Karpovych, Leontii

Karpovych, Leontii [Карпович, Леонтій; Karpovyč, Leontij; secular name: Лонгин; Lonhyn], b 1580 in Pynsk, Berestia voivodeship, d October 1620 in Vilnius. Orthodox church leader, pedagogue, theologian, and polemicist. He studied at the Ostroh Academy, then became rector of the brotherhood school in Vilnius. A defender of the Orthodox church, he condemned the Church Union of Berestia. While working at the Vilnius monastery printing press (1610), he was involved in the publication of Meletii Smotrytsky’s antiunion work, Trenos; for this he was imprisoned for two years. After his release he was the founder and archimandrite of the Holy Spirit Monastery in Vilnius (1613–20) and then was elected bishop of Volodymyr and Berestia (see Volodymyr-Volynskyi eparchy) but died before being consecrated. A renowned preacher and polemicist, he authored Kazan'e dvoe (Two Sermons, 1615) and Kazanie na pogrzebie kniazia Wasila Wasilewicza Galiczyna (Sermon at the Grave of Prince Vasyl Vasylovych of Galicia, 1619), and wrote prefaces to the collections Vertohrad dushevnyi (A Spiritual Garden, 1620) and Sviatoho Ioanna Zlatoustaho ... (Saint John Chrysostom ..., 1620).

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