«The yoke of the Lord is good…» by Feofylact Lopatinsky in theological disputes of the early 18th century

Abstract

In the eventful first third of the 18th century, the theological dispute about justification by faith that unfolded between Feofan Prokopovich and Stefan Yavorsky and his supporters played a special role. «Supportes» included the rector of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and archimandrite of the Zaikonospassky Monastery in Moscow, Feofylact Lopatinsky. Feofylact wrote in response to Feofan's «heretical», in his opinion, «The Tale of the Contention of Paul and Barnabas with the Judaizers» his essay «The Yoke of the Lord is Good...». Dedicated, strictly speaking, to a particular issue, «The Good Yoke of the Lord» turned, thanks to the impressive erudition of Feofylact, into a fundamental theological treatise of several hundred pages. However, the treatise was never published, circulating in manuscripts. The author's draft, as well as the first part of the final version of the work, remained in the Synod's collection at the Russian State Historical Archive. In our work, we used manuscripts of the work dating back to the second half of the 18th century, primarily from the Collection of the Moscow Theological Academy of the Manuscripts Department of the Russian State Library. The purpose of the work is to clarify the main arguments and rhetorical techniques of Feofylact, intended to proving the «hereticism» of his opponent. Based on the results of the study, we can come to the conclusion that Feofylact was afraid of the spread of «heretical opinion», primarily from the point of view of the consequences for the strength of the church and state organization.