The image of Byzantium in the narratives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (15th – first half of the 17th century)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the perception of the heritage of Byzantium in the socio-political thought of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the period from 1453 to the middle of the 17th century. Already in the second half of the 17th century, the Left-Bank Ukraine left the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Metropolitanate of Kyiv withdrew from the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The process of influence of the Byzantine civilization on the East Slavic culture after the fall of the Byzantine Empire is investigated. According to the findings, in the process of discussing the Union of Brest in the written tradition of the GDL and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Orthodox, Uniate, Catholic and Reformation narratives developed, in which the image of Byzantium had different shades: from positive to extremely negative, respectively. However, these narratives, which well complement the rather meager information about Byzantium in local letopis sources, are similar in one thing: they tend to see in it not the imperial past, but the current church heritage of the Greek people, which had a significant impact on the historical fate of the lands of Rus’. For the Polish-Lithuanian szlachta as an estate, the heritage of Byzantium was not a source of their own identity. Attempts to update the political idea of the liberation of Constantinople from the rule of the Turks came from the environment of the Greek diaspora of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, such projects were not approved here and were cut off from life. And even a major Orthodox magnate, Prince Wasyl-Konstanty Ostrogski, did not support, albeit difficult to implement, but a more realistic project to transfer the residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople to the city of Ostrog. He also did not claim political succession from the Byzantine emperors, but did not interfere with the idea of his spiritual succession. The article pays more attention to the writings of Orthodox polemicists, because the heritage of Byzantium is very important and deserves special attention.