METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE IN THE WORK OF «THE BOOK OF SOLOMON’S PARABLES (MICHLE) AND ITS LATEST CRITICS» BY PROFESSOR Ya. O. OLESNITSKY

The article deals with the fundamental work of the famous local theologian, biblical scholar and archaeologist of the KTA Yakym Oleksiyovych Olesnitskiy, dedicated to the studies of the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. In his book the honored professor examined the concepts and issues which are still interesting for many theologians: the authorship of “The book of Proverbs”, originality of the text, different researches of nonorthodox authors. The important thing is that Yakym Olesnitskiy knew several foreign languages including scriptural languages, so he himself researched a book and of source basis on original languages, made by scientists. This research explores the reasons of professor’s critical approach to explanations of “The book of Proverbs” by western theologians. The article shows the controversial arguments and the important ideas of Yakym Olesnitskiy and his role in the development of Kyiv orthodox theologian tradition. Havind analyzed professor’s book we discovered the special consistent approach which the scientist had used for studying the Holy Scriptures. The methodology of Y. Olesnitskiy is based on the knowledge of ancient languages; it makes his translation of the book more accurate and qualitative, without turning it into another palimpsest. The author studied the world of national cultural values in the era of Solomon the Wise, this fact is important for the quality of his translation. Yakym Olesnitskiy includes the researches of western and protestant theologians, poets and scientists, who criticized the poetic, parabolic, synthetic nature of the proverbs and mentioned those facts as the reasons of inaccuracies in their researches, evaluation and systematization of the proverbs. Also the methodology is based on the references to the patristic heritage for the explanation of “The book of Proverbs”; it was not only traditional but also havind for him as for an Orthodox theologian. Analyzed the features of “The book of Proverbs” explained by professor Yakym Olesnitskiy, we can mention that the biblical scholar used theological, exegetical, historical and philological methods of research. Comparing the Septuagint and Masoretic texts, we can find canonical and isagogical methods, that shows the inviolability of the Orthodox truth and tradition of interpretation the Holy Scripture. When we talk about Olesnitskiy’s attitude towards Western Bible critics, we see critical, analytical, historical-critical, and accurate research methods. Those methods provide the textual accuracy. The scientist used the method of textual-content criticism and used the writings of Western and Protestant theologians and historians, that was a rule for biblical scholars of that time and it is important for the modern Orthodox biblical scholars. This way of the author’s researches led to the formation of his theological hermeneutics in the field of biblical science at the KTA. Thanks to the saved works of Yakym Olesnitskiy and his students, biblical studies are developing nowadays .The latest modern research help us to develop the theological approaches of nineteenth-century biblical scholars.