Text 3. Hryhoriy Skovoroda – a Ukrainian Confucius

By Serhiy KHARCHENKO

Hryhoriy Skovoroda (1722–1794) has justly been called the most educated, extraordinary and diversified personality in the Slavonic world of the 18th century. He had a perfect command of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages, cited the Bible, Aristotle, Plato, and Epicurus. Skovoroda was the last student of the Kyiv Academy who had a chance to polish up his knowledge by visiting European scientific centres. He was a philosopher, expert on the natural sciences, polyglot, poet, artist and musician.

Skovoroda could make a good career in any city of the empire. The mighty of this world were eager to employ him like a rich trophy. Skovoroda made two attempts to teach poet­ics and ethics in Ukrainian colleges. During his lectures he liked to repeat «Every man is what is in his heart». He wanted to foster good virtues in the hearts of his students. However, this point of view contradicted scholastic dogmas of the then official pedagogy and Skovoroda was dismissed.

The number of Skovoroda’s works is not adequate to his genius and intellectual potential. He is the author of 17 philosophic works written in the form of dialogues-hom­ilies traditional for that time. In his works Skovoroda researches the ancient world, tells about «true happiness» and creates Utopia – a «mountainous republic» where all people have equal rights. Skovoroda issued a collection of verses called «Garden of Divine Songs» devoted to relevant everyday topics.

«Kharkiv Fables» (named after Kharkiv, the city where Skovoroda often resided), like all fables since the time of Aesop criticise human faults. Soviet propa­ganda interpreted these fables only as «Skovoroda’s protest against the feudal regime and exploiters». That»s why Soviet leaders erected three monuments to Skovoroda, a rare honor for a Ukrainian.

This cheerful, active and witty person with a powerful voice (in his young years he sang in the Tsar’s Kapella) and encyclopaedic knowledge could become a good contribu­tion to any high saloon. Many rich country­men promised to provide «the Ukrainian Socrates» with good working conditions. Perhaps, they were right. Now it is difficult to determine how many works were not written by this «Enlightener of Ukrainian people» due to some circumstances that made him refuse all proposals. One can jokingly say that the writer refused a comfortable table and chose instead an extraordinary and less effective working place – a hollow in a huge tree. The fifty-year-old philosopher suddenly crossed out his past, put the Bible, manuscripts, pipe and violin into a bag and set off «to Ukraine». What were the reasons for such a cardinal decision?

Researchers and contemporaries suggested three versions of such withdrawal. Some of them explain Skovoroda’s «whim» by his desire to conceal his rebellious and heretical thoughts under the clothes of «an aged man». In the past, speeches and deeds of Russian vagrant and aged people were not taken into consideration or forgiven. Hryhory Skovoroda had a number of such «sins»: he called courtiers «crocodiles», «monkeys», «snakes» and did not agree with the idea that the world was created by God.

Other researchers suggest that Skovoroda followed the famous slogan of Socrates «cognise yourself». Skovoroda was one of a few followers of Jesus who adopted not only the power of his faith but also his life style. During the last 22 years of nomadic life, Skovoroda preached a lot of maxims. He alleged that people should view every day gifted by God as a holiday and to be satisfied with what they had. The philoso­pher did not summon people to follow his anti-social life. He used to say that one should foster spiritual values and consider the demands of one’s body as secondary after spiritual ones. His listeners were com­mon people and his working place was near the evening fire, a river passage or a crowded trade fair.

The 18^th century was rather tragic for Ukraine. Ukrainian peasants were enslaved, Zaporizhska Sich, a centuries-old and legendary castle of the Ukrainian Cossacks was destroyed, the nation turned into a mass of silent slaves. Hryhoriy Skovoroda became a spiritual «rebel of the nation». He reminded his humbled countrymen about the greatness of the Ukrainian nation canonising the main spiritual virtues of Ukrainians like love of freedom, power of the will, sincer­ity and desire to learn. This is the third reason for the philosopher’s withdrawal. Who knows? Maybe the philosopher took the true reasons for his withdrawal to his grave? «The world tried to catch me but failed». This epitaph is placed near his grave.

The moral and pedagogical principles of Hryhoriy Skovoroda are close to the teaching of the Chinese philosopher Confucius. Confucius lived 2500 years ago but he is esteemed and honoured in every Chinese family now. So far, Hryhoriy Skovoroda is not so popular with Ukrainians. The heritage of this philosopher is many-sided and relevant today. Hryhoriy Skovoroda struggles for his nation and its people up to this day.

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