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in ancient russia

Many still believe that in the pre-Petrine era in Russia did not teach anything. Moreover, education itself was then allegedly persecuted by the Church, requiring only that students somehow recited prayers by heart and gradually dismantled printed liturgical books. Yes, and taught, they say, only the children of the priests, preparing them to take orders. Those same from nobility, who believed in truth "teachings - light...", entrusted the education of their offspring discharged from abroad foreigners. The rest were " 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 devoted 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 been printed anywhere, are not mentioned and which can serve to explain the interesting aspects of ancient Russian pedagogy. These materials consist in a lengthy manuscript called " ABC "and contains several different textbooks of the time, composed by some "pioneer", partly copied from other, the same publications, which were entitled by the same name, although different content and had a different number of sheets.

After examining the manuscript, Mordovtsev makes the first and most important conclusion: in Ancient Russia, schools as such existed. However, confirms this, and more ancient document - the book "Stoglav" (collection of resolutions of the Stoglavy Cathedral, held with the participation of Ivan IV and representatives of the Boyar Duma in the years 1550-1551). It contains sections on education. In them, in particular, it is defined that schools are allowed to contain persons of a spiritual rank if the applicant receives on that permission from the Church administration. Before giving him one, it was necessary to test the thoroughness of his own knowledge of the applicant, 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 in the hands of the historian gets a few handwritten "ABC Books" - books very curious. Despite its name, it is, in fact, not textbooks (they have no alphabet, no scripts, no teaching account), but rather a guide for the teacher and detailed instructions to 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 it.