When a man reflects upon himself, responds
to the Holy Spirit that lives and calls within him,
and follows its secret nod instead of his own
whims or the advice of others,
by applying
himself and adhering to the station for which
he was born into the world
and to which he
was assigned by the Highest Being Himself – this is to undertake happily one’s calling with
God.
Whilst he was critical of the veneration of icons, Skovoroda defended
iconographic portrayals of divine Wisdom as a woman, emphasising that
‘basic theological concepts are framed in metaphors for a complex and
imperceptible reality which cannot be conveyed through literal means.’ Skovoroda was familiar with both the German Pietists and with Boehme’s
own works as he is known to have authored several manuscript translations
from Boehme, later discovered among Ukrainian peasants.
from John Noyce, The Wisdom Tradition (2006)
Richard H.Marshall, jr, and Thomas E.Bird, Hryhorij
Skovoroda: an anthology of critical articles (Edmonton:
Canadian Institute of Ukranian Studies, 1994)
T.Zakydalsky, ‘Skovoroda, Hryhorii’, Encyclopedia of
Ukraine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993),
v5:734-735
‘Special issue on Hryhorii Skovoroda’, Journal of Ukranian
Studies 22(1-2), 1997
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