Authors

Discussion

The real processes of the so-called "late confessionalisation" began in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the 1640s.

The first half of the 17th century saw the Orthodox inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth facing a series of challenges. The Orthodox Christians who did not accept the church Union of 1596 and defended their position for decades were regarded as outsiders by those who did accept it. The political struggle within the Orthodox denomination in the Rzeczpospolita was intense.

One clear example of this was the approval by the Orthodox Metropolite of Kiev of Peter Mohyla, who was favourable to government circles, while Metropolite Job Boretsky was alive.

Lavrentij Zizanij's "Catechism", written in the 1620s in Old Belarusian/Old Ukrainian in the Rzeczpospolita, is an unquestionable example of publishing and authorial opposition. The text was translated into Church Slavonic in Moscow in 1627 and condemned there as heretical for political reasons. We must ask why Laurentij Zizanij took his work from Kiev to Moscow for publication when it seems clear that Peter Mohyla could have promoted it. He compiled his catechism more than 10 years after Lavrentij Zizanij's text.

The catechetical text created in the Metropolis of Kyiv by Stefan Zizanii (Vilna, 1595) is another clear example of opposition. It was republished in 1618 by Pavel Domżyw-Lutkowicz. Like the Zizanij brothers, Domżyw-Lutkowicz was an opponent of the Church Union among the Orthodox community in the Metropolis of Kyiv. He faced repression for his confessional position after 1596.

The fate of the work 'Antapologia…'  (1632) compiled by the anti-Trinitarian Eustathius Kisel is a clear indication of the above-mentioned confrontation. It was an apologia of popular Orthodox polemical texts in the face of opponents – Uniates and Catholics. Nevertheless, Peter Mohyla ordered it to be burned publicly (3,000 copies). Some believe this was because the text of 'Antapologia...' supported Stefan Zizanij, who is said to have held heretical views. However, there is no convincing evidence to support this claim. The appeal to non-Orthodox authors shows that the Orthodox were transforming Orthodoxy in line with the changing confessional picture in the region.

The burning of 'Antapologia...' marks the end of an era for the Orthodox. It signifies the end of their relevance in the socio-political and confessional field, as well as the end of their possibilities to develop their own concept of the development of the confession. It is believed that the deaths of Meletius Smotrytsky, Iosif Bobrykovych and Peter Mohyla were not accidental and were connected with the activities of Elisei Ilkovskyi, who was closely connected with the Uniate Metropolitan Veliamin Rutskyi. 

The end of the confessional polemics between the Orthodox and the Uniates/Catholics by the 1640s was inevitable. The Orthodox of the Polish-Lithuanian