The Typology of Sanctity: the Kiev-Pechary Patericon and the Kobzar of Taras Shevchenko
The Typology of Sanctity: the Kiev-Pechary Patericon and the Kobzar of Taras Shevchenko

Summary/Abstract: This article is a part of the thesis Ambivalency of the Byzantism in Taras Shevchenko’s Works. The aim of the article is to present the reception of one of the most important records of Orthodox-Christian literature – the Kiev-Pechery Patericon (The Patericon of the Kiev Caves Monastery (Lavra) reflected in the works of Taras Shevchenko. The cultural, historical and comparative analysis will describe the usage of the typology of the image of the sacred place in the Kiev- Pechery Patericon and the Kobzar of the Ukrainian poet. The examination of Shevchenko’s work in the context of the Byzantine spiritual tradition reveals the common and distinctive features (i.e. similarities and differences) in the reception of the concept of “sanctity”. First of all, the image of the sacred place or the shrine is particularly important in this context, as it corresponds to the Christian tradition and displays a number of important characteristics such as, for example, a personal intrusion of God, associated with a miracle, the connection of the place with other sacred centers, a special, beneficial influence of the sacred place on the people living in the vicinity, the ecclesiastical deeds of its inhabitants etc. It is noticeable that all the enumerated features are characteristic of the description of the cloisters in Shevchenko’s works. In addition of the conception “Kiev – Jerusalem”, the poet develops the idea “Kiev-Pechery Lavra – Athos”, which must have been borrowed from the hagiographies of the Kiev-Pechery Patericon. Moreover, the image of the Church is distinguished by its ambivalence. The results of the research can be used for courses in the History of Ukrainian Literature and in Literary Theory, in textbooks and training aids, in further comparative studies of Shevchenko’s works. The results are addressed to philologists and researchers of Ukrainian literature. The academic novelty of this article consists in presenting the typology of the image of the sacred place in the Kiev-Pechery Patericon and the Kobzar of Taras Shevchenko. For the first time it has become the object of individual research, in the course of which theoretical aspects and comparative levels of this problem have been delineated.

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