Biographical information. Likhachev Dmitry Sergeevich. Biographical information Continent of Russian culture

In February 1928, after graduating from Leningrad State University, Dmitry Likhachev was arrested for participating in the Space Academy of Sciences student group and sentenced to five years for counter-revolutionary activities.

From November 1928 to August 1932, Likhachev served his sentence in the Solovetsky special purpose camp. Here, during his stay in the camp, Likhachev’s first scientific work, “Card Games of Criminals,” was published in the magazine “Solovetsky Islands” in 1930.

After his early release, he returned to Leningrad, where he worked as a literary editor and proofreader in various publishing houses. Since 1938, Dmitry Likhachev’s life was connected with the Pushkin House - the Institute of Russian Literature (IRLI AS USSR), where he began working as a junior researcher, then became a member of the academic council (1948), and later - head of the sector (1954) and the department of ancient Russian literature (1986).

During the Great Patriotic War, from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1942, Dmitry Likhachev lived and worked in besieged Leningrad, from where he was evacuated with his family along the “Road of Life” to Kazan. For his selfless work in the besieged city, he was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad."

Since 1946, Likhachev worked at Leningrad State University (LSU): first as an assistant professor, and in 1951-1953 as a professor. At the Faculty of History of Leningrad State University, he taught special courses “History of Russian Chronicles”, “Paleography”, “History of the Culture of Ancient Rus'” and others.

Dmitry Likhachev devoted most of his works to the study of the culture of Ancient Rus' and its traditions: “National identity of Ancient Rus'” (1945), “The emergence of Russian literature” (1952), “Man in the literature of Ancient Russia” (1958), “Culture of Rus' in the time of Andrei Rublev and Epiphany the Wise" (1962), "Poetics of Old Russian Literature" (1967), essay "Notes on the Russian" (1981). The collection “The Past for the Future” (1985) is dedicated to Russian culture and the inheritance of its traditions.

Likhachev paid a lot of attention to the study of the great monuments of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” which he translated into modern Russian with the author’s comments (1950). In different years of his life, various articles and monographs of the scientist were devoted to these works, translated into many languages ​​of the world.

Dmitry Likhachev was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953) and a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1970). He was a foreign member or corresponding member of the academies of sciences of a number of countries: the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1963), the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1971), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1973), the British Academy (1976), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1968), the Göttingen Academy Academy of Sciences (1988), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993).

Likhachev was an honorary doctor from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (1964), Oxford (1967), the University of Edinburgh (1971), the University of Bordeaux (1982), the University of Zurich (1982), Lorand Eötvos University of Budapest (1985), Sofia University (1988) ), Charles University (1991), University of Siena (1992), honorary member of the Serbian literary, scientific, cultural and educational society "Srpska Matica" (1991), Philosophical Scientific Society of the USA (1992). Since 1989, Likhachev was a member of the Soviet (later Russian) branch of the Pen Club.

Academician Likhachev conducted active social work. The academician considered his most significant work as chairman of the “Literary Monuments” series at the Soviet (later Russian) Cultural Foundation (1986-1993), as well as his work as a member of the editorial board of the academic series “Popular Scientific Literature” (since 1963) . Dmitry Likhachev actively spoke in the media in defense of monuments of Russian culture - buildings, streets, parks. Thanks to the scientist’s activities, it was possible to save many monuments in Russia and Ukraine from demolition, “reconstruction” and “restoration.”

For his scientific and social activities, Dmitry Likhachev was awarded many government awards. Academician Likhachev was twice awarded the State Prize of the USSR - for the scientific works “The History of Culture of Ancient Rus'” (1952) and “The Poetics of Old Russian Literature” (1969), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the series “Monuments of Literature of Ancient Rus'” (1993). In 2000, Dmitry Likhachev was posthumously awarded the State Prize of Russia for the development of the artistic direction of domestic television and the creation of the all-Russian state television channel "Culture".

Academician Dmitry Likhachev was awarded the highest awards of the USSR and Russia - the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1986) with the Order of Lenin and the gold medal "Hammer and Sickle", he was the first holder of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called (1998), and was also awarded many orders and medals.

Since 1935, Dmitry Likhachev was married to Zinaida Makarova, an employee of the publishing house. In 1937, their twin daughters Vera and Lyudmila were born. In 1981, the academician’s daughter Vera died in a car accident.

2006, the year of the centenary of the scientist’s birth, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

DMITRY SERGEEVICH LIKHACHEV

Dates of life: November 28, 1906 – September 30, 1999
Place of Birth: city of St. Petersburg, Russia
Soviet and Russian philologist, culturologist, art critic, Doctor of Philology, professor.
Chairman of the Board of the Russian Cultural Foundation.
Famous works: “Letters about the good and the beautiful”, “Man in the literature of Ancient Rus'”, “Culture of Rus' in the time of Andrei Rublev and Epiphanius the Wise”, “Textology”, “Poetics of Old Russian literature”, “Eras and styles”, “Great heritage”

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev is a major scientist and defender of Russian culture. He lived a very long life, in which there were deprivations, persecutions, as well as grandiose achievements in the scientific field, recognition not only at home, but throughout the world. When Dmitry Sergeevich passed away, they spoke with one voice: he was the conscience of the nation. And there is no stretch in this lofty definition. Indeed, Likhachev was an example of selfless and relentless service to the Motherland.

He was born in St. Petersburg, in the family of electrical engineer Sergei Mikhailovich Likhachev. The Likhachevs lived modestly, but found opportunities not to give up their hobby - regular visits to the Mariinsky Theater, or rather, ballet performances. And in the summer they rented a dacha in Kuokkala, where Dmitry joined the ranks of artistic youth.
In 1914, he entered the gymnasium, and subsequently changed several schools, as the education system changed in connection with the events of the revolution and the Civil War.
In 1923, Dmitry entered the ethnological and linguistic department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Petrograd University. At some point, he joined a student circle under the comic name “Space Academy of Sciences.” The members of this circle met regularly, read and discussed each other's reports.
In February 1928, Dmitry Likhachev was arrested for participating in a circle and sentenced to 5 years “for counter-revolutionary activities.” The investigation lasted six months, after which Likhachev was sent to the Solovetsky camp. Likhachev later called his experience of life in the camp his “second and main university.” He changed several types of activities in Solovki. For example, he worked as an employee of the Criminological Office and organized a labor colony for teenagers. " I came out of this whole mess with a new knowledge of life and a new state of mind., - Dmitry Sergeevich said in an interview. - The good that I managed to do for hundreds of teenagers, saving their lives, and many other people, the good received from the fellow prisoners themselves, the experience of everything I saw created in me some kind of very deep-seated peace and mental health.».
Likhachev was released early in 1932, and “with a red stripe” - that is, with a certificate that he was a drummer in the construction of the White Sea-Baltic Canal, and this certificate gave him the right to live anywhere. He returned to Leningrad, worked as a proofreader at the publishing house of the Academy of Sciences (having a criminal record prevented him from getting a more serious job).
In 1938, through the efforts of the leaders of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Likhachev’s criminal record was cleared. Then Dmitry Sergeevich went to work at the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House). In June 1941, he defended his Ph.D. thesis on the topic “Novgorod chronicles of the 12th century.” The scientist defended his doctoral dissertation after the war, in 1947.
The Likhachevs (by that time Dmitry Sergeevich was married and had two daughters) survived the war partially in besieged Leningrad. After the terrible winter of 1941–1942, they were evacuated to Kazan. After his stay in the camp, Dmitry Sergeevich’s health was undermined, and he was not subject to conscription to the front.

The main theme of Likhachev the scientist was ancient Russian literature. In 1950, under his scientific leadership, The Tale of Bygone Years and The Tale of Igor’s Campaign were prepared for publication in the “Literary Monuments” series. A team of talented researchers of ancient Russian literature gathered around the scientist.
From 1954 until the end of his life, Dmitry Sergeevich headed the sector of ancient Russian literature at the Pushkin House. In 1953, Likhachev was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At that time, he already enjoyed unquestioned authority among all Slavic scholars in the world.
The 50s, 60s, 70s were an incredibly busy time for the scientist, when his most important books were published: “Man in the Literature of Ancient Rus'”, “The Culture of Rus' in the Time of Andrei Rublev and Epiphanius the Wise”, “Textology”, “Poetics” Old Russian Literature", "Eras and Styles", "Great Heritage". Likhachev in many ways opened up ancient Russian literature to a wide range of readers, did everything to make it “come to life” and become interesting not only to specialist philologists.
In the second half of the 80s and in the 90s, the authority of Dmitry Sergeevich was incredibly great not only in academic circles, he was revered by people of various professions and political views. He acted as a promoter of the protection of monuments - both tangible and intangible. From 1986 to 1993, Academician Likhachev was the chairman of the Russian Cultural Foundation and was elected as a people's deputy of the Supreme Council.
Dmitry Sergeevich lived for 92 years; during his earthly journey, political regimes changed several times in Russia. He was born in St. Petersburg and died there, but lived in both Petrograd and Leningrad... The outstanding scientist carried faith (and his parents were from Old Believer families) and endurance through all the trials, and always remained faithful to his mission - to preserve the memory, history, culture. Dmitry Sergeevich suffered from the Soviet regime, but did not become a dissident, he always found a reasonable compromise in relations with his superiors in order to be able to do his job. His conscience was not stained by a single unseemly act. He once wrote about his experience of serving time on Solovki: “ I realized this: every day is a gift from God. I need to live for the day to day, to be satisfied that I live another day. And be grateful for every day. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of anything in the world" There were many, many days in the life of Dmitry Sergeevich, each of which he filled with work to increase the cultural wealth of Russia.

DMITRY LIKHACHEV “I WANTED TO KEEP RUSSIA IN MEMORY...”

“With the birth of a person, his time will also be born. In childhood, it is young and flows like a youth - it seems fast over short distances and long over longer ones. In old age, time definitely stops. It's sluggish. The past is very close in old age, especially childhood. In general, of all three periods of human life (childhood and youth, mature years, old age), old age is the longest period and the most tedious.
Memories give us a window into the past. They not only tell us information about the past, but also give us the point of view of contemporaries of events, a living sense of contemporaries. Of course, it also happens that memoirists’ memory fails (memoirs without individual errors are an extreme rarity) or the past is covered too subjectively. But in a very large number of cases, memoirists tell what was not and could not be reflected in any other type of historical sources.
The main drawback of many memoirs is the complacency of the memoirist... Therefore, is it worth writing memoirs? It’s worth it - so that the events, the atmosphere of previous years are not forgotten, and most importantly, so that a trace of the people remains, maybe no one will ever remember again, about whom the documents lie ... "

This is the beginning of a new book by Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, a major scientist and defender of Russian culture, “MEMORIES. I wanted to keep Russia in my memory..."
He lived a very long life, in which there were deprivations, persecutions, as well as grandiose achievements in the scientific field, recognition not only at home, but throughout the world. Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev was an example of selfless and relentless service to the Motherland.

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev

« Each of those living on Earth, voluntarily or unwittingly, teaches lessons to others: someone teaches how to live, someone teaches how not to live, someone teaches how to act, someone teaches what not to or should not do. act. The circle of students may be different - these are relatives, friends, neighbors. And only for a few this circle becomes the whole society, the whole nation, the whole people, therefore they receive the right to be called Teachers with a capital T. This is the kind of teacher Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev was».
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusev, director of the State Russian Museum

November 28 performed 110 years since the academician's birthday Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev- Russian thinker, scientist and writer, whose life became a great feat for the spirituality of the Russian people and native culture. There was a lot in his life, which covered almost the entire 20th century: arrest, camp, blockade and great scientific work. Contemporaries called Likhachev "the last conscience of the nation".

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev was born November 15 (November 28 - new style) 1906 in St. Petersburg, in a wealthy family Old Believers-bezpopovtsy Fedoseyevsky consent.

In their "Memories" Dmitry Sergeevich wrote: “ My mother was from a merchant background. On her father’s side, she was Konyaeva (they said that the family’s original surname was Kanaev and was incorrectly recorded in the passport of one of the ancestors in the middle of the 19th century). On her mother’s side, she was from the Pospeevs, who had an Old Believers’ chapel on Rasstannaya Street near the Raskolnichy Bridge near the Volkov Cemetery: the Old Believers of the Fedoseyev Consent lived there. Pospeevsky traditions were the strongest in our family. According to the Old Believer tradition, we never had dogs in our apartment, but we all loved birds».

Start of school in the fall 1914 practically coincided with the beginning of the First World War. First, Dmitry Likhachev entered the senior preparatory class of the Gymnasium of the Imperial Philanthropic Society, and in 1915 went to study at the famous Karl Ivanovich May gymnasium on Vasilyevsky Island.

From left to right: Dmitry Likhachev’s mother, his brother (in the center) and himself. 1911 d

Since his school years, Dmitry Sergeevich fell in love with books - he not only read, he was actively interested in printing. The Likhachev family lived in a government-owned apartment at the printing house of the current Printing House, and the smell of just a printed book, as the scientist later recalled, was for him the best aroma that could lift his spirits.

From 1923 to 1928, after graduating from high school, Dmitry Likhachev studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences Leningrad State University, where he gains his first skills in research work with manuscripts. But in 1928, only having managed to graduate from university, the young scientist ends up in Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp.

The reason for his arrest and imprisonment in the camp was his participation in the work of a half-joking student "Space Academy of Sciences", for which Dmitry Likhachev wrote a report on the old Russian spelling replaced by a new one in 1918. He sincerely considered the old spelling to be more perfect, and until his death he basically typed on his old typewriter with "yat". This report was enough to accuse Likhachev, like most of his comrades at the Academy, of counter-revolutionary activities. Dmitry Likhachev was convicted for 5 years: he spent six months in prison, and then was sent to a camp on Solovetsky Island.

The Likhachev family. Dmitry Likhachev - pictured in the center, 1929

Solovetsky Monastery, founded by Saints Zosima and Savatiy in the 13th century, in 1922 was closed and turned into the Solovetsky special purpose camp. It became a place where thousands of prisoners served their sentences. To the beginning 1930s their numbers reached up to 650 thousand, of them 80% consisted of “political” prisoners and “counter-revolutionaries”.

The day when Dmitry Likhachev's stage was unloaded from the cars at the transit point in Kemi, he remembered forever. When disembarking from the carriage, the guard broke his face with his boot, bleeding, and the prisoners were abused as best they could. The screams of the guards, the screams of the one taking the stage Beloozerova: « Here the power is not Soviet, but Solovetsky" It was this threatening statement that later served as the title of a 1988 documentary film directed by Marina Goldovskaya “Solovetsky power. Certificates and documents".

The entire column of prisoners, tired and chilled by the wind, was ordered to run around the pillar, raising their legs high - it all seemed so fantastic, so absurd in its reality that Likhachev could not stand it and laughed: “ When I laughed (though not at all because I was having fun)“,” Likhachev wrote in “Memoirs,” “Beloozerov shouted at me: “ We’ll laugh later,” but he didn’t beat him up».

There really was little funny in Solovetsky life - cold, hunger, illness, hard work, pain and suffering were everywhere: " The sick were lying on the upper bunks, and from under the bunks hands reached out to us, asking for bread. And in these hands there was also the pointing finger of fate. Under the bunks lived the “louses”—teenagers who had lost all their clothes. They went into an “illegal position” - they didn’t go out for verification, didn’t receive food, lived under bunks so that they wouldn’t be forced out naked into the cold to do physical work. They knew about their existence. They simply starved them to death, without giving them any rations of bread, soup, or porridge. They lived on handouts. We lived while we lived! And then they were taken out dead, put in a box and taken to the cemetery.
I felt so sorry for these “lice” that I walked around like a drunk—drunk with compassion. It was no longer a feeling in me, but something like an illness. And I am so grateful to fate that six months later I was able to help some of them".

Russian writer, veteran of the Great Patriotic War Daniil Alexandrovich Granin, who knew Dmitry Likhachev closely, wrote about his Solovetsky impressions: “ In the stories about Solovki, where he was imprisoned, there is no description of personal hardships. What is he describing? The people he sat with tell him what he did. The rudeness and dirt of life did not harden him and, it seems, made him softer and more sympathetic».

Letters from parents to the Solovetsky camp to Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev

Dmitry Sergeevich himself will later say about the conclusion: “ My stay on Solovki was the most significant period of my life all my life.” It’s surprising that, recalling such a difficult time in his life, he calls it not a terrible misfortune, unbearable hard labor, a difficult test, but simply “the most significant period of his life.”».

In the Solovetsky camp, Likhachev worked as a sawyer, loader, electrician, cowshed, played the role of a horse - prisoners were harnessed to carts and sleighs instead of horses, lived in a barracks where at night the bodies were hidden under an even layer of swarming lice, and died of typhus. Prayer and the support of family and friends helped me get through it all.

Living in such harsh conditions taught him to cherish every day, to value sacrificial mutual assistance, to remain himself and to help others endure trials.

In November 1928 Prisoners were exterminated en masse on Solovki. At this time, Dmitry Likhachev’s parents came to see him, and when the meeting ended, he learned that they were coming for him to shoot him.

Likhachev's parents came to visit their son at the Solovetsky camp

Having learned about this, he did not return to the barracks, but sat at the woodpile until the morning. The shots sounded one after another. The number of those executed was in the hundreds. How did he feel that night? Nobody knows this.

When dawn began to glimmer over Solovki, he realized, as he would write later, “something special”: “ I realized: every day is a gift from God. An even number were shot: either three hundred or four hundred people. It is clear that someone else was “taken” instead of me. And I need to live for two. So that the one who was taken for me would not be ashamed».

Likhachev kept the sheepskin coat he wore in the camp on Solovki until his death

In connection with his early release from the camp, accusations began that were and sometimes continue to be made against the scientist, the most ridiculous of which is Likhachev’s collaboration with the “authorities.” However, he not only did not cooperate with the authorities in the Solovetsky camp, but also refused to give atheistic lectures to prisoners. Such lectures were so necessary for the camp authorities, who perfectly understood that Solovki was a holy monastery. But no one ever heard atheistic propaganda from Likhachev’s mouth.

In 1932, six months before the expiration of his sentence, 25-year-old Dmitry Likhachev was released: the White Sea-Baltic Canal, which the prisoners were building, was successfully completed, and “ Stalin, delighted,” writes the academician, “ freed all the builders».

After being released from the camp and before 1935 Dmitry Sergeevich works in Leningrad as a literary editor.

Dmitry Likhachev's life partner was Zinaida Makarova, They merried in 1935. In 1936 at the request of the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A. P. Karpinsky Dmitry Likhachev's criminal record was cleared, and in 1937 the Likhachevs gave birth to two daughters - twins Faith And Lyudmila.

Dmitry Likhachev with his wife and children, 1937

In 1938 Dmitry Sergeevich becomes a research fellow at the Institute of Russian Literature, the famous Pushkin House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a specialist in ancient Russian literature, and in a year and a half writes a dissertation on the topic: "Novgorod Chronicles of the 17th Century". June 11, 1941 He defended his dissertation, becoming a candidate of philological sciences. Through 11 days the war began. Likhachev was sick and weak, he was not taken to the front, and he remained in Leningrad. From autumn 1941 to June 1942 Likhachev is in besieged Leningrad, and then he and his family are evacuated to Kazan. His memories of the siege, written 15 years later, they captured a true and terrible picture of the martyrdom of the inhabitants of Leningrad, a picture of hunger, hardship, death - and amazing fortitude.

In 1942 scientist publishes a book "Defense of Ancient Russian Cities", which he wrote in besieged Leningrad. In the post-war period, Likhachev became a Doctor of Science, having defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic: "Essays on the history of literary forms of chronicle writing of the 11th-16th centuries", then a professor, winner of the Stalin Prize, member of the Writers' Union, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences.

Literature did not exist separately for him; he studied it together with science, painting, folklore and epic. That is why the most important works of ancient Russian literature prepared by him for publication are "The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh", "Words on Law and Grace", « Prayers of Daniel the Imprisoner"- became a real discovery of the history and culture of Ancient Rus', and most importantly, not only specialists can read these works.

Dmitry Likhachev wrote: “ Rus' adopted Christianity from Byzantium, and the Eastern Christian Church allowed Christian preaching and worship in its national language. Therefore, in the history of Russian literature there were neither Latin nor Greek periods. From the very beginning, unlike many Western countries, Rus' had literature in a literary language understandable to the people».

Dmitry Likhachev in Oxford

For these works devoted to ancient Russian chronicles and, in general, to the literature and culture of Ancient Rus', Dmitry Sergeevich receives both national and international recognition.

In 1955 Likhachev begins the fight for the preservation of historical monuments and antiquities, often traveling to the West with lectures on ancient Russian literature. In 1967 becomes honorary Doctor of Oxford University. In 1969 His book "Poetics of Old Russian Literature" was awarded the USSR State Prize.

Simultaneously with his work in the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, he begins to fight against so-called “Russian nationalism,” which he continued until the end of his life.

« Nationalism... is the worst misfortune of the human race. Like any evil, it hides, lives in darkness and only pretends to be born of love for its country. But it is actually generated by anger, hatred of other peoples and that part of one’s own people that does not share nationalist views"- wrote Dmitry Likhachev.

In 1975-1976 Several attempts are made on his life. In one of these attempts, the attacker breaks his ribs, but despite this, in his 70 years old, Likhachev gives a worthy rebuff to the attacker and pursues him through the courtyards. During these same years, Likhachev’s apartment was searched and then several attempts were made to set it on fire.

Around the name of Dmitry Sergeevich there was a many legends. Some were suspicious of his early release from the camp, others did not understand his relationship to the Church, others were alarmed by the unexpected popularity of the academician in power in 1980-1990s. However, Likhachev was never a member of the CPSU, refused to sign letters against prominent cultural figures of the USSR, was not a dissident and sought to find a compromise with the Soviet government. In the 1980s he refused to sign the condemnation Solzhenitsyn letter from “scientists and cultural figures” and opposed the exclusion Sakharov from the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Likhachev loved his work. Dmitry Likhachev was faithful to his chosen field of scientific interests, the literature and culture of Ancient Rus', during his student years all his life. In his writings, he wrote why he chose to study Ancient Rus': " It is not for nothing that journalism was so developed in Ancient Rus'. This side of ancient Russian life: the struggle for a better life, the struggle for correction, the struggle even simply for a military organization, more perfect and better, which could defend the people from constant invasions - this is what attracts me. I really love the Old Believers, not for the very ideas of the Old Believers, but for the difficult, convinced struggle that the Old Believers waged, especially in the first stages, when the Old Believers were a peasant movement, when they merged with the movement of Stepan Razin. After all, the Solovetsky uprising was raised after the defeat of the Razin movement by fugitive Razinites, ordinary monks who had very strong peasant roots in the North. It was not only a religious struggle, but also a social one.".

Dmitry Likhachev on Rogozhsky

Dmitry Likhachev and Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Alimpiy (Gusev)

July 2, 1987 Dmitry Likhachev, as chairman of the board of the Soviet Cultural Foundation, came to the Old Believer center of Moscow, on Rogozhskoye. Here he was presented with a signed church calendar for the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Soviet Cultural Fund Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva. Dmitry Likhachev began to petition for the Old Believers before M. S. Gorbachev, and less than two weeks after Likhachev’s visit, Archbishop Alimpiy They called and asked about the needs of the Old Believers. Soon the necessary building materials and gold for decorating the crosses arrived at Rogozhskoye, and the buildings began to be gradually returned.

Dmitry Likhachev in the spiritual center of the Old Believers of the Russian Orthodox Church - Rogozhskaya Sloboda

Dean of the Old Believer communities of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Region, rector of the Orekhovo-Zuevsky Old Believer Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, member of the Public Chamber of the Moscow Region Archpriest Leonty Pimenov in the newspaper "Old Believer" No. 19 for 2001 wrote:

« Today’s Orthodox Old Believers, who are asking what kind of consent he had, what kind of community he was a member of, what he did or didn’t do, would like to answer this way: “Know them by their works,” this is well known. Judging by his labors and hardships, he was of the same faith with Nestor the Chronicler and Sergius of Radonezh, Archpriest Avvakum and noblewoman Morozova, he miraculously came to our time from pre-Nikon Holy Rus'».

Archpriest Leonty Pimenov

In almost all his interviews, Dmitry Sergeevich constantly emphasized that real Russian culture is preserved only in the Old Believers:

« Old Believers are an amazing phenomenon of Russian life and Russian culture. In 1906, under Nicholas II, the Old Believers finally stopped being persecuted by legislative acts. But before that they were oppressed in every possible way, and this persecution forced them to withdraw into old beliefs, old rituals, old books - everything old. And it turned out to be an amazing thing! By their perseverance, their commitment to the old Faith, the Old Believers preserved ancient Russian culture: ancient writing, ancient books, ancient reading, ancient rituals. This old culture even included folklore - epics, which in the North were mainly preserved in the Old Believer environment».

Dmitry Sergeevich wrote a lot about moral steadfastness in the faith of the Old Believers, which led to the fact that both in work and in life’s trials the Old Believers were morally steadfast: " This is an amazing segment of the population of Russia - both very rich and very generous. Everything that the Old Believers did: whether they fished, carpentered, or were engaged in blacksmithing, or trade - they did conscientiously. It was convenient and easy to conclude various transactions with them. They could be carried out without any written agreements. The word of the Old Believers, the merchant’s word, was enough, and everything was done without any deception. Thanks to their honesty, they made up a fairly prosperous segment of the Russian population. The Ural industry, for example, relied on the Old Believers. In any case, before they began to be especially persecuted under Nicholas I. The iron foundry industry, fishing in the North - all these are Old Believers. The merchants Ryabushinsky and Morozov came from the Old Believers. High moral qualities are beneficial for a person! This is clearly visible from the Old Believers. They became rich and created charitable, church, and hospital organizations. They didn't have capitalist greed".

Dmitry Sergeevich called the complex era of Peter the Great with its grandiose transformations, which became a difficult test for the people, a revival of ancient Russian paganism: “He (Peter I - editor's note) organized a masquerade from the country, these assemblies were also a kind of buffoonish actions. The most humorous cathedral is also a buffoon’s devilry.”

Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev's gift to his people is his books, articles, letters and memories. Dmitry Likhachev is the author of fundamental works on the history of Russian and Old Russian literature and Russian culture, the author of hundreds of works, including more than forty books on the theory and history of Old Russian literature, many of which have been translated into English, Bulgarian, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Croatian , Czech, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, German and other languages.

His literary works were addressed not only to scientists, but also to a wide range of readers, including children. They are written in surprisingly simple and at the same time beautiful language. Dmitry Sergeevich loved books very much; in books, not only the words were dear to him, but also the thoughts and feelings of the people who wrote these books or about whom they were written.

Dmitry Sergeevich considered educational activities to be no less important than scientific ones. For many years, he devoted all his energy and time to convey his thoughts and views to the broad masses - he broadcast on Central Television, which were built in the format of free communication between an academician and a wide audience.

Until his last day, Dmitry Likhachev was engaged in publishing and editing activities, personally reading and correcting the manuscripts of young scientists. He considered it obligatory for himself to respond to all the numerous correspondence that came to him from the most remote corners of the country.

September 22, 1999, just eight days before the death of his earthly life, Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev handed over the manuscript of the book to the book publishing house "Thoughts about Russia"- a corrected and expanded version of the book, on the first page of which it was written: “ Dedicated to my contemporaries and descendants“- this means that even before his death, Dmitry Sergeevich thought most of all about Russia, about his native land and his native people.

He carried his Old Believer vision throughout his long life. So, when asked by what rite he would like to be buried, Dmitry Sergeevich answered: “ The old way».

He died September 30, 1999, only about two months short of reaching 93 years old.

The grave of academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev and his wife Zinaida Aleksandrovna in the cemetery of the village of Komarovo

In 2001 was established International Charitable Foundation named after D. S. Likhachev, also named after him square in the Petrogradsky district of St. Petersburg.

By decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin 2006, the centenary year of the scientist's birth, was announced Year of Academician Dmitry Likhachev.

In their "Letters about goodness", addressing all of us, Likhachev writes: “ There is light and darkness, there is nobility and baseness, there is purity and dirt: one must grow to the former, but is it worth descending to the latter? Choose the worthy, not the easy».

Academician Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev lived a long life. He was born on November 15 (November 28 - new style) 1906, and died on September 30, 1999, just a couple of months short of turning 93 years old. His life almost entirely covered the 20th century - a century filled with both great and terrible events in Russian and world history.

When talking about our affairs and responsibilities, we usually divide them into important and petty, great and small. Academician Likhachev had a higher view of human life: he believed that there are no unimportant matters or responsibilities, no trifles, no “little things in life.” Everything that happens in a person’s life is important to him.

« In life you need to have service - service to some cause. Let this matter be small, it will become big if you are faithful to it».

Likhachev Dmitry Sergeevich

Everyone has heard about Academician Likhachev, and more than once. He is called “a symbol of the Russian intelligentsia of the 20th century”, and “the patriarch of Russian culture”, and “an outstanding scientist”, and “the conscience of the nation”...

He had many titles: researcher of the literature of Ancient Rus', author of many scientific and journalistic works, historian, publicist, public figure, honorary member of many European academies, founder of the magazine “Our Heritage”, dedicated to Russian culture.

Behind the dry lines of Likhachev’s “track record” the main thing is lost to which he devoted his strength, his spiritual energy - the protection, propaganda and popularization of Russian culture.

It was Likhachev who saved unique architectural monuments from destruction, it was thanks to the speeches of Dmitry Sergeevich, thanks to his articles and letters that the collapse of many museums and libraries was prevented. The echo of his television appearances could be heard in the subway, in trolley cars, or just on the street.

It was said about him: “Finally, television showed a real Russian intellectual.” Popularity, world fame, recognition in scientific circles. It turns out to be an idyllic picture. Meanwhile, Academician Likhachev has by no means a smooth road of life behind him...

Life path

Dmitry Sereevich was born in St. Petersburg. According to his father, he is Orthodox, and according to his mother, he is an Old Believer (previously, it was not nationality that was written in documents, but religion). The example of Likhachev’s biography shows that hereditary intelligence means no less than nobility.

The Likhachevs lived modestly, but found an opportunity not to give up their hobby - regular visits to the Mariinsky Theater. And in the summer they rented a dacha in Kuokkala, where Dmitry joined the ranks of artistic youth.

In 1923, Dmitry entered the ethnological and linguistic department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Petrograd University. At some point, he joined a student circle under the comic name “Space Academy of Sciences.”

The members of this circle met regularly, read and discussed each other's reports. In February 1928, Dmitry Likhachev was arrested for participating in a circle and sentenced to 5 years “for counter-revolutionary activities.” The investigation lasted six months, after which Likhachev was sent to the Solovetsky camp.

Likhachev later called his experience of life in the camp his “second and main university.” He changed several types of activities in Solovki. For example, he worked as an employee of the Criminological Office and organized a labor colony for teenagers.

« I came out of this whole mess with a new knowledge of life and a new state of mind,- said Dmitry Sergeevich. - The good that I managed to do for hundreds of teenagers, saving their lives, and many other people, the good received from the fellow prisoners themselves, the experience of everything I saw created in me some kind of very deep-seated peace and mental health».

Likhachev was released early in 1932. He returned to Leningrad, worked as a proofreader at the publishing house of the Academy of Sciences (having a criminal record prevented him from getting a more serious job).

In 1938, through the efforts of the leaders of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Likhachev’s criminal record was cleared. Then Dmitry Sergeevich went to work at the Institute of Russian Literature of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Pushkin House).

The Likhachevs (by that time Dmitry Sergeevich was married and had two daughters) partially survived the war in besieged Leningrad. After the terrible winter of 1941–1942, they were evacuated to Kazan. After his stay in the camp, Dmitry Sergeevich’s health was undermined, and he was not subject to conscription to the front.

The main theme of Likhachev the scientist was ancient Russian literature. In 1950, under his scientific leadership, two books were prepared for publication in the “Literary Monuments” series - “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”

Dmitry Sergeevich knew how to find in the Russian Middle Ages what connects us with the past, for man is part of society and part of its history. Through the prism of the history of the Russian language and literature, he comprehended the culture of his people and tried to introduce his contemporaries to it.

For more than fifty years he worked in the Pushkin House, heading the department of ancient Russian literature there. And how many talented people did Dmitry Sergeevich help in life... Andrei Voznesensky wrote that with his prefaces Likhachev helped the publication of more than one “difficult” book.

And not only with prefaces, but also with letters, reviews, petitions, recommendations, and advice. It is safe to say that dozens, hundreds of talented scientists and writers owe the support of Likhachev, who played an important role in their personal and creative destinies.

Academician Likhachev became the informal leader of our culture. When the Cultural Foundation appeared in our country, Dmitry Sergeevich became the permanent chairman of its board from 1986 to 1993. At this time, the Cultural Fund becomes a fund of cultural ideas.

Likhachev understood perfectly well that only a morally full-fledged, aesthetically receptive person is capable of preserving, preserving, and most importantly, extracting all the spiritual wealth of the culture of past times. And he found, perhaps, the most effective way to reach the hearts and minds of his contemporaries - he began to appear on radio and television.

Likhachev is a patriot by nature, a modest and unobtrusive patriot. He was not an ascetic. He loved travel and comfort, but lived in a modest city apartment, cramped by modern standards for a world-class scientist. It was littered with books. And this is today, when the craving for luxury has gripped all levels of society.

Dmitry Sergeevich was unusually easy-going. All journalists know how difficult it was to find him at home. Even at 90 years old, he was interested in the whole world, and he was interesting to the whole world: all the universities of the world invited him to visit, and Prince Charles helped him publish Pushkin’s manuscripts and gave a dinner in his honor.

Even 2.5 months before his death in the summer of 1999, Likhachev agreed to speak at the Pushkin Conference in Italy. He died on September 30, 1999 and was buried at the Komarovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Notes and thoughts on the “little things” of life

Likhachev's latest books look like sermons or teachings. What is Likhachev trying to instill in us? What to explain, what to teach?

In the preface to the book “Letters about the Good and the Beautiful,” Dmitry Sergeevich writes: “ Try holding binoculars in shaking hands - you won't see anything" To perceive the beauty of the world around us, a person himself must be mentally beautiful.

Remembering Dmitry Sergeevich, we read excerpts from his letters:

« What is the most important thing in life? The main thing can be everyone’s own, unique. But still, the main thing should be kind and significant. A person must think about the meaning of his life - look at the past and look into the future.

People who don’t care about anyone seem to fall out of memory, but people who served others, served smartly, and had a good and significant purpose in life are remembered for a long time.”

« What is the greatest purpose in life? I think: increase the goodness in those around us. And goodness is, first of all, the happiness of all people. It consists of many things, and every time life presents a person with a task that is important to be able to solve. You can do good to a person in small things, you can think about big things, but small things and big things cannot be separated...»

« The most valuable thing in life is kindness... smart, purposeful kindness. Knowing this, remembering this always and following the paths of kindness is very, very important.».

« Caring is what unites people, strengthens the memory of the past, and is aimed entirely at the future. This is not the feeling itself - it is a concrete manifestation of the feeling of love, friendship, patriotism. A person must be caring. A carefree or carefree person is most likely a person who is unkind and does not love anyone».

« Somewhere in Belinsky’s letters, I remember, there is this idea: scoundrels always prevail over decent people because they treat decent people like scoundrels, and decent people treat scoundrels like decent people.

A stupid person doesn’t like a smart person, an uneducated person doesn’t like an educated person, an ill-mannered person doesn’t like a well-mannered person, etc. And all this is hidden behind some phrase: “I’m a simple person...”, “I don’t like philosophizing,” “I lived my life without it,” “That’s it.” this is from the evil one,” etc. But in the soul there is hatred, envy, a sense of one’s own inferiority».

« The most amazing quality of a person is love. This is where the connectedness of people is most fully expressed. And the connectedness of people (family, village, country, the entire globe) is the foundation on which humanity stands».

« Good cannot be stupid. A kind deed is never stupid, because it is selfless and does not pursue the goal of profit or a “smart result”... They say “kind” when they want to insult».

« If a person ceases to be a creative being and to be focused on the future, he will cease to be human».

« Greed is the oblivion of one’s own dignity, it is an attempt to put one’s material interests above oneself, it is a mental crookedness, a terrible orientation of the mind that is extremely limiting, mental witheredness, pitifulness, a jaundiced view of the world, bile towards oneself and others, oblivion of comradeship».

« Life is, first of all, creativity, but this does not mean that every person, in order to live, must be born an artist, ballerina or scientist».

« Morally, you must live as if you were to die today, and work as if you were immortal».

« The Earth is our tiny house, flying in an immeasurably large space... This is a museum flying defenselessly in colossal space, a collection of hundreds of thousands of museums, a dense gathering of works of hundreds of thousands of geniuses».

What exactly is the Likhachev phenomenon? After all, he was, in essence, a lone fighter. At his disposal there was no party, no movement, no influential position, no government leadership. Nothing. All he had at his disposal was moral reputation and authority.

Those who keep today Likhachev's legacy, we are convinced that it is necessary to remember Dmitry Sergeevich more often, not only when national anniversary events are held.

It is increasingly felt that the time has come for an honest attempt to rethink what is happening to the country and to all of us, which is why turning to cultural and moral values ​​is especially important.

In February 1928, after graduating from Leningrad State University, Dmitry Likhachev was arrested for participating in the Space Academy of Sciences student group and sentenced to five years for counter-revolutionary activities.

From November 1928 to August 1932, Likhachev served his sentence in the Solovetsky special purpose camp. Here, during his stay in the camp, Likhachev’s first scientific work, “Card Games of Criminals,” was published in the magazine “Solovetsky Islands” in 1930.

After his early release, he returned to Leningrad, where he worked as a literary editor and proofreader in various publishing houses. Since 1938, Dmitry Likhachev’s life was connected with the Pushkin House - the Institute of Russian Literature (IRLI AS USSR), where he began working as a junior researcher, then became a member of the academic council (1948), and later - head of the sector (1954) and the department of ancient Russian literature (1986).

During the Great Patriotic War, from the autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1942, Dmitry Likhachev lived and worked in besieged Leningrad, from where he was evacuated with his family along the “Road of Life” to Kazan. For his selfless work in the besieged city, he was awarded the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad."

Since 1946, Likhachev worked at Leningrad State University (LSU): first as an assistant professor, and in 1951-1953 as a professor. At the Faculty of History of Leningrad State University, he taught special courses “History of Russian Chronicles”, “Paleography”, “History of the Culture of Ancient Rus'” and others.

Dmitry Likhachev devoted most of his works to the study of the culture of Ancient Rus' and its traditions: “National identity of Ancient Rus'” (1945), “The emergence of Russian literature” (1952), “Man in the literature of Ancient Russia” (1958), “Culture of Rus' in the time of Andrei Rublev and Epiphany the Wise" (1962), "Poetics of Old Russian Literature" (1967), essay "Notes on the Russian" (1981). The collection “The Past for the Future” (1985) is dedicated to Russian culture and the inheritance of its traditions.

Likhachev paid a lot of attention to the study of the great monuments of ancient Russian literature “The Tale of Bygone Years” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” which he translated into modern Russian with the author’s comments (1950). In different years of his life, various articles and monographs of the scientist were devoted to these works, translated into many languages ​​of the world.

Dmitry Likhachev was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1953) and a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1970). He was a foreign member or corresponding member of the academies of sciences of a number of countries: the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1963), the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1971), the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1973), the British Academy (1976), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1968), the Göttingen Academy Academy of Sciences (1988), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993).

Likhachev was an honorary doctor from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun (1964), Oxford (1967), the University of Edinburgh (1971), the University of Bordeaux (1982), the University of Zurich (1982), Lorand Eötvos University of Budapest (1985), Sofia University (1988) ), Charles University (1991), University of Siena (1992), honorary member of the Serbian literary, scientific, cultural and educational society "Srpska Matica" (1991), Philosophical Scientific Society of the USA (1992). Since 1989, Likhachev was a member of the Soviet (later Russian) branch of the Pen Club.

Academician Likhachev conducted active social work. The academician considered his most significant work as chairman of the “Literary Monuments” series at the Soviet (later Russian) Cultural Foundation (1986-1993), as well as his work as a member of the editorial board of the academic series “Popular Scientific Literature” (since 1963) . Dmitry Likhachev actively spoke in the media in defense of monuments of Russian culture - buildings, streets, parks. Thanks to the scientist’s activities, it was possible to save many monuments in Russia and Ukraine from demolition, “reconstruction” and “restoration.”

For his scientific and social activities, Dmitry Likhachev was awarded many government awards. Academician Likhachev was twice awarded the State Prize of the USSR - for the scientific works “The History of Culture of Ancient Rus'” (1952) and “The Poetics of Old Russian Literature” (1969), and the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the series “Monuments of Literature of Ancient Rus'” (1993). In 2000, Dmitry Likhachev was posthumously awarded the State Prize of Russia for the development of the artistic direction of domestic television and the creation of the all-Russian state television channel "Culture".

Academician Dmitry Likhachev was awarded the highest awards of the USSR and Russia - the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1986) with the Order of Lenin and the gold medal "Hammer and Sickle", he was the first holder of the Order of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called (1998), and was also awarded many orders and medals.

Since 1935, Dmitry Likhachev was married to Zinaida Makarova, an employee of the publishing house. In 1937, their twin daughters Vera and Lyudmila were born. In 1981, the academician’s daughter Vera died in a car accident.

2006, the year of the centenary of the scientist’s birth, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources