The thesis presents a study of literary heritage, specifically, a poem entitled Virgin Mary Composed for the Holy Trinity (1707) by John Maksymovych, a baroque writer, preacher and educational figure of the end of the 17th century – beginning of the 18th century. For ages, artistic value and genuineness of the poem has been questioned. History of Ukrainian literature formed a certain canon approaching Hail Mary poem as an insignificant work, appeal to Mother of God in verse borrowed by the author from the predecessors. The poem analysis in the thesis is aimed at rebutting negative assessment of the predecessors, unbiased investigation of the work and returning it the role in Ukrainian literature held by merit.
The work also analyzes literary peculiarities of author prayer, its classification, characteristics, use traditions and functions in baroque poetry. The richness of prayer by St. John Maksymovych is demonstrated in the abundance of art devices which not only draw the reader's attention to general Christian dogmas and values but also allow the author to share the peculiarities of praying in everyday life. For St. John Maksymovych, poetic work was a special form of spiritual rebirth where author prayer was the only true essence of human life, understanding the God's Truth and a chance for penance and salvation.
Combining the best examples of Eastern and Western praying, St. John Maksymovych managed to create one of the best author prayer works in the history of Ukrainian literature in general and the Baroque epoch in particular.
Structurally, the poem is comprised of nine chapters of canonical prayer divided into word segments and phrase segments, which was not invented by the author. The work is a certain way amplifies the canonical text with skillfully added figures of style and tropes. Hence, the author does not strive for innovative content but becomes an unsurpassed master of plot structure. For St. John, each element of a prayer is a separate prayer, a short glorification praising Holy Mary as Mother of God, Her virginity, purity, humility, and a great calling for saving the humanity. By building-up the author makes the prayer deeper, which turns the poem emotional, brighter and fully compliant to the style and tastes of the Baroque epoch.
In the study, I paid a lot of attention to the system of images and symbolism of Hail Mary and found it complex and deeply rooted into the Christian tradition. The work is full of Evangelic symbolical signs, prototypes and codes depicting Mother of God as lively heaven, bright moon, a light cloud, a fertile tree, Aaron's rod, Daniel's ditch, a fragrant lily, a washed fleece, Noah's arch, stairs, a new book, etc. With a contrast and reversed letter order, the author opposes two female images – those of foremother Eve and Virgin Mary representing Old Testament sin and New Testament hope for salvation. The work also explains the main features of a motive of wonder, its aesthetic and artistic modeling means shown through allegorical and symbolical images and impacting the general poetic content of the verse. Stories of wonder are analyzed by their symbolism, metaphorism and allegorism. In the poem by St. John Maksymovych, signs of wonder are usually used for warning, transformation, renewal, spiritual and physical rebirth, representing Lord's love and mercy. Thus, Hail Mary is an exemplary baroque text, a pearl of ecclesiastical literature, an important part of Ukrainian literature of the end of the 17th century – beginning of the 18th century, aimed at enriching the cultural and literary heritage of Ukrainian writing.
Literary heritage of St. John Maksymovych fully complies with the requirements of the baroque period of Ukrainian literature of the end of the 17th century – beginning of the 18th century and shows his undeniable talent as a writer and his diligence in literature, reveals the moral and aesthetic values of the author reflecting a complex process of searching for an outlook ideal, challenges and tasks of literary work as a whole. St. John Maksymovych managed to expand the genre canon of a cult prayer to Holy Mary. The author was the pioneer of a literary prayer genre which became popular in the 19th and 20th century.
