"The Book of St. Augustine" in the Russian translation of the XVI century - the first "selected collection of works" in Russia of the most prominent Western European theologian, Aurelius Augustine (13. XI. 354-28 or 30.VIII. 430). This is a vivid example of the Latin influence on Russian literature in the era of Ivan the Terrible, as well as the connection of literary traditions of the XVI-XVII centuries. The history of the monument, which has remained unclear until now, is associated with such famous names as Maxim Grek, his student Prince Andrey Kurbsky, Karion Istomin, Evfimiy Chudovsky, boyar I. K. Naryshkin, Tsarevna Sofia Alekseevna and others.

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The Book of St. Augustine was translated in Russia in the literary environment of the Athos monk Maxim the Greek, possibly by the famous scribe Dmitry Gerasimov in 1518-1524. By May 1564, there were at least three lists of it. This is, firstly, the archetype of translation, secondly, the manuscript of the elder of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery Vassian Muromtsev, created no later than 1563, and, thirdly, the collection of Prince Kurbsky from 1563-1564 dating back to it.

After Kurbsky's flight to Lithuanian Russia on the night of April 30, 1564, and the execution of Vassian Muromtsev by order of Ivan the Terrible in 1570, the history of the monument was virtually interrupted. Currently, only one complete list of the "Book of St. Augustine" is known, which was made around 1692 by the monk Euthymius Chudovsky, a great lover of book rarities (State Historical Museum, collection of the Chudov Monastery. N 216).

The manuscript is entitled: "The Book of St. Augustine, Western teacher, Bishop of Hippo". At the beginning of it is placed a kind of introduction - "The Life of St. Augustine", consisting of 31 chapters. The author of Augustine's life is his disciple Possidius, bishop of Kalama in North Africa. This is followed by the "Table of Contents of the book of Sei" - the content of its two parts. The first part of the collection "Augustine the Teacher on the vision of Christ, or on the word of God" begins with a preface and consists of 36 chapters. The second part includes the "Homilies, or Prayers of Great Spiritual Benefit, of the teacher Augustine", containing forty chapters.

In the works of researchers of the XIX-early XX century (A.V. Gorsky, K. I. Nevostruev, A. I. Sobolevsky), it was established that the work "On the Vision of Christ" is a translation of "Manuale", and "Teachings, or Prayers" - a translation of "Meditationes". The translation of Meditationes omits verse chapter 26 of Hymnus de gloria paradisi, apparently because of its considerable length, since in other parts of the book small Latin verses are translated in prose. Accordingly, the Russian translation of the "Teachings or Prayers"has one less chapter than the Latin original: 40 chapters, not 41. The Russian translation of "Manuale" and "Meditationes" is similar (but not identical)in a number of ways the version of the text published in the tenth volume of the collected works of Augustine, published in Basel in 1505.

"The Book of St. Augustine" ends with two stories that the anonymous Russian scribe has heard, according to his confession, "from many Orthodox people", but most often from Maxim the Greek. The first story about the appearance of an angel in the form of a boy to Augustine on the seashore is a record of a "wandering" plot, previously published in the Latin collection of moral stories "Speculum exemplorum", which was repeatedly published in Western Europe since 1481. In the second story about Augustine and the simple hermit, the "wandering" plot is also literarily processed, among other things

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used in Leo Tolstoy's short story "The Three Elders". A version of this story about the elder of Zaonezhye (with reference to the lives of saints) was heard by us from Father Savvati in the Valaam monastery in 2000.

In the Middle Ages, "Manuale "and" Meditationes " were attributed to Augustine, but in reality they do not belong to him. These are compilations, which, along with excerpts from the original works of Augustine, use the works of Anselm of Canterbury, Pietro Damiani and church writers of the XII century. However, from the point of view of ancient Russian scribes, these were the original works of St. Augustine, and in this case, the very appeal to his work in Moscow Russia is important. From Augustine's large and diverse heritage, the translator's attention was drawn not to his theological and religious polemical treatises, but to didactic works - teachings and prayers, which formed the main circle of ancient Russian spiritual reading.

The history of the" Book of St. Augustine " and its reworking at the end of the XVII century is a mirror of the palace coups in Russia caused by the struggle for power after the death of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich. Alexey Mikhailovich was married twice: first to Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, and second to Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. From the first marriage, the future tsars Fedor, Ivan and Tsarevna Sophia were born, from the second - Peter I. After the death of Alexey Mikhailovich on January 29, 1676, boyar Matveyev tried to raise Peter I to the throne, but was defeated in the struggle with the Miloslavsky party, who managed to remove people close to Naryshkin from the court. Many of them were exiled to distant voivodeships.

After the death of the young tsar Fyodor Alekseevich on April 27, 1682, the Naryshkin "party" removed the sickly and incapable fifteen-year-old Ivan V from power and proclaimed his younger brother, nine-year-old Peter I. The young brother of Tsarina Natalia, Ivan Kirillovich Naryshkin, was urgently returned from exile to Moscow. On May 7, 1682, he received the boyar rank and was appointed from the room stewards as a gunsmith. According to contemporaries, Naryshkin "wanted to rule the state until Tsar Peter came of age, which Sophia opposed." "Whoever is dead, let him lie down," he declared at Fyodor Alekseyevich's funeral, and added, referring to his nephew: "and the tsar is not dead, but alive!"

The response to the palace coup was the Streltsy revolt, which Tsarevna Sofia and boyar I. M. Miloslavsky, who headed the family court coalition, used to eliminate the Naryshkin party. On May 17, 1682, the rebels seized the Kremlin and obtained Naryshkin's extradition. On the same day, he was tortured in a dungeon, and then Kaz-

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nili on Red Square on charges of plotting the life of Tsarevich Ivan.

Naryshkin is dedicated to the book "God-like Love" by the court writer Karion Istomin, preserved in the list of the end of the XVII century (Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, P. I. A. 72). It opens with a short "Preface to the most gracious reader", in which Istomin twice addresses his patron, calling him "my most gracious benefactor John Kirilovich". "For this reason," he wrote, "I have been vanquished by your love for only one of the mysteries of the God - like love, knowing of the wisdom of your equality, the lists of great labor, and the book for your piety, which is called' God-like Love, ' having written and offered."

The "Naryshkin" list of" Godlike Love " almost did not attract the attention of researchers, as, however, the history of the monument, its sources and their origin still remained unclear. Many researchers (M. N. Murzanova, R. K. Agarkova, I. F. Martynov, S. I. Nikolaev, A.M. Panchenko, etc.) believed that the translation of "Godlike Love" was made by Karion Istomin himself in 1687 for Tsarevna Sophia. In fact, the basis of "Godlike love "is the Russian translation of the XVI century" On the Vision of Christ "from the"Book of St. Augustine".

In addition to the preface, Istomin placed two colorized printed engravings (one of them is an image of Augustine)in the Naryshkin list with your own poems:

Saint Augustine write a book with it,

to God, he corrected his whole life.

Words of his sweetness zde sota,

in them, God's kindness to us is known.

For this he should be praised,

while reading this book, ask for help.

Holy Father Augustine, be merry

and always pray to Christ for me.

The second engraving depicts "Jesus Christ, creator of the world", and around it are written poems "Sweet Conversation":

Sweet Christ, great joy,

in Your conversation grant me haste.

In it delight me forever,

let not the burden of sin always weigh you down.

You ubo to Itself all podvodayeshi,

Your bounty is poured out to us.

The same all-zeal we resort to You,

We wish to be with You everywhere in conversation.

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According to the observations of R. K. Agarkova, the young deacon of the Putivl Molchenskaya desert Istomin visited Moscow for the first time in 1676 and at the same time gained the confidence of Euthymius of Moscow - the right hand of Patriarch Joachim (Agarkova R. K. Controversial issues of the biography of Kario Istomin // Uch. zap. Dushanbe State Pedagogical Institute named after T. G. Shevchenko. Dushanbe, 1967. Vol. 51. Ser. filol. Issue 19: Linguistics and Literary Studies). The exact time of Istomin's move to the capital is unknown, but in 1679 he already served at the Moscow Printing Yard and carried out assignments for Patriarch Joachim.

During the reign of Fyodor Alekseevich (29.1.1676 - 27.IV. 1682), Naryshkin was in Ryazan exile on charges of plotting against the life of the tsar. Istomin would never have dared to dedicate a book to a disgraced nobleman, while calling him his "most amiable benefactor" and praising his "friendliness", wisdom and piety. Most likely, the "God-like Love" appeared during the three weeks of Naryshkin's rise and death: not earlier than April 27 and not later than May 17, 1682. Perhaps Istomin only wrote a small "Preface to the most kind reader" to the already finished text. Since Naryshkin is not named a boyar in the preface, we can assume that it was completed before May 7, 1682, when Ivan Kirillovich received this rank. Karion Istomin immediately responded to the change of power in the "top", but hurried.

As a result of the Strelet uprising, Ivan V was elevated to the throne , and on May 26, 1682, the Zemsky Sobor approved him as the "first" tsar. Peter I was declared the "second" tsar, and Tsarevna Sophia became the regent and ruler of Russia. In the new environment, Istomin behaved like an experienced courtier.

In January 1687, he wrote a new preface to the "Godlike Love" with a dedication to Tsarevna Sofia Alekseevna. On March 13, 1687, the book was presented to her as a gift...I bring to the creation of your God-chosen one, "the writer addressed Tsarevna Sofia," the book 'God-like Love', as if by the hand of the palpable glagolati with Christ, Blessed Augustine... "" (Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, collected by F. F. Mazurin, No. 645).

Istomin was going to decorate the "tray" copy of the book with 36 miniatures - one for each chapter "On the Vision of Christ". To each drawing, he wrote a poem, as he reported in the preface: "... and decent glaviznam podobstvennymi formations he decorated and about those images poems attributed merochislenno". Meanwhile, in the Mazurinsky list of " God-like Love "there is only one colorized printed engraving with the image of Augustine and Istomin's verses on page 29, which repeats the decoration on page 6 of the Naryshkin manuscript, with the difference, however, that the name of the author of the engraving is indicated in the Mazurinsky list - Gaspar Huberty.

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The second engraving of the Naryshkin manuscript "Jesus Christ, Creator of the World" is not included in the Mazurinsky list. However, the verses "Sweet conversation" to this engraving open a cycle of poetic signatures, composed by Istomin "sofyinskaya" edition of "Bogovidnaya lyubov". In some lists of the XVII-XVIII centuries, the translation of "On the Vision of Christ" is accompanied by Istomin's verse cycle, while in others it is not. However, the manuscripts with 36 miniatures are unknown.

If in the Naryshkin list Istomin referred to his source very vaguely as "great labor earned", then this time he left a description of the book that he used to have, which he reworked into "God-like Love":"...obrekh on Belorussian pisme, Slaven dialect prevedenu and pisannu, yuzhe Slaven letters written...".

Istomin had a West Russian translation list of Augustine, made in the traditional book language, or, as he called it, the "Slavonic dialect". Istomin's work consisted in a "graphic translation" of the Western Russian cursive ("Belorussky pisma") into the book semi-articular letter of Moscow Rus, which (with elements of cursive) was used to write white lists of "God-like love" from the collections of F. F. Mazurin and Chudov monastery. The south-West Russian proto-graph of the "Books of St. Augustine" is also indicated by some linguistic features. In her Russian list, for example, the subjunctive mood in the first person singular is sometimes formed by a combination of the participle na-l-and the specifically Western Russian form bym: heard bym, etc.

Where and how did Karion Istomin get such a rare manuscript in Moscow Russia? Around 1656, during the war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Prince Andrey Kurbsky's grandson Kashper Kurbsky surrendered to Russian captivity, converted to Orthodoxy with the name Cyril, and entered the tsarist military service. After the Armistice of Andrusovo in 1667, he returned to his estate in the Vitebsk Voivodeship, which was ceded to Poland under the terms of the treaty. Kashper Kurbsky maintained close relations with Prince V. V. Golitsyn, corresponded with him, sent his children to him, and probably found an opportunity to transfer to Russia some books of his grandfather, which for many years were in the home archive and therefore did not receive distribution in Lithuanian Russia. Perhaps among them was a family heirloom-the "Book of St. Augustine", a list from the personal copy of Andrei Kurbsky, which was in his possession during the voivodeship in Yuriev Livonsky (now Tartu) in 1563-1564.

Karion Istomin also made a separate list of the "Teachings or Prayers", the second part of the "Book of St. Augustine", and placed them at the beginning of his collection-convolute (State Historical Museum, collection of the Chudov Monastery. N 290). Further in the manuscript, in chronological order, there are articles from 1687, 1689 and 1690.,

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This list of "Homilies or Prayers" dates back to about 1687. Other lists of this translation have also been preserved.

By the mid-90s of the XVII century, when Tsarevna Sophia was already overthrown by Peter I, Istomin was finishing a new work- " ... the book of love of a certain God-wise man, called the sweetness of the God-thinking soul in a rant with the Lord God... "(State Historical Museum. Sobranie Uvarov, N 73-1). In rough drafts, the work has a slightly different name "" Sweetness of the mind-wordless [added above the line: and God-thinking. - V. K. souls in conversation with the Lord God of" a certain God-wise man... "(Ibid. Collection of the Chudov Monastery. N 302). The writer was going to present the book as a gift to Tsarevna Natalia Alekseevna, the beloved sister of Peter I, and wrote a dedication in her honor, dated in draft materials in 1694.

After the birth of Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich on February 18, 1690, Karion Istomin sought the position of his tutor and for this purpose dedicated a number of works to him: books of poems " Smart Paradise "(1693), "We are Going" (1693), " Ecclesia "(1693), "Polis" (1694), printed "Primer" (1696), etc. A draft of his revised preface to the book "The Sweetness of the Soul" with a dedication to Tsarevich Alexey has been preserved.

Istomin's dedications have been preserved in whitelists and draft lists, but the book itself "Sweetness of the Soul" in the form in which it was conceived by the writer, has not yet been discovered. S. N. Brailovsky wrote about it: "No trace of this translation, even the most insignificant, has been preserved in the papers of our writer" (S. Brailovsky).N. One of the motley XVII-th century ... St. Petersburg, 1902). Still, you can try to find traces of this composition.

From the dedication to Tsarevna Natalia Alekseevna, it is clear that the book was a collection of teachings and prayers. Karion Istomin wrote about its content: "For this reason, prayer and teaching words were offered in a rant with the Lord God...", " ... the teaching of the Divine Scriptures and prayers composed of a constant and unceasing ascension... "(Ibid. Sobranie Uvarov, N 73-1). As in the case of the" God-like Love", Istomin used the Western Russian manuscript as the basis for his work. Again, his job was to edit the text in accordance with the book norms of Moscow Rus."...Prepisasya with belomalorosskago language and pismen... " - so in rough sketches he described the source and degree of his participation in the work (Ibid. Collection of the Chudov Monastery, No. 302). It can be assumed that the work of "a certain God-wise man" was "Teachings, or Prayers" from the "Book of St. Augustine".

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After Istomin made lists of the first and second parts of the "Book of St. Augustine", it turned out to be in the possession of Euthymius Chudovsky. Most likely, he received the manuscript from his close friend Karion Istomin. Euthymius Chudovsky rewrote the entire "Book of St. Augustine" around 1692. The basis for this dating is given by the coincidence of filigrees in two of his autographs. In November 1692, Euthymius copied the collection on paper with the watermark "anchor in the coat of arms" (Ibid. Collection of the Chudov Monastery; N 345). On the same paper are written the first and second parts of the "Book of St. Augustine" in the author's list.

The history of the "Book of St. Augustine" is a vivid example of the links between the scholarly literature of the XVI century and the intellectual literature of the Moscow Baroque. Translated in Russia in the 16th century and preserved in Lithuanian Rus by Kurbsky and his descendants, it was reborn in Moscow Baroque literature after a long period of oblivion, reflecting the struggle for power in the beginning of Peter's glorious deeds.

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