The book examines Ancient Rus' as a historical and cultural whole during the X-XV centuries. Developing an approach to the object of study, the author considers the Christian concept of conscience as a kind of vector pointing to Eternity, as well as the coordinates of the speculative space in which this vector is located. Next, he traces the reorientation of public consciousness in Ancient Rus', starting from the moment of its Christianization. The book talks about the emergence of Slavic writing, about the assimilation of Christian culture by Russia, about its chronicles, about the Orthodox Renaissance of the 18th-15th centuries, which so greatly influenced the revival of Rus' after its defeat by the Tatar-Mongols and the subsequent division between the Golden Horde and Lithuania, about ancient Russian saints and their distribution in time, about the social theme in Old Russian literature, the evolution of Russian missionary work and about the ancient Rus' of the present time scattered throughout the world. The author of the book is Doctor of Philology, chief researcher at the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, professor at St. Petersburg State University and SPbDAiS, Honored Scientist G. M. Prokhorov. CONTENTS: Introduction 5 Self/conscience, consciousness and awareness 8 The cruciformity of time, or the Coordinates of passionarity 29 Maintaining Eternity-in-the-present: The feat of Maxim the Confessor 40 Letter for the Slavs 48 “The gift that is most valuable and most valuable gold, silver, precious stones and transitory wealth” 77Choice of faith by Russia: what would have happened if 81Rus’ assimilation of Christian culture 83Past and Eternity in the culture of Kievan Rus 93“Temporary summers”: ancient Russian chronicle writing as a genre 108Shift of the center of Rus' to the North: Vladimir chronicle writing in XII in 118Crisis of the Russian Past-in-the-present as a consequence of the defeat and division of the country 127Orthodox Revival in Eastern Europe 133Orthodox Revival of Great Rus' 158Restoration of the all-Russian Past: “The Great Russian Chronicler” and the Laurentian Chronicle 178Enrichment of Russian culture in the XIV-XV centuries. 194Hesychast cell literature in Ancient Rus': Shift to the North 205Saints in the history of Ancient Rus' 215Social theme in the literature of Ancient Rus' 243Hypertrophy of the generic Past and transformation of chronicles 251The coming of the Future 257Evolution of Russian missionary work 269Atomized Ancient Rus' 284Afterword 304P.P.S 308С list of abbreviations 310