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Autonomy Lost and Regained: The Ukrainian Orthodox Metropolia of Kyiv, 1633-2019 This exhibition was made possible by a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

© 2021 by the Ukrainian History and Education Center, all rights reserved.

King John II Casimir Vasa

John II Casimir (1609–1672) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1648 until his abdication in 1668, as well as titular King of Sweden from 1648 until 1660. In Polish historiography, John Casimir's reign has been considered one of the most disastrous in the history of Poland.

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Autonomy under threat Petro Mohyla's successors Sylvester Kosov (or Kosiv, c.1600–1657, Metropolitan 1647–1657) and Dionisii Balaban (Metropolitan 1657–1663) attempted to maintain the stature of the Kyiv Metropolia in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.

Kosov was born into the Ruthenian nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the town of Zhyrovitsy in what is today western Belarus. He became Mohyla's student and colleague, and was a co-founder of the Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium, of which he was prefect from 1631.

Kosov's tenure as Metropolitan of Kyiv coincided almost exactly with Khmel'nyts'kyi Rebellion, which began in 1648 as a Cossack uprising within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth led by Hetman Bohdan Khmel'nyts'kyi allied with the Crimean Tatar Khanate. It led to the creation of an independent Cossack Hetmanate in Ukraine. It also resulted in the expulsion or killing of almost all Polish nobles, officials, and Roman Catholic clergy in the lands of present-day Ukraine, as well as widespread massacres of Ukraine's Jewish population.

But perhaps the most pivotal event of this period for Ukraine's modern political history as well as the history of the Kyiv Metropopolia was the Pereiaslav Council of 1654. Since it was in the geopolitical interest of the Crimean Tatars to maintain a state of conflict with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they withdrew their support at several key moments, preventing Khmel'nyts'kyi from achieving a decisive victory. Looking for alternative military support, he made diplomatic overtures to both the Ottoman Empire as well as to Moscovy. The latter agreed to provide assistance in exchange for the Cossack's allegiance to tsar Alexei I.

In the negotiations that led to the "Pereiaslav Agreement" (or the "Pereiaslav disagreement", as Serhii Plokhy has aptly referred to it), neither party fully comprehended what the other thought that it was agreeing to. Rather than being the "reunification of Ukraine with Russia" portrayed in standard Russian and Soviet history writing, the two sides had very different ideas of the relationship between the two polities: Khmel'nyts'kyi thought he was agreeing to a protectorate, while the tsar assumed he was simply gaining new subjects. The cultural and linguistic gulf between the two sides was so deep that they needed interpreters even for basic communication.

The end product, however, seemed to grant many of the Cossak's demands, including the preservation of the Kyiv Metropolia within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. However, realpolitik soon took over and set in motion a major reconfiguration of power in Central and Eastern Europe. The resulting Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) led to the Truce of Andrusovo, which formally placed the territory east of the Dnipro River under the control of the tsar. Eventually, this would lead to increasing restrictions on the Hetmanate and the incorporation of Ukraine into the Russian Empire under de facto colonial status, and would even contribute to the demise of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth itself.

Both Kosov and Balaban strongly resisted attempts to subordinate their Metropolia to Moscow and continued to show loyalty to king John Casimir, as can be seen on their antimensia (above).

Balaban was a strong supporter of the 1658 Treaty of Hadiach, a last-ditch effort to maintain the Hetmanate within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Proposed by Hetman Ivan Vyhovs'kyi and written by Yurii Nemyrych (a Western-educated Nontrinitarian Protestant who converted to Orthodoxy) with the assistance of Balaban, the treaty would have, among other things, created a co-equal Grand Duchy of Ruthenia, given the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kyiv and other Orthodox bishops seats in the Commonwealth Senate, and granted the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy the status of a university alongside the Jagiellonian University of Cracow. The treaty was approved in an extremely watered-down form, and it only succeeded in inflaming rank-and-file Cossacks against the nobility and made them even more agreeable to closer ties with Russia.
Antimension of Sylvester Kosov, circa 1650 Woodblock print on linen (14 in × 19.5 in)
UHEC Patriarch Mstyslav Museum Permanent Collection

While most antimensia have some variant of the icon depicting the Deposition in the Tomb, this antimension is quite unusual in that its central image is derived from the icon form known as Extreme Humility or Man of Sorrows, for which there is some precedent in Greek antimensia. Here, it is rendered as a beautiful Baroque woodcut.

It is entirely possible that one of the woodcut artists who created the images in Petro Mohyla's 1646 Trebnyk was also responsible for this print.

Text transcription
Б[о]ж[ес]твенный и с[вя]щенный олтаръ Г[оспод]а Б[ог]а и Сп[а]са н[а]шегѡ ИІ[су]са Х[рист]а, ѡс[вя]щен бл[а]г[ода]тію Все[свя]та[го] и житвотворяща[го] д[у]ха: рукодѣстве[н] же й бл[агосло]вен преѡс[вя]щен[н]ым Г[о]спо]д[и]но[мъ] ѡ[т]це[м] Си[л]вестро[м] Косово[м] Правосла[вним] архі[е]п[иско]пом Митрополито[м] Кіе[вскым] Гали[ц]ки[м] и всея Рѡссіи Еѯа[р]хою с[вя]тѣйша[го] Ап[осто]лскагѡ Ѳрѡну Кѡ[н]ста[н]тінопо[л]скогѡ да Лѵтургисается на немъ в Храмѣ [...] Сеже бы[стъ] за Де[р]жавы На[и]яснѣша[го] Коро[ля] По[лского] Іѡа[н]на Казимера: в лѣ[то]: ѿ вопло[щенію] X[рист]a 16[?] М[ѣсяца] […] [additional illegible handwritten text]
Text translation
The Holy and Sanctified Altar of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, sanctified by the grace of the All-holy and Life-creating Spirit. By the hand and blessing of the Most Holy Master Father Sylvester Kosov, Orthodox Archbishop [and] Metropolitan of Kyiv, Halych, and all Rus', exarch of the most holy Apostolic Throne of Constantinople. For the serving of the Liturgy in the temple [...]. This being under the rule of the Most Glorious King of Poland John Casimir in the year 16[?] from the Incarnation of Christ in the month [...] [additional illegible handwritten text]

View this antimension in its historical context
Antimension of Dionisii (Balaban), 1661 Woodblock print on linen (14 in × 16 in)
UHEC Patriarch Mstyslav Museum Permanent Collection

Unlike the antimension of Sylvester Kosov, this antimension has the much more traditional image of the Deposition in the Tomb. And even though it was made approximately a decade later, the woodblock printing on this antimension is of much poorer quality.

This is not surprising given the circumstances. After the Pereiaslav Agreement, forces under the control of Moscow had taken over Kyiv, and Balaban was forced to relocate west of the Dnipro River into Polish-controlled territory, so he probably would not have had access to the same skilled artists and artisans that he would have had in Kyiv.
Text transcription
Б[о]ж[ес]твенный и с[вя]щенний олтаръ Г[оспод]а Б[ог]а и Сп[а]са н[а]шего ИІ[су]са Х[рист]а, ѡс[вя]щенъ бл[а]г[ода]тію всес[вя]т[а]го и житвотворящагѡ Д[у]ха: рукодѣствене й бл[агосло]ве[н] Б[о]г[о]любивы[м] Г[оспо]дино[м] Ѿце[м] Диѡнисіемъ Нахорохмъ[?] Балабано[м] М[и]л[ис]тію Б[о]жіею Преѡс[вя]щенний архиепископомъ Митрополитомъ Кіе[в]ски[м] Гали[ц]кимъ и всея рѡссіи Еѯархою с[вятѣйшаго] Апостолскагѡ Ѳрѡну Кo[н]ста[н]тінопо[л]ского: Ахимандритомъ Печерскимъ. При [?] Короля полского Іѡана Казимира. Лѣта Бытія міра 71[69] ѿ воплоще[ніа] X[ристо]вa 1661 М[ися]ца [...]
Text translation
The Holy and Sanctified Altar of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, sanctified by the grace of the All-holy and Life-creating Spirit. By the hand and blessing of the God-loving Master Father Dionisii [?] Balaban, His Eminence (by the grace of God) Archbishop [and] Metropolitan of Kyiv, Halych, and all Rus', exarch of the Most Holy Apostolic Throne of Constantinople, Archimandrite of [the Monastery of] the Caves. Under [?] King of Poland John Casimir. In the year 71[69] from the creation of the world, and from the Incarnation of Christ 1661 in the month [...]

View this antimension in its historical context

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Portrait of John II Casimir by Daniel Schultz.