Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2023-11-142

VB. – № 11, 2023. – P. 207-219

Summary

The article is devoted to the historical and theological reflection on certain parts of the “Chronicle of the Ancient Chroniclers” by the abbot of St Michael’s Monastery, Feodosiy Sofonovych, and the “Synopsis of Kyiv” by the abbot of the Holy Dormition Kyiv Cave Monastery, Innokentiy Gizel, in the context of the early history of the Golden-Domed Monastery of Kyiv. An attempt is made to comprehend the historical concept of the initial stage of the formation of St Michael’s Shrine by Mohyla’s pious ascetics, theologians, monks-intellectuals of the seventeenth century, who, being the associates of St Petro Mohyla, worked a lot in the educational and scientific sphere. Hegumen Feodosiy Sofonovych and Innokentiy Gizel are considered to be the most prominent representatives of the traditionalist wing of the Hesychasm movement, as well-known Ukrainian Christian thinkers of the late modern period, whose religious and theological views had a decisive influence on the formation of philosophical and intellectual thought in Ukraine in the Baroque period. The author outlines the socio-historical background and peculiarities of the worldview transformations that determined the dynamics, content, and core potential of the theological and church-historical thinking of Mohyla under the influence of the theorists and practitioners of Hesychasm in the ethnic territories of Ukraine at a time when the darkness of ignorance reigned in Muscovy. Focusing on the authors’ coverage of the initial history of the Golden-Domed Monastery, the article is focused on the ancient origins of Ukrainian or Rus’ Christianity, the foundation of Kyiv Metropolitanate, the spread of monastic life, etc. at a time when no one knew about Moscow for several hundred years. An attempt is made to generalise the main approaches of the following researchers to the interpretation of information about the initial history of the Golden-Domed Monastery presented by hegumen Feodosiy and archimandrite Innokentiy. The importance of the widest possible involvement of the theoretical and methodological resource and intellectual heritage of the theorists of the Ukrainian Hesychastic tradition in the modern theological and philosophical academic discourse is substantiated, since they have determined not only the course, but also the ideological and ethical orientation of the interpretation of key definitions of Christian religious and theological thought for centuries. The works “Chronicle of the Ancient Chroniclers” and “Synopsis of Kyiv” are, in our deep conviction, quite important, especially when it comes to the development of the spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people and the retention of its national and religious identity.

Key words: abbot, archimandrite, monastery, ascetic, axiology, theology, hesychasm, faith, morality, ethics, sin, Feodosiy Sofonovych, Innokentiy Gizel, St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery

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