Editing Meletius Smotrytsky (section)

==Conversion to Catholicism==
[[Image:Meletius Smotrisky Cyrillic Alphabet.PNG|thumb|"What is a letter?..." from the first edition of Smotrytsky's grammar]]

Catholic and Orthodox authors have long debated Smotrytsky's reasons for abandoning Orthodoxy and converting to the United Church. Uniate Catholics have argued that the conversion was a miracle based on the intercession of Martyr [[Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych]]. This explanation, first advanced by [[Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky]], appears in the papal Bull of [[Pope Pius IX]] canonizing Kuncewicz. Smotrytysky also compared himself with [[Paul of Tarsus]], who suddenly relapsed after the stoning of [[Saint Stephen]]. Orthodox Christians, in turn, attributed his conversion to worldly reasons: alleging that he was tempted by the money and prestige of an imminent appointment as Abbot of a Uniate monastery in Dermaniu. The former archbishop of Polotsk was portrayed as a traitor to the true faith and was compared with [[Judas Iscariot|Judas]] or [[Martin Luther]]. Against Meletius Smotrytsky a whole group of Orthodox pamphlets was written. In his letters, he rarely referred to his reasons for changing his religion, contrasting instead the "old" and "new" Smotrytsky. He suggested that before his conversion he was not sure what he believed, while his adoption of Catholicism restored his confidence in this regard. He also gave different dates for his decision to accept the Union, from 1623 (before leaving for [[Constantinople]]) up to 1628. He said that since 1615 he had waged an internal battle, growing stronger in the course of writing his texts; in them he defended the Orthodox dogma with diminishing conviction, suggesting that, even before his chirotony, the bishop did not agree with the spirit of brotherhood following his anti-Uniate publication from Vilnius. Several scholars claim that Archbishop Meletius decided to convert to the Union under the influence of disenchantment which earned him a trip to Constantinople. This decision was the result of a deep spiritual crisis and the ultimate belief that the only thing that could help the revival of the Ruthenian people and culture was binding ancient [[Rus' people|Rus']] lands with the Polish–Lithuanian state, and union of the churches. Mironowicz claims that Smotrytsky's disappointing experience with a trip to two of the ancient patriarchates meant that he decided to devote all his strength to the union "of Rus" in one Uniate Church. On July 6, 1627, Meletius Smotrytsky sent a letter to [[Pope Urban VIII]], asking for forgiveness of his sins and acceptance into the [[Catholic Church]]. A second letter was addressed to Cardinal Ottavio Bandini, which promised that from then on he would not stray "even a hair's breadth" from the Catholic faith. On July 10, 1627, Uniate Archbishop [[Josyf Veliamyn Rutsky]] was instructed in a letter from the pope to convert Meletius Smotrytsky. The fact is that the profession of faith by a former Orthodox archbishop and polemicist was even then being kept secret. Smotrystsky asked the pope for permission to temporarily keep his Orthodox titles and duties apparent in a separate letter sent at the same time as the letter requesting admission to the Catholic Church.