Orthodox manuals on preparation for confession of the 17th century and their sources: “Наука о тайне Св. Покаяния” (Kiev, 1671)
Abstract
This article deals with the practical manual on the preparation for the sacrament of repentance “Doctrine of the Mystery of the Holy Repentance” (Russ. Наука о тайне Св. Покаяния, Kiev, 1671), which was the fi rst text written in the “simple tongue” (Ukr. проста мова) and addressed to ordinary laymen of the Metropolitanate of Kiev. The emergence of such manuals in the latter half of the 17th century was due to the programme of the comprehensive reform of church life initiated by the Kiev Metropolitan Petr Mogila. The Doctrine served as a certain complement to the treatise Мир с Богом человеку (Kiev, 1669), addressed to the clergy. Both treatises relied heavily on Catholic examples, borrowing from them not only the structure but also the factual material as well as specifi c scholastic terminology. A Polish-language manual of edifi catory and ascetic character Skarb duszny (Cracow, 1582, 1594) served as a source for the Doctrine. The Polish text, in its turn, is a literal translation of Thesaurus Piarum composed by the Jesuit Fr. Coster. Despite the fact that fragments of the Polish text had already been published in Vilna in the 1630s or 1640s, the compilers of the Doctrine addressed directly to the Polish version by Coster, only adding certain local realia and leaving out some of the confession-coloured passages as well as references to certain Western theologians. The Doctrine was widely disseminated not only in print but also in manuscripts, both in the Orthodox world and among Uniates.
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