Three years ago, in April 2015, the first mine-resistant ship of a new generation was laid down in St. Petersburg, which was named in honor of the Yerevan resident - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, Georgy Kurbatov. Who was this brave guy, our fellow countryman, a native of Yelets?Georgy Dmitrievich Kurbatov short biography
Georgy Kurbatov was born into a family of Yelets workers in 1919. Due to the fact that his father died early and his sick mother could not raise her children, he and his brother will end up in an orphanage. Later he will graduate from college and work at a chemical plant. At a young age, Georgy was actively involved in sports, joined the Komsomol, and in 1939 he entered the Kronstadt Naval School, from where he would be sent to the Northern Fleet, where the war would find him.The Nazis tried to destroy our northern naval bases, but our sailors fought without sparing their lives. Georgy Kurbatov was appointed commander of the motorists of the torpedo boat. These boats were a formidable force. With their help, it was possible to attack a convoy, land troops, or send a reconnaissance and sabotage group behind enemy lines. The torpedo boats were hunted by enemy submarines. However, it was also possible to damage the boats using conventional small arms. An enemy bullet, damaging the engine, made the boat vulnerable. But Kurbatov could quickly fix the problem by repairing the engine.
Georgy Dmitrievich Kurbatov participated in the sinking of many enemy ships, and also took part in mine laying. The resident of Yeltsin especially distinguished himself during the Petsamo-Kirkines operation, when an assault landing took place in the Murmansk region. Then the boats approached the landing point, but were discovered by the enemy. Kurbatov manages to moor the boat and then begins to cover the landing of the paratroopers. Under enemy fire, the boats began to retreat. Just at this time, Kurbatov’s boat was damaged, but to prevent the enemy from getting the boat, the wounded Kurbatov continues to drive the car and with incredible efforts he manages to get the boat and its crew out of the fire.
For his feat, for courage and heroism, Georgy Dmitrievich Kurbatov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. In addition, for services to the Fatherland, Kurbatov was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Gold Star medal, the Order of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star, and the Order of the Patriotic War of the first degree.In the post-war years, Kurbatov continued to serve in the Baltic Fleet. In 1949 he will return to, where he will be greeted with honors. For some time, Kurbatov worked under the City Executive Committee, but then left for the position of mechanic, because he loved this profession above all else. Despite the fact that Kurbatov was finishing his service in the Baltic Fleet, he considered himself a North Sea man, so he annually visited his comrades in the Northern Fleet.
Georgy Kurbatov passed away in 1991.
Georgy Kurbatov remained in the memory of many Yelts and in the obelisk that was installed in the city on the Alley of Heroes.
My grandfather Georgy Alekseevich Kurbatov, my father’s father, participated in the Second World War. During the war, he served in Moscow, in Smersh (short for “Death to Spies!”). He has awards: medal “For the Defense of Moscow”, medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”.
My great-grandfather Golovin Alexander Andreevich, my mother’s grandfather. Born on August 6, 1918 in the city of Zmeinogorsk. He was brought up in an orphanage. He graduated from school and the mechanical department of the Altai Mechanical and Technical College. In September 1939, he was drafted into the Red Army and served in a separate tank regiment as a tank driver. From June 26, 1941, he served on the Western Front. He completed his service as part of the 213th Separate Red Banner Order of Kutuzov II degree tank brigade in October 1945 near Berlin (Potsdam). He was shell-shocked and was burning in the tank. He was demobilized from the army in October 1945.
Awarded medals: “For courage”, “For the capture of Koenigsberg”, “For victory over Germany”.
Archival document about awarding Alexander Andreevich Golovin with the medal “For Courage”
After the war, I came to Kolyvan to visit relatives, where I met my great-grandmother Nina Danilovna Golovina. After the war he worked as director of the Kolyvan stone-cutting plant.
During the war, grandmother Nina worked in the rear, at the Kolyvanstroy mine, at a processing plant, and at logging sites. She has many awards. Five years ago she was awarded a commemorative medal for the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory, and this year a commemorative medal for the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory.
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation. 1929–2003
Georgy Lvovich Kurbatov is an outstanding scientist and teacher, the author of fundamental works that are recognized in our country and abroad.
Georgy Lvovich was born on May 16, 1929 in Leningrad, his father was a geologist, his mother a doctor. He lost his parents early. My youth came during the hard times of war. Having been fascinated by the history of the Middle Ages since school, he did not hesitate in choosing a profession and in 1947 he entered the history department of Leningrad University.
His multifaceted activities were firmly connected with the history department of Leningrad-St. Petersburg State University, from which he graduated in 1952 and where he worked until his last days. During his student and graduate years, Georgy Lvovich had the opportunity to study with such mentors as the Byzantinist M. V. Levchenko, the Russian scholar B. A. Romanov, the orientalist N. V. Zhigulevskaya, and the antiquist M. E. Sergeenko. He began independent teaching and research work in 1955, when, after the death of his scientific supervisor, Professor M.V. Levchenko, he had to interrupt his graduate studies. G. L. Kurbatov was enrolled in the staff of the Department of History of the Middle Ages at Leningrad State University. A year later he became a candidate of sciences, and in 1962 - an associate professor. At the age of 36 he brilliantly defended his doctoral dissertation - in those days this did not happen often, he turned out to be one of the youngest doctor-historians. Soon, in 1968, he was awarded the title of professor. For two decades - from 1970 to 1989 - he headed the department of history of the Middle Ages.
Behind this dry list of successes were years of tireless, exhausting and at the same time extremely fruitful work. Georgy Lvovich determined the main direction of his interests early, while still a student, concentrating under the influence of M.V. Levchenko his efforts on studying the typology of early Byzantine society. This topic received an in-depth continuation, in particular, in the monographs “The Early Byzantine City (Antioch in the 4th Century)” (L., 1962) and “The Main Problems of the Internal Development of the Byzantine City in the 4th–7th Centuries.” (L., 1971). Not limiting himself to the study of the socio-economic aspects of the problem, he came up with a series of works on the history of socio-political thought (Early Byzantine Portraits. Leningrad, 1991, etc.). In parallel with this, he actively developed lecture courses on the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine historiography, etc., and prepared textbooks on these subjects.
He was an unsurpassed master of the scientific style, capable of expressing the meaning of the most complex historical phenomena in an extremely concise, clear form. His “History of Byzantium: Historiography” (L., 1975), which took the place of a mandatory historiographic reference book in any Byzantine library at the European level, became the true standards of scientific thought. Academician G. G. Litavrin noted that “for the first time in world historiography, the book quite fully and consistently presents the history of Byzantine studies from its inception to the present day, presented as an organic branch of medieval studies, reflecting deep ideological, political and ideological currents of the distant past, and our days." No less important is his “History of Byzantium - from Antiquity to Feudalism” (M., 1984), without which today it is unthinkable to master Byzantine issues in the university course “History of the Middle Ages.”
G. L. Kurbatov, like no one else, subtly understood the uniqueness of the Byzantine mentality, penetrated into the incomprehensible fabric of Byzantine rhetoric and, to a certain extent, mastered its art. An example of the analysis of Byzantine social psychology were the chapters of the three-volume “Culture of Byzantium” (Moscow, 1984–1991), which he wrote, devoted to the political theory, ideology and social consciousness of Byzantium. And the fact that this fundamental work of a large group of authors was awarded the State Prize is also the contribution of Professor G.L. Kurbatov.
Virtually all major works of G. L. Kurbatov were published. Perhaps there is not a single work of a scientist that would go unnoticed and would not attract the attention of his colleagues. His masterfully written “Early Byzantine Portraits” (L., 1991) also gained deserved popularity among readers. Georgy Lvovich had plans to reissue this work with the addition of new chapters, but these plans were not destined to come true. His materials are used not only by domestic historians, but also by foreign researchers; he is one of the frequently cited authors.
The center of Georgy Lvovich's scientific and pedagogical work, naturally, was Byzantine studies. But the scientist was by no means confined to the circle of purely Byzantine problems. Many generations of students of the history department of Leningrad State University listened to his general course on the history of the Middle Ages. He devoted a number of special courses to the global problems of medieval urbanism and the history of European culture. At the Faculty of Philology, G. L. Kurbatov read the history of Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. He devoted a lot of time and effort to preparing the course “West and East in the Middle Ages,” which he taught to students of the Oriental Faculty.
Such a wide thematic and problematic coverage was partly dictated by “production” necessity: it was necessary to ensure the educational process. But at the same time, such coverage fully corresponded to the desire of Georgy Lvovich himself for an integrated, holistic approach to the phenomena observed in the countries of medieval Europe and the Middle East. It is not for nothing that historical and comparative research occupy a significant place in his scientific heritage. A striking example of this is the article “Zealots and Chompies”, written by him in 1969 together with V.I. Rutenburg.
According to his deep and, of course, fair conviction, it is impossible to interpret the internal evolution of Byzantine society that occupied him in this way without a comprehensive comparison of the processes that took place in the possessions of Constantinople with what happened in the lands to the west and east of them. On the other hand, Georgy Lvovich, speaking about the late antique stage of development of Byzantine society, persistently reminded: “Its consideration is also of general theoretical, general methodological interest for understanding the processes of transition from antiquity to feudalism... For a medievalist-Westernist, consideration of the problems of the early feudal development of Byzantium can present an undoubted interest in connection, for example, with attempts to consider Frankish society of the 8th–9th centuries, the era of Charlemagne, as late antique.”
Enormous erudition, coupled with a keen and accurate analysis of diverse, multilingual monuments, allowed him to judge authoritatively the most complex issues of medieval studies. Thus, Georgy Lvovich, without prejudice, but with a certain skepticism, treated statist concepts, the adherents of which referred to the experience of the Byzantine state in support of the thesis about the determining role of the state apparatus in the destinies of peoples. He quite reasonably emphasized that the development of Byzantium is largely assessed by historians through the prism of legislative, official legal material and, precisely because of this, appears as a direct result of the activities of the state and its policies.
It is impossible not to say at least briefly about the intensive educational, methodological and scientific-organizational work of G. L. Kurbatov. For many years, he was a member of the Main Council for History at the Ministry of Higher Education of Russia and, as chairman of the section of the Middle Ages, he contributed to the best of his ability to maintain the proper level of medieval studies in old university centers and its development in newly created universities. No less useful was his participation in the Editorial and Publishing Council of the Ministry of Higher Education, which opened the way for a number of publications and serial publications.
The work of Georgy Lvovich is continued by his students, working in higher educational institutions, academic institutes, libraries, archives of Russia, the present near abroad, and even far abroad - under his leadership, researchers from Poland, France, America wrote their theses, prepared dissertations, and underwent internships. Syria, Cuba. His students fruitfully develop the basic problems to which G.L. Kurbatov paid so much attention in his works: these are the problems of the transition from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, the problems of the early Byzantine city, the problems of mentality, Byzantine culture, historiography. Their work received a positive response at national and foreign conferences. The results of some studies were published not only in leading domestic journals on the history of the Middle Ages and the history of Byzantium, but also in the most important world publications.
G. L. Kurbatov outlined the path along which domestic Byzantine studies was to develop. It is not for nothing that the topics that Georgy Lvovich studied continue to be the focus of attention not only of his students, but also of researchers of a new generation.
Main publications
- Early Byzantine city (Antioch in the 4th century) L., 1962.
- Education of Byzantium. Territory, natural conditions and population // History of Byzantium: In 3 volumes. T. 1. M., 1967.
- City, crafts and trade in Byzantium in the 4th–5th centuries. Constantinople and the provinces // History of Byzantium: In 3 volumes. T. 1. M., 1967.
- Socio-political system and administrative organization of the empire in the 4th–5th centuries. // History of Byzantium: In 3 volumes. T. 1. M., 1967.
- The main problems of the internal development of the Byzantine city in the 4th–7th centuries. (The end of the ancient city in Byzantium). L., 1971.
- History of Byzantium (Historiography). L., 1975.
- Political theory in early Byzantium. Ideology of imperial power and aristocratic opposition // Culture of Byzantium. IV - first half of the 7th century. M., 1984.
- Rhetoric // Culture of Byzantium. IV - first half of the 7th century. M., 1984.
- History of Byzantium - from Antiquity to feudalism. M., 1984.
- Byzantium: Problems of the transition from Antiquity to feudalism. L., 1984 (co-author).
- Early Byzantine portraits: On the history of socio-political thought in Byzantium. L., 1991.
The modern Russian Navy is going through a period of modernization and re-equipment. The warships that were built during the existence of the Soviet Union are being replaced by new modern warships. The focus is on attack warships and submarines, which form the basis of any modern fleet. However, in the arms race one should not discount technical support ships, without which the fleet loses its combat effectiveness and efficiency.
Mine-protected ships continue to be one of the main elements of any fleet, and Russia today is making desperate attempts to replenish its ranks with a fleet of this class. The main combat unit in the structure of mine protection formations should be the Project 12700 ship.
What is the newest Tsch pr 12700 for the Russian fleet
The mine countermeasures ships in the current Russian Navy are mostly old Soviet-built ships. Modern requirements for conducting mine warfare at sea have indicated the need to create a completely different type of combat vessel. The new minesweeper must be completely invulnerable to mine weapons and be able to effectively combat the mine threat in the coastal sea zone.
The novelty was the use of completely new structural materials for warships to build the ship. The new basic minesweeper, codenamed "Alexandrite", was designed by the Central Design Bureau "Almaz". The idea of creating a mine-resistant ship has long been in the circles of the country's top naval leadership. Only in the 2000s did the technical specifications begin to take shape into a real project, which received an index of 12700.
The new basic minesweeper of the Georgiy Kurbatov type should become the main combat unit for searching, detecting and destroying mines of all classes and types at the fleet's bases. The construction site of the new vessel was the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard. The series received the production code BT-730. The lead ship of the series, the minesweeper "Alexander Obukhov" of Project 12700, was laid down in 2011. Almost three years later, the newest basic minesweeper was launched. The result of the work of the St. Petersburg shipbuilders inspired the naval command, so the decision was urgently made to continue the series. The very next year, in April 2019, the second ship was laid down, named “Georgy Kurbatov”, corresponding to the name of the type of ships for this project.
The basic minesweeper of the Georgy Kurbatov type, Project 12700, has a composite hull made of fiberglass using the vacuum diffusion method. The length of the vessel is 62 meters. The displacement of the minesweeper is also impressive. Until this moment, all ships made of composite materials had a displacement of no more than 450 tons. The Russian base minesweeper of Project 12700 has a displacement of twice as much - 800 tons. Today, this is the only combat vessel in the world of this size that has a non-metal hull.
According to the creators, the new basic minesweeper should become a new generation mine defense ship. The design of the ships of the mine-sweeping group was based on the concept of “mine hunting”. The emergence of new types of mines, equipped with multi-channel fuses of a combined type, into service with navies posed a threat to a warship of any class. The new mines were insensitive to existing types of minesweeping equipment, so it was decided to move from massive blind trawling directly to searching for mines and destroying them.
Main design features of the Project 12700 minesweeper
Thanks to the fiberglass hull, the ship has a reduced background of physical and electrical fields, reducing the likelihood of proximity mines being triggered. Unlike steel ship hulls, fiberglass construction can last 30-40 years without losing its basic physical and chemical properties. Project 12700 is considered the most successful development of Russian designers over the past decade. The practical experience gained in the use of composite materials for the construction of combat ships can lay the foundation for the construction of warships of other classes, designed for operation in the coastal sea zone.
To create a composite hull, the latest equipment was used at the shipyard for the first time, which represents a pilot production. The production complex created from scratch is unique of its kind and has no analogues in Russia. The technological capabilities of the equipment complex provide the ability to create monolithic fiberglass housings up to 80 meters long. Such a case has a number of obvious advantages:
- strength comparable to steel structures;
- long service life;
- minimal technological maintenance;
- low weight compared to similar sized steel structures.
The composite hull is ideal for installing a new anti-mine circuit on it, which, together with the latest hydroacoustic stations, significantly increases the survivability and combat effectiveness of the ship. The new anti-mine circuit is installed on the ship’s hull and on remote underwater vehicles towed by the ship. In addition to innovations in the field of mine detection, the new minesweeper is equipped with traditional minesweepers, contact and non-contact trawls. A set of mine-anti-mine equipment and weapons is part of a unified control system, short called ACS PMD. The mine countermeasures system is controlled from the ship's command post.
New in mine action equipment are robots that operate autonomously or with the help of television equipment. The minesweeper is equipped with the latest positioning system and can search for mines even in seas of up to 5 points.
In the process of creating the ship, the features of the high buoyancy of the fiberglass hull were taken into account. The new vessel has a buoyancy reserve of 70%, in contrast to the traditional 50-60% buoyancy reserve for most military ships. It was possible not only to create a seaworthy, durable and stable vessel, but also a maneuverable warship.
The Georgy Kurbatov-class BT combat ship was equipped with a powerful power plant. A 2,500 hp diesel engine should provide the ship with a maximum speed of 15 knots. The cruising range at an economical speed is 1,500 km, which is quite enough for long-term combat work over a fairly large water area. The navigation autonomy for the new ship is determined to be 10 days, which is quite enough for the ship’s crew of 41 people.
The mine-anti-mine armament of the newest minesweeper is supplemented by a 30-mm AK-306 artillery mount, portable Igla air defense systems and two large-caliber 14.5 mm machine guns on turrets.
The future of the new Project 12700 minesweepers
Following the second ship of the BT series “Georgiy Kurbatov”, in 2019, with a difference of three months, two more ships were laid down on the slipways of the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard, which are currently at different stages of construction. The ship "Georgy Kurbatov" has not yet been commissioned. The reason for the delay in delivery of the warship is a fire on the ship that damaged the internal parts of the main hull. Today, restoration work on the ship is actively underway. There are prerequisites for using the main components and assemblies of the damaged ship to speed up the construction of the other two ships in the series.
The first-born of the series, the basic minesweeper of Project 12700 is in combat service in the Baltic Fleet. The tactical and technical characteristics demonstrated by the new vessel indicate the correctness of the technical solution and the course of design thought. Combat ships made from composite materials could serve as the basis for creating a mosquito fleet armed with missile weapons.
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G. L. Kurbatov, E. D. Frolov, I. Ya. Froyanov
Christianity: Antiquity, Byzantium, Ancient Rus'
For the Russian Orthodox Church, 1988 is an anniversary year. This summer it celebrates its millennium. Preparations for the anniversary are in full swing: a special commission is in place, headed by a working presidium chaired by the patriarch himself, and literature dedicated to the approaching date has been launched.
In modern conditions, the preparation of the Russian Church for anniversary celebrations and, of course, their holding are aimed at achieving, first of all, an ideological effect. The fact is that the clergy intend to celebrate, in fact, not so much the millennium of the Russian Orthodox Church, but the millennium of the “baptism of Rus',” thereby giving the celebration a national significance. With the help of sophisticated, but alien to science, methods of presenting historical facts, a mystical interpretation of Russia’s acceptance of the Christian faith, Orthodox ideologists are trying to present the establishment of Christianity in ancient Russian society by Prince Vladimir as a turning point in the history of Russia. That is why church leaders, going to “prayerfully celebrate the millennium of the baptism of Rus',” believe that they “together with all the people” will “celebrate the millennium of our national culture and literature” (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1982, No. 1, p. 6). If we add to this that the ancient Russian hierarchs, as the newest clerical historians claim, “directed their influence on the structure of the state, strengthening the central government, instilling enlightenment and moral education of the people” (Russian Orthodox Church. M., 1980, p. 11), then a far-reaching conclusion becomes completely obvious: the highest fruits of civilization - statehood, culture, enlightenment - the Russian people removed from the church tree. This is the historical legend created by the zealots of Russian Orthodoxy. To reveal its inconsistency, we need not general, well-intentioned atheistic reasoning, but a specific scientific analysis of historical facts. F. Engels pointed out that “you cannot do away with such a religion as Christianity only with the help of ridicule and attacks,” it must also be overcome scientifically, that is, through historical explanation.
Several years ago, N. M. Nikolsky’s book “The History of the Russian Church,” written in the 30s, was republished. The re-publication of this good, but, naturally, noticeably outdated Marxist work clearly highlighted one sad fact - over half a century, very few books have been created that combine the depth of scientific analysis of the problems of the history of the Russian Church with bright journalisticism. Of course, all this time science did not stand still (many important private issues were studied - from church land ownership to local heretical movements), but no milestone works summing up the results of scattered studies that were interesting to a wide range of people were created. The reader interested in this issue was put on a starvation ration. What arose and took root, as the authors of this book rightly noted, was “neglect of the topics of the history of Christianity in our lecture and literary and journalistic practice.”
This book belongs to those works that solve the problem of scientifically overcoming Christianity. Its authors undertook to embody an original idea (in my opinion, there have never been any attempts to implement it) - to show the path that Christianity took from its birth and establishment in the ancient era through the Byzantine Middle Ages to the Kyiv state. It also solves an important ideological problem, since it is directed against distortions of historical truth in clerical historiography.
The first section was written by Professor E.D. Frolov, who is known as a deep and subtle expert on the history of antiquity, the author of works that have received European recognition. The essay he created on the history of the emergence of Christianity, in terms of depth and clarity of analysis, is one of the most successful works on this topic in recent decades. Its strongest feature is its deep logical structure. After reading it, the reader will receive a strictly scientific and harmonious understanding of the most complex plots of the origin of Christianity.
The author examines in detail the historical background of the emergence of Christianity, the social conditions and spiritual atmosphere in the ancient world where this religion was born, the ideological origins and the first forms into which the Christian movement developed. Historical material indicates that Christianity arose naturally, that is, due to certain social reasons, and not through divine revelation, as the churchmen claim. Answering the question: “Why was Christianity born?” - E. D. Frolov convincingly shows that it was formed in an atmosphere of deep spiritual depression that gripped all layers of the ancient world. Due to the decline of local cults, there was a growing passion for superstitions and sacraments that had a mysterious character. Christianity, which appeared just at this time, offered desperate and broken people the illusion of consolation, the hope of salvation placed in the messiah - “God’s anointed one.” This theme in Christianity was the basis of its attractiveness, which the Christian church later successfully capitalized on.
The second important question posed in the first part of the book is: “Out of what was Christianity born?” Two streams formed from many small streams - a motley mixture of eastern cults (Cybele, Isis, Mithra) and a number of movements of ancient idealistic philosophy (Cynicism, Stoicism, Gnosticism) - moved for a long time along their own channels, but then converged and mixed, and this mixing in the end it turned out to be a new religion - Christianity. She adapted for her purposes many spiritual values developed in previous eras - from moral norms and fragments of philosophical movements to literary traditions and methods of psychological influence. Many of these phenomena, significant and powerful in themselves, multiplied their impact on human consciousness when combined into a system.
For the general reader, much may be new in this section. The Church in general and the Russian Church in particular worked hard to put into people’s heads the idea of the sublime exclusivity of all its elements - rituals, calling them nothing more than “sacraments” that arose under the influence of God's dictate. Therefore, for some readers it will be unexpected, for example, the striking similarity between the rituals of Christianity and Mithraism, which arose much earlier, well described in the book - sacred ablutions, communion with bread and wine (the body and blood of Christ!), overshadowing oneself with a symbolic sign, and in which one can guess the Christian sign of the cross, finally, the coincidence of the main holiday of Mithra with the Nativity of Christ. The discovery of such borrowings debunks the Christian sacraments better than any direct criticism.
The section clearly traces the paths of gradual degeneration of primitive Christianity, as a result of which wealthy elements gained the upper hand in Christian communities, through whose efforts a strong church organization was created.
So, Christianity appeared and took shape. What was his path to Rus'? The main link of this path is medieval Byzantium, which adopted Christianity in the first centuries of the new era and, a millennium after its birth, transmitted this religion to Ancient Rus'.
The second section of the book, written by one of the largest Soviet Byzantinists G.L. Kurbatov, traces the fate of Christianity and church organization within the framework of that special semi-ancient, semi-medieval state that was the Roman Empire. The formation of the Byzantine church organization, its originality, the role of church councils, the formation of Christian Orthodox dogma - this is the main theme of the second part of the book.
Byzantine Christianity has come a difficult way over a thousand years. From the early Christian ideals of goodness, non-covetousness and forgiveness, it came to the idea of God's chosenness of Byzantium and the Byzantines, and then remained for a long time, continuously evolving, in various Christological disputes that gave rise to Nestorianism, Monophysitism, iconoclasm, Bogomilism, etc. Having suppressed the sprouts of rationalism, it paid tribute mysticism, richly flavored with miracles, after which, already at the end of the Great Empire, hesychasm appeared on the stage of Byzantine life, requiring a person to completely renounce earthly concerns, leading the believer to the extreme degree of permanent religious exaltation.
Using broad historical material, G.L. Kurbatov reveals the specific features of Byzantine Christianity and the church, which, unlike Western Christianity, were characterized by a certain democracy and greater tolerance for paganism, which to a large extent determined the adoption of Christianity by Russia from Byzantium, and not from countries of Western Europe.
