Skara Zahary [Sharia, Zechariah bin Aaron ha-Cogen] General data:
Born: XV ñò.
Place of birth: Kafa city (since 1804, Theodosius city), Crimean Khanate
Studied in: ();
Key interests: astronomy, theology, philosophy
Biography:
He is a native of the city of Kafa (since 1804, the city of Theodosius), Tavrika (Crimean peninsula), Crimean Khanate. He came from the influential Karaim family.
Most Karaites profess the national religion-Karasim. Karaimism (Hebrew קָרָאִים) is a religion that combines the features of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This religion is based on the Old Testament, which believers have to read and interpret themselves without relying on third-party authorities. The adherents of this religion are called karaites, which translates as readers. Karaim writer and archaeologist, collector of ancient manuscripts, cleric-gazan Abraham Firkovich believed that the connection of Karaite-natives from Samaria to the Turks-Khazars was that from these settlers the Khazars borrowed the ancient and pure religion of Moses, but did not distort it at all Judaism of the Pharisees. A distinctive feature of Karaimism was respect for science, especially philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.
He lived in the XV century. Worn the nickname of Sharia. Known as a doctor and an astrologer. It should be noted that astronomy as an independent science was separated from astrology relatively recently, somewhere in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
In 1470 (according to some reports in 1471), he arrived in Novgorod city from Kyiv City in the retinue of Lutsk prince Mikhail O. Gediminovich, son of the Kyivan Prince Oleg Vladimirovich, and also had family ties with Prince Ivan III, as his personal physician. (The prince arrived in Novgorod at the invitation of the prolitov boyars (was put on Novgorod in 1470 by the Polish king Casimir IV).
According to some sources, Zakhariy was, according to some sources, received in Kyiv, probably in the then Kyivan kenas (synagogue), or in Byzantium, where, according to one version, he arrived in Kyiv not later than in 1454.
He knew the Holy Scripture well not only of the Old Testament, but also of the New Testament; he even knew the works of the fathers and teachers of the Christian church. But here he founded the doctrines of the "jidivatives" ("Predictable", the Orthodox-Church name for a number of diverse religious movements (heresies from the point of view of the Orthodox Church, namely, in the letters of Archbishop Gennady Gonzov and Joseph Volotsky, the philosopher-philosopher appears under the name of Sharia). They are highly valued the Old Testament and in particular adhered to the Mosaic Law, rejecting the divinity of Christ, the doctrine of the holy Trinity, the sacraments, the church hierarchy, celebrating Easter (the Passover) according to the Jewish tradition, observing some of the Jewish rites as a circumcision celebration of the Sabbath, etc. From the beginning of the XIX century they were called "Sabbits." They translated the Old Testament books from the Hebrew language, as well as scientific works, in particular the philosophical work "Logic" by Moses Maimonides and the astronomical work "The Shestokryl" and "Cosmography" John de Sacrobosko, Astrology, Ostnumey, Almanac, Zvizdar, Pladnidnik, Running Heaven, Rafli, Humor, etc. On the meetings of the "jidivatives" there was a conversation about the structure of the world and the ability to predict sunshine and lunar eclipses. Members of this peculiar circle also became interested in astrology, because there was no sharp gap between astronomy and astrology for a long time. Among the books they read were "Logic" and "Cosmography" (translation of the well-known in Europe of the XIII century English scientist John Sacrobosco "Sphere of the Universe"). It is known that Zacharias bin Aaron ga-Kogen, according to Professor Misey Taube's research, is the author of the translations of the works used by the company: this is, in particular, the "Logic" of Moses Maimonides, supplemented with fragments from al-Ghazali, "Shestokryl" or "Shesh khenafanaim". The Arabic pseudo-epigraph "Secret Treasures" or "Aristotle's Gate", complemented by three medical treatises of Maimonides, also belong to this circle of translations. The translators of this group also compiled the Cyrillic textbook of the Old Hebrew language, which includes Genesis, Isaiah and Song of Songs. According to the scholars, a full translation from the Hebrew into Russian of the Tanakh books (Old Testament) was completed. It also includes the translation of a part of the Old Testament books from Wilensky's Old Testament Book.
In 1490, the Orthodox Church Mieeting was held, where the heresy of "life-afflicted" was convicted. Later severe prosecutions broke this movement; the remnants of the sect fled to Lithuania and to Poland, where they lived until the XIX century. Hence the king Nicholas I relocated them over the Black Sea and the Transcaucasus.
It is definitely known that the painter Zakharia of Kiev owns five fragments of copies of works on astronomy and philosophy. All fragments are dated, often indicating the place of the census. Therefore, it can be argued that Zacharias Ben Aaron lived in Kiev, at least during the years 1454-1468. The last known copy of it, fragments from the treatise Averroes, dated May 1485 and was made in Damascus. It is likely that he left Kiev during the invasion of Crimean Tatars in Kyiv in 1482. It was then that a large part of the Jewish-Karaite community of Kiev moved, perhaps in the status of prisoners from the "Mankerman," as the Tatars called Kiev City, in the Crimea. Jewish and Karaite communities of Kafi, usually redeemed their tribesmen.
From the original data of the manuscript of 1485, written in Damascus, it is known that before that he visited a pilgrim in Jerusalem. In general, the possible route of Zakaria of Kiev coincides with the "geography" of Crimean events related to the history of heresy. In any case, his journey to Damascus was to go through the Crimea, and he was absent from Crimea in 1484-1485. After visiting Damascus, he could return to the Crimea, where his meeting with the Moscow Ambassador in the year 1487 could take place. Crimea by Dmytro Shein. It is known that Al-Farabi's treatise Zacharias rewrote Moses bin Yakob ha-Goli, a Jewish kabbalist scientist, who lived in the Crimea after the Tatar invasion.
According to Moses Taube and S. Yu. Temchin, the researches of the rewritten and translated sources of Zakharia by Kyiv or with his participation allow him to be considered the bearer of Jewish Provencal or Sephardic scientific tradition. It is unlikely that Zacharias was Provencal himself, because this region, on the Iberian Peninsula, that is, the area of modern Catalonia in Spain, was left by most Jews at the end of the XIV century, most of which moved to Byzantium. It was for the Lawlessers that was characterized by a high interest in astrology, although Moses Maimonides himself was negatively concerned with astrology.
It should be noted that the name of Sharia-philosopher unexpectedly appears in the Psalter of the XVI century from the library of the Kiev Theological Academy. Professor Taube points out that the terms of Psaria Psalter coincide with the terms used in the "Logic" of "jidivatives".
In 1491, according to the Russian historian XVII-XVIII, Tatishchev VN Zakhariy was executed by Ivan III in Novgorod along with the rebels for the accusation of witchcraft and the rebellion against the "Moscow Grand Duke".
Another says that he left Novgorod along with Prince Michael Olelekovich, who stayed in Novgorod for four months, and returned to Kyiv on March 15, 1471. By 1484 and 1488, correspondence of Ivan III was "Jewish" by Zacharias Scara, who requested permission to move to Moscow. Prince Muscovy agreed to take him to a position as a personal doctor and astrologer. But, Zacharias Scari did not have to move to Moscow, despite the fact that all measures were taken before this by the then Moscow Ambassador to Crimea D. V. Shein. The special patriarchs from the Tatars waited for Zacharias on the border at the mouth of the Mius River until May 1491, but he did not appear.
According to some reports, Zacharias Ben Aaron Ha-Cohen died at the beginning of the XVI century.
Sources:
1 Êàçàíöåâà Ë. Â., Êèñëþê Â. Ñ. Êè¿âñüêå â³êíî ó Âñåñâ³ò: ²ñòîð³ÿ Êè¿âñüêî¿ àñòðîíîì³÷íî¿ îáñåðâàòî𳿠â êîíòåêñò³ ³ñòî𳿠ðîçâèòêó íàö³îíàëüíî¿ òà ñâ³òîâî¿ íàóêè. — Êè¿â: Íàø ÷àñ, 2006.—Ñ. 18.
2 Çæèäîâàò³ë³ //Åíöèêëîïåä³ÿ óêðà¿íîçíàâñòâà. Ñëîâíèêîâà ÷àñòèíà (ÅÓ-II). — Ïàðèæ, Íüþ-Éîðê, 1959. — Ò. 3. — Ñ. 826-840
3 ÈÇ ÈÑÒÎÐÈÈ ÅÂÐÅÉÑÊÎÉ ÊÓËÜÒÓÐÛ.×àñòü 3/ Ìàòåðèàëû íàó÷íûõ êîíôåðåíöèé Öåíòðà “Ñýôýð”
ïî èóäàèêå 2007 ãîäà.- Ñ.178, 179
4 Ñõàðèÿ (Çàõàðèÿ) Ñêàðà /Çåëåâ À Þ.//Çíàìåíèòûå Êàðàèìû
