Teofil (Bogusław) Rutka SJ (27 December 1622 in the Kiev Voivodeship – 18 May 1700 in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

) was a Polish

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

, Rhetorician,

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Biography

Born in the region of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, he received his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

(including a course in rhetoric and a two-year course in philosophy) at the Jesuit College in Ostroh. On 13 August 1643, he joined the Jesuit Order in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

in 1652. He was a professor of rhetorics, philosophy, polemical theology and moral theology in many Jesuit schools in Poland (in 1656–57 also in Bohemian

Głogów Głogów (; , rarely , ) is a city in western Poland. It is the county seat of Głogów County, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Głogów is the sixth largest town in the Voivodeship; its population in 2021 was 65,400. Among the oldest towns in Po ...

). He served as a professor in the years 1653–76, with short breaks for being a court missionary (1657–58, probably for the Inowrocław voievode Krzysztof Żegocki), a missionary to the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

(1661), a ''poenitentiarius'' in Loreto (1663–64), and a missionary to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(1672–73). In the years 1676–1700 he served as a court missionary for the Ruthenian voievode

Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski Prince Stanisław Jan Jabłonowski (1634–1702) was a Polish nobleman, magnate, Grand Guardian of the Crown since 1660, the Grand Camp Leader of the Crown since 1661, voivode of the Ruthenian Voivodship since 1664, Field Crown Hetman si ...

. Rutka wrote in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, but he has also published translations of his works into Polish. He is renowned mainly for his works on rhetorics, primarily for his tractatus ''Rhetor polonus''. He was a very prolific writer, beside of the rhetorics, an author of many polemical and ascetical works. Rutka was deeply interested in the problem of the relations between Eastern and Western Christianity, which was very vivid in the 17th century Poland, especially among the Jesuits. He wrote many books on the problem, especially on the

filioque ( ; ), a Latin term meaning "and from the Son", was added to the original Nicene Creed, and has been the subject of great controversy between Eastern and Western Christianity. The term refers to the Son, Jesus Christ, with the Father, as th ...

question. He has also acted for conversion of the

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, writing some books on the subject and trying to promote the idea of a league against the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

to be organized by the Christian monarchs.

Bibliography

* Ludwik Grzebień SJ, ''Encyklopedia wiedzy o jezuitach na ziemiach Polski i Litwy, 1564-1995'', Kraków 1996 *Ludwik Grzebień SJ, ''Teofil Rutka'', in: ''

Polski Słownik Biograficzny ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigner ...

'', vol. XXXIII, 1991

External links

Works by Teofil Rutka
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutka, Teofil 1622 births 1700 deaths Rhetoricians Polish Roman Catholic theologians 17th-century Polish Jesuits Polish Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Poland Jesuit missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Ukraine Roman Catholic missionaries in Turkey Roman Catholic missionaries in the Ottoman Empire 17th-century Polish philosophers 17th-century Polish male writers