ANTHROPOCENTRIC DIMENSIONS OF UKRAINIAN CULTURE (IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ARCHETYPE OF THE WISE OLD MAN)

Purpose. Philosophy of culture is an extremely multifaceted field, which includes the anthropological segment as well. In particular, we can talk about the role of man (personality) in cultural progress in a particular period of development of the society. To some extent, this problem may also apply to the theory of archetypes, which is rapidly developing today, being used not only in philosophy but also in other fields, deeply penetrated into the methodology of humanities knowledge. Therefore, we used interdisciplinary tools for this study. The purpose of this work is to study the influence of personality on the development of Ukrainian culture in a global, comprehensive dimension, based on the experience and works of famous figures that carried out cultural activities in a certain historical period. In this case, we can appeal to the archetype of the Wise Old Man, which contains a set of permanent features (ordinary and transcendent) that connect its projections with both the "foretype" and at the same time the "accumulation" of experience. Theoretical basis. Based on the work of famous researchers in the field of philosophy, anthropology, analytical psychology, ethnophilosophy (C. Jung, Z. Freud, M. Scheler, F. Nietzsche, F. Schelling, W. Eco, G. Gachev, A. Bolshakova, L. Koshetarova, M. Eliade, O. Kyryliuk, S. Krymsky, V. Lychkovakh, T. Shestopalova, M. Nesteleev, Z. Bosyk, etc.), the authors note the insufficient elaboration of the topic regarding the distinction of anthropological (including anthropocentric) dimensions of different cultural periods of Ukraine in chronological order. Originality. The authors of the article prove that the continuity of the accumulation of anthropocentric features in individuals gives them transcendence, elevate to the archetype of the Wise Old Man, which can be perceived as a universal process against the ethnic development background. Conclusions. As a result of the study, we can say that the role of individual key figures in the development of national culture is quite noticeable. This can be traced both at the local level and at the national level, when we should talk about individuals who in a certain period of development of society and culture were leading and became a kind of embodiment of universal experience accumulated in an individual with a certain identity, which is the "personality" required in "that place" and "that time". For this reason, we turn to the archetype of the Wise Old Man as an "invariant", a "conductor", which reflects the most realized and individualized personality in a particular chronotope.


Introduction
Anthropocentrism both as a philosophical concept and as a direction of philosophical or theological teachings sees a man as the centre of the Universe and as the existence in general. Some elements of anthropocentrism can be traced back to early societies, in particular, in primitive beliefs based on demonological and mythological worldview. At one time, Socrates and Aristotle drew attention to this, seeing in man (Homo sapiens) the crown of the development of nature and society. Protagoras is known to have considered man "the measure of all things". Plato and his followers put forward the idea of the union of man with God, which he achieved in an ecstatic state, accumulating a certain experience and, at the same time, going beyond it, acquired transcendent traits. This opened the way to the knowledge of God, and in him -of himself. In Christianity, on the other hand, we do not see such "self-dissolution" and "merging" because man becomes the central object of God's providence. Accordingly, the forms of self-knowledge and the ways of man "to himself" change: it is the acquisition of personal freedom (freedom of spirit), Philosophers-phenomenologists reduce, by philosophical reduction, the existence of the phenomenon to the existence in the realm of consciousness. In the teachings of the founder of this trend E. Husserl, philosophical and scientific objectivism is replaced by transcendental subjectivism, which is based on the "pre-scientific" activity of thought and feeling. Man is an active participant in the world. (authors' transl.) (Sokolov, 2001) Phenomenology in the philosophical field has points of intersection with anthropocentrism. From this point of view, we can speak of a person exceptional in something or everything, who has unique features or life, whose influence is felt not only on the immediate environment, but is noticeable against the background of the era. In various spheres of social life there are known the "leaders", their role is inevitable. Comprehending their biographies and activities from the heights of time, we observe not only the concentration of reason, experience, but also elements of transcendence, which brings them closer to the archetype of the Wise Old Man in the epochmaking sense.
Today in the Ukrainian philosophical science and humanities in general there is a very large number of constants, operated by scientists: prototypes, foretypes, primary elements, universals, cross-cutting structures, types, etc. Considering their features, we can say that they are all largely covered by the concept of archetype introduced by C. Jung (2013), who relied on the idea of "eternal prototypes" of Plato and interpreted them as the "collective unconscious", which has not individual but hereditary development and "consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes, which can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form to certain psychic contents" (p. 65). Unlike the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious, according to the scientist, has a "universal nature, that is, that in contrast to the individual psyche has contents and modes of behavior that are, cum grano salis, the same everywhere and in all individuals", "it is identical to itself in all men and thus constitutes a foundation of existing supra-psychic nature in every man" (Jung, 2013, p. 12).
In addition to C. Jung, many foreign and Ukrainian scientists of the past and present, including M. Scheler, F. Nietzsche, K. Levi-Strauss, F. Schelling, J. Fraser, W. Eco, O. Remenets and many others turned to the study of archetypes at the level of various scientific fields.
Modern definitions of the archetype, based on Jung's understanding of the concept, still have some differences, indicating primarily the development of the theory of the archetype, expanding its semantics and meaning, penetration into various spheres of life, which determines the inter-disciplinary approaches to its study. For example, V. Zelensky (2000) in the Dictionary of Analytical Psychology gives the following definition of the term: "Archetype (Greek -type, image; prototype, proforma) is a foretype, initial image, idea, original form for subsequent formations" (authors' transl.) (p. 25).
With the last phrase, the author actually opens the horizons to understand the pervasiveness of the concept of archetype, explaining the nature of which, M.  writes that archetypes "are the prototypes of religious beliefs, feelings, aspirations and activities shared by people regardless of their origin, education or cultural background" (p. 70).
Interpreting the understanding of archetypes according to C. Jung, S. Krymsky (2008b) called them «symbolic schemes of the "collective subconscious"», noting: "The point is that during the immersion of a person in the depths of his own psyche, he finds in them the collective ideas of the human race" and, accordingly, "raises personal destiny to the destiny of mankind" (authors' transl.) (p. 305).
Originating as prototype ideas, the archetypes, being transformed, become cross-cutting "transpersonal phenomena", gaining somewhat different forms in national life and culture, but remaining unchanged in meaning at the core, after all, according to C. Jung (1991), they are "structural and energetic basis around which the spiritual space of the individual is formed" (authors' transl.) (p. 91).

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyse the anthropocentric model of a cultural figure of the era with its figurative and personal realization as an archetype of the Wise Old Man. Accordingly, the main tasks of the work are: to determine the main features and meaning of the archetype of the Wise Old Man and their representation in Ukrainian culture; to build a chronological paradigm of transformation and construction of the archetype of the Wise Old Man in Ukrainian culture, based on the most striking examples characteristic of a particular period of development of national existence.

Statement of basic materials
Anthropocentrism as one of the directions of anthropology is well-founded and has many semantic branches, semantic loci of its manifestation. One of such segments, where it is partially realized, can be considered the sphere of archetypes that relate directly to man and his existence. In particular, in this aspect, we believe anthropocentrism to interact closely with the archetype of the Wise Old Man.
An archetype outside of action and being (as a nominee) is not objectively or subjectively (materially) delineated, acting as a certain set of features that are inherent in it. Only by projecting these features into reality we obtain a certain embodiment of the archetype. Analysing the theory of C. Jung's archetypes, C. Roesler (2014) explains that they are presented by the scientist as "angeborene Muster des Erlebens und Verhaltens, die stark affektiv aufgeladen sind und sich auf das Verhalten von Menschen unbewusst auswirken" (p. 165).
The archetype of the Wise Old Man reveals its features only through projection, in which, from the point of view of philosophical anthropology and the theory of ethnocentrism, it acts as the most individualized and realized personality. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the study of D. , who calls the archetype "anthropological constant". Such "constants" give birth to ethnic cultural archetypes, which over time crystallize and manifest themselves in specif-ic images of a particular era. A. Bolshakova (2010) also emphasizes the aspects of studying the "problem of the archetype", focusing on the structure, model of development and components of the cultural archetype as a "prototype of the cultural unconscious". The scientist defines archetypes "as basic concepts that define the coordinates in which a person perceives and comprehends the world and carries out his life" (authors' transl.) (Bolshakova, 2010, p. 48).
Such a "foretype", "basic concept", "cultural universal", "prototype", which is projected in national cultures into specific epoch-making archetypal images, is the above-mentioned archetype of the Wise Old Man. S. Krymsky regarding the origin and existence of such archetypal images noted: Considering the archetypes of certain national cultures, we do not mean some "spiritual genes", but certain presuppositions, i.e. trends that are realized in different eras by images. These images sometimes differ in the means of expression, but structurally form certain prototypes or can be reconstructed as prototypes. (authors' transl.) (Krymsky, 2008b, p. 305) The scientist made a very significant contribution to the development of ethnophilosophy in general and the study of national and cultural archetypes in particular, about which he wrote: Original forms, or archetypes, characterize the development of sociocultural phenomena. They do not deny social and cultural progress, but, on the contrary, are an indicator of the fundamentality of its results. After all, the more thorough the cultural achievement, the deeper it grows into the historical layer of civilization… (authors' transl.) (Krymsky, 2008b, p. 305) Speaking about the realization of the archetype of the Wise Old Man as a central figure in Ukrainian culture, it is necessary to determine first of all the features it was endowed with. The first such sign can be considered mature age (old man), which, accordingly, determined its second trait -reason, wisdom, spirituality, renunciation of the material. Both of these features, as we see, are already present in the nomination of the archetype. Manifestations of wisdom often came to people as a miraculous salvation at a critical (sometimes for life) time. This feature in the archetype of the Wise Old Man was distinguished by C. Jung, who noted that The old man always appears when the hero is in a hopeless and desperate situation from which only profound reflection or a lucky idea -in other words, a spiritual function or intrapsychic automatism of some kind, can extricate him. But since, for internal and external reasons, the hero cannot accomplish this himself, the knowledge needed to compensate the deficiency comes in the form of a personified thought, i.e. in the shape of this sagacious and helpful old man. (Jung, 2004, p. 298) In this regard, a very productive opinion was expressed by N. Bharti (2017) that, according to C. Jung, "archetypes are not ideas themselves, but are structures which empower the potentiality of ideas. It is the inherent symbolism of the image that they represent…". The scientist emphasizes that "archetypes are triggered especially in situations where in a certain limitation of the conscious sphere calls for a compensatory function on the part of the unconscious" (Bharti, 2017, p. 128).
The third fundamental component of the image of the Wise Old Man is "Self", or "being-inoneself" (Scheler, 1988), in other words, his high personal level and status, individualism, selfsufficiency, inner anthropocentrism. Achieving the Self as the highest quality of the individual "self" is associated with the process of personality formation, when a person tries to know the world as deeply as possible and realize his place, "accomplish" in it, that is, determines selfsearch, self-knowledge (let us recall the Skovoroda's "Know yourself"). This process, as a rule, involves self-immersion, being in a state of supreme existence. Actually, this can be defined as the process of formation of "personality" (compare: being "in-itself" -self-absorption, "person", "personality). This is confirmed by the words of S. Krymsky (2003), who wrote that "awareness of individuality forms the highest instance of human self-personality" (p. 35). Such "isolation" (from others) and "personification" (in itself) is a way to distinguish from a monotonous society, individualization (which sometimes leads to even self-struggle and "overcoming oneself", according to C. Jung, -"Self-search"), the acquisition of exceptional traits, rising above others. In the process of existential changes, these traits are transformed and give rise to the concept of the Self, the "microcosm" as the "inner centre of the human personality". S. Krymsky (2003) expressed the belief that the personality is a "morally directed system, the result of a person's conscious choice of his own image", which is determined by the ability to "be the master of himself" and presupposes the "transformation of the creative beginning of man, his graceful ascent to the level of harmony with the spirit" (authors' transl.) (p. 36). The importance of forming one's own spiritual space in the process of formation of "Self-personality" was considered by the researcher to be almost a sacred internal individual process, because, in his opinion, "through the selfconstruction of the individuality, the formation of his inner microcosm, a person can make the fact of death to be not the end, but the crown of life" (authors' transl.) (Krymsky, 2003, p. 36).
Thus, we can say that the image of the Wise Old Man projected into the national culture was almost always endowed with exceptional, sometimes even superhuman capabilities (C. Jung) and mental abilities, embodying the idea of "superman". However, such features of the archetype of the Wise Old Man did not deprive his image projected in culture of the human nature and even sinfulness. Ethno-cultural personifications of this archetype can be traced in various chronotopic projections: both at the local level (within the settlement or as a "variant of the invariant", re-flected in the culture of a certain period, direction), and against the background of culture of a certain people, ethnic group in general, which is the subject of research in this article.
If we talk about the embodiment of anthropocentric features and projections of the archetype of the Wise Old Man in the Ukrainian cultural tradition from ancient times, we should first emphasize the mythological-ritual constant, as ancient society was thoroughly ritualized. Perhaps the roots of the analysed archetype should be sought in the most revered animated spirits (demonology), and later in the supreme tribal gods (mythology) worshiped by the tribes. This is suggested by the Veles Book, the first written record of the ancient Slavic community, the supreme god of which was Veles (despite the different attitude of scholars to this record, it still deserves attention). "Communication" with them took place with the help of priests -a special caste, which primarily monitored the performance of cults.
From the point of view of the archetype of the Wise Old Man, the initiation rites and, accordingly, those who conducted ordeals with the initiates (chosen cult figures) attract the most attention during this period. After E. Tylor's (1989) work "Primitive Culture", in which the author touches on this issue, and under its direct influence, the "institute of kings-priests" was most thoroughly analyzed by J. Frazer (2001) in the book-study of primitive religions "The Golden Bough", which presents the collected by the author extremely comprehensive factual ethnographic material relating to the development of many primitive societies.
In the absence of writing in the Slavic (and other) communities, some pagan priests acted as custodians of secret knowledge, had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of the people, adjusted and managed the system of rituals and rites, sacrifices, led a special way of life, performed initiation rites and sometimes in transcendental state, could even predict the future. They went to this status all their lives and acquired it in adulthood, and therefore were "isolated" from the general public. Such the most "ordained" and spiritually self-sufficient priest in the society of that time can be considered a prototype of the Wise Old Man.
Magical tales, the texts of which reconstruct the elements of myth, mythological worldview in general, have preserved echoes of the archetype of the Wise Old Man in the images of elders who conduct initiation ordeals of young men, because it is "with the help of folklore works that have been the ʹart of memoryʹ, the people have been passing the experience of their lives, views on good and evil and human values from generation to generation for centuries" (authors' transl.) (Sorochuk, 2015). A striking example of this is the fairy tale "Oh", in which the protagonist -an old man with a long "knee-length" beard -initiates a boy, teaching him to change the world around him and change himself in the miraculous way. To do this, the Elder (Sage) allows the initiate to realize his destiny, and then, overcoming it, i.e. the generic purpose, go beyond his own "Self" and, returning to the "tabula rasa", absorb new knowledge and thus fulfil a new mission. M.-L. von Franz (2004), the colleague and follower of C. Jung, having researched myths, fairy tales and other sacred texts for a long time, concluded that almost all fairy tales describe such a mental phenomenon as "human comprehension of their own Self", awareness of their purpose and meaning of life, which is a difficult super-task for the average person and seems possible only in the future, which is projected by the very fairy-tale reality. "That is why", writes the researcher, "hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions with a musician's variations are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness; and even then the theme is not exhausted" (Franz, 2004, p. 10).
In the process of consolidation of ancient Slavic tribes, the functions of priests are divided over time; among them there are those who ruled the more separate sphere of life: economic, military, spiritual, etc. There appears a special caste of "clergy", which is called the magi (there were other groups of clergy who charmed, healed, etc. However, they did not stand out so much from the general public, having their occupation more as the craft, rather than the way life). The name "magus" ("volkhv" in Ukrainian) could be derived from the word "magic" (Ukr. "volshba"), i.e. "divination" (Ukr. "vorozhba"), which conveys the intent of these representatives. Some scholars have suggested that such a nomination might have originated from the Ukrainian word "volokhatyi" ("hairy"), i.e. one with long hair and a beard. According to ancient beliefs, hair was associated with ancestors, it was the power of the magi. Therefore, in pre-princely and early princely times, the magi can be thought of as persons who were also prototypes of the archetype of the Wise Old Man. We find echoes of them in Old Russian literature.
With the introduction of Christianity in Rus' by Vladimir the Great there is a certain "break" in the minds of Ruthenians, there are changes in the worldview, the paradigm of thought categories, views on man and God. The process was long and ambiguous. Kievan Rus' of the X-XII centuries became "antiquity" for Ukrainian culture, a period when the features of our mentality crystallized, ideals and spiritual landmarks changed. During this period, against the background of the formation of Christian consciousness after Vladimir's Christianization, three main figures clearly appear, in which we can "read" the symbolic elements of the Wise Old Man archetype. First of all, it is Yaroslav the Wise (978-1054), the Builder, who by his actions laid the foundations of Conciliarity, Sophia (the way of government and, accordingly, the philosophy of another worldview), territorial unity, embodied the idea of a new faith by "peaceful" flow from one level of worldview to another. This was occasionally and fragmentarily mentioned in the works of S. Krymsky (2008a), V. Lychkovakh (2011) and other researchers.
Volodymyr Monomakh (1053-1125) is seen as the second such figure of Kyiv-Russian times. Despite various conflicts in life, he was a devoted defender of the integrity of the state (restrained princely strife), a zealous Christian, a highly moral person and left a timeless testament "Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh to Children" referring to his successor rulers. The main postulates of this teaching today, after almost a millennium, remain relevant and deserve to be studied not only in the course of the history of literature; it contains a deep philosophical foundation, which to this day remains not fully explored and unknown, and contains wise commandments for the future. Talking about his own life, the prince writes about the predestination of human destiny and that you need to rely only on God, without His providence nothing will happen. The moral and ethical orientation and the philosophical and didactic basis of the "Teaching" are extremely strong, where all the postulates are supported by autobiographical examples.
Another iconic figure of Kievan Rus' can be considered Metropolitan Hilarion (990-1054 or 1055), the first Russian metropolitan, a scholar and pious, whose attitude was not unequivocal in his time for openness and truthfulness. However, under any circumstances, even when he had to hide under other people's names, he did not betray the faith and the Russian people. As it is known, Metropolitan Hilarion organized the First Kyiv-Pechersk Chronicle in 1073, wrote the works "Confession of Faith", a small sermon to the priests, "Epistle to the Stylite Brother". But the culmination of the greatness of his thought was the "Word of Law and Grace", first delivered as a sermon in St. Sophia Cathedral in 1049. However, the work goes beyond the sermon, representing not only ecclesiastical, but also moral and philosophical treatise, composed in difficult for Rus' time of disagreement with Byzantium, including in church affairs. The last part of the "Word…" is essentially a nationwide prayer.
The mentioned personalities of the times of Kievan Rus' represent the three most important directions of public life of the then-state, and their deeds, the left material and spiritual heritage, monuments and ideas which do not lose the value even today, allow to speak from height of time about their archetypal features of the Wise Old Man.
With the decline of Kievan Rus' after the Mongol-Tatar invasion comes a long decline of cultural and spiritual life, which eventually resumes, slowly gaining strength, but for a long time without pushing out of its environment the key cultural figures who would create the philosophy of the time. Against this background, there are only noticeable the state-building activity of Danylo Halytsky, and a little later the collaborative work in defense of Orthodoxy and the cultural and educational work of Prince V.-K. Ostrozky, who opened in Ostroh in Volyn the first higher educational institution in Ukraine -the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy.
The significant personalities are reappearing in our culture only in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and they are not just outstanding cultural and educational figures, writers, scientists, theologians, but, in our opinion, have the characteristics of the archetype of the Wise Old Man. These are Petro Mohyla, Theophan Prokopovich and Hryhoriy Skovoroda. In addition to outstanding achievements, about which many works have been written and which we do not intend to list, these famous representatives of Ukrainian culture had the ability to such actions, which even today are difficult to explain logically. For the nation as a whole, their activities were epochal.
Petro Mohyla (1597-1647) was a descendant of an ancient boyar family, the son of a wealthy Moldavian and Wallachian landlord, who received a good education (Lviv Brethren School, Zamoiska Academy, schools in Holland and Paris), knew several foreign languages, achieved great success and easily could build a secular or military career. But, as a true representative of the Baroque era, he chose Kyiv to carry out his plans, accepted monasticism, and at the age of 30 became archimandrite of the Pechersk Lavra after Zachary Kopystensky (1627); in 1631 he headed the school at the Pechersk Lavra, and a year later became rector of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. His identity, ambition and, together, obedience to God are and will remain a mystery for many generations to come. Petro Mohyla was engaged in scientific, educational, diplomatic activities, wrote a number of scientific and theological works, textbooks; assembled a large library; was elected Metropolitan of Kyiv; as a monk, he preached restraint, simplicity and unpretentiousness to living conditions, and at the same time had large personal land holdings and wealth, which he used to build the Lavra and the Academy.
Theophan (Eleazar, Elisha) Prokopovich (1681-1736) is a man of interesting and difficult destiny. Having become an orphan at a young age, he was under the care of his uncle Theophan Prokopovich (he later adopted his name), and due to his own perseverance and talent he received a higher education. After graduating from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, he studied at the universities of Rome, twice took monastic vows and twice changed denominations; was a poet, orator, priest, philosopher, politician, theologian, professor, archbishop, rector of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; had experience in the fields of astrology, physics, state formation.
The crown of this triad can rightly be considered Hryhoriy Skovoroda . His life credo is undoubtedly the words "The world tried to catch me but could not…". Possessing remarkable knowledge and talents, having a good education (also studied at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy), being a poet, theologian, teacher, he preferred personal spiritual freedom and became a wandering philosopher, for which he is called a "hermit pilgrim", some consider him even a mystic, because he had the gift of foresight or perfect intuition (he even predicted the day of his demise). Having a creative and scientific heritage, he did not publish any work during his lifetime. But now we admire his wise fables, parables, "philosophy of the heart", interesting ideas.
Actually, having in mind not only talent, high education, achievements in various branches of humanities, but also some extraordinariness in a way of life and separate abilities and decisions of P. Mohyla, T. Prokopovich and H. Skovoroda, we can speak that in their times, they absorb and reflect the anthropocentric features of the Wise Old Man archetype, as they significantly influence the formation of the Ukrainian cultural space and the "face" of that era.
The end of the XVIII-XIX centuries was marked by the extremely rapid development of Ukrainian culture in general. It resulted in the emerged new literary paradigm, professional painting and a number of humanities, public organizations, development of philosophy, changes in styles and trends, the formation of Ukrainian intellectual class, development of education, including higher one, as well as science. Of course, against this background, each industry has its leaders, writers, philosophers, artists, scientists, whose importance for the development of Ukrainian culture is truly extraordinary. However, when we look more closely at this era, searching for the one who embodied the anthropocentric features of the analysed archetype the most, we constantly come across the actually pervasive image of Kobzar as a "personification" of wisdom, Self, extrasocial and at the same time social authority projected from the days of the Cossacks and even from Kievan Rus'. It seems that for centuries there has been a process of accumulation of archetypal traits of the Wise Old Man, in order to concentrate them in one image as an archetypal "invariant", and not at the level of high ranks, education or positions, but, on the one hand, essentially descending almost to the "prototype", on the other -embodying the highest movements of the Spirit of the nation. By this we mean, first, those nameless "homers" and "rhapsodists" who, through their thoughts and historical songs, carried the freedom-loving Cossack spirit to the people, called for the struggle for freedom, and turned them to God and mercy in psalms. Often blind, they were not considered elders, but "God's people". Secondly, these are also those kobzars whose names have already been recorded by scientists (Ostap Veresai, Andriy Shut, Kharko Tsekhmister and many others, about whose life we have more or less detailed information). And thirdly, it is the image of the great Ukrainian prophet Taras Shevchenko, because it is through the association of his works with the works of folk kobzars that he called his main book of poetry "Kobzar", in connection with which he himself is called the Kobzar of Ukraine. In this context, we can speak of the manifestation of national features of the archetype, as kobzarism is a purely Ukrainian cultural phenomenon. Under certain conditions, cultural archetypes can become symbols of culture, which "resemble" or appose the phenomenon (object, image, etc.) to the "prototype" and which S. Krymsky called "the language of culture", "states of human life", which "form a special semiotic texture of being or its mental ontology". And such an ontology, according to the scientist, "needs a special state of spirituality" (authors' transl.) (Krymsky, 2008a, p. 22).
The romantic paradigm, when the literary-centric model prevailed in Ukrainian culture in general, covered all areas of cultural life, returned artists and researchers to folklore and its creators and bearers. Paradoxically, kobzarism, as a phenomenon that suddenly found itself on the verge of destruction due to persecution, is at the same time the focus of the population -from the common people, who have long revered these wandering singers and sages to the royal palaces and intellectuals. Writers, who at the same time become folklorists, try to preserve the thought epic, which forms the basis of the repertoire of kobzars (M. Tsertelev, A. Metlinsky, M. Maksi-movich, P. Kulish, etc.), recording and publishing the song collections, which still are the constant source base for researchers. Artists immortalize their images in portraits, so we have, say, an authentic image of the famous kobzar Ostap Veresai of the XIX-th century painted by L. Zhemchuzhnikov; folklorists in folklore and ethnographic collections describe the life and work of folk "homers", as, for example, P. Kulish in the "Notes on Southern Russia", communicate with them personally and correspond. And few writers and romantic poets bypassed the image of the kobzar in their own work, most concentratedly endowing their hero with the archetypal features of the Wise Old Man. We find him in the works of M. Gogol, H. Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Anna Barvinok, O. Storozhenko and many other authors. But most clearly the existence of the prototype of the Wise Old Man can be traced in the image of Perebendya from the poetry of the same name by T. Shevchenko and the Bozhyi Cholovik (Man of God, holy man) from P. Kulish's novel "Chorna Rada" ("The Black Council"). Their comparative characteristics are presented in the monograph "Folklorism of Ukrainian Romantic Prose" (Yankovska, 2016). V. Kushpet (2007) wrote about such a translation of the kobzar's image into literary work: "Approximately since the middle of the ХІХth century the notion of ʹkobzarʹ had become more and more romantic in Ukrainian culture, until it turned into a mythical image like ʹCossack Mamayʹ" (authors' transl.) (p. 20).
In the historical novel "Chorna Rada" by P. Kulish the kobzar is called "Man of God", which testifies first of all to the spiritual superiority, wisdom, sacrifice and, as we can see from the novel, the unusualness of these representatives of society who act as "mediators between God and people", of whom even Cossack officers and priests seek the advice. Obviously, this attitude to the traveling kobzar was formed in the minds of Ukrainians much earlier, under the influence of ancestral worship and mythologizing of the guest. After all, as mentioned earlier, any traveller is a "stranger" who was exposed to the dangers of the liminal zone -the road, and therefore at the time of travel became a border creature -a guest, a person who, like a "polaznik", was perceived as a representative of "the other" world or at least had to do with it, and therefore his wisdom was an indisputable phenomenon. Depicted in P. Kulish's novel, as well as in T. Shevchenko's mentioned poetry "Perebendya", the kobzar was constantly on the road. Therefore, it turns out that he had been a guest-ancestor all the time, because he came from a way-road. This was apparently due to the fact that he often possessed certain traits that were uncharacteristic and incomprehensible to other members of society and that brought this image closer to the archetype of the "Wise Old Man": "The old minstrel was known far and wide as a holy man. He was blind yet walked unaccompanied…", charming and healing wounds of the Cossacks, "with his prayers and songs he encouraged the ailing" (Kulish, 1984, p. 43). The author very transparently emphasizes the transcendent features of the kobzar.
As for T. Shevchenko, it can be noticed that the kobzar is an ontologically and axiologically defining dominant of his work. This image is one of the central concepts of his artistic system, the heritage through which the poet as a creator of artistic, mental, moral values enters the national spiritual treasury, and somewhere influences it. It is also known that T. Shevchenko used the pseudonym Perebendya to sign letters, which indicates a special closeness to the poet of this character, with whom he often identified himself, as well as with the kobzar.
Both analysed works of art unobtrusively but very clearly emphasize the features of the kobzar as an archetypal image of Ukrainian culture, which have developed in the national tradition: wisdom, self-awareness, philosophism. As mentioned above, his "external" blindness leads to an "internal", sensory vision of the world. P. Kulish (2015) in the "Notes on Southern Russia" wrote: "Beggars are excluded by blindness from ordinary living conditions, supposedly in order to develop mental abilities in their inevitable self-absorption, to bring a religious and philosophical element into society and thus to maintain its spiritual life at the height" (authors' transl.) (p. 47).
In this regard, in the "The Black Council" the author noted that "his songs were indeed wondrous to hear[…] The old minstrel's face was radiant and as he sang he raised his eyes as if to see things ordinary mortals could not with open eyes" (Kulish, 1984, p. 48). The same transcendence is observed in the image of Shevchenko's Perebendia: …The old man hid Atop a mound amid the steppe, So no one there would see, So the wind could carry lyrics Far across the field, So people would not hear, For it's the word of God, It's his heart freely talking to the Lord, It's his heart chirruping the Savior's glory, And his muse frolics in the clouds above Beside the world's edge (Shevchenko, 2001, p. 111).
Being "atop a mound amid the steppe, so no one there would see" (high mound is a transcendental-energetic place in the steppe) enhances the effect of kobzar communication with ancestors and space, i.e. inner meditation, when, deprived of sight, he opens other channels of vision, beyond the power of ordinary people.
In the culture (and literature) of the nineteenth century the features of the archetype of the Wise Old Man are also clearly traced in the images of "grandfather", narrator, which are close in meaning to the image of the kobzar (as we know, C. Jung (1991) associated this archetype with "shamans of primitive society" (p. 57), although they have some differences, which may be the subject of a separate study.
Bearing in mind the culture of the XX -early XXI century, we can talk so far only about the translation of certain features and characteristics of the archetype of the Wise Old Man in this period. The modern world is very information-rich, changeable, and the process of "crystallization", "archetyping" of these elements is extended in time and still not completed.

Originality
The originality of the study lies in the complexity and at the same time in the isolation of a certain vector, approach to this topic, because the emergence and presence of anthropocentric features of the archetype of the Wise Old Man were analysed only as a theoretical problem or as a narrow specific phenomenon or image, which was thought of mainly as a universal rather than a national constant. Instead, we can talk about the gradual accumulation of archetypal features of the Wise Old Man and their complex or fragmentary implementation in individual cultural personalities of the nation. We consider this process to be universal, the one that is inherent in the development of different ethnic groups.