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SPIRITUAL AND INTELLECTUAL FORMATION OF THE PERSONALITY IN THE PEDAGOGICAL VIEWS OF IVAN OHIENKO

The article highlights the priority value orientations of spiritual and intellectual formation of a personality in the pedagogical views of Ivan Ohienko. It is emphasized that Christian values should form the basis of the spiritual and national system of upbringing. The importance of developing the spiritual consciousness of the growing personality is emphasized.
Keywords: Ivan Ohienko, Christian values, spirituality, consciousness, personality, upbringing.

Kuchynska I. O.
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor,
Ivan Ohienko Kamianets-Podilskyi National University, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.198

The issue of spirituality, that is, the category of human existence that expresses its ability to create culture and self-creation, has certainly been, is, and will remain relevant, important, and fundamental. Today’s desire for the development of spirituality, the acquisition of intellectual traits, and the cognitive ability of thinking, which is fundamentally different in its creative, active nature from passive sensual forms of cognition, inspires and relies on the achievements of prominent national figures.

The purpose of the article is to explore the priority value orientations of spiritual and intellectual formation of the individual in the pedagogical views of Ivan Ohienko.

One of the founders of the national education system in the years of the revival of the Ukrainian state was Ivan Ohienko, an unsurpassed original researcher of the spiritual treasures of the native language, history, Christianity, literature and culture. He was one of the first to prove that education will be effective only if the content of education concentrates the ideological and moral achievements of the native people, reflects their national traditions, customs, and rituals. An important feature of Ivan Ohienko’s pedagogical theory and practice is that his didactic views and educational ideas constitute a holistic system in which all components are interconnected and aimed at forming a spiritual personality, a patriot, and a citizen of independent Ukraine. These ideas are important for today, as they influence the formation of generations of educated patriots.

The most famous works of I. Ohienko are: “Ukrainian Culture” (Kyiv, 1918), “Ukrainian Church” (Kyiv, 1918), “History of Ukrainian Printing” (Lviv, 1925), “Science of Native Language Duties” (Zhovkva, 1936), “Ukrainian Literary Language” (Winnipeg, 1950), “The Book of Our Being in a Foreign Land” (Winnipeg, 1956), “Pre-Christian Beliefs of the Ukrainian People” (Winnipeg, 1965), and others.

We consider it appropriate to emphasize that the scholar considered the Orthodox Church as an indispensable component of the process of forming a “conscious Ukrainian nation.” It was I. Ogienko (Metropolitan Hilarion) who clearly defined the features that characterize Ukrainian Orthodoxy, namely: democracy, conciliarism, evangelism, and domesticity. His writings substantiated the issue of the language of church and religious life, the role of the church in the cultural life of the nation, and Christian ecumenism.

I. Ohienko saw the value of “spirituality lessons” in their organic unity with the way of life of the people, their history, spiritual culture, and national traditions. The ideas and means of religious education, compared to many means and ideas of scientific pedagogical science, embody spirituality, that is, national psychology, worldview, ideology, etc., more deeply and completely. That is why Christian ethics, according to the teacher, should form the basis of a spiritual and national system of education, shaping the spiritual and intellectual aspirations of a growing personality.

It is important to emphasize that without the use of Christian educational traditions, the development of spiritual consciousness, according to the scholar, was simply impossible. Without knowledge of the relationship between religion and spiritual culture, the function of religion and its importance in human society, the history of the emergence and current situation of the world’s major religions, etc., Ivan Ohienko believed that it makes no sense to talk about the spiritual development of consciousness.

Thus, the Christian heritage is an important means of developing spiritual consciousness, which contributes to the individual’s awareness of himself in his relations to the outside world, other people, and his place in life.

The most important role in the formation of the qualities of spiritual consciousness undoubtedly belongs to education, in the process of which a growing personality, learning about other people and their attitudes toward each other, thereby learns about himself or herself, certain qualities in himself or herself. Ivan Ogienko noted that such forms of social influence as theater, newspapers, magazines, radio, television – everything that contributes to a person’s cognition of other people, and through them, of himself or herself – also play an important role. That is why he demanded that this influence be in the native language and reflect the spiritual and national life of the Ukrainian people. Thus, I. Ogienko rightly notes that:

“The language is our national characteristic, our culture, the degree of our consciousness is in the language. Language is a form of our life, cultural and national life, a form of national organization. Language is the soul of every nationality, its sacredness, its most valuable treasure… Of course, not language itself, but language as a certain organ of culture and tradition. Language is our old and new culture, a sign of our national recognition. Language is not only a simple symbol of understanding, because it is created in a certain culture, in a certain tradition. In this case, language is the clearest expression of our psyche, it is the first guardian of our mental self…” [7, с. 239-240].

According to Ivan Ohienko, the properly organized development of spiritual consciousness forms a full-fledged personality, a sovereign individual who values his or her civic, national and personal dignity, conscience and honor, and creates conditions for the fullest possible development of the psyche, national character, way of thinking and feeling of children.

The desires and aspirations of the prominent Ukrainian in the formation of a strong, self-sufficient, patriotic and certainly spiritual personality look extremely modern. For the more successful development of spiritual consciousness, Ivan Ivanovych Ohienko in his work The Book of Our Being in a Foreign Land (Winnipeg, 1956) insisted on:

— establishing in the minds of young people spiritual, national, cultural, linguistic unity, national separateness and uniqueness, understanding the importance of their own state for the development of spirituality and the need to build it;
— education of “sincere Christians” and national patriots, whose priority is Christian ethics and the good of the whole nation and care for its progress;
— Comprehensive preparation for creative work on building and defending an independent Ukrainian state, defending the interests of the Ukrainian Orthodox faith, native spiritual and material culture, and through them – for participation in the universal culture;
— development of spiritual thinking, active, non-violent, responsible attitude to solving problems of their community, country, and the whole world
— emotional development and the ability to perceive, apply and evaluate relevant norms and actions;
— studying the theoretical foundations of morality, forming moral ideas and concepts in children, organizing their experience of moral behavior and activities that meet the requirements of Christian ethics and aesthetics
— formation of moral feelings [8].

In I. Ohienko‘s interpretation, national culture was supposed to develop as a type of open culture that combines knowledge of the historical experience of its people with the awareness of their belonging to the universal cultural process. In his speeches, the prominent Ukrainian emphasized the importance of forming a spiritual, patriotic, literate society that would benefit his country.

List of references

1. Hilarion. God and the World: a reader for young people in Sunday and Ukrainian schools and families. Winnipeg: Volyn Society, 1964. 72 с.
2. Hilarion. Faith. A word in a time of trouble. Hill, 1944. 19 с.
3. Hilarion. Ukrainian culture and our church. The ideology of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church: a biography. Winnipeg: Volyn Society, 1991. 84 с.
4. Kuchynska I. Education of spiritual values of children and youth in the creative heritage of Ivan Ohienko: a textbook. Kamianets-Podilskyi: Abetka-NOVA, 2002. 104 с.
5. Kuchynska I. Spiritual sources of Ivan Ohienko: a study guide. Kamianets-Podilskyi: Abetka-NOVA, 2004. 88 с.
6. Ogienko I. Science of native language duties. Zhovkva, 1936. 72 с.
7. Ogienko I. Ukrainian culture. A brief history of the cultural life of the Ukrainian people. Kyiv: Abris, 1991.
8. Hilarion. The Book of Our Being in a Foreign Land (Let’s Save All Our Native Things!). Winnipeg: Ukrainian Scientific Theological Society, 1956. 167 с.