Wizjonerstwo historyczne w tekstach pisarzy innowierczych
Historical Visionary in the Writings of Dissident Authors

Summary/Abstract: Th is article reviews the creation and the roots of two historical legends about the trip of Ivan Smera to Alexandria and the privilege of Alexander Macedon to Slavs. Th e methodology of current research is based on the comparison of historical narratives. Two versions of the legend about the trip to the Orient were composed on the ground of old Kyivan chronicle which narrates the story about the choice of religion by Kyivan prince Volodimer in the last decades of the Xth century when several ambassadors were sent to study the peculiarities of Judaism, Islam, Latin and Byzantine Christianity. During the second half of the XVI century, a new version of this tale was composed by Calvinists in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It narrates the visit of a certain person (Jolash or Ivan Smera) who arrived at Alexandria in North Africa to investigate the customs of the local Christian community. Ivan Smera found that the customs and the rite of the local community refl ect the ideals of simple Christian service, without icons and church decoration. Th e rite of this religious community responds to the customs and the service of Calvinism. Smera has reported about the customs of Alexandria’s Christians to Volodimer but the Kyivan price ignored the ambassador’s notes and accepted Christianity in the byzantine rite. Th e other legend, which circulated in East and Central Europe during the Renaissance, narrates about the privilege of Alexander Macedon that was inscribed by golden letters on the tables in Alexandria. Th is imagined document relates that Slavic tribes arrived from the lands of Illyria and Dalmatia under the rulership of chieft ains Lech, Roxolan, and Czech. It seems that both legends are rooted in Alexandria because Arianism prevailed in this city during late antiquity and Calvinism leaders supposed to establish good relations with orthodox patriarchs of this city in the second half of the XVI century. Religious life in ancient Alexandria was treated by the authors of the legend about the trip to North Africa as an example of perfect Christianity.

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