THE RUSSIAN CHRONOGRAPH IN THE 17TH CENTURY

The Russian Chronograph was created in the first quarter of the 16th century by the monk Dosifei Toporkov of the Iosifo-Volokolamskii Monastery. It presented Russian history as part of world history and defined Russia’s place in it. The Russian Chronograph strongly influenced the formation of the Russian national identity and became very popular in the 17th century due to its literary merits. Its impact on public consciousness is evidenced by the fact that the term “Velikaia Rossia” (Great Russia), which is found in the Chronograph, was adopted as the name for the country by the 1612 Council of the Land in Yaroslavl. This article provides an overview of all the main redactions of the Chronograph and of those whose authors are known from the period before the beginning of Peter the Great’s reforms. The study shows the development of the text of the Russian Chronograph and the role that this chronograph played in the large chronicle compilations created by scribes who worked for Patriarch Ioakim. The author points out the growing interest in the Russian Chronograph in the last quarter of the 17th century in the wake of the acceptance of its concept of the sacredness of the Russian Orthodox Tsardom at the highest state level. This is evident in the rite of the coronation of Feodor Alekseevich, which became the basis for the subsequent coronations of Russian tsars and emperors.