Laudation of the Mother of God in the 17th-century Ukrainian manuscript Sermon on the feast of the Annunciation

Abstract

The paper concerns the representation of the Virgin Mary in the Ukrainian homily on the Annunciation preserved in the collection of Baroque manuscript sermons. Combination of culture-historical approach with descriptive, comparative and hermeneutic methods as well as "close reading" strategy are applied. Results of the study. Following the evangelical text, the anonymous preacher imitates the dialogue between Saint Mary and the angel Gabriel. In the laudation of the Blessed Virgin that the author puts into the angel’s mouth, Mary is depicted as a protector and helper of all Christians being fulfilled with the divine mercy. Using some quotations and paraphrases from the Old Testament, in particular from the Song of Songs, the author creates the system of images prefiguring the Mother of God. For example, to describe her majesty and power the author elaborates metaphors of Mary as David’s tower with shields alluding to Cant. 4:4 and Mary as king’s carriage escorted by mighty warriors alluding to Cant. 3:7. Shields and other weapon stand for the virtues of the Blessed Virgin, whereas soldiers prefigure the heavenly host. Comparison of Mary with the tower of David is a common topos in the Ukrainian Baroque literature where the Mother of God is represented as a voivode defending and supporting in battles. In the anonymous sermon, Mary is also compared to such female Bible characters as Eve, Rebecca, Esther, and Judith. The last two women are famous for their struggle against the enemies of the people of Israel so that their function in the sermon is to underline Mary’s role as a defender of Christians, which is repeatedly postulated by the author. Some other examples of imagery concerning the Blessed Virgin are not borrowed directly from the Bible but originate from the rich Christian culture (Mary as Star of the Sea) or the Classical mythology (Mary as an Amazon). Scientific novelty. Based on unpublished source material, the research demonstrates polygenetic nature of Marian symbols used by the unknown Ukrainian author of the Baroque period.

Keywords

• annunciation, sermon, manuscript, the virgin mary, the song of songs.