Kononovych-Horbatsky, Yosyf

Kononovych-Horbatsky, Yosyf [Кононович-Горбацький, Йосиф; Kononovyč-Horbac'kyj, Josyf], b ?, d ca 1653. Orthodox bishop and educator. A graduate of the Zamostia Academy, he was one of the first scholars from Western Ukraine to be invited by Metropolitan Petro Mohyla to teach in Kyiv. He lectured on rhetoric (1635–6) and philosophy (1639–42), and served as rector (1642–6) of the Kyivan Mohyla College. In 1642 he headed the delegation of the Ukrainian Orthodox church to the Council of Iaşi, where he defended the use of Jesuit pedagogical methods and of Latin in Orthodox education. After serving as hegumen of the Saint Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, he was consecrated bishop of Vitsebsk, Orsha, Mstsislau, and Mahiliou in 1650.

Kononovych-Horbatsky’s course manuals Orator Mohileanus Marci Tullii Ciceronis apparatisimis partitionibus excultus (1635–6), In dialecticarum institutionum disputationes prooemium (1635–6), and Subsidium logicae (1639–40) are the earliest records of courses taught at the Kyivan Mohyla College. The logic course, which is the first part of a three-year philosophy course, is based on Aristotle’s Organon and shows a nominalist tendency. Excerpts from the three courses have been translated into Ukrainian and published in Filosofs'ka dumka, nos 1–3 (1972).

Natalia Pylypiuk

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