scribes were guided by Russian manuscripts, then the Russian scribes, on the contrary, believed that the South Slavic tradition was more authoritative, since it was the South Slavs who preserved the features of the ancient language. They valued Bulgarian and Serbian manuscripts and imitated their spelling.
The first grammar of the Church Slavonic language, in the modern sense of the word, is the grammar of Laurentius Zizanius (1596). In 1619, the Church Slavonic grammar of Meletius Smotritsky appeared, which determined the later language norm. In their work, scribes sought to correct the language and text of the books they copied. At the same time, the idea of ​​what correct text is has changed over time. Therefore, in different eras, books were corrected either from manuscripts that the editors considered ancient, or from books brought from other Slavic regions, or from Greek originals. As a result of the constant correction of liturgical books, the Church Slavonic language acquired its modern appearance. Basically, this process ended at the end of the 17th century, when, on the initiative of Patriarch Nikon, the liturgical books were corrected. Since Russia supplied other Slavic countries with liturgical books, the post-Nikon form of the Church Slavonic language became the common norm for all Orthodox Slavs.
In Russia, Church Slavonic was the language of the Church and culture until the 18th century. After the emergence of a new type of Russian literary language, Church Slavonic remains only the language of Orthodox worship. The corpus of Church Slavonic texts is constantly being updated: new church services, akathists and prayers are being compiled. Being a direct descendant of the Old Church Slavonic language, Church Slavonic has retained many archaic features of its morphological and syntactic structure to this day. It is characterized by four types of noun declension, has four past tenses of verbs and special forms of the nominative case of participles. The syntax retains calque Greek phrases (dative independent, double accusative, etc.). The greatest changes were made to the orthography of the Church Slavonic language, the final form of which was formed as a result of the “book reference” of the 17th century.

Many things have become so familiar to us that we don’t pay attention to them, for example, air, water. Language also belongs to this kind of thing, or rather, phenomena. Language and writing are the most important culture-forming factors. The fateful significance of the Church Slavonic language and writing for the Russian language will be discussed in this work on the topic “The significance of the Church Slavonic language in the history of the Russian language.”

We can claim that this topic is relevant due to its significance in humanities education and national culture. Love for one’s native language cannot be instilled without knowledge of the history of the language. As a result, the goal of the work is: “To show the fundamental place of the Church Slavonic language in the history of the Russian language.” To achieve the goal it was necessary to solve the following tasks:

1. Get acquainted with the history of the educational activities of Cyril and Methodius.

2. Show the place of the Church Slavonic language in the culture of the Slavic peoples.

3. Reveal the significance of the Church Slavonic language for the formation of the Russian literary language.

4. Consider in what form the Church Slavonic language exists today (in the 21st century) and what its meaning is.

When starting a conversation about Slavic writing, one cannot help but recall the origins of the Orthodox culture of Rus'. For more than five centuries, Rus' was in close relations with Byzantium. The most remarkable result of the relationship between the two states was the adoption of Orthodoxy by Russia. The enlighteners of the Slavs were outstanding figures of Byzantine Orthodox culture - the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, whom we will talk about further. Taking in everything useful from Byzantium, Rus' developed its Orthodox culture. A special milestone in the cultural history of every nation is the beginning of writing. Slavic writing has an amazing origin. How do we know about educational activities and the beginning of Slavic writing?

Contemporaries and students of the first teachers of the Slavs compiled the Lives of Cyril and Methodius in Church Slavonic. In addition to hagiographic literature, evidence has been preserved of the ancient Bulgarian writer of the late 9th - early 10th centuries, Monk Khrabra, who wrote the first essay on the history of the creation of Slavic writing.

If you ask the Slavic literati like this:

Who wrote your letters or translated your books,

Everyone knows that and, answering, they say:

Saint Constantine the Philosopher, named Cyril, -

He created letters for us and translated books,

And Methodius, his brother.

Briefly from the biography of the saints and their educational activities. The brothers were born and raised in the city of Thessaloniki. There were many Slavs in this city, and this language was familiar to future educators from childhood. Constantine received his primary education in Thessaloniki. He managed to continue his education in the capital - Constantinople - with the best Byzantine scientists of that time. For his knowledge and wisdom, Constantine received the nickname “Philosopher”. In 862, Prince Rostislav sent an embassy to the Byzantine Emperor Michael III with a request to send Christian preachers to Moravia who would teach about Christ in the Slavic language. The choice of the emperor settled on Constantine. The emperor instructed him to go to Great Moravia together with Methodius. Konstantin created the alphabet for the Slavic language. This happened in 863. We even know what the first words written in Church Slavonic were. The holy brothers visited Moravia, Italy, Venice, where they carried out their educational mission. Konstantin was never able to return from this trip. Having fallen ill, he died in Rome on February 14, 869, having taken monastic vows shortly before his death with the name Cyril. Before his death, he made his brother promise that he would continue their common cause. Methodius fulfilled his brother’s behest and for another 16 years until his death (April 19, 885) he continued the work of Slavic Christian enlightenment. Slavic writing began to spread - to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia and, finally, Rus'. The brothers became, in the words of priest Pavel Florensky, “spiritual parents of Russian culture.” Since 1992, the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture has been widely celebrated in our country. This holiday helps us not to forget about our spiritual origins. After all, Slavic writing formed the basis of our Russian language.

So, we have come to the question that was posed to us, namely, we will consider what the Church Slavonic language is and what its significance is for the Russian language.

The name “ecclesiastical” indicates its use in church services, and “Slavic” indicates that it is used by Slavic peoples: Russians, Serbs and Bulgarians. The alphabet used in modern Church Slavonic is called the Cyrillic alphabet, named after its compiler, St. Cyril, but at the beginning of Slavic writing there was another alphabet, which was called Glagolitic. The phonetic system of both alphabets is almost the same.

Cyril and Methodius took the Greek alphabet and adapted it to the sounds of the Slavic language. So our alphabet is a “daughter” of the Greek alphabet. Bulgarian scribes compiled “ABC prayers” for better memorization of the alphabet.

Over the course of many centuries, the Church Slavonic language in Russia acquired different spelling features, gradually changed under the influence of the Russian language, and was formed by the mid-17th century. Let us consider and show that the Church Slavonic language is close to the Russian language. The Church Slavonic language has 40 letters. The Russian language has 33 letters.

Cyrillic Sound, which stands for the Modern Russian alphabet

Writing a letter Name of a letter Writing a letter Name of a letter

Az A A a A

Buki B B b Be

Lead V V V V

Verb G G g Ge

Good D D d De

There are E e E

You live Zhe Zhe

Earth Z Z Z Z

Izhe And And And And

Kako K K K Ka

People L L l El

Thought M M m Em

Our N N n En

On' O O o O

Omega O _ _

Rooms P P p Pe

Rtsi R R r Er

The word S S s Es is hard T T t Te

Uk U U U U

Onik u _ _

Fert F F f Ef

Her X X x Ha

Qi Ts Ts Tseh

Worm Ch Ch Ch Che

Sha Sh Sh sh Sha

Shch Shch Shch Shch Shch

Er Ъ ъ Hard sign

Ery y y y

Er y y Soft sign

Yus small _ _

Yus small iotated _ _

Yus big U _ _

Izhitsa Ili in _ _

And over time (in the 18th century) the names of the letters of the Church Slavonic alphabet were replaced by shorter “a”, “be”, etc. under the influence of the letters of the Latin alphabet, but in the Russian language the old names of Russian letters remained in some stable expressions. Don’t understand a single word - “understand nothing at all”; Start with the basics - “start with the simplest”; From aza to Izhitsa - “from the very beginning to the very end.” We also observe similarities between languages ​​in the use of punctuation marks.

Russian Church Slavonic

, (comma) , (comma)

. (dot). (dot)

: (colon) : (colon)

; (semicolon). (small dot) or

: (colon)

(ellipsis) : (colon)

? (question mark) ; (semicolon)

! (Exclamation point) ! (exclamation mark, or in ancient books it is called amazing)

Only some minor differences are observed. The sound feature of the Church Slavonic language is that the Russian full-vowel syllables oro, olo, ere - in the Church Slavonic language correspond to: ra, le, re (beard - broda, milk-milk, etc.)

There are similarities between the Church Slavonic language and Russian in some changes in consonant sounds. In Church Slavonic, the morphological composition of the word is the same as in the Russian language. There are nine parts of speech. There are also similarities in syntax. For example, the types of sentences according to the nature of the message can be divided, similarly as in the Russian language, into narrative, interrogative, motivating and exclamatory.

As can be seen from the above examples, the Church Slavonic language is close to the Russian language. It should be noted that it is not only close, but also plays a special role in the history of the Russian language. In the works of Doctor of Philology, professor of NSU Panin, we find evidence that the rejection of the Church Slavonic language from Russian led to the impoverishment of the latter, because the Church Slavonic language served as the upper cultural layer in the language - the layer that served the higher forms of the language. This has been the case throughout the history of the Russian language. And after this layer is removed, its place is gradually taken by colloquial vocabulary, bureaucracy, and professionalism. In the first decades of the 20th century, borrowings began to penetrate into the Russian language, which the Russian language, having lost the Church Slavonic language as a support, could no longer cope with. Conversational speech becomes the guideline. And this speech itself begins to produce a mass of inflexible words. These are various kinds of abbreviations: MFA, NEP, HPP, RONO, GOELRO, CEC, ZHEK, MTS, SELPO, etc.

What happened to the Russian language was what should have happened under these conditions: it was turned upside down.

The role of A. S. Pushkin in the development of the Russian language and of Church Slavonic is great. He was the first to find a formula for the relationship between the Russian literary and Church Slavonic languages ​​in new conditions. Pushkin created a “spacer” between these languages ​​- a kind of cultural layer of Russian vocabulary. This layer was formed due to Church Slavonic words, which received a new meaning. This deepened the roots of the Church Slavonic language in Russian.

“Having put a bug in a sled, transforming yourself into a horse”;

"Winter! The peasant, triumphant, renews the path on wood”;

Pushkin restored the connection between the Church Slavonic and Russian languages. Thanks to this, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Russian literary language easily coped with the invasion of borrowings from European languages, dialectal and colloquial vocabulary from the folk language.

The organic unity of the Russian literary and Church Slavonic languages ​​is caused not only by the unity and commonality of the paths of their development, but also by the fundamental differences affecting their deep properties. As a result, they turn out to be necessarily complementary to each other.

They differ:

1. Form of existence. Church Slavonic is a written language, it is the language of texts. The Russian literary language exists in two varieties: written and oral.

2. These languages ​​have different stabilizers. The modern Russian literary language has such a powerful stabilizer as the norm, and in Church Slavonic it is tradition.

3. The isolation of the Russian literary language by national borders, which is natural and necessary for a national language.

4. Finally, one of the most important differences between the Church Slavonic language is a different principle of its development. The Russian literary language inherited the principle of development that was characteristic of business writing in the medieval era. Business writing quickly reflected the changing extra-linguistic reality; its language was directly related to the spoken language and developed according to the principle “the new displaces the old.” The Church Slavonic language developed differently. The new did not supplant the old, but coexisted peacefully with it. This is the principle of “conciliarity” in the development of language.

Now that we have fallen into cultural poverty, this should especially touch us, and we must definitely maintain our connection with the past!

We were also interested to know the opinion of modern clergy about the relationship between the two languages. With questions that concern us on this topic, we turned to the rector of the Church in honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Priest Vadim. He told us that services have been conducted in the Church in Church Slavonic since the alphabet appeared and the sacred scriptures were translated. At the same time, he mentioned the merit of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius in this. The rector of the Temple, Priest Vadim, spoke about the beauty of the Church Slavonic language, about its melodiousness, viscousness, and, of course, about the power of words. He also answered other questions.

1. Father Vadim, in what language is the service conducted, and when did this happen?

Traditionally, the language of worship is Church Slavonic, previously simply Slavic, Old Slavonic. And this has become part of the tradition of the Church since the very times when writing and alphabet appeared in Rus', thanks to St. Cyril and Methodius. Books and scriptures were translated. Of course, over time, the language has changed and is now different from the ancient one in which our ancestors served.

2. There is an opinion that the Church, with the translation of worship into national languages, will become more democratic, closer to the national culture. Otherwise, not all people understand the language of the service. But Academician D.S. Likhachev believes that when a person tries to understand the meaning of the service, he may be doing spiritual work for the first time. Father Vadim, what is your personal opinion on this issue, how does the Church relate to this?

Church is a place where traditions are respected. Imagine a child, a first-grader, going to school for the first time: he also still doesn’t understand much. But this is not a reason not to go to school, to quit it. So it is with the language of prayers and services. The easiest way to understand a language is to listen to it. Moreover, there are a lot of familiar words.

3. It has been believed since the time of M. Lomonosov that words in the Church Slavonic language are high, purified. Its role as a unifying language is great.

Yes, of course, a language with ancient deep traditions will only unite. The Church Slavonic language is beautiful, sing-song, viscous. Its beauty and rich vocabulary are observed not only in the word of the prayer, but also if one speaks simply in this language (I heard it from a teacher of Church Slavonic at the seminary). We also find related words in Russian and Slavic languages. Many Church Slavonic words change in Russian, often not for the better, even in the opposite direction. For example, the word creature. Creature is a dirty word in Russian, causing a hint of indignation. Creation - in Church Slavonic language means “creation of God.”

4. Our work is devoted to the study of an issue that would show that the Church Slavonic language is of great importance for the Russian language. The Church Slavonic language is a source for understanding the Russian language. What do you think? Is it so?

Here I would like to use comparative images: parents and children. Is it possible not to honor and not love your parents? We draw wisdom from them. Likewise, the Church Slavonic language is the “parent” of the Russian language. And therefore its significance is great.

5. The Church Slavonic language is of great importance for understanding Russian spiritual culture, as well as its great educational and educational significance. Refusal to use it in the Church and study it in school will lead to a further decline in culture in Russia. Is it necessary to study Church Slavonic at school? What step should we take into the future to prevent this collapse and fall?

Studying the Church Slavonic language at school (I may seem ignorant) is inappropriate, but becoming familiar with it is a must. And a step into the future will be the Law of teaching in schools “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture of Russia” (and such experience already exists) as a compulsory subject. He will introduce Orthodoxy, the culture of Rus', including the language. A person who enters the Temple is familiar with the Church Slavonic language (even if he cannot read it, but understands it) will only be ennobled by this knowledge. This will also improve his Russian language. Knowing another language ennobles a person.

Assessing the Cyril and Methodius legacy in the history of the Russian language, the translation activities of the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, Russian scientists call it a scientific feat. They laid the foundation on which the majestic edifice of Russian literature has been built for more than a thousand years.

Saints Cyril and Methodius, creating the language, determined for many centuries to come what it should be and how it would relate to the literary language of the Slavs.

The Church Slavonic language was not the language of international brotherhood. The international apparently presupposes the absence of borders. Culture and language that have no borders have a sad fate. Old Russian culture, largely thanks to the Church Slavonic language, was clearly integrated into Slavic, more broadly, Orthodox, even more broadly, Christian, and, finally, into world culture and civilization. In our difficult times, when religious intolerance, discord, and confrontations are intensifying not only between Orthodox and heterodox Christians, but also between Orthodox Christians, we must not forget that, first of all, we are Christians and we have the same roots, the same language - Church Slavonic.

In general, the significance of the Church Slavonic language for Russian is that it represents the entire history of the Russian language, placed on one plane, for in Church Slavonic there are simultaneously functioning monuments that go back to the activities of the Slavic first teachers and further to the present day.

The words of Father Vadim, a clergyman of the Temple of John the Baptist, echo the words of academician D. S. Likhachev about the importance of the Church Slavonic language for the modern Russian language: “If we abandon the language that Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev knew perfectly well and introduced into their works , Dostoevsky, Leskov, Tolstoy, Bunin and many, many others, the losses in our understanding of Russian culture of the early centuries will be irreparable. The Church Slavonic language is a constant source for understanding the Russian language. Preserving his vocabulary. Increased comprehension of the Russian language. This is the language of a noble culture: there are no dirty words in it, you cannot speak in a rude tone or scold. This is a language that presupposes a certain level of moral culture. The Church Slavonic language, therefore, is important not only for understanding Russian spiritual culture, but also of great educational and educational significance. Refusal to use it in the Church and study it in school will lead to a further decline in culture in Russia.”