The Orthodox Church and Byelorussian people
Mironowicz Antoni
Orthodoxy and Uniatism During the Seventeenth Century
The Council of Brest, in 1596, divided the Eastern Church into Orthodox and Uniats. By decree of King Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632) the Uniats were given all the rights and privileges which had formerly belonged to the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox faith, to which the vast majority of the clergy and laity remained loyal, was no longer recognized by the government. In the years 1596-1632 Orthodox Christians sought to regain rights and properties which had belonged to the Church. Orthodox Christians, with the aid of Protestant Christians, forced the meetings of parlament in 1607 and 1609 to confirm the rights of their church within the Commonweath. There began a bitter feud over monasteries, churches, and property. In spite of extensive activities, it was not until 1620 that the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church was reactivated, and Yov (Boretsky), the ighumen of the Monastery of St. Michael, became Metropolitan of Kiev. This fact, however, was not recognized by the government[1]. The king supported the development of the Uniats, their development was further advanced following the killing of the Uniat Archbishop of Vitsebsk, Josaphat Kuntsevich.
Officially, the Orthodox Church and its hierarchy was not recognized until 1632, during the election of King Vladyslav IV (1633-1648). Peter Mohyla, the archimandrite of the Cave Lavra of Kiev, became Metropolitan of Kiev. The last apportionment of the Orthodox and Uniat jurisdictions occurred in 1635. The Orthodox Church received bishoprics in: Kiev, Lviv, Lutsk, Peremysl, Mstsislav, and Chernihov. The Uniats received bishoprics in: Kiev, Polotsk, Peremysl, Kholm, Volodymyr, Pinsk, and Smolensk (until 1656). Orthodox Christianity dominated in central and south-eastern Ruthenian territories belonging to the Polish Crown, while Uniats dominated in the south-western Ruthenian territories, and in the Principality of Lithuania. During the reign of King Vladyslav IV new concepts of uniatism were proposed, among them, the concept of creating a Russian patriarchate under the jurisdiction of the papacy[2].
The reign of King John Casimir (1648-1668) lead to important changes for both the Orthodox and the Uniats. At the time of the Uprising of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the Agreement of Zboriv (1649) was negotiated between the Cossacks and the Polish Commonwealth, according to which the Union of Brest was to be nullified in the Polish Crown and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and was to give the Orthodox Metropolitan a seat in the senate. The diplomacy of the Apostolic Nuncio, Ioannes de Torres (1645-1652), and the Catholic bishops, the Agreement of Zboriv was ratified, but without the article nullifying the Union of Brest. The Agreement of Zboriv was renewed in successive agreements with the Cossacks, but the agreed upon matters regarding religion were never put into effect.
An important change for both the Orthodox and the Uniats occurred following the Agreement of Pereiaslav (1654), with the Cossacks, as the result of which Left-Bank Ukraine came under the jurisdiction of Russia. The annexation of the Cossack lands under the jurisdiction of the Tsars of Russia meant war with the Polish Commonwealth. In the years 1654-1658, Moscow’s military forces occupied the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and a substantial portion of the Russian territories belonging to the Polish Crown. The Patriarchate of Moscow attempted to subjugate under its jurisdiction the Metropolia of Kiev and the other bishoprics located in the territories which had been gained by Moscow’s military forces.
In the course of the war, the Polish-Moscovite negotiations, held at Nemiezy (1656), elected Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich (1645-1676) to be King of Poland, and reaffirmed the rights and privileges of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, and called for a common synod, of both churches, to ratify a treaty of inter-faith relations[3]. Because Poland faced defeat in its war with Sweden, and projects for the partitioning of Poland were being drawn, she was prepared to accept the Russian conditions.
Following the death of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1657), the new Cossack commander Ivan Vyhovsky decided to renew allegiance to the Polish Commonwealth and to break with the Agreement of Pereiaslav. The result of this decision was the conclusion of the Agreement of Hadziach, which established the Great Principality of Ruthenia as a third entity alongside the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown-lands, within the Commonwealth. The agreement nullified the Union of Brest within the territory of the Principality of Ruthenia, and all property which was held by the Uniats was returned to the Orthodox Church. Orthodox bishops were given seats in the senate.
Following the conclusion of the Agreement of Hadziach, there began the battle for its ratification in the Polish Sejm. The proposal to liquidate the Union of Brest in Ruthenia was accepted by some of the Latin bishops and Polish noblemen who owned land which was now controlled by the Cossacks. The papacy, the Papal Nuncio Peter Vidoni (1652-1660), and the Uniats were opposed to the ratification of the Agreement od Hadziach, and were successful in having the articles nullifying the Union of Brest removed from the ratified version of the Agreement of Hadziach (1659). Simultaneously, Orthodox Christians were confronted by a new project of Uniatism, involving the recognition of papal authority without having to recognize Catholic theology[4]. The project soon proved to be unacceptable to both sides. In September of 1659 George Khmelnytsky became the new Hetman of the Cossacks. He broke with the Agreement of Hadziach and reaffirmed allegiance to Russia, under a new Agreement of Pereiaslav[5].
Alliance with Russia did not last long. Under the terms of the Agreement of Tsudnovsk (1660), George Khmelnytsky pledged allegiance to the King of Poland. The Agreement of Tsudnovsk did not deal with issues of religion.
The partition of the Ukraine was determined by the Polish-Moscovite War. The Left-Bank, under Hetman Ivan Brzukhovietsky, came under the jurisdiction of Moscow. The Right-Bank, under the new Hetman, Paul Tetera, was allied with the Commonwealth. The political partitions lead to the partitioning of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions. In contradiction to canon law, the Patriarch of Moscow appointed Bishop Methodius Filimonovich administrator of the Metropolia of Kiev. In the territory belonging to the Commonwealth, in the mid-sixties, two individuals were simultaneously elected Metropolitan of Kiev (Anthony Vynnycky and Joseph Nelubovich Tukalsky). The Uniats also had problems enthroneing a metropolitan. The Papacy, because of significant reservations with regard to the person of Gabriel Kolendo, refrained until 1665 in appointing him metropolitan. Furthermore, the Catholic clergy accused the Uniats of maintaining Orthodox beliefs and cultivating Orthodox traditions.
In 1650, 3/4 of the churches of the eastern rite were still Orthodox. Orthodoxy was dominant in the north-eastern regions of the metropolia, in the bishoprics of: Lviv, Lutsk, Peremysl, Pinsk, Chernihov, Smolensk and Mstsislav. The Uniats were dominant in the Lithuanian parts of the metropolia, in the bishoprics of: Kholm and Volodymyr-Brest. The last years of the reign of King John Casimir witnessed the increasing influence of Uniatism in those regions where Orthodoxy had been dominant[6]. This was caused by the internal division of the Orthodox Church, increased respect toward Uniatism in conjunction with the canonization of Jozaphat Kuntsevich, as well as an increased influence of the papacy at the Polish Court. An example being the appointment of Orthodox bishops who had secretly converted to Catholicism. Other reasons for the increasing influence of Uniatism were the conversion of the majority of the Orthodox nobility, and the Cossack¢s loss of influence due to internal division.
The abdication of King John Casimir resulted in strengthening the counter-reformation and Uniatism. There followed the enactment of anti-Orthodox legislation. The Sejm enacted the Constitution of 1676, in which Orthodox Christians were forbidden contact with the Patriarchate of Constantinople. As of 1699 official city positions could be gained only by Catholics and Uniats[7]. As a result, by the end of the XVII century, the bishops of Peremysl, Lviv and Lutsk (1702) converted to Uniatism, taking with them the majority of the parishes of their bishoprics. Only one bishopric was left in the Commonwealth: the Byelorussian bishopric of Mohylev. An important change, having far reaching effects on the future of Orthodox Christianity in Poland, was the Patriarchate of Constantinople’s relinquishing its jurisdiction over the Metropolia of Kiev, in favor of the new Patriarchate of Moscow. On the basis of the The Treaty of 3 May 1686, which was signed in Moscow, between Poland and Russia, the Metropolia of Kiev, being located within the territory belonging to the Tsar, received the right of jurisdiction over all Orthodox parishes located on Polish territory[8]. As a result of this fact, the successive fate of the Orthodox Church and of the Uniats, was going to be dependent on external factors, and in particular, the growing power of the Russian Empire.
[1] See the publication: Metropolitan Makarii (Bulgakov), Istoriia Russkoi Tserkvi, vol. 10, Petersburg 1879; M. S. Hrushevsky, Istoriia Ukrainy-Rusi, vol. 8, Kiev-Lviv 1922; E. F. Shmurlo, Rimskaia kuriia na pravoslavnom vostoke v 1609-1654 gg., Praque 1924; K.Chodynicki, Kościół prawosławny a Rzeczpospolita Polska. Zarys historyczny, Warsaw 1934; L. Bieńkowski, Organizacja Kościoła wschodniego w Polsce, ed. J. Kłoczowski, vol.2, part.2, Cracow 1969; A. Jobert, De Luther a Mohila la Pologne dans la crise de la Chrétiente 1517-1648, Paris 1974; A. Mironowicz, Kościół prawosławny w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, Białystok 2001.
[2] See about Russian patriarchate: M. Andrusiak, Sprawa patriarchatu kijowskiego za Władysława IV, [into:] Prace hitoryczne w 30 - lecie działalności profesorskiej Stanisława Zakrzewskiego, Lviv 1934; J. Krajcar, The Ruthenian Patriarchate, “Orientalia Christiana Periodica”, vol. 30, Roma 1984; F. Sysyn, Between Poland and the Ukarine. The Dilemma of Adam Kysil 1600-1653, Cambridge. Mass. 1985; J. Dzięgielewski, O tolerancję dla zdominowanych. Polityka wyznaniowa Rzeczypospolitej a latach panowania Władysława IV, Warsaw 1986; A. Mironowicz, Prawosławie i unia za panowania Jana Kazimierza, Białystok 1997.
[3] V. Eingorn, Snosheniia malorossiiskogo dukhovenstva s moskovskim pravitelstvom v tsartvovanie Alekseia Mikhailovicha, Moscow 1899, pp. 933-1000; L. V. Zaborovsky, N. S. Zakharina, Religioznyi wopros w polsko-rossiiskikh peregovorakh w derevni Nemezha w 1656 g., “Slaviane i ikh sosedi”, no 3, Moscow 1991.
[4] W. Tomkiewicz, Ugoda hadziacka, “Sprawy Narodowościowe”, no 1-2, Warsaw 1937; S. Kościałkowski, Ugoda hadziacka, “Alma Mater Vilnensis. Prace społeczności akademickiej Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego na obczyźnie. Prace zebrane”, London 1958; J. Kaczmarczyk, Hadziacz 1658 - kolejna ugoda czy nowa unia? [into:] Warszawskie Zeszyty Ukrainoznawcze, vol. 2, ed. S. Kozak, Warsaw 1994; A. Mironowicz, Projekty unijne wobec Cerkwi prawosławnej w dobie ugody hadziackiej, [in:] Unia brzeska z perspektywy czterech stuleci, pod red. J. S. Gajka i St. Nabywanieca, Lublin 1998, pp. 95-122..
[5] L. Kubala, Przysięga w Perejasławiu i stati Bohdana Chmielnickiego, “Kwartalnik Historyczny”, R.XVIII, no 2, Warsaw 1904, pp. 231-241; L. Rudnytsky, Pereiaslav - History and Myth, introduction to John Basarab, Pereiaslav 1654 A Historiographical Study, Edmonton 1982, pp. XI-XXIII.
[6] A. Mironowicz, Prawosławie i unia za panowania Jana Kazimierza, Białystok 1996, pp.215-231; Kościół prawosławny w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, Białystok 2001, pp. 97-190.
[7] See J. Kłoczowski, L. Müllerowa, J. Skarbek, Zarys dziejów Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce, Kraków 1986, pp. 104-109; W. Müller, Trudne stulecie, [into:] Chrześcijaństwo w Polsce. Zarys przemian 966-1975, ed. J. Kłoczowski, Lublin 1992, pp. 263-265.
[8] A. Deruga, Piotr Wielki a unia kościelna 1700-1711, Wilno 1936, pp. 5-8.