EVALUATION OF THE PRIMARY CHRONICLE:
AN ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL CHARACTER THEMES

by

Hugh R. Whinfrey

Modern secular states generally have one or more sacred documents such as a constitution, a proclamation of independence, or a peace treaty. These documents have significance both as historical objects and also as sources of historical information. The Primary Chronicle¹ has both these features. It describes the history of the Kievan state, and also is itself a part of that history. Although the Kievan state is not a modern secular state, its logical modern successor exists as the Soviet Union of today. It would thus be reasonable to place the Primary Chronicle in the context of a sacred Soviet document, provided that the distinctions between the predecessor Kievan state and the modern state are not obscured.

A nation's sacred texts can be analyzed with the objective of finding relationships between the underlying ideals and values they contain and the character of the nation as a whole. This paper will undertake a brief analysis of this type, examining the Primary Chronicle for underlying ideals and values, and then discussing their correlations with the Soviet national character.

The text of the Primary Chronicle, when it is read for underlying ideals and values, divides itself into two very natural sections. The first is a body of text functioning as an introduction, and the second is the chronological entries themselves. The introduction to the Primary Chronicle precisely defines the criteria that were used to select major events for the chronological section. But most significantly, the introduction also attaches positive or negative values to each of these criteria.

To expose these criteria, the introduction must be sub-divided into sections based on subject matter. This will provide the framework for the analysis. The length of each sub-division will be significant. In the following list, each item will be shown with an count of the columns² of text associated with it. Since quantities of text tallied from a translated version of a text would only be accurate an approximate degree, all such column counts in this paper will be rough approximations rounded to the nearest whole number. The introduction can be divided into sections as follows:

5 columns of Biblical history
4 columns of history on Slavic origins
1 column on the founding of Kiev
1 column distinguishing Slavs from non-Slavs in Rus
1 column on the demise of the Avar and following peace
4 columns on the disgusting pagan customs of non-Polyanian tribes
1 column on the Khazars and the destiny of the Russes to rule over them
1 column explaining the system of time used for the following chronological entries

There are thus a total of 18 columns in the introduction. In examining the symmetry of the themes about the approximate center at column nine, a structure emerges that is analogous to a triangle with its base on the ground and the tip pointing upwards. Kiev is at the tip, and the themes of God and time are at the opposite corners of the base.

Examining the tip, at the approximate center of these 18 columns, lies the story of the founding of Kiev. In the text of this column³ we find a description of St. Andrew blessing the hills upon which Kiev will be built, prophesying that a great city shall arise there. The chronicle is thus about a divine Kiev and the trials and tribulations in reaching its pre-ordained greatness. Precisely because of this divinity, perpetrators of events that would tend to diminish the future greatness of Kiev must be regarded as sinners. In the chronological entries, events that threaten the very survival of the Kievan state, its capital city, or even the legitimacy of the Kievan throne, are all portrayed with the utmost gravity, often warranting quotations directly from the Bible when there is serious trouble.

Extending the triangle analogy, it is possible to move from either corner of the base up to the tip by going through successive layers of foundations that support the tip. The first such corner covered in the introduction is that of God. The story is told of mankind from Adam to the point where the Slavs first come into existence. This establishes a legitimate genealogy for the Slavic race, grounds everything above it with a divine foundation, and prefaces all of the chronicle with God's value system. This provides a justification for using a Christian value system in portraying the chronological entries. There are numerous examples, often warranting quotations from the Bible, where the Kievan prince or his allies cross God himself.

Between God and Kiev is a section on the history of the Slavic race. Examining it, we find "Over a long period the Slavs settled beside the Danube, ..." ⁴ and that because of the invading Vlakhs "the Slavic race was divided" ⁵. This division of the Slavs is portrayed as involuntary. If the Primary Chronicle were a work of fiction, this could readily be taken as the state of dis-equilibrium that the subsequent tale would resolve. The chronological entries never portray the conquering of another Slavic tribe as a negative event. They do however always portray the loss of a Slavic tribe from the realm as a negative event. Vasil'ko, while sitting in his jail cell, is even quoted in nearly the exact center of the tale of his blinding (columns 256-274) as having had plans to conqueror the Western and Southern Slavic tribes. It is therefore not unjustified to assume that the quest for Slavic unity is a deliberate underlying theme.

Directly after this Slavic foundation, is the section on Kiev, the tip of the triangle. On the other leg of the triangle, directly below Kiev is the section distinguishing non-Slavic tribes from Slavic tribes. In this figurative sense, Kiev itself rests directly on the two foundations of Slavic tribes and non-Slavic tribes. This was indeed also the reality of Kievan Russia. The theme here is clearly that non-Slavic tribes are also an integral part of the nation. It is also interesting to note however that the Slavs are on the same leg of the triangle as God himself.

Continuing down this last leg of the triangle, the next section asserts that "God destroyed" the Avars who "made war upon the Slavs".⁶ This establishes the theme that God is on the side of the Slavs, and also avenges on their behalf. The sin of Vasil'ko's revenge is clearly established here.

The next 4 columns describes the "mild and peaceful" customs of the Polyanians, while "The Derevlians, on the other hand, existed in bestial fashion,..." and that "The Radimichians, the Vyatichians, and the Severians had the same customs." as the Derevlians.⁷ This sets out Polyanian cultural values as positive and superior to those of other Slavic tribes. The assertion is made in the section on the founding of Kiev, that Kiy was an ancestor to the Polyanians.⁸ The theme here is that the Polyanians, having the divine origins associated with Kiev itself, possess the moral superiority to be the ruling tribe of Kiev. These 'nice' Polyanian values appear most noticeably in the chronological entries when Vladimir Monomakh's personality is described.⁹

The last column with relevant content, contains the story of how the Khazars knew that one day they would pay tribute to the Russes. It then ends with:

Just as the Egyptians ruled supreme, but were themselves subsequently ruled over, so it has also come to pass that the Russes rule over the Khazars even to this day.¹⁰

This passage is extremely interesting. It is next to the bottom of the worldly leg of the triangle, and creates a theme deep in the foundation of the Kievan state of the inevitability of conquests by the Rus.

The introduction has thus set the stage by supplying the most sacred set of values. As illustrated with the above examples, all these themes are subsequently woven throughout the chronological entries.

Turning to ideals and values developed in the chronological entries, there are two items that merit specific attention. The first is the a fearsome patriotic warrior theme, where the forces of Kiev continually either scare their opponents into fleeing or bloodily subdue them, with complete disregard for their personal safety. This is most notably exemplified by the stories about Svyatoslav. As a child he injures himself casting a spear¹¹. Later he leads a spartan warrior existence¹². He courageously remarks to the troops "Let us not disgrace the Rus', but rather sacrifice our lives, lest we be dishonored." ¹³

His spirit is tested by the Greeks and he is found, by preferring arms to riches, to be a fierce warrior. Only a handful of battles lost by the forces of Kiev are mentioned, and even then there is an excuse provided. While such a patriotic warrior myth is by no means unique to Kiev, it is usually a necessary feature of a secular state, and it is significant that the Primary Chronicle endeavors to propagate this myth.

The second item in the chronological entries that requires discussion is the depiction of Vladimir's conversion to Christianity. Vladimir needs to incur three different reasons to be baptized before he actually does it. First, there is the compelling argument of the envoy from Greece, the reason of the mind. Second, there is the battlefield promise in Kherson, the reason of the spirit. Third, there is the promise of marriage to Anna, the reason of the body. And indeed, directly after the baptism of Vladimir, Nestor launches into the defense of the Holy Trinity. Vladimir is, of course, important to the Christian themes as he subsequently directs the conversion of the entire country, and thus directly connects the state with its divine purpose as set out in St. Andrew's prophecy. There are however many subtle themes of secular, religious and indeed pagan values in the depiction of Vladimir's conversion. If the entire section is broken down into columns:

4 columns about Vladimir's battles
1 column about Vladimir's lust for women
1 column of sermonizing about women
2 columns about the Varangian martyrs
1 column on Vladimir conquering and making peace with the Bulgarians
3 columns about world religions
19 columns about the history of Christ, from the beginning
3 columns about envoys to foreign religions
1 column about the battle for Kherson
1 column about the maneuvering for Anna
1 column on Vladimir's baptism
1 column The Holy Trinity
4 columns the Orthodox beliefs

The first thing that immediately sticks out is the 19 columns about the history of Christ, exactly in the middle. The other subject material listed is roughly symmetrical about the center, for example the material about Anna is symmetrically paired with the Varangian martyrs. It was necessary in the text to show Anna's reluctance to marry Vladimir, in order to show that Anna too was a martyr, yet the Varangians were spiritual martyrs but Anna was a secular martyr for the Greeks. We also have symmetric pairings between Vladimir's all-consuming lust for women and the all-consuming thirst for the Holy Trinity. There simply is not enough space to extract and analyze all the possible themes in these pairings.

In the related section detailing the conversion of the people, the theme of ditheism of Christian and pagan values is possibly sanctioned by Vladimir where concerning the idol of Perun:

After they had thus dragged the idol along, they cast it into the Dneiper. But Vladimir had given this injunction "If it halts anywhere, then push it out from the bank, until it goes over the falls. Then let it loose." His command was duly obeyed. When the men let the idol go, and it passed through the rapids, the wind cast it out on the bank, ...¹⁴

The point may be that after the idol went over the falls, Vladimir was willing to co-exist with it. It just had to officially fall.

In the Primary Chronicle there are quite definitely themes and values that could be called Soviet national character attributes. In fact all of them pointed out so far can, with varying degrees of interpretation, be described as such. But the larger question is one of whether this is significant.

Some of these themes, such as the patriotic warrior myth, the "nice" values of the Polyanians, and the Christian values are of trivial significance in that most nations have similar values in their national characters. It is difficult to find examples of modern nations that don't value patriotism on the battlefield or see themselves as prone to committing immoral discourtesies. The same goes for the national religious themes, few countries would dare believe that God is not on their side when disputes arise between nations. That the Primary Chronicle reflects these themes, serves only to re-enforce the notion that it is a secular document, rather than a religious document.

There are however the themes of Slavic unity, the divine destiny of the country, and the inevitability of further conquests which are not so trivial. Even after noting that these themes were applied to Kievan Russia, they still seem to have been formulated as a prescription for the post-World War II era.

Divine destiny and inevitability of further conquests can be viewed as a natural side effect of a large empire, with the examples of Rome, Great Britain and the United States all exhibiting these traits. It is a kind of chicken and egg question however. Which came first, the concept of divine destiny or the large empire? In the case of the Soviet Union, it may well have been more a function of the large empire coming first, as the Slavic tribes of Kievan Russia occupied a huge territory even before they were unified and the first line of the Primary Chronicle was ever written. It is certainly clear however that the Primary Chronicle endeavors to service these two themes.

This leaves the theme of Slavic unity. It is clear that throughout history, from the Bulgarian campaigns in the Primary Chronicle to the division of Poland in the 1800's and the post-World War II era, that the Western and Southern Slavs have never accepted Russian rule as a final grand re-unification with the motherland. Were these occasions merely old-fashioned attempts at conquest by the Kievan state and its successor, or actually motivated attempts to fulfill a national yearning for Slavic re-unification? It is my suspicion based on the evidence in this paper that yearning for Slavic re-unification may in fact be a part of the Soviet national character, and that the Primary Chronicle may be responsible for embedding it into the national character.

Seattle, November 1990.

Endnotes