Predisloviye o polze knig tserkovnykh v rossiyskom yazyke

"Predisloviye o polze knig tserkovnykh v rossiyskom yazyke" (Preface on the Use of Church Books in the Russian Language) is a significant work by Mikhail Lomonosov, published in 1758. This preface was crucial in the development of the modern Russian literary language.12

Lomonosov proposed a system for classifying Russian words and assigning them to three distinct styles: high, middle, and low. He correlated these styles with appropriate themes, genres, and tones, advocating for a combination of Church Slavonic and vernacular Russian to establish a robust literary language. This work helped standardize Russian by addressing the inadequacy of Church Slavonic for new subject matter and the influx of foreign expressions. Lomonosov, a renowned scientist and linguist, also played a key role in founding Moscow State University.123