A view from Poland: the state and the Orthodox church in the Ukrainian lands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as reflected in the Polish historical research

Valerii Lastovskyi

Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, E-mail: lastov@ukr.net

ResearcherID: V-2549-2018

Valerii Lastovskyi (2022), A view from Poland: the state and the Orthodox church in the Ukrainian lands in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as reflected in the Polish historical research. RJBNS 14(1), 85-97. DOI: 2478/rjbns-2022-0005.

Abstract

Rezumat

This article explores the shifting perspectives of Polish academics about the role of the Orthodox Church in domestic and interstate relations within the Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. Why Poland’s sovereignty crumbled at the end of the 18th century was one of the most critical questions Polish historians sought to explain. Since Bohdan Khmelnytskii’s uprising, Moscow’s geopolitical objectives had placed the Ukrainian territories in the forefront of their attention.
It has been documented that the nineteenth-century Polish scientific research was more concerned with the social and political impact of Orthodox Churches in Commonwealth regions than any other aspect of its history. However, this scenario has altered through time. Since the eighteenth century, the viewpoints of Polish historians have changed drastically. Additionally, they investigated the inner workings of churches and religious activity in Ukraine.

Articolul examinează dinamica opiniilor savanților polonezi cu privire la rolul Bisericii Ortodoxe în relațiile interne și interstatale din cadrul Commonwealth-ului și al Imperiului Rus. Unul dintre subiectele cheie la care istoricii polonezi au încercat să răspundă a fost motivul pentru care statalitatea Poloniei s-a dizolvat la sfârșitul secolului al XVIII-lea. Problematica teritoriilor ucrainene, care erau în interesul geopolitic al Moscovei începând de la insurecția lui Bogdan Hmelnițki, s-a aflat în prim-planul atenției lor.
S-a stabilit că istoriografia poloneză din secolul al XIX-lea a fost mai preocupată de consecințele sociale și politice ale Bisericilor Ortodoxe asupra Commonwealth-ului decât de orice alt aspect al istoriei sale. Acest scenariu a evoluat însă de-a lungul timpului. Perspectivele istoricilor polonezi s-au schimbat dramatic după secolul al XIX-lea. Ei au analizat, de asemenea, funcționarea internă a bisericilor și activitățile religioase din Ucraina.

Keywords: Ukraine, Poland, historiography, Orthodox Church, church-state relations

CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

This paper has been presented at the Twelve International Conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies in Romania: ReThinking multiculturalism, multilingualism and cultural diplomacy in Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea Region, hosted by the Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies, May 27–28, 2021.

Full text in pdf: https://balticnordic.hypotheses.org/files/2022/12/07.Lastovskyi.pdf