The classification of historical sources on Jesuit practices in the East Slavic region in the late XVI - early XVII centuries

Abstract

The author reviewed the documents of various periods issued in the East Slavic region and systemized widely-known historical sources on the activities of the Society of Jesus in the late XVI - early XVII cent. The present paper reveals that the source base of Jesuit practices in the abovementioned period in the East Slavic region mostly consists of archives and unpublished documents, pictorial and other artifacts. Certain documents are stored at the archives, museums and libraries in the East Slavic region. Many sources have already been translated into Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian and published. In the times of the Russian Empire, most of the documents were published in the collections of sources sorted by the region. Some volumes of these collections contain church documents and polemic literature. In the times of the Soviet Union the documents on the activities of the Society of Jesus were mostly published and republished in subject collections. Nowadays, a number of documents and sources of the Society of Jesus have already been published in subjects collections, and researchers' papers in the territory of modern Ukraine, Russia and Belorussia. Documents and articles on the Jesuit practices posted on the Internet resources of the region and official websites of the Society of Jesus are also worth mentioning. Sources on Jesuit practices in the late XVI - early XVII cent. in the East Slavic region can be conditionally divided into three groups by the type, class, origin and the sphere of the activities of the Society. One can single out the following types of sources: verbal, pictorial, audial, behavioral and conventional ones. The verbal ones are also subdivided according to the class into written and oral. Written ones include regulatory documents, acts and recordkeeping documents, descriptive documents and special documents. According to the origin, the sources can be divided into the documents issued by the Society; documents on the Jesuit practices issued by other confessions; documents issued by certain states and their authorities; documents and papers issued by particular individuals. By the sphere of activities documents can be divided into political, financial and economic, religious and cultural ones. Each of these subdivisions will provide for an objective, comprehensive, and detailed historical research. It is clear that there is no strict rule for classifying a document according to certain type, class, origin or sphere of the activities. Many documents have features of two, three or more groups. In this case, sources are of an integrated nature. However, the general classification will facilitate any research process as it allows choosing more appropriate methods of reviewing and processing of the documents. This is the reason why it is advisable to continue to analyze all the groups of historical sources on the activities of the Society of Jesus.