Ivan Vyshenskyi

Ivan Vyshenskyi ( _uk. Іван Вишенський; * about 1550 in Sudova Vyshnia; † after 1620 Mount Athos, Greece) - ukrainian orthodox monk and religious philosopher. He is considered to be an important polemicist of the time.

Biography

Not much is known about the biography of Vyshenskyi. It is considered to be established that he spent part of his youth in Lutsk and was connected with scholars from Ostroh Academy. In about 1576–1580 he traveled to Mount Athos in Greece, which was the center of orthodox monk culture. He stayed there till his death except for a short visit to Ukraine between 1604 and 1606 when he quarelled with the members of the Lviv brotherhood.

Work

In his writings Vyshenskyi opposed catholicizm and uniate church. He send messages argumenting his position from Mount Athos. Vyshenskyi was especially polemizing with Piotr Skarga, who supported the church union. His arguments were based on opposing the church hierarchy of catholicizm to the Byzanthine asceticizm. Vyshenskyi wrote not in then common Church Slavonic language, but in Ruthenian language, an old form of Ukrainian.

Links

* [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?AddButton=pagesVYVyshenskyIvan.htm Ivan Vyshensky] in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine