THE TIME OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT Kiev’s theology and Russian Enlightenment

Abstract

Th is article argues that the philosophy that was taught in Orthodox schools in Rzeczpospolita in the late XVI — early XVII century, and then became the ideological basis of the movement “Latinism” in Moscow, can be attributed to the so-called second scholasticism. Features of the second scholasticism are the denial of predestination in theology, the use of probabilistic approaches in logic and ethics, the opposition to absolutism in politics. Th ese features make the second scholasticism unacceptable for arising in Europe of that time of absolute monarchies, including the Russian empire, which was ideologically based on universal rationalism of early Enlightenment. In Western Europe and in Russia the second scholasticism has become “a cultural exclusion zone”. However, the dominance of the second scholasticism in Orthodox schools of Rzeczpospolita coincided with the formation of cultural identity in Ukraine and in many ways defi ned the characteristics of the Ukrainian mentality.

Keywords:

Russia, Ukraine, Orthodox Church, second scholasticism, Enlightenment, cultural exclusion