PYLYP ORLYK’S LETTER TO stefan Iavorskyi (i72i): AN EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT OF HETMAN IVAN MAZEPA’S DEFECTION1

O enlightened in God, most reverend and gracious father, Metro­politan of Riazan^,, my most gracious father in the Holy Spirit, pastor and benefactor!

Up to this time, my soul has wandered with the detested of the world amongst troubles, banishment and Straited circumstances.

Because many men, some wishing me ill, others hoping to ex­onerate themselves by making false denunciations, have awakened and moved the merciful heart of His Tsarist Majesty to great anger and vengefulness against me as though I, being of one mind and in counsel with Mazepa, were the author of the betrayal and knew all its secrets—for this reason, I wish to confess before Your Holiness, as before the prelate who spans the heavens and knows the secrets of the heart, with a clear conscience, truthfully and without false­hood (O Lord, destroy those who utter falsehoods!), all that I may know of that betrayal, as Your Holiness will fully comprehend from the following.

Whether, before he went to Poland with his army in the service of the Tsar and before the devil, taking advantage of the bonds of kinship, led Princess Dolska into secret conference with him, Ma­zepa had any inclination for the opposing side and for thoughts of betrayal, God alone, who perceives [what is in] the breasts and hearts [of men], knows. I cannot penetrate and examine men’s hearts; but, seeing the exterior of his [i.e. Mazepa’s] unshakable loyalty and his joyous service to His Majesty, theTsar, I can judge, as a mere mortal, that Mazepa was firm in his loyalty and zealous in his love to His Majesty, the Tsar.

Leaving aside other documentation, I cite as the only substantia­tion of my opinion [the fact] that, in 1705, when Mazepa stood with his camp near Zamostia, Stanislaw Leszczynski secretly sent him Franciszek Wolski from Warsaw with secret and diversionary pro­posals.² Mazepa listened to him in private. After the secret audience, he had Gregorii Ivanovich Annenkov arrest him and question him under torture about this diversionary despatch and other inten­tions of the enemy. Afterwards, he had Wolski put in chains and sent to Kiev to Prince Dmitrii Mikhailovich Golitsyn. The diver­sionary letters he sent to the Tsar.

Could there be a more obvious or greater pr∞f of Mazepa’s loyalty to the Tsar than this? However, when Mazepa was in winter quarters in Dubno, Voinarovskyi and Ivan Chernysh continued to serve as residents at the court of His Majesty, the Tsar in Grodno, and Dmytro Horlenko, the former colonel of Pryluky, substituted for the Hetman in performing the Tsar’s service at Grodno with his and the Kiev regiment. Horlenko then wrote long letters to Mazepa, which took several pages and which were sent by special courier. In these he enumerated the many injustices, insults, humiliations, annoyances, horsethefts and mortal assaults which had been in­flicted on the Cossacks by Great Russian officers and their subordi­nates. In conclusion, he also added that once, while he, Horlenko, the acting Hetman, had been riding somewhere, he was supposedly grabbed from his horse and his horse as well as the horses of the other [Cossack] officers accompanying him were forcibly taken from them for use in the convoys.

Ivan Chernysh also wrote to Mazepa by means of the same cour­ier, enclosing in his letter a copy of His Majesty, the Tsar’s ukaz which purportedly assigned the two town regiments, those of Pry- Iuky and Kiev, commanded by Horlenko, to be sent to Prussia for training and re-organization into regular dragoon regiments. Ma­zepa had me read these letters and the copy of His Majesty, the Tsar’s ukaz to him and solemnly uttered these words: “What good can we expect in the future for our faithful service and who would be such a f∞l as I not to favor the opposing side on the basis of propositions such as those which Stanislaw Leszczynski sent to me?”

Shortly thereafter Dmytro Horlenko came from Grodno to Ma­zepa in Dubno, having left the Kiev and Pryluky regiments under the command of his son, Andrei. Among other news, he also re­ported to Mazepa that he feared that he and his regiments might be sent to Prussia to be transformed into dragoons. This would incite the hatred and enmity of the entire Host against him [Mazepa] because it would be with him that the regular formations would be introduced. He [Horlenko] feigned some sort of illness and, using it as an excuse, asked General Renn for leave, ostensibly to go home. In return, he presented him [General Renn] with several g∞d horses and, I think, 300 efimki.

S∞n after Dmytro Horlenko’s arrival to Dubno, Mazepa was invited to Bila Krynytsia to act as godparent at the christening of the daughter of Prince Wisniowecki, the wojewoda of Krakow. The Princess Dolska, the latter’s mother, was also there. What sort of discussions he had with her during the day and night and whether such a small matter as the reports of Dmytro Horlenko and Ivan Chernysh could have shaken Mazepa’s heart and inclined it to betrayal or whether it was Princess Dolska who persuaded him to it with her temptations, only God knows. I, however, consider that to a great extent it was that temptress who befuddled him.³

After several days of feasting and conversation, Mazepa, upon returning from Bila Krynytsia to his quarters at Dubno, had me write a letter of thanks to that temptress, Princess Dolska, and send her a key for coded correspondence with himself.

When, on His Majesty, the Tsar’s orders, he left Dubno with his troops and arrived in Minsk in 1706, he received there, it is not known by what intermediary, a short coded letter from Princess Dolska. In it the Princess informed him about the return of her messenger from the court and about the despatch of letters to him by an unspecified king. After reading the letter which I decoded, he took it and laughingly stated: “The stupid crone, she wants to use me to outwit His Majesty, the Tsar so that His Majesty might abandon King August, receive Stanislaw under his protection, and aid him in obtaining the Polish throne. He [Stanislaw] promises to supply the means by which His Majesty, the Tsar could easily crush and defeat the Swedes. I have already told the Gosudar about her foolishness and His Majesty laughed about it.” I believed him and had no suspicion of Mazepa’s betrayal. I did not see and to this day I do not know—for this I have faithful witness in Heaven above—who that messenger was, what kind of letter he brought and from which king it came, nor when and with what reply Mazepa sent him off.⁴

Afterwards Mazepa, on the order of His Majesty, the Tsar, moved with the troops under his command from Minsk to Ukraine. Upon the arrival of His Majesty to Kiev, [Mazepa] ordered the regiments to assemble hastily near Kiev and hurried there himself. There he received a coded letter from Princess Dolska which he had me bring to his bedroom and read to him. In that letter, she requested Mazepa, in the name of Stanislaw, to begin the intended deed with the understanding that he [Mazepa] would shortly receive aid from Volhynia from the entire Swedish army and all his wishes, what­ever he desired, would definitely be fulfilled.

“I request your Princely Grace to desist from this correspondence which can cost me my life, honor and subsistence. Your Princely Grace should not hope, even contemplate that I, in my old age, would violate my loyalty to His Majesty, the Tsar, which I have preserved unblemished from my youth to this day. I desire to die in this state, not wishing to bring upon my name and person, either during my life or after my death, that dishonorable, treacherous fault and infamy. Therefore, I repeat to Your Princely Grace, please desist from this correspondence and do not write to me again in this matter.”

Such was the letter which he had written in code and sealed before him.

Thenceforth, for an entire year, he did not give me a single coded letter to decipher from the above mentioned Princess which dealt with these treacherous affairs. Especially after the Swedish King and Stanislaw moved to Saxony with their armies he completely desisted from this correspondence. However, she wrote a coded letter to Mazepa from Lviv. In it, as a warning, she informed him that she had been present at a certain (I do not remember whose) reception in Lviv together with Boris Petrovich Sheremetev. At a christening, as she sat between Boris Petrovich and General Renn, she happened to mention in passing and in a complimentary man­ner Mazepa’s name to Renn. General Renn replied, also in a lauda­tory tone but as though he commiserated with Mazepa: “God have pity on that g∞d and wise Ivan! The poor fellow does not know that Prince Alexander Danielevich [Menshikov] is digging a hole beneath him and, after pushing him aside, wants to become Het­man in Ukraine himself.” Taken aback by this, she asked Boris Petrovich Sheremetev whether this was true. Since he evidently confirmed it, she said: “Why do none of his good friends warn him?” Boris Petrovich supposedly replied: “Impossible! We our­selves suffer much but are forced to remain silent.”

Having heard this, Mazepa said: “I know very well what they think of you [the staτshynd] and me; they want to satisfy me with the [title of] Prince of the Roman Empire and then deprive me of the hetmancy, destroy the entire starshyna, bring the towns under their control by placing voeυodas or governors in them.⁵ And if we should attempt to resist, they will force us across the Volga and settle Ukraine with their own people. We need not talk much about this; you yourselves heard what is imminent when Prince Alexan­der Danielevich whispered in my ear, at my quarters in Kiev when His Majesty, the Tsar was there; “Today is the time to take on these enemies.” Secondly, you heard how that same Alexander Daniele- vich publicly requested the princedom of Chernyhiv for himself by means of which he plans and prepares the way to the hetmancy.” He spoke of this and other matters, at length, especially of the injustices done to him.

Mazepa considered it a great humiliation and affront that His Tsarist Majesty, at the time of his arrival with the main army to Kiev from Grodno in 1706, had ordered the Most Serene Prince Alexander Danielevich to move with the cavalry to Volhynia, and commanded Mazepa to follow His Serene Highness with the troops under his command and to do what His Serene Highness ordered. Mazepa declared that after the departure of the Swedish armies to Saxony such a campaign in Volhynia was unnecessary and that His Serene Highness purposely arranged it merely for his own benefit and his [Mazepa’s] humiliation, thus demonstrating to the entire world that he had him, the Hetman, under his own com­mand. [Mazepa] resented this, considering it a dishonor that he, in his old age and for his many faithful services (as he said) should be rewarded by being subordinated to Menshikov. In conclusion, he added that he would not feel so bad if he were placed under the command of Sheremetev or some other man of famous name and distinguished ancestors.⁶

Furthermore, Mazepa deemed it a mockery, insult and fraud that His Serene Highness, Prince Alexander Danielevich had agreed with him to give his sister to Voinarovskyi in marriage which, he hoped, could take place in a few years. He therefore did not search for a wife for Voinarovskyi. When he suggested to His Serene Highness that the agreement be carried out, His Serene Highness supposedly answered that it was impossible now because His Tsar­ist Majesty himself wanted to marry his sister. He spoke, in addi­tion, of other injuries. In conclusion, he stated: “Liberate me, O Lord, from this rule.” Then he had me write to Princess Dolska, thanking her for her friendship and her warning.

As for the words of Alexander Danielevich which Mazepa re­ferred to above, namely, “Today is the time to take on these ene­mies,” they were spoken in the following circumstances. In 1706, when His Tsarist Majesty was in Kiev, Mazepa invited His Majesty for dinner. Afterwards His Serene Highness, Prince Alexander Danielevich, being somewhat loud and tipsy, took Mazepa by the arm, sat on a bench with him and leaning towards him, spoke in his ear so loudly that the heneralna Starshyna and some of the colonels who were standing nearby, could hear these words, “Het­man Ivan Stepanovich, today is the time to take to these enemies.” The heneralna Starshyna and the colonels, hearing this and seeing that they wished to speak intimately, began to withdraw. But Mazepa indicated with a wave that they should remain. He whis­pered into the ear of His Serene Highness, “Not yet,” but did it so loudly that his heneralna Starshyna and the colonels heard what he said. His Serene Highness replied, “There can be no better time than today when we have His Tsarist Majesty here with his main army.” Mazepa answered: “It would be dangerous to begin an internal war without first completing the war with the enemy.” Again His Serene Highness replied: “Should we fear and tolerate these enemies? Of what use are they to His Tsarist Majesty? Only you are loyal to His Tsarist Majesty. But, it is necessary for you to demonstrate this loyalty and leave for future generations such a memory of yourself that future rulers will recognize you immedi­ately and bless your name [saying] that there was only one Hetman as faithful and as beneficial to the Russian state as Ivan Stepano vich Mazepa.”

At this poiru His Tsarist Majesty, desiring to return to his quarters, stood up from his place and interrupted this conversa­tion, both parts of which were audible to the heneralna Starshyna and the colonels. Mazepa escorted His Tsarist Majesty and then returned to his r∞m with the heneralna Starshyna and the colonels. He asked them whether they had heard everything that His Serene Highness, the Prince, had said. When they replied that they had, he uttered these words: “In Muscovy, everywhere, they constantly sing

this tune to me. O Lord, do not allow them to achieve what they contemplate.”

These words struck the hearts of the listeners with fear. There were many complaints and conversations among the colonels, es­pecially about how, on His Tsarist Majesty’s orders, without pro­test and with faithful and obedient hearts, the Cossacks had ful­filled their obligations in distant and lengthy campaigns. The last of their livestock was ruined; they had spilled their blood in vari­ous places, in Livonia, in Poland, in Lithuania as well as in the realm of Kazan and the towns of the Don; they grew destitute and perished [The colonels stated]: “Not only was there no reward for the previous Turkish war nor have we received any for the present one, but they [the Muscovites] rebuke and belittle us, call us loafers and do not consider our faithful service worth a penny. And finally, they plot our doom.”

Soon afterwards, the fortification of Pechersk was begun. Trans­ports of recruits, various persons in positions of command, many convoys with supplies and provisions enroute to the main army passed through the Little Russian towns. The colonels and their officers often came to the Hetman, complaining that the overseers working on the fortifications often struck the Cossacks on the head with their canes, cut off their ears with their swords and caused all kinds of humiliations. [They complained that] the Cossacks left their homes and harvests to perform His Tsarist Majesty’s service during the day and night, meanwhile, the Great Russians plun­dered their homes, destroyed and burned them, raped their wives and daughters, took their horses, cattle and livestock and inflicted mortal blows upon the starshyna. In addition, two of the most prominent colonels, those of Myrhorod and Pryluky, took greater liberties with Mazepa than did the others.⁷ The colonel of Myrho­rod said to Mazepa: “Everyone’s eyes turn to you in hope. God forbid that you should die, because then we will fall into such sub­jugation that even the chickens will bury us.” The colonel of Pryluky confirmed these words, saying, “Just as we always prayed to God for the soul of Khmelnytskyi and blessed his name for freeing Ukraine from the Polish yoke, so, on the contrary, will we and our children forever curse your soul and bones, if, as a result of your hetmancy, you leave us in such slavery after your death.”

After they had showered Mazepa with such statements, he re­plied: “I have written often to the court of His Tsarist Majesty about such insults and destruction. If you prefer, choose one among you to go to His Tsarist Majesty. Perhaps you, colonel of Pryluky, can go, and I will despatch Orlyk from myself and the heneralna Starshyna along with you. I will give you a letter to His Tsarist Majesty and request that our rights and freedoms remain invio­lable.” All agreed with this and hoped that Mazepa would fulfill his promise. But after several days he informed us that, apparently, he had spoken to Prince Dmitrii Mikhailovich Golitsyn about this delegation to His Tsarist Majesty and that the latter had informed him that this matter would not be agreeable to His Tsarist Majesty, saying: “If you send it, then you will harm yourself and doom the others.”

After the completion of the Pechersk fortress and with winter approaching, Mazepa, on the order of His Tsarist Majesty, dis­banded the army to their homes. He himself returned to Baturyn. There, in 1707, he received His Tsarist Majesty’s order to meet His Majesty at Zholkva. He arrived there on the Great Friday before the Resurrection. After Fomin’s Sunday, a council of war was held at which he too was ordered to be present. I do not know what irri­tated him there, but after that council he neither went to the Tsar for dinner nor ate anything all day in his quarters. When the star- shyna, as was customary, came to him at the usual time, we found him very angry. He did not tell us anything except this: “If I were to serve God as faithfully and joyously, I would receive the greatest reward. But here, even if I were to turn into an angel, I receive no thanks for my service and loyalty.” After saying this, he told us to go to our quarters.

The next morning, that is, on the third day, Mazepa despatched the znatnii tovarysh, Dmytro Dumytrashko with His Tsarist Ma­jesty’s ukaz to the treasury, which was then being moved from Kiev to Zholkva, for the withdrawal of, I believe, 10,000 rubles. [These funds] were assigned by His Tsarist Majesty to pay for the horses which were bought for the dragoons with [Cossack] regimental funds. Dumytrashko obtained the order of His Tsarist Majesty in the chancellery and together with the receipt for Mazepa he brought a letter from His Grace, the Prince Alexander Danielevich, to Tanskyi, [who was then] the commander of the mercenaries and is now the colonel of Kiev. The sight of the letter addressed to Tanskyi surprised Mazepa. He ordered Dumytrashko to leave His Grace’s letter with him and to depart immediately with the ukaz for the treasury. After Dumytrashko’s departure, he opened the letter. Upon reading it he jumped from his seat in anger. The letter con­tained an order to Tanskyi to quickly move from his quarters to His Grace, taking with him, I believe, wages and provisions for six months. Infuriated, he cried: “Can there be a greater insult, mock­ery or humiliation of my person than this! Prince Alexander Da- nielevich sees me every day, we converse often, yet he has not uttered a single word to me about this. Without my knowledge or acquiescence he sends orders to people under my command! Who will pay the monthly wages and provisions out to Tanskyi without my orders? How can he, without my consent, go anywhere with the regiment which I pay for? And should he do so, I would order him to be shot like a dog. O, my Lord, you are witness to my injuries and humiliations!”

At that time, the devil himself brought along from Lviv the Jesuit, Zalenski.⁸ When informed that he [Zalenski] was waiting in the anteroom, Mazepa quickly subdued his anger and joyfully asked: “Where did he come from?” He ordered the Quartermaster- General, Lomykovskyi, and me to invite that accursed Jesuit into the inner chamber and then sent us to our quarters. Then he locked himself in with him. What they discussed for so long, God only knows. Except for admitting that Mazepa sent him to Stanislaw, in Saxony, that Jesuit did not reveal anything more to me in Bender, declaring that he had sworn to keep the secret. But even then I did not have the slightest suspicion of Mazepa’s disloyalty to His Tsarist Majesty.

His Tsarist Majesty gave Mazepa leave to depart from Zholkva with the Tsarevich, of blessed memory, on a journey. After travel­ing several miles beyond Zholkva, Mazepa requested that the Tsare- vich ride on ahead. Meanwhile, he turned off the road and stopped at a small estate belonging to Princess Dolska. There he found a Trinitarian priest who had been sent by her. After conversing with him in private, he caught up with the Tsarevich and accompanied him for the rest of the journey. But even then we had no suspicion of Mazepa’s disloyalty to His Tsarist Majesty. We believed that the Princess needed a loan so that she could get her jewels out of pawn, and that in this matter she had made earlier requests, both verbally and in writing.

After Mazepa arrived in Kiev and sent the Tsarevich off on his way to Smolensk, he returned to Baturyn. After staying there sev­eral days, he went to Kiev to complete the Pechersk fortress. There he received His Tsarist Majesty’s order to reorganize the Cossacks in a manner similar to the Sloboda regiments, that is into piataky. This frightened and angered all of the colonels and Starshyna who, fearing for their liberties, spoke of nothing else. [They considered] the selection of the piataky to be a step toward reorganization into dragoons and [regular] troops. Complaining often about this, they gathered frequently at the home of the Quartermaster-General Lomykovskyi. They also met almost daily in the quarters of the colonel of Myrhorod where they t∞k counsel as to the means of defending themselves and read the Treaty of Hadiach which the colonel of Myrhorod had taken out of the Pechersk library.⁹

In a denunciation which was later made to His Tsarist Majesty, he [the colonel of Myrhorod], among other fabrications, falsely informed the deceased Kochubei, to the poor man’s demise, that these councils were supposedly held at the Hetman’s [quarters] in Pechersk and that it was there that the Treaty of Hadiach was read to the colonel and starshyna. Actually, this was not true because Mazepa never gave a single indication, either in word or in deed, which would disclose his inner thoughts and generally evil inten­tions. He revealed this to no one, cloaking [his thoughts] with feigned loyalty. How destructive is a secret if it is not discovered! I happened to discover Mazepa’s secret plotting with the enemy in the following manner.

In 1707, on the sixteenth of September, while in Pechersk in His Tsarist Majesty’s service, I was taking down a lengthy correspon­dence (I do not recall in what matters) from Mazepa to His Majesty’s court, and the writing of it was stretching into the night. Mazepa, impatient with the delay, often inquired from his room whether I had finished yet. He urged me to finish quickly, adding that there was still something else to be done. After completing the corres­pondence, I sealed it and placed it on the table in front of Mazepa. Holding a small envelope in his hand, he said to me: “Princess Dolska sent me this note by means of some Wallachian, sewing it inside his cap. However, I know what she has written. The devil himself urges her on in this correspondence. Some day this crazy old woman will ruin me! It is with good reason that they say “A maid’s hair is long, but she is short on wisdom.” Can she, a mere woman, outwit me with her foolish mind? ” He told me to open the short note and read it. Approaching the candle which was hidden from Mazepa’s eyes by a shade, I opened the envelope and took out Princess Dolska’s note, which was written in code. [In the envelope] there was also a small piece of paper bearing a personal seal. Thinking that it t∞ was from the Princess and not bothering to examine the seal closely, I opened it and saw, next to the seal, the signature—King Stanislaw. Without saying anything to Mazepa, I carefully read this note.

When Mazepa noticed that I was silent and had not read the deciphered note aloud to him, he said: “Why the delay? Why are you not reading? You know how to read those letters to which you have the code-key and need no translation.” I replied: ^llLater I will read the Princess’s coded letter without the key but here is a note from Stanislaw for which a key is not necessary.” Hearing this, he cried: “Impossible!” I replied, “It certainly is possible, since it contains both his signature and his seal.” He quickly took the note. After examining and reading it, he gasped with fright and let it drop upon the table with these words: “O, accursed woman! You will ruin me!” For a long time he sat silently, deep in thought. Then he asked me: “What should I do with this letter? Should I send it to His Tsarist Majesty or keep it?” I replied: “With your superior intelligence, your Lordship will surely be able to decide that it should be despatched [to the Tsar]. Thiswoulddemonstrate your unshakable loyalty and earn His Tsarist Majesty’s great fa­vor.” I said this to him being totally unaware of his contemplated betrayal.

Upon hearing this, he was silent and thoughtful for a long while. He then had me read the coded letter from Princess Dolska. It informed Mazepa that the Trinitarian priest whom she had sent to Stanislaw’s court in Saxony had departed on the same day that the Swedish armies moved into Poland. Upon his return, he brought a letter which she forwarded to him [Mazepa] from Stanislaw. He also carried a verbal message to this effect: [Mazepa] should begin to act according to plan before the Swedish armies approached the Ukrainian borders. In addition, he brought a twelve point treaty for Mazepa and the entire Zaporozhian Host. She requested that a trustworthy person be despatched to fetch it.

After reading that letter, I remembered that this Trinitarian priest was the one with whom Mazepa had met on his way from Zholkva and with whom he had conferred at Princess Dolska’s estate. It was then that I fully comprehended that Mazepa was plotting a betrayal.

When I finished reading that letter, he had me burn it in his presence. For a while he remained deep in thought and then he said: “I am trying to decide whether to send this letter to His Tsarist Majesty or not. We will think about this again tomorrow. Go now to your quarters and pray to God that His will will come to pass. Because you live in a manner befitting a Christian maybe your prayers will be more acceptable than mine. God knows that I am not acting for my own benefit but for all of you, your wives and children.”

Late that night he dismissed me. Returning to my quarters, I took two rubles and went out to distribute them among the old men and women, the poor and the miserable who lived in the shanties, on the streets, in the Pechersk poor houses, hoping that Almighty God would free me from the impending trouble and direct Mazepa’s heart from that tempting undertaking. The old men and women of the streets berated me as I knocked on their huts at night. Fearing thieves, they did not expect any favors from me. Nevertheless, since I did not sound like a thief and because my requests for them to open their doors were sincere, they accepted the favors which were offered to them. It is not out of hypocrisy nor to praise myself that I write of this to Your Holiness, but as a reve­lation of my soul’s trials of conscience. Frightened by this betrayal and wishing not to perish with my wife and children because of it, my heart had no inclination for it.

As that September night passed into the seventeenth day of the month, I was summoned early by Mazepa. He sat at the end of a table, a cross inlaid with wood (taken from the Holy Cross) before him. As I stood before Mazepa, he said:

“Until now, I did not dare to disclose to you prematurely my intentions or the secret which was accidentally revealed last night. It was not because I suspected your loyalty to me. I could never imagine that you, in return for my great favor, love and generosity, would repay me with ingratitude and betrayal. But, even though you are an intelligent man and have a clean conscience, you are still young and inexperienced in circumventions. I feared that you, in conversing with Great Russians and with our people of various ranks, might reveal this secret, be it in trust or due to carelessness. Since it can no longer be concealed from you, I swear before God that it is not for my own private gain, nor for higher honors, nor for greater wealth, nor for any other reason that I act. But I do so for all of you who are under my rule and command, for your wives and children, for the common welfare of our fatherland, poor unfortu­nate Ukraine, for the entire Zaporozhian Host and the Little Rus­sian people, for the elevation and expansion of the Host’s rights and privileges so that, with the aid of God, neither you, nor your wives and children nor the fatherland together with the Zaporozhian Host might perish because of Muscovy or the Swedes. Were I so bold as to strive for private gain of any sort, O, Lord, who art one in the Holy Trinity and in the innocent passion of Christ, strike down my soul and body.”¹⁰

After saying this, he kissed the cross, inlaid with wood from the Holy Cross, which lay before him. Turning to me, he said: “I de­pend on you greatly and hope that neither your conscience, values or self-esteem, nor the blood of a born nobleman will allow you to betray me, your lord and benefactor. However, for the sake of greater confidence so that I might not have the slightest doubt of your loyalty, swear to me, just as I swore now on that same Christ, crucified upon the wood of the Holy Cross, that you will remain faithful to me and preserve the secret.”

I complied with Mazepa’s command. Word for word, I repeated what he said and, kissing the Holy Cross in his hands, I took the oath. But, after taking the oath, I dared to say to Mar √pa: “From this oath I can see Your Lordship’s sinceredesire, paternal concern and solicitude for your fatherland and all of us. But who can un­ravel the fate which God has assigned for the present war? With whom shall victory rest? If it should be with the Swedes, then Your Lordship and we will be fortunate. If with His Tsarist Majesty, then we will perish and doom the people.”

To this Mazepa replied: “Eggs teaching the chicken! I am not a fool to defect prematurely, before it is absolutely necessary [to do so], that is, at the moment when HisTsaristMajestywill be unable to defend not only Ukraine from the power of the Swedes but his own realm as well. While at Zholkva, I informed his Tsarist Ma­jesty that, should the Swedish King and Stanisiaw divide their armies and the former go against Muscovy and the latter into Ukraine, then, we with our weak army, ruined and reduced by fre­quent campaigns and war, will not be able to defend ourselves from the Swedish and Polish armies. Therefore, I requested from His Tsarist Majesty, there in Zholkva, that he be so pleased as to give us in the form of aid at lea**^rpn thousand of his regular troops. His Majesty replied: “No' ^nly ten thousand, but I cannot even give you ten men; defend yourself as well as you can.”¹¹ This induced me to send that Trinitarian priest, Princess Dolska’s chap­lain, (he did not even mention the Jesuit Zalenski) to Saxony. If they see there an inclination on my part towards them, then they will not treat us as enemies and they will not ravage unfortunate Ukraine with fire and sword.¹² However, I will remain loyal to His Tsarist Majesty until I see with what forces Stanislaw comes to the Ukrainian borders and what kind of progress the Swedish armies make in the Muscovite realm. If we will not have the strength to defend Ukraine and ourselves then why should we go to our doom and doom our fatherland as well? God and the entire world will see that we did this out of necessity, striving as a free, unconquered people for the means of self-preservation. But, unless the necessity is most pressing and extreme, I will not alter my loyalty to His Tsarist Majesty. I have decided, therefore, to write to His Tsarist Majesty and forward, as proof of my loyalty, the letter which Stanislaw wrote to me. Before you go, write to His Tsarist Majesty and to Gabrail Ivanovich Golovkin and enclose in his [Golovkin’s] letter Stanislaw’s note so that he may present it to His Tsarist Majesty.”

Then Mazepa instructed me how I should write the two letters to His Tsarist Majesty and to His Serene Grace, the Count Gabrail Ivanovich Golovkin. I wrote them according to his instructions and sealed them. Then he t∞k the letters and told me that because his mother, the Abbess of Pechersk, had a faithful Servantwhowas also a distant relative, she promised to send those letters through him to Voinarovskyi so that he could personally deliver them to His Tsarist Majesty and His Grace, the Count Gabrail Ivanovich. But in this matter Mazepa deceived me. Instead of sending the letters containing Stanislaw’s note, he kept them, fearing, I sur­mise, that I might betray him once I had those documents in my hands. It was only when we went over to the Swedes that he returned those sealed letters to me, uttering, as I recall, these lies: “I had for­gotten to tell you until now about these letters which the Lady Benefactress, my mother, did not forward to Voinarovskyi but kept them herself. Before her death, she gave them to her granddaughter and my relative, Mariana, ordering her to give [them] to me after her death. My mother also said that she had requested a nun, who lived according to God’s will, to plead before Our Lord that he resolve this matter of whether it was necessary to forward these letters or withhold them. This nun was supposed to have had a vision to the effect that if these letters were sent to His Tsarist Majesty, then the Hetman would perish.”

I placed the letters, together with three decrees of His Tsarist Majesty concerning the matter of Kochubei and Iskra, into a casket with my wife’s jewels and several thousand ducats. This casket was the only one which my wife put into her carriage after the Battle of Poltava, when with only a single dress, she crossed the Dnieper with the children. All my belongings—thirty wagons [containing] silver and money were lost in the Dnieper. In this way, the afore­mentioned letters remained with me. One of them, written to His Tsarist Majesty, included Stanislaw’s subversive note. I now send it to Your Holiness so that Your Holiness may see that it was from this letter that I discovered the secret of Mazepa’s plotting and contacts with the enemy. Aside from that note, I did not see another letter from Stanislaw to Mazepa. Nor did I know whether he carried on a correspondence with him. Only in Bender, after the death of Mazepa, two letters from Stanislaw were found which Ivan Maksy- movych, my former Chancellor-General, saw lying someplace in Voinarovskyi’s quarters and took surreptitiously to show me.¹³

The next day, on the eighteenth of September, after writing the above mentioned despatch to His Tsarist Majesty’s court concern­ing Stanislaw’s note, Mazepa had me reply to Stanisiaw in the same code which he used to correspond with Princess Dolska. In that letter, Mazepa informed Stanislaw that he could not fulfill his stipulations and could not initiate any action for the following reasons: first, Kiev and other fortresses in Ukraine were manned by large garrisons and the Cossacks, like quail in a hawk’s grasp, could not even lift up their heads. In this connection, Mazepa recalled how, during the time of Hetman Briukhovetskyi, the Great Russian garrisons would sally out of the fortresses and ravage the surrounding towns and villages with fire and sword. Second, all the forces of His Tsarist Majesty were in Poland, closer to Ukraine than the Swedisharmies. Third, in Ukraine, the officers and their men, the clergy and the laity, like wheels of different sizes, were at odds with each other. Some desired Muscovite protection; others were inclined toward Turkish protection; and still others, preferred to fraternize with the Tatars because of their antipathy for the Poles. Fourth, Samus’ and other colonels, officers and Cos­sacks, fearing retribution from the Polish armies after the recent uprising in Right-Bank Ukraine, would find it difficult to side with the Commonwealth.¹⁴ Therefore, it was necessary to bring the Host and all the people in Ukraine, on both sides of the Dnieper, to a general consensus. Fifth, he [Mazepa] had several thousand regu­lar, well-trained and well-equipped Great Russian tr∞ps constantly at his side. They carefully observed all his moves and had orders to liquidate any attempts at opposition. Sixth, the Commonwealth was still divided and at odds within itself. However, Mazepa did promise not to harm in any way the interests of Stanislaw and the Swedish army. By all possible means he would avoid this. And he requested that Stanislaw first try to unite the Commonwealth so that it might unanimously acknowledge him as its lord and King.¹⁵ He also had me write to Princess Dolska that she keep with her the treaty about which she had informed him and forward the letter addressed by him to Stanislaw, sending along the key to decipher the code. I declare to Your Holiness upon my conscience that, before Mazepa’s defection to the enemy, I never wrote another letter for him to Stanislaw, with the exception of the one mentioned above and another one from Romno, [written] when we had already joined the Swedes and it was intercepted on this side of Ukraine [the Right-Bank]. To this day, I do not know whether Mazepaever wrote to Stanislaw himself.¹⁶

In 1707, after the completion of the Pechersk fortress, Mazepa disbanded the tr∞ps under his command to their homes and, in the final days of November, left for Baturyn. There, on the second day of Christmas, after the caroling, the devil brought along that Jesuit Zalenski. He did not go directly to Baturyn, but stopped two miles before it in the village of Olenovtsi. From there he wrote to Mazepa, informing him of his arrival and requesting directives as to where he should stay. Upset by this note, Mazepa called me and said: “I confess to you now that I sent the priest Zalenski from Zholkva to Saxony to discover how s∞n it would be before the Swedish armies set out from there. And now the devil has brought him here. He is waiting in Olenovtsi for instructions from me as to where he should stay. Should he come here directly, he would make me the object of everyone’s suspicion.”

Afterwards, he ordered me to go directly to Olenovtsi to inform Zalenski that at this point in time it was unnecessary for him to go as far as Baturyn, and that it would be more appropriate for him to report about his journey to Saxony from Vynnytsia. From there, he would forward an account about the matter entrusted to him with­out coming himself, because it would raise questions among the suspicious as to the reasons for his arrival. [Afterwards] I was to escort Zalenski to his [Mazepa’s] estate in Bakhmach.

When, on Mazepa’s orders, I went to Olenovtsi and informed Zalenski of all this, he was surprised that I knew about the secret that no one was supposed to have known, not even Voinarovskyi, whom Mazepa himself informed of it only in Zholkva. Afterwards, he [Zalenski] informed me of the reasons for his arrival. Awareof the colonels’ and starshyna's custom of gathering on the holidays to greet the Hetman, he had purposely hurried to this meeting in Baturyn so that he could inform them all about Stanislaw’s mani­festo to Ukraine and bring it along with him. He was also to assure them of all their privileges and of the King’s special friendship and grace.

After hearing this message, I escorted Zalenski from Olenovtsi to the estate at Bakhmach. From there, at Mazepa’s command, I escorted Zalenski to him twice to Honcharivka. The first time, he came for an audience, and the second time, to take his leave. During the audience, Zalenski gave Mazepa Stanislaw’s manifesto to entire Ukraine in which he praised the courage, bravery and valor of the Zaporozhian Host and assured it that its rights and privileges would be expanded and multiplied. With a paternal heart, encouraging all to come to him as their benevolent father and hereditary lord, [Stanislaw] promised to embrace the entire people under his protection. Under the leadership of their most worthy leader, they would strive to remove the Muscovite yoke from their necks with the expeditious aid of the invincible Swedish and Polish armies. After giving Mazepa that manifesto, Zalenski presented a report about the size and provisions of the Swedish armies. [He also said] that the Swedish King intended to march on Moscow from Lithuania, while Stanislaw marched on Kiev from Poland. Supposedly, the [Tatar] Horde, whose aid had been for­mally promised by the Turkish envoy, was to link up with him [Stanislaw]. Zalenski did not have a personal letter from Stanislaw. Nor did Mazepa, when he dismissed him, write anything to Sta­nislaw. Zalenski was then discreetly kept at Vynnytsia until further notice. Only on this point was the denunciation [of Mazepa] by the deceased Kochubei accurate; the rest was merely gossip or baseless speculation.¹⁷

After the departure of the Jesuit, Zalenski, it often occurred to me that, should His Tsarist Majesty learn of it from the original docu­ments, Mazepa’s correspondence with the enemy would some day expose me to complete disaster. Therefore, fear, dread and sorrow consumed me. And when I looked at my wife and children I would worry the entire day about d∞ming them along with me. When­ever my wife asked me why I sighed so often and so deeply, I replied that it was because of my sins, through which I had offended God, my Creator, that I sighed with grief. My wife did not believe this and constantly tried to persuade me with her love and entreaties to reveal the reason for my distress. Bound by oath, I never revealed this secret to her until the very day that Mazepa left Baturyn to go over to the Swedes. Then I explained to her why I had sighed so often and how matters stood. In conclusion, I said about Mazepa: “He will die and destroy us along with him.” And, indeed, this is what happened.

In addition to my afore-mentioned fears and worries, I also thought that Mazepa, not being in agreement with the heneralna Starshyna and the colonels as to his plotting, would not be able to betray this Tsarist Majesty on his own, without them and the Host. Nor would he be able to tempt the enemy with his sympathies toward them and simultaneously manifest his loyalty to His Tsarist Majesty, thus casting himself to both sides for the preservation of Ukraine.

S∞n after the departure of Zalenski, at the beginning of Feb­ruary of what was already the new year of 1708, on the orders of His Tsarist Majesty, Mazepa undertook a military campaign to Bila Tserkva. During the campaign, he received an admonition as a result of the points which were addressed to the court of His Tsarist Majesty [by Kochubei] and delivered by the colonel of Akhter. Among these was a separate point concerning Zalenski which upset me even more. From then on, I began to think of some means of preserving myself from the impending troubles. However, I was deterred by several chilling thoughts which passed through my mind.

On the one hand, I took into account what had happened in the case of Kochubei’s denunciation. According to the unique, harsh and well-known Great Russian law, if something was displeasing to the Tsar and if there was no written pr∞f, it was the informer who received the first lash. Because of this law, many innocent people had perished. Furthermore, Mazepa himself had often cau­tioned me thus: “Beware, Orlyk, that you remain faithful to me; you see what favor I enjoy with His Tsarist Majesty. There [in Moscow] they will not prefer you for me. I am wealthy; you are p∞r. And Moscow loves money. Nothing will happen to me, but you will perish.” When we were in Bender, and Voinarovskyi, on Mazepa’s orders, not only insulted me, but even threatened my life, I said to [Mazepa]: “Is this the reward I get for my loyalty?” He replied: “Had you not remained faithful to me, you would have perished just like Kochubei.” Offended, I left him and withdrew to Jassy.

On the other hand, my Christian conscience forced me to con­sider the oath by which I was bound to serve faithfully only him. Mazepa was the Hetman and my lord. In relation to His Tsarist Majesty I was a foreigner and a newcomer to Ukraine, never having sworn either submission or loyalty to him. Therefore, I was troubled [by the thought] of the damnation of my soul not only as an oath- breaker, but also as a betrayer of my lord and benefactor, ungrate­fully rendering to him evil for good, enmity for favor, and for bread —deadly poison.

Finally, the deceased Mokrievych who, under Hetman Damian Mnohohrishnyi, had occupied the same post of Chancellor-General [heneralnyi pysar] as I, always came to mind.¹⁸ Rightfully or wrong­fully, God knows, he accused his Hetman of correspondence and an agreement with Doroshenko directed against Russia, and there­by Underhandedly delivered him into exile to Siberia. And what honors did he receive for this afterwards? He was deprived of the office of Chancellor-General by Samoilovych and driven from Ukraine. Because of his betrayal, throughout his life he was subjected to insults and abuse from both the laity and the clergy. And especially from the Most Holy Archbishop of Chernyhiv, Lazar Baranovych of blessed memory, who, whenever he saw Mokrievych in church or elsewhere, to his face and within the hearing of all, called him a Judas, a betrayer of his lord and a man of mean birth. When he gave him [Mokrievych] communion, he was wont to say: “And Christ gave bread to Judas and after [receiving] it, Satan was within him.”

Pondering these matters—the cruelty of the Great Russian regu­lation regarding informers; the damnation of an oathbreaker’s soul; the dishonorable recriminations against me and my children for the betrayal—my resolve wavered.

At that time, Mazepa received in Bila Tserkva letters from His Tsarist Majesty and, later, public decrees assuring him of His Majesty’s favor. These stated that, henceforth, slanderers of Ma­zepa’s unshakable loyalty, such as Kochubei, would not be believed and all such slanderers would receive the proper punishment.¹⁹ These assurances by His Tsarist Majesty diverted me from those thoughts, especially after I saw that Mazepa was greatly frightened and after he said that he regretted his undertaking. But, his remorse soon changed to remorselessness.

The Quartermaster-General, Lomykovskyi, and the colonels of Myrhorod and Pryluky, joined later by the colonel of Lubny, see­ing Mazepa greatly frightened and wavering, often prevailed on him in Bila Tserkva to safeguard them and himself.²⁰ They prom­ised to support him and to defend the rights and privileges of the Host to the death and never to abandon him as their leader and commander, even in the greatest misfortune. In order that he might have no doubt of their constant loyalty and good intentions, they requested that he administer to them a formal oath by which they could swear their loyalty. In response to their continual pleas, Mazepa agreed, and ordered the Quartermaster-General, Lomykov- skyi, to compose a formal oath as they saw fit.

After consulting his comrades, Lomykovskyi did this and gave Mazepa the oath. He [Mazepa] examined it and then summoned them to him at Bila Tserkva. In his private chamber, he accepted their oath of loyalty to him, upon which they kissed the Cross and the Holy Gospel. Afterwards, he swore to them on the Gospel in the same manner as he had sworn to me in Pechersk. For this reason, even after the repeated orders of His Tsarist Majesty, Ma­zepa did not put the colonel of Myrhorod under arrest, but de­fended him in every way because he was in sworn agreement with him. Thinking that, since the heneralna Starshyna and the colonels had already begun to agree, the collaboration of Mazepa with the enemy might, in time, expand and attain its goal, I intended to curtail it in the following manner: at Bila Tserkva, His Serene Highness, Prince Alexander Danielovich, had a scribe who was assigned to the chancellery of our Host in order to study the Little Russian language and script. I wanted to swear him to secrecy by the kissing of the Cross, and despatch him to His Serene Highness, the Prince, with a secret request that some important person be sent from His Tsarist Majesty to take an oath from the Hetman, the heneralna Starshyna_f the colonels, and the captains. Because the Hetman was extremely fearful after Kochubei’s denunciation and despaired of the monarch’s favor, and (because) the heneralna star- shyna and colonels often grumbled about the many wrongs and violations of their rights and privileges, I intended, in this manner, without breaking my oath or harming my conscience, to curtail Mazepa’s plotting and divert the Starshyna away from it. But then news arrived that Kochubei and Iskra, without any investigation, had been questioned, given the knout and tortured.²¹ It was stipu­lated that they should be sent to Mazepa for the execution of the sentence.²² The news frightened me and I felt constrained to aban­don these plans, fearing a similar disaster for myself. Felix quern faciunt aliena pericula cautum.

Upon my conscience, I reveal this in all honesty to Your Holi­ness: Should I be lying to Your Holiness, may God destroy me completely!

Then, with the troops under his command, Mazepa crossed from this side of the Dnieper to the other. Upon receiving word that the Swedish King had turned from Smolensk toward Ukraine, he ex­claimed: “The devil is guiding him here! He will upset all my interests and bring the Great Russian army with him into Ukraine, to its [Ukraine’s] complete ruin and to our d∞m!" At that time, Mazepa received His Tsarist Majesty’s order to link his troops with those of General Inflantii, I believe, and burn the smaller towns, villages, lofts and mills in the Starodub regiment. However, Ma­zepa understood the order differently; [he thought] that they [the Russians] wanted to lure him closer to that general and then cap­ture him. Therefore, he had the colonels of Myrhorod, Pryluky and Lubny gather at Quartermaster-General Lomykovskyi’s lodgings, where he also sent me, to ask them if they should, according to His Tsarist Majesty’s order, link up with that general. All unanimously replied that he should not. They advised him to send a request immediately to the Swedish king for protection and haste, and to ask him to link up with them at the borders in order not to allow the Great Russian armies into Ukraine.

They also requested him [Mazepa] to issue a statement describ­ing what l∞med ahead for them, for all of Ukraine and for the Zaporozhian Host and explaining why such a move had been made. To this Mazepa replied indignantly: “Why should you know everything prematurely? Rely on my conscience and on my meager, little mind. It will not disappoint you. By God’s grace I have more wisdom in my head than all of you put together.” Turn­ing to Lomykovskyi, he said: “Your mind has already been used up.” To me [he said]: “And he has a mind that is too young and credulous.” As to the message to the Swedish king, he stated: “I myself will know when to contact him.” Angrily he t∞k Stanislaw’s manifesto, which had been brought by Zalenski out of his pocket and had me read it to them. They were satisfied with it.²³

S∞n afterwards, His Tsarist Majesty’s entourage, accompanied by the infantry, came to Hlukhiv. From there, they repeatedly wrote to Mazepa that he should entrust the command of the troops to some trustworthy person and come personally to Hlukhiv for consultations which are often needed in such circumstances. Ma­zepa requested the opinion of his compatriots as to whether he should go to the court of His Tsarist Majesty at Hlukhiv, but they all cried out: “If you go you will destroy yourself, us and Ukraine.” He did this, I think, to test them, pretending to show an inclination to go to Hlukhiv. However, he actually did not even consider this because he remembered well Kochubei’s denunciation of him. He thought and feared that the ministers wanted to entice him to them. And once they had him in their grasp, they would re-open the examination of the Kochubei affair, especially since they might have news from Poland where Mazepa’s agreement and plotting with Stanislaw were widely known.²⁴ Therefore, he feigned illness to excuse himself before the ministers of His Tsarist Majesty.

One evening, when Quartermaster-General Lomykovskyi and the above-mentioned colonels repeatedly insisted that despatches be sent to the Swedish King, he assigned me to go to them, so that a decision could finally be reached whether to send these despatches or not. I think that he was again putting them to the test-. When I raised the question with them, Lomykovskyi answered for himself and the others. Deploring Mazepa’s procrastination and delay, [he complained] that, in response to their many proposals and en­treaties, he [Mazepa] had recently failed to contact and reply to the King when the latter was still close to the borders. Because of this delay, he had [allowed] all the Great Russian forces into Ukraine which led to its ruin and general bloodshed. Now, with the Swedes right under his nose, it was incomprehensible why he was pro­crastinating.

I returned to Mazepa with their message. When he heard it, he became angry and said: “I know that no one else has any com­plaints except that bald devil, Lomykovskyi.” Summoning them, he said in great anger: “Instead of taking counsel, you complain about me; the devil take all of you! I will take Orlyk along with me and I will go to His Tsarist Majesty’s court. And you can perish if you like.” Then, softening his tone, he asked them whether to contact the King. They replied: “How can we not contact him? It should have been done long ago and should not be put off any longer.” Hearing this, Mazepa immediately summoned Bystrytskyi and had him sworn to secrecy before us.²⁵1 was ordered to write his instructions to Count Piper in Latin and then Mazepa’s apothecary translated them into German. Assigning him a captured Swede as translator, he ordered Bystrytskyi to prepare to leave the next day with that haphazard translation, which had no signature or seal on it and which was without an accompanying letter from him either to the King or to Piper.²⁶

In that note, which he did not sign and which bore no seal, Mazepa expressed his great joy at the arrival of His Royal Majesty to Ukraine. He requested for himself, for the Zaporozhian Host and for the entire people, protection and liberation from the heavy Muscovite yoke. He also emphasized his great danger and asked that troops be sent swiftly for his defense. For them he promised to prepare a crossing across the Desna at the Makoshinskyi pier.

Bystrytskyi soon returned with a verbal message from the King himself who promised to hasten to that pier with his army on the coming Friday, that is, on the twenty-second of October. That day Mazepa hoped for the arrival of the King. But his hopes were not fulfilled. On Saturday the twenty-third day of October, Voinarov- skyi came to Mazepa in Borznia, secretly leaving His Serene High­ness, Prince Alexander Danielovich. He declared that His High­ness would arrive in Borznia the next day, Sunday, at dinner time. It seems that Voinarovskyi, leaving his wagons and servants be­hind, secretly fled from His Highness because he heard a German say to another officer in his quarters: “Lord, have mercy on these people! Tomorrow they will be in chains.” To this day I do not know whether Voinarovskyi actually heard this or whether he had been instructed by Mazepa to say so in order to deceive us.

After receiving these news about the proximity of His Highness, the Prince [Menshikov], and about His Highness’ arrival in Borz- nia the next day, Mazepa t∞k off like a whirlwind. In the evening of that same day, Saturday, he hastened to Baturyn. On the next day, Sunday morning, the twenty-fourth of October, he crossed the Seim River and arrived in the evening at Koropa where he spent the night. On Monday morning, the twenty-fifth, he suddenly crossed the Desna and at night reached a Swedish dragoon regiment quar­tered in a village beyond Orlovka. From there he sent me and the Quartermaster-General Lomykovskyi, ahead to the King and soon afterwards he hastened there himself.

When Mazepa re-crossed the Desna with the Swedish army, he first heard the news of the capture and burning of Baturyn. Sadly he stated: “Our start is poor and unfortunate! It seems that God has not blessed my intentions. I swear to that same God that I did not desire the spilling of Christian blood. After coming to Baturyn with the Swedish King, I intended to write a letter to His Tsarist Majesty [expressing] gratefulness for his protection and listing all our previous and current grievances: the privileges which had been curtailed, the complete destruction and impending d∞m which faced the entire people. In conclusion, [I intended] to declare that we had acquiesced voluntarily to the sovereignty of His Tsarist Majesty for the sake of the unified Eastern Orthodox faith. Beinga free people, we now wish freely to withdraw, expressing gratitude for the Tsar’s protection and not wishing to raise our hands in the shedding of Christian blood. Under the protection of the Swedish King, we will look forward to our complete liberation.” Mazepa (as he himself stated) hoped to achieve this not by means of war, but through peace—by means of a treaty. He said that he wished to incline the Swedish King by all means to such a peace with His Tsarist Majesty.

O what nonsense! Afterwards, he said: “Now, with the situation as desperate as it is, matters will develop differently. Ukraine, frightened by [what happened] at Baturyn, will fear to join us.” However, at the request of the colonels, he had manifestoes written and distributed to the towns. In them he enumerated the reasons why he had abandoned His Tsarist Majesty and placed himself under the protection of the Swedish King. When he came to the village of Bakhmach, he swore on the Holy Gospel for the first time before everyone—the heneralna Starshyna_t the colonels, captains and notables of the Host [znatne tovarystvo∖— that he had accepted the protection of the Swedish King not for his personal benefit, but for the general welfare of the fatherland and the Zaporozhian Host. Then he ordered all of the heneralna Starshyna_f colonels, captains and notables of the Host, to take an oath to him and to the sover­eignty of the Swedish King.

What Mazepa wrote in his manifestoes was that he supposedly had received warnings from His Tsarist Majesty’s ministers and from friends who were well-disposed towards him. On my soul’s oath, I declare to Your Holiness that none of the ministers will be able to deduce from this report the manner in which it was done.

Mazepa sent Bolbota, a member of the Host’s chancellery, with letters from Borznia to His Tsarist Majesty’s court at Hlukhiv.²⁷ After his return, he [Mazepa] informed us that one of His Tsarist Majesty’s ministers, and also a true friend of his in the chancellery, had warned Mazepa through Bolbota that he should not come to His Tsarist Majesty’s court, but rather look to his own and the entire Little Russian people’s salvation. And he should see to it that anyone who had anything [of value] should bury it in a safe place, because, under the present circumstances, he should not hope for any stability in Ukraine, as His Tsarist Majesty was con­triving to take some unpleasant measures with regard to the Het­man as well as the entire people. This minister and this other person from the chancellery, supposedly through the chancellery official, Bolbota, had bound Mazepa by oath so that no one knew of their warning. What Mazepa said frightened all of us. Later he made all this public to the people in his manifestoes.

However, I suspected the falsehood of this and later, in 1714, his cunning and deceit were revealed to me in the following manner. When the late Swedish King was leaving the Turkish land and going through Wallachia to Pomerania, I, following His High­ness, stopped off in Bucarest to take care of a spiritual matter. There I found the chancellery official, Bolbota, preparing to enter the monastery. I spent two days in conversation with him, discuss­ing Mazepa’s betrayal and our misfortunes. Among other things, I recalled this warning and asked whether it had been genuine. He informed me, under oath, that when Mazepa sent him to Hlukhiv to His Tsarist Majesty’s court, he had secretly ordered him to try in every way possible to discover what they thought of him there and why they had sent the ukaz for him to come to the court. On Mazepa’s orders, Bolbota investigated all this but heard nothing negative from anyone about him. Through Bolbota, Gregorii Fe­dorovich Dolgorukii sincerely advised Mazepa that he could safely come to the court as soon as possible. He [Dolgorukii] pledged on his soul and conscience that His Tsarist Majesty did not have the slightest doubt of his [Mazepa’s] loyalty and would not listen to anyone who spoke against him. The secretary, Orikhovskii, also made a similar statement to Bolbota about His Tsarist Majesty’s boundless favor towards Mazepa, which equaled or even surpassed that towards Prince Alexander Danielovich. He advised that the inhabitants of Ukraine be careful of Swedish wiles and that they hide their provisions in the ground or store them in some other inaccessible place, because, although, in their manifestoes to the people, the Swedes guarantee integrity of property and income, they then rob and plunder everything from those whom they have reassured. However, Mazepa turned all this around. By speaking as he did and forcing Bolbota, by means of an oath to say the same, he did this first of all to seduce us. Later, in order to frighten and agitate the people, he had this published in the manifestoes.

I confess before God, the Scrutinizer of hearts and souls, and under the seal of confession, this whole truth about Mazepa’s be­trayal, from the very beginning to the end. Should there be a trace of falsehood in my heart, then may the Lord not harken to me.

Therefore, Your Holiness, judge my account with your own high intellect: how is my fault greater than that of the others? And did I sin by accidentally discovering the secret of Mazepa’s plotting with Stanislaw, previously concealed from me? Forced by him to keep the secret, I did what my superiors ordered. By that token, I alone could not have provided Mazepa with the occasion for be­trayal and for defection to the opposing side. Nor would Mazepa have dared to defect with me alone if the others from among the heneralna staτshyna, the Quartermaster-General Lomykovskyi and the colonels of Myrhorod, Pryluky, and Lubny had not joined the plotting in their capacity as the leading and most important figures in the Zaporozhian Host, and [if they] had not drawn along their own officers with their regiments, thereby reinforcing Mazepa in his evil intentions.

I knew of this secret, accidentally revealed to me, and was forced by Mazepa’s order, by his terrible oath and, in addition, by subver­sion, to take a mutual oath of loyalty. I did not reveal the secret to anyone and maintained an unscathed faithfulness, Iikea servant to his master, like a foreigner and client to his benefactor. I had to preserve it [the secret] since my nature which has been passed on to me by my ancestors, is not to be an informer, but always to remain faithful to my superiors. The Swedish King, eternally worthy of memory, recognized this [trait] in me and therefore I had his re­spect and affection. I, however, was the only foreigner who knew this secret, and I alone could not have done His Tsarist Majesty any harm because one man can do nothing. Why did none of the others, sons of Ukraine, fervent of their fatherland, from [the time of] their fathers faithful subjects of His Tsarist Majesty, having discovered this secret, not reveal it? Moreover, by their oath they even sup­ported it [the secret] and promised, kissing the Holy Gospel, to stand by Mazepa to the death in [defense] of their rights and liberties.

However, I welcome the favor that they have received from the monarch and do not envy their good fortune. I only sorrow over my own misfortune that I alone am withheld from the countenance of God’s annointed and suffer banishment with my family, with no place to provide me with shelter. I appealed for the mercy of His Tsarist Majesty through the intermediary of the Most Holy Patri­arch of Jerusalem, through the late Hospodar and Voevoda of Wallachia, Constantine and through Constantine and Michael Cantancuzanos. In these efforts, however, my labors were fruitless. Now, despairing of human aid, I place all my hopes in my only pleader before God, in the suzerain who rules over men, Christ the Lord, in the Royal Majesty of Christ the Lord who pleads for me from the cross: Forgive! He who pities the sinner, moves the mon­arch’s heart to pity. Be merciful just as your Heavenly Father, who punishes and awes, is merciful. And if, in your heart, you do not forgive a man his sins, neither will My Lord, who is in Heaven, forgive you your sins. Peter was ordered to forgive sinners seven times ten fold.

I believe that what has been ordained will fill the merciful heart of Peter. And I humbly entreat Your Holiness, if you are able, to help me with your old mercy and fatherly love, to which I eternally entrust myself.