Axiological Opposition of Humility and Pride in the 17th-century Ukrainian Didactic Gospels
Axiological Opposition of Humility and Pride in the 17th-century Ukrainian Didactic Gospels

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the means of verbalization of the axiological opposition of humility and pride in the printed and handwritten Ukrainian Didactic Gospels of the 17th century, written in the Old Ukrainian language. Despite the ambiguous perception of humility and pride in modern society, the homiletic texts of early modern Ukraine testify to their unequivocal evaluation in the light of the New Testament ethical paradigm. The “lexicon of humility and pride” of the modern Ukrainian language dates back to religious texts of early modern Ukraine, which convey humility and pride by both Church Slavonic words and the words of “prosta mova” (simple speech), as well as their derivatives and semantic equivalents. In the old Ukrainian sermons for the Sunday of the Pharisee and the Publican, humility and pride are expressed by the cognitive metaphor of spatial orientation (up and down). In the Didactic Gospels, the axiological evaluation of humility and pride is shaped by means of evaluative adjectives, synonymous and compositional repetitions, antithetical and comparative constructions, predicates with the semantics of necessity, purpose, and command.

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