Canonical Arguments of Orthodox Polemicists of Late 16th — first Quarter of 17th Centuries against Brest Church Union

The article continues previous publications devoted to the problems of canonical justification of the Brest Church Union. The conclusion of the union caused rejection and opposition on the part of Orthodox episcopate, clergy and laity. This opposition manifested itself in various forms, one of which was polemical literature. On the pages of their works, Orthodox authors put forward a number of arguments against the church union with the “Latins”: biblical, patrological, historical, and canonical arguments. Consideration of the canonical argumentation of the Orthodox party is of particular interest to the science of church law. The subject of scientific research in the article is works of Gerasim and Meletius Smotritsky, Christopher Philalethes, hieromonk Zachariah (Kopystensky), Cleric Ostrozhsky. The main aspects related to the union and its implementation and criticized by the abovementioned authors, are highlighted. It is shown what canons the Orthodox polemicists referred to, defending their point of view. It is concluded that the canonical argumentation of the Orthodox polemicists against the Union of Brest is quite logical, but not absolutely indisputable. The article was prepared on the basis of the report delivered by the author at the VIII Barsov Readings (06.12.2024).