Abstract

The paper presents theological and philosophical aspects of the problem concerning the issue of MAN and EMPTINESS, which has recently become a topical issue, especially in such post- communist states as Ukraine, where we can now observe an increasing rate of popularity of the dogmas of the transcendental philosophy combined with the quest for the lost national awareness.

The shape of the spiritual basis for the Ukrainian national awareness was determined by the notions of baroque, that had strong impact on art, architecture and literature of that time and which has also introduced a brand new attitude towards the theological  premises, according  to which God  was to epitomize the archetype of the spiritual existence of the Universe. This specific viewpoint was closely related to the idea of creationism, characteristic of both, Catholicism and the Orthodox Church of that epoch. However each of those religious trends was in a way unique. The philosophy and theology of Catholicism emphasized the rational method, while the Orthodox Church was from the very beginning based on the irrational, ‘sophist’ doctrine.

The introduction of the Ukrainian spiritual culture to the widespread, Western-European notions of Renaissance caused the principles of the Orthodox Church to slowly loose importance. Ukrainian scholars were strongly influenced by the ideas of the outstanding European humanists. This kind of situation created a positive atmosphere of tolerance among different branches of Church.

One of the most characteristic features of Baroque was the ambivalence in the ways of perceiving the world, which resulted from the accepted notion concerning the dual character of the human nature. The baroque anthropology was accompanied by the ideas of Reformation which brought the western and eastern theological concepts together. This is the main reason why the unexplored history of the Ukrainian spiritual culture is presently of such interest for scholars.