Echoes of Iconoclasm in the Modern Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth
Echoes of Iconoclasm in the Modern Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth

Summary/Abstract: On the wave of the so‑called II iconoclasm, which encompassed northern Europe, similar movements, or rather local iconoclastic actions, were revealed in the Polish Republic in the modern period (16th–18th century), wherever the voice of the dissenters was more intense, especially those representing more radical fractions of Protestant circles. Examples of iconoclastic acts from various regions of the former Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth resemble occurrences known from the period of Byzantine iconoclasm although these parallels are more clearly visible in the literary aspect, as the political‑religious freedom in the Polish‑Lithuanian Commonwealth allowed for the publication of even openly anti‑Catholic texts. Criticism of Polish Protestants towards Catholic religious practices was directed mainly against three manifestations of public religiosity, which they stigmatised in their polemics: Processions, the cult of selected Marian images, and the cult of relics and devotional practices related to the votive offerings. In this publication, certain problems are hinted at in relation to these manifestations of public devotion widespread in Res Publica Poloniae.

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