Marzanna Kuczyńska
Studia Religiologica, Volume 40, 2007, pp. 49 - 62
In the article, the author presents the cults of nine saints, citizens of the Polish-Lithuanian state, who were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church: Dimitri of Rostov (Tuptalo), Innokentiy of Irkutsk (Kulchitsky), Job of Pochayiv, Theodosius of Chernigov (Polonitsky-Uglitsky), Philophey of Tobolsk (Leshchinsky), John of Tobolsk (Maximovich), Arseny of Rostov (Matssevich), Paul of Tobolsk (Koniushkevich), Anthony of Tobolsk (Stahovsky). Moreover, Russia recognizes the saints canonized by the Kiev Caves Lavra.
The religious significance of the above cults is constantly increasing; at the present moment, the saints who came from the Polish-Lithuanian territories are gaining the same rank and significance as the most important Russian (Great Russian) saints. The scope of their spiritual patronage is gradually widening; they are worshipped as the apostles the enlighteners of the nation, guardians and defenders of the state, the Church, faith and religious unity. The Orthodox Church takes advantage of the cult of these saints to symbolically underscore the canonical bonds that unite the Russian Church with even the most remote of the Ukrainian provinces.