The True Messiah (1669) by Yoannikii Galiatovskii: An Anti-Judaic Treatise in Response to the Sabbatian Movement

The anti-Judaic polemical book, The True Messiah (1669), composed by the Orthodox archimandrite Yoannikii Galiatovskii from the Mohyla Academy in Kiev, was a response to the emergence of the messianic movement of Sabbatai Zevi, the largest of its kind throughout Jewish history. Sabbatianism, as a theological phenomenon attracting not only Jews but also Christians from Eastern Europe, occupies a prominent place in Galiatovskii's polemic. This article aims to analyse its novel Orthodox anti-Judaic features, together with factors which led to their development.