Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood School

Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood School (Київська братська школа; Kyivska bratska shkola). One of the most important Orthodox brotherhood schools in Ukraine. It was founded in 1615–16 by the Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood, shortly after the brotherhood itself was organized. Modeled on the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood School, its purpose was to diminish the enrollment of Orthodox children in Catholic schools. The school was open to boys from all estates. Its liberal arts program emphasized Church Slavonic and Greek. Its instructors came from Western Ukraine; they were graduates of the Ostroh Academy, the Lviv Dormition Brotherhood School, and various Polish and German institutions of higher learning. The school's rectors were prominent Orthodox churchmen and scholars: Yov Boretsky (1615–18), Meletii Smotrytsky (1618–20), Kasiian Sakovych (1620–4), and Toma Yevlevych (1628–32). Among its graduates were a number of prominent scholars and cultural figures of the 17th century. The school greatly benefited from Hetman Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny’s protection and the financial support of the Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood. Patriarch Theophanes III of Jerusalem, who visited Kyiv in 1620, granted stauropegion to the Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood and praised its educational work. In 1632 the school was merged with the school of the Kyivan Cave Monastery, which had been founded shortly before then by Archimandrite Petro Mohyla, to form the Kyivan Mohyla College (later the Kyivan Mohyla Academy).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kharlampovich, K. Zapadnorusskiia pravoslavnyia shkoly XVI i nachala XVII veka (Kazan 1898)
Isaievych, Ia. Bratstva ta ïkh rol’ v rozvytku ukraïns’koï kul’tury XVI–XVII st. (Kyiv 1966)

Nataliia Pylypiuk

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]