CULTURE OF MEMORY OF THE DEFENDERS THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW OF UKRAINIANS

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the development of the cult of deceased military heroes in the context of the culture of memory of Ukrainians. Results. The article examines the process of forming a sacred stereotype: deification, mythologization, folklorization as a manifestation of the worldview of folk beliefs, canonization in the context of the Christian worldview, and heroization as a philosophy of national identity. The author examines the study of the cult of deceased military heroes in the historical context, through the prism of art, in the context of the philosophy of the national idea. The influence of modern methodologies on the development of this problem is studied. Different approaches to the development of the culture of memory of Ukrainian defenders – socio-cultural, philosophical, and ecclesiastical – are traced. In order to achieve the results, the research of A. Ostroverhov and the text of Ipatiev Chronicle was used for the historical analysis of the development of this issue, I. Ohienko and O. Yakovleva for the study of the issue through the prism of folk philosophy, as well as materials of regional field studies in Rivne and Khmelnytsky regions, and the research of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Reserve was analyzed to analyze the church approach to the sacralization of individuals. Conclusions. It has been established that the culture of memory of Ukrainian defenders is formed through the prism of a religious worldview, which is based on the ancestor cult, characteristic of Eastern European peoples. To a certain extent, religion monopolized the issue of death and its culture in general, and thus, based on the synthesis of folk beliefs and Christian worldview, the idea of human immortality found its place. A feature of the cult of dead military heroes and their immortality is the idea of sacrifice for the sake of saving their people. We can draw an analogy with the sacrifice of Osiris or Christ-the idea of a savior coming, a liberator from dark forces, death as a negative ending, eternal torment and suffering. The motives for the deification of Ukrainian heroes can be observed through the idea of metempsychosis in folklore, the interpretation of their sacrificial deeds in sacred art, church canonization, and the construction of religious buildings at the sites of battles and mass executions of defenders. The motives of the cult of the dead defenders are a red thread that runs through Ukrainian history from the time of Antiquity to the present day, when the issue of the culture of memory of the defenders of Ukraine is the basis of the national-patriotic education of the Ukrainian public and a special aspect of state policy in general.