Scorinology

Skorinology is a field of historical research that studies the life, activity, and creative heritage of the East Slavic and Belarusian first printer, philosopher, humanist, physician Francis Skorina (1486–1551).

Scorinology is distinguished by an interdisciplinary approach using the methods of various disciplines, such as history , historiography , intellectual history , art history , linguistics , philosophy .

Skorinology dates back to the 17th century in connection with scattered mentions of historians and scholars about the books of F. Skorina. In the second half of the 18th century, interest in Skorina’s legacy increased significantly, in 1776 I. Bakmeister devoted separate pages to Skorina’s publications “Apostle” and “Pentateuch” ^[1] , in 1786 Skorina’s publications were studied by such researchers as P. A. Alekseev and I.M. Streetter . Since 1791 , the famous Czech philologist and public figure J. Dobrovsky has put forward a number of hypotheses about the place of Skorina's printing house, about the language of the works and his biography in his works, and especially in the posthumous correspondence ^[2] .

Throughout the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, many historians in the Russian Empire, including Poland, spoke out in connection with the copies and language of Skorin's editions ( A. L. Schlötzer , V. S. Sopikov , P. I. Köppen , K. F. Kalaidovich , S. B. Linde , E. S. Bandtke , E. A. Bolkhovitinov , N. M. Karamzin , P. M. Stroyev , M. P. Pogodin and others) In the second half of the 19th century, works multiplied describing the publications and language of Skorina ( A. E. Viktorov , I. I. Pervolph , E. F. Karsky ). In 1878 , I.P. Karataev in "Description of Slavic-Russian books printed in Cyril letters. 1491-1730 ”, devotes dozens of pages to Skorina’s work.

A real breakthrough in skorinology takes place in 1888 , when P.V. Vladimirov publishes his monograph “Dr. Francis Skorina: His Translations, Printings, and Language” (St. Petersburg, 1888), for the first time summing up centuries-old mentions and research versions about Skorin and analyzing all his books known by then. By the beginning of the 20th century, information about Skorin was published in all the largest encyclopedic publications, including abroad.

With the onset of revolutionary events in the Russian Empire, Skorinology moves to a qualitatively new level, associated not only with the search, comparative characterization and interpretation of Skorina's printing monuments by individual specialists, but also with giving the name of Skorina the meaning of a national symbol. This movement begins with the preparation of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the beginning of book printing in 1917 and the numerous publications about Skorin in the Belarusian mass media (for example, “ Gomon ”, “ Free Belarus ”, “ Chirvoni Shlyakh ”), where such prominent scientists and literature, such as E.F. Karsky , V.U. Lastovsky , V.M. Ignatovsky , M. Goretsky and others.

The subsequent years , 1925-1926 , were marked by new celebrations dedicated to the 400th anniversary of book printing, based on the 1525th year of the alleged founding of the printing house in Vilna (now another date has been set in scorological studies - 1522, the year of the release of the Little Road Book). Among the festivities, a particularly notable event was the holding of the conference and the publication of a collection of its materials, “400th Lezce of Belarus Druk.” Here, key articles for Skorinology were published: the first historiographically complete “Scorianana” by V. I. Picheta , “Engravings and Bookings on the Issues of Francis Skaryna” by N. N. Shchekotikhin, and others. With the defeat of the policy of Belarus and the beginning of devastating repressions against the intelligentsia of Belarus , skorinovedenie practically ceases on the territory of the republic until the end of World War II.

From the second half of the 1930s, in the Czech Republic, an emigrant historian A. V. Florovsky began his publications about Skorin, who proved the undoubted influence of the Czech Bible ^[3] (the Bible published in Venice by P. Lichtenstein in 1506) on the language of Skorin’s publications, as well as establishing the possibility of Skorina's work as a royal gardener in Prague at the end of her life (according to a document issued in 1552 by King Ferdinand I to the son of F. Skorina Simeon). It was Florovsky who again attracted the attention of the scientific community to the fact of the possible trip of F. Skorina to Moscow after the first publications of J. Fiedler and I. Pervolf ^[4] . In general, it should be noted the prominent contribution of Belarusian figures of scorinology , who worked abroad. The discoveries of V. Tumash , J. Sadowski, A. Nadson , thanks to which it became known about Skorina’s tenure as Secretary of the King of Denmark or about the year of publication of the Little Road Book 1522 in the Vilnius printing house, can hardly be overestimated. At the same time, in Belarus itself, research in the field of scorinology in the post-war period met with great difficulties. As a prominent representative of skorinology E. L. Nemirovsky wrote, “The bugbear of accusations of nationalism loomed before everyone who wanted to touch on this semi-forbidden topic” (Nemirovsky 1990, p. 61). Nevertheless, thanks to the works of V.V. Anichenko , V.V. Chepko , N.O. Aleksyutovich, V.M. Konon , S. A. Podokshin , as well as later V. I. Doroshkevich , O. A. Loyko , V. A. Chemeritsky , V. F. Shmatov , A. I. Maldis , E. L. Nemirovsky , G. Ya. Golenchenko in Belarus, research schools of scorinology are beginning to take shape, focused on different approaches - linguistic, historical, cultural, philosophical and literary.

The Khrushchev “thaw” and some liberalization of historiography created the necessary conditions for the revival of public interest in skorinovedenie. This is evidenced by widespread celebrations of the 450th anniversary of Belarusian printing in 1967 , and numerous publications, among which the works of S. Kh. Alexandrovich , A. N. Bulyko, A. I. Gritskevich , S. K. Maykhrovich, Y. I Poretsky , G. Ya. Golenchenko . The next milestone in skorinovedenie were events dedicated to the celebration in 1986 - 1990 . 500th anniversary of Skorina. The result was numerous publications, among which fundamental research and collections stand out that have become referential in scorinology - collections of documents and materials about Skorina, collected works of Skorina, and a bibliography.