Information about the Russian nation

The ancestors of Russia were a group of Eastern Slavs. The Eastern Slavs, however, were first nomadic people, and their social development started from a very low point and was extremely slow; they were still at the stage of clan communes until the 6th century. These East Slavs were initially spread across the great plains of Eastern Europe. The earliest Russian state was founded by the ancient Rus people in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. The so-called Rus were the Finnish name for some Germanic people living in Scandinavia in Northern Europe, meaning Northerners or Normans, while the East Slavs called them Varans, meaning merchants. Some Western scholars further point out that these Normans were Swedish traders and pirates who sailed from Scandinavia in Northern Europe via river waterways, while Russian historians call them "Varan-Russians". These Varan-Russian armed caravans as the basic organization, and therefore very mobile and flexible action, and has a very strong fighting ability, so often by the Slavs invited to resolve various conflicts between them, or to deal with foreign invasions. These people in the trade activities, not inevitably by the way to do some robbing and killing of pirates. A group of Eastern Slavs living in the vicinity of Novgorod invited them to rule for themselves, and the Rurik dynasty of the Varan-Rus emerged. The Slavs under their rule became known as Russians. It is evident that from the earliest appearance of Russia on the stage of history, the lineage of its peoples was markedly mixed. It was only in this fusion of North Germanic and East Slavic peoples that the East Slavic element prevailed. Although the Varan I Rus became the rulers, they were gradually assimilated by the local East Slavs. The ancestors of these Russians lived in the north of the East European plain, near the Arctic Ocean. The grim natural environment of gray, cloudy skies, endless snow and ice, and barbaric meadows made it impossible for the ancient Rus people to live in peace for a long time. This has largely determined their way of life, character, psychology, and even beliefs. They begged for the protection of the God of nature and had a mysterious intercourse with nature. They were forced to leave the lifeless wilderness and the cold tundra, to expand and to fight for it. They wandered on horseback, trying to acquire an ideal home for themselves by force. The famous Russian historian C. Solovyov describes the ancient Rus as a "tumbleweed-like fluid Rus," and believes that this fluidity, or "liquid factor," slowed down the development of the ancient Rus. This overly primitive life of human inadequacy made the Russians initially lacking in rationality and subject to an impersonal national force of nature, to which the sacred and the sinful are equally and eternally seductive. At the same time, they have a strong herd, the character of the brave and strong, restless soul.

Due to the remoteness of Novgorod's geographical location, which had many unfavorable factors, Oleg, the heir of Liurik, decided to march to Kiev. After occupying Kiev he went on a four-way conquest, bringing under his control Slavic tribes such as the Slovaks, Krivichs, Drevlians, Shevlians, Radilaikians and other Slavic tribes, as well as non-Slavic tribes such as the Mairians, Vysysyts, Chuds and other non-Slavic tribes. This resulted in the historical formation of Kievan Rus, a state centered in Kiev. It was practically the same state as the later Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians***. It was an early feudal state that retained strong remnants of the original communal system. Its rulers were brutal and pleasure-seeking, indulging in food and drink, and the plundering of wealth was so brutal that the "Saogon parade" was well known. All this culminated in a bloody conflict between the Drevlians and Kievan Rus. The Drevlians killed Archduke Igor of Kievan Rus' when they couldn't stand it any longer, and Igor's wife carried out a number of rare and brutal reprisals against the Drevlians, vowing not to stop until they were exterminated. And in the Kiev Archdukes attacked the Byzantine process, the Gurus once again showed extreme savagery and ferocity, they are not only crazy looting property, but also burning churches, destroying palaces, on the captured prisoners of war, "or hacked to death, or tortured and tormented, or as an archery fletching shot, or thrown into the sea," is really cruelty beyond words. According to Byzantine historians, Igor's son, Sviatoslav, was indomitable, valiant, bold and impulsive. The history of Kievan Rus recorded that Svyatoslav in battle "stride, light as a panther", to go on the battlefield "do not carry pots and stoves, do not cook meat, but only thinly sliced horse, animal or beef, set on a fire and burned and eat", night sleep "No tent, no saddle pad, pillow saddle, sleep in the open."

It can be seen, some people say that the Russians from Mongolia to receive those "ugly ugly Oriental factors", in fact, is living in the northern part of the plains of Eastern Europe, the ancient East Slavs inherent characteristics. Many geographical, climatic, human, political and economic conditions have created the unique character of the Russians, whose basic features have long existed and were not transplanted from the East. As for the rule of the Mongols over the Russians for more than two hundred years (1243-1480), it did bring deep suffering to the Russians, harshly destroying the national culture of Russia, which was not very long, so that the history of the Russian nation was not only in a state of stagnation, but also said to have entered an era of retreat. Comparatively speaking, however, the Mongols did not have much influence on Russia in many social and cultural aspects, due to the fact that the Mongols were nomadic, a way of life and social organization that was difficult to integrate with the predominantly agrarian Russia, and that their rule over the Russians was carried out through a small number of Russian princes and nobles and did not take the method of direct occupation. There was no possibility of constructing a unified economic model between the sedentary agrarian society, whose social structure was concentrated in cities and cultivated land, and the predatory, nomadic society, which was dominated by the steppe mode of production, and which was characterized by cyclical plundering and expansion, with rapid expansion and rapid shrinkage, and whose existence in the conquered countries was parasitical, with stagnant modes of production, and which did not become integrated with Russia. But on the other hand, the Mongols swept across Eurasia this conquest itself, broke the barrier between East and West, but also opened the door to Russia's interaction with

Asia, Russia began to open their eyes to Asia, attracted by Asia.

Moreover, Mongolia's experience in governing the country inspired the Russian rulers, and many of the Mongols' ways of running the country have been used in Russia. But on the whole, Russia from Mongolia to receive all this is passive, forced, coupled with the rise of Mongolia is not a long time, so its influence on Russia, especially in the spiritual civilization and cultural and psychological aspects of the civilization of the ancient state of Byzantium is far less far-reaching influence.

The influence of Byzantium on Russia was multifaceted, but of course the most important was Christianity. Since the original polytheistic beliefs of the Russians were very primitive and crude, it was not very difficult to abandon it, and, as the ancient Russians enjoyed a developed sense of mystical intuition, they proceeded relatively smoothly in realizing the change of faith from polytheism to Christianity. Orthodox Christianity, which Russia received from the Byzantines, was not only a religious belief, but also a worldview. Russian prophetic foreboding, mystical contemplation, the revelatory state of mind, the sense of religious vocation and the Messianic spirit clearly originated in Byzantine religion and culture.

Since the Byzantine culture was at its height, it had a strong attraction for Russia. In addition to religion, astrology, which was widely popular in Western Europe at that time, and psychics, as well as letters, currency, architecture and decorative arts, etc., all entered Russia from Byzantium, so it has been said that Russia in the above aspects are "Byzantium's daughter." It can be said that the humanistic spirit of Byzantium, with Orthodoxy at its core, entered Russia and gradually penetrated into the hearts and minds of the Russian people, igniting the mystical passion of the inherent polytheistic soul of Russia. Perhaps this is where the destiny of Russian history is truly hidden.

Even after Byzantium went into decline, the Russians still regarded the Church as a source of spiritual positivity and still followed the Greek tradition. Therefore, to see how the Russian soul is, one should not identify it only with the notion of the territory with whom they live in proximity, but mainly with the history of the development of the civilization of this people itself and the influences adapted to its needs that it has absorbed in the process. If it must be said that there are two souls in Russia, it is not two souls from the East and from the West, as some say, but the inherent soul of the Eastern Slavs and the soul of the Orthodox Church, or rather a fusion of these two souls, which determines the fundamentally heterogeneous character of the Russian nation.

But it must not be concluded from this that the psychological and character traits of the Russians have remained unchanged from time immemorial. On the whole, it seems that the Russians have developed in the struggle against the natural environment, foreign enemies and their own destiny, in the historical landscape of the intermingling of Eastern and Western civilizations, and, above all, in the process of integration with other Slavic tribes, Eastern and Northern Europeans and Germans, Mongols, and so on. In modern times, through the prism of history, we see a Russian people who, in addition to some unappealing features mentioned above, have both a tough, developed sense of intuition and an unfettered Dionysus spirit, with its associated mystical inspiration and extraordinary artistic creativity, and a sparkling rationality, a developed scientific mind and a critical spirit, and who, as a people of unparalleled genius and singularity that has captivated the people of the world.

Here we have to talk about the Russian culture of the worship of the god of wine. The Greek worship of the god of wine has a distinctive ecstasy, which is a natural release of the powerful life of the Greeks. Similar to the Greeks, the Russians also have an ecstatic culture, and there are more irrational and barbaric elements in this ecstatic culture. This carnival culture of the Russians is not only manifested in various festivals (including some religious festivals) and celebrations, but also in the culture of drinking in daily life. Russians love to drink is well known to the world, they are not only to enjoy the delicious wine, but also for the pursuit of drinking after the mind's unrestrained sense of freedom, in order to enter the state of the god of wine, to get the god of wine and the passion of the carnival, and free to release the Orthodox Church, under the suppression of this passion. This can be said to be a symbol of the Russian ideal of life. "There are primitive life impulses and mysterious telepathy in it," and "man's roughness, original desire and competition are all fully expressed in this form of civilized license ......." And, the Russian people's carnival behavior far beyond the framework of the celebration of the constraints, they are often in the banquets and parties held among friends while drinking and singing and dancing, to express the inspiration and ecstasy brought by the god of wine and the potential enthusiasm and impulse embedded in the life. Of course, for the Russians at the bottom of the suffering society, the full expression of the national carnival character after drinking is also a temporary relief of the soul.

For this nation full of psychological and personality contradictions, a Western scholar made a wonderful summary not lacking in acerbity: "Russian civilization shows a wonderful mixture of characteristics, both disobedient discipline, but also full of ruthless oppression, piety mixed with violence, praying to the gods and goddesses and blasphemy, full of music, but also very vulgar, loyal and cruel, a slave-like humility. cruelty, a slavish humility but at times an indomitable valor. This people could not develop the virtues of peace, for in the face of the long winter and the winter nights that did not dawn, they had to fight, and it was a bitter fight they had to fight to overcome the fierce winds that swept across the frozen land." (Will Duran, History of World Civilization, Volume 10, Medium, 690).