Early modern time in the Ukrainian and Polish histories of liturgical translation

The paper is dedicated to the issues of how Ukrainian and Polish liturgical translation progressed in the early modern time, what functions it performed in the social life of the two nations and which mutual influences might have occurred in the historical perspective. The choice of comparing and contrasting these two nations is defined by the very fact that during this period, they co-existed in the same state: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main factors which determined the advancement of this translation field were the reactions to historical challenges (the expansion of neighbouring countries; the necessity to preserve one’s own identity; the response to the Protestant movement) as well as the development of book-printing (the rise of new book types containing and popularising various texts for liturgical use). Despite the restrained use of the vernacular (Polish was not allowed according to the rulings of the Council of Trent and Ukrainian was overshadowed by Church Slavonic), liturgical translation took its place in the cultural life of the Commonwealth, though the Renaissance is the period of great expectations, experiments and attempts, while the Enlightenment look like the time of spiritual inertia with modest results. The material of the study covers all print types covering liturgical texts, even when they were not aimed at public use (e.g. primers and manuals).