“Library mirror” of Kiev monasteries in the 17th-18th centuries: “living” and “dead” books, Latin and Cyrillic dominants

The article examines the evolution of the reading circle of monks of Kiev monasteries, the formation and expansion of libraries of monasteries, and the influence of the “old” and “new” literary culture on the spiritual and intellectual world of the monks. Based on the example of the libraries of Kiev monasteries, the formation of essential knowledge, cognitive and spiritual priorities and the very system of selection of textual information in the capital monasteries of the Kiev Metropolis is demonstrated. It is shown that the book business in monasteries largely depended on a specific person - the bishop, abbot, patrons and donors or individual members of the brotherhood who formed their own small libraries. The research is based on the study of a representative book collection of the Mikhailovsky Golden- Domed Monastery, for comparison with which information about the library of the Metropolitan Sophia Monastery of the 18th century is used. On the other hand, the book collections of four monasteries in the “outskirts” - Holy Trinity St. Cyril’s, Vydubsky Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Chonae, Pustynno-Nikolsky and Mezhigorsky-Holy Transfiguration - were analyzed. The basic questions are: the human factor in the formation of monastic book collections, Latin and Cyrillic books in libraries as factors of intellectual and spiritual life and the consequences of the dominance of Latin editions, and the reading system and cognitive priorities of the inhabitants of Kiev monasteries. A significant gap is shown between the reading circle of academic monks and monks without special education. Monastic libraries, especially in their Latin part, were a very accurate mirror of the interests and circle of book reading of the monastic hierarchy and monks with an academic education - they were influenced by the Latin dominant in all its senses and intellectual manifestations, and it was they who “revived” books by constant reading. Their personalities and portraits are shown through the “library mirror”.