To the question of the origin of the family of Ven. Paisy Velichkovsky and his relations with Chernihiv

The article is dedicated to the prominent Ukrainian ascetic, spiritual and cultural figure, writer and translator, Ven. Paisy Velichkovsky (1722–1794). In particular, the pedigree of Paisy Velichkovsky and his links with the Chernihiv region are explored in detail. The article reflects that Paisii Velichkovsky and his family are the bright representatives of the families of Ukrainian Cossack priests and ecclesiastical and cultural figures of the late XVII–XVIII centuries who had an ancient noble lineage. Although it is generally accepted that this genus comes from the Poltava region, studies of genealogies of the Ukrainian Cossack elders show that the original “nest” of the Cossack-noble family Velichkovsky is concentrated in Liubech, in the Chernihiv region. In particular, the Poltava branch of the Velichkovsky family begins with the famous Ukrainian writer and priest Ivan Velichkovsky, who moved to Poltava from Chernihiv around 1687. For many centuries, the ancestral nest of the noble Velichkovsky family was Liubech. Attention is drawn to the fact that the path of the first monastic obedience Paisii Velichkovsky started from the Chernihiv region, in Liubech. It was here, in the homeland of his ancestors, that he left first when he left his studies at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. It is possible that Paisy’s departure to Chernihiv and Liubech was related to some of his internal searches. Having lost his father early, and possibly trying to get rid of maternal care, he goes to his father’s ancestral homeland. These searches could not only be spiritual in nature. To deal with yourself, with your ancestry, who he is and where from – this is also a manifestation of the inner quest that a young novice could experience