“Similis Simili Gaudet”: Lavrentii Kordet and Hryhorii Skovoroda

The paper examines the connections between the rector of Kharkiv Collegium, Archimandrite Lavrentii Kordet, and some of the close friends, acquaintances, and correspondents of Hryhorii Skovoroda. The main focus is on Kordet’s intellectual biography and the essential features of interpersonal communication among the faculty of Kharkiv Collegium in the second half of the 18th century.  The study draws on the principles of network analysis and reconstruction of intellectual network models. The author argues that Lavrentii Kordet, Hryhorii Skovoroda, and some of their friends connected with Kharkiv Collegium (Mykhailo Kovalynskyi, Yov Bazylevych, etc.) embodied the type of person whose identity centered on intellectual activity. They devoted a significant portion of their lives to academic teaching, cared about professional self-improvement, and kept up with the latest scholarly and literary works. These intellectuals engaged in active “academic communication” with their colleagues, which was designed to generate specific activities aimed at dissemination of learning. The community of which Lavrentii Kordet and Hryhorii Skovoroda were part clearly represented a new type of intellectual relations in the lands of Sloboda Ukraine.