The directory «Plots»

Polatski (Полоцкий) Simon (Samuel Petrowski-Sitnianovicz)
(1629—1680)

Simon Polatski (Samuel Petrowski-Sitnianovicz), an outstanding Belarusian and Russian writer. He is a founder of modern Russian poetry. He belonged to one of the richest merchant family in Polatsk and was Orthodox by birth. From 1643 he studied theology in Kyiv Greek-Orthodox College, the only Orthodox high school in the Commonwealth. About 1650 he entered the Vilnia Jesuit Academy, where Polatski had to adopt Greek-Catholicism. During the Lithuanian period Polatski wrote in Ruthenian, Polish and Latin. At that time he was absolutely loyal to the Commonwealth. For instance, there has been recently discovered a poem-epitaph, belonging to Polatski in which the Russian troops are treated negatively [65]. Polatski is the author of two "Swedish poems" concerning Charles X: "The King looks for his Swedish officers" and "Despair of the Swedish king" (1657).

When the war with Russia started Polatski returned to his native town and converted to Orthodoxy again. In Polatsk he organized the solemn meetings of the Russian tsar Alexej Mikhailovich, in 1656 and 1660. In 1664 Polatski moved to Moscow where he became one of the main ideologists of the unification of all-Orthodox lands under Russia control and the teacher of Latin and Polish at the Russian secret police ("prikaz tajnykh del"). In 1667 he became the personal teacher of the children of the Russian tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. In Russia Polatski started to write in Church Slavonic and Russian. He wrote several poems and plays for the first Russian theatre. In 1678 he organized the printing house in the Kremlin. In 1680 he created a project to found the first college in Russia "The Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy". Actually he is one of the primary figures in Russian literature from the 17th century.

Belarus, 1995, Simon Polatski