Domostroy or Domostroi is a 16th century Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 set of household rules, instructions and advices pertaining to various religious, social, domestic, and family matters of the Russian society. Core Domostroi values tended to reinforce obedience and submission to God, Tsar and Church. Key obligations were fashion, prayer, icon veneration and the giving of alms.

Source

Its real author is unknown, but the most widespread version was edited by the archpriest Silvester

Silvester

Silvester is used in some countries as a name for New Year's Eve, including Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland and Slovenia.The origin of the name is Saint Sylvester's Day in the Roman Catholic Church, named...

, an influential advisor to young Ivan IV. The text does include an epistle entitled "64. A Father's Epistle Instructing His Son," which was written by Silvester instructing his son, Anthemius, on some of the larger themes found within the Domostroi. An updated edition of the Domostroi was compiled by Karion Istomin

Karion Istomin

Karion Istomin was a Russian poet, translator, and one of the first Muscovite enlighteners ....

 during the late 17th century. To modern researchers, it is a precious account about Russian society and the life of wealthy boyar

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

s and merchants.

Modern researchers tend to trace the origins of the Domostroy to the 15th century Novgorod Republic

Novgorod Republic

The Novgorod Republic was a large medieval Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod...

, where it could have been used as a kind of moral

Moral

A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...

 codex

Codex

A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...

 for the wealthy. As such, it has some quotations from the Book of Proverbs

Book of Proverbs

The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...

and other biblical texts, and from earlier Russian morale texts such as Izmaragd

Izmaragd

The Izmaragd is a Russian moral compilation work, surviiving in a number of manuscript copies, in codex form, the earliest written in the 14th century...

and Zlatoust

Zlatoust

Zlatoust is a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Ay River , west of Chelyabinsk. Population: 181,000 ; 161,000 ; 99,000 ; 48,000 ; 21,000 ....

, and from some western texts such as Book of Christian teachings (Czech) and Paris landlord (French).

In modern Russia, the term Domostroy has a pejorative meaning. It is used in such classic texts as Herzen's My Past and Thoughts and Turgenev's Fathers and Sons to refer to a tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

alist way of life associated with patriarchal tyranny, as exemplified by the following quotations: A wife which is good, laborious, and silent is a crown to her husband. Don't pity a youngling while beating him: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die, but become healthier.

Structure

The book is divided into 67 sections (in Sil'vestr's version) dealing roughly with the following matters:

• Religious practices
• Relationship between Russian people and the tsar
  Tsar
  Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
  
  
• Organization of the family
• Management of the household
• Culinary

Themes

• Punishment -

- "38: But if your wife does not live according to this teaching and instruction, does not do all that is recommended here, if she does not teach her servants, then the husband should punish his wife. Beat her when you are alone together; then forgive her and remonstrate with her. But when you beat her, do not do it in hatred, do not lose control. A husband must never get angry with his wife; a wife must live with her husband in love and purity.
You should discipline servants and children the same way. Punish them according to the extent of their guilt and the severity of their deed. Lay stripes upon them but, when you have punished them, forgive them."

External links

• Domostroy, Sil'vestr's version