The predecessor of today's National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy was one of the oldest academic and theological schools amongst the Orthodox Christian countries of Eastern Europe. The Academy was first opened in 1615 as the school of the Kyiv "bratstvo" ("brotherhood"). When, in 1632, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra school and Kyiv Brotherhood School merged they formed Kyiv's, and by extension Ukraine's, first institution of higher education. The newly formed 'collegium', then located in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was given the Polish name 'Mohylańska' (, in honour of Peter Movilă), a key figure in bringing about the institution's foundation and proponent of modern Western educational standards at the academy.