Influence of Paisiy Velychkovskiy and his followers on the development of ukrainian spiritual culture

Abstract

The purpose of the work. The article studies the effect of the activities of Paisiy Velichkovsky and his fol­lowers on the development of Ukrainian spiritual culture. Research methodology consists in the application of methods of analysis and synthesis and cultural-historical approach, which requires to consider all phenomena, events and facts of cultural process in the context of historical time and conditions (social, economic, political, moral-psychological and other), in which Paisiy Velichkovsky lived and worked. Scientific novelty. The author has found that Paisiy Velichkov- sky is a real renewer of the Ukrainian monastic life and the first Ukrainian monk mentor in ascetic reading. On Mount Athos elder (starets) Paisiy laid a foundation of the school of scribes and translators, which was fully formed at Nya- metsky monastery in Moldova. After his death his work was continued by numerous disciples and followers, a lot of whom were Ukrainians. Conclusions. Thanks to the hard work of the school of disciples of Saint Paisiy a significant amount of corrected translations of the books of the Church fathers and their copies appeared. Students-Ukrainians brought their own cultural characteristics into the life and work of Nyametsky and Sekulsky monasteries, dominating there until the mid-nineteenth century. They played a leading role in the preservation of the spiritual heritage of Paisiy Velichkovsky.