Sylvester Kosov’s Exegesis (1635): A Manifesto of the Kyiv-Mohyla Counter-Reformation?

Authors

  • Ihor Isichenko

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18523/kmhj51025.2015-2.65-82

Keywords:

Sylvester Kosov, Petro Mohyla, Counter-Reformation, polemical literature, Church Fathers, Baroque

Abstract

Bishop Sylvester Kosov’s polemical treatise The Exegesis (1635) is regarded as evidence of new trends in Kyiv theology, reflecting the entry of Orthodox thinkers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) into the spiritual sphere of European Reform, traditionally defined as the Counter-Reformation. The treatise’s author, being the closest associate of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, denies the Byzantine theologians’ accusations of pliancy to Protestant influences. Demonstrating doctrinal differences with Calvinism, Lutheranism, and Unitarianism, Sylvester Kosov determines his own faith identity and its natural connection to the apostolic tradition and the teachings of the Church Fathers. In doing so, he uses expressive Baroque imagery.

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