HRYHORII SKOVORODA AND MYKOLA GOGOL: ON THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL-PATRIOTIC EDUCATION

The article examines the historical-cultural dimension in shaping contemporary strategies of national-patriotic education. National-patriotic education is among the priority areas of educational work in Ukrainian institutions. The issue becomes especially acute under conditions of full-scale war, when the defense of Ukrainian statehood requires lived, effective patriotism rather than rhetorical slogans. In this context, engagement with the Ukrainian cultural-philosophical tradition – specifically, the legacies of Hryhorii Skovoroda and Mykola Gogol – expands our lens for understanding national identity, the moral ideal, and spiritual freedom that undergird national resilience in wartime. The emphasis falls on the philosophical and pedagogical ideas of Skovoroda and Gogol at their historical intersections and within a broader cultural-educational perspective. Such an analysis reveals, on the one hand, a shared appeal to the “inner person,” the formation of national self-awareness, and a civic commitment that can ground the contemporary educational process; and, on the other, each thinker’s distinctive experience of self-knowledge and the drama of the spiritual quest of the “Ukrainian soul” within an imperial context.In this context, it is crucial to draw on foundational scholarship on the Ukrainian philosophical tradition (I. Bychko, A. Bychko, V. Horskyi, S. Krymskyi, H. Nichyk, et al.). The theoretical-methodological framework combines historical- philosophical and hermeneutic methods with a cultural-studies approach and comparative analysis. This composite approach makes it possible to trace common motifs and analyze the core concepts of the person’s spiritual formation, as well as to disclose latent meanings, symbolism, and conceptual allusions directly pertinent to national-patriotic education.It is argued that the intellectual legacy of both thinkers constitutes a substantive axiological resource for contemporary Ukrainian education, particularly amid social transformation and the struggle for independence. Accordingly, the study aims to analyze the philosophical ideas of Skovoroda and Gogol through the prism of national-patriotic education and to identify ways of integrating their heritage into current educational and pedagogical practices.