Autobiographical and Biographical Information in Stefan Yavorskyi’s Sermons of the 1690s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2025.01.028%20Keywords:
Kyiv clergy, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Stefan Yavorskyi, Ukrainian preaching, early modern time, Kyiv Metropolitanate, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, HetmanshchynaAbstract
The purpose is to analyze biographical data of the high clergy of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, which is contained in more than forty unpublished sermons by Stefan Yavorskyi written during his stay in Kyiv in the 1690s. These autographs are an important source of biographistical studies, which have been lowly analyzed by researchers so far. This paper is grounded on the methodological approaches of biographistical studies as well as on the historical-critical method and partly on historical hermeneutics. Scholars usually pay attention to the literary, genre, and dogmatic features of early modern Ukrainian preaching. Based on direct (specific facts) or indirect (hints, al-lusions, rhetoric) information from the sermons, it was possible to supplement biographies, provide additional arguments in scholarly discussions about the lives of Lazar Baranovych, Varlaam Yasynskyi, Meletii Vuiakhevych, Serapion Polkhovskyi, Yoasaph Krokovskyi, Inokentii Popovskyi. Stefan Yavorskyi’s sermons also contain important autobiographical information.
Conclusion. In particular, the date of the author’s tonsure and his idea of the monastic vocation; the secular name, places of study, and time of Popovskyi’s tonsure; information about Krokovskyi’s promotion to bishop of Pereiaslav and about the teachers and accomplishments of Vuiakhevych and Yasynskyi; the circumstances of Polkhovskyi’s bishop ordination and the attitude towards Baranovych as someone who claims to be a saint were clarified. Yavorskyi’s sermons once again make it clear that Kyivan intellectuals were closely connected by horizontal and vertical ties, in which the understanding of common patrons, education (in particular, professor-student relations), and related activities (teaching or administrative duties) were important. The mentioned circle of people does not exhaust the information potential of the texts of the Kyivan monk. In the future, Yavorskyi’s sermons should also be analyzed as a source not only of biographical history but also of church and religious practices, everyday life, etc.
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