Dmytro Tuptalo as an Outstanding Ukrainian Hagiographer, Church and Cultural Figure

This year it is the 370th anniversary of birthday of Danylo Savych Tuptalo – a prominent Ukrainian hagiographer, church and cultural figure. Future hierarch Dimitry was born on December 11, 1651, in the small town of Makariv, that is in the Kyiv region, in the pious family of the Cossack sotnyk Sava Hryhorovych and Mariya Mykhailivna. Historical and dogmatic-polemical works, texts of sermons, precepts have been and still remain important for us. They illustrate the world outlook, views, value system, high intellectual and moral level of Dimitri Tuptalo. However, his fundamental hagiographic encyclopaedia – Lives of Saints, known as Chetya-Mineya, is the most significant work of the Saint. This is a combined collection of the lives of saints by days and months of the year from September to August. Demetrius Tuptalo has started work in 1684, when he accepts the proposal of Pechersk Archimandrite Varlaam Yasynskyi and settles in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Work on Lives of Saints in 4 volumes has lasted for the whole 20 years (with intermissions). Each volume covers three months of the year. We are convinced that the contribution of Dimitri Tuptalo to the Ukrainian written culture in general and to the Ukrainian hagiography, in particular, is extremely significant. As the biographies of famous bishops, patriarchs, monks, and secular persons, canonized by the Orthodox Church, are undoubtedly important for our spiritual culture. Hagiographic literature has always enriched the believer, is a certain example of piety. These works open new meanings, nurture curious thought, give examples of the embodiment of the highest virtues in the lives of saints, incite to self-centration and self-completion.

Ukrainian Icons Theotokos Mother of Mercy (New Iconographic Interpretation of Traditional Plot)

Baroque trends, which have been extended in the Ukrainian religious art of the late 17th – early 18th centuries, contributed to the expansion of its thematic composition, stylistic changes and the emergence of new iconographic plots. The icons Theotokos Mother of Mercy, or the Cossack Intercession, as they are also called, are a clear example of the renewal of themes in Ukrainian religious art during the Baroque period. This iconographic version of the Intercession, apparently, is borrowed from Western European painting; it is correlated with the compositional type of the image of the Intercession of the Theotokos – Madonna della Misericordia – popular in Italian art. It is supposed, that the image of the Blessed Virgin, covering the parish with the mantle, has been inspired by the vision of the Cistercian monk, theologian and writer Caesar of Geisterbach, who describes it in his Dialogus Miraculorum (1221). Formation of the iconography Madonna della Misericordia in Western European art has started in the 13th century. The Virgin usually stands on the early images. The Christians staying under the protection of the Virgin Mary are depicted on their knees and in a much smaller scale. The icons Madonna della Misericordia have been often ordered by specific groups of believers, such as fraternities, professional guilds, monasteries and abbeys. The theme of the Intercession of Theotokos of the iconographic version Theotokos Mother of Mercy has taken a special place in the Ukrainian iconography of the Baroque period. The image of the Patroness, blessing and covering the faithful with her mantle, has attracted Ukrainian masters with the realism and majesty of the compositional plan. The popularity and rapid dissemination of this iconographic variety of the Intercession have been caused also by the fact that it presents individualized images of people from different layers of the that time society with special penetration. Contemplating the icons of the Intercession in the temples, the believers have seen obviously a powerful and merciful patroness in the image of the Mother of God. Ukrainian icons Theotokos Mother of Mercy of the 17th – early 18th centuries are filled with the search for a new artistic expressiveness, reveal the nature of the transition period and the peculiarities of the process of formation of a new stylistic system of sacred painting.

Cult of the Domestic Animals in the Green Week Rites of the Historical -Ethnographic Volhynia

The article deals with the cattle-breeding component of customs and rites of the Green Holidays cycle in historical and ethnographic Volhynia. The main cattle-breeding rituals fell on the Sunday of Pentecost (Orthodox Trinity). On the eve of Trinity Sunday, on Green Saturday, Volhynians decorated their homes with greenery and flowers. They sporadically adorned with twigs cattlesheds as well. In some areas, in order to protect livestock from witches and all sorts of evil spirits, these byres were decorated with aspen and other plants endowed with apotropaic properties. In the territory of Pulyn, Khoroshiv, and Cherniakhiv districts of Zhytomyr Region, there was a custom of stealing cows on Trinity Sunday. On Green Sunday night, shepherds stole cattle from their owners and grazed them in the field. After grazing, those thieves-cowherds put woven wreaths on the cows’ horns and returned them home well fed, with receiving a ransom from the cows’ owners. In the Volyn part of Rivne Region, on the day of the Green Holidays, cows were decorated with wreaths. For Western Volhynia (a northern strip of modern Lviv Region, namely Zolochiv, Busk, and Kamyanka-Buzka districts), cattle-breeding customs and rituals on the Trinity are almost uncharacteristic. Unlike other districts, here they are represented on the Catholic feast of the Holy Eucharist. It was on this day that local Volynians consecrated wreaths in churches, which were later used during cattle-breeding occasions. Sporadically, potions consecrated on the Trinity were also used for this purpose. Wreaths were thrown mostly into a cow’s slops after her calving. Despite the local spread of the custom of stealing cows, in historical and ethnographic Volhynia, the Green Holidays were not accompanied by cowherd entertainments, full of ritual actions, which was typical of the customs of other Ukrainian ethnic lands and other Slavonic ethnic groups. On this day, the local population was wary primarily of the harmful effects of witches. To protect cows from the evil influence of witches, Volhynian homemakers fumigated them with sacred potions. In general, in historical and ethnographic Volhynia, the Trinity Sunday-related cattle-breeding theme had a typical apotropaic nature.

Anthropology of the Ukrainian Cossacks’ Military Potential (XVIIth–XVIIIth Centuries)

The publication deals with the widespread use by the Russian Empire of the Ukrainian people’s armed forces in its wars of conquest after the 1654 Pereyaslav Council. In particular, given are the facts of the Ukrainian Cossacks’ decisive participation in the assaults of Azov in 1696 and Izmail in 1790. How individual regiments of Cossack troops were involved in this process is reported on the example of combat of each Cossack of the Chernihiv Regiment’s Sosnytsia Company.

Yakiv Holovatskyi’s Creative Contacts with Figures of Slavonic Countries in the Context of Intercultural Relations in the First Half of the XIXth Century

The article examines in detail the personal and creative contacts of Yakiv Holovatskyi with scholars and cultural-and-public figures of the West Slavonic and South Slavonic nations from the inception of the Ruthenian Triad circle in the 1830s to the early 1850s. The analysis of the problem’s historiography has shown that, despite the territorial fragmentation of Ukrainian lands (the increased control by the Austrian Empire and strict restrictions by the Russian Empire), the Ukrainians of the first half of the XIXth century managed to consolidate their forces and create strong interrelations for the implementation of common Slavonic ideas and the establishment of each nation as a separate independent state unit. The study focuses on the participation of Yakiv Holovatskyi in the socio-cultural processes of the first half of the XIXth century, which led to the development of Ukrainian society in Halychyna and its European integration. A particular attention is paid to aspects of scientific worldview formation of Yakiv Holovatskyi as a folklorist. There is also mentioned the influence of Polish field researchers and ethnographers on his interest in the folklore and ethnographic sphere, which became a priority part of all scientific activity of the Halychyna figure under study and marked the release of the four-volume edition Folk Songs of Halychyna Ruthenia and Hungarian Ruthenia. The article’s authoress reveals Yakiv Holovatskyi’s contacts with figures from the Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, and Slovenian countries. Thus, the results of Holovatskyi’s cooperation with the Slavonic world are presented and the importance of intercultural relations for the further scientific and artistic development of Ukraine as a nation is emphasized. On the basis of archival materials, the article supplements the list of works carried out by Yakiv Holovatskyi through collaboration with West Slavonic and South Slavonic nations, who treated the scholar as an equal and valued his knowledge in the field of Slavonic studies, history, ethnography, and folklore of the Ukrainian Ciscarpathians. It is proved that throughout his creative career, Yakiv Holovatskyi was a priority link in cultural and scientific relations among the Eastern, Southern and Western Slavs.

Regional Features of Planning and Decorative Housing Traditions of Slobozhanshchyna

Folk architecture is one of the markers of ethnic culture. Builders had to take into account the features of natural conditions, with using natural materials of their dwelling area. However, abode is still the embodiment of the ideal of beauty and comfort, so even while moving to another region, people tried to recreate the ideal under new conditions. Since the reputable researchers of Slobozhanshchyna Ukrainians’ ethno-culture Mykola Sumtsov, Stefan Taranushenko and others convincingly proved the Hutsuls’ participation in the settlement of Sloboda Ukraine in the XVIIth century, it seems interesting to conduct a comparative analysis of folk architecture of Slobozhanshchyna and Hutsulshchyna Ukrainians. Materials from expeditions to Slobozhanshchyna and the 2012 exploration journey to Hutsulshchyna became the ground for our studies. Comparison of planning and decoration solutions, as well as principles of housing of Ukrainians in different parts of Ukraine proves their all-Ukrainian character. Changes in housing construction and decoration materials are caused by socio-economic transformations. However, the significance of a House for Ukrainians remains unchanged.

Ukrainian School Christmas Drama of the XVIIth–XVIIIth Centuries and Puppet Nativity Play Theatre: Problem of Adaptation and Interpretation of a Musical Factor

The article states that the Ukrainian baroque art has become differentiated into the high, middle and lower stylistic levels. There were certain connections between them, and new art genres appeared on the verges of these levels. The problem of the connection between distinct stylistic levels of the Ukrainian musical baroque has not yet attracted the attention of researchers. The study examines the links between the Ukrainian school Christmas drama of the XVIIth– XVIIIth centuries and the puppet Nativity play theatre. It is noted that for the first time a comparison of these two kinds of theatrical art is drawn in terms of the use of a musical factor in them. It is established that the first act of the Nativity play drama is related to the high style of Ukrainian Christmas school drama. This is revealed on the basis of analysing the dramatic functions of a Choir in both school drama and Nativity play drama. A choir in these spectacles took an active part in revealing the Christmas story, playing the role of a character. What they had in common was the genre of spiritual chant with the syllabic versification. Despite its association with the high style of school drama, the Nativity play drama was a quite new theatrical genre that belongs to the middle stylistic level. Focusing on the folk environment, authors of the Nativity play drama intelligibly conveyed to a wide audience the sacred plot. It is noted that in the second act of the Nativity scene were adapted interludes of school dramas, which represented the lower stylistic level of the Baroque. In this act, a funny line came to the fore, and a musical component is marked by influences of the Ukrainian musical folklore with a predominance of its dancing variety. The interaction of folklore with the lower version of the Baroque had a great potential for the further development of the Ukrainian national theatre. Due to the fact that music was an integral part of the puppet Nativity play drama and played an important dramatic function, this theatrical spectacle, like some school dramas, had the features of the drama with music genre. Thus, school drama and Nativity play drama created the foundation, on which in the XIXth century, the Ukrainian dramaturgy emerged, with a significant role of the musical factor in it, which was essentially a drama with music.