“Tatar arrows” and “Byzantine spears”: Crimean Tatars and Ottoman Turks in the works of Kyprian Zochovskyj

Abstract. The article examines how the Ottoman Turks and Crimean Tatars were portrayed in sermons and polemical works of one of the outstanding figures of the Uniate Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — Kyprian Zochovskyj, the Uniate metropolitan of “all Ruthenia” in 1674–1693. It is noted that, as part of an extramural polemic with religious opponents, Zochovskyj often appealed to the plight of Christians under Muslim rule, portraying Muslims as instruments of Divine wrath against “schismatics” and “heretics,” thus calling on everyone to rally around the “true” Catholic Church. On the other hand, the Basilian monk noted the complete subordination of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Ottoman authorities, their patronage towards the Orthodox in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, as well as the sympathy of the Orthodox themselves towards the Ottoman Empire. Based on this, he justified restrictions and repressions against non-Catholics in order to protect Poland itself from Divine wrath and to limit it from dangerous influence from Istanbul. It is stated that, despite these appeals, the real Ottoman Turks and Crimean Tatars themselves were of little interest to Kyprian Zochovskyj, and their images were important to him, first of all, only for establishing the “righteousness” of the Catholic faith. Within the framework of such discourse he also glorified the Catholics who fought the Muslims, as if contrasting them with the Orthodox, who, on the contrary, prayed for the main enemy of all Christians — the Ottoman Sultan.

Keywords: Kyprian Zochovskyj, religious polemics, Ottoman Empire, Crimean Khanate, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the image of “another”.