Ecclesiastical and Cultural Affairs
Just as it was in Kievan times, Orthodoxy remained synonymous with culture in the 15th–16th centuries. Indeed, its role in Ukrainian society grew: with no state of their own, their church served for Ukrainians as the only institutional means of expressing their collective identity.
Unfortunately for its adherents the church was mired in a state of deep decline – just at the time when a strong, inspiring Orthodox church was needed. More so than Catholicism and Protestantism, Orthodoxy flourished best when it had the protection and patronage of the political leadership. Such was the case in the days of Kievan Rus’ and the Galician-Volhynian principality. But a close relationship between the Orthodox church and the Catholic rulers of Poland-Lithuania was difficult, if not impossible, to maintain. While pampering the Catholic church, the rulers treated the Orthodox institution like a neglected stepchild.When the Ukrainians first came under Lithuanian rule, there was reason for some optimism as far as their church was concerned. Unwilling to leave their numerous Orthodox subjects under the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Moscow, the grand princes of Lithuania reestablished a metropolitanate in Kiev in 1458. Consisting of 10 dioceses in Ukraine and Belorussia, the new metropolitan’s see broke its ecclesiastical ties with Moscow and returned to the jurisdiction of the patriarch in Constantinople. Following the practice of the times, the grand princes and, later, the kings of Poland acquired the right of patronage; that is, they could appoint Orthodox bishops and even the metropolitan himself. Thus, the crucial issue of the leadership of the Orthodox faithful was left in the hands of secular rulers of another, increasingly antagonistic, church.
The results were disastrous. With lay authorities capable of appointing bishops, the metropolitan’s authority was undermined.
And with every bishop acting as a law unto himself, the organizational discipline of the Orthodox church deteriorated rapidly. Even more deleterious was the corruption that lay patronage engendered. Recently ordained fortune hunters frequently bribed their way into the bishop’s office so that they could plunder the diocese by selling off its icons, jewels, and lands. Eventually, even common noblemen took to auctioning off parishes or monasteries situated on their lands to the highest bidder or assigning them to unqualified relatives. Even the highest clergy behaved in the most unseemly manner. Metropolitan Onysifor Divochka, for example, was accused of bigamy; Bishop Kyrylo Terletsky was taken to court, and acquitted, of manslaughter, rape, and assault; Bishop Ion Borzobohaty charged the faithful a fee to use the church. Following the lead of their superiors, parish priests behaved so badly that contemporaries complained that only “human refuse” was to be found among them and that they were more likely to visit a tavern than a church.Under the circumstances, Orthodoxy’s cultural contributions were limited. Schools, once one of the church’s most attractive features, were neglected. Unqualified teachers barely succeeded in familiarizing their pupils with the rudiments of reading, writing, and Holy Scriptures. The curriculum of the schools had changed little since medieval times. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 added to the intellectual and cultural stagnation by depriving the Orthodox of their most advanced and inspiring model. Lacking both external and internal stimuli, Orthodox culture slipped into ritualism, parochialism, and decay.
The Poles, meanwhile, were enjoying a period of cultural growth and vitality. Benefiting from the West’s prodigious outbursts of creative energy, they experienced the Renaissance with its stimulating reorientation of thought. Abandoning the medieval preoccupation with the afterlife, individuals like the astronomer Copernicus, the political theorist Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski, and the author Jan Kochanowski reflected Humanism’s new-found interest in man – his experience in this life, and his social and physical environment.
The graduates of the university in Cracow and hundreds of Polish students who had studied in the vibrant universities of Italy and Germany helped to spread the new ideas. By the early 16th century, about twenty printing presses and over 3000 parish schools were functioning in Poland.The Reformation, whose impact in the Commonwealth became noticeable in the mid 16th century, brought new currents of creative ferment. Calvinism, with its emphasis on the role of the laity in religious affairs, found favor among 25–30% of the nobility. Arianism, a radical offshoot of Calvinism that rejected the notion of the Trinity and preached pacifism, established small but influential congregations thoughout Poland, Lithuania, and even Volhynia. To spread their ideas more effectively, the Protestants founded schools of higher learning, established printing presses, and further developed the use of Polish as a literary language. Despite the intense religious rivalries that evolved in the 16th century, the Commonwealth, unlike most of Europe, remained an oasis of religious tolerance. To a large extent, this factor was a function of the nobility’s tremendous influence, for, since a noble’s rights were inviolable, his religious views, no matter how different, also had to be respected.
When the Catholic reaction to Protestantism gained momentum in the late 16th to early 17th centuries, it achieved some of its greatest successes in Poland. Much of the credit for this achievement belongs to the Jesuits, the shock troops of the Counter-Reformation, who arrived in Poland in 1564. With intensely committed, well-educated, and sophisticated members in its ranks, this highly disciplined religious order was able to entice many of its church’s wayward sheep back into the fold. Establishing a network of excellent colleges thoughout the Commonwealth, the Jesuits not only educated Poles in a militantly Catholic spirit but also attracted talented Protestant and Orthodox youths into their sphere of influence. Slowly, under the impact of the Counter-Reformation, the former religious tolerance of the Commonwealth began to give way to Catholic fanaticism.