Lev Krevza’s A Defense of Church Unity and Zaxarija Kopystens’kyj’s Palinodia, Parts 1 and 2

Bohdan Struminsky is a research fellow of the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University.

The publication in a clear English translation of two of the most important texts in the polemical battle between supporters and opponents of the Union [of Brest] is…most welcome. The quality of the debate admirably reflects the high standard of Uniate and Orthodox learning in the Commonwealth, with both authors showing themselves to be completely at home in the history of both Latin and Greek churches, and to be fully conversant with religious developments in western Europe. Krevza’s impassioned appeal for church unity should be recognised as a classic text of ecumenism; Kopystens’kyj’s equally scholarly reply demonstrates the difficulties faced by all who would restore the shattered fabric of the Church of the apostles. These splendid volumes will bring a neglected but important area of church history to a wider audience.