FOURTH PERIOD, FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY TO THE EPOCH
OF REFORM UNDER PETER THE GREAT.
Even in far-away, northeastern Russia a break is apparent in the middle
of the sixteenth century; and during the reign of Iván the Terrible, a
new sort of historical composition came into vogue--the so-called
"Stépennaya Kníga," or "Book of Degrees" (or steps), wherein the
national history was set forth in order, according to the Degrees of the
Princely Houses in the lines of descent from Rúrik to Iván the Terrible
in twenty degrees. This method found favor, and another degree was added
in the seventeenth century, bringing the history down to the death of
the Tzar Alexéi Mikháilovitch. During the seventeenth century many
attempts were made at collections and chronicles, the only one
approaching fullness being the "Chronicle of Níkon," so-called,
probably, because it was compiled by order of the Patriarch Níkon.
During the seventeenth century a fad also sprang up of writing
everything, even school-books, petitions, and calendars in versified
form, which was known as _vírshi_, and imported from Poland to Moscow by
Simeón Polótzky. At that time, also, it was the fashion for school-boys
to act plays as a part of their regular course of study in the schools
in southwest Russia; and in particular, in Peter Moghíla's Academy in
Kíeff. Plays of a religious character had, naturally, been imported
from western Europe, through Poland, in the seventeenth century, but as
early as the beginning of the sixteenth century certain church
ceremonies in Russia were celebrated in a purely dramatic form,
suggestive of the mystery plays in western Europe. The most curious and
famous of these was that which represented the casting of the Three Holy
Children into the Fiery Furnace, and their miraculous rescue from the
flames by an angel. This was enacted on the Wednesday before Christmas,
during Matins, in Moscow and other towns, the first performance, so far
as is known, having been in the beginning of the sixteenth century, it
being mentioned, in the year 1548, in the finance-books of the
archiepiscopal residence of St. Sophia at Nóvgorod. The "furnace" was a
circular structure of wood, on architectural lines, gayly painted with
the figures of appropriate holy men; specimens have been preserved, one
being in the Archeological Museum in St. Petersburg.
The second famous "Act" (for such was their title) was known under the
name of "The Riding on the Foal of an Ass," and took place (beginning
with the end of the sixteenth century) in Moscow and other towns,
generally on Palm Sunday. It represented the triumphal entry of Christ
into Jerusalem, and in Moscow it was performed in accordance with a
special ritual by the Patriarch, in the presence of the Tzar himself;
the Patriarch represented Christ, the Tzar led the ass upon which he was
mounted. In other towns it was acted by the archbishops and the
Voevódas. The third, and simplest, of these religious dramas, the "Act
of the Last Judgment," generally took place on the Sunday preceding the
Carnival.
In 1672 Tzar Alexéi Mikháilovitch ordered Johann Gregory, the Lutheran
pastor in Moscow, to arrange "comedy acts," and the first pieces acted
before the Tzar on a private court stage were translations from the
German--the "Act of Artaxerxes," the comedy "Judith," and so forth. But
under the influence of southwestern Russia, as already mentioned, it was
not long before a Russian mystery play, "St. Alexéi, the Man of God,"
founded on a Polish original, thoroughly imbued with Polish influence,
was written in honor of Tzar Alexéi, and acted in public by students of
Peter Moghíla's College in Kíeff. A whole series of mystery plays
followed from the fruitful pen of Simeón Polótzky. Especially curious
was his "Comedy of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Golden Calf, and the Three
Youths Who Were Not Consumed in the Fiery Furnace." He wrote many other
"comedies," two huge volumes of them.
Theatrical representations won instant favor with the Tzar and his
court, and a theatrical school was promptly established in Moscow, even
before the famous and very necessary Slavonic-Greco-Latin Academy, for
"higher education," as it was then understood.
None of the school dramas--several of which Peter Moghíla himself is
said to have written--have come down to us; neither are there any
specimens now in existence of the spiritual dramas and dramatic
dialogues from the early years of the seventeenth century. In addition
to the dramas of Simeón Polótzky, of the last part of that century, we
have the dramatic works of another ecclesiastical writer, St. Dmítry of
Rostóff (1651-1709), six in all, including "The Birth of Christ," "The
Penitent Sinner," "Esther and Ahashuerus," and so forth. They stand
half-way between mysteries and religio-allegorical pieces, and begin
with a prologue, in which one of the actors sketches the general outline
of the piece, and explains its connection with contemporary affairs; and
end with an epilogue, recited by another actor, which is a reinforcement
and inculcation of the moral set forth in the play. St. Dmítry's plays
were first acted in the "cross-chamber," or banquet-hall, of the
episcopal residence in Rostóff, where he was the Metropolitan, by the
pupils of the school he had founded. He cleverly introduced scenes from
real life into the middle of his spiritual dramas.
Collections of short stories and anecdotes current in western Europe
also made their way to Russia, via Poland; and freed from puritanical,
religious, and conventional bonds, light satirical treatment of topics
began to be met with in the seventeenth century, wherein, among other
things ridiculed, are the law-courts, the interminable length of
lawsuits, the covetousness and injustice of the judges, and so forth.
Among such productions are: "The Tale of Judge Shemyák" (Herring), "The
Description of the Judicial Action in the Suit Between the Pike and the
Perch"; or, applying personal names to the contestants, "The Story of
Yórsha Yórshoff (Perch, the son of Perch) and the Son of Shtchetínnikoff
(the Bristly)." A similar production is "The Story of Kúra (the Cock)
and Lisá (the Fox)." The first place among such works, for simplicity of
style and truth of description, belongs to "The History of the Russian
Nobleman, Frol Skovyéeff, and Anna, Daughter of Table-Decker Nárdin
Nashtchókin." But many writers of that age could not take a satirical
view of things, and depicted life as a permanent conflict between the
powers of evil and good--wherein the Devil chiefly got the upper
hand--and man's principal occupation therein, the saving of his soul.
One of the best compositions of ancient Russian secular literature
belongs to this gloomy category, "The Tale of Góre-Zloshtchástye; How
Góre-Zloshtchástye Brought the Young Man to the Monastic State,"
Góre-Zloshtchástye being, literally, "Woe-Misfortune." Woe-Misfortune
persecutes the youth, who finds no safety from him, save on one road,
where, alone, he does not besiege him--the road to the monastery.
It will be seen that the spirit of the age was deeply influenced by the
state of material things.
QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW
1. What kind of historical writing sprang up in northeastern
Russia during the time of Iván the Terrible?
2. Describe the fashion of acting plays in the schools.
3. What were the "comedy acts" given before the Tzar?
4. For what is Dmítry of Rostóff to be remembered?
5. What kind of anecdotes and short stories came from western
Europe to Russia in the seventeenth century?
6. What picture of Russian life do they bring before us?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_History of Russia._ Alfred Rambaud.
_The Story of Russia._ W. R. Morfill.