Historiosophical «silhouettes» of Borys Homzyn: on «Istoriia Rusiv», Taras Shevchenko and the Ethical Formula of National Unity

Abstract

The proposed article offers an interpretation of the essay “Two Ukrainian Patriots” (1930) by the prominent Ukrainian cultural figure Borys Homzyn, which constitutes a little-studied part of his creative legacy. The research focuses on exploring the thinker’s historiosophical concept and the ethical formula of national unity he proposed. Following the views of Mykhailo Drahomanov, Borys Homzyn regarded «Istoriia Rusiv» not merely as a historical work, but as a fundamental political monument of the late 18th century, created by Hryhoriy Poletyka, a representative of the Left-Bank nobility. In this treatise, he saw a manifesto defending Cossack liberties and the autonomist tradition, which opposed imperial despotism. Amid the decline of the Hetmanate, literature was forced to assume the succession of the political ideas of «Istoriia Rusiv», becoming a means of preserving national identity. The author substantiated that Borys Homzyn assessed the influence of «Istoriia Rusiv» on Taras Shevchenko as direct and crucial for the formation of historical and national motifs in the poet’s work. Particular attention in the article is focused on the comprehension of the ethical formula for national unity proposed by the essay’s author. The thinker asserted that the profound rift within the Ukrainian elite could only be overcome on a moral and spiritual basis. He identified self-sacrificing love for Ukraine as the unifying factor, one that places the supra-national ideal above estate-based egoism, as evidenced by the ideological kinship between the author of «Istoriia Rusiv» and the author of «Kobzar». Thus, Borys Homzyn’s historiosophy contains a cordocentric concept of the moral grandeur of the patriotic deed, which serves as a fundamental principle for the national consolidation of Ukrainians.