EDUCATION OF THE DEFENDER OF THE HOMELAND IN THE HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT

Abstract

The article analyzes the concept of raising a defender of the people in ancient Kyiv annals and monuments of folk culture («Ruska Pravda», «Word about Igor’s regiment», «The Story of the Time Ages»). In particular, in «Ruska Pravda» the problem of training the defender of the Homeland is reflected in the context of legal education, and «Word about Igor’s regiment» glorifies the military feat of soldiers who resist the nomadic threat. It is emphasized that thinkers were aware of the need for patriotic education of all layers of society – both higher (princes, boyars, soldiers) and lower (ordinary soldiers). It was their unity that was supposed to ensure the successful defense of the Homeland. The special relevance of the education of the defender is noted in the conditions of the unfolding of the nomadic element, several waves of which (from the Pechenegs to the Polovtsians) rolled from the steppes to the land of the Eastern Slavs at the turn of 1–2 thousand AD. The fight against such a strong enemy required the maximum concentration of efforts, which led to the strengthening of patriotic education. Its important component was a developed system of physical training, combined with wisdom and education, which in the complex were considered as the basis of heroism. The significance of the need for the formation and real process of education of the military force, wisdom, and education of the Ukrainian people – princes, their warriors and commoners – is emphasized. The traditions of raising a defender of the Homeland, established in that era, were inherited and developed by subsequent generations.