Elizaveta Dvoretskaya
Red Rus'
Przemysl, 1112
- Tell me about grandfather Bonyak!
- What can I say, it’s time for you to sleep! And so much as I talk downstairs, I won’t get enough of you! You are too young to sit at feasts until daylight!
- The squad is sitting, and where the squad is, there is the prince! Father says so.
- Let the father sit there himself. And you should sleep. You haven’t received the sword yet, which means you’re not a prince.
- I will be a prince!
- You will, you will. Now go to sleep.
– I won’t sleep until you tell me about Bonyak!
The conversation went in circles. Princess Justina Bonyakovna sighed: her eight-year-old son was stubborn as a bull, and she did not have the strength to argue with him. Forty times already, it seems, she told Rostislav about her father, and his grandfather, the Polovtsian Khan Bonyak, but Rostislav was ready to listen about him endlessly. Below, in the gridnitsa, it was noisy - the squad of the Przemysl prince Volodar Rostislavich was feasting there, from the midst of which they barely managed to extract the overly daring prince.
“Look, Volodsha is already sleeping, and Yarsha is sleeping, they are gaining strength, tomorrow they will fight,” the princess persuaded her son in a whisper, nodding at his two older brothers. - And tomorrow you will be like a sleepy fly.
- I won’t. Tell us! - Rostislav demanded, confident that his mother would soon give in. And he even bounced slightly on the couch, pretending to be galloping at full speed on a war horse.
It was already past midnight, Princess Justina’s own eyes were drooping, but she knew that her son would not leave until he achieved his goal.
“Then there was a war,” she began to tell in a half-whisper, so as not to wake up the two older princes. - The godless rebel Prince Yaroslavets Svyatopolchich came against us with an army and brought the King of Hungary and the Prince of Lyash with him. They came here, to Przemysl, and surrounded the city...
- So that neither a mouse can run by nor a bird fly by? – suggested Rostislav. He already knew everything himself, but he was afraid that his mother would forget something and spoil the whole story.
“No mouse, no bird, no one,” agreed the princess. - And Prince David went to the Polovtsian Field to look for help there. And he met Khan Bonyak and his army of eight thousand horse baturs on the Vagra River. Khan Bonyak agreed to help the princes of Przemysl and went with Prince David. So the army camped for the night, and Khan Bonyak went out alone into the field at midnight. And he began to howl like a wolf, and first one wolf answered him, then another, and then a whole thousand wolves. Bonyak returned to Prince David and said that tomorrow he would defeat many enemies...
Rostislav listened as if spellbound: he no longer interrupted, did not move, barely breathed. Frost crawled over his skin when he imagined it all: the forest, the night, the river, shining silver under the moon, and between the river and the forest - a strange, strange person alone with the moon, in a hat with a wolf's tail, himself looking like a wolf, as wild, dangerous, mysterious as gray Horse dogs. He howls, sings a viscous song of war and blood, and the wolves answer him from the forest, recognizing him as a brother and leader...
- You, wolf grandson! – his elder brother Vladimirko contemptuously threw at him. “Your grandfather is a filthy infidel, and a werewolf too!”
Vladimirko and Yaroslav, the eldest sons of the Przemysl prince, were born from his first wife, the Chernigov princess. And in the same year when Khan Bonyak conjured victory in a wolfish voice, Volodar Rostislavich, who had been widowed by that time, took Bonyak’s daughter as his wife, hoping to bind his wild, greedy and unreliable ally more tightly. Khatun Aibike was baptized under the name of Justina Bonyakovna. Her only son, a quarter Hungarian, half Cuman, was born dark, short, with prominent cheekbones and black hair. It was difficult to call him handsome, but he grew up healthy, active and smart. At first, Prince Volodar was only amused, looking at the antics of his “Polovtsy,” but gradually became attached to him and now loved him more than the two elders. And Rostislav did not ridicule his older brothers and bravely attacked them with his fists. And he often emerged victorious from these fights, because he was strong, fast and assertive.
- The prince is growing up! – Volodar Rostislavich said with pleasure.
The legend about Prince Bonyak was Rostislav’s favorite. As a ten-year-old boy, he gathered the same young squad for his child and played in that old battle. Khan Bonyak, of course, was represented by himself: first he howled, then he promised the army victory. Then one of the boys, portraying Batur Altunop, had to go out to the enemy army, shoot one arrow and return. And then “Khan Bonyak” himself began the battle. At first, he deceived the “Hungarian king” with a feigned retreat, lured him into a trap, and then struck him in the rear, scattered the enemy army and took huge booty!
So they fought until one day the rector of St. John’s Cathedral, Father Mitrofan, saw the game of Bonyak and scolded Rostislav.
- After all, the khan, Bonyak, the godless bastard, howled for a reason; and he created demonic magic! - he inspired the prince, sword thunders of righteous indignation over the guilty black-haired head. – He called upon evil spirits to help him in battle with satanic power! It’s a sin for a Christian to even think about it, let alone imitate it! Repent now, child, ask forgiveness from the Lord for having fallen into such a sin through childish foolishness!
Rostislav repented, but somewhere deep down there lived a thought: after all, Bonyak really won. Or at least through magic! The boy knew from childhood that for the possession of the volost he would have to constantly fight with his own people and with others. God does not interfere in this struggle, which means we must cope as best we can.
Moreover, Prince Volodar was not angry with him.
- Let him fight! It will come in handy later! - he said when his youngest came home in torn clothes, covered in dust and bruises. “Let him know that you can fight by force, but you can also fight by cunning.”
Together with the same boys, growing up, Rostislav underwent training - he ran, did push-ups, wrestled, and learned to wield a weapon. At the age of twelve, he also received a sword, and the boys, the sons of the Kmets, became his own close squad.
- Yes, your grandfather was a traitor! – Vladimirko was indignant. “He didn’t come here for us, but to help Prince Svyatopolk, and Prince David persuaded him to defect, because he hoped to take more booty from the Hungarians!”
“If only your grandfather could have gotten that much from somewhere!” - Rostislav responded. – And now you’ll get it for being a traitor!
It ended with screams, screams, bloody noses, and drops of blood on the trampled ground. Volodar Rostislavich no longer approved of this. His sons had too many external enemies for them to afford to fight among themselves.
Over time, Rostislav realized this, and Vladimirko stopped teasing him. Khan Bonyak, although he helped Przemysl once, remained throughout his life dangerous enemy Russian land, which brought it a lot of evil. It was not easy for Prince Volodar to make that decision - to attract the filthy Polovtsians to fight with their Christian brothers. But there was no choice: Prince Svyatopolk would not rest until he had taken all their cities from the Rostislavich brothers, Volodar and Vasilko.
Now Rostislav was already twenty years old, and childhood fun had long been replaced by serious worries, the game of war - real war. Mothers told their children about what he himself had already experienced before going to bed. But even now, falling asleep somewhere in a field camp and hearing a wolf howl far above the forest, he saw it all again - the night, the moon and a narrow-eyed man in a wolf’s hat, singing a song of war and victory. And something responded in his soul to this song - some dark god walked alongside his ancestors, looked at the back of their heads, beckoned them to follow him...
Berestye, 1124, spring
Red Rus'— (Red Rus') Principality of Galicia or Galicia, as it was called then Red Rus', - like Polotsk, was a separate land, connected with Russia only by princes. Red Rus', like Volyn, retained purer blood in its population, approaching Western Slavs. It was fertile land, who got rich early by selling her works in Oleshya and raising other people's goods along the Dniester, the banks of which were dotted with cities. Urban life developed there early: Galich was famous for its strong council, which judged the princes not only for their rule, but also for privacy. But, which did not happen anywhere else in Rus', on this same fertile land a class of large patrimonial owners, who were also rich merchants, was nurtured. Under the influence of the Polish lordship and the Hungarian magnates, it turned into a powerful boyars, which even ruled the veche, not to mention the princes. Fierce and treacherous boyars in Red Rus' they played the oath, tried and expelled princes; Once they hanged three people at once. Once one boyar even “ got involved", just for a little while. But love of money and grumpiness undermined their power. Some of them were bribed by the Poles, others by the Hungarians. They all constantly quarreled and even fought among themselves, while sucking out the juices of the people. That's why " simple child"reached out to the prince as if to " God given holder».
In the old days there were the names Chervonnaya Rus, Black Rus, Belaya Rus, Great Rus', Little Rus'. What did these names mean and where did they come from?
IN Kievan Rus By the middle of the 12th century, approximately 15 lands and principalities had formed, by the beginning of the 13th century - 50, in the 14th century - 250. All these territories had their own names, AiF.ru tells where the names of some of them came from.
Little Russia and Great Russia
Little Russia (Little Rus') is a name that appeared at the beginning of the 14th century. After the Tatar-Mongol enslavement of Russian lands, only two regions remained free in Rus': Galicia-Volyn and Vladimir-Suzdal, which actively maintained relations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. After the Kiev Metropolitan left his residence in 1300, the Galician princes began to seek the creation of their own separate metropolis. In 1305, the Galician metropolis was created, independent of the Kyiv metropolis. In order to distinguish one Rus' from another, the practice was established in Constantinople to call the ceded part of the territory of the Galician-Volyn lands - Little Russia, or Little Russia.
The concepts of Little and Great Rus' came into official use in 1361: when two metropolises were formed - one in Great Rus' with its center in Vladimir and Kyiv, and the second in Little Rus' with its center in Novgorod and Galicia.
“Little Rus'” included 6 dioceses of the Galicia-Volyn principality. The remaining 12 dioceses, including Kyiv, began to be called Great Russia. By the name of the territory “Little Rus'” (“Little Russia”) local residents they began to call them Little Russians.
Belarus
Belarus (“Belaya Rus”) - historical region Rus'. In the XII–XVII centuries, “Belaya Rus” served as the name of the lands North-Eastern Rus'. Since the 16th century, “White Russia” has been the name given to the lands of the Dvina and Dnieper regions.
Regarding modern territory In Belarus, the use of the term “White Rus'” was first recorded in the 13th century.
Some historians associate the origin of the name with the hair color of local residents and the clothing of the inhabitants of these lands, others believe that “white” in this case is synonymous with the words “great”, “independent” and “free”. The third version proceeds from the fact that white in distant times called ancient territory, and the fourth suggests that “White Russia” was the name of the lands whose population was Christian, as opposed to Black Rus' - Russian lands under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Thus, on the world map of 1459, Novgorod-Moscow Rus' is called White Russia (Rossia Biancha), the territory in the Dnieper region is called Red Russia (Rossia Rossa), and the northwestern part of Russian lands is called Black Russia (Rossia Negra).
White Rus' (Russia Alba) near Lake Ilmen (Lacus Irmen). Detail of the map Carta Marina, 1539. Commons.wikimedia.org / Olaf Magnus
In the modern sense, the term “Belarus” extends to the lands of historical White Rus' (Belarusian Podvinia and Dnieper), Black Rus' (regions of Novogrudok), Zavileiskaya Lithuania (regions of Grodno and Smorgon), Polesie (regions of Brest, Pinsk and Mozyr), as well as Severshchina ( area of Gomel, Chechersk and Rogachev).
The modern Belarusian state is official name"Republic of Belarus". In 1991 Supreme Council Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic established by decree that the new independent republic should be called Belarus (Belarus) in Russian and in all other linguistic transcriptions of his name. The change was made to reflect language form names in Belarusian.
Red Rus'
Red Rus' (Chervonaia Rus) - a historical region in the 15th–18th centuries in the west modern Ukraine and in the east and southeast of modern Poland - the region of Galicia (Galicia) or Cherven cities, which Prince Vladimir the Great annexed to Kievan Rus. In 1018 they were captured by Poland, and in 1031 they were again returned to the Old Russian state. In 1349, the Polish king Casimir III captured Galicia, and Chervonnaya Rus became part of Poland, where it remained as a Russian voivodeship until the 18th century. In the 18th–19th centuries, Russia again returned these lands to the Russian Empire.
The name comes from the city of Cherven - the largest of the Cherven cities.
According to Moscow historian Mikhail Tikhomirov, the name of the city Cherven comes from the word “cherven”, which means dark red fabric, or from the word “chervec”, meaning purple or crimson dye, in figuratively could mean beautiful city, or a city in a beautiful area.
Black Rus'
In the 13th–14th centuries, Black Russia was the name given to the regions lying in the basin of the upper reaches of the Neman with the cities of Gorodno (Grodno), Novgorod, Slonim, Volkovysky, Nesvizh, Turiysky (Turets), Zditovo.
The name comes from the dense and dark forests and forests that once covered huge spaces this area.
Samogitia (the country between the lower Nemunas and Vindava) and other regions on Carta Marina, 1539. Commons.wikimedia.org/UrusHyby
Until the 13th century, Black Rus' was part of the Principality of Polotsk. In the 1240s, Black Rus' was captured Lithuanian prince Mindovg. In the 14th century, Black Rus', together with the Lithuanian lands, was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In the 16th century, the Poles called all of Belarus Black Russia, and Great Russia - White Russia.
Novorossiya
Novorossiya ( New Rus') called the Novorossiysk province. It was historical name territory of the northern Black Sea region, annexed to the Russian Empire as a result Russian-Turkish wars in the second half of the 18th century.
The territory of New Russia included Kherson, Ekaterinoslav, Tauride, Bessarabian, Stavropol provinces, as well as the Kuban region and the Don Army region. The name was used until the beginning of the 20th century.
Since the middle of the 20th century, to designate this territory it has been used geographical definition « Northern Black Sea region“, and in the second half of the 20th century, the territory of Novorossiya within the Ukrainian SSR began to be designated by the name “Southern Ukraine”.
Geography of Russian suitsRussia as a structuralist equation
White, red and black are the basic colors of various peoples peace. In ethnopsychology, it is believed that the remaining thousands of color shades (according to the worldview of most ethnic groups) are derivatives of the three “senior” colors. On their basis, one can build an excellent structuralist sociological and ethnopsychological equation that explains huge amount Russian "riddles".
From the point of view of the dialectic of the democratic and monarchical ideas that we are discussing today, there are “special relations” between these color suits (reflecting very ancient ideas about the social strata of people, about “Russian suits” and, in fact, Russian castes) in the Russian world.
There is an idea that the institution of the “White Tsar”, the sacred idea of “white royal power” was brought to us by the Mongols. Indeed, the idea of a White, Sacred, Just King lives in the myths of the Turkic, Mongolian, and Finno-Ugric peoples.
However, among Slavic ethnic groups, for example, among Belarusians, who were not directly included in Golden Horde There are also tales and songs about the “White Tsar” - the sacred sovereign.
Visually, the meeting of the peoples of our space with the White Tsar looks something like this: The Russian Plain, our Russian Black Earth, lives in its eternal “black earth” world, but one day secret doors, “windows” open in it and fall White Light, as if “from outside” a White Other ray - its White king comes to the Black Plain.
When the Tsar, as a representative of the White Other, comes to the “Black” Plain, he is given special territory, so that the Other does not directly mix with Society, the Plain, the Earth, our “Black Tambov”. So as not to mix White with Black. The “Autochthons” provide the White Tsar with a special Rurik Settlement outside Novgorod or Olgovo Settlement outside Kyiv. Separately, oprichno. In this oprichnina territory (which sometimes expands) anything can happen; other (for the “black” local residents) transcendental laws rule there. But on the black earth, in the zemshchina, they continue to live strictly according to ancient unwritten habits and concepts. With whom it is prohibited to enter the oprichnina territory. For example, for a century, “black” people with beards were not allowed to enter St. Petersburg (the obvious oprichnina territory of the “White Tsar” almost outside the Russian world).
In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the kings of the Saxon dynasty generally lived outside the state - in German Dresden.
Red or Red Rus'
White Rus' and Black Rus'. Our last two topoi are floating. Modern Belarus several centuries ago was called Black Russia. Great Russia on medieval maps was called either White Russia or Black Russia. But Red Rus' was and is on the Russian sacred map.
Red Rus' has a different geographical fixation, associated with the outskirts of Rus'. Sometimes it meant the whole of modern Ukraine, sometimes only Galicia, often this “geocolor” extended to Poland. But the Sarmatians-Roksolans called themselves Red Russia, actually “Rukhs-Alans”, who gave us the historical self-name for the country and the Russian people.
On the territory of Red Rus', in comparison with the rest of indigenous and royal and Black and White Russia, different customs prevailed. More warlike, knightly, in these outlying territories of the Plain, the Cossacks and historical myths about Russian heroes.
It is interesting that these “Sarmatian”, knightly, “heroic” morals also entered Polish culture after it annexed Galicia and Red Ruthenia. In the 14th century, the cultural renaissance of “Sarmatism” began in Poland and Ukraine.
In Moscow, the “white-black” color paradigm triumphed: the White “vertical” Tsar and the Black “horizontal” people, who live in a rigid dualistic Black-White system.
History of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossack troops is a parallel Russian “red project”. It can well be called “Sarmatian” or “Scythian”.
Red Rus' is a “network” system, reflecting the archetype of “aristocratic anarchism”, “male brotherhoods”, military orders, dashing border guards. Cossacks Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev brought the truth and will of Red Rus' to the peoples of Russia. These weren't " peasant wars", and the rebellions of regional kshatriyas, aristocrats-knights (which, of course, were the Cossacks) against the White Tsar; with an attempt to win over the black people to their side.
All our Caucasian tribes, who intermarried with the Cossacks and live according to the principle of “ideological Sarmatism” (“Nart epic”) organically belong to this “sector”.
IN in a broad sense– “Reds” are the elite and the counter-elite. “Golden” and “thin” births. The “Red Border Guards” rebel not against the royal power, but against the royal power, in which the Sacred disappears. Then they begin to appeal to the Hidden Kingdom and urgently look for the White Tsar from the outside or from among themselves. This is how the “saved king” appeared in the Orenburg steppes Pyotr Fedorovich. Well, Stepan Razin “mutated” in his campaigns from Don Ataman into a real “Brother King”, endowed with witchcraft Power.
Language of suits
A French researcher has a treatise on the interaction of white-red social dialectics Graça D'Orsay in the book “The Language of Birds”
He describes the dialectic of the struggle between two orders - the minstrels of Mursi and the minstrels of Morvan in Europe and France.
The Mursi minstrels prepared the arrival of the White King in France, focusing on the alliance of the king with the people. The unity of power and people is a deeply Russian theme. And Morvan’s minstrels lived in the towers; they were European nobility, for whom the main thing was to assert their own liberties. According to D'Orsay, they organized a Holodomor for their people from time to time in order to put the “black bone” in its place. This is also an archetype quite close to our nobility. Their color was red.
The war between the “White King” Charles and his Catholic “black people” against the “red” Huguenot nobles and Gascon border guards is beautifully described in different sources and is familiar to Russian readers from novels Dumas. D'Orsay describes the conspiracy theory behind the events. And the quintessence of this war was St. Bartholomew's Night.
In parallel, a similar process took place in Russia. Ivan the Terrible arranged for his nobility, his “Red Rus'” and “golden families” the oprichnina and the “Russian St. Bartholomew’s Night”, which dragged on for years. The answer to Ivan the Terrible was the birth “out of nowhere” of the myth about Who, either in the guise Crimean Khan, or in his own way he burns Moscow and contributes to the dispersal of the Oprichnina.
And even from a heraldic point of view, we see a lot of allusions between Russia and France. Coat of arms Catherine de' Medici– White Unicorn, coat of arms of Ivan the Terrible – White Unicorn. But on tamga Andrey Kurbsky- the leader of the Russian aristocrats, who settled during the war with Grozny in Kovel - in Chervona Rus - there is a Red Lion - a symbol of Morvan's minstrels. Those. the black-red-white color scheme carries consistent universal symbols social groups and parties.
King of Red Scythia
Let’s imagine for a second that Red Rus' is not the outskirts of Black and White Rus', but an independent topos, a “country-in-itself.” Geographically, this territory will coincide with Great Skuf and the Golden Horde. After these territories were included in Moscow and Russia, they became “Kazatchina,” an endless desert from which the dashing man comes. But topos, a world populated by images, spirits, sacrificial fires of ancestors and Polovtsian women - sacred world The Great Steppe is here to stay! He entered Russia and imbued it with his wandering spirit, wandering light. From the point of view of the leaders of the new Russian state this country doesn’t seem to exist, but it exists and constantly declares itself. Nestorian Turks from the Kingdom Presbyter John became Cossacks and nobles, border guards. But where in Muscovy did their Tsar—the romantic Scythian wanderer—the steppe priest-khagan go?
Russia, according to Eurasian geopolitics, is built on two areas of development - the Forest and the Steppe.
The Forest has its own sovereign - the Moscow White Tsar of the Small, White and Great. What about the Steppe?
The royal figure of the Steppe in the Russian Empire has not disappeared anywhere; it is comparable to the archetypal place of the King of the Nemean Forest in the Roman Empire, where there were the Senate and Augustus, but all the “understanding” citizens went to the King of the Golden Bough. TO to the secret emperor Rome and Albi Longhi. Only unlike the hero Fraser our “secret king” is not tied to magic tree or other specific location. He wanders incessantly. The alarming figure of the Steppe Tsar from time to time becomes overgrown with fairy tales, songs, and then with flesh, sabers, pikes and bayonets.
The Steppe King of Desht-i-Kipchak (Red Rus') did not go away, did not give or sell a golden cup and crown just like that Kolaksaya to its Moscow forest brother. He turned into Agasphere, into the wandering king, into the Secret King, the bearer of the mission of Prester John, . Into the robber king, the partisan emperor, crowned with the Red cockscomb of the steppe arsonist.
In the struggle for the revival of his throne, the Tsar of Belovodye relies on the counter-elite of Red Rus', on the “bad births”. The Red Tsar challenges the White!
White-Black-Red
Let's take a look October Revolution from the point of view of the “color paradigm” we described. We are used to thinking that it was the Black people who rebelled against the White Tsar and gave him a bloody feast. But the people who organized the revolution were classic representatives of the “red color”, mostly, by the way, from the geographical “Scythian” outskirts of the Plain - from “Red Rus'”: Poles, Caucasians, Jews and Russian “thin nobles”. And he led it Vladimir Lenin- even with his face - a calibrated Kudeyar the robber!
And in 1937, the red elite that came to power in 1917 was put under the knife by the new White Tsar. Stalin initially he was “red”, but then Russian archetypes began to work, he becomes a leader, an archetypal king, the people and white emigration deify him. Rumors of attempts at a “military coup” Tukhachevsky"and the "Trotskyist-Zinovievist conspiracy" against the "transformation of Stalin" into the "White Tsar" are apparently true. We have no direct evidence, but structuralist analysis confirms the presence political struggle through the history of repressions of the 30s. last century. Apparently the “reds” did not really want to go under the “white knife”. But their plots failed.
And the “Holodomor” organized by the “Red Pole” Kosior against the Ukrainian peasantry fits perfectly into the historical and sociological scheme we have described.
Blooming Complexity
But there is one amazing period in the history of our country when energy three Russians suits: black-white-red was united for common social, geopolitical and cultural efforts. This is the era of the beginning of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Time Elected Rada, Zemsky and Stoglavy Sobors. The “Red” nobility, the “black people”, the “White Tsar” set incredible tasks for the country and their super-efforts bore fruit: the Kazan and Astrakhan Khanates were conquered, the Urals and North Caucasus- everything that today makes up the backbone of Russia and Russian civilization. It turns out that the impulses of different strata, “colors”, “suits” of our society are not always oppositional and in the face of incredible achievements and dangers, the whole society is able to unite and surprise the whole world with an unprecedented and unconfessed Russian spirit. Our society needs such unity today. But, apparently, for this, a color must appear in Rus', which does not exist now - the White Tsar.
Harmony three colors, the futuristic “color synesthesia” of the three social strata of Rus' is the only opportunity for our civilization to survive in extremely unfavorable conditions.
Everyone must be faithful to his color and to all of Rus' as a whole. And then the “flowering complexity” we expect will blossom, the ten thousand colors of Russia-Eurasia, as a derivative of the Red-White-Black palette.
But for this, all Eurasians and Scythians must also become a little artists.
Resume
"Picturesque" structural analysis shows us very important thing. The White Tsar and simply the Tsar are not equivalent figures. “Just a Tsar” is typologically one of the representatives of the elite, the first among equals of the Russian “red” nobility. The sacred and insane “White Tsar” is truly Other. Coming, he does not destroy the “red power”, but essentially restructures it, remaining in a state of geographical “otherness”, preserving the “secret space” of the Apostle Thomas around himself.
And the Sacred is such a King through myself opens and recreates. All strata of Rus' come to life and act harmoniously, focusing on the universal and messianic goals of the Russian People. Therefore, the figure of the “White Tsar” (as we have already noted) is associated with the mobilization of the Russian world.
Black and white is the space of the Sacred. Harlequin clothes. The stripes of running zebras put other animals into a state of trance. And the red border of the Scythian Desert protects the Royal topos of the “sub-Heaven land” with cosmic infinity.
Russia is a sacred country and a lost Belovodye. It has long been organized according to the principle of the Sacred Realm. The Russian people must remember this one day. Once and for all.
Pavel Zarifullin
Illustrations Rodchenko and Malevich
Alexander Blok. Kudeyar and the Mystery of Rasputin
Galicia is a region in the west of modern Ukraine. Having separated from Kievan Rus during the Mongol invasion, it came under the influence of the West, which predetermined its historical appearance. It was this Red Rus that became the prototype of modern Ukraine.
Origin
The etymology of the word “Galicia” (or in the Russian manner “Galicia”) is not completely clear. Some associate it with the name of one of the Celtic tribes - the Galatians. In another version, it is a derivative of Greek word"galis" - salt. Salt mining has indeed been going on here since ancient times, which is confirmed by the image of salt furnaces on the coat of arms of Drohobych.
People in this climate-friendly and rich natural resources the region has been settled since Paleolithic times. Unique wood of the Carpathian forests and fertile soils, mountain rivers and mineral springs, mineral deposits and abundance building stone constantly attracted conquerors to these lands, which left its mark on further development edges.
Cherven lands
From the middle of the 10th century, the city of Cherven began to stand out in the Galician lands. The Tale of Bygone Years tells how Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich conquered it from the Poles, and with it the lands that later became known in chronicle sources as Chervonnaya Rus. It is interesting that the population of this region had contact with Russia before. Thus, the White Croats, together with the Prophetic Oleg, took part in the campaign against Constantinople.
According to legend, on the beloved Cherven lands, Vladimir decided to found a city “in his name” - the now famous Vladimir-Volynsky became it. Most likely, it was from Galicia that Christianity began to actively penetrate into Kyiv. It is known that the missionary activity of Cyril and Methodius began not far from these lands, and in 982 (6 years before the baptism of Rus') an Orthodox diocese was established there.
Until the end of the 11th century, Chervonnaya Rus was subordinate to Kyiv, performing the function of the western borders Old Russian state. However, during the period of weakening of Kievan Rus, experiencing a rapid demographic and economic boom, it acquired more and more independence. Greatest heights in cultural and economic development these lands reach during the reign of Daniil of Galicia (1201-1264).
Boyar power
Independent Galicia-Volyn Principality, which has a beneficial geographical location began to rise quickly. Thanks to trade relations with the West and some isolation from external influence special status here the local boyars received, which concentrated political and economic power in their hands.
Formally, the prince ruled the lands, however, the boyars, who had their own troops and an influential body of power - the council, could interfere in princely affairs. The council, which also included large landowners, bishops and senior officials, was convened on the initiative of the boyars and was called upon to zealously protect their interests.
The boyar oligarchy, despite its influence, nevertheless recognized the legitimacy of the power of the Rurikovichs. When in early XIII century, the boyar Vladislav Kormilchich proclaimed himself a prince, he caused a unanimous protest from the boyars. “The prince’s boyar should not eat anything,” they told him at the council. And, despite a strong army and wealth, the upstart boyar failed.
Polonization
Gradually, Galicia increasingly began to experience the influence of neighboring Poland. Thus, representatives of the Rurikovich family became a thing of the past, and in their place they began to appoint Polish princes. By the middle of the 14th century, with the accession of Casimir III (1310-1370) to the Polish throne, Galicia finally became dependent on Poland. It should be noted that the gentry who lived on the territory of Galicia had equal rights with the Galician-Russian boyars - they did not pay taxes and only bore military service. Later went out of use Russian word"boyar", replaced by the Polish - "pan".
For a long time, Polish influence on Galicia was not perceived as dominion: local laws, traditions and faith were preserved here. Casimir III even intended to create an independent Orthodox metropolis in Galicia. However, after the Union of Florence (1438-1439) and the fall of Constantinople (1453), the Kiev Metropolis, which included Galicia, increasingly began to lean towards an alliance with Rome, which ultimately determined the fate of the religion. After Union of Brest(1596) the Greek Catholic Church established itself in Galicia.
From hand to hand
The division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century also affected the integrity of Galicia. So, by 1795 the eastern and northern part Galicia became part of the Habsburg Empire. It is interesting that the Austrian authorities are taking a number of measures to improve the situation of the population of the Galician lands: they are tolerant of various religious groups, limit the rights of landowners, create programs to improve the cultural level of the population.
IN early XIX century, changes again shake Galicia: in 1809, together with Krakow, Napoleon annexes its western part to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, while the Ternopil district goes to Russia. But in 1815, Western Galicia joined the Kingdom of Poland, which became part of the Russian Empire, and the Ternopil district returned to Austria.
Revolutions and political instability in Europe in the 19th century also affected the situation in Galicia. The Constitution appeared in 1848 Austrian Empire promotes the spread of democratic freedoms: in Galicia, peasant duties and other remnants of feudalism are abolished, at the same time liberal and national movements are gaining strength.
A troubled age
The tragic first half of the 20th century, which broke out in two world wars, also had an impact in Galicia. Various political forces they are again trying to divide this fertile land among themselves. In 1908, one of the Russian officials wrote with alarm: “As long as the Russian spirit still lives in Galicia, Ukrainians are not so dangerous for Russia, but as soon as the Austro-Polish government manages to fulfill its dream by destroying everything Russian in Galicia and making it forever forgotten about the once existing Chervonnaya Orthodox Rus', then it will be too late and Russia will not be able to cope with the enemy.”
In 1914, Russia strengthens its presence in Galicia, liberating it eastern part from the Austro-Hungarian troops. However, in 1921, both Russia and Austria lost Galicia. According to the Treaty of Riga, almost all of its territory goes to Poland. Obliging under the treaty to provide Ukrainians with equal rights along with the Poles, however, the Polish government does not fulfill its promises. In response to this, for almost two decades the Ukrainian liberation movement terrorizes the Polish leadership with its military attacks.
At the end of the 1930s, Galicia had to endure the division of its territories between the USSR and Germany, and during the Second World War it became part of the German General Government. And only in the spring of 1944 the situation stabilized - Galicia returned entirely to the Ukrainian SSR.
Modern Galicia is a mixture of many cultural and national traditions. Today they live here like big people ethnic groups- Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, and small ethnic groups - Rusyns, Lemkos, Boykos. Due to its historical development Galicia has always gravitated towards the West, which created certain difficulties in its integration with eastern Ukraine. Viktor Yushchenko took this fact into account in his election program, promising the Galicians quick and guaranteed accession to the European Union.
