Founder of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Born in Eisleben (in Saxony) on November 10, 1483. He came from a peasant class, was the son of a miner and received a strict religious and moral education in the family. In 1501, he entered the University of Erfurt, where, studying law (at the request of his father), he studied at that time philosophical sciences, and also mastered all the necessary methods of dialectics. At the same time, Martin Luther studied the Latin classics and entered into close relations with the representatives of Erfurt humanism - Rubianus and Lang. In 1502, Luther received a bachelor's degree, and in 1505 a master's degree in philosophy.

In the same year insignificant; the event served as an impetus for a change in Luther's life, which laid the foundation for his future activities. The storm that overtook him in the mountains deep impression on his ardent nature; Luther was, in his own words, "seized with fear sent down from heaven," and from that time began to be tormented by doubts about the possibility of achieving salvation in the sinfulness of human nature. He left a scattered life, entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt and received a priestly rank (1507). However, despite a life full of work and repentance, the fear of divine punishment did not leave Luther, and in the quiet of his cell he experienced more than one difficult moment of sadness and despair. A decisive revolution in his spiritual world was made by one old monk, who resolved all his doubts by simply pointing to the chapter on the remission of sins. A zealous study of the Holy Scriptures, on the one hand, and conversations with the prior of the Augustinian order, Staupitz, on the other hand, contributed to the strengthening in Martin Luther of the consciousness of the possibility of achieving eternal salvation by the power of faith alone.

Portrait of Martin Luther. Artist Luke Cranach the Elder, 1525

Having made a trip to Rome on behalf of his order in 1511, Luther was horrified to see the deep depravity of the Catholic clergy. Nevertheless, he returned from Rome still a faithful son of the Catholic Church, deeply believing in its boundless authority. Even before his trip to Rome, Martin Luther had begun lecturing at the newly founded University of Wittenberg on Aristotle; having become a doctor of theology (1512), he began to read on the epistles of the Apostle Paul, while at the same time delivering frequent sermons in the Wittenberg churches on the topic of God's grace, achieved through faith, which became the cornerstone of his teaching.

Luther's 95 Theses (briefly)

Soon Luther had an opportunity to openly act as an enemy of the Roman church. The abuse of papal indulgences then reached its extreme limits. The monk Tetzel, who sold these indulgences, also appeared in the vicinity of Wittenberg (1517), precisely at the time when the anniversary of the consecration of the local palace church was celebrated there. According to the custom of that time, such festivities were accompanied by publications nailed to the doors of the temple; Luther took advantage of this and nailed 95 theses to the church doors, in which he pointed out the difference between repentance, as an act of inner, moral peace, and the existing church system of repentance. The success of the 95 theses was extraordinary: within 14 days they managed to go around the whole of Germany and were met with universal sympathy. At the beginning of 1518, 95 theses were condemned by the papal censor; and in 1519 the papal theologian Eck challenged Martin Luther to a public debate at Leipzig (concerning chiefly the question of the supremacy of the pope), after which there was a final break between Luther and the Roman Church.

Luther's burning of the papal bull

Working tirelessly with a pen, Martin Luther began to develop in his writings the doctrine of the right to the priesthood of all believers, of religious freedom, that the church does not need an earthly substitute in the person of the pope, and demanded, among other things, communion under both types and for the laity. . These teachings, and his association with such notorious enemies of Rome as Hutten, finally brought the wrath of the pope upon Luther. In 1520, a papal bull appeared that renounced him from the church, to which Luther responded with a new essay: “On the Freedom of the Christian Person,” and he solemnly burned the bull along with the papal decretals in front of the gates of Wittenberg. Luther was saved from punishment for this act only by the intercession of Elector Frederick the Wise, who was viceroy of the imperial throne before the election of Charles V.

Both in the aforementioned and in other works published in the same year (“To the Christian nobility of the German nation on the correction of the Christian state” and “On the Babylonian captivity of the church”), Martin Luther calls on Christianity to fight against the arrogant demands of the pope and the clergy, demands the destruction of the enslaving people of the system of remission of sins and points to a direct approach to God through faith, as the only source of peace and bliss.

Luther at the Diet of Worms 1521 and at Wartburg Castle

In 1521 Martin Luther was called to account before Emperor Charles V and the Reichstag; Appearing at the Imperial Diet at Worms, he boldly defended his teaching in the face of the authorities and numerous people and decisively rejected the proposal to renounce his ideas.

Luther at the Diet of Worms. Painting by A. von Werner, 1877

On the way back, on the initiative of his patron, the Elector of Saxony Frederick the Wise, Luther was “attacked” by disguised “robbers”, who brought him to the Wartburg, where, hiding under a false name, he found a safe refuge from all persecution and could calmly surrender to his literary and reform activities. Here Luther made one of the most important works of his life - the translation of the Bible into German.

Luther in the Wartburg (where he lived under the name Jörg). Artist Luke Cranach the Elder, 1521-1522

The Reformation of Martin Luther (briefly)

Not long, however, he stayed in the Wartburg. The fanatical excesses of his followers, the iconoclasm, the indecisiveness of Melanchthon in view of these events called Luther out of his refuge. He reappeared in Wittenberg and, by the power of an ardent sermon, restored calm, after which he devoted himself zealously to the organization of the transformed church, embracing with his reforming activity the divine service (which began to be performed in German, and many of the rites of which were replaced by prayer and the singing of hymns), church organization, school work etc., which resulted in his writings: “On the order of worship in the community”, “Book of Church Songs”, “Large Catechism”, “Small Catechism”, etc. Denying the celibacy of the clergy, Martin Luther married (1525) Katharina von Bora (also a former nun), then began to destroy the monasteries, turning their property into schools, hospitals, etc.

Portrait of Martin Luther and his wife Katharina Bora. Artist Luke Cranach the Elder, 1525

A bold religious reformer, Luther, however, firmly stood for the existing political system, strongly condemning any attempt to change it. Thus, he was an ardent opponent of the Müntzer party, and during Peasants' War in 1525, he ardently condemned the actions of the peasants and Anabaptists in two essays: “A Call for Peace” and “Against the Peasants – Robbers and Murderers”. In the same way, Zwingli's reforming activity met with an adversary in him. In addition to religious and ritual disagreements with the Swiss reformers, Martin Luther was an extreme opponent of the idea of ​​​​armed resistance, as a result of which he completely rejected the extensive plan of Zwingli and the Landgrave of Hesse regarding the joint action of all reform forces to fight the papacy and the Catholic monarchy. The final break between the Lutheran or Saxon and the South German and Swiss Reformations followed at a religious dispute in Marburg (1529), so that at the Augsburg Reichstag in 1530, the Saxon Germans came forward with their own confession of faith (“Augsburg confession”), which completed the process of formation of the Lutheran churches. However, in the following years, Luther continued to tirelessly work on the work he had begun, remaining faithful to his ideas to the end: in this spirit, he compiled the Schmalkalden articles in 1537; guided by the same ideas, he rejected mediation proposals in Regensburg in 1541 and an invitation to the Council of Trent in 1545.

Luther's personality

Ardent, impulsive, sometimes immoderately harsh when it came to him religious beliefs, in private life, Martin Luther was distinguished by clarity of spirit, good-natured humor, cheerful disposition and a warm, compassionate attitude towards people. internal, mental life he was, however, less calm: more than once he experienced difficult, gloomy moments, struggling with the devil, tormented by phantoms that threatened to cloud his consciousness. This was joined by frequent bodily suffering, which developed into a painful illness that brought him to the grave. Until his death, Luther continued to work in Wittenberg as a preacher. He died on February 18, 1546 in Eisleben, in the very city where he was born and where he went a few days before his death. His body is buried in Wittenberg.

Luther Meaning

Martin Luther remembers the reproach of indulging his high-ranking friends, the princes. But this weakness is partly redeemed by his spiritual and moral qualities. Equally important are the services rendered by Luther to German literature. With him begins a new period in the history of the German language; the style of his sermons, pamphlets, treatises is full of energy, strength and expressiveness, and descendants appreciate Martin Luther not only as a church reformer, but also as one of the most popular writers in Germany.

And he began to study law. During the same period, against his father's wishes, he entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt.

There are several explanations for this unexpected decision. One refers to the oppressed state of Luther as a result of "consciousness of his sinfulness." According to another, one day Luther was caught in a severe thunderstorm and was so frightened that he took a vow of monasticism. The third refers to the excessive severity of parental education, which Luther could not stand. Apparently, Luther's decision was to be influenced by his acquaintance with the members of the humanist circle.

Luther later wrote that his monastic life was very difficult. Nevertheless, he was an exemplary monk and carefully followed all the instructions. Luther entered the Augustinian Order in Erfurt. The year before, John Staupitz, later a friend of Martin, had received the position of vicar of the Order.

On October 18, 1517, Pope Leo X issues a bull of absolution and the sale of indulgences in order to "Promote the construction of the church of St. Peter and the Salvation of the Souls of Christendom". Luther bursts into criticism of the role of the church in salvation, which is expressed on October 31, 1517 in 95 theses. The theses were also sent to the Bishop of Brandenburg and the Archbishop of Mainz. It is worth adding that there were protests against the papacy before. However, they were of a different nature. The humanist-led protests against indulgences looked at the problem from a human point of view. Luther criticized dogmas, that is, the Christian aspect of teaching. The rumor about the theses spreads with lightning speed, and in 1519 Luther is summoned to court and, having softened, to the Leipzig dispute, where he appears, despite the fate of Jan Hus, and in the dispute expresses doubt about the righteousness and infallibility of the Catholic papacy. Then Pope Leo X anathematizes Luther; in 1520, Pietro from home drew up a curse bull (in 2008 it was announced that the Catholic Church was planning to "rehabilitate" him). Luther publicly burns the papal bull Exsurge Domine excommunicating him from the church in the courtyard of Wittenberg University and declares in an address “To the Christian nobility of the German nation” that the fight against papal dominance is the business of the entire German nation.

Luther made numerous appearances at Jena. It is known that in March 1532 he stayed incognito at the Black Bear Hotel. Two years later he preached in the city church of St. Michael against staunch opponents of the reformation. After the founding of "Salan" in 1537, which later became a university, Luther received ample opportunities here for preaching and calling for the renewal of the church.

Luther's follower Georg Röhrer (1492-1557) edited Luther's works during his visits to the University and the library. As a result, Luther's Jena Bible was published, which is currently in the city's museum.

In 1546 Johann Friedrich I commissioned the master Heinrich Ziegler of Erfurt to make a statue for Luther's tomb in Wittenberg. The wooden statue created by Lucas Cranach the Elder was supposed to be used as the original. The existing bronze plaque ended up in storage at the Weimar castle for two decades. In 1571, the middle son of Johann Friedrich donated it to the university.

The last years of Luther's life were overshadowed by chronic ailments. He died at Eisleben on 18 February 1546.

Luther's Theological Views

Luther's founding principles for attaining salvation: sola fide, sola gratia et sola scriptura (only faith, only grace, and only Scripture). Luther declared untenable the Catholic dogma that the church and the clergy are necessary mediators between God and man. The only way to save a soul for a Christian is faith given to him directly by God (Gal. “The righteous shall live by faith”, and also Eph. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you, God’s gift”). Luther declared his rejection of the authority of papal decrees and epistles and called for the Bible, rather than the institutional church, to be regarded as the main source of Christian truth. The anthropological component of the teaching Luther formulated as "Christian freedom": the freedom of the soul does not depend on external circumstances, but solely on the will of God.

One of the central and popular provisions of Luther's views is the concept of "calling" (Ger. Berufung). In contrast to the Catholic teaching on the opposition of the worldly and the spiritual, Luther believed that God's grace is also realized in the professional field in worldly life. God predestines people for this or that kind of activity, investing in them various talents or abilities, and it is the duty of a person to work diligently, fulfilling his calling. In the eyes of God there is no work noble or contemptible.

The labors of monks and priests, no matter how hard and holy they may be, are not one iota different in the eyes of God from the labors of a peasant in the field or a woman working on the farm.

The concept of "calling" appears in Luther in the process of translating a fragment of the Bible into German (Sirah 11:20-21): "keep in your work (calling)"
The main purpose of the theses was to show that priests are not mediators between God and man, they should only guide the flock and be an example of true Christians. “Man saves his soul not through the Church, but through faith,” wrote Luther. He opposed the dogma of the divinity of the person of the pope, which was vividly demonstrated in Luther's discussion with the famous theologian Johann Eck in 1519. Refuting the divinity of the pope, Luther referred to the Greek, that is, Orthodox, church, which is also considered Christian and dispenses with the pope and his unlimited powers. Luther affirmed the inerrancy of Holy Scripture, and questioned the authority of Holy Tradition and councils.

According to Luther, "the dead know nothing" (Eccl. 9:5). Calvin counters this in his first theological work, The Dream of Souls (1534).

The Historical Significance of Luther's Activities

Luther and antisemitism

Regarding Luther's anti-Semitism (see the work "On the Jews and their lies"), there are different points of view. Some believe that anti-Semitism was a personal position of Luther, which did not affect his theology in any way and was only an expression of the spirit of the times. Others, such as Daniel Gruber, call Luther "the theologian of the Holocaust", believing that the private opinion of the founding father of the denomination could not but influence the minds of fledgling believers and could contribute to the spread of Nazism among the Lutherans of Germany.

At the beginning of his preaching activity, Luther was free from anti-Semitism. He even wrote in 1523 the pamphlet "Jesus Christ was born a Jew".

Luther condemned the Jews as bearers of Judaism for their denial of the Trinity, so he called for their expulsion and destruction of synagogues, which subsequently aroused the sympathy of Hitler and his supporters. It is no coincidence that the Nazis designated the so-called Kristallnacht as a celebration of Luther's birthday.

Luther and music

Luther knew the history and theory of music well; his favorite composers were Josquin Despres and L. Saenfl. In his writings and letters, he quoted medieval and renaissance treatises on music (the treatises of John Tinktoris almost verbatim).

Luther is the author of the preface (in Latin) to the collection of motets (by various composers) "Pleasant consonances ... for 4 voices", released in 1538 by the German publisher Georg Rau. In this text, repeatedly reprinted in the 16th century (including in German translation) and (later) called “Praise to Music” (“Encomion musices”), Luther gives an enthusiastic assessment of imitative-polyphonic music based on cantus firmus. Whoever is unable to appreciate the divine beauty of such exquisite polyphony, "he is not worthy to be called a man, and let him listen to the donkey screaming and the pig grunting." In addition, Luther wrote a preface (in German) in verse "Frau Musica" to a short poem by Johann Walther (1496-1570) "Lob und Preis der löblichen Kunst Musica" (Wittenberg, 1538), as well as a number of prefaces to songbooks of various publishers, published in 1524, 1528, 1542 and 1545, where he expounded his views on music as an extremely important, integral component of the renewed cult.

As part of the liturgical reform, he introduced the communal singing of strophic songs in German, later called the generalized Protestant chorale:

I also want us to have as many songs in their native language as possible for people to sing during Mass, immediately after the Gradual and after the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. For it is certain that in the beginning all men sang that which now only the choir [of clergy] sings.

formula missae

Presumably, since 1523, Luther took a direct part in compiling a new everyday repertoire, he himself composed poems (more often he recomposed church Latin and secular prototypes) and selected “decent” melodies for them, both authorial and anonymous, including from the repertoire of the Roman Catholic Church . For example, in the preface to a collection of songs for the burial of the dead (1542), he wrote:

For the sake of a good example, we have selected beautiful melodies and songs used under the papacy for all-night vigils, funeral masses and burials.<…>and printed some of them in this little book,<…>but they provided them with other texts in order to sing the article about the resurrection, and not purgatory with its torments and satisfaction for sins, in which the dead cannot rest and find peace. The chants and notes themselves [of the Catholics] are worth a lot, and it would be a pity if all this was wasted. However, non-Christian and absurd texts or words should go away.

The question of how great Luther's personal contribution to the music of the Protestant church has been repeatedly revised over the centuries and remains debatable. Some church songs written by Luther with the active participation of Johann Walter were included in the first collection of four-voice choral arrangements, The Book of Spiritual Chants (Wittenberg, 1524). In his preface (see the facsimile quoted), Luther wrote:

The fact that the singing of spiritual songs is a good and godly deed is obvious to every Christian, because not only the example of the prophets and kings of the Old Testament (who glorified God with songs and instrumental music, poems and all kinds of stringed instruments), but also the special custom of psalmody was known to all Christianity from the very beginning.<…>So to begin with, to encourage those who can do it better, I, along with a few others [authors], have compiled some spiritual songs.<…>They are set to four voices only because I really wanted young people (who will have to learn music and other true arts one way or another) to have something with which they could put away love serenades and lustful songs (bul lieder und fleyschliche gesenge ) and learn something useful instead of them, and, moreover, so that the good is combined with the pleasantness so desired by the young.

The chorales that tradition ascribes to Luther were also included in other first collections of (monophonic) Protestant church songs, which were printed in the same year 1524 in Nuremberg and Erfurt.
The most famous chorales composed by Luther himself are "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("Our Lord is a stronghold", composed between 1527 and 1529) and "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("I descend from the heights of heaven"; in In 1535 he composed poems, putting them under the Szpilman melody "Ich komm' aus fremden Landen her"; in 1539 he composed his own melody to accompany the poems). In total, Luther is now credited with composing about 30 chorales. Striving for simplicity and accessibility of worship, Luther established the new communal singing as strictly diatonic, with a minimal chant (he used mainly syllabics) - as opposed to Gregorian chant, in which there is a lot of lush melismatics that requires the professionalism of singers. Mass and officium services (primarily Vespers with Magnificat), inherited from Catholics, were sung both in standard Latin texts and in German. At the same time, Luther abolished the funeral mass and other magnificent rituals that were practiced by Catholics in worship for the dead.

The works most important for understanding Luther's liturgical reform are The Formula of the Mass (Formula missae, 1523) and The German Mass (Deutsche Messe, 1525-1526). They give 2 liturgical forms (in Latin and German), which were not mutually exclusive: Latin chants could be combined with German chorale within one service. Worship entirely in German was practiced in small towns and villages. In large cities with Latin schools and universities, a macaronic Protestant Mass was the norm.

Luther did not object to the use of musical instruments in the church, especially the organ.

Luther in art

"Luther" (Luther, Germany, 1928)

"Martin Luther" (Martin Luther, USA 1953)

• "Luther" (Luther, USA-Canada, 1974)
• "Martin Luther" Martin Luther, Germany, 1983)
• "Martin Luther" (Martin Luther, UK, 2002)
• "Luther" ( Luther; in the Russian box office "Passion for Luther", Germany,). As Martin Luther - Joseph Fiennes

The biography of Martin Luther served as the plot for the progressive rock musician Neil Morse's concept album Sola Scriptura. [the significance of the fact?]

Compositions

• Lectures on the Epistle to the Romans (-)
• 95 theses on indulgences ()
• To the Christian nobility of the German nation ()
• About the Babylonian captivity of the church ()
• Letter to Mülpfort ()
• Open letter to Pope Leo X (), September 6.
• Against the accursed bull of the Antichrist
• Speech at the Reichstag of Worms on 18 April 1521
• Large and small Catechism ()

Editions of Luther's writings

• Luther Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. 65 bde. Weimar: Bohlau, 1883-1993 (the best edition of Luther's writings, considered normative by students of Luther's legacy).
• Luther's Work. American Edition. 55 vls. St. Louis, 1955-1986 (English translation of Luther's writings; unfinished edition).
• Luther M. The time for silence has passed. Selected works 1520-1526. - Kharkov, 1994.
• Luther M. Bible translation. 1534. reissued 1935 (German).
• Luther M. Selected works. - SPb., 1994. 2nd ed.- St. Petersburg, 1997.
• Luther M. 95 theses. [Collected works of M. Luther; in the application Leibniz, Hegel, K.Fischer about God, the philosophy of religion and the Reformation]. - St. Petersburg: Rose of the World, 2002.
• Luther, M. On the freedom of a Christian. [Collected works of M. Luther; in app diff. authors about Luther and about the Reformation in Europe]. - Ufa: ARC, 2013. - 728 p. - ISBN 978-5-905551-05-5

see also

• Jan (Johann) Augusta - Czech theologian and preacher of the 16th century, foreman of the Czech brotherhood, friend of Luther and Melanchthon.

Write a review on the article "Luther, Martin"

Notes

Sources

Writing and phonetics

An excerpt characterizing Luther, Martin

The military council, at which Prince Andrei failed to express his opinion, as he hoped, left an unclear and disturbing impression on him. Who was right: Dolgorukov with Weyrother or Kutuzov with Langeron and others who did not approve of the plan of attack, he did not know. “But was it really impossible for Kutuzov to directly express his thoughts to the sovereign? Can't it be done differently? Is it really necessary to risk tens of thousands and my, my life because of court and personal considerations? he thought.
"Yes, it's very possible they'll kill you tomorrow," he thought. And suddenly, at this thought of death, a whole series of reminiscences, the most remote and the most sincere, rose in his imagination; he remembered the last farewell to his father and wife; he remembered the first days of his love for her! He remembered her pregnancy, and he felt sorry for both her and himself, and in a nervously softened and agitated state he left the hut in which he stood with Nesvitsky, and began to walk in front of the house.
The night was foggy, and through the fog mysteriously made its way Moonlight. “Yes, tomorrow, tomorrow! he thought. “Tomorrow, perhaps, everything will be over for me, all these memories will no longer exist, all these memories will no longer have any meaning for me. Tomorrow, maybe, even probably tomorrow, I foresee it, for the first time I will finally have to show everything that I can do. And he imagined the battle, the loss of it, the concentration of the battle on one point and the confusion of all commanding persons. And now that happy moment, that Toulon, which he had been waiting for so long, finally appears to him. He firmly and clearly speaks his opinion to both Kutuzov, and Weyrother, and the emperors. Everyone is amazed at the correctness of his ideas, but no one undertakes to fulfill it, and so he takes a regiment, a division, pronounces a condition that no one should interfere with his orders, and leads his division to a decisive point and alone wins. What about death and suffering? says another voice. But Prince Andrei does not answer this voice and continues his successes. The disposition of the next battle is made by him alone. He bears the rank of army duty officer under Kutuzov, but he does everything alone. The next battle is won by him alone. Kutuzov is replaced, he is appointed ... Well, and then? another voice says again, and then, if you are not wounded, killed or deceived ten times before; well, then what? “Well, and then,” Prince Andrei answers himself, “I don’t know what will happen next, I don’t want and I can’t know: but if I want this, I want glory, I want to be famous people I want to be loved by them, then it's not my fault that I want this, that I want this alone, for this alone I live. Yes, for this one! I will never tell anyone this, but, my God! what am I to do if I love nothing but glory, human love. Death, wounds, loss of family, nothing scares me. And no matter how dear and dear to me many people are - my father, sister, wife - the people dearest to me - but, no matter how terrible and unnatural it seems, I will give them all now for a moment of glory, triumph over people, for love for to myself people whom I do not know and will not know, for the love of these people, ”he thought, listening to the conversation in Kutuzov’s yard. In the yard of Kutuzov, the voices of orderlies packing up were heard; one voice, probably the coachman, teasing the old Kutuzovsky cook, whom Prince Andrei knew, and whose name was Tit, said: “Tit, and Tit?”
“Well,” replied the old man.
“Titus, go thresh,” said the joker.
“Pah, well, to hell with them,” a voice was heard, covered with the laughter of batmen and servants.
“And yet I love and cherish only the triumph over all of them, I cherish this mysterious power and glory, which here rushes over me in this fog!”

Rostov that night was with a platoon in the flanker chain, ahead of Bagration's detachment. His hussars were scattered in pairs in chains; he himself rode along this line of chain, trying to overcome the sleep that irresistibly drooped him. Behind him one could see a huge expanse of fires of our army burning indistinctly in the fog; ahead of him was misty darkness. No matter how much Rostov peered into this foggy distance, he did not see anything: it turned gray, then something seemed to blacken; then flashed like lights, where the enemy should be; then he thought that it was only in his eyes that it glittered. His eyes were closed, and in his imagination he imagined either the sovereign, then Denisov, then Moscow memories, and again he hastily opened his eyes and close in front of him he saw the head and ears of the horse on which he was sitting, sometimes the black figures of hussars, when he was six paces away ran into them, and in the distance the same foggy darkness. "From what? it is very possible, thought Rostov, that the sovereign, having met me, will give an order, as he would to any officer: he will say: “Go, find out what is there.” They told a lot how, quite by accident, he recognized some officer in such a way and brought him closer to him. What if he brought me closer to him! Oh, how I would protect him, how I would tell him the whole truth, how I would expose his deceivers, ”and Rostov, in order to vividly imagine his love and devotion to the sovereign, imagined the enemy or deceiver of the German, whom he delightedly not only killed, but beat on the cheeks in the eyes of the sovereign. Suddenly a distant cry woke Rostov. He winced and opened his eyes.
"Where I am? Yes, in the chain: the slogan and the password are the drawbar, Olmutz. What a pity that our squadron will be in reserve tomorrow... he thought. - I'll ask to work. This may be the only chance to see the sovereign. Yes, it's not long before the change. I’ll go around again and, when I get back, I’ll go to the general and ask him.” He recovered in the saddle and touched the horse to go around his hussars once more. He thought it was brighter. On the left side one could see a gentle, illuminated slope and the opposite, black hillock, which seemed steep, like a wall. There was a white spot on this hillock, which Rostov could not understand in any way: was it a clearing in the forest, illuminated by the moon, or the remaining snow, or white houses? It even seemed to him that something stirred over this white spot. “The snow must be a stain; the stain is une tache, thought Rostov. “Here you don’t tash ...”
“Natasha, sister, black eyes. On ... tashka (She will be surprised when I tell her how I saw the sovereign!) Natashka ... take the tashka ... ”-“ Correct that, your honor, otherwise there are bushes, ”said the voice of the hussar, past whom, falling asleep, drove Rostov. Rostov raised his head, which had already sunk to the horse's mane, and stopped beside the hussar. The young child's dream irresistibly inclined him. “Yes, I mean, what was I thinking? - not forget. How will I speak with the sovereign? No, not that - it's tomorrow. Yes Yes! On the tashka, step on ... blunt us - who? Gusarov. And the hussars in their mustaches... This hussar with a mustache rode along Tverskaya, I also thought of him, opposite Guryev's house... Old man Guryev... Oh, glorious fellow Denisov! Yes, it's all nonsense. The main thing now is the sovereign is here. How he looked at me, and he wanted to say something, but he didn’t dare ... No, I didn’t dare. Yes, this is nothing, and most importantly - do not forget that I thought the right thing, yes. On - tashku, us - blunt, yes, yes, yes. This is good". And he again fell headlong on the neck of the horse. Suddenly he thought he was being shot at. "What? What? What!… Ruby! What? ... ”Rostov spoke, waking up. The moment he opened his eyes, Rostov heard in front of him, where the enemy was, the drawn-out cries of a thousand voices. His horses and the hussar who stood beside him pricked their ears at these cries. In the place from which the screams were heard, one light lit up and went out, then another, and fires lit up along the entire line of French troops on the mountain, and the screams grew more and more intensified. Rostov heard the sounds of French words, but could not make them out. Too many buzzing voices. It was only heard: aaaa! and rrrr!
- What is it? What do you think? - Rostov turned to the hussar, who was standing next to him. “It’s with the enemy, isn’t it?”
Hussar didn't answer.
“Well, don’t you hear? - After waiting for an answer for a long time, Rostov asked again.
“And who knows, your honor,” the hussar answered reluctantly.
– Should there be an enemy in the place? Rostov repeated again.
“Maybe he, or maybe it’s like that,” said the hussar, “it’s a matter of the night.” Well! shawls! he shouted at his horse, moving beneath him.
Rostov's horse was also in a hurry, kicking on the frozen ground, listening to the sounds and looking closely at the lights. The cries of voices grew stronger and stronger and merged into a general rumble that only a few thousand strong army could produce. The fires spread more and more, probably along the line of the French camp. Rostov no longer wanted to sleep. Cheerful, triumphant cries in the enemy army had an exciting effect on him: Vive l "empereur, l" emperoreur! [Long live the emperor, emperor!] Rostov could now clearly hear.
- And not far, - it must be, behind the stream? he said to the hussar standing beside him.
The hussar only sighed without answering, and cleared his throat angrily. Along the line of the hussars came the clatter of a trotting cavalry, and out of the night fog suddenly rose, appearing to be a huge elephant, the figure of a hussar non-commissioned officer.
Your honor, generals! - said the non-commissioned officer, driving up to Rostov.
Rostov, continuing to look back at the lights and screams, rode with a non-commissioned officer towards several horsemen riding along the line. One was on a white horse. Prince Bagration with Prince Dolgorukov and adjutants went to look at the strange phenomenon of lights and screams in the enemy army. Rostov, approaching Bagration, reported to him and joined the adjutants, listening to what the generals were saying.
“Believe me,” Prince Dolgorukov said, turning to Bagration, “that this is nothing more than a trick: he retreated and in the rear guard ordered to light fires and make noise in order to deceive us.
- Hardly, - said Bagration, - since the evening I saw them on that hillock; if they left, they took off from there. G. officer, - Prince Bagration turned to Rostov, - are his flankers still standing there?
“We’ve been standing since the evening, but now I can’t know, Your Excellency. Order, I'll go with the hussars, - said Rostov.
Bagration stopped and, without answering, tried to make out Rostov's face in the fog.
“Well, look,” he said, after a pause.
- I listen with.
Rostov gave the spurs to his horse, called out to non-commissioned officer Fedchenko and two more hussars, ordered them to follow him, and rode at a trot downhill in the direction of the continuing screams. Rostov was both terribly and merry to go alone with three hussars there, to this mysterious and dangerous foggy distance, where no one had been before him. Bagration shouted to him from the mountain so that he would not go further than the stream, but Rostov pretended not to hear his words, and, without stopping, rode on and on, constantly deceived, mistaking bushes for trees and potholes for people and constantly explaining his deceptions. Having trotted downhill, he no longer saw either ours or the enemy's fires, but he heard the cries of the French louder and clearer. In the hollow he saw something like a river in front of him, but when he reached it, he recognized the road he had traveled. Riding out onto the road, he held his horse back, undecided whether to ride on it or cross it and ride uphill across the black field. It was safer to drive along the road brightened in the fog, because people could be seen more quickly. “Follow me,” he said, crossed the road and began to gallop up the mountain, to the place where the French picket had been standing since evening.
“Your Honor, here it is!” one of the hussars spoke from behind.
And before Rostov had time to make out something suddenly blackened in the fog, a light flashed, a shot clicked, and the bullet, as if complaining about something, buzzed high in the fog and flew out of hearing. The other gun did not fire, but a light flashed on the shelf. Rostov turned his horse and galloped back. Another four shots rang out at different intervals, and bullets sang in different tones somewhere in the fog. Rostov reined in his horse, which had cheered up just as much as he did from the shots, and rode off at a pace. "Well, more, well, more!" a cheerful voice spoke in his soul. But there were no more shots.
Just approaching Bagration, Rostov again put his horse into a gallop and, holding his hand at the visor, rode up to him.
Dolgorukov kept insisting on his opinion that the French had retreated and only in order to deceive us they had put out fires.
– What does this prove? - he said at the time when Rostov drove up to them. “They could have retreated and left the pickets.
- Apparently, not everyone has left yet, prince, - said Bagration. Until tomorrow morning, we'll find out tomorrow.
“There is a picket on the mountain, Your Excellency, everything is the same as it was in the evening,” Rostov reported, leaning forward, holding his hand at the visor and unable to restrain the smile of fun caused in him by his trip and, most importantly, by the sounds of bullets.
“Good, good,” said Bagration, “thank you, Mr. Officer.
“Your Excellency,” said Rostov, “permit me to ask you.
- What?
- Tomorrow our squadron is assigned to the reserves; let me ask you to attach me to the 1st squadron.
- What's your last name?
- Count Rostov.
- Oh good. Stay with me as an orderly.
- Ilya Andreich's son? Dolgorukov said.
But Rostov did not answer him.
“So I hope, Your Excellency.
- I'll order.
“Tomorrow, very possibly, they will send some kind of order to the sovereign,” he thought. - Thank God".

The cries and fires in the enemy army came from the fact that while the order of Napoleon was being read to the troops, the emperor himself was riding around his bivouacs. The soldiers, seeing the emperor, lit bunches of straw and, shouting: vive l "empereur!, ran after him. Napoleon's order was as follows:
"Soldiers! The Russian army comes out against you to avenge the Austrian, Ulm army. These are the same battalions which you defeated at Gollabrunn and which you have been constantly pursuing to this place ever since. The positions we occupy are powerful, and as long as they go to get around me on the right, they will expose me to the flank! Soldiers! I myself will lead your battalions. I will keep far from the fire if you, with your usual courage, bring disorder and confusion into the ranks of the enemy; but if victory is even for a moment in doubt, you will see your emperor exposed to the first blows of the enemy, because there can be no hesitation in victory, especially on a day when the honor of the French infantry, which is so necessary for the honor of his nation, is at issue.
Under the pretext of withdrawing the wounded, do not upset the ranks! Let everyone be fully imbued with the idea that it is necessary to defeat these mercenaries of England, inspired by such hatred against our nation. This victory will end our march, and we may return to our winter quarters, where we shall be found by the new French troops which are being formed in France; and then the peace I will make will be worthy of my people, you and me.
Napoleon."

At 5 o'clock in the morning it was still quite dark. The troops of the center, reserves and the right flank of Bagration were still standing motionless; but on the left flank, the columns of infantry, cavalry and artillery, which were to be the first to descend from the heights in order to attack the French right flank and push it, according to the disposition, into the Bohemian mountains, were already stirring and began to rise from their lodgings. The smoke from the fires, into which they threw everything superfluous, ate the eyes. It was cold and dark. The officers hurriedly drank tea and had breakfast, the soldiers chewed crackers, beat shots with their feet, warming themselves, and flocked against the fires, throwing the remains of booths, chairs, tables, wheels, tubs, everything superfluous that could not be taken with them into the firewood. Austrian columnists scurried between the Russian troops and served as harbingers of the performance. As soon as an Austrian officer showed up near the regimental commander's quarters, the regiment began to move: the soldiers ran away from the fires, hid their tubes in the tops, bags in the wagons, took apart their guns and lined up. The officers buttoned up, put on their swords and knapsacks, and, shouting, went around the ranks; convoys and batmen harnessed, stacked and tied the wagons. Adjutants, battalion and regimental commanders mounted, crossed themselves, gave their last orders, instructions and assignments to the remaining convoys, and the monotonous tramp of a thousand feet sounded. The columns moved, not knowing where and not seeing from the surrounding people, from the smoke and from the growing fog, neither the area from which they left, nor the one into which they entered.
A soldier on the move is just as encircled, constrained, and drawn by his regiment, as a sailor is by the ship on which he is. No matter how far he goes, no matter how strange, unknown and dangerous latitudes he enters, around him - as for a sailor, always and everywhere the same decks, masts, ropes of his ship - always and everywhere the same comrades, the same rows, the same sergeant major Ivan Mitrich, the same company dog ​​Zhuchka, the same bosses. A soldier rarely wants to know the latitudes in which his whole ship is located; but on the day of the battle, God knows how and from where, in the moral world of the troops one stern note is heard for all, which sounds like the approach of something decisive and solemn and arouses them to an unusual curiosity. Soldiers in the days of battles excitedly try to get out of the interests of their regiment, listen, look closely and eagerly ask about what is happening around them.
The fog became so strong that, despite the fact that it was dawning, it was not visible ten paces ahead. The bushes looked like huge trees, the flat places looked like precipices and slopes. Everywhere, from all sides, one could encounter an enemy invisible ten paces away. But for a long time the columns walked in the same fog, descending and ascending the mountains, bypassing gardens and fences, across new, incomprehensible terrain, nowhere colliding with the enemy. On the contrary, now in front, now behind, from all sides, the soldiers learned that our Russian columns were moving in the same direction. Each soldier felt good at heart because he knew that where he was going, that is, no one knew where, there were still many, many of ours.
“Look, you, and the Kursk people have passed,” they said in the ranks.
- Passion, my brother, that our troops have gathered! Evening looked at how the lights were laid out, the end of the edge could not be seen. Moscow - one word!
Although none of the column commanders drove up to the ranks and did not speak with the soldiers (the column commanders, as we saw at the military council, were out of sorts and dissatisfied with the work being undertaken, and therefore only carried out orders and did not care to amuse the soldiers), despite On top of that, the soldiers went merrily, as always, going into action, especially in the offensive. But, after passing through a dense fog for about an hour, most of the troops had to stop, and an unpleasant consciousness of disorder and confusion swept through the ranks. How this consciousness is transmitted is very difficult to determine; but what is certain is that it is conveyed with unusual fidelity and quickly overflows, imperceptibly and uncontrollably, like water down a hollow. If the Russian army had been alone, without allies, then, perhaps, a long time would have passed before this consciousness of disorder would become a general confidence; but now, with particular pleasure and naturalness, attributing the cause of the disturbances to the stupid Germans, everyone was convinced that a harmful confusion was taking place, which the sausage workers had done.
- What have become then? Al blocked? Or did you stumble upon a Frenchman?
- No, don't hear it. And then he would start firing.
- Then they hurried to speak, but they spoke - they stood uselessly in the middle of the field - all the damned Germans confuse. Eki stupid devils!
- Then I would let them go ahead. And then, I suppose, they huddle behind. Now stop and don't eat.
- Yes, will it be there soon? The cavalry, they say, blocked the road, - said the officer.
“Oh, the damned Germans, they don’t know their land,” said another.
What division are you? shouted the adjutant as he drove up.
- Eighteenth.
"So why are you here?" you should have been ahead long ago, now you won’t get through until evening.
- These are stupid orders; they don’t know what they are doing,” the officer said and drove off.
Then a general drove by and angrily shouted something not in Russian.
“Tafa lafa, and what he mumbles, you can’t make out anything,” the soldier said, mimicking the general who had left. “I would have shot them, scoundrels!”
- At the ninth hour it was ordered to be on the spot, but we didn’t get even half. Here are the orders! – repeated from different sides.
And the feeling of energy with which the troops went into action began to turn into annoyance and anger at the stupid orders and at the Germans.
The reason for the confusion was that during the movement of the Austrian cavalry, marching on the left flank, the higher authorities found that our center was too far from the right flank, and all cavalry was ordered to move to right side. Several thousand cavalry advanced ahead of the infantry, and the infantry had to wait.
Ahead there was a clash between an Austrian column leader and a Russian general. The Russian general shouted, demanding that the cavalry be stopped; the Austrian argued that it was not he who was to blame, but the higher authorities. Meanwhile, the troops stood, bored and discouraged. After an hour's delay, the troops finally moved on and began to descend downhill. The mist that dispersed on the mountain only spread thicker in the lower parts, where the troops descended. Ahead, in the fog, one shot, another shot rang out, at first clumsily at different intervals: a draft ... tat, and then more and more smoothly and more often, and the affair began over the Goldbach River.
Not expecting to meet the enemy below over the river and accidentally stumbling upon him in the fog, not hearing a word of inspiration from the highest commanders, with the consciousness spreading through the troops that it was too late, and, most importantly, in thick fog not seeing anything ahead and around them, the Russians lazily and slowly exchanged fire with the enemy, moved forward and stopped again, not receiving orders from the commanders and adjutants during the time, who wandered through the fog in an unfamiliar area, not finding their troops. Thus began the case for the first, second and third columns, which went down. The fourth column, with which Kutuzov himself was, stood on the Pratsen Heights.
There was still thick fog downstairs, where the action had begun, and it cleared up above, but nothing of what was going on ahead could be seen. Whether all the enemy forces were, as we assumed, ten miles away from us, or whether he was here, in this line of fog, no one knew until the ninth hour.
It was 9 o'clock in the morning. The fog spread like a solid sea along the bottom, but near the village of Shlapanitsa, at the height on which Napoleon stood, surrounded by his marshals, it was completely light. Above him was a clear, blue sky, and a huge ball of the sun, like a huge hollow crimson float, swayed on the surface of a milky sea of ​​fog. Not only all the French troops, but Napoleon himself with his headquarters were not on the other side of the streams and the lower villages of Sokolnits and Shlapanits, behind which we intended to take a position and start business, but on this side, so close to our troops that Napoleon with a simple eye could in our army to distinguish horse from foot. Napoleon stood a little ahead of his marshals on a small gray Arabian horse, in a blue greatcoat, in the same one in which he made the Italian campaign. He silently peered into the hills, which seemed to emerge from a sea of ​​fog, and along which Russian troops were moving in the distance, and listened to the sounds of shooting in the hollow. At that time, his still thin face did not move a single muscle; shining eyes were fixed fixedly on one place. His guesses turned out to be correct. Part of the Russian troops had already descended into the hollow to the ponds and lakes, partly they were clearing those Pratsensky heights, which he intended to attack and considered the key to the position. In the midst of the fog, in the deepening made up by two mountains near the village of Prats, Russian columns were moving in the same direction towards the hollows, shining with bayonets, and one after another they were hiding in a sea of ​​fog. According to the information he had received in the evening, from the sounds of wheels and steps heard at night at outposts, from the disorderly movement of Russian columns, according to all assumptions, he clearly saw that the allies considered him far ahead of them, that the columns moving near Pratsen constituted the center of the Russian army, and that the center is already sufficiently weakened to successfully attack it. But he still hasn't started the business.
Today was a solemn day for him - the anniversary of his coronation. Before morning, he dozed off for several hours and healthy, cheerful, fresh, in that happy state of mind in which everything seems possible and everything succeeds, mounted a horse and rode into the field. He stood motionless, looking at the heights visible through the fog, and on his cold face there was that special shade of self-confident, deserved happiness that happens on the face of a boy in love and happy. The marshals stood behind him and did not dare to divert his attention. He looked now at the Pracen Heights, now at the sun emerging from the mist.
When the sun was completely out of the fog and splashed with a blinding brilliance over the fields and fog (as if he had only been waiting for this to start the business), he took off the glove from his beautiful, white hand, made a sign to the marshals with it and gave the order to start the business. The marshals, accompanied by adjutants, galloped in different directions, and after a few minutes the main forces of the French army quickly moved to those Pratsensky heights, which were more and more cleared by Russian troops descending to the left into the hollow.

At 8 o'clock Kutuzov rode on horseback to Prats, ahead of the 4th Miloradovichevsky column, the one that was supposed to take the place of the Przhebyshevsky and Lanzheron columns, which had already descended. He greeted the people of the front regiment and gave the order to move, showing by the fact that he himself intended to lead this column. Having left for the village of Prats, he stopped. Prince Andrei, among the huge number of persons who made up the retinue of the commander-in-chief, stood behind him. Prince Andrei felt agitated, irritated, and at the same time restrainedly calm, as a person is at the onset of a long-desired moment. He was firmly convinced that today was the day of his Toulon or his Arcole bridge. How it would happen, he did not know, but he was firmly convinced that it would be. The terrain and the position of our troops were known to him, as far as they could be known to anyone from our army. His own strategic plan, which, obviously, now there was nothing to think of to carry out, was forgotten by him. Now, already entering into Weyrother's plan, Prince Andrei pondered possible accidents and made new considerations, such that his quickness of thought and decisiveness might be required.
To the left below, in the fog, there was a skirmish between invisible troops. There, it seemed to Prince Andrei, the battle would be concentrated, an obstacle would be encountered there, and “there I will be sent,” he thought, “with a brigade or division, and there, with a banner in my hand, I will go forward and break everything that is in front of me” .
Prince Andrei could not look indifferently at the banners of the passing battalions. Looking at the banner, he kept thinking: maybe this is the same banner with which I will have to go ahead of the troops.
By morning the night fog had left only hoarfrost on the heights, turning into dew, while in the dells the fog was still spreading like a milky white sea. Nothing could be seen in that hollow to the left, where our troops had descended and from where the sounds of firing came. Above the heights was a dark, clear sky, and to the right a huge orb of the sun. Ahead, far away, on the other side of the foggy sea, one could see prominent wooded hills, on which the enemy army should have been, and something could be seen. To the right, the guards entered the region of fog, resounding with trampling and wheels, and occasionally shining with bayonets; to the left, behind the village, similar masses of cavalry approached and hid in a sea of ​​mist. Infantry moved in front and behind. The commander-in-chief stood at the exit of the village, letting the troops pass by. Kutuzov this morning seemed exhausted and irritable. The infantry marching past him stopped without orders, apparently because something ahead of them delayed them.
“Yes, tell me, finally, that they line up in battalion columns and go around the village,” Kutuzov angrily said to the general who had arrived. - How can you not understand, Your Excellency, sir, that it is impossible to stretch out along this defile of the village street when we are going against the enemy.
“I planned to line up behind the village, Your Excellency,” the general replied.
Kutuzov laughed bitterly.
- You will be good, deploying the front in the sight of the enemy, very good.
“The enemy is still far away, Your Excellency. By disposition...
- Disposition! - Kutuzov exclaimed bitterly, - and who told you this? ... If you please, do what you are ordered.
- I listen with.
- Mon cher, - Nesvitsky said in a whisper to Prince Andrei, - le vieux est d "une humeur de chien. [My dear, our old man is very out of sorts.]
An Austrian officer with a green plume on his hat, in a white uniform, galloped up to Kutuzov and asked on behalf of the emperor: did the fourth column come forward?