For the first time in Belarusian literary criticism, the monograph analyzes the works of an outstanding Belarusian and Ukrainian polemicist writer of the late XVI - first third of the XVII century. The writer's work is considered against the background of historical events related to the adoption of the Brest Church Union in 1596. The appendix publishes documents revealing the creative biography of Meletiy Smotrytsky, characterizing his era. Designed for specialists in ancient literature of the Eastern Slavs, Slavic scientists, as well as teachers and university students.