The Western Front of the Eastern Church: Uniate and Orthodox Conflict in Eighteenth-Century Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia (review)

In 1596 a segment of the Orthodox Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recognized the supreme authority of the pope and accepted some Roman Catholic doctrines but retained Orthodox liturgical practices and structures. This act marked a split within the Ruthenian (Ukrainian and Belarusian) community that has remained to this day. In this book, Barbara Skinner traces the conflict between Uniates (those who were in union with Rome) and Orthodox in the eighteenth century. Although this was a struggle within the Ruthenian community, the conflict presented by Skinner was shaped and its outcome determined largely by major powers—the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Thus Skinner traces a story of Uniate predominance under Poland followed by the virtual elimination of the Uniates after the partition of Poland in imperial Russia. She does not cover the fate of the Uniates who, as a result of the partitions, were incorporated into Austria, where the Uniate Church was able to flourish.

Skinner's major contribution is that of placing this story within confessionalization theory, previously applied to Western Europe. She demonstrates how the two contending churches reinforced group unity and identity by insisting on their own doctrinal, liturgical, textual, sacramental, and pastoral practices. This study gives an excellent account of the confessionalization of the Uniates, showing how Uniate practices, which differentiated them from both Roman Catholics and Orthodox, were codified and implemented. The account of the Orthodox side is less developed since the confessionalization of the Orthodox in the seventeenth century constitutes only the background of Skinner's study. It is noteworthy that the Uniates also adopted many of these Orthodox reforms.

Skinner emphasizes the novelty of her contribution citing the lack of previous research and dismisses much of the work of Ukrainian and Belarusian historians on the grounds of their narrow national perspective. Her historiographic introduction ignores the fact that many twentieth-century scholars have worked on religious history, one of the most developed fields outside Ukraine, in part because of access to Vatican and other sources. On the question of national perspective, I fully agree with the author's assertion that "care must be taken not to confine this history within a single national paradigm—Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, or Russian" (p. 234). However, I take strong exception to the implication that in this study Skinner has somewhat vanquished the national interpretation. The cultural-national narrative was there from the beginning, since many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Ruthenians presented their cause as a struggle of the Ruthenian nation/people against Polish oppression. This view is in no way less valid or correct than Skinner's broad political confessional approach. In fact, the two narratives are not inherently contradictory. Each simply approaches the topic from a different perspective. It is the unwarranted and unnecessary condescension to virtually an entire historiography that mars this otherwise thoroughly researched and well-written study.