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450 FRANK E. SYSYNwiecki is held up as a hero whom other nobles should emulate. Theconcept of szlachta equality and liberty as the common inheritance ofall nobles — from pauper to magnate — dominates the "Discourse,"as it does much of the Commonwealth's political writings. It muted anycriticism of the magnates who were impinging on other nobles' rightsand who had brought the Dnieper basin to the state of near anarchy. 41Initially the discussion of social strata appears to be relativelyclearcut. The Discourser's disdain for commoners, however, has amore complex aspect: he sees base elements as incapable of inspiringand planning the revolt. His attitude toward the Orthodox clergy andlay nobility is the key to his real view of the social constituency of therebel camp.The clergy were recognized as a separate corporate order in theCommonwealth, but the distinction between noble and commonerpenetrated into it. Roman Catholic clergymen had extensive privilegesand, with the support of Rome, were a major force in the external andinternal affairs of the Commonwealth. Yet the clergy's influencedepended on the Roman church's acceptance of the noble-commonerdivide. Major clerical offices were reserved for the nobility. Noblebishops and abbots often saw themselves principally as members of thenoble order. 42The position of Orthodox clergymen was analogous, albeit weaker.The illegal existence of the church between 1596 and 1632 had undermineda juridical position already less advantageous than that of theCatholic clergy. As in the Catholic church, major posts were reservedfor the nobility. Indeed, the rights of nobles were more sweeping in theOrthodox church than in the Catholic church. Resistance to the Unionof Brest was built on the insistence that the hierarchy and the clergycould not make decisions without the laity. After 1596 the Orthodoxclergy frequently protested that they would not negotiate with thegovernment without the participation of the lay nobility. 4341On relations between magnates and other nobles, see Maciszewski, Szlachtapolska i jej państwo, pp. 156-69. On the position of magnates, see WładysławCzapliński and Adam Kersten, eds., Magnateria polska jako warstwa społeczna(Toruń, 1974).42On the position of the church and the clergy in the Commonwealth, see JanuszTazbir, Historia Kościoła katolickiego w Polsce 1460-1795 (Warsaw, 1966), andKościół w Polsce, ed. Jerzy Kłoczowski, 2 vols. (Cracow, 1966-69).43On the legal position of the Orthodox church and clergy, see Bednov, Pravoslavnaiatserkov' ν Pol'she і Litve. The position of the laity in the church is discussedby Viacheslav Zaikin (Zaikyn), Uchastie svetskogo elementa ν tserkovnom upravlenii:Vybornoe nachalo і sobornost' ν Kievskoi mitropolii ν XVI і XVII ν. (War-