Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2025-13-175

Volynskyi Blahovisnyk. № 13. 2025. P. 169-184.

Summary

The article is devoted to the study of a cycle of 189 short didactic discourses of Bishop Irenei (Falkovsky), delivered in the Kyiv-Mikhailivka Golden-Domed Monastery and devoted to the theme of God’s endless after-death retributions (“on eternal punishments”). Based on the manuscript files of the Institute of Manuscripts of the National Library of Ukraine (f. 312: files 198, 201, 202, 205, 206, 208), the genesis of the corpus (from early unnumbered entries to later ordered editions), its internal evolution and compositional model are traced. It is shown that according to the author’s self-identification these are “short didactic discourses”, however, the actual form stabilizes as a “large” structure with a clear rhetorical algorithm: the biblical text as an index of the topic; a logical “approach”, which outlines the boundaries of consideration and addressability; exegetical analysis with patristic and intertextual parallels; doctrinal formulation; parenetic (moral-practical) conclusion. Three introductory conversations set the subject, ethical prerequisites of hearing (forgiveness, true fasting) and motivational imperative (“preach to all creation…”), included in a broad eschatological horizon. In the middle part of the cycle, a transition to ad hoc polemics with the “new Origenists” is recorded: the universalist hope for a “general restoration” is systematically refuted, a fundamental distinction is made between the “cessation of the effectiveness of evil” in the created order and the “cancellation of judgment”, the scope of the promises of Revelation is clarified. 2. Representative examples are conversations 109–110, where the author combines a subtle semantic correction of the arguments of his opponents (1 Cor. 15:24, 28; Rev. 21:4; Ex. 34:6–7) with pastoral moral teaching. Particular attention is paid to conversation 147, which testifies to the local addressee of the polemic (“close acquaintances”, “fellow citizens”) and demonstrates how logical analysis turns into a warning against the “sweet delusion” of impunity, which dulls the fear of God and demoralizes the will. The manuscript material allows us to record the consistent deepening of exegesis, the alignment of compositional periods, and the growth of patristic citation in the later editions (1821–1823), as well as the author’s editing practice, which transforms the cycle into a long-term pastoral and educational project. The novelty of the study lies in the reconstruction of a holistic theological and rhetorical model of a “decade-long sermon,” the clarification of the number and boundaries of the corpus (189 units with three introductions), the identification of stable methods of argumentation, and the delineation of its place in the history of Ukrainian Orthodox homiletics as a long-term “eschatological catechesis.” The practical significance lies in the fact that the reconstructed compositional discipline, the principle of working with “difficult passages” of Scripture, and the combination of dogmatic clarity with pastoral address can serve as a methodological model for modern preaching practice. The theoretical contribution lies in filling the source database, unifying the description of manuscripts, proposing parameters for a critical edition, and clarifying the confessional context of the polemics at the beginning of the 19th century.

Key words: Bishop Irinej (Falkovsky), St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, sermon, homiletics, rhetoric, exegesis, patristics, polemic.

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