Russian merchant family at the Domostroy times

Domostroy or Domostroi (Russian: Домострой, Domestic Order) is a 16th century Muscovite set of household rules, instructions and advices pertaining to various religious, social, domestic, and family matters. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages

Its real author is unknown, but the most widespread version was edited by the archpriest Sylvester, an influential advisor to young Ivan IV. An updated edition was compiled by Karion Istomin during the late 17th century. Karion Istomin (Карион Истомин (Late 1640s Kursk - no earlier than 1718 Moscow) was a Russian poet translator and one of the first Muscovite To modern researchers, it is a precious account about Russian society and the life of wealthy boyars and merchants. This article refers to the aristocratic title of boyar. For the Boyar caste of India, see Boyar (caste.

Modern researchers tend to trace the origins of the Domostroy to the 15th century Novgorod Republic, where it could have been used as a kind of moral codex for the wealthy. The Novgorod Republic (Новгородская республика / Novgorodskaya respublika Новгородская земьля / Novgorodskaya zemlja) was a A moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event A codex ( Latin for block of wood, Book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books with separate pages normally As such, it has some quotations from the Book of Proverbs and other biblical texts, and from earlier Russian morale texts such as Izmaragd and Zlatoust. The Book of Proverbs is one of the books of the Ketuvim of the Tanakh, and thus also one of the books of the Old Testament. The Izmaragd (Russian Измарагд from Greek smáragdos meaning emerald) is a Russian moral compilation work surviiving in a number of manuscript copies in Zlatoust (Златоу́ст is a city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Ay River (the Kama basin) 160 km

In modern Russian, 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 traditionalist 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. Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev ( ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈgʲeɪvʲɪtɕ turˈgʲenʲɪf ( &ndash) was a Russian novelist and playwright Patriarchy is the structuring of Society on the basis of Family units where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of hence authority over Don't pity a youngling while beating him: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die, but become healthier.

Structure

Muscovite women in a church.

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

• Religious practices
• Relationship between Russian people and the tsar
• Organization of the family
• Management of the household
• Culinary

References

• Domostroy, SPb, Science, 1994 (from the presentation of the book)

External links

• Domostroy, Sylvester's version (Russian)