THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF THE HUMAN BEING IN INNOKENTII HIZEL AND LAZAR BARANOVYCH: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

B a c k g r o u n d . The relevance of the research is determined by the need for a deeper understanding of Ukraine's historical-philosophical and theological heritage during the period of political and spiritual transformations, when the foundations of national identity were being shaped and the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was consolidating its role as an intellectual center. The author traces how, in the works of both thinkers, the traditions of Byzantine-Orthodox anthropology were combined with the influences of Western European scholasticism and Renaissance humanism, thereby forming a basis for the development of an original Ukrainian spiritual culture.

M e t h o d s . The methodological framework of the study includes doxographic analysis, historical-philosophical, hermeneutical, and ethical-anthropological approaches, which make it possible to reconstruct the thinkers' views on human nature and to determine their significance within the context of Baroque discourse. Special attention is given to fragments of Hizel's works (Synopsis, lecture courses) and to Baranovych's sermons, as well as to their correlation with the traditions of ancient philosophy and patristics.

R e s u l t s . The research demonstrates that Hizel conceived the human being as imago Dei and a microcosm, where the corporeal and the spiritual are united in harmony, whereas Baranovych emphasized the moral-ascetic dimension of existence and the continuous struggle of the soul against temptations. For both thinkers, the central theme is freedom and responsibility: Hizel underlined its ontological nature as a divine gift, while Baranovych accentuated the practice of repentance, prayer, and humility as the paths to realizing freedom.

C o n c l u s i o n s . The study confirms that the philosophical and theological conceptions of the human being in the works of Innokentii Hizel and Lazar Baranovych exerted a decisive influence on the formation of seventeenth-century Ukrainian humanistic thought. By integrating the Eastern Christian tradition with the ideas of Western European scholasticism and humanism, while preserving their own cultural identity, they laid the fundamental foundations of Ukrainian philosophical anthropology, highlighting human dignity, the indissoluble unity of the corporeal and the spiritual, free will, and moral responsibility as defining characteristics of the human person.