Hamaliia, Semen

Hamaliia, Semen [Гамалія, Семен; Hamalija], b 12 August 1743 in Kytaihorod, Poltava regiment, d 22 May 1822 in Avdotin, Moscow gubernia. Philosopher, mystic. A graduate of the Kyivan Mohyla Academy (1763) and of the Academic University in Saint Petersburg (1769), he taught Latin briefly at a cadet corps, served as a functionary of the Imperial Senate (1770–4), and ran Count Z. Chernyshev’s chancellery. He was also a member of the Society for Promoting the Translation of Foreign Books (est 1768) and the Typographic Company of Moscow (est 1784). Retiring in 1784, he devoted the rest of his years to translating the works of mystics such as J. Böhme, J. Vives, and L. Saint-Martin, and to organizing Masonic lodges. His correspondence was published in 1832 and again in 1836–9, but most of his translations remain unpublished.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]