Last night, due to the rain, the literary program of the XXXVIII Grad Theater festival ended in the Santa Maria in Punta church in Budva with a lecture by prof. Dr. Aleksandar Jerkov on the occasion of the 530th anniversary of the publication of "Octoiho privolasnik" by the Crnojević printing house.
This jubilee is one of the most significant events in the culture and history of this region, which confirms its undeniable presence on the cultural map of Europe and the world.
Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Jerkov, theorist and historian of literature, spoke about the significance of the civilizational step of printing the first Cyrillic book, about the Mediterranean and European context of this act of culture, as well as the tasks to which, as such, it obliges the generations to come.
Jerkov began the evening with the proverb: "When God wills something, not even man can spoil it", pointing out that the topic wanted to bring itself to the church where, in a way, it belongs.
"It doesn't mean that I have a place there, but it's a topic, it's a problem, it's a question, and we should be happy about that. And 'Oktoih' is a special topic, area, dispositif. I have never studied 'Octoich' myself, authentically and originally. 'Octoih' is an occasion to talk about the meaning of the encounter with the cultural-historical tradition, and that is a more than important topic. That you, at that moment, at the end of the 15th century, synchronously with the development of world-historical circumstances, received a transformation from one era of writing, letters and printing to another era, and that it took place here, 30 km from here, is a world- a historical event of the first order. And then when you have such an event in the local color for yourself, what else can you do but stick to it, to keep it, to carry it in yourself, to cultivate it as something that gives you a feeling, self-respect and dignity" , Jerkov said and added that, at the level of a macroscopic understanding of historical circumstances, it is important to understand the momentum in history in which the printing of "Octoi" takes place.
Jerkov then emphasized the importance of other key events in world history, stressing that the most important event of that time was the discovery of the New World.
"And there is no dilemma. At that moment, man understood for the first time that the world is not only what he knows. That there is such an unknown that is not only 'I haven't met it yet', 'I know it's there' but - who knows what is there ? It is a world-historical upheaval."
Jerkov then spoke about the development of Gutenberg's press from the middle of the 15th century, emphasizing that in the next 50 years the Bible became available.
"Until that moment, only privileged interpreters knew what was written in the Bible. So, it doesn't say what it says, but what I say it says. Then humanity begins to read, a new epoch begins. The Gutenberg era begins. And although it's just a gadget he made, he didn't discover the meaning of the world like Newton. Don't get me wrong, this one made a device with wood, improved it a bit, and the other one understood what planets and celestial bodies are. It is not the same achievement, but the consequences for the world in which it takes place are equal."
He emphasized that in the 50 years of development of that civilization, it has led to such a mood that it undermines faith in what is mere tradition, which is mere passing on of other people's words, taking into account the Renaissance crisis.
"Between 1490 and the second decade of the 16th century, a new split in religion appeared, between Catholics and Protestants, Luther's demands came and other reformers raised a new question - the authority of the text as a measure of freedom, the authority of our cultural-historical facts is the measure of our freedoms. And such a measure of our freedoms is 'Oktoih'."
Jerkov said that "Octoich", in its rich print, Venetian opulence and technological progress, represented a new kind of beauty.
"He reminds us of Benjamin's discussion about technical reproduction, about authenticity, when there is only one single copy and no other, from which follows our civilizational sense of inimitability, and on the other hand the possibility of producing a hundred copies of such a thing, that each of them, though identical and mechanically produced, a work of art of the first order.”
Jerkov also spoke about the third element, asking himself what happens to us at the moment when the press is revealed.
"Constantinople falls and medieval Serbia falls, statehood is lost. So, watch how the civilization of Europe is developing, if you want to see it that way. On the one hand, Europe is gaining the momentum of rationality, research and a rational approach. On the other hand, it loses a great history, because in our memory it is now the end of Byzantium. That is not entirely true. It is the end of the Roman Empire. And that is the end of the Roman Empire in its entirety for those two thousand and some years.”
Jerkov emphasized that an entire epoch has definitely been rounded off, that Roman history has come full circle and closed, and that we have two different momentums.
"'Octoich' is the moment when the most important thing happens in Europe as well, technological development and the opening of the literacy process, unites with what is the Eastern tradition, Byzantine chanting and a specific system of combining Byzantine voices in the service of God. Even today, it is a kind of rarity that there is one school in the diocese of Bačka that is highly valued as an achievement. All of you who have sometimes listened to a radio program or other sources have heard what it sounds like. To my hearing, one moment stands out in particular – the one when, in the absolute harmony of all those voices, you suddenly feel like Bach in those famous cantatas, when the music begins to soar. Today, Hofstadter describes Bach's trick, that when a fugue goes through a circle, it ends a note higher than it started. When you enter the next round, there is no end to that one tone - it goes on endlessly. Bach, in the best sense of the word, at the transition between baroque and classicism, shows how a musical composition, if it could be performed technically, must take you to the heavens. In Byzantine chanting, the harmony, especially of male voices, at one point begins to lift you up. And even if you don't have any religious predispositions, you feel the work of the music itself. The work of the music itself, without Bloch's insistence on spiritual triumph, elevates you because of the perfect harmony between the voices. Mozart says that only in music is it possible for two people to say two completely different things, and for it to sound perfectly harmonized and flawless. It's an opera. One sings one thing, the other another, but musically there is absolute harmony between their singing. That duet, trio, quartet – whatever it is – sounds perfect, even though everyone claims their own. In the epochal development of music from Bach to Mozart, in the line leading directly to romanticism, we arrive at these ideas, how harmonies develop and how great creative minds hear and see. In Byzantine chanting, it is the basis of all creativity, just as symphony is one of the most important concepts in the Byzantine understanding of relationships in a harmonious society. It is the harmony between government and religion, the harmony between ideology and truth, the harmony between the individual man and the society in which he lives. And only when that level of symphony, harmony and addition is achieved, society can function properly. 'Octoich' is a superb manual, for many years, for how to make the first four voices in the first tone and the second four voices in the second tone, but also how to melt the eight voices into one unique one."
He concluded that it was a moment in which technological and rational progress merged with the cultural-historical fact of the time, creating a new epistemological framework.
"I stand in front of this with absolute respect, I stand with the attempt to understand the epochal event and I stand as one, even if a failed one, a student of Foucault, who says that this is how new epistemes are built. A new episteme continues at a moment, when two impulses, historical, unite in this way, to become dual and to become one common place in which they act together. That's what the man of that time needed."
After the lecture, there was a discussion with the audience, during which various comments and questions were heard.
The visitors expressed their gratitude for the deep insight into the importance of "Octoi the First Voice" and its influence on cultural and historical development.
Bonus video:
