The connection between Holy Mount Athos and the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century

The article examines the connections between the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Mount Athos in the 16th century. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the monasteries of Mount Athos managed to preserve their self-government. The requirement to pay annual taxes to the Turks forced the Athos monks to go on journeys to collect alms. They often visited the Ukrainian-Belarusian lands. At that time, the city of Ostroh became one of the Orthodox spiritual and cultural main centres. Representatives of Eastern churches, including those from Mount Athos, began to come here. Athos monks Ivan Vyshenskyi, Iov Knyahynytskyi, Cyprian Ostrozhanskyi, Isaac Boryskovych, and others were associated with the Ostroh circle. After the Orthodox bishops of the Commonwealth signed the Union of Brest with Rome in 1596, the Orthodox spiritual and cultural movements in the Ukrainian and Belarusian lands became more active, with Athos monks strongly influencing it. The existence of close spiritual and cultural ties between the Ostroh circle and Mount Athos on the eve of the Union of Brest significantly influenced further church and cultural processes in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.