The article examines the polylogue as the basis of Polish-language discourse within the framework of the inter-confessional polemic after the Union of Brest, to which both Polish and Ukrainian writers of the Baroque era joined. Attention is paid to the creative works of Hipacy Pociej, Kliryk from Ostrog, and prince Konstantin from Ostrog, whose correspondence became a vivid example of polemical epistolary in the form of a polylogue. Their role in the formation of the concept of the Volyn text is emphasized. Polemical polylogues after the Union of Brest took place according to two discussion models. The first of them grew out of a dialogue between two authors, to which other participants in the dispute joined in turn. The second model, less common, immediately assumed the presence of more than two parties. In the case of the union controversy, there were usually three such participants - representatives of the Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Thus, in the apologetic “triangle” of Wojna-Orański, Skarga, and Sakowicz, there are three worldview systems that independently develop in a polemical direction. It is worth noting that the representatives of the Ukrainian nation used the Polish language as a polemic tool. Example of such correspondence may be the discussion between Prince Konstanty Ostrogski and Hipacy Pociej, which was later continued by the Cleric of Ostrog. A letter in Baroque times was primarily a type of literary work created in the conditions of a social context. The letters were not written for personal communication, but for public discussion. That is why in the studied material we trace the purposeful use of the Polish language as a tool of public speech. Therefore, in view of this, we are dealing with a whole series of polemical letters, whose structure can be described as an apologetic chain of theses and antitheses, generally characteristic of a theological polemical treatise. At the same time, correspondence polylogues resemble a chain of closely connected apologies. The letters could have been created initially with personal intentions, or they could have been written immediately to show off as an exclusively literary work. The genre characteristics of the polylogue as a cycle of letters are reduced to citations of famous authors, Church fathers, the Holy Scriptures and references to the thesis of the opponent. They are also an expression of an emotional, and therefore subjective and individual writing style, by which the authorship of a particular letter can be determined. The definition of the Volyn text in the polemical epistolary polylogue arises from the fact of the place of origin or residence of the authors who are involved in the conversation. Thus, the place of stay for Hypacy Pociej was Volodymyr, where he performed the functions of a bishop. Instead, his opponents came from Ostrog, which belonged to historical Volyn. These loci influenced the peculiarities of correspondence vocabulary, toponymic attributes and address certificates. The fact of the absence of a complex of provincialism in the local Volyn cities, from which the polemical voices of ancient writers rang out, is telling. Religious persons also joined the correspondence, especially from the higher echelons of the church hierarchy, who initially were not associated with the writing craft, but became writers involuntarily. In the future, polemical baroque correspondence written in Polish on the Ukrainian-Polish border should be given more attention in interdisciplinary scientific research.
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Aug 23, 2023
Michał Wawrzonek + 1
Open Access
