Adomas Honorijus Kirkoras: tarp Lietuvos, Lenkijos ir Baltarusijos

LTTaigi Lenkija..., Baltarusija..., Lietuva... Pabandykime suvokti, ką Kirkorui reiškė šios sąvokos, kas jam buvo Lietuva, kaip geografinė, politinė, kultūrinė, dvasinė erdvė. Mums padės paties Kirkoro istorijos, etnografijos, literatūros istorijos veikalai, rašyti tiek Vilniuje, griežtoje cenzūros „globoje", kai „yra daug dalykų, apie kuriuos dar negalima kalbėti", tiek Krokuvoje, laisvesnėje aplinkoje, skirti ir rusų, ir lenkų skaitytojams. Be abejo, tvirtas ramstis bus kitų istorikų Kirkoro gyvenimo tyrinėjimai. Istoriografijoje jau ne kartą cituotas emocionalusis Kirkoro prisipažinimas apie savo meilę Lietuvai, kai žmogus, gimęs Baltarusijoje (Mogiliovo gub., Slivine) unitų dvasininko šeimoje, nemokėjęs lietuviškai, kaip užkeikimą skelbia: „esu lietuvis ir tas jausmas manyje niekada neišnyks". Kirkoro lietuviškasis patriotizmas nekvestionuotinas. Mus domina šio patriotizmo turinys ir jį maitinę šaltiniai [p. 169].

ENThis article is devoted to the analysis of the national identity of Adomas Honorijus Kirkoras, one of the m ost active Lithuanian social activists in the mid-19th century, as well as to an explanation of w hat Lithuania as a geographical, political, cultural and spiritual environment meant for him. Kirkoras considered himself Lithuanian, i. e. a citizen of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), an inhabitant of its territory. Nonetheless Lithuania he conceived and experienced primarily as a Slavonic country. This interpretation is manifested not only by his practical activity which was primarily directed towards the more beloved Belorussian part of Lithuania, but especially by his vision of the old Lithuania in the times of Vytautas on which his Lithuanian patriotism was based. Lithuania occurs in historical sources as Lithuanian Rus, a general political term referring to the two nations - Lithuanians and Rusins - it comprised. This state came into existence by attaching lands of the one-time Kiev Rus to Lithuania, and thus became the successor and cultural heir of the former. Lithuanian Rus was a Slavonic state, the majority of its inhabitants being descendants of the subjects of the former Slavonic state (speakers of Lithuanian made up only onefourteenth of its total population), the official language being Rusin and it was dominated by Rusin culture. Kirkoras clearly distinguishes Lithuanian Rus from the Duchy of Moscow, which he does not regard as a Slavonic state. After the Lublin Union, which abolished Lithuania's autonomy, Rusin culture was pushed into the background by Polish culture. Only the Rusin language was kept by the Belorussian people. The past existence of a powerful, independent GDL grants 19th century Lithuania the right to maintain its own specific character and to be a partner of equal rank in its relations with Poland.The 19th century "Kirkorian Lithuania" is a country inhabited by Lithuanians, Belorussians, Poles and other nations. To establish the border between Lithuanians and Belorussians he uses the vernacular, an objective factor. Nonetheless, this objective factor based on the language of commoners is overruled by a more important, subjective factor, namely, national identity manifested by the Poles (those who consider themselves Polish) living in Lithuania, i. e. most frequently the Polonised nobility of Lithuania. In 19th century Lithuania there is a dominance of Polish culture and language which is never questioned by Kirkoras. The basic aim of his activities is to defend Polish culture and the Polish language from Russification. Vernaculars like Lithuanian and Belorussian are benevolently regarded and to be supported as a way to come closer to the peasantry's heart. After all the specificity of all nations should be respected, and the vernacular is the basic feature of national identity. Polish is the language of the nobility. The nobility (or as Kirkoras often refers to it, the intelligentsia) is the primary defender of historical traditions, indispensible for the existence of a nation. It is apparent that Kirkoras considered the Lithuanian nobility, having a national identity, being a defender of historical traditions and a representative of the Polish language and culture, as a guarantee of Lithuanian independence. According to Kirkoras, the best way to preserve the specificity of Lithuania would be to create a federation of Slavonic people which it could join as a separate unit, a multinational state dominated by Polish culture.