Powstanie Ławry Supraskiej

Abstract

Two basic sources “Kronika Ławry Supraskiej” and “Pominalnik” show the circumstances of the monastery’s origin. The first source came into being before 1779, i.e. two and a half centuries after the foundation of the monastery. Its author was a Uniate hieromonk, Mikołaj Radkiewicz, who knew the events that had taken place 250 years earlier only from written accounts. The monk did not pay attention to historical facts – his aim was to prove the Uniate origins of the monastery. The other source is more reliable. It was created at the time when the monastery was founded. Its author was the monastery’s first abbot, Panfucy Sieheń. Analysis of records contained in both sources and of other documents, mainly from Archiwum Młynowskie Chodkiewiczów, shows that the legend about the foundation of the monastery on the Suchy Hrad sacred spot was made up in the XVIII century and the monastery’s beginnings were falsified by Uniates – because of religious reasons. In fact, the monastery on the river Supraśl, near the present location of Gródek, was founded before 1498 and only after 1508 it was moved to a new place – the Suchy Hrad sacred spot, between the rivers Berezówka and Grabówka. Similarly, the religious character of the Supraśl monastery was distorted. It is not surprising that a Uniate chronicler, Mikołaj Radkiewicz, tried, even though – inefficiently, to bind the founders of the monastery with the Florence Union. In fact Aleksander Chodkiewicz’s greatest endowment, supported by the Smolensk Bishop Józef Sołtan, was made for Orthodox monks. The Orthodox character of the Supraśl monastery is proved by its XVI century history.