Orthodox brotherhood

"Bratstvo" redirects here. For other uses, see Bratstvo (disambiguation).
This article is about Ruthenian fraternity network affiliated with local churches. For other meaning, see Brotherhood.
Saint Anthony the Great was known to have belonged to a brotherhood called the "Spoudaioi"

Brotherhoods (Ukrainian: братство; literally, "fraternities") were non-monastic organisations of Eastern Orthodox and Greek Catholic citizens or lay brothers affiliated with individual autocephalous churches. Some of their focus was of an evangelical or theological character, but much of their activities were in fact secular.[1] Their structure resembled that of medieval confraternities and trade guilds, and can be characterized as the Orthodox equivalent of Catholic religious orders.[1][2] Beginning in the western Ukrainian lands,[3][4] they became common in the cities throughout the Ruthenian part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth such as Lviv, Vilnius, Lutsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, and Kyiv.

  1. ^ a b "Brotherhoods" at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine.
  2. ^ Basil Jioultsis. "Religious Brotherhoods: A Sociological View". Social Compass, XXII, 1975/1, pp. 67–83.
  3. ^ Plokhy, Serhii (2001). The Cossacks and Religion in Early Modern Ukraine. Oxford University Press. pp. 70–71.
  4. ^ Magocsi, Paul Robert (2007). Ukraine: An Illustrated History. University of Toronto Press. p. 113.