Hipacy Pociej's letter to Prince Konstanty Ostrogski

To the Illustrious Prince and Most Serene Lord Konstanty, by the grace of God Prince of Ostroh, Voivode of Kyiv, Marshal of the Land of Volhynia, Starosta of Volodymyr, his gracious lord: the most sinful servant of the Church of God and bedesman of His Royal Majesty and of Your Princely Grace, Hypatius, Bishop of Volodymyr and Brest, faithfully wishes health of soul and body for unchanging times, together with a prosperous rule.

«Walk while ye have the light» 1, saith Christ, the Lord and Saviour of all the world. These words, illustrious and gracious Prince, plainly show that, so long as we abide in this temporal and lowly life, we must take care to merit for ourselves the blessing of God; for in the life to come, though the most radiant and unapproachable light of Him Who is God Himself shall shine upon the righteous and the good alone, outer darkness shall cover the sinful. Know then that it behoves us to merit an eternal reward by pious and worthy deeds; yet both the one and the other become idle and unprofitable for doing, since they can in no wise advance or labour in them any further, having come to their end and limit. And so «walk», it is said, as if to say: «Work out your salvation while ye have the light», that is, while time is given you to seek the things of heaven. And for this a certain talent is given to each, that, labouring with it as much as he may, he should multiply it, so that, being righteous and godly, he might be the more justified and sanctified, taking heed lest he should afterwards hear that dreadful word: «Thou wicked and slothful servant», and further: «Take therefore the talent from him» 2, and, most dreadful of all: «And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness» 3.

So I too, most sinful, having lived by far the greater part of the course of my life and, by the mercy of God, bearing upon me the duty and burden of the pastoral office, reflecting within myself and ever having before my eyes that dread majesty of God, before which I must stand and behold with my own eyes the righteous and now inexorable Judge, and must undergo upon myself His unchanging judgment according to our deeds (and although I see the present evil times, which, bitterly bewailing them with the prophet, I may rightly say: «My tears have been my meat day and night» 4), and oft my heart is so straitened that I can neither speak nor write anything; yet, out of love for innocent souls redeemed by the blood of Christ our God, for whom, as a pastor having them entrusted to me, I must render a strict account, it did not befit me to leave this undone, nor, according to my strength, while I am in this world, to fail in the duties of my office. Let Your Grace likewise, being set upon that same [road] of salvation, in so venerable an old age and the ripe years of your life, not neglect to do the same according to the talent given you by God — this I ask and beseech, and for the love of Jesus Christ diligently remind you, and, were it fitting for me to speak more boldly, by your leave, I even enjoin it. For Your Princely Grace may be truly assured that by nothing else but heartfelt love and gratitude have I been moved, wishing you yet greater glory and the increase of all spiritual goods, to venture to write this. And although I know well that Your Princely Grace is not now well disposed toward me, and without any fault of mine is offended with me, yet I look to that least of all, but rather regard your great favour and benefactions, with which you have greatly adorned me, so that I can never forget your most noble and glorious name; I also recall that gracious countenance and your singular protection of me and your other various benefactions, which give me good hope and lead me to seek your former favour and to strive after the longed-for peace — a peace, even if unjust, being far better than enmity and a just war among pious and Christian men. Wherefore, as earnestly as may be, I beseech Your Princely Grace: all that I shall say in this writing, receive graciously by the lofty wisdom with which God has endowed you, and deign to understand and construe it not for the worse but for the good, that these words may have place: «Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee» 5; and further, that Your Grace, according to your wonted goodness and gracious favour, would not refuse to incline your gracious ear to me, your servant and bedesman.

By the grace of God Almighty and by His holy good pleasure, without Whose will nothing is possible to man, there has come to pass the union between the Greek and the Roman Church in the realm of His Royal Majesty, our gracious lord — a union which, after so long a time of accursed schism, lay neglected for almost a hundred and fifty years since the Council of Florence through the negligence of the elders of the Church, and now, in our own times, has been renewed, restored and confirmed; that is: the members which formerly waged bitter and dreadful war and enmity among themselves and tore and divided themselves asunder (not otherwise than as if, bereft of reason, hand smote and tormented hand, or foot foot, and other members other members in one body) — which may be reckoned a singular miracle — these have now united again and come to concord and peace. Members which once severed themselves from the spiritual body of Christ, being as rotten and dead, having no life in them, could do no good; being joined and knit together again, they have become strong, living and fair. We have thus established this unity, that is: we have introduced nothing new, but all the ceremonies of our ancient Eastern Greek Church, that for all ages to come they may be firmly and unalterably kept as of old and peacefully observed, we have confirmed by a privilege of the universal pastor and bishop, and henceforth no one shall be able to bring them into any doubt, nor out of ignorance to abhor them; hereafter a Catholic of the Ruthenian as well as of the Roman rite must hold them in great reverence; neither hereafter nor at this time shall a Ruthenian be able to disdain and shun a Roman, nor a Roman a Ruthenian, nor speak ill of one another, nor spit after one another in token of contempt (of which there was and still is abundance, through godless and senseless men), nor shall any dare thereafter, when a Roman, having entered our church, performs his prayers according to his custom, to say that the church has been defiled by them. Nothing of the kind, at least, happens even in Greece itself, where the heathen hand has not yet prevailed and the manners of the Greeks are more refined.

Your Princely Grace would marvel if you were to visit the Greek islands which are under the Venetians and, what is more wondrous, in obedience to the Patriarch — as in Crete, Corfu, Zakynthos, Cephalonia and Cerigo, and in many other lands and districts where almost only Greeks dwell — how Greeks and Romans together, at the time of divine service and common prayers, each vested in priestly garments according to his own custom, jointly conduct processions with crosses and offer supplications to the Lord God in every need, undivided! Indeed, at the time of the Roman feast, that is, of Corpus Christi, they walk in procession together with the Romans as one and show great reverence to the Holy Sacrament, of themselves, willingly, without any compulsion — this is common among them. Likewise in Holy Week, on Good Friday, in memory of the passion and crucifixion of Christ, they jointly conduct a certain mournful procession with wondrous rites; and since in that procession there are commonly people who, out of devotion to the passion of Christ, scourge themselves, by far the greater part among them are Greeks. Moreover, in time of any need, the body of Saint Spyridon (which is still incorrupt in Corfu; he was among the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers at the Council of Nicaea, a man of wondrous holiness, and he himself sanctified that glorious city) — this body, then, Greeks and Romans together, offering supplications, carry upon their shoulders through the city and beseech the Lord God for help, and at the same time (to the great wonder of all!) receive the fulfilment of their petitions: be it rain in a great drought, or clear skies and fair weather in time of foul storms and other many needs. Furthermore, on the day of Saint Arsenius, bishop of the Greek city of Corfu, whose body lies in the Latin cathedral church of the Archdiocese of Corfu, all the Greek priests and all the people are always wont to gather there on his feast, and in that same church they celebrate the holy liturgy in Greek upon the Latin altar. There too, in that same church, on the eve of the holy chief Apostles Peter and Paul, the same Greeks sing Vespers in solemn assembly.

All these things, as common to Greeks and Romans, are related by the Greeks themselves, men worthy of credence; therefore, taking them as certain, I resolved to set them down here, and for this reason: since our common folk are wont to abhor Roman churches and ceremonies, that they may know henceforth that the Greeks themselves show no such abhorrence and have no such rancour as there is among us toward the Romans and their worship.

I return, then, to my words and to the matter itself.

We have accomplished this unity. And by this unity we have in no wise overstepped the bounds and limits established from ancient ages by our chief elders and by the illustrious God-bearing Fathers and renewed at the Council of Florence (to which their own writings plainly testify); through this unity we have confirmed the privileges of our sovereigns, granted of old but fallen into neglect through the negligence of our own, and have restored the liberties granted in them to our clergy, and have given back to the holy churches the peace neglected for so long a time, so far as our strength sufficed.

O most glorious Prince! Scion of the pious great Volodymyr, who baptised the Land of Rus’! Do you then grieve that we have uncovered the wiles of the devil, overthrown the work of his accursed schism and brought it to nought? Do you grieve that, according to the prophet Hosea, «the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselves one head» 6, and according to the divine John: «And there shall be one fold and one shepherd» 7?! That the branches once cut off from that fair tree planted by the rivers of water shall now be grafted in again and bring forth green leaves and sweet fruit? 8 And that one part — and no small one, but a most glorious part — of that Church has, as of old, united into one body, and the pious members together receive the divine grace flowing from the one head, and together, as heirs and partakers of the same inheritance, reign in common; that the flock, fed by a common shepherd, partakes of sound doctrine, and, as beloved children of the same heavenly Father and among themselves true brethren and friends, they have raised and set up the other wall of the Church, joined by the cornerstone, Jesus Christ?

Do you grieve over this, most illustrious Prince, that with the prophet David we may sing: «Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity»? And such brethren as, begotten of the one seed of the Holy Spirit and baptised in the one laver of divine birth, have been born again, so that there may be no more schism and strife among us, that henceforth no one may dare to say: «I am of Paul», and another: «I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas» 9, but, as it is written: «That there be one heart and one soul», being one brotherhood and having one Father, Whom you call upon in heaven, and likewise on earth one Church as a common mother, honouring and praising our one Saviour Jesus Christ, in the one holy Catholic faith, founded by apostolic preaching, planted and spread throughout the whole world, watered and attested by the constancy and blood of martyrs, enlightened and increased by the dogmas and teachings of the holy Fathers, wondrously adorned by the holy life of countless confessors — that we may sincerely love one another as brethren, among whom all things ought to be in common: souls, thoughts, wills, a common God, a common treasure of piety, a common salvation, a common struggle and labour, a common reward and crown, where all are as one man, yet the one not alone, but in all; and, speaking generally, as in one comely body the fair members, being well joined, strong and living, help one another in common under the one head, Christ the Lord, the supreme High Priest and true Aaron, from Whom all power and the dew of grace flows down upon us, that, living, we may do battle and with abundant fragrance fill and gladden the bright mount of Zion, that is, the house of God, the Catholic Church, so that the words of Saint Paul may rightly be fulfilled in us: «For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ» 10; and thereafter, sprinkled with the dew of heavenly grace, we may happily attain eternal life, «for there the Lord commanded the blessing» 11, that is, in His true and one Church, and not in many (of her, as one, Solomon speaks in the Song in the name of Christ: «My dove is but one» 12, of whom one ark of Noah gave the figure, and the one tabernacle of witness which Moses built, and the one temple of Jerusalem built by Solomon, in which alone and nowhere else it was fitting to praise God and offer sacrifices). Of this Church Solomon says in the Proverbs: «My son, forsake not the law of thy mother» 13 — for it is in her, as I said above, and nowhere else, that «the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore» 14.

O Christ-loving and most illustrious Prince! Is it over these things that you sorrow and are wroth with us, your servants and bedesmen? Would it not more fittingly behove you to rejoice at it, since you yourself with great eagerness desired and longed to see and await it before the Lord God should close your mortal eyes — that which many kings and great sovereigns desired to see, yet never beheld? Why then do you not rather rejoice in it and give thanks to the Lord God for it, since under your leadership and guidance this work was begun and brought to completion? 15 For God Almighty is my witness that, as soon as I entered the spiritual episcopal estate by the grace of God and by your endeavour, from no one else was I so earnestly reminded and urged toward this work as from Your Princely Grace, who at that time held it in your mind to be a good and holy work. To this testifies the letter of Your Princely Grace, signed with your own hand and sent to me through Lord Vasyl, Starosta of Surazh 16, in which Your Princely Grace reminds me, urges, demands and in the name of God truly presses me. There are articles and conditions written in Your Princely Grace’s own hand, setting out what ought to be negotiated and what confirmed with the Pope in establishing this unity. And now I know not how Your Princely Grace has deigned to forget all this and has begun to show yourself a stern adversary of it all, and has even deigned to give to print certain letters of mine, written to Your Princely Grace on this matter, which supposedly may be understood as serviceable to the opposing side? As though we were bound to give account to the Lord God for our thoughts and words, but for our writings no longer? But this I now set aside, for it is neither the time nor the place to recall it all now. For were I minded to repay in kind, I too should find not a few letters of Your Princely Grace worthy of print, which would plainly show my innocence. And if it must rightly be called a fault that I have done so good a work, I know not how he can be blameless before men who moved me to it and by his authority, in truth, as it were compelled me. This can be shown not by words but in writing. Yet, having still some hope in the pious intent of Your Princely Grace in this matter, I now let it rest.

But Your Princely Grace says that one ought first to have gone to a synod rather than to Rome 17, and that all should have been done by the will of all? I confess: both Your Grace and I myself desired that synod with great eagerness, and I promised it to Your Princely Grace by giving my hand, and for the most part I sufficiently fulfilled my promise, for the synod was permitted through my endeavour. However, as soon as we received word from a certain high personage that Your Princely Grace, it would seem, had deigned to send to Toruń to the heretical synod 18, summoning those of other faiths to that expected council against us and against the work begun (all of which was sent to me in writing from the court of His Royal Majesty, a copy of which I still have with me, in which, most wondrous to relate, it is even written that our ceremonies have more agreement with the Evangelical than with the Roman ones — whereas they agree just as the ancient with the newfangled, firmness and the immovable rock with fickleness and the reed, breadth with narrowness, fruitfulness with barrenness, holiness with the curse, good order with confusion, rodosta a with the poppy flower, fragrant chrism with filth, light with darkness, Christ with Belial b, and many other things), — when we all heard of it, we began to marvel at it and knew not what to do further.

a Rodosta — possibly the Rhodian ear of grain.

b Belial — the ungodly one, a worthless man; mentioned in 2 Corinthians, VI — 15.

Since His Royal Majesty, having learned enough of all this, forbade us that synod which had first been permitted — for it would have been no synod but a kind of confusion, had those of other faiths been meant to hold such a synod with us. Of which a fresh example appeared not long ago at Brest, when for the most part heretics, having joined with our apostates and with the enemies of Christendom and held another assembly of their own, dared, against the canons, to summon us and to depose us from our sees! 19 And this, I may boldly say, is unheard of from the ages: that laymen, heretics, should ever do such a thing to their elders, an archbishop and bishops — and that to men not cited, without citation, without trial, without law, without their own and principal judge.

There is no cause, therefore, to wonder that such a synod was set aside before the journey to Rome.

And if, then, Your Princely Grace, out of some particular hatred toward some person (and it may be that you were justly offended in some respect), do not deign to consent to this unity, let such a person and that hatred be set aside from so holy and praiseworthy a work, and let us not mingle human affairs with divine, worldly with spiritual, earthly with heavenly, temporal with eternal; for it is not just that for the sake of a man the work of God should be rejected and God Himself disdained! Deign then, Your Princely Grace, to consider with care, for you possess such great authority with all that almost all our Rus’ looks to you! How great a harm will come of it if, looking to you who oppose this work, so great a multitude of people in this realm do not join that unity, and what a strict account Your Princely Grace will have to render to the Lord God for so great a harm to human souls! For it will be no otherwise than as if Your Princely Grace had already torn apart the first reunion. «Thou sawest the poor man, — saith the illustrious Augustine, — and didst not feed him: thou hast slain him!» So you, being able to join the members of Christ, did not join them, but only parted and tore them asunder! As Christ the Saviour also says: «He that is not with Me is against Me» 20.

Yet secure for yourself that glory before your other successors, which will wondrously adorn you! You are illustrious in nobility, wealth, power, greatness, dignity and authority — all this I know well, see, and extol you above many; yet all this you share with many mortals. But in this you will surpass both yourself and others and accomplish something singular and most glorious, if you bring to peace and fulfilment so great a work, which can make you immortal for all ages — which for you is easier and more readily done, but for others is hard and inaccessible.

Behold, all look to you alone: what you do, others too will do; and the favourable time has not yet passed in which Your Princely Grace might be unable to do it, for the whole matter is such that Your Princely Grace can accomplish everything according to your will.

Your Grace has the supreme universal Bishop well disposed toward you, who greatly desires your glory! Negotiate whatever you wish, write whatever seems good and pleasing to you! And me, Your Grace, you have ready for every service, even at the cost of my health in this my old age; and as I would yield to no one when it is a matter of the violation of God’s praise, so I would wish to yield to no one when it is a matter of its increase! Treat then, Your Grace, with the Most Serene Father the Pope through your envoys concerning whatever is lacking in this matter! Or rather go to him yourself, and there at the same time you will visit the bodies of the most glorious and most illustrious chief Apostles of Christ, that in this way you may merit for yourself greater grace from God and see with your own eyes that which many sovereigns and princes, your brethren, long to see and, seeing it, take great delight in. And I, if it please you, will be your guide and servant. Finally, deign, Your Grace, to make use of my obedience and services as of one who with great eagerness desires to please and serve Your Princely Grace in all things.

For the love of God I beseech you: how long shall we persist in this enmity, which in a short time may bring us to death? And how long shall we give our common ill-wishers occasion to speak and prattle something against us? Is it not better to be reconciled, and give each other our hands, and take care on both sides to still such enmity, as befits true Christians, if we wish to merit the reward promised by Christ to the peacemakers? For would it not be a great harm to remain in enmity so long a time, and a far greater ruin still to prolong it? On my part nothing shall be neglected of what is to be done by the apostolic command, for he admonishes us thus: «Let not the sun go down upon your wrath» 21; for I am ready to do everything, even against the dignity of my estate, provided only it be not contrary to the holy faith and unity.

But Your Princely Grace says: I desired unity and cared for it, but not such as has now come to pass, but another — that is, one of greater profit and greater glory: that not only this realm, but the Muscovite as well, and more than that, all the Patriarchs and the Greeks in general should accede to that unity. Therefore Your Princely Grace would also have wished that I should go with it to Moscow. But since we, not waiting for that, made haste with it, Your Grace deigns to take offence. And who would not rejoice if the Lord God in His holy mercy should deign to grant that all of them too should agree to it? For great praise would such a consideration and design of Your Grace deserve, but in it we should be fed only on hope and not on fulfilment! For who does not know how great are the coarseness, obstinacy and superstitions of the Muscovite people! And who does not know the Greek nation, loathsome and proud in schism, truly hardened in it, and their fruitless fear, so that they dare not even conceive anything good and worthy of glory! Not as their forefathers were once glorious in all things; but these prefer rather to lead a dissolute life dishonourably in harsh bondage than to desire an honourable death with their glory! For their manners are so corrupted that they will in no wise trust themselves or their own, but, full only of vainglory, pride and arrogance, devising fables, they amuse themselves with idle talk, and when they learn anything true, at once betray one another as to the slaughter. It is hard to confide in them in anything, for at that very hour it will be in the ears of the Turks, and then death is ready for the innocent. Death in turn begets fear, and fear makes men worthless, empty, slothful and base. And when anyone speaks to them of Christian unity, they deem it a thing impossible and hard. But even should the Patriarchs consent to it, would not their own bishops and the Greek people at once, disdaining them, set up others in their place? So wretched is the condition of these present-day Greeks: even if the Patriarchs themselves and their elders wished to do something most glorious and good (as that glorious, great and holy man Jeremiah 22 attempted), yet they cannot and dare not, fearing their own people! For there is no one to bring them to it! For the secular power always aided the spiritual in such matters, but that was under the Christian emperors. And now among them it is not the shepherds who rule the sheep, but rather the sheep who rule the shepherds.

And almost the same is now happening in Rus’. For as if by some hereditary right they have taken up and learned this from the Greeks — not to obey their elders. But even if it came to pass that the Greek people were not opposed to it and consented, would not the Turk forbid it? And even should he look upon it through his fingers (I do not think it would be so, for his cunning religion bids him guard against it with vigilance) or not learn of it (which is impossible), it would surely in any case be drawn out for a long time! For anyone can easily see: would it not be a great harm to wait for it so long, with death at one’s back? This, then, above all led us to make haste with it, for we feared lest they and many others should tear apart for us that holy work once begun, or hinder the people by their writings and letters, as has more than once befallen from them. But now, having settled our affairs soundly, according to the Apostle: «Him that is weak in the faith receive ye» 23, we can always help them too and stand up for them. And for Your Princely Grace, and indeed for so mighty a lord and most illustrious prince, it will always be safe and free to persuade them even later.

But if Your Princely Grace disdains such unity because in your mind you deign to think otherwise of it, and judge that it is against your conscience, wherefore you will not accede to it, seeing the true Church of God only among the Greeks alone — then that same thing has led me to join the Roman Church, since my conscience shows her to me as the true one; for were I to speak in other words, I should lie, since in my mind I understand it not otherwise but thus.

And if, then, Your Princely Grace deigns to hold such an opinion as I have said, having departed from that first design of yours to establish concord with the Romans, and now deem that concord unnecessary — which I could well believe — then I do not see that the Greek Church in these few years that have passed has become holier and better or has increased in any works; for the further it goes, the more it decays and comes to great unskilfulness and coarseness, where among the elder overseers of the Church there is nothing else but drunkenness, gluttony, simony, falsehood, hatred, slander, obstinacy, pride and arrogance, and other vices reign so mightily that they will not be amended and humbled even by bitter slavery. Of learning in Holy Scripture and in other secular writings (for the adornment and instruction of men), where once there was the very flower, ask no more; good teachers and preachers you will not find among them even with a candle, and in general they hold preaching to be a papist heresy, covering up their unskilfulness and coarseness 24. To this the walls of the cathedral church of Ostroh could testify, when the Patriarch of Antioch was there and when Your Princely Grace’s presbyter 25 wished to preach the word of God, but had to come down from the pulpit in silence!

Ask not of the noble estate, for the Turk has destroyed it all!

Let us pass, then, to the monastic estate. There is neither obedience nor true discipline! For as if scalded, without the leave of their superiors, they run about the world 26 seeking more filling fare, and seldom stay in one place! Anyone may plainly see that of that holy monastic order founded by Basil the Great only the title or some shadow has remained, while the substance itself has wholly perished; for many of them, having fled from the monasteries, have become vagabonds, only gathering money by deceitful tales, fleecing and wheedling it out of people, and then, having gathered it, fighting among themselves over it and cheating one another. This we have come to know not only among the simple but also among some of the greater. What a mark did Gabriel, Patriarch of Ohrid, leave behind him in these parts, who, like some huckster laying out his goods as wares and trading in them, so did he trade in holy things: he sold absolutions small and great, the great absolution for a thaler, the middle one for half a thaler, and the lesser for six groschen. All this I myself, it is plain, beheld with my own eyes at Brest. I do not mention other misdeeds, of which there were plenty, and how he wrote of this even in Rome itself, to the disgrace of the Greek nation and the episcopal estate; and afterwards, when, having returned to the Greek islands, he perished miserably, he bore the manifest punishment of God for his misdeeds. To this not only the Italians but many Greeks and Venetians can testify. In short: only the appearance and some shadow of that original holy episcopal and monastic estate has remained among the present-day Greeks, while the things themselves are wholly empty. By such appearance they lead astray only the unwitting, just like the Jews, who are guided by words that kill and reject the spirit that gives life, not remembering what Paul says: «For the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life» 27. And they marvel not a little that attentive and pious people cannot see this in them! O poor Greece, of whom we may safely speak in the words of the prophet Jeremiah: «How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street» 28. And further: «Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets» 29. Thus has this bitter slavery stripped you of all that was good, and has wholly mastered, humbled, laid waste, diminished, scattered, quenched and truly razed you to the ground! That beauty and original splendour of yours has vanished! Once you were Greece; now you must be called Turkey! All this is no secret to Your Princely Grace, as a mighty lord to whom the affairs and life of the present-day Greeks living in slavery and bondage are known. And why they bear this punishment of God upon themselves is well known to men! And whoever does not know, let him read the admonition of their own Greek, Bessarion, Metropolitan of Nicaea, who prophesied to them at the Council of Florence a few years before that bondage of theirs into which they fell, and for what cause they were to fall into it. But this I shall now let rest.

Finally, if Your Princely Grace should deign to understand this otherwise and think that the true Catholic Church is, after all, with the present-day Greeks (which I myself do not suppose of Your Grace, for you are a lord of lofty understanding, since you know their present affairs and doings), and moreover, if Your Princely Grace should perceive in this matter something further of contrary doubts (which has already changed) — then for this there is conversation and deliberation, that the truth may thereby be better shown forth, which we do not shun, and indeed we wish to speak and deliberate with everyone, except heretics, whom we not merely avoid but ought to fear; but the matter does not pertain to them (and besides, the canons forbid it to us, for they were long ago vanquished and condemned by the Church); but with our own Catholics, as with dear brethren, we are glad to converse, and we wish that the side which has been worn out in its proofs should no longer have any excuse either before God or before men. For such a conversation deign, Your Princely Grace, to choose for yourself the time, the place and the persons; in all things we wish to be ready and obedient to Your Princely Grace.

And if Your Princely Grace should not deem such a disputation fitting and should not wish to have it, then, if it be possible, I beseech you: deign, Your Princely Grace, graciously to admit me to a private conversation with yourself, that we, as befits true Christians, may set all things right in a spirit of humility and, having diligently conversed of all matters, bring everything to a longed-for and happy end.

And again (which God forbid!), should it come to pass, at the instigation of certain enemies of the holy Catholic Church (who in this matter guard their own profits more than the glory of Your Princely Grace, for they are manifest enemies of the cross of the Lord, for whom Christ the Lord died in vain), that then, inclining to the counsel of such, Your Princely Grace should forbid even this, or, having altered your pious intent, which was ever eager for the increase of God’s praise, should now not deign to consent even to this and should disdain the petition and my just supplication and admonition, the servant of God’s Church and your faithful bedesman — I bear witness before God Almighty, one in Trinity, and let it be known to all people of the present age and to those who come after, that it will not be through my cause if the Church of God, being able to come to peace and brotherly union and to common and Christian love, should yet not come to it. Such love Christ our Saviour so ordained that, dying, He sealed it with His own blood of the new and everlasting covenant and left it as the foremost sign to His faithful inheritance, by which they were to be known from others, the unfaithful, as it is said: «By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another» 30.

Finally, concluding this my writing to Your Princely Grace — though, I trust, not the last — I add this as well. It is a dreadful thing to jest with God; and since it is a matter not of temporal things but of eternal death or of eternal life, which cannot be exchanged even for all the treasures of this world, I call upon that eternal Judge, to Whom all secrets are known, God one in Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Whom we have oft offended in this matter, as His own, by our discord, and upon those countless pure, rational powers and choirs of heaven — that is, I appeal: let them judge between us!

For in this matter I have desired nothing so greatly as that the flock of Christ, redeemed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, might be refreshed and revived in this adversity; and he who, being able to do it with eternal glory and with his own salvation, yet does not do it, shall give answer to the impartial Judge at His dread judgment!

Yet I have hope in the mercy of God that, seeing Your Princely Grace’s intent zealous for His praise, He will deign to incline it to so good a work, that you too may be a partaker of that holy thing, and with your eternal and immortal glory, having procured the longed-for peace for the Church of God and having lived long in this world in an honourable and venerable old age, may thereafter receive in the life to come the unfading crown of reward of the Kingdom of Heaven from Christ, your Lord and God. This I faithfully wish you, my gracious lord, and duly, day and night, with my tears, I beseech the most merciful God for it, as His most sinful and unworthy servant and your bedesman.

Written in the year of the Nativity of God 1598, in the month of June, on the 3rd day.

NOTES

Translated from the Ukrainian bookish language after the edition: «Українські гуманісти епохи Відродження» («Ukrainian Humanists of the Renaissance Era»). — Part 2. — Kyiv, 1995. — pp. 131–145.

1 John, XII — 35.

2 Matthew, XXV — 26–27.

3 Matthew, XXV — 30. In I. Pociej: «Into outer darkness».

4 Author’s note: Psalms, XLI — 2; should be 4.

5 Author’s note: Proverbs, IX — [8].

6 Author’s note: Hosea, I — [2].

7 John, X — 16.

8 Here a paraphrase of Psalms, I — 3.

9 1 Corinthians, III — 4.

10 Author’s note: 2 Corinthians, II — 15.

11 Author’s note: Psalms, CXXXII — [3].

12 Song of Songs, VI — 9.

13 Author’s note: Proverbs, I — [8].

14 Psalms, CXXXII — 3.

15 Prince K. Ostrozky was at first favourably disposed toward the union but, seeing that it was leading to a split in Ukrainian society, came out against it.

16 Vasyl Surazky — a Ukrainian nobleman, author of the polemical work «On the One True Orthodox Faith», published in Ostroh in 1588; a supporter of Orthodoxy.

17 That is, the matter of the union ought first to have been decided collectively at an Orthodox synod, and only then should one have gone to the Pope; the Uniates did the reverse.

18 This refers to the Protestant assembly in Toruń (Poland).

19 This refers to the Orthodox Council of Brest, convened in opposition to the Uniate one.

20 Author’s note: Matthew, XII — [30].

21 Author’s note: Ephesians, IV — [26].

22 That is, the Patriarch of Constantinople.

23 Author’s note: Romans, XIV — [1].

24 Among the Orthodox there was disagreement on the need for preaching: some accepted it, while others rejected it.

25 This refers to Demian Nalyvaiko, who was, incidentally, an educated man, a poet, printer, translator, and author of a manuscript collection of aphoristic sayings.

26 Wandering monks are meant; the custom of wandering persisted among them until the 18th century; they often lived as wandering scholars and cantors, begging alms or earning their keep by skills and arts. Not a few Greek monks wandered across Ukraine, sometimes of high rank.

27 Author’s note: 2 Corinthians, III — 6.

28 Author’s note: Lamentations, IV — 1.

29 Ibid., IV — 8.

30 Author’s note: John, XIII — [35].