UKRAINE AND THE EAST: CULTUROLOGICAL ASPECT

. Modern Oriental studies regard the East as the cradle of the world’s civilization, a web of unique cultural formations. Within the modern East–West paradigm, the research into the values of tradition should be underpinned by dominant axiological concepts in order to systematize contemporary ideas of the world, nature, the individual and mentality. In accordance with the central methodological principle of the research, archetypes are regarded as cultural universals. In the article, the typology of the cosmological and the spiritual elements (the Moon and the Word respectively) in the Oriental and Ukrainian traditions are highlighted, the emphasis being laid on the analysis of the semantic and thematic fields of the two archetypes.

The 'East-West' problem is too enormous and complicated to be discussed in general; it comprises economic, military, political, geographical, religious, metaphysical, cultural aspects. The latter, to a degree, is related to all the other parameters, so it will be the main focus of this paper.
A tentative comparison of the West and the East highlights a dichotomy which has become a somewhat simplified cultural stereotype: Eastern philosophy is axiological and opposed to Western, scientific one; western materialism and rationalism clash with eastern mysticism and spirituality (it is a popular view that all great religions originated in the East). The East is 'contemplative', while the West is 'active' and power hungry (in other words, 'the feminine soul' of the East is compared and contrasted with 'the masculine soul' of the West; though their 'synthesis' is inevitable). Here is another statement: the East is mainly interested in religion, art and philosophy; the West concentrates on the politics (the technical side of organization of society), industry (production and stock) and technology (dominance over nature). Thus 'the defining characteristics' of the West are craving power, the principle of formal right, activity, reasonableness, criticism, rationalism, individualism, the principle of division, mechanicism, etc. Briefly speaking, 'Death instinct' and therefore, 'the secret cult' of Thanatos.
The underlying principles of the East are believed to be selflessness, the idea of love, contemplation, sensitivity, intuition, integrity, authenticity, inspiration. In other words, here 'the cult of Eros' and Life is the dominant idea.
Though things which are easy to notice are typically superficial and simplified. According to V. M. Alekseyev, the Russian philologist and sinologist, 'Happy is the one who in their heart has a firm hold on two worlds!' *1, p. 43]. Still, who can boast of being 'happy'? For the same scholar also says, 'The fight between the East and the West goes on within every nation' *1, p. 57].
The East was always perceived by Europeans as attractive and strange; it was praised and disapproved of, presented as stable or ahistorical, genuinely spiritual, raising an individual above their empirical existence or, vice versa, backward and based on the concept of slavery. These and many other contradictory views are reflected in special historical theories of European philosophers: culturologists, political scientists, historians. This is how the currently used concepts of 'the East' and 'the West' have been framed. Now, we have to consider the content of these concepts. Let us turn to the 'Lectures on the Philosophy of History' by G. W. F. Hegel; this is the first time that above-mentioned formula gets its theoretical outline. For the German thinker 'the East' is an umbrella term for ancient civilizations of Asia and the northern African ethnic substrata which are related to it: China, India, Persia, the latter comprising Assyria, Babylon, Media, Iran, Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, and Egypt. Furthermore, speaking of the Christian epoch in the world history, he refers to the Islamic world as the East. Thus the East embraces the three historical and cultural worlds -those of China, India and the Middle East. From Western Asia (the Middle East) we get to Europe. In ancient times in its southern part, on the islands and peninsulas of the northern Mediterranean region, two civilizations (out of those known in Hegel's time) were created -Greek and Roman. Hegel refers to this ancient world as 'the West'. It should be mentioned that the German philosopher could not find a place for either Russia (at that time, Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire) or the contemporary American States in his philosophy of world history [5, p. 36-38].
The history of Ukraine, beginning from the Kyivan Rus time, clearly indicates that it belongs to Eurasian spiritual world. For instance, from culturological perspective, there is affinity between the European and Ukrainian baroque consciousness, the European and Ukrainian individualism, etc. The fact that in Ukrainian culture the past was idealized and romanticized, the sensual has preference over the rational is an argument in favour of this theory. Ukraine is geographically situated between the East and the West, between Europe and Asia; numerous ethnic communities came to stay on its territory; as a result, Ukrainians became 'the frontier people' with diverse ethnic orientations and stereotypes, and inclination towards conformity. The diversity of religious, legal, political and other aspects of life, the variety of customs and traditions added to the feeling of being unsettled and marginal.
The development of national mentality is a long and complex process. The ancient Slavic culture was the basis for the formation of Ukrainian mentality and the national character. Constant migration of numerous peoples resulted in an odd combination of tolerance and negative attitude to other ethnic groups, the feeling of enmity and suspicion towards foreigners in particular. Due to migration processes Ukrainians also developed passive acceptance of other peoples' values and the ability to use them in order to enhance their own achievements. Unceasing aggression on the part of different peoples (the Tatars, Poles, Turks and others) created the atmosphere of uncertainty; the feeling of selfexpression, a constituent feature of Ukrainian mentality and spiritual culture, was suppressed and finally lost.
In Europe, Oriental studies dates back to the ancient and medieval times. As a field of knowledge in its own right, it began to develop owing to the European expansion into the East; at first, Oriental studies were an applied science; later Oriental philology and country studies branched off from it. The history of Oriental studies is typically divided into three main periods. During the first one (the 17 th century to the mid-18 th century), the theoretical premises of the scientific research were developed: there increased the number of the Eastern languages studied by Europeans (including Persian, Turkish and Chinese), dictionaries were compiled and the scientific libraries were systematized. During the second period (the second half of the 18 th century to the mid-19 th century), the scientific foundations for Oriental studies were laid. Considerable achievements of Eastern philosophy stimulated the development of comparative linguistics; various Eastern societies were formed. The third period (the second half of the 19 th century to the early 20 th century) is marked by the expansion of the object of research: dictionaries of the Eastern languages and some authentic texts were published. Since 1873, they started holding International congresses of Orientalists; empirical data were systematized. In Orientalists regarded the East as the cradle of the world civilization, 'a deposit' of unique cultures; the 'East-West' paradigm was reconsidered: basic axiological principles behind the study of traditions imposed some order on modernistic ideas of the individual and the world. From this perspective, one of the most promising fields of research within the humanities today is cultural universals -archetypes.
Ancient sophists Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, the exegetes of Alexandria researched into the problem of archetypes as universal cultural phenomena from philosophical, historical, psychological, culturological imperatives perspective; throughout the millennia, the tendency persisted and accommodated to new situations. Nowadays, the research on archetypes as universal cultural categories goes beyond the boundaries of phenomenological, existential, hermeneutic approaches; attempts are made at establishing certain metaphysical and metacultural invariants of the picture of the world, since, according to E. Коret, 'metaphysics deals with all existing phenomena -the sensual and the extrasensual, empirical evidence and theoretical underpinning, therefore, the first and the highest divine existence as well' *9, p. 13].
The analysis of cultural archetypes requires research into archaic cultural layers and archetype genesis. The ancient archetypes of thought are basic elements of culture traced in art as the most expressive imagery and ideas, and in philosophy as meanings that frame concepts. Archetypes in art are elements of spiritual gene pool; they enable us to analyze deep emotional level of human consciousness and enhance the efficiency of analysis of new intuitive mental meanings, which emerge due to powerful oriental inspirations and are capable of regeneration.
Ukrainian culture has a long history, its development being influenced by a number of factors, including geography and natural environment, migration processes, elements of other cultures. Throughout centuries tribes and ethnic groups replaced one another: the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Huns, Trypillians, Slavs, Cumans, Pechenegs, Tatars contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Ukrainians. The authentic local population absorbed all the influences and used them as building material for their culture. Geographically, Ukraine is situated at the crossroads to Central, Western, Northern Europe, the Middle East and the Caucasus; this factor predetermines certain differences in the national characters of Eastern and Western Ukrainians, the former being more sensitive, the later, more careful.
S Dialogical texts about the creation of the world, the main cosmic elements, spiritual basics are part of common Indo-European (ancient Indian, ancient Scandinavian, ancient Iranian, ancient Slavic) heritage. The archetypes of the Moon, the Sun and stars occupy an essential role in cosmogonic myths; the archetype of the word is a universal phenomenon and can be found in many national mythologems. In this paper, the semantic and imagery fields of two archetypes -cosmological (the Moon) and spiritual (the Word) -in Oriental and Ukrainian traditions will be discussed.

THE ARCHETYPE OF THE MOON
In Indian mythology, Soma, or Chandra is the god of the Moon; he is considered to be the master of time and the universe. He is first mentioned in the Rigveda; in the Vedic Pantheon of the Brahman Period, he is the god of the Moon (Soma is the Sanskrit name for the Moon). He is also the god of planets and stars, priests, plants, animals and pious vows. In the epic mythology (Mahabharata), he becomes the lord and protector of the Northeast. Most often, he is referred to as the son of Atri; sometimes, the son of Dharma; according to some legends, the father of Budha and the husband of the 27 daughters of Daksha who turned into constellations; the fairest of them being Rohini. Soma prefers her to the rest of his wives, whom he ignores. His wives complain to their father, 'Father, make him bestow his love on each one of us'. Daksha sends for Soma and starts telling him off. Soma promises to change his attitude to his wives but he goes back on his word. Daksha grows very angry and curses him with illness.
So Soma grows progressively weaker and thinner, the moon light grows paler, and nights become darker. The grasses on the earth grow dry and many animals grow thinner with every passing day. The weaker Soma becomes, the more exhausted the living beings are. The gods get worried and beg Daksha, 'Have mercy on Soma, the Lord of the creation! Lift your curse! He has got so thin, nothing to look at. The animals and plants are loosing their strength, and so are we! What will happen to the world if we, gods, wither away?' Daksha listens to the gods and says, 'Let him go and wash away his sin in the waters of the sacred Sarasvati river, in the place where it flows into the ocean. I will forgive him but from now on he will be growing thinner during one half of each month and fatter during the other.' Soma goes to the shore of the Western ocean, to the place appointed by Daksha on the day of the new moon; he washes himself in the sacred waters of the Sarasvati and gets cleared of his sin. The cold rays come back to him, and the universe is bathed in his light again. The gods, people, animals and plants rejoice. Daksha is pleased with Soma's obedience and tells him, 'Offend your wives no more! Obey my will!' And he dismisses Soma. Since that time, the moon grows thinner during the dark half of each month and fuller during the light one [12, p. 112-114].
In Chinese culture, the interrelated mythological narratives are built around the concepts of yin and yang, the sources of the two types of energy. The Moon is associated with yin and is believed to be a life-protecting element. This belief is reflected in the Daoist myths about the Moon Hare (Yu Tu, the Moon Rabbit, or the Jade Rabbit of the Moon) who pounds the elixir of immortality, the archetype which allows of more than one interpretation.
Firstly, it's a commonly shared dream of immortality. The Moon Hare as a product of human consciousness emerged long before the idea about the immortality of the soul, at the time when people dreamed only of physical immortality.
Secondly, the myth clearly shows the illusiveness of such a dream. It's not for nothing that the ancient Moon Hare dwells on the Moon. Unlike all sorts of islands and mountains of immortality described in different legends, the Moon Hare is an unattainable dream. He cannot be enslaved, bribed or deceived. The Moon Hare and his elixit of immortality is people's dream and hope; it presupposes devoted service to gods and makes all people equal before the will of Heaven.
Thirdly, the process of making the potion of immortality, which is so exactly described in legends and tales, is regarded as a creative art, it is the Dao of the creator. It is from this story that alchemy and later chemistry got the idea of using agate mortar and other tools and devices; the ingredients of the potion are tree bark, cinnamon leaves, the flowers of osmanthus, bay-leaves, nefrit, morning dew and other kinds of heading stuff, which bring longevity and build endurance. In a sense, Chinese medicine started from the Moon Hare.
Fourthly, the Moon and the Sun are personified as female and male deities. The goddess has the Moon Hare image on her headpiece; the bird on her husband's headpiece is the symbol of the sun.
Fifthly, the Moon Hare, long before the stories about Jesus Christ, sacrificed his life for people; he cast itself into the fire, hence another association -with Prometheus, a hero in ancient Greek mythology. The Chinese Moon Hare is destined for eternal creation and salvation of people and all the living beings. In Chinese culture, the Moon is one of the most mysterious symbols.
In Ukrainian mythology, this celestial body is an important factor in the life of nature and in agriculture, as well as in the life of people. The Moon is associated with womanhood, secret knowledge, with plants growing during the night. It is also the symbol of a promised husband, a secret lover of the star.
In a Christmas carol, the Moon is the master, the Sun and stars are its heavenly family. The master is the first ancestor worshiped in many ancient religions; his kinsfolk are the oldest, ideal family. Worshiping the Moon as the ancestor is best presented in the celebration of Christmas. The ancient cult of the Moon is reflected in ritual actions: garlic is placed along the edges of the table, nine dishes are served, a stone is put under the table on Christmas Eve, varenyky (curd dumplings) and stuffed cabbage rolls are cooked to fête the Moon. The number of nine refers to the ancient calendar system under which the month has three weeks, each week having nine days, hence the number of dishes served on Christmas Eve and the number of logs for the fire on which the hostess cooks Christmas meal [7 , p. 99-103].
In the Carpathians, people used to believe that witches ate into the Moon leaving only blood from which it was reborn. The story about chasing the Moon, devouring it and tearing it apart is rather popular. In Siberian and Caucasian (Abkhazian) mythology the Moon, the husband of the Sun, is either chased by an evil female being, who belongs to the other, lower world, or by its own sister, a witch obsessed by destruction. The Sun tries to save her husband. In a fight, the Moon gets torn in two.
Interestingly enough, the stains on the Moon are mentioned in the legends of many people. The Nenets believed them to be 'the Moon Man', the Nivkhs and Tatars, a woman whom the gods sent to the Moon for her indecency. The Polish people, Russians, Germans, Englishmen, Frenchmen had the legends of ‚the Moon Man‛, so scientists assume that it was a common Aryan myth. Sometimes, it is suggested that unlike the Sun, which was created by God, the Moon is the doing of the evil one ('the devil also wanted to make a sun but he could not; so he stole a piece of the sun and out of it he made the moon'). The Hutsuls used to believe that when sinners died, the stars went out; it is of their light that the Moon was made.

THE ARCHETYPE OF THE WORD
The word is the formula which contains all the elements of culture in their condensed form; it is the principle of spiritual identity of the individual; the word as the text or the sign model of the world is world view in its broadest meaning. Hermeneutics, exegetics, linguistic philosophy, grammatology, poetology offer evidence that in the history of culture the word (Logos in Europe, Brahman in India, Wénzì in China, Kalima in the Arabic world) was perceived as a phenomenon related to the sacred aspects of the spirit. The presence of the word on all levels of human spiritual life allows of its interpretation as an archetype of culture, as element intrinsic to all stages of cultural development and all national representations; the latter argument may serve as a proof of the archetypal status of the world.
In the Rigveda, a sacred Indo-Aryan collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, the hymn to cognition (X, 71) is of a distinct philological nature: the prayer to Brihaspati is actually gratitude for the creation of the sacred language. The ancient Rishi poets, the adepts of Brihaspati, give names to things, the feeling of love ringing in each their word; thus through their verse, the mysterious is revealed. In the Indian Canon, giving a name is more than a mere act of nomination; it is regarded as a creative act, since whatever is created is meaningless unless it has a name. The act of purification performed through the offering of the Word is a kind of filter for the language to crystallize.
The text of the hymn explicates the Rishi frame, his rank in the Aryan community in particular: the Rishis are the bearers of immanent wisdom revealed by gods to some chosen individuals. In his prayer, the poet asks the gods for the moments of enlightenment so that he can learn the high Truth hidden from ordinary people. This is evidence of the logical and philosophical episteme: wisdom is the ability of mind to see the meaning in the flash of the innermost and to verbally express it; hence the visionary and prophetic mission of the Rishis.
The next verse is of a special interest because here we see probably the oldest 'corporation of poets' called 'the community'. During their oral poetic contests, the members of this association, through their poetic skills are different, demonstrate similar aspirations and convictions, 'paradigmatic' solidarity; the success of one is the success of everyone.
Intensive poetic activity results in the creation the invariants of mental structures which fit into the 'tradition-innovation' dichotomy, the dialectal coexistence of the old and new songs. Aesthetic expertise of the Vedic authors is underpinned by their deep knowledge and skillful use of the achievements of their great predecessors, those of heavenly, half-earthly and earthly origin. Researching into the sources of poetic dialogue between an individual and the world, V. V. Bibikhin suggests a valid interpretation of the ancestor cult created by the authors of the Rigveda. In his work 'Грамматика поэзии' ('The Grammar of Poetry'), he describes the Indo-Aryan world view, 'The deeper, the older, the more distant the source is, the louder is glorification' *2, p. 51].
Truly, an elderly artist does not cherish an ambition to develop new themes, motifs, plots; his aim is to make old, time-tested stories sound bright and new in order to attract attention of a deity who one time was kind to the poet's predecessor. The process of creation of the Rigveda is strictly governed by the Canon, its spiritual center being Agni, Indra and Soma. In the Rigveda these deities are often named the kavi; the title makes it sound as if they are closer to the poets of the earth in their common offering of the Word. According to P.A. Grintser, 'the kavi of the Rigveda is both a poet and an inspired prophet who has esoteric wisdom; he is the keeper of the world order, his tools being the offering and hymn. The ritual and the word are interrelated; universal laws need the word, they are set through the word' [6, p. 65]. Thus the Rishis, even though they alter or make additions to the already existing texts, know that they maintain the tradition established by their legendary predecessors. It is their mission to keep the tradition alive because the truth has already been revealed; it is important to preserve it and to find a logically verified method of axiologization of the Canon.
The poet does not perceive the world in its material and physical representations, for him the world is a boundless receptacle for protophenomena created by God's will, which take the form of myths, legends and secret revelations. He has to present not a set of speculative ideas, but living and lifegiving impulses of these ideas, their subtle nuances. Then, the familiar phenomena of his own life and the life of his community, the world of nature and the cosmic world reach their culmination in the light of covert meaning. It seems the Rishi thins down the canonical, unlocks his powerful creative potential and intuitive enlightenment; he easily enters the world of phantasmagoria and mystery, he goes beyond the boundaries of the artistic image and uses hints and half-hints to mark the details of the story. That is why even some metaphors in the text of the Rigveda go beyond the pure literary canons because for the Rishi things and phenomena of the material and spiritual worlds are metaphors. Thus the methodological intention of the Vedic poet is searching for the divine truth not in the cosmic continuum, but in the souls of common people whose spiritual life is built around worshiping fire and the forces of nature, and around offerings to gods as an information link between the world of gods and the world of people. The details of the earthly life and rituals turn into symbolic signs; poetry, (non)metaphorical in its essence, is fully comprehensible to a reader or listener. Evidently, this is the artistic method of the Rigveda authors enhanced explications explications concerning the spiritual and psychological attribute of true poetry -inspiration (pratibha).

*
The old man is hid In the steppe, on a gravemound, so no one may see him, So the wind through the field bring the message it bids, So folk should not hear, for divine words it carries, And the heart then can freely converse with the Lord, And the heart then can sing, like a bird, of God's glory, And thought in the clouds to the world's end will soar. [15] The author depicts a Ukrainian kobzar at a moment of the greatest inspiration, at the peak of his intellectual and spiritual effort. There is a strong correlation between the themes of thought and heart in Shevchenko's famous poem 'Думи мої, думи мої…' ('My Thoughts, My Thoughts<'), Нехай думка, як той ворон, Літає та кряче, А серденько соловейком Щебече та плаче… * Then let thought, like a crow, Fly and caw indeed, But the heart, like a nightingale, Warbles sweet songs and weeps … A Vedic motif in Shevchenko's interpretation takes on a new, clearly national meaning. The poetic imagery of 'heart' has a distinct verbal aura of sincere and loving tenderness, openness, trust; that of 'thought' is associated with inspiration, space, unrestrained impulse of the poet's soul. These are twin concepts, their separation is unthinkable.
The connotative matrix of Shevchenko's poetic imagery reflects a specific dialectic unity of emotional and intellectual flashes as important points of reference within the domain of his poetic thinking. This artistic principle is declared in his early poems 'My Thoughts, My Thoughts<' and 'Perebendia'; in other works the combination of the two types of imagery enables the author of 'Kobzar' to reveal the psychology and inner impulses of the characters; additionally, the imagery helps to organize expressive and iconic planes of lyrical revelations. Psychological precision and artistic perfection impress a reader of the confession monologue 'Such is her destiny... Oh my dear God' in 'Причинна' ('Prychynna', Taras Shevchenko's romantic ballad about a girl waiting for her beloved one to come back from war; to lessen her sufferings, a fortune teller turns her into 'prychynna', a sleepwalker), The 'thought' and 'heart' imagery has priority emotional charge; they are the cognitive core of metaphorical tropes; 'серце любить' ('the heart loves') sounds expressive and intimate; 'каже думка' ('says the thought'), practical and prosaic. A skillful choice of sound instrumentarium -assonance (accented /o/ in the second line) and alliteration of the dominant phonemes /ж/, /х/, /ч/ -adds to the phonetic aspect and the mood of the poem, and facilitates the development of the lyrical theme. As we know, assonance and alliteration are the key principles of the Vedic and Sanskrit poetry.
In the Rigveda there are numerous references to the dualism of mind and heart; they are the source of inspiration for the Rishis, whose 'inner sight' let them perceive the truth and comprehend what seems incomprehensible -transcendental content and elusive connection between the phenomena of the empirical world. Creation of hymns is akin to the practices of the priest -the poet tries to please gods with the Word, the priest, with offerings. In ancient Indian philosophy, inspirattion is not an abstract concept; it is regarded as a powerful stimulus for stirring the inner sight energy, a necessary condition for creating a prayer hymn. In 'Становление литературной теории в Древней Греции и Индии' ('The Development of Literary Theory in Ancient Greece and India'), a modern research on Sanskrit, it is stated that, 'Inspiring a poet, gods communicate the hymn, ‚put it into his head‛' [6, p. 27].
In the mind and heart of an inspired poet, the hymn takes a clear form of sacred speech, an effective means of communication with gods.
Inspiration enables the Rishis to master the secrets of the Sacred language personified in the Rigveda as goddess Vach, a majestic character to whom one of the hymns of Маndala X is dedicated. The hymn is the glorification of the Language of Gods, which fills the space between Heaven and Earth; it is presented as cosmogonic basis, it guarantees balance and harmony in the Univense.
The archetypal axiology of the Word was one of the central concepts in the writing tradition of Ukraine-Rus and the Slavic world as a whole. Interestingly, the first Slavic luminary, the creator of Slavic alphabet Saint Cyril the Philosopher in his 'Proglas' (the Foreword to the Gospels, 863-867 A.D.) described the Word as medicine for the wounded soul, the source of knowledge and the truth, The stylistic device of anaphora 'почуйте' ('hear') and 'Слово' ( 'the Word') used twice in D. Pavlychko's poetic interpretation of the famous medieval text highlights dominant ideological, aesthetic and spiritual basics of Slavic consciousness. V. I. Kononenko believes that, 'the inspired hymn to the World was evidence of the great enlightenment process taking place in the Slavic world as a whole and in the contemporary Ukraine-Rus in particular, for illiterate nations are as good as naked ' [8, p. 4]. Naturally enough, Ivan Franko, who researched into different aspect of ancient Ukrainian writings, got interested in the ideas of Saint Cyril the Philosopher [13, p. 565-590]. Later, the love for the book as a spiritual and intellectual product developed into the paradigm of 'love of the wisdom of books'.
The literary and aesthetic views of the ancient Eastern Slavs were considerably influenced by the Slavic translations of the works by the Holy Fathers -John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Theodore the Studite, Saint John of Damascus, Ephrem the Syrian, especially by 'Shestodnev' by Joan Exarch Bulgarian, a compilation of the author's and other writers' texts. According to V. V. Bychkov, 'His ‚Shestodnev‛ is an early medieval encyclopedia of knowledge acquired by the Ancient World and processed by Christianity. Joan was the first to make a grandiose and successful attempt to present in the Slavic language the Christian world-view system as a unity of ontological, gnoseological, anthropological, natural, ethical and aesthetic knowledge based on the achievements of ancient and Byzantine science. Joan's treatise was very popular in Rus and other Slavic countries; it is a wonderful, representative example of how the Slavs treated ancient and Byzantine heritage; for them, it was building material for their own culture; metaphorically speaking, they used bricks and building blocks of old huts to put up a new building' [3, p. 14]. Furthermore, in this text an attempt is made to work out the philosophical and aesthetic framework of categories and concepts for the Slavic language; it grew popular with the writers and philosophers of the 10 th -12 th century Kyiv school of writing.
The literary and aesthetic legacy of Byzantine thinkers, who highlighted the importance of both sacred and secular literature, was an important source of knowledge and the methodological basis for ancient Kyivan scholars. For instance, Basil the Great states that, 'there are certain affinity and connection between secular and spiritual literature, so we will benefit by reading it; if not, we will compare them and see the difference, which will be very useful too because then we will value the one that is better.
So to what can the two sciences be compared, what metaphor can best reveal their nature? Let me compare them to a fruit tree -though its primary function is to yield abundant crop, still luxuriant foliage fluttering on its branches adds to its charm' *4, p. 258]. Using poetic imagery to present didactic content, our ancestors followed both the advice of the Byzantine teacher and his style of writing.
In the Christian epoch, the Word in Ukrainian culture was put to a new purpose -that of apostolic mission. S. B. Krymskyi suggests that, 'from the perspective of Christian philosophy, Theophany is not the case of reincarnation, a basic concept of Indian philosophy; neither it is God taking on human form; it is the process that involves the Word, the Word which became flesh and made his dwelling among us [10, p. 313]. In the 17 th century, the Word became 'the sword of spirit', 'the poetic garden'; these remained its main semantic hypostasis in the 19 th -20 th century Ukrainian literature; it was enriched with related and distantly related archetypes of world culture, which is a way of turning sporadic national phenomena into permanent and universal ones.