On the Erudition of a (non)Orthodox Author from the first third of the 17th C.: The Case of Kasijan Sakovyč

Abstract

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.