Abstract

The development of oral preaching and the genre of sermon in seventeenth-century Russia was primarily brought about by Ruthenian authors influenced by the Latin tradition, e.g., Ioannikiy Galyatovsky, Lazar Baranovych and Simeon Polotsky. These authors incorporated their general knowledge of cosmology, astronomy and astrology into their homilies, which present a valuable insight into the intellectual background of the period through the prism of cosmological elements used mostly as parts of rhetoric constructions. While the functions of the particular elements of natural philosophy varied in different authors, they shared certain concepts common to both scholastic thought and Baroque aesthetics. Despite being considerably distant from seventeenth-century science, the homilies also served educational purposes and may be perceived as a step towards the Westernisation and secularisation of Russian culture.

Highlights

  • The development of natural philosophy and science in medieval Russia differed significantly from European thought

  • The development of oral preaching and the genre of sermon in seventeenth-century Russia was primarily brought about by Ruthenian authors influenced by the Latin tradition, e.g., Ioannikiy Galyatovsky, Lazar Baranovych and Simeon Polotsky

  • These authors incorporated their general knowledge of cosmology, astronomy and astrology into their homilies, which present a valuable insight into the intellectual background of the period through the prism of cosmological elements used mostly as parts of rhetoric constructions

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Summary

Introduction

The development of natural philosophy and science in medieval Russia differed significantly from European thought. Cosmological, Astronomical and Astrological Elements included growth in book-printing, the foundation of the Ostroh Academy and the Lvov Brotherhood School, the opening of the Kiev-Mohyla College (Kievan-Mohylan Collegium), which based their curricula on European (predominantly Jesuit) models.7 Compared with their Russian counterparts, Ruthenian intellectuals were familiar with traditional European concepts of cosmological, astronomical and astrological thought, which were manifested in their writings and translations produced in both Ukraine and Muscovy.. Simeon Polotsky was familiar with the Russian audience, and his texts seemed to lack the tangible reader, he apparently had two potential audiences, i.e., the tsar and the court, and students of rhetoric.20 These differences in authors and audiences affected the way the preachers treated the issue of the universe and the choice of particular symbolism, motifs and allegories. 23 Klyuch razumenia contains 538 folios in 1665 edition, Mech dukhovnyi contains 481 folios, Truby sloves propovednykh contains 417 folios, and Obed Dushevnyi and Vecherya Dushevnaya contain 771 and 716 folios, respectively

The World as a System
Astronomical Symbolism
Astrological and Zodiacal Symbolism in Sermons
The Four Elements as a Basis of the Sublunary Realm
Conclusion

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