The concept of hierarchy in the polemic concerning the “Perspective” by Kassian Sakowicz

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze ideas about the church hierarchy in three works created in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the middle of the 17th century: “Perspective” by Kassian Sakowicz, “Lithos or Stone” by Peter Mohyla and “Mirror or Veil” by Pachomiusz Wojna-Oranski. These treatises are genetically related, since the second and third are certain kind of the “Orthodox” and “Uniate” responses to the first. “Perspective”, created to condemn the churches of the Greek rite, thus initiated a significant multi-dimensional discussion, one of the cornerstones of which were the issues concerning the church organization.

The question of the church hierarchy in those texts includes a wide range of subjects. The aim of this study is to group and analyze them. The interest is focused on understanding the role and place of the priest, establishing the necessary components and order of the sacrament of holy orders, condemnation of abandoning the Christian ideal by particular clergymen of one or another of the Christian faiths, and also, of course, one of the most pressing issues of interfaith polemics – the dispute about the status of the Pope. The hierarchical principle acquires special significance in the writings of polemicists in the light of the doctrine of salvation.