SERMONS ON HOLY DAYS, DELIVERED BY HISEMINENCE BISHOP IRINEY FALKOVSKYAT THE HOLY MICHAEL’S GOLDEN-DOMEDMONASTERY

Abstract

This article is devoted to understanding the homiletic legacy of His Eminence Iriney Falkovsky, namely the sermons delivered on the day of remembrance of the saints of the Orthodox Church during his archpastoral work as abbot of the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery (1807–1811, 1813–1823). Thanks to handwritten collections stored in the archives of the Manuscript Institute of the National Library of Ukraine, the author attempted to analyse the teachings on the day of remembrance of a particular saint and identify the peculiarities of rhetorical forms and approaches in their delivery. Attention is also focused on topics to which His Eminence Iriney paid the most attention, in particular, a series of 186 short instructive talks on God’s eternal retribution, which constitutes the largest and most complete preserved corpus of his legacy. The author’s important aspects and approaches to preparing sermons and his use of both divine revelation and various church sources, in particular the works of the holy fathers of the Church of Christ, especially during the golden age, in the development of theological thought, are analysed. The teachings of Bishop Iriney show a clear thematic focus, taking into account both the audience’s level of understanding and the circumstances of the time, as well as the need to support or rebuke the monastic community or parishioners present at the monastery. The great diligence of His Eminence Iriney in preparing his sermons is evident not only in the clarity of the text he wrote himself, but also in the many revisions and improvements he made to the original text. It is mentioned that the teachings also contain polemical moments directed against Western beliefs, especially Protestant beliefs and their denial of eternal torment after death and the terrible Judgment of God.

The examples given from sermons on holidays and saints’ days demonstrate both restrained logical forms of presentation and emotionally charged, figurative fragments that refute the one-sided assessment of Bishop Iriney’ style.