Христианизация Новгородской земли в IX-XIV вв. Погребальный обряд и христианские древности [Xristianizacija Novgorodskoj zemli v 9-14 vekax. Pogrebal'nyj obrjad i xristianskie drevnosti]

Abstract

International audience ; The book "Christianisation of the Novgorodian Land in 800-1400 AD" is dedicated to the early stages of Christianity in Russia. The information from the written sources seems unable to cover the process of Christianisation in Russia to the full, which demands active usage of archeo-logical materials. The book in view for the first time presents and analyses the whole variety of items of personal piety relating to IX–XIII centuries and discovered in the burial memorials of the Kievan Russia and the Novgorodian principality.The Introduction declares that the study of the Christianisation of the ancient Russia on the basis of the archeological data requires not only collection, systematisation and analysis of the whole set of Christian antiquities of the medieval Russia (IX–XIII centuries), but also the exposure of all innovations in culture, connected with the dissemination of the new religion.In the view of the research task the author frames himself to the analysis of the data from funeral memorials, as it is the archeology of the burial rite that presents the most informative mate-rial on the early stages of the new ideology formation. For the territory investigated, the Nov-gorodian land of late XIII century was chosen. The territorial approach to the phenomena of the clerical life and Christian culture is in keeping with the standards of the canonical law of the East-ern Church. Novgorod with its neighborhood from the very beginning acts as one of the two centers of the formation of the ancient Russian state, and the history of the Church in Novgorodian land re-flects all the features of the Christianisation of ancient Russia. The features of political and social system in ancient Novgorod, as well as the peculiarities of its history (provided by the active Russian-Finnish contacts) left their imprint on the process of the development of Christian culture in Novgorodian land. As far as the main historical limits are concerned, two dates are accepted: 988 – the Baptism of Russia and the ...