Who studied in the first schools in Russia. What was taught in Ancient Russia? Polish historian Jan Dlugosh about the Kyiv school of "book learning"

AT 9th century, when only a separate state appeared - Kievan Rus, and the Russians were pagans, writing already existed, but education was not yet developed. Children were mostly taught individually, and only then did group training appear, which became the prototype of schools. This coincided with the invention of the letter-sound learning system. Russia in those days was closely connected by trade relations with Byzantium, from where Christianity began to penetrate to us, long before its official adoption. Therefore, the first schools in Russia were of two types - pagan (where only offspring of the pagan elite were accepted) and Christian (for the children of those petty princes who had already been baptized by that time).

10th century

In ancient letters that have come down to us, it is written that Prince Vladimir the Red Sun became the founder of schools in Russia. As you know, it was he who was the initiator and executor of the transition of Russia to the Orthodox Christian faith. The Russians at that time were pagans and fiercely opposed the new religion. In order for the people to quickly adopt Christianity, widespread literacy training was organized, most often at the priest's home. Church books - the Psalter and the Book of Hours - acted as textbooks. Children from the upper classes were sent to study, as it is written in the annals: in "book learning". The people opposed the innovation in every possible way, but they still had to send their sons to schools (this was strictly followed) and the mothers sobbed and lamented, collecting the simple belongings of their children.

"Verbal counting. In the folk school of S. A. Rachinsky "- a painting by the Russian artist N. P. Bogdanov-Belsky
© Image: Wikimedia Commons

The date of foundation of the largest school of "book teaching" is known - 1028, the son of Prince Vladimir, Prince Yaroslav the Wise personally selected 300 smart boys from the privileged environment of combatants and petty princes and sent them to study in Veliky Novgorod - the largest city at that time. At the direction of the country's leadership, Greek books and textbooks were actively translated. Schools were opened at almost every newly built church or monastery, and these were so widely known later - parochial schools.

11th century

Reconstruction of ancient accounts and alphabet
© Photo: lori.ru

This is the heyday of Kievan Rus. A wide network of monastic schools and elementary literacy schools had already been developed. The curriculum of the schools included counting, writing and choral singing. There were also "schools of book teaching", with an increased level of education, in which children were taught to work with the text and prepared in the future for public service. The "Palace School" at the St. Sophia Cathedral worked, the same one that was founded by Prince Yaroslav the Wise. It now had international significance, and translators and scribes were trained in it. There were also several girls' schools where girls from wealthy families were taught to read and write.

The highest feudal nobility taught children at home, sending several offspring to separate villages that belonged to them. There, a noble boyar, literate and educated, who was called the "breadwinner", taught children to read and write, 5-6 languages and the basics of public administration. It is known that the prince independently "led" the village, in which there was "feeding" (a school for the highest nobility). But schools were only in the cities, in the villages they did not teach literacy.

16th century

During the Mongol-Tatar invasion (starting from the 13th century), such a widely developing mass education in Russia was, for obvious reasons, suspended. And only starting from the 16th century, when Russia was completely “freed from the full”, schools began to revive, and they became known as “schools”. If until that time there was very little information about education in the chronicles that have come down to us, then from the 16th century an invaluable document has been preserved, the book "Stoglav" - a collection of resolutions of the Stoglav Cathedral, in which the country's top leadership and church hierarchs participated.

Stoglav (Title page)
© Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

In it, a lot of space was devoted to education, in particular, it was pointed out that only a clergyman who had received the appropriate education could become a teacher. Such people were first examined, then they collected information about their behavior (a person should not be cruel and evil, otherwise no one will send their children to school) and only after that they were allowed to teach. The teacher taught all the subjects alone, he was assisted by the headman from among the students. The first year they taught the alphabet (then it was necessary to know the “full name” of the letter), the second year they put the letters into syllables, and the third year they already read. Schools still selected boys from any class, the main thing is that they be smart and intelligent.

The first Russian primer

The date of its appearance is known - the primer was printed by Ivan Fedorov, the first Russian book publisher, in 1574. It contained 5 notebooks, each with 8 sheets. If we recalculate everything in the format familiar to us, then in the first primer there were 80 pages. In those days, children were taught according to the so-called "literal" method, inherited from the Greeks and Romans. Children memorized syllables, which at first consisted of two letters, then a third was added to them. Students also got acquainted with the basics of grammar, they were given information about the correct stress, cases and conjugations of verbs. In the second part of the ABC there were reading materials - prayers and passages from the Bible.

© Photo: lori.ru

17th century

Pre-revolutionary textbook of geometry.
© Photo: lori.ru

The miraculously preserved most valuable manuscript “Azbukovnik”, written by unknown authors or the author in the 17th century, has come down to us. It's kind of like a teacher's guide. It clearly states that teaching in Russia has never been a class privilege. It is written in the book that even “poor and thin-born” can learn. But also by force, unlike the X century, no one forced. The tuition fee for the poor was minimal, "at least some." Of course, there were also those who were so poor that they could not give the teacher anything, but if the child had a desire to learn and he was “quick-witted”, then the Zemstvo (local leadership) was charged with the duty to give him the most elementary education. In fairness, it must be said that the zemstvo did not act like this everywhere.

The Azbukovnik describes in detail the day of the then schoolboy. The rules for all schools of pre-Petrine Russia were the same. Children came to the school early in the morning and left after the evening prayer, having spent the whole day at school. First, the children told yesterday's lesson, then all the students (they were called "teams") stood up for a general prayer. After that, everyone sat down at a long table and listened to the teacher. Children were not given books to take home, they were the main value of the school.

Reconstruction of the classroom of the former art school of the Teneshev estate, Talashkino, Smolensk region.
© Photo: lori.ru

The children were told in detail how to handle the textbook so that it would be stored for a long time. The children themselves cleaned and heated the school. The "druzhina" was taught grammar, rhetoric, church singing, surveying (i.e. the basics of geometry and geography), arithmetic, "star science" or the basics of astronomy. Poetic art was also studied. The pre-Petrine era was extremely interesting in Russia, but it was Peter I who introduced the first revolutionary transformations.

In Russia, each new century brings its own changes, and sometimes a new ruler changes everything. This happened with the reformer tsar Peter I. Thanks to him, new approaches to education appeared in Russia.

XVIII century, 1st half

Education became more secular: theology was now taught only in diocesan schools and only for the children of the clergy, and for them learning to read and write was compulsory. Those who refused were threatened with military service, which in the conditions of almost incessant wars was life-threatening. So in Russia a new estate was formed.

In 1701, by decree of Peter I, who wanted to train his own specialists for the army and navy (then only foreigners worked in these places), the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences was opened in Moscow, or, as it was also called, the School of Pushkar Order. It had 2 departments: the lower school (junior grades), where they taught writing and arithmetic, and the upper school (higher grades), for teaching languages and engineering.

There was also a preparatory department, or numeral school, where they taught to read and count. Peter liked the latter so much that he ordered, in her image and likeness, to create such schools in other cities. The first school was opened in Voronezh. It is interesting that adults were also taught there - as a rule, military lower ranks.

Children in church school
© Photo: lori.ru

The children of the clergy, as well as the children of soldiers, gunners, nobles, that is, almost everyone who demonstrated a craving for knowledge, learned to read and write in digital schools. In 1732, garrison schools for soldiers' offspring were founded at the regiments. In them, in addition to reading and arithmetic, the basics of military affairs were taught, and officers were teachers.

Peter I had a good goal - a large-scale universal primary education, but, as happened more than once in history, the people were forced to do this with the help of rods and intimidation. The subjects began to grumble, to oppose compulsory school attendance for some classes. It all ended with the fact that the Admiralty (which was in charge of digital schools) itself tried to get rid of them, but the Holy Synod (the highest governing body of the Russian Church, which influenced the life of the country) did not agree to take them under its wing, noting that spiritual and secular education is not must be combined. Then the digital schools were connected with the garrison ones. This was of great importance for the history of education. It was the garrison schools that were distinguished by a high level of training, and many well-trained people subsequently came out of there, who, until the era of the reign of Catherine II, served as a support for Russian education, working as teachers.

Page Corps on Sadovaya Street in St. Petersburg
© Photo: lori.ru

XVIII century, 2nd half

If earlier children from different classes could study in one school, later class schools began to form. The land gentry corps or, in modern terms, a school for noble children, became the first sign. According to this principle, the Corps of Pages, as well as the Naval and Artillery Corps, were later created.

The nobles sent very young children there, who, upon graduation, received a specialty and an officer's rank. For all other classes, public schools began to open everywhere. In large cities, these were the so-called main schools, with four classes of education, in small cities - small ones, with two classes.

For the first time in Russia, subject teaching was introduced, curricula appeared, and methodological literature was developed. Classes began to begin and end at the same time throughout the country. Each estate was trained differently, but almost everyone could study, even the children of serfs, although, of course, it was the hardest for them: often their education depended on the whim of the landowner or whether he wanted to maintain a school and pay a salary to a teacher.

By the end of the century, there were more than 550 educational institutions and more than 70,000 students throughout Russia.

English lesson
© Photo: lori.ru

19th century

It was a big breakthrough time, although of course we were still losing to Europe and the US. The general education school (folk schools) was actively operating, general education gymnasiums were functioning for the nobles. They were initially opened only in the three largest cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan.

Specialized education for children was represented by soldier's schools, cadet and gentry (noble) corps and many religious schools.

In 1802, the Ministry of Public Education was first established. The following year, it developed new principles: in particular, it was emphasized that the lower levels of education from now on will be free and will accept representatives of any class.

Textbook of Russian history by F. Novitsky, reprinted in 1904
© Photo: lori.ru

Small public schools were replaced by one-class parochial schools (for peasant children), in each city they were obliged to build and maintain a three-year county school (for merchants, artisans and other city dwellers), and the main public schools were transformed into gymnasiums (for nobles). The children of officials who did not have the title of nobility now had the right to enter the latter institutions. Thanks to these transformations, the network of educational institutions has been significantly expanded.

Children of the lower classes were taught the four rules of arithmetic, reading and writing, and the law of God. Children from the middle classes (philistines and merchants) in addition to this - geometry, geography, history. In gymnasiums, they prepared for admission to universities, of which there were already six in Russia (a considerable number for that time). Girls were still extremely rarely sent to school, as a rule, they were taught at home.

After the abolition of serfdom (1861), an accessible all-class education was introduced. Zemstvo, parochial and Sunday schools appeared. Gymnasiums were divided into classical and real. Moreover, in the latter they accepted children from any class, whose parents could save up for education. The fee was relatively low, which is confirmed by the large number of real gymnasiums.

Actively began to open women's schools, which were available only for children from among middle-class citizens. Women's schools were with three- and six-year education. Women's gymnasiums appeared.

Church school, 1913

20th century

In 1908, a law on universal education was passed. Primary education began to develop at a particularly rapid pace - the state actively financed new educational institutions. Free (but not universal) education was legalized, which played a huge role in the development of the country. In the European part of Russia, almost all the boys and half of the girls studied in primary schools, in other areas the situation was worse, but almost half of the urban children and almost a third of the peasants also had a primary education.

Of course, against the background of other European states, these were incommensurable figures, because by that time in developed countries the law on universal primary education had been in force for several centuries.

Education became universal and accessible to all in our country only after the adoption of Soviet power.

10th century

"Verbal counting. In the folk school of S. A. Rachinsky "- a painting by the Russian artist N. P. Bogdanov-Belsky
© Image: Wikimedia Commons

11th century

Reconstruction of ancient accounts and alphabet
© Photo: lori.ru

16th century

Stoglav (Title page)
© Illustration: Wikimedia Commons

The first Russian primer

© Photo: lori.ru

17th century

Pre-revolutionary textbook of geometry.
© Photo: lori.ru

Reconstruction of the classroom of the former art school of the Teneshev estate, Talashkino, Smolensk region.
© Photo: lori.ru

XVIII century, 1st half

Children in church school
© Photo: lori.ru

Page Corps on Sadovaya Street in St. Petersburg
© Photo: lori.ru

XVIII century, 2nd half

By the end of the century, there were more than 550 educational institutions and more than 70,000 students throughout Russia.

English lesson
© Photo: lori.ru

19th century

Specialized education for children was represented by soldier's schools, cadet and gentry (noble) corps and many religious schools.

Textbook of Russian history by F. Novitsky, reprinted in 1904
© Photo: lori.ru

Actively began to open women's schools, which were available only for children from among middle-class citizens. Women's schools were with three- and six-year education. Women's gymnasiums appeared.

Church school, 1913

20th century

Education became universal and accessible to all in our country only after the adoption of Soviet power.

September 1 is the start of each new school year. Do you know why all schoolchildren start their studies on this day? But, at the very beginning, I want to talk a little about the emergence of the school itself. When did the first school appear?

Back in the Middle Ages, in Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, or maybe even earlier? School and first teacher are two important words that are closely related. Maybe we can safely talk about the school since the time when the first teachers first appeared. Recall from the course of history the time that is called primitive society. Already with the beginning of the earliest stage of development of all mankind, children have already begun to be taught. True, those first teachers did not have any idea about the main literacy at all, but from an early age they taught children to live according to those main rules that were already generally accepted in this or that community. Even the life of a child often depended on these important knowledge and rules. Children were especially taught the more complex rules of a good greeting: in some tribes it is customary to squat at the sight of a stranger as a sign of complete peacefulness, in others to take off their hats, by the way, the custom has come down to our days among many peoples. There were also such tribes in which, when meeting, you need to rub your noses or extend your hand only with an open palm up, which also testified to the best intentions. Today, when meeting with our good friend, we often exchange a light friendly kiss, but in fact, many tribes used to consider any kiss as one of the forms of cannibalism, which was strictly prohibited. When the period of early childhood passed, the boys actively learned the art of exciting hunting and warfare, all the girls had to learn how to spin well, sew good clothes, cook delicious food. After the children "passed" a difficult exam - the main rite of initiation. The boys treated initiation as a difficult test: they could even be beaten, severely tortured with fire, cut through the skin. Often after the exam, the subject could lose consciousness. But, only "passing the exam", the boy became an adult member of society and was very proud of it.

Years passed, centuries, schools began to appear that resembled modern ones.

Information about the very first schools can be found in the rich history of the Ancient East.

The Sumerians, a long-vanished people, were only recognized in the 19th century. Those Sumerians lived in the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, creating a high culture. They knew how to do quite a lot: irrigate the fields, spin and weave, forge their tools from copper and bronze, they knew great pottery. During these 3000 years BC. e. the Sumerians had their own written language, mastered the basic rules of algebra, and were able to extract the square root of any number. There were then schools that were called "tablet houses", because the students who attended them wrote only on clay tablets, read and studied from them too. Future scribes - "children of the house of tablets" - teachers were quite strict. The head of the school was a mentor - ummia. He was helped by his "elder brother" - an assistant mentor, several teachers, a man who always followed discipline. How exactly he did this is clear from the title of the position - "wielding a whip." So far, a huge number of tablets have come down that were written by students, from which you can find out exactly what subjects all Sumerian schoolchildren studied. On one tablet, the student in his "essay" thanks all the teachers for this science - after all, they were able to teach him to calculate the area, so now he will be able to make calculations in construction, dig a canal. Archaeologists were able to find tablets on which even the names of the gods were recorded, those names of animals and plants, listed city and temple positions with titles - in a word, everything that every student was required to know firmly and accurately. The training spanned many years. Those who graduated from the "tablet houses" became important supervisors of work in workshops, in any construction, cultivating the land. Without these schools, the ancient people did not have a high culture: the Sumerians then knew how not only to read, multiply and divide, but also to write poetry, compose beautiful music, knew astronomy.

Incomparably more is known about the ancient inhabitants of another most ancient state - Egypt - than about the Sumerians. We know that they also had their own schools, that it was not so easy to study in Egypt. It was necessary to know exactly and be able to clearly operate with seven hundred letters - hieroglyphs, to make sure that all the lines when writing were as even as possible, and the hieroglyphs were beautiful. In one case it was necessary to write from left to right, but in others - from right to left, but in the third - from top to bottom.

What exactly did the Egyptian school look like in those distant times? This is a large courtyard at the temple of the god Amun (Ra) - the main Egyptian god. Twelve-year-old boys are sitting in the shade, and the teacher is already in front of them. He is wearing a white loincloth, his head is as clean-shaven as possible as a sign of cleanliness, and on his chest there is a large pendant that depicts a baboon. The monkey was considered the most sacred animal of the god Thoth - the scribe of the god Ra and the patron of knowledge, magic and medicine, he knows all the most magical words and miraculous spells. At the teacher's feet lies the most indispensable attribute of learning - a three-tailed whip. Pupils sit on wicker mats, each has his own wicker bag, in which there is a board with recesses for black and red paint, a pencil case with the necessary brushes, a vessel for water and islands - original clay tablets for writing, because only high school students were allowed to write on papyrus. The teacher strictly dictates, and the students write on their tablets. These are the words from the ancient Egyptian "Instructions to the Schoolchild", which always began every school day: "You are like a crooked steering wheel, you are like a house without bread, the monkey understands, they even teach lions, but not you. Look, you will be beaten - the boy's ears are on his back him, and he listens when he is beaten."

In ancient Greece, every school day began with poetry. The teacher himself read them, and the students repeated after him. It continued until everyone memorized a fairly large passage, a whole work. For a "better" memorization, the teacher put a relief with verses on the table. The school day ended: the teacher removed this relief with poems and replaced it with an amphora depicting the spanking of schoolchildren. Each student knew a strict expression: "If you want happiness and joy from the Muses, you will pour them out to the negligent one." By the way, the familiar word "teacher" in Greek means "educator", "mentor". The duties of any teacher included teaching children the best manners, monitoring the behavior of children on the street, and accompanying them to school. At that time, the school already had its own rules: "Do not speak loudly, do not cross your legs, stand up when the elder enters." In addition to writing and reading, the basic curriculum included seven more liberal arts. At the first stage, they studied basic grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, and only at the second stage - arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Great attention was paid to physical exercises. From an early age of 12, schoolchildren spent the entire afternoon in the palestra - a gymnastic school, the name "palestra" comes from the word "pale" - wrestling. All students ran, jumped, learned to ride, threw discs.

In ancient Rome, boys began to study at the age of 7. The children of all the poor attended elementary school, learned to read, write and count for five years. The teacher in such a school was a man of a "lower origin", but who knew how to read and write.

Classes were always held in the open air, under the simplest shed, where there was a chair for the teacher and a bench for the students. So that nothing would distract all the boys, they were fenced off with a kind of curtain. The school day started very early, only at noon the children went home to have breakfast, after which they returned to school again. They did not have any specific textbooks, all the notes were taken under the dictation of the teacher. Actually, in elementary school, the basic education of the children of the poor ended. The children of wealthy parents did not attend their primary school, the main basics of education were held at home under the guidance of a father or specially hired teachers.

Having learned to read and write correctly, the children went to grammar. Grammarians are the most educated people who are seriously engaged in history, literature, criticism and other sciences. They could interpret the tests of ancient authors, compose reference books. The main task was to teach the boys to speak and write correctly, to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the literature, to give the most basic concepts in various fields of knowledge - from philosophy to astronomy. After serious preparation, a boy of 14 years old could enter a "higher educational institution" - a rhetorical school.

The temptation to "look" into the past and "see" the bygone life with one's own eyes overwhelms any historian-researcher. In addition, such time travel does not require fantastic devices. An ancient document is the most reliable carrier of information, which, like a magic key, unlocks the treasured door to the past. Daniil Lukich Mordovtsev*, a well-known journalist and writer in the 19th century, received such a blessed opportunity for the historian.

His historical monograph "Russian School Books" was published in 1861 in the fourth book of "Readings in the Society of Russian History and Antiquities at Moscow University". The work is devoted to the ancient Russian school, about which at that time (and, by the way, even now) so little was known.

And before this, there were schools in the Russian kingdom, in Moscow, in Veliky Novograd and in other cities ... Literacy, writing and singing, and they taught honor. Therefore, at that time there were a lot of literacy, and scribes and readers were glorious in all the earth.
From the book "Stoglav"

Many people are still convinced that in the pre-Petrine era in Russia nothing was taught at all. Moreover, education itself was then allegedly persecuted by the church, which demanded only that the students somehow recite prayers by heart and gradually sort out printed liturgical books. Yes, and they taught, they say, only the children of priests, preparing them for taking the dignity. Those of the nobility who believed in the truth "teaching is light ..." entrusted the education of their offspring to foreigners discharged from abroad. The rest were found "in the darkness of ignorance."

All this refutes Mordovtsev. In his research, he relied on a curious historical source that fell into his hands - "ABC". In the preface to the monograph dedicated to this manuscript, the author wrote the following: "At present, I have the opportunity to use the most precious monuments of the 17th century, which have not yet been published anywhere, are not mentioned and which can serve to explain the interesting aspects of ancient Russian pedagogy. Materials these are contained in a lengthy manuscript called "ABC Book" and containing several different textbooks of that time, composed by some kind of "pioneer", partly copied from other, the same publications, which were entitled by the same name, although they differed in content and had different sheet counts.

Having examined the manuscript, Mordovtsev draws the first and most important conclusion: in Ancient Russia, schools as such existed. However, this is also confirmed by an older document - the book "Stoglav" (a collection of resolutions of the Stoglav Cathedral, held with the participation of Ivan IV and representatives of the Boyar Duma in 1550-1551). It contains sections that talk about education. In them, in particular, it is determined that the schools are allowed to be maintained by persons of the clergy, if the applicant receives permission from the church authorities. Before giving him one, it was necessary to test the thoroughness of the applicant's own knowledge, and from reliable guarantors to collect possible information about his behavior.

But how were the schools organized, how were they managed, who studied in them? Stoglav did not give answers to these questions. And now several handwritten "ABCs" fall into the hands of the historian - very curious books. Despite their name, these are, in fact, not textbooks (they contain neither the alphabet, nor copybooks, nor learning to count), but rather a guide for the teacher and detailed instructions for the students. It spelled out the full daily routine of the student, by the way, concerning not only the school, but also the behavior of children outside of it.

***
Following the author, let's look into the Russian school of the 17th century, and we, fortunately, "Azbukovnik" gives this a full opportunity. It all starts with the arrival of children in the morning in a special house - a school. In various "ABCs" instructions on this subject are written in verse or in prose, they, apparently, also served to consolidate reading skills, and therefore the students stubbornly repeated:

In your house, having risen from sleep, wash yourself,
Wipe the good edge of the board that has come,
In the worship of holy images continue,
Bow down to your father and mother.
Go to school carefully
And bring your friend
Enter the school with a prayer,
Just get out.

The prosaic version teaches the same thing.

From the "ABC Book" we learn a very important fact: education in the times described was not a class privilege in Russia. The manuscript, on behalf of "Wisdom", contains an appeal to parents of different classes to give youths for teaching "cunning literature": wretched, even to the last farmers." The only restriction to learning was the unwillingness of the parents or their absolute poverty, which did not allow at least something to pay the teacher for the education of the child.
But let us follow the student who has entered the school and has already put his hat on the “common garden”, that is, on the shelf, bowing to the images, and the teacher, and the entire student “retinue”. The schoolboy, who came to school early in the morning, had to spend the whole day in it, until the bell for the evening service, which was the signal for the end of classes.

The teaching began with the answer to the lesson learned the day before. When the lesson was told by everyone, the whole "team" made a common prayer before further classes: "Lord Jesus Christ our God, the creator of all creatures, enlighten me and teach book writing and by this we will know Your desires, as if I may glorify You forever and ever, amen !"

Then the students approached the headman, who gave them books to study from, and sat down at a common long student table. Each took the place indicated to him by the teacher, while observing the following instructions:

Malia in you and greatness are all equal,
Teachings for the sake of those who are higher in the place, let them be noble ...
Do not oppress your neighbor
And don't call your comrade by his nickname...
Do not get close to each other,
Do not assign your knees and elbows ...
A place given to you by your teacher
Here your life will be together ...

***
Books, being the property of the school, were its main value. The attitude to the book was inspired by quivering and respectful. It was required that the students, "closing the book", always put it with the seal up and did not leave "pointing trees" (pointers) in it, did not unbend too much and did not leaf through in vain. It was strictly forbidden to put books on the bench, and at the end of the teaching, the books had to be given to the headman, who put them in the appointed place.

And one more piece of advice - do not get carried away looking at book decorations - "falls", but strive to understand what is written in them.

Keep your books well
And put it in place dangerously.
... The book, having closed, with a seal to the height
suppose
The index tree in it is by no means
don't immerse...
Books to the headman in observance,
with prayer, bring
Taking the same in the morning
with respect, regard ...
Do not unfold your books,
And do not bend the sheets in them either ...
Books on the seat
Do not leave,
But on the prepared table
good supply...
If someone does not save books,
Such a soul does not protect his soul ...

The almost verbatim coincidence of the phrases of the prosaic and poetic versions of different "Azbukovnikov" allowed Mordovtsev to assume that the rules reflected in them are the same for all schools of the 17th century, and therefore, we can talk about their general structure in pre-Petrine Russia. This assumption is also prompted by the similarity of instructions regarding a rather strange requirement that forbids students to talk outside the school walls about what is happening in it.

Going to the house, school life
don't say
Punish this and every comrade of yours ...
Words of ludicrous and imitation
do not bring to school
Do not wear out the cases that were in it.

Such a rule, as it were, isolated the students, locking the school world into a separate, almost family community. On the one hand, it protected the student from the "unuseful" influences of the external environment, on the other hand, linking the teacher and his wards with special relationships that were inaccessible even to the closest relatives, it excluded outsiders from interfering in the process of education and upbringing. Therefore, it was simply unthinkable to hear from the lips of the teacher of that time the phrase "Don't come to school without your parents" so often used today.

***
Another instruction, which makes all the ABCs related, speaks of the duties that were assigned to students at school. They had to "attach a school": sweep the rubbish, wash the floors, benches and tables, change the water in the vessels under the "light" - a stand for a torch. Lighting the school with the same torch was also the responsibility of the students, as was the firebox of the stoves. For such work (in modern terms - on duty), the headman of the school "team" appointed students in shifts: "Whoever heats the school, he will build everything in that one."

Bring vessels of fresh water to school,
Wear out the tub with stagnant water,
The table and benches are cleanly washed,
Yes, those who come to school are not vilely seen;
Sim bo your personal beauty is known
And you will have school cleanliness.

Instructions urge students not to fight, not to play pranks, not to steal. It is especially strictly forbidden to make noise in the school itself and next to it. The rigidity of such a rule is understandable: the school was located in a house owned by a teacher, next to the estates of other residents of the city. Therefore, the noise and various "disturbances" that could provoke the anger of the neighbors could well turn into a denunciation to the church authorities. The teacher would have had to give the most unpleasant explanations, and if this was not the first denunciation, then the owner of the school could "fall under a ban on maintaining the school." That is why even attempts to break school rules were stopped immediately and mercilessly.

In general, the discipline in the Old Russian school was strong and severe. The whole day was clearly outlined by the rules, even drinking water was allowed only three times a day, and "for the sake of need, you could go out into the yard" only a few times with the permission of the headman. The same paragraph contains some hygiene rules:

For the sake of someone's need to depart,
Go to the elder four times a day,
Come back from there immediately,
Wash your hands for cleanliness
Whenever you are there.

***
All "ABCs" had an extensive section - about the punishments of lazy, negligent and obstinate students with a description of the most diverse forms and methods of influence. It is no coincidence that the ABCs begin with a panegyric of the rod, written in cinnabar on the first page:

God bless these forests
Even rods give birth for a long time ...

And not only "Azbukovnik" sings of the rod. In the alphabet, printed in 1679, there are such words: "The rod sharpens the mind, excites the memory."

It is not necessary, however, to think that the power that the teacher possessed, he used beyond all measure - you cannot replace good teaching with skillful flogging. Someone who became famous as a tormentor, and even a bad teacher, no one would give his children to teach. Congenital cruelty (if any) does not appear suddenly in a person, and no one would allow a pathologically cruel person to open a school. How children should be taught was also mentioned in the Code of the Stoglavy Cathedral, which was, in fact, a guide for teachers: "not with rage, not with cruelty, not with anger, but with joyful fear and love custom, and sweet teaching, and affectionate consolation."

It was between these two poles that the path of education ran somewhere, and when the "sweet teaching" did not go to good use, then a "pedagogical tool" came into play, according to the assurances of connoisseurs, "sharpening the mind, stimulating the memory." In various "ABCs" the rules on this subject are set out in an accessible way to the most "rude" student:

If anyone becomes lazy in learning,
Such a wound is not ashamed to endure ...

Flogging did not exhaust the arsenal of punishments, and it must be said that the rod was the last in that row. A scamp could be sent to a punishment cell, the role of which was successfully played by the school's "necessary closet." There is also a mention in the ABCs of such a measure, which is now called "leave after school":

If someone does not teach a lesson,
That of a free leave school
won't get...

However, there is no exact indication of whether the students went home for dinner in the Azbukovniki. Moreover, in one of the passages it is said that the teacher "at the time of the food-eating and the noon from the teaching of the teaching" should read to his students "useful scriptures" about wisdom, about encouraging learning and discipline, about holidays, etc. It remains to be assumed that schoolchildren listened to such teachings at a common lunch at school. Yes, and other signs indicate that the school had a common dining table, contained in the parent pool. (However, it is possible that this particular order was not the same in different schools.)

***
So, most of the day the students were inseparably at school. In order to be able to rest or be away on necessary business, the teacher chose an assistant from his students, called the headman. The role of the headman in the inner life of the then school was extremely important. After the teacher, the headman was the second person in the school, he was even allowed to replace the teacher himself. Therefore, the choice of a headman for both the student "team" and the teacher was the most important thing. "ABC Book" prescribed to choose those of the teacher himself from the older students, in the study of diligent and favorable spiritual qualities. The book instructed the teacher: "Have at your guard them (that is, the elders - V.Ya.). The kindest and most skillful students who can even without you announce them (students. - V.Ya.) with a shepherd's word."

The number of elders is spoken of in different ways. Most likely, there were three of them: one headman and two of his henchmen, since the circle of duties of the "chosen ones" was unusually wide. They watched the progress of their studies in the absence of a teacher and even had the right to punish those responsible for violating the order established in the school. They listened to the lessons of younger schoolchildren, collected and gave out books, monitored their safety and proper handling. They were in charge of "vacation in the yard" and drinking water. Finally, they controlled the heating, lighting and cleaning of the school. The headman and his henchmen represented the teacher in his absence, and with him - trusted assistants.

All management of the school by the headman was carried out without any denunciation to the teacher. At least, Mordovtsev thought so, not having found a single line in the Azbukovniki that encouraged fiscalism and fakery. On the contrary, the students were accustomed in every possible way to camaraderie, life in the "team". If the teacher, looking for the offender, could not accurately point to a particular student, and the "team" did not betray him, then the punishment was announced to all students, and they chanted in chorus:

Some of us have guilt
Which was not before many days,
Guilty, hearing this, face flush,
After all, they are proud of us, the humble.

Often the culprit, in order not to let the "team" down, took off the ports and "climbed the goat" himself, that is, lay down on the bench, on which the "assignment of lozan by sirloin parts" was carried out.

***
Needless to say, both the teaching and the upbringing of the youths were then imbued with deep reverence for the Orthodox faith. What is invested from a young age will grow in an adult: "Behold, this is your childish business, students in school, more so perfect in age." Pupils were obliged to go to church not only on holidays and Sundays, but also on weekdays, after the end of classes at the school.

Evening evangelism signaled the end of the teaching. The ABC Book teaches: “When you are released, wake up all of you and your books to the bookkeeper, with a single pronouncement to everyone, loudly and unanimously sing the prayer of St. go to vespers, the teacher instructed them to behave decently in church, because "everyone knows that you are in school."

However, the requirements for proper behavior were not limited to the school or the temple. The school rules also extended to the street: “When the teacher releases you at such a time, go with all humility to your house: jokes and blasphemy, pang each other, and beating, and frisky running, and stone-throwing, and all sorts of similar childish mockery, let it not dwell in you." Was not encouraged and aimless wandering through the streets, especially near all sorts of "entertainment establishments", then called "disgrace".

Of course, the above rules are better wishes. There are no such children in nature that would refrain from "phanging and frisky running", from "throwing stones" and going to "disgrace" after they spent the whole day at school. Teachers understood this in the old days, and therefore they tried by all means to reduce the time of neglected stay of students on the street, pushing them to temptations and pranks. Not only on weekdays, but on Sundays and holidays, schoolchildren were required to come to the school. True, on holidays they no longer studied, but only answered what they had learned the day before, read the Gospel aloud, listened to the teachings and explanations of their teacher about the essence of the holiday of that day. Then they all went to church together for the liturgy.

The attitude towards those students whose teaching went badly is curious. In this case, "Azbukovnik" does not at all advise them to be strenuously flogged or punished in some other way, but, on the contrary, instructs: "whoever is a" greyhound student" should not rise above his comrade "rude student." The latter were strongly advised to pray, calling for God's help. And the teacher dealt with such students separately, constantly telling them about the benefits of prayer and giving examples "from writing", talking about such ascetics of piety as Sergius of Radonezh and Alexander Svirsky, who at first were not given teaching at all.

From the "ABC book" you can see the details of a teacher's life, the subtleties of relationships with the parents of students who paid the teacher, by agreement and, if possible, for the education of their children - partly in kind, partly in money.

In addition to school rules and regulations, ABC tells how, after completing their primary education, students begin to study the "seven free arts." By which were meant: grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, music (meaning church singing), arithmetic and geometry ("geometry" was then called "any land surveying", which included both geography and cosmogony), finally, "the last in a row, but the first action" in the list of sciences studied at that time was called astronomy (or in Slavonic "star science").

And also in schools they studied poetic art, syllogisms, studied celebry, the knowledge of which was considered necessary for "verse-writing", got acquainted with "rhyme" from the works of Simeon of Polotsk, learned poetic measures - "there is one and ten kinds of verse." They learned to compose couplets and maxims, to write greetings in verse and prose.

***
Unfortunately, the work of Daniil Lukich Mordovtsev remained unfinished, his monograph was completed with the phrase: “The other day, His Grace Athanasius was transferred to the Astrakhan Diocese, depriving me of the opportunity to finally sort out an interesting manuscript, and therefore, having no “Azbukovnikov” at hand, I was forced to finish my article on what he stopped at. Saratov 1856".

Nevertheless, a year after the work of Mordovtsev was published in the journal, his monograph with the same title was published by Moscow University. The talent of Daniil Lukich Mordovtsev and the multiplicity of topics covered in the sources that served to write the monograph today allow us, with a minimal "thinking of that life", to make an exciting and not without benefit journey "against the flow of time" into the seventeenth century.

V. YARHO, historian

* Daniil Lukich Mordovtsev (1830-1905), after graduating from a gymnasium in Saratov, studied first at Kazan, then at St. Petersburg University, from which he graduated in 1854 in the Faculty of History and Philology. In Saratov, he began his literary activity. He published several historical monographs, published in the "Russian Word", "Russian Bulletin", "Bulletin of Europe". The monographs attracted attention, and Mordovtsev was even offered to take the chair of history at St. Petersburg University. Daniil Lukich was no less famous as a writer on historical topics.

From the Bishop of Saratov, Athanasius Drozdov, he receives handwritten notebooks of the 17th century, telling about how schools were organized in Russia.

***
Here is how Mordovtsev describes the manuscript that came to him: “The collection consisted of several sections. The first contains several ABCs, with a special account of notebooks; the second half consists of two sections: in the first - 26 notebooks, or 208 sheets; in the second, 171 sheets The second half of the manuscript, both of its sections, were written by the same hand... The entire section, consisting of "ABCs", "Letters", "School Deaneries" and other things, up to 208 sheets, was written out with the same hand. in handwriting, but in different ink, it is written up to page 171, and on that sheet, in "four-pointed" cunning cryptography, it is written "Started in the Solovetsky Desert, also in Kostroma, near Moscow in the Ipatskaya honest monastery, by the same first-farmer in the summer of world life 7191 (1683 .)".

Source "Science and Life" No. 7, 2002

"Schools in Russia" - What do you need for the lesson? What was taught in schools? Class teacher Nikiforova E.V. 2011. XI - XV century. B.M. Kustodiev "School in Moscow Russia". How was it taught in schools in Russia? How they studied in Russia. When did the first schools appear? Birch bark letters, waxed tablets, she wrote. The first schools in Russia were opened in the 10th century by decree of Prince Vladimir.

"Russian customs" - In ancient Russia, Christmas meant the beginning of winter. Wednesday is sweet. On Monday Maslenitsa was celebrated. Warm up questions. They collected medicinal plants. What are the holidays between Christmas and Epiphany called? Then bonfires were lit and round dances were organized. The Baptism of the Lord is celebrated on January 19. In the old days, our ancestors went to swim in rivers, ponds, lakes.

"Dolmen" - The purpose of the lesson: C) trough-shaped - that is, carved entirely in a rock block, but covered with a separate slab; To date, more than 2,300 dolmens are known in the Kuban and Black Sea regions. Dolmen?n - translated from the Breton language means "stone table". Total weight: from 6795 to 25190 kg. Dolmens in form and material can be very diverse.

Christmas time - What is Christmas time? It was believed that God would punish those who worked at Christmas time: a person who weaves bast shoes on Christmas Eve would have crooked cattle, and a man who sewed clothes would be blinded. Christmas time. Christmas time was usually celebrated in the evening and at night: the daytime was set aside for everyday work, and only after dark did the peasants put off their work and take part in entertainment, perform various kinds of rituals.

"Russian national cuisine" - Modern cuisine from 1917 to the present 5. Old Russian cuisine of the IX-XVI centuries.2. Cuisine of the Peter and Catherine era of the 18th century. Soups have been of paramount importance in the history of Russian cuisine. Modern cuisine from 1917 to the present 1. The spoon has always been the main cutlery for Russians. Cuisine of the Moscow state of the XVII century.

"Izba" - Male corner, or "konik" - at the entrance. The beams of the ceiling were laid on a massive beam - a mat. 6-wall hut-communication. Since the 15th century, stoves with pipes have become widespread. A ring for the ochepa was screwed into the mother. The inner walls were whitewashed, sheathed with hemp, or linden boards. The clergy sat in a large place without refusing.

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