Martyr saint as the reflection of the prototype of the saints and the patron Christ in 17th century poetry: the image of bl. Josaphat of Polotsk "painted in blood"

Straipsnyje aptariami ir nagrinėjami ankstyvieji Juozapatui Kuncevičiui skirti lotyniški epigramų ciklai, palydintys poemą Juozapatida (1628) ir Jokūbo Sušos parašytą Juozapato biografiją (1665). Išskirtinis dėmesys skiriamas baigiamajai pirmojo ciklo epigramai, kurioje reprezentuojamas kankinio krauju „nusipieštas" simbolinis atvaizdas. Straipsnyje ieškoma šios epigramos sąsajų su to meto jėzuitų poezijoje perteikiama Kristaus krauju „tapyto" paveikslo simbolika, koduojančia įvaizdinto slėpinio žinią. Kankinio atvaizdas yra gražus savo negražumu, jo vertei patvirtinti nereikia aukštakilmės genealogijos ir, galima teigti, vienintelis jame įsiamžinantis „mecenatas" yra pats Kristus.This article discusses and analyses the early poetic sources related to Josaphat Kuntsevych: the two long and poorly researched Latin cycles of epigrams accompanying the poem Iosaphatidos sive de nece Josaphat Kuncewicz [...] libri très (1628) and the biography of Josaphat Cursus vitae, et certamen martyrii B. Iosaphat Kuncevicii (1665), written by Jakub Susza. The ten epigrams of the Iosaphatidos cycle (devoted to "separate examples of Josaphat Kuntsevych's virtues") are distinguished by their poetical mastery and the merits of their epigrammatic Baroque style. They are characterized by the play of contrasting meanings and unexpectedly "sharp" final phrases. In the epigrams of the Susza's cycle one can perceive the influence of the earlier cycle's epigrams. Both cycles' epigrams are related by the originally structured system of poetic images that frames certain hagiographie episodes associated with St. Josaphat. In the hagiographie thread of the martyrdom the polysemantic symbolism of blood and water dominates. The final epigram X of the Iosaphatidos cycle is especially worth mentioning. It represents the symbolic image drawn by the future saint himself. The text of the epigram appears enter to into polemics with the emblematic and armorial tradition that celebrate the family and the noble parents of the hero: the wall image painted with the blood of Kuntsevych correlates with the face of Christ - the prototype of all Christian martyrs imprinted on St. Veronica's Kerchief or the Shroud of Turin. The analysis of the text reveals this epigrams connections with the symbolism of the image "painted" with Christ's blood that is rendered in contemporaneous Latin Jesuit poetry. This symbolism uses the analogous means of an image system to encode the message of an illustrated mystery: the image of a martyr - not beautified and not allegorized - which is drawn with real blood and is beautiful in its imperfection. There is no need for high-origin genealogy for its value to be confirmed and, one can maintain that the only "patron" immortalized in it is Christ himself