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30-589: Its crowning achievement was the publication of the Ostroh Bible in 1581, the first complete print of the Bible in a Slavic language , and an "epochal event in the life of the whole Orthodox world." In the late 16th century, all higher schools of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were under influence of Catholic or Protestant nobles. The Council of Trent (1545–63) and the activities of

60-548: A College of Jesuits (Ostrog)  [ uk ] in Ostroh (1624). On Easter night of 1636, Hanni-Aloise managed to finally liquidate the remnants of the academy and introduce a union in Ostroh and other estates - provoking a demonstration by the pupils. On April 12, 1994, President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk issued a decree On Establishing Ostroh Higher Collegium , and the National University of Ostroh Academy

90-426: A centre of Ruthenian (that is Ukrainian and Belarusian) culture and literature. Among the notable alumni were religious writer Zacharius Kopystensky , hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny , one of the fathers of Belarusian poetry Andrzej Rymsza and future exarchs of Lviv , Gedeon Balaban , and of Polotsk , Meletius Smotrytsky , son of the first rector and a noted Orthodox writer and teacher. It also became

120-440: A permanent institution of secondary education . A large part of the funding came from Princess Halszka Ostrogska 's testament of 1579, in which she donated "six times sixty thousand" (360,000) Lithuanian grosz to local school, hospital and Holy Spas' (i.e. Savior's) monastery near Łuck (Lutsk). The school, officially styled as an Academy, was modelled after Western European education of the epoch. The curriculum matched that of

150-618: A process in full swing at the time and as such was first mentioned in Piotr Skarga 's 1577 On the Unity of God's Church under the Single Shepherd and on Greek Secession from this Unity . The school was founded sometime between 1576 and 1580, but it did not start full activities until 1585. Initially tasked only with translation of The Bible to Old Church Slavonic (later published as the Ostroh Bible ), with time it grew to become

180-425: A religious writer. Some of the professors were also of local stock, including Jurij Rohatyniec , Wasyl Maluszycki and Jow Kniahicki . The religious character of the academy was underlined by close ties to Eastern Christian monasteries of Derman , Dubno , Slutsk and later also Pochayiv . While the school failed to attract as many students as the founder had envisioned, it nevertheless became very influential as

210-483: A treatise Poprawa kalenarza (now lost, possibly written in Latin), as well as Kometa ( Comet , published in 1596) and De mutationibus regnorum tum observationibus quoque in ecclipses atque Cometas aliquot . Most of those were already considered lost by 1814. Latosz was also an astrologist, trying to use Copernican theory to predict future (including the end of the world ) in a book titled Prognosticon . Latosz

240-665: Is a monumental publication of 1,256 pages, lavishly decorated with headpieces and initials, which were prepared especially for it. From the typographical point of view, the Ostrog Bible is irreproachable. This is the first Bible printed in Cyrillic type. It served as the original and model for further Russian publications of the Bible. The importance of the first printed Cyrillic Bible can hardly be overestimated. Prince Ostrogski sent copies to Pope Gregory XIII and Russian tsar Ivan

270-502: The Catholic church in its new calendar missed a couple of minutes every year, which made the new calendar worse instead of improving it. Fearing reprisals against the academy, under insistence of the bishop of Cracow Bernard Maciejowski , the rector deposed Latosz of his post. Latosz moved to Ostrog , where he became the personal physician to Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski , one of the most influential people in eastern Poland of

300-589: The Cracow Academy , he is best known for his staunch criticism of the papal calendar reform , for which he was deposed of his post. He fled to Ostróg , where he became the personal physician to Prince Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski and a professor at the Ostrog Academy . Born in or around 1539, Latosz entered the Cracow Academy some time in mid-16th century. Initially he had trouble achieving

330-537: The Holy Roman Emperor or any other lay authority. Because of that Latosz was associated with Protestants in a country ruled by ultra-Catholic monarch Sigismund III Vasa . In addition to that, the calendar question in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became strongly linked to the struggle between Catholic, Uniate and Orthodox magnates , the latter arguing against the reform for reasons of tradition. Latosz argued in numerous pamphlets and books that

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360-729: The Jesuits , under the guardianship of Sigismund III , upset the delicate religious balance between Catholics and Protestants. These changes marked the beginning in earnest of the Counter-Reformation . It was in this context, that an Orthodox revival began amongst the Ruthenians in Poland–Lithuania. The Protestant Reformation had introduced to the Ruthenian Orthodox faithful the desirability of delivering

390-771: The Ruthenian Count Konstanty Ostrogski , one of the most powerful people in the Crown of Poland (and later a major partisan of the Orthodox faith against the Union of Brest ), founded a large school in his estate in Ostroh . Ostrogski envisioned a lay school, that would however strengthen the Eastern Christian spirit in the country and prevent conversions to Protestantism and Catholicism,

420-581: The alma mater of professors of the so-called Brotherhood schools for Orthodox burghers being founded in the late 16th century all around the country in accordance with the royal decree of 1585 by king Stefan Bathory . The importance of the first printed Cyrillic Bible in 1581 can hardly be overestimated. A monumental and lavishly decorated publication, the Ostroh Bible was widely known in Ukraine , Russia , and Belarus , and copies were sent abroad to Pope Gregory XIII , Oxford University , Tsar Ivan

450-519: The (Greek) Septuagint . This translation comprised seventy-six books of the Old and New Testaments and a manuscript of the Codex Alexandrinus . Some parts were based on Francysk Skaryna 's translations. The Ostrog Bible was printed on two dates: 12 July 1580, and 12 August 1581. The second version differs from the 1580 original in composition, ornamentation, and correction of misprints. In

480-521: The Gospel to ordinary people in the language they understood, so in 1561, the handwritten Peresopnytsia Gospel appeared – the first translation of the New Testament from Church Slavonic into the vernacular Ruthenian language . This is in fact the Bible on which modern Ukrainian presidents take their oath of office. To counter specifically the influence of the proliferation of Jesuit schools,

510-578: The Jesuits insisted on only the use of the Latin or Greek languages for scripture and academic publications. The publishing of this Ostroh Bible in Church Slavonic , provided an entirely new impetus for Orthodox scholarship and learning. The college was closed in 1636, not long after Ostrovskyi's "fanatically Catholic" granddaughter transformed it into a Jesuit College. The closure of the academy

540-595: The Terrible , King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden , Cardinal Barberini , and many more contemporary scholars and public figures. The Bible best represented Ostrovkyi ’s efforts to "turn a reformed Orthodoxy into the political equivalent of the Calvinism professed by his Polish and Lithuanian colleagues." The Polish administrators at the time were engaged in a "multifaceted and all-encompassing" policy of Polonization and conversion to Catholicism , and what's more,

570-471: The Terrible , while the latter presented a copy to an English ambassador. When leaving Ostrog, Fyodorov took 400 books with him. Only 300 copies of the Ostrog Bible are extant today. The Ostrog Bible was widely known in Ukraine , Russia , and Belarus , and also abroad. The Bodleian Library at Oxford University has a copy, and others were owned by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and Cardinal Barberini , among many others. The Ostrog Bible later served as

600-468: The best Jesuit schools, and it attracted the most talented Ukrainian pupils, such as Meletii Smotrytsky . It taught the trivium ( grammar , rhetorics , dialectics ) as well as the quadrivium ( arithmetics , geometry , music and astronomy ). It featured education in Latin , Greek and Ruthenian (predecessor to both modern Ukrainian and Belarusian ), the only institution of higher education in

630-630: The degree of magister , the fact which some authors attribute to his personal animosities. Eventually however he became the member of the academy and rose to prominence, eventually owning a large tenement house at Szewska Street , half of the profit from which he spent for charity. As an astronomer, Latosz was a follower of Copernicus . He published numerous works mostly based on Copernican theory, most of which either did not survive to our time or are known only from single copies held in Jagiellonian University's library. Among them were

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660-474: The political nature of the conflict between Ostrogski, Protestants and Catholics prevented the school from attracting enough professors of international fame. It did however invite numerous Greek scientists from abroad, including Smotrytskyi's successor Kyrillos Lukaris , as well as Metropolitan bishop Kizikos , Nicefor Parasios , the envoy of the Metropolitan of Constantinople, and Emmanuel Achilleos ,

690-624: The primary source for the Moscow Bible published in 1663 under Alexis of Russia , and both were later used for the Elizabeth Bible of 1751. The significance of the Ostrog Bible was enormous for Orthodox education, which had to resist strong Catholic pressure in Ukraine and Belarus. Jan Latosz Jan Latosz or Jan Latoszyński (1539–1608) was a Polish scholar, astronomer , astrologist and physician . A professor at

720-515: The printer Ivan Fyodorov in 1581 with the assistance of Konstantin Ostrogski . It was based on Gennady's Bible and was the primary source for the Moscow Bible published in 1663 under Alexis of Russia . The main source for the Ostrog Bible was Gennady's Bible , which was completed in 1499 in Novgorod , Russia. The Ostrog Bible was translated not from the (Hebrew) Masoretic text , but from

750-520: The printing of the Bible, delays occurred, as it was necessary to remove mistakes, to search for correct textual resolutions of questions, and to produce a correct translation. The editing of the Bible detained printing. In the meantime, Fyodorov and his company printed other biblical books. The first were those that did not require correcting: the Psalter and the New Testament. The Ostrog Bible

780-413: The rulings of ecumenical councils and instead the pope adopted a different solution to the leap year problem. This sparked a series of events as Latosz believed his solution was much more complete and astronomically correct than the solution adopted by all Catholic states of Europe. At the same time Protestant states criticised the calendar reform, mostly because it was proposed by papacy rather than

810-540: The world teaching that language at the time. The first rector of the academy was Herasym Smotrytskyi , a noted Eastern Christian writer of the epoch. With time, Ostrogski assembled a significant group of professors, many of them having been expelled from the Jagiellonian University (such as the first dean of astronomy Jan Latosz ) or having quarreled with the king or the Catholic clergy. However,

840-475: Was connected with the Catholicization of the descendants Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski and the activities of the Jesuits. The academy was liquidated by the old prince's granddaughter, Nadia's daughter and Oleksander Ostrogski  — Anna Alojza Ostrogska (married Chodkiewicz ). She materially limited the activity of the academy, trying to reduce it to the level of a parochial school, and created instead

870-477: Was founded 358 years after the demise of the original. Ostrog Bible The Ostrog Bible ( Ukrainian : Острозька Біблія , romanized :  Ostroz’ka Bibliia ; Russian : Острожская Библия , romanized :  Ostrozhskaya Bibliya ) was the first complete printed edition of the Bible in Church Slavonic , published in Ostrog (now Ostroh , Ukraine) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by

900-429: Was one of the people tasked with commenting Pope Gregory XIII 's Gregorian calendar reform when it was proposed to all major European universities in 1581. While most of the academy approved of the reform plan, Latosz presented a different solution through his old acquaintance Alberto Cardinal Bolognetti , former Papal nuncio to Poland in the times of king Stephen Bathory . His design was declared incompatible with

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