Bible in the culture of Polish-Lithuanian Rus’ in the sixteenth century

Beginning in the mid-fourteenth century, the East Slavic citizens of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (“Ruthenians,” the “Rutheni”) took active part in a process of multicultural integration. The increase of interests in the biblical text that took place in Europe in that period was not without influence on Ruthenians – both those who remained Orthodox and those who became followers of the Reformation. The article discusses two outstanding figures: Matvej Ioannovič Desjatyj (the biblical codex of Vilnius and Supraśl, 1502–1507) and Francisk Skorina (Prague edition of 23 Books of the Slavonic Bible – Bivlija ruska of 1517–1520, the Vilnius edition of Malaja podorožnaja knižka – The little traveller’s book, 1522, and the Apostolos of 1525). The article also examines how the circle of the Ostroh Academy approached the task of preparing a print edition of the Slavonic Bible (1580–1581) and investigates the viewpoint of those who were influenced by Reformation ideas as well as that of those promoting the usage of prosta/rus’ka mova. This biblical production, which is only a part of the literary activity undertaken in Rus’, testifies to the high level of Ruthenian culture in the Polish-Lithuanian state and shows how Ruthenians were able to match their traditional spirituality with the philologia sacra of the Renaissance