Book Culture and Baroque Sermons: Formation of the Intellectual Field of the Ukrainian Cossacks

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine the role of book culture and Baroque sermons in the formation of the intellectual field of the Ukrainian Cossacks in the 17th–18th centuries, as well as to analyse the mechanisms through which books and religious texts influenced the worldview, educational level, and spiritual values of the Cossack community. The methodological framework is based on a comprehensive historical, cultural, source-based, and literary analysis. Comparative and systemic approaches were applied to study book sources, printing houses, educational centres, and sermonic texts. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive analysis of the interaction between book culture and Baroque preaching within the Cossack environment as a unified system of cultural and educational communication. For the first time, sermons are considered not only as religious works but also as sources of documentary heritage that record sociocultural processes, the formation of historical memory, and the moral and national-cultural orientations of the Cossacks. Conclusions. In the 17th–18th centuries, book and preaching traditions closely interacted, creating an integrated system for transmitting knowledge, moral guidelines, and cultural values within the Cossack community. Books served as the intellectual foundation, providing texts for education, moral instruction, and spiritual guidance, while Baroque preaching acted as an interpreter of this knowledge, adapting it to the needs of specific audiences, including less-educated members of the Cossack society. Through citations of biblical and theological works, hagiographic narratives, and moral-instructional texts, values such as religious identity, patriotism, social discipline, and communal responsibility were disseminated. This interaction contributed to the formation of the Cossacks’ historical memory, reinforced traditions, moral orientations, and perceptions of the past, and fostered the development of national consciousness and cultural identity. Thus, book culture and Baroque preaching together formed a holistic intellectual field within Cossack society, uniting religious, educational, and political practices into a coherent system of knowledge and values.