Maksymilian Ryłło,
Diary |fol. 1r| Tales of what happened in 1742 in the Lithuanian province of the Order of Saint Basil the Great and of what I learned

This was the year of the famous gathering of our order’s chapter in Dubno[1], towards the end of which I met Father Nowosielski, who had returned from Italy. What happened there has been described in detail in the records of the chapter and by various monks from our order. I received there an order from the reverend father provincial to go Vitebks to preach. I did not have the resources for such a long journey, but Divine Providence did not leave me and prompted the venerable and most reverend Father Lisański[2], Abbot of Polotsk and newly elected protoconsultor of the Lithuanian Province, to help me. This benefactor took me into his carriage and we went from Dubno to Olyka, to His Lordship Lascaris[3], who presided over the chapter on behalf of the apostolic nuncio. We stayed there for a few days and His Beatitude Lascaris sent news to Rome about Ruthenian bishops and monks in the Italian language. He ordered me to copy it in great secrecy. One copy was sent to Rome, the other he kept for himself.

From there we went to Vladimir, where we celebrated the Feast of St. Onuphrius. Continuing our journey, we reached Vysokaye, where for a few days we were guest of the noble lord Bujnicki, starost of Krashuty owner of the estate. Later, overcoming various hardships of travel, we arrived in Zhyrovichy and spend a few days there. There in the monastery there were the two monks who had dared to unjustly accuse Father Lisański of various misdeeds; as the accusations were false and unproven, the accusers were deservedly punished. The two were called: one – Teofil Jarytkiewicz, the other – Haraczyk. Both were delegated to the chapter gathering from that monastery. While staying in this monastery I completely understood that I had to bear |fol. 1v| the envy of the brothers. One monk insulted the venerable and reverend father protoconsultor with the most vulgar words, saying literally, for example: “We have Father Zabłocki to keep a tight rein on you”. Yet the monk was released without punishment: everything was overcome by the patience of the venerable and revered father protoconsultor.

As we were travelling farther to Boruny and talked to the venerable and reverend father protoconsultor about the state of our province, I heard the following story. On his way to the chapter gathering in Dubno the venerable and reverend father protoconsultor visited the Zhyrovichy monastery, where a monk named Serapion, who had worked for a few years in the town of Beshinkovichy, converting schismatics, and in Zhyrovichy served as an exorcist, leading a pious life, gave him a mysterious warning: “Know, Father, that during the upcoming chapter gathering you will have to suffer a lot and that your magnanimous perseverance will determine the irreproachability of the entire order in various matters”. This prophecy was confirmed by the subsequent course of events: the metropolitan, together with other bishops, especially those of Lutsk and Pinsk, intended, in promoting their supremacy, to establish various constitutions detrimental to the order, especially those infringing on the possibility of exempting the monks [from episcopal authority]. They would have achieved that, if that father’s exemplary courage had not stood in their way. He would have accomplished even more at the chapter gathering in Dubno, if machinations of many individuals had not hampered his actions. The presidency of general chapters would have never been given to the metropolitan, if the hearts of the monks gathered for the chapter had been constantly guided by concord; and all this because the hearts of many were enslaved by a desire to lead. The monk who made the prophecy died in the following manner. The abbot of Zhyrovichy sent him to Byten to fetch some fish. As he was leaving, he bid farewell to all the monks of Zhyrovichy and joked that he was not coming back. When he arrived in the Byten monastery, as he greeted its abbot he said he had come to die and therefore he insistent on being given a [separate] room by the abbot. When he entered, he fell to his knees and prayed and then began to suffer from a fever. The following day, when his condition deteriorated, he asked for confession and extreme unction. Strengthened by these sacraments, he asked the monks present to take him to a heated hospital. The dying man’s wishes were granted. Soon he asked the brothers |fol. 2r| to say the customary service for the dying. Singing the antiphon Beneath thy protection, while the other brothers were reading the litany to all saints, he died. I heard all this from an eyewitness, reverend Father Serapion Jacewicz.

After visiting the [?]ski[4] monastery, we continued our journey to Novogrodek, where we celebrated the Feast of the Most Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. Shortly before the chapter gathering, the abbot, Father Orański, had died in the monastery. I saw great chaos and lack of discipline among the monks. With us there came the new abbot, Revered Father Paszkowicz, who had earlier served as vicar of the Polotsk monastery. We stayed there for a few days, to rest and for the appointment of the new abbot.

From Navahrudak we went to Boruny. During the journey the venerable and revered father protoconsultor confessed to me that the venerable and reverend Father Zabłocki, protoconsultor of the order, abbot of Byten, had told him that I made various defamatory accusations and sowed discord between the two fathers (for over six months I studied theology in Rome with the reverend Father Zabłocki. In order to show how far this was from the truth, I was able to cite facts testifying to my innocence, but also to call as a witness the auditor of my conscience [confessor]. My tearful speech convinced the venerable and reverend father protoconsultor. And I admired and in my heart praised the prudence of this man, who during such a long journey was able to hide his pain caused by what he had heard about me from Father Zabłocki, and not to show any signs of hostility.

When we arrived in Boruny, we were welcomed most cordially by the local abbot, the reverend Father Łukianowicz. Before my departure for Rome the revered Father Łukianowicz had taught philosophy in the Polotsk monastery and I was his student. During our stay here the venerable father protoconsultor mentioned Father Zabłocki on one occasion. It also came to light here that I, according to Father Zabłocki, had decided to sow discord in Rome. When the reverend father protoconsultor said this openly, the reverend Father Łukianowicz, defending my innocence, confessed with regard to Father Zabłocki, that even before he joined the order he had been hostile to Father Ryłło. Even when Father Zabłocki was being educated with the reverend Father Łukianowicz in the Olomouc college, |fol. 2v| he often expressed his dissatisfaction with the venerable and reverend father and even insulted him with his words. And all this because Father Zabłocki was sent to study not to Rome, but to Olomouc. But he should lay blame for this not on the venerable and reverend Father Lisański, who at that time was the secretary of the reverend father provincial Tumiłowicz, but on his own weakness, for he was indeed very weak and felt weak every day, so he could not be sent to Rome. Therefore, the reverend Father Stebnowski went there instead; yet when the reverend Father Stebnowski returned from Rome, at a time when the man at the helm of the province was the reverend Father Połatyło [Polatiło], the reverend Father Zabłocki was transferred from Olomouc to Rome.

Then the reverend Father Zabłocki was succeeded in the Olomouc college by the reverend Father Warżacki, accompanied by the reverend Father Artecki. The two constantly provoked conflicts with fathers from the Society of Jesus, the rectors of the school. And so both failed to complete their theology studies, but were sent back to the province. There was no continuation later and no more college for our [monastics]. And although I think the same should be wished for other colleges, so as not to disgrace the honour of the order or admit the unworthy, it would still have been more commendable, if they had not been expelled and, like their predecessors, returned home after completing their studies. 

We stayed for a few days in Boruny and then set off for Vilnius. There His Lordship Ogiński, castellan of Trakai, founder of our monastery in Tadulin in the Vitebsk province, agreed with the venerable and reverend father protoconsultor on the date for the introduction of our monks into the above-mentioned monastery on the Sunday after the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We left Vilnius on the Feast of the Prophet Elijah and with us came towards Belarus the reverend Father Jackiewicz, who, being weak in the extreme, had not managed to complete his theology studies in Vilnius.

We arrived in Berazvech, where we stayed for a few days; then we set off for Sudzilavichy, where we spent a few days; from there – to Polotsk.

The most reverent father protoconsultor intended to drink medicinal wine for several days in order to overcome his weakness. He left the Sudzilavichy monastery for greater comfort and took me with him. There came the reverend Father Żaba, who had been transferred from the pulpit in Zhyrovichy to Polotsk, to teach philosophy there. He and I as well as the reverend brother Jackiewicz |fol. 3r| were told by the reverend father protoconsultor to deliver a sermon at the upcoming opening of the newly founded monastery in Tadulin: I during the first vespers, reverend Father Żaba – during the liturgy and reverend brother Jackiewicz – during the second vespers. Thus I stayed in Sudzilavichy for a few days, preparing for the sermon, and then I was sent to Vitebsk, were I was summoned by a letter of obedience. I arrived in Dobryhory and then, after the Feast of the Beheading of St John the Baptist – in Vitebsk.  On the day of the feast I visited my brother, who has villages two leagues[5] from Beshenkovichy.

After arriving in Vitebsk, I noticed some changes in the monastery. Instead of the most reverend Father Kniazhevich, who had been made abbot in Pustynki Mstislavske, I found the most revered Father Czeczkowski, secretary of the province. On the day following my arrival the monastery was handed over to him by Father Bohdanowicz, head of the new Tadulin monastery, [appointed] commissionaire to perform the act. The wooden Vitebsk monastery, which had burned down a few years earlier, had so poor accommodation that I, a preacher, had to sleep in the stables; and although thanks to the monastery’s wealthy foundation a better, brick building was built, this worthy work was hampered, at least at the beginning, by the abbot’s negligence or rather his unbridled desire to save money, for he cared not for the common good but for his own benefit. We had a wooden church built by a widow named Hapiejicha. The pious woman spent about ten thousand on the church. However, if she had spent so much money on a brick church, it would have been a wiser decision, especially given that great fires break out in various parts of Vitebsk every year.

A bizarre event happened last year. The monastery of the Dominican Fathers was built near a Jewish synagogue, so the noise of the Jews filled not only the monastery but also the church. A Dominican named Wołodkowicz arrived in the monastery. Driven by, perhaps, excessive jealousy, one day, when there was some celebration in the synagogue, he took the monstrance with the gifts of the Blessed Sacrament from his church and, together with two altar servants |fol. 3v| who walked in front of the holy gifts, entered the synagogue. Thus he forced the Jews to flee; they were barely or not expecting this at all: or they were terrified by something so extraordinary, or the almighty ruler of nature guided them so in order for the Judaic faithlessness not to desecrate the Most Blessed Sacrament. And the priest, unstoppable in his zeal, immediately consecrated the synagogue and celebrated the divine sacrament; the following day he erected a cross over the synagogue and called it the Church of the Holy Trinity. When the local bishop heard about this, he immediately judged the case, set up a commission and forbade access to the church. A decision was then made that the Jews would move the wooden building elsewhere; the plot of land under the church was confiscated and sold to the Dominicans. However, a secular court fined the townspeople one thousand thalers for no known reason, citing as convincing grounds the disturbance of the public peace – as if it was the burghers who tried to suppress the Dominican father’s zeal. The Jewish synagogue was moved to the outskirts.

A few days later there arrived in Vitebsk the most reverend Protoconsultor of the Province, who was on his way to Tadulin to incorporate us into the new [monastery] foundation; for the following Sunday was the Feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary[6]. On Saturday evening we reach the location of the foundation six leagues from Vitebsk. I, as ordered earlier, delivered a sermon during the first vespers; Revered Father Żaba – during the liturgy; Brother Jackiewicz – during the last vespers. However, his weakness prevented him from finishing the sermon: as soon as he delivered the introduction, the weakness immediately became so great that some thought he was dead. There were also those who thought it was a punishment for him, for he used priestly liturgical robes despite having just received the lower orders: yet he had been permitted to do so by the most revered father. Unfathomable are the divine judgements that miraculously and gently guide us, mortals, to our final destination.

After the vespers the most revered father protoconsultor met the founders and thanked them for their generosity in a solemn speech; the founders were staying at the newly founded monastery – wooden, but comfortable. After the thanksgiving speech the founders retired to their manor. Our ailing monk |fol. 4r| disrupted the hitherto peaceful celebration, because his increasingly frailty scared many monks. I was helped by Mr Fazolt, the court physician to His Lordship the governor of Vitebsk, who was present in Tadulin; around midnight I had to go to the manor to bring the physician to the ailing man. The physician concluded that the only cause of the weakness was insufficient nourishment on that day; he reassured us a little, saying that the patient would recover by the following day. This is indeed what happened.

The reverend father Bohdanowicz was made the local abbot, vicar and preacher to the reverend father Trabecki, confessor of the reverend father Bleszczyński and three other monks, because the monastery had been founded for six monks. It would have been very well provided for, if the welfare of the monks had not been affected by the general ruin of the realm (during which what is due is hardly ever paid). The founder designated a village and bequeathed a thousand thalers in all the estates, but whether the bequest will indeed materialise is doubtful.

On the way back from Tadulin the venerable and most reverend father protoconsultor showed me a lot of kindness and confessed that he had never believed in what he had been told [about me] by the most reverend Father Zabłocki. I mentioned this earlier.

The venerable and most revered Father Protoconsultor left Vitebsk for Polotsk on the very Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and asked me to deliver a sermon in Makhirov: there, on the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos, a miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was introduced into the new church in a very solemn ceremony with a large crowd accompanying the event.  I promised to fulfil that duty with the consent of the venerable and reverend father abbot of Vitebsk, as his will as abbot determined mine. The venerable father Kniazewicz [Kniażewicz] left Pustynki Mstislavske as abbot. As he was leaving the monastery, the rumour had it that he took with him some of the things given to the monastery. Yet an immediate investigation demonstrated that this was not true; but most certainly he took with him one thousand florins given to the monastery by a certain widowed townswoman named Hopova: this was recorded in a bequest and register of financial obligations. During the council he was forced to return that sum as well as other sums |fol. 4v|, thus the provincial council, following a request from the abbot of Vitebsk, demanded the return of the thousand florins.

When the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos came, I, with the permission of the venerable abbot, went to Polotsk and then to Makhirov, where a delivered a sermon on the eve of the feast, during vespers. The introduction of the icon took place in the morning. The icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary was taken from an ordinary tent and brought to the church by His Lordship, the governor of Minsk, together with three other companions. They expected the arrival of His Beatitude Archbishop of Polotsk, but various matters kept him in Vilnius.

After my return to Vitebsk and the arrival of the reverend Father Jotko, designated by the confessor, I also served as a confessor for the sisters. One day the most reverend father abbot told me with pain that the nuns had appropriated our potyr (chalice), which they had borrowed for their church as compensation for some alleged damage they had suffered. Apparently our monastery had destroyed several curtains lent for the Feast of the Blessed Martyr Josaphat. Yet they were unable to prove that. After this incident the venerable and reverend father abbot told me to demand back the chalice which the nuns had borrowed from our church. As the nuns did not give it back to father sacristan, a decision was made that the chalice would be taken back without the knowledge of the nuns’ sacristan, but this should be done skilfully. And this is what indeed happened. After celebrating the service, while the sacristan did not suspect anything, I returned the chalice to our church after two years of absence. When the matter reached the abbot and the nuns, everything was resolved with laughter. The event shows us how careful one must be when lending church furnishings.

A certain nobleman named Larski died. The burial was to be at the [Bernardine – crossed out] Jesuit Fathers’. When the body was to be brought into the church, the Dominicans, the Bernardines and our brothers were invited for the solemn exequies. The Dominican fathers wanted to lead the procession, that is head all the other religious orders. Our brothers protested and in the end they took a more honourable place. At this the Dominicans returned to their monastery and did not take part in the procession. Such disputes regarding primacy are often started with our order |fol. 5r| and all this is caused by the inequality of rites. For our brothers it would be better not to take part in such processions, for the monastics of the Latin rite are much more numerous in the region.

The Jesuit fathers invited our brothers to the celebrations of the Feast of Saint Francis Xavier. Our brothers – specifically, the venerable Father Jacevich, the vicar – sang the liturgy, while I delivered a sermon. We were invited to dinner.  One of the fathers reproached us for the fact that the abbot had not sung the service. But this was a response to their deed, when during a solemn liturgy in our church celebrating the Feast of the Blessed Martyr Josaphat they were represented by the confessor, while the rector went to the village.

The Dominicans held solemn celebrations of the feast of the holy father Basil and there was not the slightest mention of any conflict concerning primacy.

The most reverend father superior invited to dinner a townsman named Łapa, whose son was living or rather was being educated at our monastery, and I was present [during the visit]. The conversation concerned the building of a brick church in our monastery. The townsman was happy with what he heard and promised to contribute in funds as soon as the construction started.

A townsman named Nicholas, a coppersmith, gave our church a large evangeliary, nearly an ell long, covered in its entirety by silver plates, exquisitely crafted.

Panowski, a townsman from Dubrovnia, where all townsmen are schismatics[7], married a girl from our town last year. He could marry the girl only provided he renounced the schism. I had a special feeling for this newly converted [man], above all, I used to teach him the sacraments of faith against the schism. One day, when the townsman was in my room, I talked to him about the veneration for St. Onuphrius, encouraging him to join the fraternity of the saint, canonically established at our church. The townsman liked my words. And then I confessed to him that I had brought a piece of the relic of St. Onuphrius from Rome – his arm is in the church [dedicated to him] – and that I was going to deposit the relic in the Vitebsk church, as soon as it became possible to make a silver reliquary. Hearing this, |fol. 5v| the townsman became filled with zeal and not only joined the fraternity of St. Onuphrius, but also gave five roubles, that is Moscow imperials[8]. The fervent commitment of the man to the veneration of the saint prompted other townsmen to give alms in the saint’s honour, and as a result I was able to prepare a beautiful monstrance-like reliquary and in a solemn ceremony introduced the saint’s relics into the church, and then an altar in his honour was also installed, as was an antependium, a canopy and other furnishings.

My zeal in the veneration of the saint influenced the townspeople, who commissioned a similar but even more beautiful reliquary for a particle of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s robe. This shows the Vitebsk Ruthenians’ respect for holy relics.

After a while the most reverend father superior expressed a desire to visit the Vitebsk schismatic monastery, which is outside the town, and took me as his travel companion. We reached the schismatics. The hegumen was not present, but one of the monks, Marcel, served us with respect, showing us all the places in the monastery which had been preserved with the help of the Muscovites[9]. The schismatic led us to the room of his hegumen or superior, where we found an open book with descriptions of the lives of saints, popular prologues.

It was obvious that this was a reprint from a schismatic printing house, for it contained a lot of false information: as could be read in the life of St. Christopher, the saint had the head of a dog[10] and such like. Reading this, we put to great shame a schismatic monk who stood nearby and, surprised by such a presentation of the life of the saint, put the blame on the printer [...].

1743.

[..]

A few schismatic ladies were reconciled to the Holy Church and I absolved them of all heresy.

The aforementioned townsman, Panowski, brought his own brother from Dubrovna to Vitebsk. Having visited our church several times, he fell in love with the Holy Union. Seeing our convivial relations with his brother, he himself wished to make friends; once having made friends, he admitted that he was not only prepared to accept the Holy Union, but also to join the Order of Saint Basil. I promised him both, and so he was soon admitted to the sacred union of the church, and at Cheesefare Week, or Maslenitsa[11] as it was more commonly known, he was accepted into the order. The investiture ceremony was preceded by the following events. The married Mr. Panowski[12] came to the Reverend Father |fol. 6r| and talked to him about the solemn event. Since the Reverend Father Superior was well aware of the canonical regulation that hereditary subjects could not be admitted to the monastery, he advised the said townsman (Dubrovna is the hereditary town of his lordship Sapieha) to ask for an exemption from the squires. He recounted how in our Byten novitiate it once happened that a novice and townsman of Olyka, from the Radziwiłł noble estate, had to be handed over to the prince and his rightful lord.

After hearing this, Mr. Panowski assured him that his father was not in fact a townsman and a subject of the said lords, but instead came from a noble family and was a stranger whom the lords had allowed to live freely in the town. He also put forth other similar evidence of his freedom. After the conversation, he went home. However, when he sent a letter to his brother, who was making the customary spiritual preparations at the monastery before his investiture, the young man became so confused that he forgot not only his religious calling but also his holy faith that he had newly acquired by renouncing the schism. When I learned both from the stories of the Reverend Father Superior and from the other side about the “success” of the whole affair, I obtained the Reverend Father's permission and went to Mr. Panowski. Upon arrival, I found a number of people who, together with the candidate's father and mother, had come from Dubrovna to Vitebsk for the ceremonial investiture (it had been just the day before). They were all astonished and complained that, as it seemed to them, they had come to such distant parts in vain. Recognising all the causes of his spiritual confusion, I reassured them as much as I could and took the young man with me to the monastery. Still brimming with secular spirit, he declared that both he and his entire family were so repulsed by the state of the subjugated townspeople – which the Reverend Father had also made direct reference to, but expressed his willingness to abolish all evil. Needless to say, I admonished the young man appropriately on this matter, showing (as far as grace allowed me) that princes, magnates, nobles, monarchs, townsfolk, peasants and all others are completely alike from birth: for all are born naked, and the end of each is the same, for all die. It is not the noble birth, not the extent of possessions, not even the free social status that is the measure and judgement before God and men of our earthly time, but only virtue, especially in the monastic life, when it is not temporality but eternity that we conquer; |fol. 6v| when, having given up everything, we attain perfection; when, having abandoned father and mother, we embark on the narrow road that leads to heaven. These and other words made the young man more predisposed to tomorrow's investiture and solidified his monastic vocation.

On the third day after the investiture, Mr Panowski invited the Reverend Father Superior with several monks, including myself, for dinner, after which we stayed late into the night. People of various observances and denominations were there. For the Ruthenians, Uniates and schismatics, Lent was already underway, but for the Latins the third day of carnival had just arrived and so fasting was taken rather lightly. Due to the plentiful feast laid out, it was very difficult for everyone to exercise greater restraint [in eating and drinking]. After dinner, the Reverend Father said goodbye and departed for home; the townspeople, out of respect for the superior and the monks, gave them several carriages to get there. I happened to get a carriage with a rather skittish horse. It immediately yanked the carriage violently and threw off the coachman who was sitting, as he usually does, right behind me. When I saw the horse charge completely out of control, I wanted to grab the reins, or as they say in common speech: lejce, but they were too weak and immediately broke off during this wild chase, so there was no longer any hope of stopping the wayward horse. After the carriage was overturned, I hit the ground with such force that I immediately felt the blood rush out of all my joints. The Reverend Father Superior, with whom my horse had caught up, upon seeing that I was in a very bad way, ordered me to get into his carriage and return to the monastery. This became the reason why many people of various states suspected that I would soon die, with some even proclaiming that I had already died.