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Society. Document. Communication

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Latinisation influences on church iconography and vestments in the Union Church of the 18th century: Based on archival materials of general visitations

Andriy Maiovets
Retrieved from Volume 10, No. 2, 2025 Pages 46–58
Received
10.02.2025
Revised
19.05.2025
Accepted
23.06.2025
Views
437

Abstract

The aim of the study was to trace how the normative guidelines of the Catholic Church were embodied in the practices of visual and material decoration of Union churches during the period of gradual ritual unification in the 18th century. The paper analysed the transformations of church space under the influence of Latin models, based on sources originating from the parishes of the Kyiv Metropolis, which encompassed the regions of modern Central and Western Ukraine. The study utilised a corpus of archival acts from general visitations conducted between 1730 and 1785, including documents from the visitations of the city of Lviv, the Pochaiv Monastery, the Fastiv, Pohrebyshchensky and Bila Tserkva deaneries, as well as the parish of the village of Hopchytsia. As a result of the study, it was established that the acts of visitations functioned not only as records of the condition of sacred spaces, but also as regulatory instruments for implementing Latin models in church practice. A combination of Latin and Byzantine ritual elements in textile design, liturgical utensils, and temple iconography was revealed. The process of replacing or reducing traditional iconostases, the appearance of figurative Latin statues, Latin-language instructions for altar arrangement, and the systematic introduction of Latin terminology in descriptions of vestments and utensils were identified. Analysis of the language of the visitations demonstrated the persistent presence of Latin-rite vocabulary combined with local elements, creating a mixed ritual-linguistic reality. The practical significance of the study lies in the possibility of using its results to reconstruct the visual image of the Union Church, to create a typology of Latinised objects in museum and church collections, and to develop criteria for attributing the sacred heritage of the second half of the 18th century

Keywords

sacred space; inventory description; ritual unification; protocol; liturgy; ritual practice

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Suggested citation

Maiovets, A. (2025). Latinisation influences on church iconography and vestments in the Union Church of the 18th century: Based on archival materials of general visitations. Society. Document. Communication, 10(2), 46-58. https://doi.org/10.69587/sdc/2.2025.46