“Together, All of Russia Will Unite in One Voice to Glorify God...” The Church Councils of Brest (1596) and Polotsk (1839) and Metropolitan Joseph (Semashko)'s Activities Evaluated by Archpriest John Naumovich (1826–1891), Galician-Russian Educator and Church Figure

Abstract

In the 19th to early 20th century, the ethno-cultural landscape of Eastern Galicia was significantly shaped by the ideological legacy of prominent figures in the local GalicianRussian movement. They advocated   for   the   recognition   of the triune Russian people, comprising Great Russians, Little Russians, and Belarusians. One of the foremost representatives and ideologues of the Galician-Russian movement was Ivan Grigorievich Naumovich (1826–1891), who stood as one of the most eminent public and church figures of Ruthenia. Being a Greek Catholic priest who later converted to Orthodoxy and emigrated from Austria-Hungary to Russia for political reasons, John Naumovich served as a staunch advocate for the GalicianRussian peasantry, holding positions as a deputy in the Galician Sejm and the Austrian Reichsrat. He also spearheaded the 'ritual' movement within the Greek Catholic Church, aimed at safeguarding the Eastern rite from Romanization. Additionally, he played a pivotal role as an educator of the Galician-Russian populace. At the initiative of John Naumovich in 1874, the Mykhailo Kachkovsky Cultural and Educational Society was established in Galicia. This society played a significant role in the advancement of education and the elevation of the economic and cultural status of the Galician Rusyns. In his works, John Naumovich analysed the socio-cultural causes and political prerequisites of the Union, as well as the mechanism of its implementation and its subsequent devastating consequences for the indigenous Orthodox population of Western Russia. John Naumovich regarded the Church Council of Polotsk as a triumph of historical justice—an act of rectifying the tragic consequences of the Church Council of Brest by reuniting the Belarusian Uniates with the “ancestral Eastern Orthodox Church”. Naumovich emphasized the primordial Orthodoxy of “our ancestors” from the time of the christianisation of Rus' until 1596, when the connection of the church in Western Russia “with the Eastern Orthodox Church was broken by uninvited newcomers from the West who imposed the Union on our fathers”. However, as argued by John Naumovich, what was imposed by flattery and violence “by strangers not for the sake of the truth of Christ and the salvation of souls, but for the sake of the love of power of the popes and the political expectations of the Polish Republic, began to crumble after the unification of the Lithuanian-Russian regions of Poland with Russia”. According to John Naumovich, the Uniate church was led by fathers “filled with the apostolic spirit, who opened the eyes of the people and called them to reunification”. In John Naumovich's view, Metropolitan Joseph (Semashko) and his associates were precisely such apostolic fathers, whose efforts led to the reunification of all Western Russian regions with the ancient Orthodox Church.