Panel: DOES KYIV HAVE A THEOLOGICAL TRADITION?



51.1 - "TO HEAVEN…OR TO HELL…": ENEIDA, NEW UKRAINIAN LITERATURE, AND THE OLD KYIVAN THEOLOGICAL TRADITION IN THE IMPERIAL PERIOD

AUTHORS:
Potapenko S. (M. S. Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and Source Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine / Goethe University Frankfurt am Main ~ Frankfurt on Main/Kyiv ~ Ukraine)
Text:
The idea of my paper is to (re)read some classical texts, created during the long 19th century and representing modern Ukrainian literature, in order to scrutinize the plots and features characteristic of the Kyivan theological thought which developed in the earlier periods—especially, in Mohyla's epoch—and the entire complex of peculiarities which can be defined as "Kyivan Christianity", according to the renowned conception recently elaborated by Ihor Skochylias. I hypothesize that the Russian imperial synodal reforms introduced in the Kyivan Orthodox metropolitanate during the 18th century were not effective enough, and therefore certain interpretations inherent to the Kyivan theological tradition, as well as typical practices of local religious life, continued to exist further on the territory of the former Hetmanate, albeit in a hidden/not easily detectable way. Ivan Kotliarevsky's Eneida occupies a prominent place among such texts since it is commonly considered to symbolize the beginning of modern Ukrainian nation-building. Written in a "simple" language and first published in 1798, it bridges the "old" (early modern) and "new" (modern) phases of Ukrainian literary history and contains such seemingly unexpected plots as a description of Purgatory. What other passages might be relevant in the light of the Kyivan ecclesiastical tradition? I plan to examine the novels of Ivan Nechui-Levytsky and the works of other Ukrainian authors.