Perception of Byzantium and Ruthenian-Greek Church Relations in the Works of Meletius Smotrytsky

The article is devoted to the famous polemicist Meletius Smotrytsky (ca. 1577–1633), his perception of the church history of the Byzantine period, the position of the Eastern Patriarchates under Ottoman rule and their role in the life of the East Slavic lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The transformation of perception caused by the transition of Meletius from Orthodoxy to Uniatism, from the Constantinople church jurisdiction to the Roman one, is shown. To do this, the author of the article analyzes a number of polemical works and several letters from Smotrytsky in the context of his biography and the tense socio-political situation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the conclusion of the Brest Church Union. The author comes to the conclusion that Meletius, being Orthodox, sought to create a positive image of the Eastern Church of both the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, to prove its inextricable connection with the “Ruthenian people”. Having visited the countries of the East and becoming a Uniate, Smotritsky revised this image. Since then, he has emphasized the discrepancy of the Eastern Patriarchates in the Ottoman Empire with the historical model — the ancient, Byzantine Church. Smotrytsky saw positive examples in its history in efforts of Byzantine emperors trying to overcome the Great Church Schism. At the same time, he condemned the hatred of Catholics that came to Rus’ from Byzantium and the misconception of them.