Epistle of Parthenios II, Patriarch of Constantinople, to Sylvestr Hulevych-Voyutynskyi, Bishop of Peremyshl and Sambir, of December 1644

The goal of the research is the study of the letter sent in December 1644 by the Patriarch of Constantinople Parthenios II to the Ukrainian Orthodox Bishop Sylvestr Hulevych-Voyutynskyi, determining the ways the document arrived in Kyiv, critical edition of the Greek text with a commentary and its translation into Ukrainian. The research methodology includes the use of comparative historical and empirical methods for studying documents with the involvement of special methods of archaeography, codicology and paleography. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the path of the document's receipt to the current place of storage was traced, a textological study was carried out, a photocopy of the document was presented, the original Greek text and its modern translation were given. Conclusions. The letter of the Patriarch Parthenios II to the Peremyshl Bishop Sylvestr Hulevych-Voyutynskyi arrived in Kyiv as part of the collection of manuscripts of the Pochaiv Lavra and was kept in the library of the Kyiv Theological Academy, which was later transferred to the library of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (now the V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine). For the first time, the letter was described in 1991 as a Greek manuscript. The text of the message was written in Greek and signed by Patriarch Parthenios II and members of the Holy Synod of the Great Church of Constantinople. The message was drawn up within the framework of the political and organizational goals of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on the territory of the Polish Commonwealth and Hetman Ukraine. The main purpose of the message was a request for financial assistance. The Epistle of Patriarch Parthenios II reflects the history of the power struggle during the election of the ecumenical patriarchs, their relationship, assessments of each other, as well as the special ties of the Ukrainian Orthodox dioceses with Constantinople.