Ancient heritage in the religious debate of the 16th-17th centuries (textual analysis of the treatise “apokrisis” by christopher filalet)

The article examines the historical conditions of the turn of 16th-17th centuries during the preparation and implementation of the Union of Brest, and their impact on the religious controversy between Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The author indicates that the religious controversy was complicated by the socio-political issues and the struggle between the Catholic and Orthodox churches for the influence in the Western Russian lands, so the main topic of the controversy was that of the truth of faith. The treatise of Christopher Filalet analysed in the article became a vivid example of the polemical treatise of the era. The author argues that the treatise is interesting not only as an example of polemical works, but also as a logical essay where one can see changes in methods of argumentation, which appear in the Orthodox authors’ writings, as well as Aristotle’s methods, not typical for the authors before. The analysis of the treatise makes the author conclude that Filalet uses the inductive method. The novelty of the method is manifested, firstly, in the rejection of the absoluteness of the truth of Holy Scripture and, secondly, in the unconditional recognition of rational logic as the only and indispensable method of proof.