BIBLICAL EXEGESIS IN OLD UKRAINIAN LITERATURE OF THE 11TH AND 12TH CENTURIES

Abstract

The research deals with biblical hermeneutics in the works of Old Ukrainian literature of the Kyivan period, namely the chronicles and hagiography by Nestor Pecherskyi and the sermons by Kyrylo (Cyril) Turivskyi. Despite the fact that some areas of Old Ukrainian literature have been studied from the point of view of biblical hermeneutics, e.g., in the works of O. Aleksandrov, P. Bilous, and V. Sulyma, thorough research into this field is still necessary. Particular attention must be given to the original and translated literature of the Kyivan period that has not mostly been the object of academic research from this perspective. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe the place and role of biblical hermeneutics in the poetics of Old Ukrainian literary texts of the 11th and 12th centuries. The subject of the research is the before-methodological process of the formation and development of biblical hermeneutics as the dominant element which has structured the poetics of literary works of different genres during the Kyivan period. In order to achieve the goal within the framework of the hermeneutic approach, we followed the principles of polysemy, parallelism, paraphrase, two-tier completeness of meanings within the spiritual and corporeal parable, four-sense (literal, allegorical, moral and anagogical) interpretation of the Scriptures and extrapolation of the New Testament from the Old Testament; contextual, symbolic, Christological, typological, metatextual and intertextual principles of biblical interpretation. The research shows that the use of various ways of interpreting biblical texts, plots and images has been not for Nestor, like for any other the Old Kyivan author, only a neutral literary