Kościół w życiu Heleny moskiewskiej, żony Aleksandra Jagiellończyka*
Church in the life of Helen of Moscow, the wife of Alexander the Jagiellonian

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to present personal piety and the religious practices of the daughter of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III, Helen of Moscow (1476—1513). Her mother was also the Byzantine duchess Zoe. In 1495 Helen married the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander the Jagiellonian, who later became king of Poland. The sources inspected in order to present the topic were documents and letters from the period, the chronicles of some more important historiographers who published after Jan Długosz (Bernard Wapowski, Maciej of Miechów, Marcin Bielski, Marcin Kromer, Maciej Stryjkowski, and Jan of Komorów) and the records from selected chronicles (Sophia Chronicle I, Chronicle of Bychowiec, Chronicle of Huštýn). At first the role of Orthodox Christianity in the doctrine of the Great Duchy of Moscow is discussed. What follows is a discussion of how Helen was brought up in the Moscow court and what the European and Polish customs were in terms of dynastic marriages with Orthodox Christians. Then the question of Helen’s liberty in practicing Orthodox Christianity in Lithuania and Poland is analyzed. Examples are also provided of her donations to Orthodox churches and monasteries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the end of the study, Helen’s relations with Catholic church are discussed, for example the debate over the possibility of the queen converting to Roman Christianity and of her second baptism within this religious denomination.

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