Representation of the Main Stereotypes of Orthodox and Uniate Polemists (16th – 17th century) in Scientific Works of the Representatives of Kyiv Theological Academy (1819-1920): Interpretative Textual Analyses

Abstract

Scholars of the Kiev Theological Academy exhibited an interest in the polemic literature of the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. First of all, they analysed the themes of the polemics, suggesting and justifying their own account of the development of the polemic literature. Secondly, as a result of long research, members of the Kyiv Theological Academy determined the three main roles of the polemic literature. In their view, it was: 1) a vital historical source for research on the legal status of the Orthodox and Uniate Churches in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; 2) a refined mode of protest of the Orthodox ministry against the effects of the Union of Brest (1596); 3) a source on the moral and intellectual disposition of apologists and opponents of the Union. In the context of the polemic literature, the Kiev academicians endeavoured to form a stereotype of “progressive” Orthodox polemics using both positive and negative argumentation. The positive argumentation is connected with the transformation of Orthodox literacy from one of simple presentation of information to a more scientific approach. The negative argument for the progressiveness of Orthodox polemics is based in the questioning of the objectivity of the Uniate polemic legacy, which was labelled as tendentious