Kasijan Sakovyč (сa. 1578–1647) can rightfully be attributed to one of the most educated representatives of both Orthodox and Uniate monasticism in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of the first third of the 17th century. Kasijan’s diversity in terms of literary genres reflects his wide knowledge. Thus, his polemical treatises against the Orthodox Church and, partly, against the Uniates, echoed the events of his personal biography: after 1625, Sakovyč converted from Orthodox Christianity to the Uniate Church; in 1640, he became a Catholic. Two textbooks (compilations from Pseudo-Aristoteles) were partly related to his teaching activity and rectorship at Kyiv Brotherhood school. A rhymed funeral eulogy for the Hetman of Zaporozhian Cossacks, Petro Sahaidachny, testifies to Kasijan’s poetic talents. The present article aims to investigate Sakovyč’s writings as a means to reconstruct his personal “resource” or texts or books that he read and used in his literary activity. Two prefaces by Kasijan (a dedication to the nobleman Aleksander Zasławski and an appeal to the ‘pious reader’) are used for this case study, both written for “Desiderosus, abo Scieszka do miłości Bożey” (Desiderosus or a Path to God’s Love) (Kraków, 1625). The work is a Polish translation of an anonymous Spanish treatise ca. 1515, which was prepared by Kasper Wilkowski (died after 1589) and published three times during the late 16th century. Attributing Latin phrases, maxims, quotations, and references to historical figures and works, visual images, etc., that are used in both prefaces, allows one to suggest what books were known and available to Sakovyč and could have been the source of his erudition.

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The history of the works composed by Jesuits Fulvio Androzzi (1523-1575) and Marcin Śmiglecki (1563/1564-1618) and their translations into Church Slavonic as well as the so-called "prostaâ mova" are considered as an interesting example of the spread of Catholic works among adherents of Orthodoxy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Androzzi's Della frequenza della communione (1579) was originally an essay on the preparation for frequent communion. Its two Polish-language editions by Stanisław Grochowski (Scieszka poboznego chrześcianina, 1600) and Szymon Wysocki (Skarbnica duchowna, 1600) served as a source for a concise funerary sample-sermon written in "prostaâ mova" which is found in the Vilna's Orthodox Ritual (1621). An essay on theological and legal aspects of money-lending (usury) by Marcin Śmiglecki (O lichwie i trzech przedniejszych kontraktach, 1596) was partly used for drawing up a treatise on moral theology Mir s Bogom čeloveku (1669) published in the Kiev Monastery of the Caves. Both sample-sermons and treatises on moral theology were new literary genres for Orthodox tradition; their origin in the 17th century can be associated with Catholic influences. In both cases, the question of a translator from Polish into Church Slavonic and "prostaâ mova" remains open.