Voitov B. Adoption of the Renaissance ideas in the religious and philosophical viewpoint of Kasiian Sakovych

The purpose of the study is to analyse the development of Renaissance ideas in Ukraine, the adoption and adaptation thereof by Ukrainian social activists. A plethora of aspects of Renaissance ideas in Kasiian Sakovych’s works are depicted within the thesis. It has been stated that the Renaissance played a crucial role in the development of religious and philosophical opinions of Ukrainian notionalists and the socio-cultural progress of Ukraine; in the works and thoughts of K. Sakovych as well. Although the impact of the Renaissance on the Sakovych’s creations and the depictions of thereof has not been investigated properly among scholars. The study of this issue brings about the comprehension of the influence of the Renaissance on the socio-cultural development of Ukraine. These attempts will give a possibility not solely to analyse the characteristic features of religious and philosophical vectors of thoughts in Ukraine, but to understand how much influence (both direct and indirect) did Renaissance have on the Ukrainian culture and mentality; on the K. Sakovych’s artistic creativity. The dissertation scrupulously examines Sakovych’s oeuvre in order to demonstrate how the Renaissance ideas were adopted in his religious and philosophical views; provides the evidence of Kasiian Sakovych’s positive attitude towards humanism and Renaissance ideas and his struggles to integrate Ukrainian and European culture and stimulate the progress of philosophy in Ukraine. Additionally, the factors that led to shaping the Sakovych’s mind in Renaissance context are shown in the paper; the depiction of Renaissance ideas in the “Poems for mourning funeral of the noble knight Petro Konashevych Sahaidachny” is analysed; a rethinking of the religious understanding of life and death in the spirit of Renaissance humanism in the poem is examined; features of philosophizing and interpretation of religious issues in the work «Aristotelian Problems ...» are covered; the specific interpretation of religious ideas in the «Treatise on the soul ...» is shown; the Renaissance ideas in K. Sakovich’s polemical works and their influence on Ukrainian culture are examined; the critique of religious conservatism in Sakovich’s polemical works is analyzed. Keywords: Classical philosophy, Renaissance, Uniate Church, orthodox conservatism, orthodox brotherhood movement, Aristotelianism, polemical literature.