Dormition Brotherhood

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Seal of the Brotherhood

The Dormition Brotherhood (Ruthenian Братство Лвовского оглашенїе церкве) was an Orthodox community in Lwów from the 16th to 18th centuries. It was the oldest and most important Orthodox brotherhood in Poland-Lithuania .

history

In 1463 citizens' rights to a church in Lwów were mentioned for the first time. The brotherhood was first mentioned in 1542. The first bishop of Halich Makarios, who resided in Lwów, was a member of the brotherhood. Since 1547, the brotherhood built the Church of the Assumption , which became its seat.

Bishop Gideon von Lwów led a long struggle against the brotherhood's rights to the Church and the Onuphrios Monastery. In 1586 her rights were guaranteed by Patriarch Joachim V of Antioch. That year the Brotherhood School was also established. In 1589 Patriarch Jeremias II of Constantinople confirmed their rights and possessions. During this time the print shop was established. In 1591 the oldest surviving prints were made there.

Brotherhood printing press, first half of the 16th century
Letter from Patriarch Joachim V of Antioch on the rights of the brotherhood, 1586

The brotherhood took a critical look at the condition of the Orthodox clergy in Poland-Lithuania. In 1592 she wrote a letter to Patriarch Jeremias II complaining about the careless and non-canonical way of life of some clergymen, such as Bishop Dionysius of Chełm . In 1593 she was granted the Stauropegion, which she declared independent of regional ecclesiastical structures and placed her directly under the Metropolitan of Kiev .

The brotherhood was one of the main opponents of the Union of Brest in 1596, in which the Orthodox Ruthenian bishops submitted to the Roman Catholic Church. In the following years it was an important center of Orthodoxy in Poland-Lithuania.

In 1708 she joined the United Church . In 1788 it was closed by the Austrian authorities. In the same year it was re-established as the Stauropegion Institute and existed until 1939.

printing house

From 1591 to 1722 at least 140 books and publications were printed in more than 160,000 copies. These were liturgical books, polemical and theological writings and texts for school lessons, mainly in Church Slavonic and Greek , but also in Polish and Latin .

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