What is life: the definition of the genre and its features

Ancient written literature is divided into secular and ecclesiastical. The latter was especially popular and developed after Christianity began to occupy ever stronger positions among other world religions.

Genres of Religious Literature

Ancient Rus acquired its writing along with spiritual books that were brought from Byzantium by Greek priests. And the first Slavic alphabet, as you know, was developed by the brothers of the brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Therefore, it was the church texts that became the source of knowledge, according to which our ancestors comprehended book wisdom. The genres of ancient religious literature included psalms, lifestyles, prayers and sermons, church legends, teachings and stories. Some of them, for example the story, later transformed into genres of secular works. Others remained strictly within the church framework. Let's see what life is. The definition of the concept is as follows: these are works devoted to the description of the life and deeds of the saints. It is not only the apostles who continued the preaching work of Christ after his death. Heroes of the sacred texts became martyrs, famous for their moral behavior and suffered for the faith.

Characteristic features of life as a genre

Hence follows the first distinctive feature of what life is. The definition included some clarification: first, it was made up of a real person. The author of the work should adhere to the framework of this biography, but pay attention to those facts that would indicate the special sanctity, selectivity and selflessness of the saint. Secondly, what is life (definition): it is a story compiled for the glorification of the saint for the edification of all believers and unbelievers, so that they are inspired by a positive example.

An obligatory part of the narrative was the reports of the miraculous power that God bestowed on his most faithful servants. Thanks to God's mercy, they could heal, support the suffering, perform the feat of humility and asceticism. So the authors portrayed the image of an ideal person, but, as a result, many biographical information, details of private life were omitted. And, finally, another distinguishing feature of the genre: style and language. There are many rhetorical exclamations, addresses, words and expressions with biblical symbols.

Proceeding from the above, what is life? The definition can be formulated as follows: it is an ancient genre of written literature (as opposed to oral folk art) on a religious theme glorifying the deeds of Christian saints and martyrs.

Lives of the Reverend

Life songs for a long time were the most popular in ancient Russia. They wrote on strict canons and, in fact, revealed the meaning of human life. One of the most striking examples of the genre is "The Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh", set forth by Epiphany the Wise. There is everything that should be in the literary texts of this type: the hero comes from the pious family of the righteous, obedient to the will of the Lord. God's craft, faith and prayers support the hero from childhood. He humbly endures the trials and trusts only in God's mercy. Realizing the importance of faith, the hero spends his conscious life in spiritual labors, not caring about the material side of being. The basis of his existence are fasting, prayer, taming the flesh, fighting with the impure, asceticism. The lives of Russian saints stressed that their characters were not afraid of death, were gradually preparing for it and took their care with joy, as it allowed their souls to meet with God and the angels. The work ended, as it was, with praise and praise of the Lord, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and also the most righteous - the Reverend.

List of the life stories of Russian literature

Peru Russian authors own about 156 texts relating to the genre of life. The first of them are associated with the names of princes Boris and Gleb, treacherously killed by their own brother. They also became the first Russian Christian martyr martyrs, canonized by the Orthodox Church and considered to be defenders of the state. Next were the lives of Prince Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy and many other prominent representatives of the Russian land. A special place in this series is the life story of Archpriest Avvakum, a rebellious leader of the Old Believers, written by himself during his stay in Pustozersky prison (17th century). In fact, this is the first autobiography, the birth of a new literary genre.