Мир надлунный в барочной гомилетике (на материале проповедей Иоанникия Галятовского, Лазаря Барановича и Симеона Полоцкого)
The Superlunary World in Baroque Homiletics (in the Sermons of Ioanikii Galiatovsky, Lazar Baranovich and Symeon Polotsky)

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the description of the universe and its elements in the superlunary realms in the books of sermons of three Ruthenian authors, i.e. Ioanikii Galiatovsky, Lazar Baranovich and Symeon Polotsky. The original intentions and the potential target audience differed in the three discussed cases, since Galiatovsky’s collection of sermons was intended for a large readership in the Orthodox Ruthenia, while both Baranovich and Polotsky wrote their collections for the Muscovites, with the tzar or the royal family being the first target reader. Of all three authors, Polotsky was the one who knew the specificity of the Muscovite readership from the inside. All the authors included certain elements of natural philosophy in their sermons in order to make them more captivating for the readers. Neither of them presented a detailed description of the universe or dedicated a significant part of the sermon to explaining the celestial phenomena, however, they shared the perception of the world as a well-designed structure. All the authors expressed a belief in the geocentric Aristotelian-Ptolemaic universe and used certain elements of the cosmological imagery as a frame or means of textual organization. The most synthetic constructions which include the natural philosophy, ancient mythology and Christian interpretations are presented in Galiatovsky’s sermons. Lazar Baranovich used the zodiacal imagery as a framework for his second collection of sermons, while Symeon Polotsky put emphasis on the solar symbolism. All three authors most frequently used cosmological, celestial, astronomical metaphors and symbolism in connection with Virgin Mary, following the Catholic tradition. The sermons of Galiatovsky, Baranovich and Polotsky serve as a source for understanding the worldview of the authors, as well as the target audience.

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