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Hryhorii Skovoroda, also Gregory Skovoroda or Grigory Skovoroda (; , ; , ; 3 December 1722 – 9 November 1794), was a philosopher of
Ukrainian Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Russ ...
origin who lived and worked in the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. He was a poet, a teacher and a composer of liturgical music. His significant influence on his contemporaries and succeeding generations and his way of life were universally regarded as Socratic, and he was often called a "Socrates". Skovoroda, whose native tongue was
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
Ukrainian, wrote his texts in a mixture of three languages:
Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
, Ukrainian, and Russian, with some elements from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
and
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and a large number of Western-Europeanisms. Different views exist about how to characterize the base language upon which he developed his highly individual idiom. One scholar has identified this base language as the variety of Russian spoken by the upper classes in
Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
and the surrounding
Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...
region; this version of Russian contained many Ukrainianisms. According to another view, he wrote some of his works in the Ukrainian variety of
Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
and others in the old Ukrainian literary language. The majority of his surviving letters are written in Latin and Greek. He received his education at the Academia Mohileana in
Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...
(now Kyiv, Ukraine). He led the life of an itinerant thinker-beggar. In his tracts and dialogs, biblical problems overlap with those examined earlier by
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
and the
Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...
. Skovoroda's first book was issued after his death in 1798 in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. Skovoroda's complete works were published for the first time in Saint Petersburg in 1861. Many of his works existed only in manuscript form before this edition.


Life

Skovoroda was born into a small-holder Ukrainian Registered
Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...
family in the village of
Chornukhy Chornukhy (; ) is a rural settlement in Lubny Raion, Poltava Oblast, central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Chornukhy settlement hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Chornukhy is known as the birthplace of philosopher Hryhorii Skov ...
in
Lubny Regiment The Lubny Regiment () was one of ten territorial-administrative subdivisions of the Cossack Hetmanate. The regiment's capital was the city of Lubny, now in Poltava Oblast of central Ukraine. Other major cities of the regiment were Pyriatyn, Hlynsk ...
,
Cossack Hetmante The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...
(In 1708 the territory of
Cossack Hetmanate The Cossack Hetmanate (; Cossack Hetmanate#Name, see other names), officially the Zaporozhian Host (; ), was a Ukrainian Cossacks, Cossack state. Its territory was located mostly in central Ukraine, as well as in parts of Belarus and southwest ...
was incorporated into the
Kiev Governorate Kiev Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–18; 1918–1921), Ukrainian State (1918), and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–19 ...
, though the Cossack Hetmanate was not liquidated),
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
(modern-day
Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast (), also referred to as Poltavshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Poltava. Most of its territory was par ...
, Ukraine), in 1722. His mother, Pelageya Stepanovna Shang-Giray, was directly related to
Şahin Giray Şahin Giray Crimean Tatar, Ottoman Turkish and (1745–1787) was the last khan of Crimea on two occasions (1777–1782, 1782–1783). Life He was born in 1745 in Edirne. He was the son of Ahmed Giray. He had a brother named Katti Giray. ...
and was of partial Crimean Tatar ancestry. He was a student at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (1734–1741, 1744–1745, 1751–1753) but did not graduate. In 1741, at the age of 19, due to his uncle Ignatiy Poltavtsev he was taken from Kiev to sing in the imperial choir in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, returning to Kiev in 1744. He spent the period from 1745 to 1750 in the kingdom of Hungary and is thought to have traveled elsewhere in Europe during this period as well. In 1750 he returned to Kiev. From 1750 to 1751, he taught poetics in
Pereiaslav Pereiaslav is a historical town in Boryspil Raion, Kyiv Oblast, central Ukraine. It is located near the confluence of the Alta and Trubizh rivers some southeast of the capital Kyiv. It was one of the key regional centers of power during the ...
. For most of the period from 1753 to 1759, Skovoroda was a tutor in the family of a landowner in Kovrai. From 1759 to 1769, with interruptions, he taught such subjects as poetry,
syntax In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituenc ...
,
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, and
ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
at the Kharkоv Collegium (also called Kharkiv Collegium). After an attack on his course on ethics in 1769 he decided to abandon teaching. Skovoroda was also known as a composer of
liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong, ...
, as well as a number of songs to his own texts. Of the latter, several have passed into the realm of
Ukrainian folk music Ukrainian may refer or relate to: * Ukraine, a country in Eastern Europe * Ukrainians, an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine * Demographics of Ukraine * Ukrainian culture, composed of the material and spiritual values of the Ukrainian peopl ...
. Many of his philosophical songs known as ''Skovorodskie psalmy'' (Skovorodian psalms) were often encountered in the repertoire of blind traveling folk musicians known as
kobzar A ''kobzar'' ( ; ) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment, played on a multistringed kobza or bandura. Tradition The professional kobzar tradition was established during the Hetmanate Era around the sixteenth cen ...
s. He was described as a proficient player on the
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
torban The torban (, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute known as the theo ...
and
kobza The kobza (), also called bandura () is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family (Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobza'' however, has also been applied to ...
. In the final quarter of his life he traveled by foot through
Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...
staying with various friends, both rich and poor, preferring not to remain in one place for too long. During this time, he dedicated himself to individual hermit-like monastic life and study. This last period was the time of his great philosophical works. In this period as well, he continued to write in the area of his greatest earlier achievement: poetry and letters in
Church Slavonic language Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
, Greek and
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. He also translated a number of works from Latin into Russian. Three days before he died, he went to the house of one of his closest friends and told him he had come to stay permanently. Every day he left the house with a shovel, and it turned out that he spent three days digging his own grave. On the third day, he ate dinner, stood up and said, "my time has come." He went into the next room, lay down, and died. He requested the following epitaph to be placed on his tombstone: He died on 9 November 1794 in the village called Pan-Ivanovka (today known as Skovorodinovka,
Bohodukhiv Raion Bohodukhiv Raion () is a raion (district) in Kharkiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is the town of Bohodukhiv. Population: On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast was ...
,
Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...
).


Language

Different views exist about the nature of the language in which Skovoroda wrote his works. He spoke his native vernacular Ukrainian in his everyday life; his student and biographer Mikhail Kovalensky writes that Skovoroda "loved his native language and rarely compelled himself to speak in a foreign one." However, except for his works in Latin and Greek, Skovoroda wrote in a mixture of Church Slavonic, Russian, and Ukrainian. He also integrated some elements from Latin, Greek, and other languages, including a significant amount of Western-Europeanisms. Slavic linguist
George Shevelov George Shevelov (born ''Yuri Schneider'', 17 December 1908 – 12 April 2002) was a Ukrainian professor, linguist, philologist, essayist, literary historian, and literary critic. A longtime professor of Slavic philology at Columbia University, he ...
characterizes his language (not counting quotations from the Bible and numerous poetic experimentations) as "R ssianas it was then used in Xarkiv and ''Slobožаnščyna'' [
Sloboda Ukraine Sloboda Ukraine, also known locally as ''Slobozhanshchyna'' or ''Slobozhanshchina'', is a historical region in northeastern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. It developed from Belgorod Razriad and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the ...
] by educated landowners and the upper class in general," a form of Russian which "grew up on the Ukrainian substratum," contained many Ukrainianisms, and differed from the Russian of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Upon this linguistic core, writes Shevelov, Skovoroda developed a very individual idiom not equivalent to its base colloquial language. In his study of Skovoroda's language published in 1923, linguist Petro Buzuk describes the philosopher's idiom as mainly based on the written Russian of the 18th century, albeit with forms from Ukrainian, Polish and Old Church Slavonic. Literary scholar Leonid Ushkalov states that Skovoroda's language is a "''lingua mixta'' ixed language which differs greatly from the Russian of 18th-century Ukrainian authors from Kharkiv. He writes that Skovoroda "had reasons to consider his 'language of writing' to be Ukrainian." (On a few occasions, Skovoroda referred to the language of his works as the "common ialect" the "local dialect 'zdeshneie narechiie''" or "
Little Russian Little Russia, also known as Lesser Russia, Malorussia, or Little Rus', is a geographical and historical term used to describe Ukraine. At the beginning of the 14th century, the patriarch of Constantinople accepted the distinction between what ...
'malorossiiskii''; the term ''Little Russia'' then referred to most of the territory of Ukraine.) It contains parallel Ukrainian and Russian words and mixed Russian-Ukrainian word forms. According to Vitaly Peredriyenko, 84% of the word forms in Skovoroda's poetry collection ''Sad bozhestvennykh pesnei'' (''The Garden of Divine Songs'') corresponds to the new Ukrainian literary language in terms of vocabulary and word formation; his philosophical dialogues were found to contain a somewhat lower percentage (for example, 73.6% in his ''Narkiss''). According to philologist Lidiia Hnatiuk, while some modern Ukrainian readers perceive Skovoroda's language as Russian, the overwhelming majority of Skovoroda's philosophical works are written in the Ukrainian variety of Church Slavonic, whereas his poems and fables are in the old Ukrainian literary language; she states, however, that the boundary between these two varieties is "very conditional." Skovoroda appears to have been aware of the uniqueness of his language and defended it from criticisms. A number of later authors criticized Skovoroda's language. His unusual language was attributed to the influence of his education or the conditions of the time; alternatively, he was accused of "backwardness" and failing to grasp contemporary problems. The Ukrainian writer
Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky Ivan Semenovych Nechuy-Levytsky (born Levytsky; – 2 April 1918) was a well-known Ukrainian writer. Biography Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky was born on to the family of a peasant priest in Stebliv (Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine). In 1847 he en ...
called Skovoroda's mixed language "strange, variegated, ndgenerally dark." Ukrainian poet
Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...
wrote that Skovoroda "would also have been poet for the peoplewere it not that Latin and later the Russian language diverted him." In 1901, the Russian novelist
Grigory Danilevsky Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky (; – ) was a Russian historical novelist, and Privy Councillor of Russia. Danilevsky is well known as the author of the novel ''Beglye v Novorossii'' (''Fugitives in New Russia'', 1862). Life Born into the fam ...
wrote that Skovoroda wrote in "a heavy, obscure and strange language... worthy of a seminarian, clumsy and often unclear." In the 1830s, when a group of Romantic authors in Kharkiv was preparing the publication of Skovoroda's works, they considered "translating" his writings into Russian so as not to "frighten away" readers. According to Shevelov, Skovoroda's stylistic choices were deliberate and not the result of a poor education; the " High Baroque" style that he represented did not attempt to replicate the spoken language in literature. His language seemed "dead" to later readers, writes Shevelov, since the Russian of the upper classes in the Sloboda Ukraine region had by then become almost identical to standard Russian and had become more secular. Skovoroda was fluent in Latin, which was the language of instruction at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy during his matriculation there. He wrote a number of short poems in Latin, including fables. Per Shevelov, these Latin poems were mainly written "as experiments and/or with a pedagogical purpose." The majority of his surviving letters are written in Latin and Greek. Individual words, phrases, and quotations in Latin, Greek, and sometimes Hebrew or other languages also appear in his Slavic writings. He had a very good knowledge of German and apparently also knew some French.


Works

Skovoroda's works were not printed during his lifetime, due to censorship by church officials. Hryhorii Skovoroda was highly educated in multiple languages, in particular Latin, Greek, German. He could read religious literature in German and was influenced by German
pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life. Although the movement is ali ...
. Brought up in a spirit of philosophical and religious studies, he became an opponent of church
scholasticism Scholasticism was a medieval European philosophical movement or methodology that was the predominant education in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It is known for employing logically precise analyses and reconciling classical philosophy and Ca ...
and the spiritual dominance of the
Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church, the second-largest Christian church in the world * Oriental Orthodox Churches, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a confessional Presbyterian denomination loc ...
. "Our kingdom is within us" he wrote "and to know God, you must know yourself...People should know God, like themselves, enough to see Him in the world...Belief in God does not mean belief in His existence and therefore to submit to Him and live according to His law... Sanctity of life lies in doing good to people." Skovoroda taught that "all work is blessed by God", but
distribution of wealth The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or heterogeneity in economics, economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the i ...
outside the circle of God called unforgivable sin. Skovoroda taught that the only task of philosophy was to seek the truth and to pursue it. But in terms of human life, this goal is unattainable, and human happiness lies in the fact that everything has to find the truth. This goal can go in different directions, and intolerance of those who think differently, has no justification. Similarly, religious intolerance does not find justification for eternal truth revealed to the world in different forms. In relation to himself he was entirely uncompromising and as a result he achieved complete harmony between his teaching and his life. He was very gentle and observant in relation to others. It was only in 1798 that his "Narcissis or Know thyself" was published in the Russian Empire, but without the inclusion of his name. In 1806 the magazine "Zion Vyestnyk" under the editorship of Alexander Labzin printed some more of his works. Then in Moscow in 1837–1839 a few of his works were published under his name, and only in 1861 the first almost complete collection of his works was published. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the philosopher's death, in
Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.
(Kharkov), the publication of the famous seventh volume of the ''Transactions of the
Kharkov Historico-Philological Society The Kharkiv Linguistic School (Kharkiv School) is a group of academics, mainly philologists, linguists and literary scientists, led by Alexander Potebnja. The term "Kharkiv Linguistic School" incorporates several academic traditions such as the Kh ...
'' (1894), edited by Dmitriy Bagaley (after 1918 also known as Dmytro Bahalii), contained the bulk of Skovoroda's oeuvre. Here 16 of his works were published, nine of which appeared for the first time. Also published here was his biography and some of his poems. A full academic collection of all known works by Skovoroda was published in 2011 by Leonid Ushkalov.


List of works

* Skovoroda, Hryhorii S. ''Fables and Aphorisms''. Translation, biography, and analysis by Dan B. Chopyk (New York: Peter Lang, 1990) Review: Wolodymyr T. Zyla, ''Ukrainian Quarterly'', 50 (1994): 303–304. * Skovoroda, Hryhorii (Gregory), ''Piznay v sobi ludynu''. Translated by M. Kashuba with an introduction by Vasyl' Voitovych (L'viv: S$vit, 1995) Selected works (original: Ukrainian language). * Skovoroda, Hryhorii (Gregory), ''Tvory: V dvokh tomakh'', foreword by O. Myshanych, chief editor Omelian Pritsak (Kiev: Oberehy, 1994) (original: Ukrainian language, translated from other languages). * Skovoroda, Hryhorii (Gregory)
"A Conversation Among Five Travelers Concerning Life's True Happiness"
(Translated into English by George L. Kline). * Skovoroda, Hryhorii (Gregory), "Conversation about the ancient world". * Skovoroda, Hryhorii (Gregory), Ed. by Leonid Ushkalov. "Григорій Сковорода: повна академічна збірка творів" ("Grigory Skovoroda: a full academic collections of works"), (2011).


Teaching

One of Skovoroda's missions was teaching. Formally he taught poetics in the Pereyaslav Collegium (during 1750–1751) and poetics, syntax, Greek and catechism at Kharkov Collegium (also called Kharkiv Collegium and in Latin: ''Collegium Charkoviensis'' or ''Zacharpolis Collegium'') (during 1759–1760, 1761–1764, 1768–1769).Skovoroda, Gregory S. Fables and Aphorisms. Translation, biography, and analysis by Dan B. Chopyk, New York: Peter Lang, 1990 In 1751 he had a dispute with the presiding bishop of the Pereyaslav Collegium, who considered Skovoroda's new ways of teaching as strange and incompatible with the former traditional course of poetics. Young Skovoroda, confident in his mastery of the subject matter and in the precision, clarity and comprehensiveness of his rules of prosody, refused to comply with the bishop's order, asking for arbitration and pointing out to him that "alia res sceptrum, alia plectrum" he pastor's scepter is one thing, but the flute is another The bishop considered Skovoroda's stance as arrogant and consequently he was dismissed.Григорій Сковорода, Повне зібрання творів, (М. Ковалинський, 'Жизнь Григория Сковородьі'), т. 2 В-во Наукова Думка, Київ 1973 The first year of teaching at the Kharkov Collegium passed brilliantly for Skovoroda. He not only excited his students with his lectures but his creative pedagogical approach also attracted the attention of his colleagues and even his superiors. Skovoroda was also a private tutor for Vasily Tomara (1740—1813) (during 1753–1754, 1755–1758) and a mentor as well as a lifelong friend of Michael Kovalinsky (or Kovalensky, 1745–1807) (during 1761–1769), his biographer. Probably he was also a private tutor for Gabriel Vishnevsky (1716—1752) (during 1745–1749), son of Fyodor Vishnevsky (1682—1749). Due to Fyodor Vishnevsky, Skovoroda has visited Central Europe, especially Hungary and Austria. In his teaching Skovoroda aimed at discovering the student's inclinations and abilities and devised talks and readings which would develop them to the fullest.Skovoroda, Gregory S. Fables and Aphorisms. Translation, biography, and analysis by Dan B. Chopyk, New York: Peter Lang, 1990, pg 42. This approach has been described by Skovoroda's biographer Kovalinsky: "Skovoroda began eaching youngVasily Tomara by working more on the heart of his young disciple and, watching for his natural inclinations, he tried to help only the nature itself in developing him by engaging, light, and tender direction which the boy could not even notice, for Skovoroda paid particular attention not to overtax the young mind with eavylearning. In this way the boy became attached to Skovoroda with love nd trust forhim." His teaching was not limited to academia nor to private friends and during his later years as a "wanderer" he taught publicly the many who were drawn to him. Archimandrite Gavriil (Vasily Voskresensky, 1795–1868), the first known historian of Russian philosophy, brilliantly described Skovoroda's Socratic qualities in teaching: "Both Socrates and Skovoroda felt from above the calling to be tutors of the people, and, accepting the calling, they became public teachers in the personal and elevated meaning of that word. … Skovoroda, also like Socrates, not being limited by time or place, taught on the crossroads, at markets, by a cemetery, under church porticoes, during holidays, when his sharp word would articulate an intoxicated will - and in the hard days of the harvest, when a rainless sweat poured upon the earth." Skovoroda taught that one finds his true calling by self-examination. "Know yourself," advises Skovoroda using the well known maxim of the Greek philosopher Socrates. He introduced a well founded idea that a person engaged in an in-born, natural work is provided with a truly satisfying and happy life. The education of young people occupied the attention of Skovoroda until his old age. In 1787, seven years before his death, Skovoroda wrote two essays, ''The Noble Stork'' (in Original: ''Благодарный Еродій'', ''Blagorodnyj Erodiy'') and ''The Poor Lark'' (in Original: ''Убогій Жаворонокъ'', ''Ubogiy Zhavoronok''), devoted to the theme of education where he expounded his ideas. Skovoroda's broad influence is reflected by the famous writers that appreciated his teachings: Vladimir Solovyov,
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
,
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
,
Andrei Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...
,
Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...
and
Ivan Franko Ivan Yakovych Franko (, ; 27 August 1856 – 28 May 1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer, and the author of the first d ...
.


Tributes

On 15 September 2006, Skovoroda's portrait was placed on the second largest banknote in circulation in Ukraine, the ₴500 note. The Hryhoriy Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, founded in 1946, operates under the auspicies of the
National Academy of Science of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of science and technology by coordinating a system of research institutes i ...
(until 1991 Academy of Sciences of the UkrSSR). In the village of Skovorodynivka in
Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, the
Hryhorii Skovoroda Literary Memorial Museum The Hryhorii Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum () is a museum in Skovorodynivka, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine dedicated to the life and work of Hryhorii Skovoroda, and a memorial complex of monuments from the 18th century. It was established ...
was located. The museum was operating in a building dated back to the 18th century, on an estate where Skovoroda was buried. On the night of 6–7 May 2022 the building was destroyed with a direct Russian missile strike due to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. The shell flew under the roof of the building, and a fire broke out. The fire engulfed the entire museum premises. As a result Skovoroda National Museum was destroyed together with the historical building. The museum collection was not damaged since it was moved as a precaution in case of a Russian attack. Interestingly the statue of Skovoroda in the building remained standing surrounded by debris of the destroyed building. Museum of Hryhoriy Skovoroda after Russian shelling on 6 May 2022 (01).jpg Museum of Hryhoriy Skovoroda after Russian shelling (2022-05-07) 02.jpg Museum of Hryhoriy Skovoroda after Russian shelling (2022-05-07) 04.jpg Museum of Hryhoriy Skovoroda after Russian shelling (2022-05-07) 05.jpg On 2 December 2022, on the 300th anniversary of Skovoroda's birth, a monument to him was installed in Washington, D.C., near the Ukraine House. It was created in 1992 by American sculptor Mark Rhodes who was inspired by Skovoroda's ideas.


In popular culture

The following pop songs were written on Skovoroda's poems: * ''"Ptashko"'' by Sonyachna Mashyna (2019) * ''"Kurs Valüt"'' by Kurs Valüt (2020) On 26 January 2024 the
Kharkiv City Council Kharkiv City Council () is the city council for the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and is elected every five years to run the city's local government. History Until 1870, members of the city council were elected according to the estate order, and ...
renamed Kharkiv's Pushkinska street to Hryhorii Skovoroda street. This was done in response to a 23 January 2024 Russian bombing of Kharkiv that cased 9 victims, including a 4-year-old child. In the evening in particular, the central Pushkinska Street had been hit.


See also

*
List of Ukrainian literature translated into English This is a list of notable works of Ukrainian literature that have been translated into English. ''This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliab ...


References


Sources

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Сковорода Григорий Саввич
// Энциклопедия Кругосвет}

Сковорода Григорий Саввич
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Further reading

* * * * * * * * Naydan, Michael M., ed. (1997). ''Journal of Ukrainian Studies''. 22 (1–2). Special issue on Hryhorii Skovoroda. * * * * * * Biography with some original translations of Skovoroda's philosophical compositions.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skovoroda, Hryhori 1722 births 1794 deaths People from Poltava Oblast People from Kiev Governorate (1708–1764) People from the Cossack Hetmanate Eastern Orthodox mystics Enlightenment philosophers Ukrainian composers Ukrainian philosophers Russian male composers Russian philosophers Eastern Orthodox philosophers Ukrainian male writers Russian male writers 18th-century composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century Christian mystics Ukrainian people of Crimean Tatar descent Ukrainian classical composers 18th-century philosophers from the Russian Empire