La Graeca fides e la falsità moscovita nel discorso polacco premoderno. Storia di un topos

ABSTRACT. The article discusses the usage of the classical topos Graeca fides to describe the citizens of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in early modern Polish literature (chronicles, diaries, journalistic writings, diplomatic reports etc.). This way of speaking was justified by the identification of the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Greek Byzantine Rite. The formula was used to deprecate Russians and became part of a negative stereotype. The author demonstrates, with diverse examples, how this formula became a constant topos in statements about a country considered hostile in Poland since the 16th century, and in which contexts it was developed.