If a modern man suddenly found himself on the streets of ancient Novgorod, he would not be able to understand the language of Novgorodians. According to scientists, all languages, not only Slavic, over time, undergo changes not only in the meaning of words and the order in which they are placed in sentences, but their sound row is transformed. So, if a person is not familiar with the Old Slavonic language, then he will not be able to read "The Lay of Igor's Host" in the language of the author. And if today it is possible to understand the correspondence of Ivan the Terrible, then Prince Vladimir would never have understood either the speech or the letter of Ivan the Terrible.
There is a misconception that services in Orthodox churches are conducted in the Old Russian language. The fact is that they serve in churches in Church Slavonic, and it differs significantly from the language of the ancient Rus.
It is known that in ancient times, several millennia ago, tribes lived on earth who communicated in one language (today this language is called Proto-Indo-European). When they settled in the territories of EuroAsia, they continued to speak a common language for them. And although, subsequently, the pro-language has undergone great changes, but it was he who formed the basis of most modern languages.
The Old Russian language also originated from the family of Indo-European languages. Until now, the basic words in European languages are very similar: for example, the word "night" ("note", "night", …), mother, sun, daughter, etc.
In the II millennium BC, it happened that people who previously spoke the same language ceased to understand each other: the dialects have changed too much. At the same time, the common Slavic separated from the common Indo-European language. Even today, a common language is noticeable between Russian, Slovak, Polish, and Bulgarian. Therefore, the Slavs can not only communicate in general phrases, but also read a simple text. But the Germans cannot boast of the same: the Germanic peoples did not retain the same closeness to each other as the Slavic languages.
But let's return to the language in which the church service is conducted. Cyril and Methodius translated all church literature and services into their native language - Macedonian. Since then, this language became literary for all of Russia and the Eastern Slavs until the end of the 18th century. During all this time, the church language gradually began to use Russian colloquial speech, as a result, today in churches a language similar to East Slavic sounds.
Today we managed to restore the language of our ancestors. And the birch bark letters found by archaeologists in Novgorod helped a lot in this.
Birch bark was much cheaper than parchment, so for everyday use in correspondence, it was easily accessible and democratic. They wrote on it using hard and sharp rods made of metal or special bone, they were called "writing". But sometimes they also wrote on birch bark in ink. The oldest birch bark letters found today date from the 9th century (before the baptism of Rus). The Novgorodians used letters not only in some professional sphere, the exchange of birch bark messages was a daily occurrence for merchants, monks, nobility, warriors, artisans, peasants and other ordinary residents of the city. In most of the letters, messages are written in Old Russian, and the rest in Church Slavonic. There were also letters written by foreigners: in Latin, Baltic-Finnish, Greek and Lower German. By the way,the Baltic-Finnish letter was a spell, and it is much older than all the letters in Finnish found to date.
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In ancient Russia, the minimum literacy level was the ability to read and the acquisition of basic writing skills. Future book writers received more advanced training. Birch bark letters were written by ordinary people, with mistakes, but they clearly reflected the features of the unique living speech of the 9-15 centuries.
The birch bark letters convincingly refuted the erroneous opinion that in Russia only the nobility and the clergy owned the literacy, and the rest of the population was illiterate. Chronicles told, as a rule, about the life of historical figures: about princes and the higher clergy, and birch bark told about the life of ordinary people, about their feelings, thoughts and hopes. From birch bark documents, we learn about their financial, judicial systems, trading rules. Found texts of magical content. For example, here is such a conspiracy from a fever: "Far away angels, far away archangels, save the servant of God (name) from the shaker with the prayers of the Holy Mother of God."
Birch bark letters were found not only in the Novgorod land, but also in twelve cities of Russia. It should be noted that similar (in content) letters were found among the Scandinavians. They are called the "Bergen Archives": the documents are written on small wooden boards or chips.
Birch bark letters served Russia well: letters spread very quickly throughout the country. The schools established by the Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise played a special positive role. For example, in Novgorod, Yaroslav the Wise "… gathered 300 children from the priests and elders and gave them to book studies," and then these trained children became the Novgorod elite and the basis for the spread of literacy among the population. And there were many such princely schools in Russia. Judging by the birch bark letters, these schools taught the alphabet and the basics of the Orthodox faith. According to the letters on the letters, the Christian faith has become firmly established in the everyday life of the ancient Russian people: even in ordinary letters there are church expressions. A lot of birch bark letters were written by women, so historians have concluded that girls were taught to read and write on an equal basis with boys. The book "From Martha" has come down to us, written by a woman as an instruction on behavior in the house, instructions for salting and cooking, as well as an instruction on being sensitive to parents.
But one cannot say that universal literacy was present in Ancient Russia. Many birch bark letters were written under dictation, and, more often than not, representatives of the clergy acted as scribes.
According to legends, a unique book was kept in Novgorod - a wax Psalter. Its creation dates back to 1000. But the book was hidden during some tragic events and has not yet been found. Many of the parchment documents kept in the houses were destroyed by numerous fires, which destroyed wooden buildings to the ground. And birch bark letters became available to us because they were often thrown away as unnecessary (they were of no value for the ancient Russians) and the birch bark was preserved in the ground along with other common things of ancient settlements.
They say that the country will run out of oil faster than the finds of birch bark letters on the territory of Russia. Our descendants will also find birch bark letters. And this is good. The connection of times should not be lost, and the story should not be fictional, but real, all significant events of which are documented, including such a source as birch bark letters.