Information about the meetings of the Historical Society of the chronicler Nestor in
On Saturday February 1873, the first reading took place at the Society’s meeting, chaired by M.A. Tulov and in the presence of 12 members.
D. member I. I. Malyshevsky reported on new handwritten materials he discovered for the history of the first times of the union. These are:
Firstly, a letter (1616) from the mother, the noble noblewoman Pelagia Kvprianovpa Getsevichna, to her son, who accepted the union, with an admonition to convert to Orthodoxy. This letter had already been published (by Mr. Koyalovich), but with several omissions, which apparently occurred from the dilapidation of the manuscript from which it was published. The new copy of the letter, found by the referent (in the manuscript, collection of the Kyiv-Sophia Library of the first half of the 12th century) is better preserved and fills in these gaps. The letter contains the usual motives for the controversy of that time, namely: that all patriarchal thrones are equal in honor and dignity and that the pope is no better than other patriarchs; that one should not be complacent if the Eastern patriarchs live in alms and in slavery to infidels, while the pope is rich and famous; that union in the Polish regions is introduced by force. In the opinion of the reviewer, the letter is most remarkable as a monument to the theological authorship and education of a Russian woman at the beginning of the 12th century. Getsevichovna blossoms St. fathers and classics, its style is expressive and dotted with popular sayings. Having cast, in connection with this letter, a general glance at the fate of the Western Russian woman, the referent came to the conclusion that
THE HISTORY OF THE NOVAGO SOCIETY BY THE CHRNICAL NESTOR
Including that in Lithuanian and Western Russian families, the latter women went into the union.
Secondly: 36 letters from the Alexandrian Patriarch Meletius to the prince Konstantin Ostrozhsky; the referent did not talk about the contents of these letters, since he prepared them for publication.
Thirdly: two hitherto unknown small polemical treatises against the union. Explaining their content, the referent focused on the legend contained in one of them about the founding of the Byzantine department of St. Andrei and outlined the literary history of the legend about St. Andrei, in relation to Byzantium and Rus'.
Then Dr. Member A. D. Voronov, in absence II. A. Lashkarev, read the message prepared by the latter about some documents related to the transformation of the Don Army in 1775 (see in the articles section).
The 2nd general meeting took place on February 24th. The first reading belonged to Dr. M. A. 'Gudov, "about the first pages of the chronicles of Cosmas of Prague, Martin Gall and Nestor."
Second reading, Dr. A.D. Voronov, was devoted to the study of Western news about Latin missionaries in Rus' in the 10th - 11th centuries in connection with the evidence of our chronicles (see in the articles section).
Some evidence, accepted by the reviewer as undoubted, was objected to. member F. Ya. Fortinsky. Distrusting, among other things, Adalbert’s journey to Rus', Mr. Fortinsky generally treated the chroniclers’ proper names with particular caution. G. Fortinsky also expressed doubts about the bull of Pope John XIII and another about the personality of the Bishop of Co. Yubrezhsky.
The 3rd private meeting took place on March 11th.
First of all, statements were heard from the acting. member II. A. Lashkarev about two ancient Kyiv buildings. "No matter how little they were," said the referent, "the monuments of Kyiv antiquity, their paramount importance in the field of Russian archeology does not require explanation. No matter how they were subsequently spoiled by time, by the destructive and even restorative hand of man, the little that has survived in its original form is of great importance, because it represents the first link in that chain monuments, which, starting from Kyiv, stretched far along in 1873 - 77 it.
regions of the Russian land. But is everything really preserved from the ancient period included in private and general studies of Kyiv antiquities, the good initiative of which belongs to Metropolitan Eugene? It seems to me not." Here the referent moved on to the Forerunner Church, attached to the great Lavra church. He believes that this church is exactly the one mentioned in the patericon, in the legend of John and the Sickle: "Zachary (son of Ivan) will give everything to Abbot Ivan, let him build as he wants... With the same silver and gold (2000 hryvnia) silver and 200 hryvnias of gold) the Church of St. John the Baptist was erected, at the same floor1'.