‘Religion and Nation: The Idea of the „Chosen People“ in Writings of the Kievan...

ReLIgION aND NaTION: The IDea OF The „ChOseN PeOPLe“

IN wRITINgs OF The KIeVaN CyRILL-aND- MeThOD sOCIeTy

IN TheIR eUROPeaN hIsTORICaL CONTexT

“Religion and nation” is a main theme in almost all of the writings ofprotagonists of the early ukrainian national movement. Most importantamong them were the members of the famous Kievan st. Cyrill andMethod Brotherhood, founded by the end of 1845 and dissolved, due tothe denunciation of one of its members, in March 1847, when all werearrested by the tsarist police.

Much has been written already on the early, romantic phase ofukrainian literature, and also much about the early period of an ukrainiannational movement. fewer studies, however, exist about a religiouselement in this movement, and about its romantic implications. thisarticle wants to explore this religious element, and is focused mainly ontwo of the outstanding writings with historiographical character amongthem : on Mykola Kostomarov´s The Book of the Creation of theUkrainian people (Knyha butia ukraiins´koho narodu – the originalversion is said to have been called initially Zakon bozhyi – “the law ofgod”, in old slavonic also simply the term for “religion”)1, and secondlyPanteleimon Kulish´s Tale about the Ukrainian People (Povest´ obukrainskom narode)2. Both have, as it seems, much in common : Besidesthe time of their publication (1845 in case of Kulish, not later than 1846in case of Kostomarov), they both tell the story of the ukrainian people

the published version used here is : Mykola KostoMaRoV, Knyhy bytiia ukrai-1

ins´koho narodu, augsburg (ukrajins´kyi muzei-arkhiv pri ukraiins´kii vil´nii akademiinauk, seriia : Pam´iatky i Materialy, č. i) 1947. on the previous fate of Kostomarov´smanuscripts and earlier publications see ibid., pp. 41-60. an english translation of thedocument is in the appendix 3 of g.s.n. luCKyJ, Young Ukraine. The Brotherhood ofSaints Cyril and Methodius in Kiev, 1845-1847, ottawa (university of ottawa Press)1991, pp. 88-99.

Panteleimon Kulish, Povist´ pro ukraiins´kii narod, l´viv (litopys) 2006.2

BRM_2_confessiones_dmitriev_MB_base_155x235 20.01.14 12:10 Page239

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in the way of mythical tales or legends rather than in the way of a sober,level-headed historical survey. Paramount patterns of european roman-ticism have left their traces in these works. this makes both texts beingoutstanding sources for the early, romantic phase of the ukrainiannational movement. Moreover, they may be seen as key texts for onecrucial element in this early phase, namely the link between religion andnation, or religious belief and national feelings – a pattern, which,despite its often admitted significance, has not really been exploredthoroughly so far.

the kind of religiously motivated patriotism which is of importancehere has to be inscribed in a general framework. at the beginning of anydiscussion is a paradox. Patriots who want to ground their enthusiasm fortheir own people on religious convictions have to face a principal theo-retical problem, if they are Christians. Christendom’s pretension foruniversality is a commonplace, a characteristic which distinguishes thisreligion e.g. from Judaism. there is no special mission ascribed to anyparticular nation, people, tribe etc. for orthodox believers, as were all themembers of the st. Cyrill and Method Brotherhood (as the very name ofthe group already indicates), the main sources of faith, namely the Bibleand the Church fathers, hardly contain any base for national exclusivity– right the opposite. Various passages of the gospel, with st. Paul´sepistles in particular, pave the ground for a universal understanding ofChristianity. this idea was being further developed in the works of theChurch fathers, as. e.g. tertullian, whose well known phrase : “animanaturaliter сhristiana” had to be read actually in the sense, that the soulof man is Christian in the first place, while being Roman, greek, german,scythian or whatever else is of less significance compared with that3.

thus, whoever among early Modern or Modern patriots wants to seehis own people under a specific vocation had to come to terms with thispreliminary universalism. a possible solution of this dilemma lies in themotive of the „people chosen by god“, which latter is sometimes, addi-tionally, believed to be inhabiting the „promised land“, where a betterfuture for all mankind is about to come. this is still a biblical motive, butit means a shift of accents, with reference to elder canons, namely the oldtestament and the stories about god´s covenants with the israelites. this

Cf. e.g. st. Paul´s epistle to the Colossians 3, 11 ; as an example for the Church3

father´s writings n. BRox, «“non ulla gens non Christiana» (zu tertullian, ad nat. 1, 8,9f.)”, in : Vigiliae Christianae, Vol. 27, n°. 1 (March 1973), pp. 46-49 (in german).

240 Religion anD nation : the iDea of the „Chosen PeoPle“




path, as we shall see, has – to some extend – also been taken by the mainfigures of the early national movement of the ukrainians and themembers of the st. Cyrill and Methodius Brotherhood in particular4.

they moved on paths long established in the history of ideas. themotive of the “chosen people” is known from various narratives of earlyModern times in Western europe, as england, the netherlands, andgermany. often, but not always it had – initially, at least – a confessionalProtestant and thus anti-Roman connotation, whereas later attempts weredirected to overcome older confessional ruptures and mobilize an inte-grative potential beyond these breaklines, in order to define a “Christiannation” bound to common values5. Both aspects of the “chosen people”motive – separation along confessional borderlines, and integration ofconfessionally separated parts – are of interest for the ukrainian case, too.

generally, this motive of the “chosen people” makes history makesense. Correspondent features are capable to deliver the framework for awide range interpretation of sad contemporary situations and deplorableconflicts, as well as to build a bridge between present times and a heroicpast. that also means that the heritage of the old testament comes to thefore again, when Christian attempts to understand the metaphysical core,the red line in the history of salvation give exceptional roles to some

this is equally true for the writings of another famous member, the poet taras4

shevchenko. his revolutionary slogans at the time of the Brotherhood differed from theidealistic, but rather moderate programs of others like Kostomarov, Kulish or VasylBilozerskyi. shevchenko´s later poetry contains a lot of originally biblical motives, some-times with chiliastic overtones. By all evidence, the motive of ukraine as the “promisedland”, where the freedom of all people once shall become a reality, is even stronger thanthat of the “chosen people” – while the poet himself appears as a prophet of those bettertimes to come. to grasp these motives, however, and the specific transformation theyunderwent in shevchenko´s poetry requires rather specific and sophisticated efforts oftextual analysis – an undertaking for another, separated study. for an introduction see thearticle by M. antoKhii, D. DaReWyCh, M. R. steCh, D. h. stRuK :“shevchenko, taras”, in : Encyclopedia of Ukraine (uRl : http://www.encyclopediao-fukraine.com/display.asp?linkPath=pages\s\h\shevchenkotaras. htm – Download March12th, 2009), with extensive bibliography. see also h. hRaBoVyCh, “shevchenko iakmifotvorec´ ; shevchenko, iakoho ne znaiemo”, in : Suchasnist´, 1992, no. 11, pp. 100-112 ; iD., The Poet as Mythmaker. A Study of Symbolic Meaning in Taras Ševčenko,Cambridge/Mass. (harvard university Press) 1982.

Cf. for the german case georg sChMiDt, « Die frühneuzeitliche idee der5

« deutschen nation » : Mehrkonfessionalität und säkulare Werte », in h.g. hauPt,D. langeWiesChe (eds.), Nation und Religion in der deutschen Geschichte (frankfurtam Main : Campus, 2001), pp. 33-67 (for a general excurs on the motive oft he «chosenpeople» see ibid., pp. 36-42).

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“elected” or “chosen people”. especially historical situations of conflictare often perceived and described in terms of national antagonisms, andthose perceptions, in a step further, find a metaphysical sense, somehidden meaning behind struggle, suffering and victimization. What wereall the sacrifices good for, if they lack a religious justification? – that isthe moving theme. Religious adherents of various nations found theanswer repeatedly in particular missions of their own people, which weresupposed to be chosen by god to contribute in an urgent and inevitablemanner to the history of salvation of all mankind. this was true for theCatholic ireland in its defense against english and anglican-Protestantinvasions, for the germans in (and partially since) the time of theReformation, or in Polish romantic literature of the xixth century – toname only a few examples6.

Moreover, borderland regions between territories occupied simulta-neously by different religions or confessions on the one hand, and differ-ent ethnic groups on the other hand, seem to be particularly susceptiblefor this kind of meta-historical constructions. More than the comparablycalm central regions in the middle of states, kingdoms or empires, theseregions see persisting challenges and responses, conflicts and reconcilia-tion, exchanges and antagonisms7.

to the most discussed borderlines in this respect belongs thefrontier which – as is being said – divides europe into a latin West andan orthodox east.8 Poland, Russia, serbia, greece and especially ukrainethus all have in their history specific tales about their election by a higherpower, being destined to missions important not only for themselves, butfor either the whole Christianity, or even all mankind. and these motivesseem to have the force to persist. even contemporary ukraine with its

a classical study of this subject, based on a non-chronological evaluation of many6

corresponding examples is a.D. sMith, Chosen Peoples, new york (oxford universityPress), 2003.

Cf. a. W. MaRx, Faith in Nation : Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism, new york7

(oxford university Press) 2003, who emphasizes the roots of modern nationalism in earlyModern (ethnic and particularly confessional) antagonisms, while, on the other hand, theparticular fate of spain as a country on the european periphery and the specific tensionsconnected with this situation escape his attention.

this frontier has reentered public debates after its mention e.g. in samuel P. hunt-8

ington, The clash of civilizations and the remaking of World Order, london (simon &schuster) 1997, p. 157 ff. on the significance of a borderland situation for culturalprocesses cf. the articles in th. BReMeR (ed.), Religion and the Conceptual Boundaryin Central and Eastern Europe, Basingstoke (Palgrave) 2008.





continuous religious and national conflicts easily offers examples of“being the elected people”. the motive of the „chosen people“ continuesto appear in contemporary political discourses, which may show theenduring actuality of the initial settings of the national movement9.

in most cases, such a mission is initially meant to be a peaceful anddefensive one, and all the corresponding stories tend to put an accentrather on the suffering of one people and on its sacrifices for higherpurposes, than on aggressiveness and heroism. in other words, the finalaims of the sacred mission are to be achieved by means of advancedChristian virtues, not by violence and warfare10. even war, if considerednecessary, is always a war to defend. in reality, however, right this is theway in which violence may finally enter the game, if radical voicesannounce the need to stand up for national (and thus Christian) values ina moment which is decisive in their option. in theological terms it is anapocalyptical overtone that these voices usually betray, although dooms-day in this perception may be not about to come for the entire world, butrather for that one holy nation.

in the hidden mythology of a “chosen people” it is, furthermore, quiteoften the territory, where these people are settled, which gets a sacralcharacter as well. this sacral character is founded on myths ofChristianization, or due to a specific geographic location. the ethniccommunity is described to be organically connected with the territory onwhich it lives on for centuries, and which determines its further fate.Moreover, there are legends of earlier “heroic” times, or passed goldenages of extraordinary prosperity, power and cultural fertility. Commonrituals of ethnic communities celebrate the common heroes and theirsacrifices. to remember the glorious times of the past also means to hold

Cf., as an occasional example : R. soKolenKo, “Bat´kivshchyna u mene odna –9

ukraiina moia sviata”, in : Piznai Pravdu, 2007, no. 1, p. 9, which ends with the emphaticexclamation : “Tomu my, molode pokolinnia, maiemo sviatii obov´iazok zberegty ciuzhertvennu liubov nashykh predkiv i rozpalyty ii z novoiu siloiu, a vona prinese nam svitlemaibutnie i hordist´ za te, shcho my ukraiinci, Bohom vybranii narod!” [therefore we, theyoung generation, bear the holy obligation to preserve the devoted love of our ancestorsand to light it with new strength, while it brings us a bright future and the pride, that we,the ukrainians, are god’s chosen people.]

g. Vanoni, « “gott hat uns erwählt”. Die biblische theorie und die christliche10

Praxis», in : a. MosseR (ed.), «Gottes auserwählte Völker». Erwählungsvorstellungenund kollektive Selbstfindung in der Geschichte, frankfurt a. M. 2001, pp. 39-55, espe-cially hier bes. p. 50.

alfons BRÜning 243




on to the sustained faith in a durable force of the sacrifices, and themission of the community, the nation in general 11.

as has been said, “Chosen people” with their missions in history, andtheir propagators have been existing long before modern terms of nationand national consciousness had been coined. the germans of theReformation, the Polish sarmatians, the Russians and their “new israel”[notably, much less the “third Rome” idea], serbs, irish – they are allcommon examples. early Modern perceptions of “elected people” andparticular missions and tasks in the history of salvation generally hadsome potential to survive under new conditions in the 19th century age ofnational ideologies. the motive supposedly forms a bridge between “reli-gious patriotism” of former times and a more secularized nationalism thatis regarded to form an early element of Modernity. the question is,however, how the bridges were built, what could be taken from the oldmythologies, and what had to be adapted to modern discourses.

so far we know rather little in this respect about the borderlandukraine and the ukrainians in general. there is a vast literature aboutnational consciousness among their ancestors or the 16th and 17th

centuries, the Ruthenians of the Polish-lithuanian Commonwealth 12.further studies are devoted to the fate of “sacred places” in early Modernukraine, among which Kiev, the traditional “second Jerusalem” and“mother of the Russian cities” holds an especially prominent place.13

essentially, this early period of some kind of national consciousness

a.D. sMith, Chosen people, oxford (oxford univ. Press) 2003.11

some of the most important titles are : t. ChynCZeWsKa-hennel, Świado-12

mość narodowa szlachty ukraińskiej i kozaczyzny od schyłku XVI do połowy XVII w.,Warsaw (PWn) 1985 ; i. BanaC, f.e. sysyn (eds.), Concepts of Nationhood in EarlyModern Eastern Europe, Cambridge/Mass. 1986 (=vol. 10, 1986 of Harvard UkrainianStudies) [with further articles on early Modern national consciousness in Poland,lithuania, Russia etc.] ; D. fRiCK, “Meletii smotryc´kyi and the Ruthenian question inthe early seventeenth Century”, in Harvard Ukrainian Studies 8, 1984, pp. 316-335.

Volodymyr RyChKa, Kyiv – druhii Ierusalim (z istorii politychnoi dumky ta13

ideolohii seredn´ovichnoi Rusi), Kiev (instytut istorii ukrainy nan) 2005 ; l. BeReZh-naya, “topography of salvation. ‘Kyiv-the new Jerusalem’ in the Ruthenian literaryPolemics (end of the 16th-beginning of the 17th century)” in D. fRiCK, s. RohDeWalD,s. WieDeRKehR (eds.), Litauen und Ruthenien. Studien zu einer transkulturellenKommunikationsregion (15.-18. Jahrhundert) / lithuania and Ruthenia. studies of atranscultural Communication Zone (15th-18th Centuries) Wiesbaden (harassowitz)2007, 246-271 ; eaD., ‘his foundation is in the holy mountains.’ some remarks on thenew Jerusalem symbolism in the age of Mazepa, in : W. Deluga, ed., Series Byzantina,vol. 4 (Warszawa, 2006), 71-82.





offers a variety of concepts to refer to as what can be called the “sacredpeople” – be it the Ruthenian nobility striving for equality with the Polish“sarmatians”14, be it the Cossacks claiming their nobility, be it theRuthenians as bearers of an ancient law etc. early modern concepts ofnationhood, let alone of people with particular historical missions are inany case never based on inner equality, but contain strong elements of ahierarchical and genealogical structure. Princes are praised for their illus-trious origin, while hardly any peasant had a chance to be part of theimagined group. ethnic identity is based either on law traditions, or onblood (genealogy), or on ancient habits. the holy place Kiev is hardlyever directly connected with a particular group ; it is a centre oforthodoxy in the first place. only at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuriesit acquainted a more specific meaning in the context of the Cossack´shetmanate.

this is in any case a rather disparate fund to lean on in times of thecreation of modern national consciousness. so what has been made out ofthis in modern times? even by the mid of the 19th century ukrainian intel-lectuals seemed to have had little awareness of ukrainians themselves asa possible “chosen people”. one of the outstanding intellectuals inukraine in the second half of the century, Mykhailo Drahomanov, himselfa trained expert in ancient history, devoted some pages of his magisterialthesis to the transformation of the ancient term of the “chosen people” incontemporary writings. What he observed, was a change from the formerjustification of exclusivist self-consciousness into a metaphysical idea.But the writings he had in mind were merely those of the Russians, likeKonstantin aksakov or aleksandr gercen, and no mention at all is beingmade about his compatriots like Mykola Kostomarov, PanteleimonKulish, Vasyl Bilozers´kyi or even taras shevchenko15.

so what was the metaphysical idea in the notion of the people by theseearly ukrainian intellectuals ? after having described the general frame-work in which possible adoptions of the “chosen people” idea had to beinscribed, we shall now have a closer look on the real usage of the conceptin the initial phase of a modern national movement in ukraine. as stated

Cf. most recently n. KeRsKen, geschichtsbild und adelsrepublik. Zur14

sarmatentheorie in der polnischen geschichtsschreibung in der frühen neuzeit, inJahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 52, 2004, no. 2, pp. 235-260.

M. DRahoManoV, Vopros ob istoricheskom znachenii rimskoi imperii, Kiev15

1869.

alfons BRÜning 245




before, the mentioned protagonists of the ukrainian national movementof early 19th century were in their majority members of the Kievan Cyrilland Methodius Brotherhood. established as a secret society particularlyat the initiative of Mykola Kostomarov in early 1846, it existed onlyabout 13 months, i.e. until the tsarist secret police learned about its exis-tence, and its members were arrested and given to interrogation, prisonand exile. since the brotherhood never reached an organizational stagerequiring a clear criterion of membership, its composition cannot bedetermined exactly. there is but one testimony on the general size of thesociety, and this gives the figure of about 100 members16. in generallyspeaking, in spite of its brief existence, the ideas and writings of thiscircle seem to have been of constitutive significance for later generationsof ukrainian intellectuals. this was not to the least due to their religiousinclinations, which lead them to a specific view of the tasks and the futureof the ukrainian people. “as the intellectual context and the legacy of thesociety of sts. Cyril and Methodius (1846-1847), and particularly itsexpression in the works of taras shevchenko, Panteleimon Kulish, andMykola Kostomarov serve to suggest, a compelling sense of DivineProvidence and the realm of the sacred accompanied the founding textsof modern ukrainian political consciousness – not just the programmaticKnyhy buttia ukrains´koho naroda […] (which in its original version wassimply called Zakon Bozhyi [the law of god…]), but also the antecedent‘political’ poetry of shevchenko, the millenarian notes of his late poetry,and various later writings of Kulish”17.

so perhaps Drahomanov´s attention a couple of years later has missedsomething essential, or one crucial element had already disappeared byhis time. if it is true, that some ideas around the concept of a “chosenpeople” with all the religious overtones had a founding significance inukrainian romantic nationalism, this might also indicate, that in this earlyphase religion, Divine Providence, the “realm of the sacred” comes first,and national feelings are only on a second place. so far this is a hypoth-esis. the crucial question behind this is, where the early, romantic idea of

on the organization see i. KoZheliVets, art. “Cyril and Methodius16

Brotherhood” (Kyrilo-mefodiivs´ke bratstvo) in : Encyklopedia of Ukraine, online avail-able on http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?addButton=pages\C\y\CyrilandMethodiusBrotherhood. htm. see also g.s.n. luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, loc. cit.[as in fn. 1].

george g. gRaBoWiCZ, in his introduction to the special issue of Harvard17

Ukrainian Studies, vo. xxVi, no. 1-4, 2002-3 : “ukrainian Church history”, p. 13.





religion and nation and their mutual relationship would range on the largescale that scientists of nationalism have drawn between the extremes of a“nationalization of religion” and a “sacralization of nation”?18.

the very name of the st. Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood is an allu-sion to the first missioners of the slavs and thus a clear reference toChristian religion19. going a step further, one might presume, that themain continuation of this predominantly religious approach to nation tookplace later among the ukrainophile clergy within the Russian orthodoxChurch : after 1860, these circles slowly but surely developed the ideo-logical program of an ukrainian orthodoxy, including historical myths ofpreserved Christian values, baptism through god´s providence, and aspecific mission of church and people, as they both were placed on theborder between east and West, thus between Polish Catholicism andRussian orthodoxy. this ukrainophile clergy, whose ideas were later ofbasic significance for the foundation of the ukrainian autocephalousChurch in the years after the breakdown of the Russian empire inRevolution and World War i, has recently been thoroughly described20.Comparatively little however, has been said about the phase before – ananalysis of texts as the mentioned, against the background of their time,can consequently contribute to insight into a still existing gap in histori-cal science.

one important question is, to what extend the religious attitudes ofthese writers already were determined in a confessional sense. at least inthe case of Kostomarov´s Knyhy bytiia this is clearly not the case.furthermore, the statutes of the st. Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood,composed mainly by Mykola Kostomarov, also contained much of anecumenical spirit21. We shall later have to return to this. What should be

Martin sChulZe Wessel, « Die nationalisierung der Religion und die18

sakralisierung der nation im östlichen europa», in : iDeM. (ed.), Nationalisierung derReligion und Sakralisierung der Nation im östlichen Europa, stuttgart (franz steiner)2006, pp. 7-14 ; B.-ann J. RieffeR, « Religion and nationalism : understanding theConsequences of a Complex Relationship », in : Ethnicities, 2003, no. 33, pp. 215-242.

the sign of the society was a ring of an icon with an image of these two saints,19

according to the societies statutes, cf. Knyhy byttia, loc. cit.[fn.1], p. 31.Ricarda VulPius, Nationalisierung der Religion. Russifizierungspolitik und20

ukrainische Nationsbildung 1860-1920, Wiesbaden (harrassowitz), 2005 ; see also f.e. sysyn, « the ukrainian autocephalous Church and the traditions of the KyivMetropolitanate», in : s. PloKhy, id. (eds.), Religion and Nation in Modern Ukraine,edmonton 2003, pp. 23-39.

the statutes are attached to the edition of Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit. [fn. 1], p. 29.21

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stated here is that their ecumenism in part goes back to the romanticcontext of their ideas – roughly speaking, this means to favour spiritual-ity over dogmatic teachings, and thus to relativize confessional differ-ences. the ukrainian romantic patriots of the early phase in theirapproach to religion had much in common with their european contem-poraries : a high estimation of poetry and intuition as particular instancesto gain and express that kind of deep-going truth which neither dogmanor rational reflection were able to bring about, and a predominantly non-confessional approach. the latter they had in common e.g. with thegerman romantic movement. the coincidence is not accidental : Bothukraine and germany were divided countries in terms of confessions.Consequently, Christian philosophers like Johann gottfried herder orDaniel ernst schleiermacher created the conciliatory program of a reli-gion built on liberty of conscience, toleration, ecumenism, egalitarianism.their romantic religion emphasized the priesthood of all believers, whosespirits and emotions formed the substance of a true and invisible church.folkloristic traditions, folk songs, popular religion were put together to anew mythology, a program that was – e.g. in case of the germans –designed to overcome the confessional divisions not only within thegerman nation, but also within Christianity in general22. ukrainianromanticism, as has also been stated, had some peculiarities especially incomparison with the Russian Romantic movement in the historicism ofits epic genre, its idealization of the past, and its predilection for the song-like structure, with motifs of national as opposed to personal longing. allthis made it allegedly more akin to Polish romanticism23. at least MykolaKostomarov seems to completely fit into this scheme. first, he alreadycame from the so-called Kharkiv romantic school (located at Kharkivuniversity of the 1830´s), and brought from there his interest in historyand his inclination towards folklore and tales – thinking that historyshould originally be explored here, instead of studying biographies ofextraordinary persons, or laws and institutions. the same is true for hisdetection and fostering of ukrainian as a language of literature, “not

Cf. e. Mason, “Romanticism and Religion”, in : Literature Compass 2004, no. 1,22

pp. 1-4 ; g. osteRle, art. “Romantik”, in Theologische Realenzyklopädie, vol. 29,pp. 389-396.

on ukrainian Romanticism see B. KRaVtsiV, D. husar stRuK, art.23

“Romanticism”, in : Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993), online : http://www.ency-clopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\R\o\Romanticism. htm.





only”, as Panteleimon Kulish wrote, “for the purpose of berating the shift-less peasant”24. Quite similar views were held by Kulish25. so not bychance Kostomarov wrote his famous Knyhy bytiia in ukrainian, not inRussian. the language of the text is, however, a rather simplistic andsimultaneously a quite ceremonial one, like that used in religious talesand legends, and Kostomarov later wrote on occasion, that he consciouslychose this style to make his views accessible to the common people – thesame people, whose folkloristic tales he and his contemporaries collectedin order to grasp the true spirit of their nation. Quotations, if there are any,are made most of all at the beginning of the text, and they are exclusivelybiblical.

Kulish, instead, in his Povest’ ob ukrainskogom narode widely quotesright these collected tales, when he most of all tells the story of theCossack´s struggle against foreign invaders, defending not only nativeukraine, but also their ancient Christian faith. his work has more thecharacter of a didactic text. furthermore, not only the style (a simple andplain Russian in his case) but also the place of the first publication ofKulish´s work clearly suggests, that he also had written it with the aim ofinstructing the average people about their past, not to contribute toacademic discussions26. thirty-seven years later, still remembering thebrotherhood’s initial impulses, he wrote the following : “three or fouryears before this sad event [the arrest of members of the Cyrill andMethod society in 1847 – aB.] ukrainian songs and the oral literature of

Cf. P. PetRenKo, art. “Kharkiv Romantic school”, in : Encyclopedia of Ukraine,24

vol. 2 (1989), online http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages\K\h\KharkivRomanticschool. htm (quotation Kulish ibid.). on Kostomarov´seducation in Kharkiv see th. M. PRyMaK, Mykola Kostomarov : A Biography, toronto(university of toronto Press) 1996, pp. 6-12.

on Kulish and his views see g. luCKyJ, Panteleimon Kulish. A sketch of his life25

and times, Boulder (east european Monographs) 1983 ; J. K. naChliK, Svitohliad itvorchist´ Pantelejmona Kulisha, Kiev (ukrains´kii pys´mennyk) 2007 (vol. 2 of theauthor´s Panteleimon Kulish : osobystist´, pys´mennyk, myslytel´ ; naukova monohrafijau dvuch tomach, ibid.).

Kulish had it published first in a journal which was, according to its title, devoted26

to “children of advanced age” : Zvezdochka – zhurnal dlia detei starshego vozrasta, posvi-ashchennyi blagodarnym vospitannicam Institutov Ee Imperatorskogo velichestva,isdavaemoi Aleksandroi Išimovoi – st. Petersburg, 1846, part xVii, pp. 69-82, 129-158 ;part xViii, pp. 13-32, 63-77, 147-166 ; part xix, pp. 1-14. (cf. V. iVaŠKiV, Vyznačnapam´iatka ukraiins´koi suspil´noi dumky seredyny xix stolittia – an introduction to theaforementioned publication [as in fn. 2] pp. 7f. the text published here goes back,however, on a later redaction made by Kulish for a separate publication.)

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the ukrainian people inspired youthful minds in Kiev with a salutarythought – to raise their nation out of the darkness which was destroyingits welfare and making it impossible for spiritual forces to overcome thedecay. […] the Kievan youth we are talking about was deeply enlight-ened by holy scriptures ; it was a youth of great spiritual purity and wasenthusiastic about spreading the gospel of neighborly love…”27. VasylBilozers´kyi, another member of the brotherhood, added a note to itsstatutes, in which he depicts its aims among others as follows : “it isnecessary to come close to the common people (narod), to care abouttheir education and well-being and to instill in them a hope of changingthe established order”28.

the very motive of the “chosen people” is present, to be sure, ratherindirectly in the two works. answering the question how much and whatof this motive is actually used, allows to settle both works on the above-mentioned scale between “sacred nation” and “nationalized religion”. aukrainian nation has to be introduced to an audience capable to compre-hend the former´s real truth. a starting point of both works is the moregeneral claim that there exist a separate ukrainian people and nation, afact which contemporaries in the Russian empire widely tended to deny.only Kulish introduces the name “ukrainians” – an exception, becausealmost nowhere in the writings of the ukrainian Romantic movement wefind the term “ukrainians”, regardless of the repeated claims that there isa separate nation. already at the beginning of his Povest´ Kulish points atthe fact, that just in terms of sheer numbers of population the “southRussians” (iuzhnorussy, ili Ukraincy) have to be regarded as the second,after the “north Russians”, among the slavic tribes29 ; Kostomarov,admittedly, in his religiously inspired speech about the fate of nationsmentions ukraine only relatively late, and it is in fact the land – Ukraiina– what he speaks about, while the protagonists which attract his attentionare the Cossacks30. the very idea that there are two nations, instead ofonly one, great Russian, only later gained particular importance in hisworks, when he seemed to have stepped away to some extend from his

Quoted after luckyj, Panteleimon Kulish [fn. 24], pp. 27.27

Cf. Myhailo hRusheVs´Kyi, “Z ideolohii Kyrilo-Mefodiivciv. Zapyska Vasylia28

Bilozerskoho”, in : Ukraina : Naukovyi tr´ekhmisiachnyk ukrainoznavstva, no. 1, 1914,pp. 78-83, quotation in the Russian original p. 82 ; cf. for an english translation luCKyJ,Young Ukraine, loc. cit., pp. 102-105, quotation p. 104.

Kulish, “Povist´”, loc. cit. [fn. 2], p. 113f.29

M. KostoMaRoV, Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 17f.30





early religious enthusiasm31. at the given moment, the originality of theukrainian people and the right for an independent cultural developmentstand in the centre for Kulish, while the realization of this righteous claimshould also contribute to the progress of mankind and Christianity, in thesecond place. on the other hand, an almost mythic insight in the generalfate of nations gives a specific task to the ukrainians in the perspectiveof Kostomarov. Consequently, and interesting enough against the back-ground of their further development, Kulish apparently positions thenation in the first place and sacralizes it, whereas Kostomarov feels ableto discuss the fate and mission of the ukrainians only within a generalsacred framework of salvation history, which ranges above a singlenation.

this is, however, no absolute distinction. at any rate, the question towhat extend, against a common Christian background, a people can beidentified by its specific mission and task, forms something of the core ofa continuous controversy between the two friends, Kostomarov andKulish. Kostomarov obviously held the view, that there is a historicalhour for each nation (narod), but the more it fulfills its task, the more ithas to develop and thus restraint from peculiar ethnic characteristics.“the foreign is always better, and the better is always foreign”, he wrote.at the given moment, it is the time for the ukrainians just because of theirinsignificance in this respect – and that would mean they are chosen andnot chosen alike. Panteleimon Kulish later wrote to him, that he wouldrather reject his separation of people into chosen and not chosen ones, andexpresses his fears that such views on history might lead to a dead end.“god´s grace is given to all and in all nations a man of clear conscienceand good will can do much for his honor and achieving power…”32. and,on another occasion : “and you say that all we should care about is to begood Christians. Do not forget that our ukrainian [peasant] is only aChristian as long as he has all his customs and beliefs”33.

M. KostoMaRoV, “Two Russian Nationalities (excerpts), and A Letter to the31

Editor of Kolokol”, in : R. linDheiM, g.s.n. luCKyJ (eds.), Towards an IntellectualHistory of Ukraine : An Anthology of Ukrainian Thought from 1710 to 1995, toronto(university of toronto Press), 1996, pp. 122-45.

Cf. P.s. soChan (red.), Kyrillo-Mefodiivs´ke tovarystvo, 3 volumes, Kiev32

(naukova dumka) 1990, vol. 1, p. 544. in english the letter is quoted by luCKyJ,Panteleimon Kulish, loc. cit., p. 34.

Ibid., p. 33 ; cf. on the controversy loc. cit., pp. 32-37 ; furthermore luCKyJ,33

Young Ukraine [as in fn. 1], pp. 36ff.

alfons BRÜning 251




in case of Kostomarov, the “chosen people” motive basically wastaken – a fact already often mentioned by scientists – mainly from thewritings of the Polish poet adam Mickiewicz, in particular from thelatter’s Books of the Polish People and Polish Pilgrimage (written inParis in 1832, shortly after the miserable failure of the uprising in parti-tioned Poland starting from november 1830)34. there are, on the otherhand, significant differences between the two. Kostomarov´s ukrainianpeople do not appear as the Christ among the people, suffering on behalfof all people’s freedom, as did the Poles, and as the lord himself. hopingfor their resurrection, the Polish nation, according to Mickiewicz, shouldonly count on god´s grace and god´s Providence. Certainly, the story thatKostomarov tells about the suffering under foreign suppression is quitesimilar in case of the ukrainians : By the time, the Polish land lords hadtried to keep them away from the Christian faith, denying them even tobaptize their children, to marry, receive holy Communion and to burytheir dead according to the right Christian faith – what all resulted in theKhmel´nyts´kyi uprising of the mid 17th century35. later, and even worse,empress Catherine ii. (in Kostomarov´s coarse terms “the germanempress Catherine, the world’s biggest whore, the godless, the murdererof her husband…”) corrupted the leading men of the ukrainian Cossacksby giving them titles and estates, and making them superior over theirformer brothers, so that some became lords, and the others slaves36.however, while Mickiewicz in his exile in Paris recommends merelyprayers to his audience, Kostomarov wants the ukrainians to raise theiractivities according to the scheme he presents : a long survey through thehistory of people leads to the conclusion, that there are only them leftwithout a spoiled and slavish political order and false rulers or kings.only they accept no one besides Christ himself as their head, he states –and consequently, the signs of the time now call them for action. With this

Księgi Narodu Polskiego i Piełgrzymstwa Polskiego. Kostomarov´s leanings espe-34

cially stem from the first part of Mickiewicz´s composition, named Księgi NaroduPolskiego od początku świata aż do męczenia Narodu Polskiego, see a. MiCKieWiCZ,Dzieła, Wydanie narodowe, tom Vi, Pisma, Proza. W opracowaniu l.PŁosZeWsKiego, Warsawa, 1953, pp. 5-58. – on Kostomarov and Mickiewicz see st.KoZaK, “Dwaj romantyczni mesjaniści – Mickiewicz i Kostomarow”, in iBiDeM.,Polacy i Ukraincy. W kręgu myśli i kultury pogranicza. Epoka romantyzmu, Warsaw(Wydawnictwo uniwersytetu Warszawskiego) 2005, pp. 157-184.

Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 20.35

“A nimka caryca Kateryna, kurva vsesvitna, bezbožnycja, ubijcja muža svogo…” –36

Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 22.





call for action, however – even if this call for the time being is hardlyconnected with an all too concrete agenda – Kostomarov leaves the oldscheme of “chosen people” as mainly victims or, at the maximum,defenders against foreign aggression. the very quintessence of hisprogram is repeated in another short text, the “appeal to the ukrainians”(actually rather formulated as a proposal), written at the same time37.

Kostomarov´s conclusions, made from historical experience, as hedepicts it, result in a political program, and he sees the ukrainians as thenation particularly qualified to realize this program. the core of thisprogram lies in the concept of a pan-slavic federation, with each of theparticipating nations (Czechs, Poles, Russians [“moskaly” in his terms],ukrainians etc.) preserving their own historical tradition, culture, govern-ment, but coming together in a joint council responsible to make up deci-sions of a common significance for all. the program is, at the given point,not elaborated in detail, and commentators called it hasty and superficial.When asked later to specify it, Kostomarov named the united states ofamerica (in the state of his time of course) as a guiding example38. thecity destined to be the capital of this slavic Commonwealth had to beKiev – which is quite obviously a revitalization of its ancient role as acentre and birthplace of slavic Christianity, the “second Jerusalem”,although somewhat in new terms. similar allusions can be observed inseveral other writings of the brotherhood members39. this is, at the sametime, a further sign of the religious implications behind his politicalprogram and the sending of his nation. this scheme is being continued.the ukrainians, as Kostomarov makes them appear, are the Cossacks,like in many works of his romantic fellows. What interests him, is theirtraditional political structure, their tradition of collective self-govern-ment, democracy and equality among each other. one might feelreminded of the liberté, egalité, fraternité ideals of the french revolutionin this context, but the cautious reader of the text at this point is alreadyentirely deprived of all possible illusions about the french experiments50 years ago. Kostomarov had little sympathies for the french Revolution.

Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p 25f., cf. luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, op. cit., pp. 51 and 10037

(appendix 4).see o. i. saltoVs´Kyi, Koncepcii ukrains´koi derzhavnosti v istorii vitchyzni-38

anoi politychnoi dumky (vid vytokiv do pochatku xx storichchia), Kyiv (Parapan) 2002,Chapter ii : Kyrillo-mefodiivs´ke tovarystvo ta politychni pohliady ioho uchasnykiv (thereis an online version available which i used here, cf. on http://litopys.org.ua/ ).

Ibid.39

alfons BRÜning 253




the french, in his eyes, had betrayed their historical mission, when theyabolished faith and Christian love, and killed their king, and replaced thetrue god by another one, which they called “égoisme” (egoizm) andinterêt (interest). Consequently, in his eyes their project turned into themost serious deviation from god´s Providence ever seen in history40.What distinguished the Cossacks, instead, is their preservation of true andancient Christian ideals, and it is this “evangelical democratism” whichlater interpreters signed out as one of the main characteristics ofKostomarov´s political views at this time41. this also means, that earlyModern ideas about ukrainian nationality, as they might have beenreferred to by pointing at Kiev as the holy city, or the Cossacks as anatural elite of the ukrainian people, are nevertheless significantly alteredby this emphasize on egalitarianism42.

this ukrainian “democratism” is, according to Kostomarov, in no waya leaning from any foreign people, but rather a natural expression of theirspirit, their particular Christian traditions once handed over to them bygod´s grace through the apostles Cyrill and Methodius. Kostomarovimplicitly warns his compatriots that since ancient times the slavs weresuffering as well because of two own deficiencies, namely their constantargument with each other, and the bad habit to adopt from other peopleall kind of habits and ideas, be they appropriate or not – while neglectingtheir own heritage, which actually often had been, and will be better43.the same, as becomes clear, is true for their political system.

the mission of the ukrainian Cossacks is thus constituted mainly bythe fact, that they are true Christians not only by their virtues in severalsituations of their history, but also in their political traditions. this egali-tarianism has little from the above-mentioned self-image of the realCossacks of 17th century, with their striving for equality with the Polishnoble “sarmatians”. the Cossacks are depicted by Kostomarov as beingdemocrats and Christians by their god-given nature. this approach hasseveral implications concerning Kostomarov´s notion of what is a nation.

Cf. Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 13f. ; cf. also o.i. saltoVs´Kyi, Koncepcii40

ukrains´koi…, loc. cit. [fn. 34].D. DoRoshenKo, Mykola Ivanovych Kostomarov, leipzig (s.a.), p. 28.41

some scholars have pointed at the french catholic priest and philosopher hugues42

felicité Robert de lamennais and particularly his Paroles d´un croyant (1834) as one ofpossible sources for Kostomarov´s ideas, cf. luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, loc. cit., p. 50,with further reference to g. luCiani (ed.), Le livre de la genèse du peuple ukrainien,Paris (Collection historique de l ‘institut d études slaves ; 17) 1959.





first, political organization is at its best to be traced back to god, and isa matter of customs, tradition and a rather mythic national spirit – not aresult of any kind of secular covenant or contrat social, as theenlightenment had emphasized. simultaneously, the nation is not simplyconstituted on the ground of a community of associates living togetherunder the same rule, and represented by a common legislative, as e.g. thefrench abbé sieyès had defined it on the eve of the french revolution44.Kostomarov´s approach rather betrays again the influence of the germanromanticism, probably that of Johann gottfried herder in particular. thelatter ascribes to any nation its genetic spirit, character, tradition, whichin its originality can not be derived from other sources, nor be explained,and is narrowly connected with the territory the nation inhabits45.Kostomarov yet goes two steps further : first, in his view this geneticspirit and habits include that of political organization, and secondly theyare founded by god (and can thus be traced back to the gospel), andconstructed according to his word. this can be regarded as a further hintat Kostomarov´s range of things according to the above-mentioned scale :it means again that for Kostomarov religion took a first place and thenation only a second. the ukrainian Cossacks tend to loose some of theirpeculiar qualities in this perspective at the end, because originally allpeople had been blessed by god in the same way. so be it in herder’sperspective, be it in the more political ideals of Kostomarov, each peopleis “chosen” in a certain way. it is the interpretation of the historicalmoment, of the actual situation that decides. at this given historicalmoment, however, it is up to the ukrainians to lead the community ofpeople, and that of the slavs in particular, back to its Christian roots.

the messianism expressed here is thus basically founded on religiousconvictions. in a similar manner, patriotism is truly possible only on thebase of Christian values – this is true not only for Kostomarov. Membersof the Brotherhood of st. Cyrill and Method agreed in this : as it was

Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 15.43

«Quést-ce quúne nation? Un corps dássociés vivant sous une loi commune et44

représentés par la même legislative.» – e.J. sieyès, Quést-ce que le tiers État ?Chapitre i : Le tiers État est une nation complète. – first published 1789, cf. e.g. loc. cit.,geneva (Droz), 1970.

herder names the ukraine a potential new greece, with the beautiful sky above the45

people, their merry character and musical nature, and the fertility of the landir fruitfulcountry. Cf. J.g. heRDeR, Journal meiner Reise im Jahr 1769, in herders Werke, Bd.iV (Berlin 1877ff.), p. 355ff.

alfons BRÜning 255




Christ himself, who commanded his followers to love one’s neighbor asmuch as oneself, where else if not in one’s compatriots these “neighbor”could be found, and what else, if not serving the historical mission ofone’s own people could mean Christian love?46 Christian ideals, Christianvalues form in fact the core of what the statute of the st. Cyril andMethodius Brotherhood demanded from their members. in the includedvision of a federation of all slavs not only the ideal of freedom, equalityand fraternity, but also the legal system of property and that of educationshould be founded explicitly on “the holy religion of our lord JesusChrist”47. furthermore, the members obliged themselves to observeChristian teaching severely, also in their struggle for the projectedfederation of all slavs, and the society openly condemned as wicked theapproach, that the purpose justifies the means48. once again, a similarspirit connecting Christian ideals with the romantic task for theukrainians to free themselves and others can be found in the alreadymentioned note of Vasyl Bilozers´kyi : “as faithful sons of their nativeland, inspired by a desire to do good things for it, and realizing that thisis only possible by fulfilling the testament of our Divine savior, we muststrive for the realization therein of god´s truth, for the enthronementwithin it of freedom, brotherly love and popular well-being, the indepen-dent development of that idea which was incorporated by the Creatorhimself into the character of our people”49.

in all this, the members of the brotherhood are all quite aware of thespecific geographic situation of their country, located between Poland,Russia and the Muslim world, and consequently between differentconfessions and religions, and between eastern and Western culture. asin Bilozerskyi´s note and in Kostomarov´s long tale, the outlined projectof a pan-slavic federation takes account of these circumstances. “…it isclear that it [our native land – aB.] cannot exist separately, that it will be

Cf. W. MoKRy, Literatura i myśl filozoficzno-religijna ukrainskiego romantyzmu,46

Kraków (Wydawnictwo uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego), 1996, here p. 150 ff.Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 29.47

“Kak vse obshchestvo v sovokupnosti, tak i kazhdyi chlen dolzhenny svoi deistviia48

soobrazhat´ s evangel´skimi pravila liubvi, krotosti i terpeniia ; pravilo zhe : cel´ osvi-ashchaet sredstvo – obshchestvo priznaet bezbozshnym.” – Main articles of the society(glavnye pravila obshchestva), no. 9 ; Knyhy byttia, loc. cit., p. 32. (for an english trans-lation see luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, loc. cit. [fn.1], appendix 2, p. 86f.).

Cf. hRusheVs´Kyi, Z ideolohii Kyrilo-Mefodiivciv, loc. cit. [as fn. 27], p. 8249

(Russian) ; luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, loc. cit., p. 103.





located between various fires, it will be pressed [on all sides] and willsuffer the sorrowful fate of the Poles”50. in Kostomarov´s scheme thisleads to a complete neglecting of former confessional differences. Poles,as well as the “Muscovites” are addressed as the first among the slavicbrethren, which the ukrainians, regardless of all harm formerly experi-enced, had never ceased to love51. erroneous have been only their pathsaway from the democratic order they once used to have, quite similar tothe one still existing among the ukrainians. While the Polish lords (pany)had abolished in the course of history what once had been praised as the“golden liberty” (złota wolność), the Muscovites lost the famousRepublic of novgorod to the greedy tsars, and once again the ukrainianswhere the only to preserve this – likewise Christian and originally slavic– egalitarian and democratic order52. an “appeal to brother greatRussians and Poles”, attached to the program of the brotherhood, gener-ously offers forgiveness for earlier evil and harm – and can easily do so,just because all the mutual hatred of the past was “inflamed by tsars andlords to the detriment of your freedom”53. the appeal to the nation is thusmeant to overcome older confessional boundaries. their non-confes-sional approach to Christianity, along with a radical democratic politicalprogram, obviously is aimed to help the brotherhood protagonists to over-come the dangers of a multi-religious territory.

this great hearted ecumenism, however, shows its bounds andruptures in other manifests of the members of the Kievan brotherhood.While similar tones are to be heard e.g. in taras shevchenko´s poems,there is in his case one important difference in that he never turns to the“great Russians”. the prisoner shevchenko, sentenced after 1847 bytsarist autocracy, simply nowhere in his work finds about them a positiveword, but continues instead to see in them, at least in their governmentand their church, a threat to the freedom he envisages for his homeland.so they are excluded – different from the Poles. Right in 1847 he wrote asimilar, although, of course, much more poetical appeal “to the Poles”(Poliakam). in one respect, however, his approach fits with that of the

Cf. hRusheVs´Kyi, Z ideolohii Kyrilo-Mefodiivciv, loc. cit., p. 82 ; luCKyJ,50

Young Ukraine, loc. cit., p. 103.Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 21.51

Ibid., p. 17, 19.52

Vidozva do Velikorosiian i poliakiv, in : Knyhy bytiia, loc. cit., p. 27f. ; cf.53

luCKyJ, Young Ukraine, loc. cit., p. 101.

alfons BRÜning 257




other brotherhood members : it is the rulers (and, for him, also thepriests), who hold responsible for suppression and hatred amongbrethren. What tsarist bureaucrats and officers, together with Russianorthodox priests and bishops, did to the ukrainians, this did the nobilityand the Catholic priests (ksondzy, according to the Polish księdzy) to theirPolish brethren. to get rid of them thus means nothing else, than to turnback to the lost, common “silent paradise”54.

Kostomarov´s and shevchenko´s sympathies for the Poles are hardlyshared by Kulish, at least as far as his Povest´ is concerned. the Christianreligious factor in this – in comparison with Kostomarov´s Knyhy bytiia– much more sober historical survey is weaker, but it still forms a majorbackground. his protagonists, again, are the Cossacks, which wereformed in the remote areas of the steppe, where some had settled alreadysince the 10th century. later, in the 15th and 16th century, due to the oppres-sions of the Polish and south Russian nobility (polskie i južnorusskiedvoriane) their number grew steadily55. thus, while their ethnic originwas clearly “south Russian”, they were to be distinguished from “southRussian landlords”. the formation of the Cossacks, just like inKostomarov´s work, meant a return to the old slavic customs of a demo-cratic, collective self government. the Cossacks had two main goals : tofight against the enemies of Christianity, the turks and tatars, and – tofree their ukrainian homeland from the despotic regime of the Polish andRussian landlords56. the order in which these two main goals appear isdifferent in Kulish´s second redaction of the text, made in preparation ofa separated edition. his first version had it vice versa, with the defense ofthe ukrainian homeland at first, and the defense of Christianity on thesecond place. Does this mean again, that religion was given the moreimportant place ? What he had in mind with these changes is hard toaccess, but one may presume, that he decided to give the Cossacks an

saltoVs´Kyi, Kyrilo-mefodiivs´ke tovarystvo, loc. cit. [fn. 34]. Besides, it is this54

idea, the idea of ukraine as the scene and birthplace of man´s liberation, with its specificsignificance between orient and occident, that relates shevchenko´s poetry to that of theother great voice of Polish romanticism, Juliusz slowacki. Cf. s. KoZaK, “Juliuszslowacki i taras szewczenko”, in iBiD., Polacy i Ukraincy, loc. cit. [fn. 30], pp. 138-156.

Kulish, Povist´, loc. cit. [fn.2], p. 114f.55

«U nikh byli dve celi : voevat´ protiv vragov Christianstva, Tatar i Turok, i – osvo-56

bodit´ rodnuiu Ukrainu ot despotičeskago gospodstva Pol´sko-Russkikh dvorian. » –Kulish, Povist´, loc. cit., p. 115.





image similar to that of Christian knights. accordingly, his report of Kingstefan Batory´s first attempts to give the Cossack troops in the east of thePolish-lithuanian Commonwealth a legal status reads : “[the king – aB.]gave them a status, somewhat according to the status of religious ordersof knights in the West,…”57. a main motivation for Kulish might havebeen a specific sort of historiographic accuracy. Many of the Cossack´sfolk songs and tales he quotes extensively have this motive of the fight-ers for Christianity at the eastern frontier. Be it implicitly, be itconsciously – unless we have further evidence, we have to suppose theformer – on the ground of these folkloristic sources Kulish takes up anold image of the eastern frontier of Poland-lithuania as the outpost andmilitary frontier of Christianity (antemurale christianitatis). the papalpropaganda of the 15th to 17th century usually ascribed this attribute toPoland (with a late peak in king Jan sobieski´s liberation of Vienna fromthe ottoman siege in 1683), but some prominent hymns on Cossackhetmans of the early 17th century also claim the role of defenders ofChristianity for them58. one at least plausible conclusion out of this imageis that the mission and raison d´être of the Cossacks pertains not only totheir own people, but to Christianity and mankind in general.

like others among the brotherhood members, Kulish tells the story ofthe ukrainians as a sad one. after centuries of suppression exerted by thePolish and polonized south Russian landlords the famous attempt forindependence under Bohdan Khmelńyc´kyi ended in a failure. ukrainecontinued to exist as a bone of contention for the surrounding powers.What was more, after submitting to the Muscovite tsar, Khmelńyc´kyissuccessor hetman Briukhovec´kyi and the elite of the Cossacks becamecorrupted by the new titles granted to them, and step by step abolishedthe natural, democratic law among the ukrainians59. the failed uprisingunder hetman Mazepa, who himself was again not elected by the peopleas it should have been, against tsar Peter i., only made things worse. nowthe Muscovites decided to make the rights and laws of the ukrainians

Kulish, Povist´, loc. cit., p. 115 ; cf. iVaŠKiV, Vyznačna pamíatka, p. 10 f.57

J. taZBiR, Polska przedmurzem Europy, Warszawa (twój styl) 2004. – a famous58

example for the image of the Cossacks as defenders of the Christian faith is Kassiansakovyč´s funeral speech on the hetman Petro sahaidachnyi, cf. f. i. titoV, Materialydlia istorii knyzhnoi spravy na Ukraiini v XVI – XVIII vv. Vsezbirka peredmov do ukrai-ins´kykh starodrukiv, Kiev 1924 (reprint Köln (Böhlau) 1982) pp. 37-51 ; the text is alsoavailable online : http://litopys.org.ua/ukrpoetry/anto37.htm.

Kulish, Povist´, loc. cit., pp. 196-198.59

alfons BRÜning 259




completely equal to the suppressive conditions of their own state60.ultimately, the uprising of the so-called haidamaky in around 1768 led toa complete annihilation of any autonomous status of ukraine throughempress Catherine ii61. here the confessional factor is much more signif-icant in Kulish’s work. namely, this last uprising was directed initiallyagainst another attempt from the Polish and Catholic part to spread theirfaith, in the shape of the Church union, into the ukrainian lands. Kulish´sdepiction of Christianity in ukraine repeatedly insists that the ukrainiansoriginally were of the “greek faith”, while Catholicism proved foreign totheir traditions and customs. one major crime of the Polish pany and theirpriests consisted in their continuous attempts to force upon the ukrainianstheir own, Catholic faith, what at any time led to violence and blood-shed62. in these passages Kulish´s story has clear anti-Catholic overtones,and in general it lacks the conciliatory or even ecumenical attitude soprominently present in other documents of the Kievan brotherhood. if hevotes for ukrainian self-determination and independence, this includesthe preservation of their original faith, which is orthodox. only in hislater days this led him to vote for a closer relationship of ukraine withRussia – correspondingly his later historiographical works, written in thesense of a “reunification” of the two Russian people gained him viciousprotest among ukrainian intellectuals of this time63. But this was obvi-ously only one side of the medal. already in the early text of his Povest´,Kulish praises the level of education of the ukrainians by the time ofKhmel´nyc´kyi – ukraine´s golden age, in his terms. had it been giventhe chance to develop, a civilization of equal value to that of the Westerneuropean countries would have emerged64. only the mentioned betrayalof Briukhovec´kyi, the hetman tempted by the false nobility of theMuscovite tsardom, set an end to their natural progress. this “natural”education includes the Christian faith. in its true shape, however,Christianity is still to come, and shall be fostered and spread in theukrainian lands, while it had been spoiled dramatically in Byzantium andRome, and even more in Moscow. Kulish was certainly an orthodoxbeliever. in his early work, however, his religious convictions, different

Ibidem, pp. 199-201.60

Ibidem, pp. 211-218.61

Ibidem., pp. 118f., 213f.62

naChliK, Svitohliad i tvorchist´ Pantelejmona Kulisha, loc. cit. [fn. 24], p. 47.63

Kulish, Povist´, loc. cit., p. 198.64





from his comrades in the st. Cyrill and Methodius Brotherhood, playedtheir role rather in the background of the events he depicts. nevertheless,already here can be found not only traces of his idea of a trueChristendom present in ukraine, with its orthodox peculiarities, but alsoof the specific role he ascribes to the ukrainians as defenders of faith. inhis days, however, they are no more knights and heroes of battles, butthey fight for their goals by means of words and mind. in this sense hecontinues to call them to work as enlighteners in his later writings65. allof this might be, admittedly, rather concluded from later stadiums of hiswork, for which the Povest´ was an initial step. to understand thecomplexities of this work, more than the rather superficial considerationsgiven here would be necessary. the complexity, at any rate, was also thatof ukrainian history. Kulish during his lifetime tried to come to termswith the borderland situation of his homeland, and historians distinguishvarious phases in his views and writings, naming them ukrainian,Cossack, turkish and Russian66.

some admittedly preliminary conclusions to be made against thisbackground about the early, romantic phase of the ukrainian nationalmovement can sound as follows : although the members of the Cyrill andMethodius Brotherhood nowhere point explicitly at the motive of the“chosen people”, their handling and notion of the ukrainian people showsclearly some significant patterns of this motive : a mission or task definedbeyond the pure boundaries of the nation itself, and related to mankindand Christianity in general ; suffering of a people, which simultaneouslyhas preserved the purity of a non-suppressive political order and a spiritof Christian freedom; shaping influences of the territory inhabited on thenational spirit, in case of the ukrainians due to the borderland situationof their land between surrounding powers, and between different confes-sions, religions and cultures ; last but not least a heroic past and goldenage, expressed in the Cossack uprisings and their political self-govern-ment since the 17th century. What is romantic in these approaches is thenon-utilitarian but in the end religiously inspired notion of what consti-tutes a nation, and the leaning on folkloristic sources rather than on offi-cial historiography.

naChliK, Svitohliad i tvorchist´ Pantelejmona Kulisha, loc. cit, pp. 10-18, 7265

etc.Cf. the summary given by saltoVs´Kyi, Koncepcii ukrains´koi derzhavnosti,66

loc. cit. [fn. 37] ; naChliK, Svitohliad i tvorchist´, loc. cit.

alfons BRÜning 261




on a scale as the mentioned one, between the extremes of a “sacral-ization of nation” and a “nationalization of religion” one would tend toplace the Kievan romantics rather next to the former : in their variouswritings religion appears not only in the constitutive background, butsometimes explicitly is treated as the moving force behind history.god´s providence delivers the framework to interpret historical timesand the present state and task of a nation. there are, however, gradualdifferences between the protagonists examined so far. some, likeKostomarov or – perhaps – Bilozers´kyi in their writings show anobvious devotion to Christian religion in an egalitarian and idealistic,romantic interpretation, which purposes their nation has to serve evenif that should implicit the extinction of its main characteristics. theirvisions are accompanied by an integrative, ecumenical spirit of the“people”, whose mission consists in surmounting confessional antago-nisms. others, like Kulish or, in some ways, shevchenko, emphasizethe peculiarities and virtues of the ukrainian people. Religion definesthe “people” (and its enemies) and although they also tend to ascribe toit a religious mission in a wider range, the nation becomes stronger, notweaker in fulfilling it.

Religious devotion includes, in case of Kostomarov and Bilozers´kyiat least, romantic ecumenical overtones, by which these visionarieshope to overcome the ethnic and confessional antagonisms of ukraineas a borderland between religions and cultures. on the other hand, themore an emphasis on a separate, original ukrainian nation comes to thefore, the less conciliatory are the visions over its future, especially whenit goes about the religion of this nation. Kulish, in the early writingsexamined here, attributes a great significance to the difference betweenthe natural “greek faith” of the ukrainian people and the Catholicism ofthe Poles, along with the latter’s repeated attempts to expand by force.this antagonism persists, while orthodoxy forms a common element inrelation to the great Russians and the Russian empire. thus, whilethere appears an image of the enemy in relation to Catholicism, border-lines in the other, orthodox direction are somewhat covered by thecommon faith, and become ambiguous. By all evidence, this less concil-iatory and idealistic, and more sober and “nationalistic” approach had agreater influence on future developments. More concretely, one maydetect here already the first traces of Ricardaa Vulpius´ explanation ofthe fact, that ukrainophilism among the south Russian clergy still in thesecond half of the 19th century remained relatively weak – because, asshe formulates it as the main thesis of her above mentioned book, it was





the image of the Polish and Catholic enemy, that created a commoninterest in a defense power, namely Russian orthodoxy and the Russianempire. this made it difficult for ukrainian nationalists among the reli-gious laymen and the clergy to distinguish themselves and their ideol-ogy67.

alfons BRÜning*

VulPius, Nationalisierung der Religion, loc. cit. [fn. 20], p. 414.67

* institute for eastern Christian studies, Radboud university nijmegen, thenetherlands.

alfons BRÜning 263




‘Religion and Nation: The Idea of the „Chosen People“ in Writings of the Kievan...

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