Гістарычны шлях нацыі і дзяржавы
Радзім Гарэцкі, Міхась Біч, Уладзімір Конан
Выдавец: Беларускі кнігазбор
Памер: 348с.
Мінск 2001
It is quite clear now that despite two centuries of dependence there were great patriots in each generation, but each time they were either cruelly destroyed or deported from the Motherland. One can surely learn from our experience that without independence there will not be a strong, sound nation.
The best sons of Belarus were well aware of the need to fight for independence. And now there is an acute need to consolidate state independence as well as to preserve the very Belarusian nation.
But the difficulties of historic fortune did not stop ethnic consolidation of our people. There is a Belarusian nation with its territory, language, culture living in a distinct economic area. A remarkable national character, mentality, and certain unique peculiarities define the Belarusian ethnos. Among the most characteristic traits of our people are qualities highly valued in the world community, such as kindness, diligence, responsibility, tolerance, hospitality, hatred of oppression and cruelty. To understand the Belarusian soul better, one can observe their devotion to light colours in cloths, their soft lyrical melodies, kind humanistic fairy-tales and legends, the whole Belarusian folklore. But it doesn’t mean in the least that the Belarusian people were nor brave and intelligent, nor that they could put up a stubborn defense of their Motherland. Such fortitude saved our nation from destruction in the past and let us hope to exist as a nation in the future.
Religion played an important role in the formation of the Belarusian character. Our ancestors were pagans. The chief pagan god, before Christianity was adopted, was the formidable Piarun — the god of thunder and lightning, who was considered to be the guardian of military glory. Viales (the god of stock breeding and wealth), Yaryla (the god of spring and fertility), Zhyzhal (the god of fire), and some others were much honoured as well. The centuries went by, but our ancestors kept performing pagan rituals — spring-calling, Kupalie, the arrow ritual, and others. Some of them are followed until now.
Christianity started enlightening our lands in the late Xth century. The citizens of the Polatsk and Turau principalities became the first Christians. The Smalensk principality accepted Christianity in the early Xlth century. There was a separate eparchy with a bishop established in each principality. The establishment of the Polatsk eparchy, one of the first in the land, goes back to 992. Bishops were headed by the Kiev Metropolitan who was, in his turn, subordinated to the Constantinople patriarch (Byzantium). Meanwhile, Eastern (Byzantine Orthodox) tradition was spreading on the Belarusian territory along with Western (Roman Catholic). Prince Sviatapolk of Turau with his people became Christians according to Western tradition in 1010.
If compared to nearby countries, the spreading of Christianity caused almost no cruelty. At least no facts are known. And for a long time both Christianity and Pagan religions were peacefully co-existing.
After Christianity was officially divided in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions in 1054, the Belarusian people became Orthodox, which has prevailed as a tradition in our land. The influence of Catholicism became more considerable at the end of the XIVth century after the Kreuskaya Unia was signed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. It was mainly the Balts who became Catholics. There were only three Catholic parishes on the territory of Belarus at that time. Later, a part of the Belarusian nobility, devoted to Poland, was also catholicized.
Quite a few Belarusians took part in the Reformation and became Protestants (mostly Calvinists) in the Middle ages.
In 1596 a new Uniate (or Greek-Catholic) church, that united both Orthodox and Catholic traditions in one (it adopted Orthodox rituals and the rule of the Pope), was established in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Christianity became the dominant religion in Belarus. Christian morality was coherent with the Belarusian character and became the base for our moral values. Along with Christianity there were a few other religions, such as Islam and Judaism, peacefully coexisting in Belarus. Living on the border of the East and the West, our ancestors cultivated tolerance and respect for different religions, and learnt to live in peace. No wonder, the Belarusians were remarkable for such religious tolerance throughout the centuries, and it has become a national trait of character.
The past, the present, and the future are united together by the national language, that appeared in antiquity and has been formed along with the Belarusian ethnos. Belarusian belongs to the Slavic group of the Indo-European linguistic family. The Belarusians, like other European nations, used only a spoken language at first. In the Xth century Christianity brought a written language, the old Slavic base of which was laid by the famous Slavic enlighteners Cyrill and Methodius. The Eastern variant of the Old Slavonic language is known as Church Slavonic. And at the time of Euphrasinia Polatskaya religious literature was written and rewritten in it. But for secular documents, both the Church Slavonic and the common language were used. So, it is true to say that in the Xth-XIIIth centuries the process of formation of the Old Belarusian language had already begun. As time went by, it was more and more used in religious literature and step by step replaced Church Slavonic. The Bible, printed by Frantsysk Skaryna in a clear language, can serve as a fine example. Later, Symon Budny and Vasil Tsiapinski followed Skaryna’s steps and printed books entirely in their mother tongue.
The golden age of the Belarusian language is considered to be the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where it had been the principal official language since the very time of the state’s formation in the Xlflth century. It was the time when Latin was used as a formal language in state affairs in most European countries as well as in Poland. That is why, it is fair to evaluate Belarusian as one of the most ancient official national languages in Europe. Compare it to English and French, adopted as state languages in 1362 and 1400 correspondingly.
But after the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland formed the Polish Commonwealth (Rzecz Pospolita) in 1569 with considerable domination by Poland, Belarusian was no longer widely used. In 1696 Polish replaced it in the state documents of the GDL. And after the Russian Empire annexed the Belarusian lands, there was no place for written Belarusian anywhere. These events resulted in a gradual extinction of the written Old Belarusian of the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Restoration of the national written language was started by the Belarusian intelligentsia in the first quarter of the XIXth century. The formation of a new literary language took
more than a century. In the early XXth century it was much encouraged by the publication of the first newspapers in Belarusian in Vilnya in 1906. These vivtsNasha Niva (Our Cornfield) and Nasha Dolya (Our Piece of Luck). At the time of the Belarusian People’s Republic, proclaimed on 25th March 1918, the renewed Belarusian language obtained a state recognition. The modern literary Belarusian language was developed on the base of numerous dialects.
It was the year 1918, when a famous leader of the Belarusian Renaissance Branislau Tarashkievich standardized the writing rules and published the first book of Belarusian grammar. It was widely used in education and a bit later was named tarashkievitsa by common people. But in the beginning of the thirties, in time of Stalin’s dictatorship, Tarashkievich’s orthography was considerably changed to make it similar to Russian. And this reformed orthography, sometimes called narkamauka, is officially adopted in contemporary Belarus. Tarashkievitsa was mainly preserved in Western Belarus and among Belarusian emigrants, who continue to be devoted to it. In Belarus itself tarashkievitsa once more appeared in printing at the time of the new Belarusian Renaissance. Nowadays a number of independent editions as well as the renewed newspaper Nasha Niva are published in tarashkievitsa.
The democratic processes of the late 80s led to resuming the official status of Belarusian. On 26th January, 1990 the Law of languages was adopted; according to which Belarusian was proclaimed the only official language of Belarus. This was also fixed in the first Constitution of the Republic of Belarus inl994. But there seems to be no end to fighting for Belarusian. In 1995 a referendum was held, and it resulted in proclaiming Russian the other state language of Belarus. This let the government make it in actuality the only official language of Belarus. Once more there is a threat of disappearance for Belarusian. Once more we have to fight for our mother tongue. And nowadays the unforgettable words by Frantsishak Bahushevich are as actual as they can be, “With the mother tongue dead, there will be no Belarusian alive!”
Our duty is to preserve the independence of our ethnic conununity in the next millennium. One may hope that deep ancient roots of our Belarusian family tree are strong enough to let it endure forever.
ДЗЯРЖАУНАСЦЬ
Галоўнае дасягненне беларускай нацыі на яе гістарычным шляху — уласная дзяржаўнасць. Элементы дзяржаўнай арганізацыі на нашай зямлі ўзніклі ў I тысячагоддзі н. э. Старажытныя саюзы плямёнаў паступова перараслі ў раннефеадальныя дзяржавы — княствы. Найбольш буйным з іх было Полацкае.
Упершыню летапіс паведамляе пра Полацкае княства каля 980 г., калі згадваецца князь Рагвалод, што ўладарыў у Полацку. Полацкае княства было нашай першай дзяржаваю з усімі адпаведнымі атрыбутамі — суверэннай уладаю княжацкай дынастыі і веча, з узятымі пад ахову межамі, з адміністрацыяй, уласнымі войскамі, грашовай сістэмай. Полацкая дынастыя Рагвалодавічаў запачаткавала радавод беларускіх князёў. У гістарычных дакументах шмат разоў прыгадваюцца Рагвалодава дачка Рагнеда, князі Ізяслаў, Брачыслаў, Усяслаў Чарадзей. Найвышэйшай магутнасці княства дасягнула ў другой палове XI ст. пры Усяславе Чарадзеі. У гэты час у Полацку быў збудаваны велічны Сафійскі сабор, які сімвалізаваў роўнасць Полацка з Ноўгарадам і Кіевам. Полацкае княства ахоплівала большую частку тэрыторыі сучаснай Беларусі. Яно было марской дзяржаваю, бо яму належалі землі ўздоўж Дзвіны да Балтыйскага мора, дзе пачынаўся вялікі гандлёвы шлях «з варагаў у грэкі». Гэта было важнай прычынаю эканамічнага і палітычнага росквіту княства. Прызнаннем міжнароднага аўтарытэту нашай першай дзяржавы было блізкае сваяцтва Рагвалодавічаў з візантыйскім імператарскім домам Комнінаў. Дачка князя Усяслава Чарадзея стала жонкаю візантыйскага кесара Аляксея.
КНІГІ ОНЛАЙН
