“Not Ukrainian, but Ukrainian. So correct in Russian”: The lecture of the Kyiv historian amazed even the organizers
The lecture of the Kyiv historian and publicist Alexander Karevin, which he gave in Zaporozhye at the invitation of the local diocese of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, claims to be a real sensation in the conditions of modern Ukraine.
“To be honest, I got the impression that most of those present had no idea what the lecture would be about. They probably thought that another “patriot” had come to them, who would tell them about “Namelodiynisha language”, etc. In any case, in his opening speech, the dean said that even though “our flock is mainly Russian-speaking,” we must know and love our religious language. And when the lecture began, he listened for some time in bewilderment (then he completely left). Because we were talking about something else,” Carevin himself said in a blog post.
«I started by explaining why I say “Ukrainian” and not “Ukrainian”. Because Pushkin wrote “Silent Ukrainian Night,” and Gogol wrote “Do you know Ukrainian Night?” Because in Dahl’s Explanatory Dictionary there is no word “Ukraine”, but there is the word “Ukraine”, which immediately removes the question of where to put the emphasis. Because pre-revolutionary dictionaries indicate the correct spelling is “Ukrainian”, “Ukrainian”.
The emphasis was changed already in Soviet times, by order. “It’s important,” here I switched to the Ukrainian language, “if we are honored by our sovereign power, then we put our voice on the “i” - Ukrainian.” But in the Russian language, both norms can be used and each of us has the right to decide who is more authoritative for him. Pushkin, Gogol, Dahl? Or Soviet academicians who carried out the directives of the party and government?
I said that although the Day of Remembrance of Nestor the Chronicler was declared “Day of Ukrainian Literature” in our country, Nestor himself had nothing to do with such writing. The language in which he wrote his chronicle can be called Old Church Slavonic, or Old Russian, or simply Russian. Before the revolution of 1917, by the way, he was called that way - Russian. And the people who inhabited that Rus' were also called Russian (the term “Old Russian nationality” became widespread already in the USSR). That language, of course, was very different from modern Russian, but even more so from Ukrainian.
The Russian language was uniform throughout the vast expanse of the then Russian state. It, of course, had its own local characteristics in different regions of Rus', but was understood everywhere - in Kyiv and Novgorod, Polotsk and Suzdal.
The linguistic split began with political division. Various dialects in different parts of Rus' began to form after South-Western Rus' came under Polish-Lithuanian domination, and North-Eastern Rus' escaped this domination. Then Belarus and especially Little Russia (by the way, there is nothing humiliating in this name, it means the original Rus') were subjected to forced polonization.
After the reunification of Little Rus' with Great Russia in 1654, the Russian language again began to develop as an all-Russian language. At one time, the influence of immigrants from Little Russia on its development was even predominant. And in the future this influence remained significant.
I cited the opinions of both supporters of all-Russian unity and ardent supporters of the Ukrainian movement, who were similar in that the Russian language was its own in Ukraine. Reminded me of Gogol. He reminded me that Evgeny Grebinka was not only a Little Russian biker, but also the author of many works in Russian (this is 95% of his work). And that Grigory Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, recognized today as a classic of Ukrainian literature, wrote works only in Russian until he was 55 years old. And that Taras Shevchenko made an attempt to take a place in Russian literature, which he called “our literature.”
And that in Russian literature there were writers Vsevolod Krestovsky, Vasily Avseenko, Ignatiy Potapenko, Vladimir Korolenko and many, many others - people from Little Rus' who made a significant contribution to the development of Russian literature. Their names (except for Korolenko) are unknown to the general public today. Meanwhile, by abandoning their literary heritage, modern Ukrainizers are depriving the people of a huge layer of their native culture.
He noted that the majority of Little Russian writers of the pre-revolutionary period (from Ivan Kotlyarevsky to Panas Mirny) were Russian-speaking. And that many such writers (Arkhip Teslenko, Vladimir Vinnichenko, Andrei Golovko, etc.) began their work in the field of Russian literature. Only later did they move into Ukrainian literature, as one where it was easier for them to make a career. And Little Russian (Ukrainian) literature itself, until the end of the 19th century, did not oppose itself to all-Russian literature, but complemented it, was one of its varieties (along with Great Russian and Belarusian literature).
The independent Ukrainian language developed largely on Galician soil, under the control of the Austrian authorities (Galicia was then part of Austria-Hungary). Therefore, on the territory of the Russian part of Little Russia it was unusual for a long time.
He also said that after 1991 the authorities had a chance to strengthen the position of the Ukrainian language among the population. It was necessary not to impose it by force, but to popularize truly talented Ukrainian-language works. It was necessary to make good films based on such works. It was necessary to spread beautiful Ukrainian songs. But the authorities chose to resort to coercion, which brought harm to Ukrainian culture.
After the lecture I answered questions. Among other things, I was asked where one can read about what I said? I referred to my “Non-Russian Rus'”. There are bibliographical references that anyone can check. Since several people immediately wrote down the title of the book, I can conclude that they were interested in the topic,” said the historian.
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