ATTEMPTS TO INTRODUCE THE CHURCH UNION IN THE RUSSIAN PRINCIPALITIES, LITHUANIA, AND POLAND IN THE XIII-XV CENTURIES
/ПОПЫТКИ ВНЕДРЕНИЯ ЦЕРКОВНОЙ УНИИ В РУССКИХ КНЯЖЕСТВАХ, ЛИТВЕ И ПОЛЬШЕ В XIII-XV ВВ./

Anthony Vasilievich MIRONOVICH

professor, University of Bialystok, Świerkowa 20B, 15-328, Bialystok, Poland, amir@uwb.edu.pl, ORCID: 0000-0001-7856-2191

Abstract

In the history of Poland, there have been repeated attempts to force the Orthodox faithful to accept a church union and submit to papal authority. The first attempt was made in the middle of the thirteenth century, when negotiations were conducted with the Galician-Volyn Duke Daniel. The question of the union was closely connected with Prince Daniel's desire to receive a royal title. The problem appeared during the joint Russian-Polish intervention in Hungary against the Czechs. The ecclesiastical union was again talked about in Krakow, during the meeting of the papal legate Opizo with Prince Daniel. Attempts made at the time of the coronation by the papal legate Opizo to induce Prince Daniel to the union ended in failure. New attempts to bend the Orthodox Church to a church union were made during the reign of Wladyslaw Jagiello. The wish of the monarch was to take steps leading to the unification of the Churches. Metropolitan Cyprian supported the Uniate concept of the King, but more as a political project than as an ecclesiastical one. Duke Witold of Lithuania, supported by Jagiello, decided to reorganize the ecclesiastical structures in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to link them more closely with the Catholic Church. The Council of Novogrudok of 1415 led to changes in the structure of the Church of Lithuania. A new autocephalous Lithuanian-Russian metropolitan church was established. After the failure of his Uniate plans Jagiello's policy in the Russian lands was focused on supporting the Catholic Church and restricting the rights of the Orthodox population. Another attempt at a Florentine Unia was made in 1474, when the Bishop of Smolensk, Misail Pstrutsky, was elected Metropolitan of Kiev. The question of the church union returned again during the reign of Alexander Yagellonchik.

Keywords

Poland, history, Church, union, bishop

SUMMARY

The question of ecclesiastical union returned again during the reign of Alexander Yagellonchik. In 1494 the Lithuanian prince married Elena, daughter of the Moscow tsar Ivan III and Sofia Palaeologus, niece of the last Byzantium emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus who after falling of Constantinople stayed in Rome [4]. In 1499 there was an attempt to induce the Princess to accept Catholicism. [3] The Moscow prince has accused Alexander Jagellonchik, Metropolitan Joseph, Bishop Vojtech of Vilna and monks Bernardinets in compulsion of Princess Elena to change belief, and also in building churches on the grounds where there lived almost exclusively orthodox population. The princess has rejected all offers concerning joining to Latinism and has remained true to Orthodoxy. [8] At the same time metropolitan, with Alexander Jagelonchik's consent, Smolensk bishop Joseph Bulgarinovich has been elected. The choice of metropolitan was approved by patriarch Nyphont in 1500. After he received the patriarch's blessing, the metropolitan sent a letter to Pope Alexander VI in which he confirmed his desire to join the Florentine Unia. Alexander Yagellonchik, who was waiting for the recognition in Rome of his marriage with the Orthodox princess, welcomed the metropolitan's letter. The answer of the Pope appeared in 1501, when Alexander VI sent a special brevet to the Bishop of Vilna, Vojtech Tabor, in which he thanked Metropolitan Joseph for his favorable attitude to the church union. In his message, the pope demanded that the metropolitan renounce all titles given to him by the patriarch. Alexander VI, contrary to the position of the Polish clergy, forbade a second baptism when admitting Ruthenians to the Catholic Church. The Pope's position was presented in a letter to King Alexander, in which the Roman Pontiff explained that he could not admit Metropolitan Joseph to his jurisdiction, since the latter had been ordained by Patriarch Nyphont of Constantinople, and not by Uniate Patriarch John, who was in Rome. Such a demand of the pope could not be accepted by the metropolitan of Kiev. Equally, the Latin episcopate, led by Bishop Vojtech Tabor of Vilna, was more interested in developing the structures of the Catholic Church than in supporting Uniatism. The Catholic bishops sought to increase their influence by developing church brotherhoods, supporting the mission of the Bernardine order, and "converting" Orthodox and Jews. According to the widespread views of the time, the Orthodox could not achieve salvation in their Church. [6] Finally, as a result of certain steps taken by Ivan III, who rejected all projects of implementing the decrees of the Florentine Union, the problem of the Church's union was not discussed until the end of the 16th century.

(Language: russian)

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