A wise and God-pleasing man, merciful pastor, a tireless builder for the restoration of destroyed churches and monasteries of his own expense "(to the official celebration of the 400th anniversary of Archbishop Lazar Baranovych of Chernihiv and Novgorod-Siverskyi)

The purpose of the article is that in connection with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of Chernihiv Archbishop Lazar Baranovych at the state level in 2020, there is a need to analyze the activities of a prominent church and political figure, writer of the second half of the 17th century, focusing on "white spots", contradictory and unreliable facts that are still found in publications that are devoted to the life and creativity of the bishop. The methodological basis is based on the usage of historical-chronological method in combination with analytical, comparative and generalized approaches, due to the interpretation of historical events and terms took place in view of the studied era. Scientific novelty. Due to a critical analysis of the involved written and archival sources, the date of Lazar Baranovych's birth was specified — 1616, it was proved that Lazar Baranovych was ordained at Bishop of Chernihiv after the death of his predecessor Zosyma Prokopovych, not during his lifetime, as some researchers believed. It is substantiated the reason of choosing the residence not in Chernihiv, but in Novgorod-Severskyi in Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi monastery. It is established that when Lazar Baranovych had become the vicar of the Kyiv metropolitanate, in 1671 he decided to establish his own printing house, where he printed mainly author's books and which was transferred in 1679 to the Chernihiv Trinity-Elijah Monastery. Conclusions. After Kyiv Metropolitan Petro Mohyla Lazar Baranovych was the most effective bishop, who actively continued the case of revival and formation of the national church of Ukraine in a difficult and tragic period of its history. Thanks to Lazar Baranovych, a powerful religious and spiritual center of the Orthodox Church was formed in the Left Bank of Ukraine. During the life of Lazar Baranovych a new type of Baroque church appeared in the Hetmanate, which absorbed the traditions of ancient Russian architecture, elements of national wooden architecture, forms and techniques of Western European architecture. There is a need for a modern monograph, which would analyze and summarize new discoveries and achievements of studying the activities of Lazar Baranovych - the prominent church, political figure, the writer of the second half of the XVII century.