Publication of the "Synopsis" (1674)
The creation of the first large-scale ideological justification for the seizure of lands by the Muscovite tsars – the "Synopsis, or a Brief Collection from Various Chroniclers on the Origin of the Slaveno-Rossian People," published by the printing house of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1674[1]. The author's calculation was political: "to give the Muscovite tsar the motivation to continue the struggle with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the liberation from Catholic rule of the remaining part of the 'single Orthodox people'"[2].
Actors
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| G0008 | Tsardom of Muscovy | 4 |
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0011 | Moscow Patriarchate | 4 |
Procedures Carried Out
For the ideological justification of the seizure, the Muscovite authorities received a ready-made historical canon: "the 'SYNOPSIS,' 'Synopsis, or a Brief Collection from Various Chroniclers on the Origin of the Slaveno-Rossian People' – a historical work first published by the printing house of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (1674)"[1] – the book constructed a shared "Slaveno-Rossian" past, legitimizing Moscow's rule over Kyiv retroactively.
The implantation of a narrative about the unbreakable bond between Kyiv and Moscow, serving the political aims of the metropole: the author sought "to give the Muscovite tsar the motivation to continue the struggle with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth" and "to ease the incorporation of the Hetmanate's elite into the Russian ruling estate"[2].
The deliberate dissolution of a distinct Ukrainian identity in the construct of a "single Orthodox people": the "Synopsis" subordinated Kyiv's history to the idea of a common "Slaveno-Rossian people"[1], and its political program presupposed a struggle for the "liberation… of the remaining part of the 'single Orthodox people'"[2]. Hrushevsky points out what exactly was erased: the "Synopsis" is "a brief history of Rus composed at the Pechersk Lavra, done very lifelessly and incompletely (the history of the Cossacks, the struggle against Poland, and all of Ukraine's recent history are almost entirely omitted from it)"[3].
The imperial historical myth was directly based on religious manipulation: expansion was justified by the concept of religious unity. The author constructed an ideologeme in order "to give the Muscovite tsar the motivation to continue the struggle with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for the liberation from Catholic rule of the remaining part of the 'single Orthodox people'"[2].