Attributed to Nestor the Chronicler · Complete work
986, Part 1: The Faiths Come to Vladimir
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В лѣто 6494. Приидоша болгаре вѣры бохъмичи, глаголюще, яко «Ты князь еси мудръ и смысленъ и не вѣси закона; да вѣруй въ законъ наш и поклонися Бохъмиту». Рече Володимиръ: «Кака есть вѣра ваша?» Они же рѣша: «Вѣруемъ Богу, а Бохъмитъ ны учить, глаголя: обрѣзати уды тайныя, а свинины не ѣсти, а вина не пити, и по смерти съ женами похоть творити блудную. Дасть Бохъмить комуждо по семидесятъ женъ красенъ, и избереть едину красну, и всѣхъ красоту възложит на едину, и та будеть ему жена. Здѣ же, рече, достоить блудъ творити всякый. На семъ же свѣтѣ аще будет кто убогъ, то и тамо, аще ли богатъ есть здѣ, то и тамо». И ина многа лѣсть, еяже нелзѣ писати срама ради. Володимиръ же слушаше ихъ, бѣ бо самъ любяше жены и блужение многое, и послушаше сладъко, Но се бѣ ему не любо: обрѣзание удовъ и о неядении свиныхъ мясъ, а о питьи отинудь рекъ: «Руси веселье питье, не можемъ безъ того быти». По семъ же придоша нѣмци от Рима, глаголюще, яко «Придохомъ послани от папежа».
И ркоша ему: «Реклъ ти папежь: „Земля твоя яко земля наша, а вѣра ваша не акы вѣра наша, вѣра бо наша свѣтъ есть, кланяемъся Богу, иже створи небо и землю, и звѣзды, и мѣсяць и всяко дыхание, а бози ваши — древо суть“». Володимиръ же рече: «Кака есть заповѣдь ваша?» Они же рѣша: «Пощение по силѣ. Аще кто пьеть или ѣсть, все въ славу Божию, рече учитель нашъ Павелъ». Рече же Володимиръ нѣмцомъ: «Идете опять, яко отци наши сего не прияли суть». Се слышавше, жидове козарьстии приидоша, ркуще: «Слышахомъ, яко приходиша болъгаре и хрестьяни, учаще тя кождо ихъ вѣрѣ своей. Хрестьяни бо вѣрують, егоже мы распяхомъ, а мы вѣруемъ едину Богу Аврамову, Исакову, Ияковлю». И рече Володимиръ: «Что есть законъ вашь?» Они же рѣша: «Обрѣзатися и свинины не ясти, ни заячины, суботу хранити». Онъ же рече: «То кде есть земля ваша?» Они же рѣша: «Въ Иерусадимѣ». Онъ же рече: «То тамо ли есть?» Они же рѣша: «Разъгнѣвалъся Богъ на отци наши и расточи ны по странам грѣхъ ради нашихъ, и предана бысть земля наша хрестьяномъ».
Володимиръ же рече: «То како вы инѣхъ учите, а сами отвѣржени от Бога? Аще бы Богъ любилъ васъ, то не бысте расточнени по чюжимъ землямъ. Еда и намъ то же мыслите зло прияти?»
По семъ прислаша грѣци къ Володимиру философа, глаголюще сице: «Слышахомъ, яко приходили суть болгаре, учаще тя приняти вѣру свою. Ихъ же вѣра осквѣрняеть небо и землю, иже суть проклятѣ паче всѣхъ человѣкъ, уподобльшеся Содому и Гомору, на няже пусти Богъ камѣнье горущее и потопи я, и погрязоша, яко и сихъ ожидаеть день погибели ихъ, егда придеть Богъ судити на землю и погубити вься творящая безаконье и сквѣрны дѣющая. Си бо омывають оходы своя, поливавшеся водою, и въ ротъ вливають, и по брадѣ мажются, наричюще Бохмита. Тако же и жены ихъ творят ту же сквѣрну и ино же пуще: от совокупления мужьска вкушають». Си слышавъ, Володимиръ плюну на землю, рекъ: «Нечисто есть дѣло».
Рече же философъ: «Слышахомъ же и се, яко приходиша от Рима учить васъ к вѣрѣ своей, ихъ же вѣра с нами мало же развращена: служать бо опрѣснокы, рекши оплатъкы, ихъже Богъ не преда, но повелѣ хлѣбом служити, и преда апостоломъ, приимъ хлѣбъ, и рек: „Се есть тѣло мое, ломимое за вы“. Такоже и чашю приимъ, рече: „Се есть кровь моя новаго завѣта“. Си же того не творять, и суть не исправилѣ вѣры». Рече же Володимиръ: «Придоша къ мнѣ жидове, глаголюще: яко нѣмьци и грѣци вѣрують, егоже мы распяхом». Философъ же рече: «Воистину в того вѣруемъ, тѣхъ бо пророци прорькоша, яко Богу родитися, а другии — распяту быти и третьй день въскреснути и на небеса възити. Они же ты пророкы и избиваху, а другия претираху. Егда же събысться проречение ихъ, сниде на землю, и распятье приятъ, и въскресе и на небеса възиде, а сихъ же ожидаше покаянья за 40 лѣтъ и за 6, и не покаяшася, и посла на ня римляны. Грады ихъ разъбиша, а самѣхъ расточиша по странам, и работають въ странахъ».
Рече же Володимиръ: «Что ради сниде Богъ на землю и страсть таку приятъ?» Отвѣщавъ же, рече философъ: «Аще хощеши, княже, послушати из начала, что ради сниде Богъ на землю?» Володимиръ же рече: «Послушаю, радъ». И нача философъ глаголати сице:
Въ начало испѣрва створи Богъ небо и землю въ 1 день. Въ вторый день створи твердь, иже есть посредѣ водъ. Сего же дни раздѣлишася воды, полъ ихъ възиде на твѣрдь, а полъ ихъ под твердь. Въ 3 день сътвори море, рѣкы, источникы и сѣмена. Въ 4 — солнце, и луну, и звѣзды, и украси Богъ небо. Видѣвъ же пѣрвый от ангелъ, старѣйшина чину ангельску, помысли в себе, рекъ: «Сниду на землю, и прииму землю, и поставлю столъ свой на облацѣхъ сѣверьскыхъ, и буду подобенъ Богу». И ту абье свѣрже ̀и съ небеси, и по немъ спадоша иже бѣша подъ нимъ, чинъ десятый. Бѣ же имя противнику Сотанаилъ, в неже мѣсто постави старѣйшину Михаила. Сотана же, грѣшивъ помысла своего и отпадъ славы пѣрвыя, наречеся противьникъ Богу. По семъ же въ 5 день створи Богъ кыты, и гады, и рыбы, и птица пернатыя, и звѣри, и скоты, и гады земныя. Въ 6 день створи же Богъ человѣка. Въ 7 день почи Богъ от дѣлъ своихъ, еже есть субота.
И насади Богъ Рай на въстоци въ Едемѣ, и въведе Богъ ту человѣка, егоже созда, и заповѣда ему от древа всякого ясти, от древа же единого не ясти, иже есть разумѣти злу и добру. И бѣ Адамъ в Раи, и видяше Бога и славяше, егда ангели славяху Бога, и онъ с ними. И възложи Богъ на Адама сонъ, и успе Адамъ, и взятъ Богъ едино ребро у Адама, и створи ему жену, и приведе ю къ Адаму, и рече Адамъ: «Се кость от кости моея и плоть от плоти моея, си наречеться жена». И нарече Адамъ имена всѣмъ скотом и птицам, и звѣрем, и гадомъ, и самѣма ангелъ повѣда имени. И покори Богъ Адаму звѣри и скоты, и обладаше всими, и послушаху его. Видѣвъ же дьяволъ, яко почести Богъ человѣка, позавидѣвъ ему, преобразися въ змию, и прииде в Евзѣ, и рече ей: «Почто не яста от древа, сущаго посредѣ Рая?» И рече жена къ змии: «Рече Богъ: не имата ясти, оли — да умрета смертью». И рече змия къ женѣ: «Смертью не умрета; вѣдаше бо Богъ, яко въньже день яста от него, отвѣрзостася очи ваю, и будета яко Богъ, разумѣвающа добро и зло».
И видѣ жена, яко добро древо въ ядь, и вземьши жена снѣсть, и въдасть мужю своему, и яста, и отвѣрзостася очи има, и разумѣста, яко нага еста, и сшиста листвием смоковьнымь препоясание. И рече Богъ: «Проклята земля въ дѣлехъ твоихъ, в печали яси вся дни живота твоего». И рече Господь Богъ: «Егда како прострета руку, и возмета от древа животнаго, и живета в вѣки». Изъгна Господь Богъ Адама из Рая. И сѣде прямо Раю, плачася и дѣлая землю, и порадовася сатана о проклятьи земля. Се на ны пѣрвое падение, горкый отвѣтъ, отпадения ангелъскаго житья. И роди Адамъ Каина и Авеля, и бѣ Каинъ ратай, а Авѣль пастух. Принесе Каинъ от плод земныхъ къ Богу, и не прия Богъ даровъ его. А Авель принесе от агнѣць пѣрвѣнѣць, и прия Богъ дары Авѣлевы. Сотона же вълѣзе въ Каина и пострѣкаше Каина на убийство Авѣлево. И рече Каинъ къ Авелю: «Изидевѣ на поле». И яко изидоша, въста Каинъ и хотяше убити ̀и, не умѣяше убити ̀и. И рече ему сотона: «Возми камень и удари ̀и». И уби Авѣля.
И рече Богь Каину: «Кде есть братъ твой?» Он же рече: «Еда азъ стражь есмь брату моему?» И рече Богъ: «Кровь брата твоего въпиет къ мнѣ, буди стоня и трясыся до живота своего». Адамъ же и Евга плачющася бяста, и дьяволъ радовашеся, рекъ: «Сего же Богъ почести, азъ створих ему отпасти от Бога, и се нынѣ плачь ему налѣзох». И плакастася по Авѣлѣ лѣт 30, и не съгни тѣло его, и не умѣста погрести его. И повелѣньемъ Божиимъ птѣнца два прилетѣста, единъ ею умре, и единъ же ископа яму, вложи умѣршаго и погребе. Видѣвша же се, Адамъ и Евга ископаста яму, и вложиста Авѣля, и погребоста ̀и съ плачем. Бысть же Адамъ лѣт 230 роди Сифа и 2 дщери, и поя едину Каинъ, а другую Сифъ, и от того чловѣци расплодишася по земли. И не познаша створшаго я, исполнишася блуда и всякого скаредиа, и убийства, и зависти, и живяху скотьскы человѣци. И бѣ Ной единъ правѣденъ в родѣ семъ. И роди 3 сына: Сима, Хама, Афета. И рече Богъ: «Не имать пребывати духъ мой въ человѣцехъ», и рече: «Да потреблю человѣка, егоже створих, от человѣка до скота».
И рече Богъ Ноеви: «Створи ковчегъ в долготу лакотъ 300, а в широту 80, а възвышье 30 лакот» — егупьтѣ бо локтемъ саженъ зовуть. Дѣлаему же ковчегу за 100 лѣт, и повѣдаше Ной, яко быти потопу, посмѣхахуся ему. И егда сдѣла ковчегъ, рече Господь Богь Ноеви: «Влѣзи ты, и жена твоя, и сынове твои, и снохы твоя, и въведи я к себѣ по двоему от всѣх гадъ, скот и птицъ». И въведе Ной, якоже заповѣда ему Богъ. И наведе Богь потопъ на землю, и потопе всяка плоть, и ковчегъ плаваше на водѣ. Егда же посяче вода, излѣзе Ной, и сынове его, и жена его. И от сихъ расплодися земля. И быша человѣци мнози и единогласни, рѣша другъ другу: «Съзижемъ столпъ до небесе». И начаша здати, и бѣ старѣйшина имъ Невродь. И рече Богъ: «Умножишася человѣци, и помыслы ихъ суетны». И съниде Богъ, и размѣси языкы на 70 и два языка. Адамовъ же языкъ бысть не отъятъ у Авера: то бо единъ не приложися къ безумью ихъ, рѣкъ сице: «Аще бы человѣком Богъ реклъ на небо столпъ дѣлати, то повелѣлъ бы самъ Богъ словом, якоже створи небеса, и землю, и моря и вся видимая и невидимая».
Того ради сего языкъ не премѣнися, от сего суть еврѣи. На 70 и единъ языкъ раздѣлишася и разидошася по странам, кождо свой нравъ прияша. И по дьяволю научению ови рощением и кладязямъ жряху и рѣкам, и не познаша Бога. От Адама же до потопа лѣт 2242, а от потопа до разъдѣленья языкъ лѣт 529.
По семъ же дьяволъ в болша прелщения въвѣрже человѣкы, и начаша кумиры творити, ови древяныа и мѣдяныя, а друзии мороморяны, златы и сребряны, и кланяхуться имъ, и привожаху сыны своя и дьщери своя и закалаху предъ ними, и бѣ вся земля осквѣрнена. И началникъ же бяше кумиротворению Серухъ, творяше бо кумиры въ имена мерътвыхъ человѣкъ, бывшимъ овѣмъ цесаремъ, другымъ храбрымъ, и волъхвомъ, и женамъ прелюбодѣицамъ. Се же Серухъ роди Фару, Фара же роди 3 сыны: Аврама, и Нахора, и Арана. Фара же творяше кумиры, навыкъ у отца своего. Аврамъ же, пришедъ въ ум, възрѣвъ на небо, и рече: «Воистину той есть Богъ, иже створилъ небо и землю, а отець мой прельщает человѣкы». И рече Аврамъ: «Искушю богь отца своего» и рече: «Отче! Прельщаеши человѣкы, творя кумиры древяны. То есть Богъ, иже створилъ небо и землю». И приимъ Аврамъ огнь, зажьже идолы въ храминѣ.
Видѣвъ же се Аранъ, братъ Аврамовъ, рѣвнуя по идолѣхъ, хотѣ умьчати идолъ, самъ згорѣ ту Аранъ и умре пред отцемъ. Пред сѣмъ бо не умиралъ сынъ предъ отцемъ, но отець пред сыномъ, и от сего начаша умирати сынове пред отцемъ. И възлюби Богъ Аврама, и рече Богъ Авраму: «Изиди изъ дому отца твоего и поиди в землю, в нюже ти покажю, и створю тя въ языкъ великъ, и благословять тя колѣна земная». И створи Аврамъ, якоже заповѣда ему Богь. И поя Аврамъ Лота, сыновца своего, и бѣ бо ему Лотъ шюринъ и сыновець, бѣ бо Аврамъ поялъ братьню дщерь Ароню, Сарру. И приде в землю Хананѣйску къ дубу высоку, и рече Богь къ Авраму: «Сѣмени твоему дамъ землю сию». И поклонися Аврамъ Богу. Аврамъ же бяше лѣт 75, егда изиде от Хараона. Бѣ же Сарра неплоды, болящи неплодскым. Рече Сарра Авраму: «Влѣзи убо къ рабѣ моей». И поемши Сарра Агарь и вдасть ю мужеви своему, и влѣзъ Аврамъ къ Агари.
И зача Агарь и роди сына, и прозва Аврамъ Измаилом, а Аврамъ же бѣ лѣт 86, егда родися Измаил. По семъ же, заченши, Сарра роди сына и нарече имя ему Исакъ. И повѣлѣ Богъ Авраму обрѣзати отроча, и обрѣза Аврам въ 8 день. И възълюби Богь Аврама и племя его, и нарече я в люди себѣ, и отлучи я от языкъ, нарекъ люди своя. Сему же Исаку възмогшу, Авраму же живущю лѣт 175 и умре, и погребенъ бысть. Исаку же бывшю лѣт 60, роди два сына — Исава и Якова. Исавъ же бысть лукавъ, а Яков правдивъ. Сий же Яковъ работа у уя своего изъ дьщери его из меньшие 7 лѣт, и не дасть ему ея Лаван, уй его, рекъ: «Старѣйшюю поими». И вдасть ему Лию, старѣйшюю, и изъ другое рекъ ему: «Другую работай 7 лѣт». Онъ же. работа другую 7 лѣт из Рахили. И поя себѣ 2 сестреници, от неюже роди 8 сыновъ: Рувима, Семеона, Левгию, Июду, Исахара, и Заулона, Иосифа и Веньамина, и от робу двою: Дана, Нефталима, Гада, Асира. И от сихъ расплодишася жидовѣ.
Ияковъ же сниде въ Егупетъ, сы лѣт 130 с родомъ своим, числом 65 душь. Поживе же в Егуптѣ лѣт 17, и успе, и поработиша племя его за 400 лѣт.
Musean translation
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from the Old East Slavic text of the Hypatian Codex (O. V. Tvorogov’s 1997 edition, pinned Russian Wikisource revision), covering the undated introduction and every annal from 6360 to 6625 (852–1117 CE). Worker drafts were checked against the source paragraph by paragraph before publication. Years keep the chronicle’s own reckoning from the creation of the world; subtract 5508 for the approximate year CE, as the chapter titles do.
In the year 6494. Bulgars of the faith of Muhammad came, saying: “You are a prince wise and discerning, yet you know no law; believe in our law and worship Muhammad.” Vladimir said: “What is your faith?” They said: “We believe in God, and Muhammad teaches us: to circumcise the secret members, not to eat pork, not to drink wine, and after death to practice with women the lust of fornication. Muhammad will give each man seventy beautiful wives, and he will choose out one beautiful one and lay the beauty of them all upon her, and she will be his wife. Here, he says, one must practice every kind of debauchery. Whoever is poor in this world will be poor there as well, and if he is rich here, he will be rich there.” And much other deceit besides, which one cannot write for shame. Vladimir listened to them, for he himself loved women and much debauchery, and he listened sweetly. But this he did not like: circumcision and the abstaining from pork; and of drink he said outright: “Drinking is the joy of the Rus'. We cannot be without it.” After this there came Germans from Rome, saying: “We have come, sent by the pope.”
And they said to him: “The pope says to you: ‘Your land is like our land, but your faith is not like our faith, for our faith is light; we worship God, who made heaven and earth and the stars and the moon and every breath, but your gods are wood.’” Vladimir said: “What is your commandment?” They said: “Fasting according to one's strength. Whether one drinks or eats, all is to the glory of God, as our teacher Paul says.” Vladimir said to the Germans: “Go back, for our fathers did not accept this.” Hearing this, the Khazar Jews came and said: “We have heard that Bulgars and Christians came to you, each teaching you his own faith. For Christians believe in him whom we crucified, but we believe in the one God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.” Vladimir said: “What is your law?” They said: “To be circumcised, and to eat no pork or hare, and to keep the sabbath.” He said: “Where, then, is your land?” They said: “In Jerusalem.” He said: “Is it there, then?” They said: “God was angry with our fathers and scattered us through the lands for our sins, and our land was given over to the Christians.”
Vladimir said: “How then do you teach others, when you yourselves are cast off by God? If God loved you, you would not have been scattered through foreign lands. Or do you intend that we should accept the same evil?”
Then the Greeks sent a philosopher to Vladimir, who spoke as follows: “We have heard that Bulgars came teaching you to accept their faith. Their faith defiles heaven and earth; they are accursed above all men, having become like Sodom and Gomorrah, on which God sent down burning stone and overwhelmed them, and they were swallowed up—as the day of their destruction awaits these men too, when God shall come to judge the earth and destroy all who work lawlessness and do abominations. For these men wash their privy parts, dousing themselves with water and pouring it into their mouths and smearing it along their beards as they call on Muhammad. And their wives do the same foulness, and worse: they taste of the emission of intercourse with men.” Hearing this, Vladimir spat on the ground and said: “Unclean is that deed.”
The philosopher said: “We have heard also this: that men come from Rome to teach you their faith, and their faith has turned but little from ours. For they serve with unleavened bread, that is, wafers, which God did not deliver, but commanded that they serve with bread, and he delivered it to the apostles, taking bread and saying: ‘This is my body, broken for you.’ So also he took the cup and said: ‘This is my blood of the new covenant.’ These men do not do this, and have not kept the faith upright.” Vladimir said: “Jews came to me, saying that Germans and Greeks believe in him whom we crucified.” The philosopher said: “We truly believe in him, for the prophets foretold that God should be born, and others that he should be crucified and rise on the third day and ascend into heaven. They slew those prophets and beat down others. When their prophecy was fulfilled, he came down to earth and underwent crucifixion, and rose, and ascended into heaven; and he awaited their repentance for 40 years and 6, and they did not repent, and he sent the Romans against them. Their cities were broken down and they themselves scattered through the lands, and they serve in the lands.”
Vladimir said: “Why did God come down to earth and endure such a passion?” The philosopher answered and said: “If you wish, prince, to hear from the beginning why God came down to earth—” Vladimir said: “I will hear it, gladly.” And the philosopher began to speak thus:
In the beginning, of old, God created heaven and earth on the 1st day. On the second day he created the firmament, which is amid the waters; on that day the waters were divided, half of them rising above the firmament and half beneath it. On the 3rd day he made the sea, the rivers, the springs, and the seeds. On the 4th—the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and God adorned the heaven. The first of the angels, the elder of the angelic rank, beheld this and thought in himself, saying: “I will come down to the earth and take the earth and set my throne upon the clouds of the north, and I will be like God.” And at once he was hurled from heaven, and those who were beneath him fell after him, the tenth rank. The adversary's name was Satanael, and in his place God set the archangel Michael as elder. Satan, having sinned in the thought of his mind and fallen from his first glory, was called the adversary of God. Then on the 5th day God created the whales, and the creeping things, and the fish, and the birds of the air, and the beasts, and the cattle, and the reptiles of the earth. On the 6th day God created man. On the 7th day God rested from all his works, which is the sabbath.
And God planted Paradise in the east, in Eden, and brought there the man he had created, and commanded him to eat of every tree, but of one tree not to eat, which is to know good and evil. And Adam was in Paradise and beheld God and glorified him: when the angels glorified God, he glorified with them. And God laid sleep upon Adam, and Adam fell asleep, and God took one rib from Adam and made him a woman and led her to Adam, and Adam said: “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this shall be called woman.” And Adam gave names to all the cattle and the birds and the beasts and the creeping things, and told the names even to the angels themselves. And God subjected the beasts and the cattle to Adam, and he ruled over all, and they obeyed him. The devil, seeing that God had honored man, envied him and transformed himself into a serpent, and came to Eve and said to her: “Why do you not eat of the tree that stands in the midst of Paradise?” The woman said to the serpent: “God said: you are not to eat of it, lest you die the death.” The serpent said to the woman: “You will not die the death; for God knew that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be as God, knowing good and evil.”
And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and she took and ate, and gave to her husband, and they ate, and their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves into girdles. And God said: “Cursed is the earth in your works; in sorrow you shall eat all the days of your life.” And the Lord God said: “Lest they stretch out the hand and take from the tree of life and live forever,” and the Lord God drove Adam out of Paradise. And he sat before Paradise, weeping and tilling the earth, and Satan rejoiced at the cursing of the earth. This was for us the first fall, the bitter answer of the apostasy from the angelic life. And Adam begat Cain and Abel; Cain was a plowman and Abel a shepherd. Cain offered to God of the fruits of the earth, and God did not accept his gifts; Abel offered the firstlings of his lambs, and God accepted Abel's gifts. Satan entered into Cain and pricked him on to the murder of Abel. Cain said to Abel: “Let us go out to the field.” And when they had gone out, Cain rose up to kill him, but did not know how to kill him. Satan said to him: “Take a stone and strike him.” And he killed Abel.
And God said to Cain: “Where is your brother?” He said: “Am I the keeper of my brother?” And God said: “The blood of your brother cries to me; you shall groan and tremble all your life.” Adam and Eve wept, and the devil rejoiced, saying: “Him whom God honored, I made to fall from God, and now I have found cause for his weeping.” And they wept over Abel for 30 years, and his body did not rot, and they did not know how to bury him. And by God's command two birds came flying: one of them died, and the other dug a pit, and laid the dead one in it and buried it. Seeing this, Adam and Eve dug a pit and laid Abel in it and buried him with weeping. Adam was 230 years old when he begat Seth and two daughters, and Cain took one, and Seth the other, and from these men multiplied upon the earth. And they did not know their Maker, but filled with fornication and all uncleanness and murder and envy, and men lived like beasts. And Noah alone was righteous in that generation, and he begat 3 sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth. And God said: “My spirit shall not abide in men,” and said: “I will destroy the man whom I have made, from man to beast.”
And God said to Noah: “Make an ark 300 cubits long and 80 wide and 30 cubits high”—for in Egypt a cubit is called a fathom. While the ark was being built, for 100 years, Noah proclaimed that there would be a flood, and they mocked him. And when the ark was made, the Lord God said to Noah: “Enter, you and your wife and your sons and your daughters-in-law, and bring to yourself two by two of every creeping thing, beast and bird.” And Noah brought them in, as God commanded him. And God brought the flood upon the earth and drowned every living thing, and the ark floated on the water. And when the water subsided, Noah came out, and his sons, and his wife. And from these the earth was peopled. And men were many and of one tongue, and they said to one another: “Let us build a tower to heaven.” And they began to build, and their leader was Nimrod. And God said: “Men have multiplied, and their thoughts are vain.” And God came down and confounded the tongues into 70 and two languages. And the tongue of Adam was not taken from Eber, for he alone did not join their madness, saying: “If God had commanded men to build a tower to heaven, God himself would have commanded it by his word, as he created the heavens and the earth and the seas and all things visible and invisible.”
Therefore that tongue was not changed, and from him are the Hebrews. Into 70 and one languages they divided and scattered through the lands, each people taking its own manner. And by the devil's teaching some sacrificed to groves and wells and rivers, and did not know God. From Adam to the flood was 2242 years, and from the flood to the division of tongues 529 years.
After this the devil cast men into greater deceits, and they began to make idols, some of wood and bronze, others of marble, gold and silver, and they bowed to them and brought their sons and their daughters and slaughtered them before them, and the whole earth was defiled. The founder of idol-making was Serug: he made idols in the names of dead men—some of whom had been emperors, others warriors, and sorcerers, and adulterous women. This Serug begat Terah, and Terah begat 3 sons: Abram, and Nahor, and Haran. Terah made idols, having learned it from his father. And Abram, coming to understanding, looked upon the sky and said: “Truly that one is God who made heaven and earth, and my father deceives men.” And Abram said: “I will put to the test the god of my father,” and said: “Father! You deceive men, making idols of wood. This is God who made heaven and earth.” And Abram took fire and burned the idols in the house.
Haran, Abram's brother, seeing this and zealous for the idols, tried to snatch the idol out, and Haran himself was burned there and died before his father. Before this, no son had died before his father, but a father before his son, and from this time sons began to die before fathers. And God loved Abram and said to him: “Go out from your father's house and go into the land that I show you, and I will make you a great nation, and the tribes of the earth shall bless you.” And Abram did as God commanded him. And Abram took Lot, his nephew; for Lot was to him both brother-in-law and nephew, since Abram had taken his brother Haran's daughter, Sarah. And he came to the land of the Canaanites, to the lofty oak, and God said to Abram: “To your seed I will give this land.” And Abram bowed before God. Abram was 75 years old when he went out from Haran. And Sarah was barren, afflicted with barrenness. Sarah said to Abram: “Go in, then, to my maid.” And Sarah took Hagar and gave her to her husband, and Abram went in to Hagar.
And Hagar conceived and bore a son, and Abram named him Ishmael; Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. After this Sarah conceived and bore a son and named him Isaac. And God commanded Abram to circumcise the child, and Abram circumcised him on the 8th day. And God loved Abram and his seed, and called them a people to himself, and set them apart from the nations, naming them his own people. When Isaac had grown, Abram, having lived 175 years, died and was buried. Isaac was 60 years old when he begat two sons—Esau and Jacob. Esau became wicked, and Jacob righteous. Jacob served his uncle 7 years for his younger daughter, and Laban his uncle did not give her to him, saying: “Take the elder.” And he gave him Leah, the elder, and said of the other: “Serve 7 years for the other.” And he served another 7 years for Rachel. Thus he took the two sisters to himself, and from them he begat 8 sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin, and from the two maids: Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. And from these the Jews multiplied.
And Jacob went down into Egypt, being 130 years old, with all his house, 65 souls in number. He lived in Egypt 17 years, and fell asleep, and his seed was made to serve for 400 years.
Plain English translation
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from the same Old East Slavic text of the Hypatian Codex, paragraph for paragraph, and checked against the source before publication.
In the year 6494. Bulgars of the faith of Muhammad came and said: “You are a prince wise and intelligent, but you do not know the law. Believe in our law and worship Muhammad.” Vladimir said: “What is your faith?” They said: “We believe in God, and Muhammad teaches us, saying: circumcise the private parts, do not eat pork, do not drink wine, and after death practice lustful debauchery with women. Muhammad will give each man 70 beautiful women, and he will choose the most beautiful and place the beauty of all the others on her, and she will be his wife. Here, he says, one should practice every kind of debauchery. If anyone is poor in this world, he will be poor there too; if he is rich here, he will be rich there.” And many other deceptions, which cannot be written down for shame. Vladimir listened to them, for he himself loved women and much debauchery, and he heard them with pleasure. But two things did not please him: the circumcision of the body and the not eating of pork; and about drinking he said flatly: “Drinking is the joy of the Rus'. We cannot exist without it.” After that Germans came from Rome, saying: “We have come, sent by the pope.”
They said to him: “The pope tells you: ‘Your land is like our land, but your faith is not like our faith. Our faith is light. We worship God, who made heaven and earth, and the stars, and the moon, and every breathing thing; your gods are wood.’” Vladimir said: “What is your commandment?” They said: “Fasting according to one's strength. If anyone drinks or eats, all is to the glory of God, as our teacher Paul says.” Vladimir said to the Germans: “Go back, for our fathers did not accept this.” When the Jews of Khazaria heard this, they came and said: “We heard that Bulgars and Christians came, each of them teaching you his own faith. The Christians believe in the one whom we crucified, but we believe in the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Vladimir said: “What is your law?” They said: “To be circumcised, not to eat pork or hare, and to keep the Sabbath.” He said: “Where is your land, then?” They said: “In Jerusalem.” He said: “Is it really there?” They said: “God was angry with our fathers and scattered us among foreign lands for our sins, and our land was given over to the Christians.”
Vladimir said: “How can you teach others when God himself has rejected you? If God loved you, you would not have been scattered through foreign lands. Or do you mean that we should take the same evil on ourselves?”
After that the Greeks sent a philosopher to Vladimir, and he spoke as follows: “We have heard that Bulgars came and urged you to accept their faith. Their faith defiles heaven and earth. They are cursed more than all people, having made themselves like Sodom and Gomorrah, on which God sent burning stones and drowned them, and they sank down—and the day of their destruction awaits them as well, when God comes to judge the earth and destroy all who work unrighteousness and do abominations. These men wash away their excrement, dousing themselves with water, pour it into their mouths, and smear it on their beards, calling on Muhammad. Their wives do the same foulness, and something worse: they taste what comes from intercourse with a man.” When Vladimir heard this, he spat on the ground and said: “A foul thing.”
The philosopher said: “We have also heard that men have come from Rome to teach you their faith. Their faith differs from ours only a little: they serve with unleavened bread, called oplatki, which God did not hand down. He commanded that the service be with bread, and he handed it to the apostles: he took the bread and said: ‘This is my body, broken for you.’ Taking the cup too, he said: ‘This is my blood of the new covenant.’ These men do not do this, and their faith is not correct.” Vladimir said: “Jews came to me and said that the Germans and the Greeks believe in the one whom we crucified.” The philosopher said: “We truly believe in him. The prophets foretold that God would be born, and others that he would be crucified and rise on the third day and ascend into heaven. The Jews killed some of those prophets and cut others down. When their prophecy came true, he came down to the earth, endured crucifixion, rose, and ascended into heaven. He waited 40 years and 6 more for their repentance, but they did not repent, and he sent the Romans against them. Their cities were destroyed, and they themselves were scattered through the lands, and they serve as laborers in foreign lands.”
Vladimir said: “Why did God come down to the earth and endure such suffering?” The philosopher answered: “Do you wish, prince, to hear from the beginning why God came down to the earth?” Vladimir said: “I will listen, gladly.” And the philosopher began to speak as follows:
In the beginning, at the very first, God made heaven and earth on the 1st day. On the second day he made the firmament, which is in the middle of the waters. On that day the waters divided: half of them went up above the firmament, and half below it. On the 3rd day he made the sea, the rivers, the springs, and the seeds. On the 4th day—the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and God adorned the heaven. Then the first of the angels, the chief of the angelic rank, saw, and thought in himself, and said: “I will come down to the earth and take possession of the earth, and I will set my throne on the clouds of the north, and I will be like God.” God cast him down from heaven at once, and those who were under him fell after him, the tenth rank. The adversary's name was Satanael; in his place God set Michael as chief. Satan, having sinned in his thought and fallen from his first glory, was called the adversary of God. After that, on the 5th day, God made the whales, and the creeping things, and the fish, and the birds, and the beasts, and the cattle, and the creeping things of the earth. On the 6th day God made man. On the 7th day God rested from his works—that is the Sabbath.
God planted Paradise in the east, in Eden, and brought man there, whom he had made. He commanded him to eat of every tree, but of one tree not to eat—the tree that gives knowledge of good and evil. Adam was in Paradise, and he saw God and praised him when the angels praised God, and he praised him with them. God cast sleep on Adam, and Adam slept, and God took one rib from Adam, made a woman from it, and brought her to Adam. Adam said: “This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman.” Adam gave names to all the cattle and the birds and the beasts and the creeping things, and gave names even to the angels. God subjected the beasts and the cattle to Adam, and he ruled over them all, and they obeyed him. The devil saw that God had honored man, envied him, changed himself into a serpent, came to Eve, and said to her: “Why do you not eat from the tree that stands in the middle of Paradise?” The woman said to the serpent: “God said: you two must not eat of it, or you will die the death.” The serpent said to the woman: “You will not die the death. God knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food; she took and ate, and gave to her husband, and they ate. Their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together for coverings. God said: “Cursed is the earth because of your deeds; in sorrow you will eat all the days of your life.” And the Lord God said: “If they ever stretch out a hand and take from the tree of life, they will live forever.” The Lord God drove Adam out of Paradise. Adam sat opposite Paradise, weeping and tilling the earth, and Satan rejoiced over the curse of the earth. This was the first fall upon us, the bitter answer of the apostasy from the angelic life. Adam fathered Cain and Abel. Cain was a plowman, and Abel a shepherd. Cain brought the fruits of the earth to God, and God did not accept his offering. Abel brought the firstborn of his lambs, and God accepted Abel's gifts. Satan entered into Cain and spurred him on to kill Abel. Cain said to Abel: “Let us two go out to the field.” When they went out, Cain rose up and wanted to kill him, but he did not know how. Satan said to him: “Take a stone and strike him.” And Cain killed Abel.
God said to Cain: “Where is your brother?” He said: “Am I my brother's keeper?” God said: “The blood of your brother cries out to me. You will groan and tremble all your life.” Adam and Eve wept, and the devil rejoiced and said: “God honored this man; I made him fall away from God, and now I have found a way to make him weep.” They wept over Abel for 30 years, and his body did not decay, and they did not know how to bury him. By God's command two birds flew up; one of them died, and the other dug a pit, put the dead one in it, and buried it. Seeing this, Adam and Eve dug a pit, laid Abel in it, and buried him with weeping. When Adam was 230 years old he fathered Seth and 2 daughters, and Cain took one for his wife, and Seth the other, and from them people spread over the earth. They did not know the one who made them; they filled themselves with debauchery and every impurity and murder and envy, and people lived like beasts. Noah alone was righteous in that generation. He fathered 3 sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God said: “My spirit will not remain in people,” and he said: “I will destroy the man I made, from man to beast.”
God said to Noah: “Make an ark 300 cubits long, 80 wide, and 30 cubits high”—for in Egypt a sazhen is called a cubit. The ark was built for 100 years, and Noah kept telling people that a flood was coming; they laughed at him. When the ark was finished, the Lord God said to Noah: “Go in, you and your wife and your sons and your daughters-in-law, and bring in with you two of every creeping thing, of the cattle and of the birds.” Noah brought them in as God commanded him. God brought the flood on the earth, and every living thing drowned, and the ark floated on the water. When the water went down, Noah came out, and his sons, and his wife. From these the earth was peopled again. People became many and all spoke one language, and they said to one another: “Let us build a tower up to heaven.” They began to build, and Nimrod was their leader. God said: “People have multiplied, and their thoughts are vain.” God came down and mixed their tongues into 70 and two languages. Adam's language was not taken from Eber, for he alone did not join their madness, saying: “If God had told people to build a tower to heaven, then God himself would have commanded it with his word, as he made the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything visible and invisible.”
That is why this language did not change; from it come the Hebrews. The rest were divided into 70 and one languages and scattered among the lands, each taking its own way of life. By the devil's teaching some of them offered sacrifices to groves and wells and rivers, and they did not know God. From Adam to the flood there were 2242 years, and from the flood to the division of the languages, 529 years.
After that the devil threw people into even greater deceptions, and they began to make idols: some of wood and copper, others of marble, gold, and silver. They bowed down to them and brought their sons and daughters and slaughtered them before the idols, and the whole earth was defiled. The leader in making idols was Serug: he made idols in the names of dead people—some of whom had been emperors, others brave men, others sorcerers, and others adulterous women. This Serug fathered Terah, and Terah fathered 3 sons: Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Terah also made idols, having learned it from his father. Abram came to his senses, looked up at the sky, and said: “Truly this is God, who made heaven and earth, and my father is deceiving people.” Abram said: “I will test the gods of my father,” and he said: “Father! You deceive people, making idols of wood. That is God, who made heaven and earth.” Abram took fire and set the idols in the house ablaze.
Seeing this, Abram's brother Haran, who was zealous for the idols, wanted to snatch the idol out, and Haran himself burned there and died before his father. Before this a son had never died before his father—the father died before the son—and from this time sons began to die before their fathers. God loved Abram and said to him: “Go out of your father's house and go to the land I will show you, and I will make you into a great nation, and the tribes of the earth will bless you.” Abram did as God commanded him. Abram took Lot, his nephew; Lot was both his wife's brother and his nephew, for Abram had married Sarah, his brother Haran's daughter. He came to the land of the Canaanites, to the tall oak, and God said to Abram: “I will give this land to your seed.” And Abram bowed down to God. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. Sarah was barren and suffered from her childlessness. Sarah said to Abram: “Go in to my slave girl.” Sarah took Hagar and gave her to her husband, and Abram went in to Hagar.
Hagar conceived and bore a son, and Abram named him Ishmael; Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. After that Sarah conceived and bore a son and named him Isaac. God commanded Abram to circumcise the child, and Abram circumcised him on the 8th day. God loved Abram and his offspring, called them a people for himself, and set them apart from the other nations, naming them his own people. When Isaac had grown up, Abram died, having lived 175 years, and he was buried. When Isaac was 60 years old, he had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau became wicked, and Jacob righteous. Jacob served his uncle for his daughter, the younger one, for 7 years, but Laban, his uncle, did not give her to him, saying: “Take the older one.” He gave him Leah, the older one, and about the other he said to him: “Work 7 years for the other.” So Jacob worked another 7 years for Rachel. He took 2 sisters as his wives, and from them he fathered 8 sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin; and by two slave women: Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. From these the Jews spread over the earth.
Jacob went down into Egypt at 130 years of age, with his family, 65 souls in number. He lived in Egypt 17 years, and he died, and his people were enslaved for 400 years.