The people cried out for the king of the east. “We will follow the Tsar of Moscow, the Orthodox. Continuation of the war for Ukraine

(continuation)

The ceremonial embassy of boyar Buturlin to Ukraine. – Pereyaslavl Rada on January 8, 1654 and the oath of citizenship. – Rejection of the ambassador’s demand for mutual oath. – Awards to Buturlin and his comrades.

On October 9, 1653, after the service in the Assumption Cathedral and the kissing of the royal hand, the above-mentioned great and plenipotentiary ambassadors left Moscow for Ukraine. At the same time, boyar Buturlin was named governor of Tverskoy, and okolnichy Alferyev was named governor of Murom. They were accompanied by a large retinue: in addition to the clergy, it included up to 50 stewards, solicitors, tenants, nobles, clerks and translators and 200 archers of the order (regiment) of Artamon Matveev. With the archers was their head himself, i.e. Matveev.

The ambassadors were provided with appropriate letters and detailed instructions, and for distribution to the hetman, all the elders of the Zaporozhye army and the highest clergy, they brought with them a rich sable treasury. On the way, a messenger caught up with them with an order: in Putivl to wait for the mace, banner, feryaz and gorlat hat assigned for the hetman. Arriving in Putivl on November 1, the ambassadors, according to the order, sent a clerk to Chigirin to check where the hetman was. The latter, as is known, was on the Zhvanetsky campaign, and the great ambassadors, like Streshnev and Bredikhin, had to wait quite a long time for his return. The ambassadors, however, did not waste time, but by all means diligently collected news about the state of affairs in Ukraine, about the actions of the hetman, about the Poles, Crimeans, etc.; They were also sent with Streshnev and sent reports about everything to Moscow. By the way, they reported that an order had come to Mirgorod from Khmelnitsky to build a large house for his wife, for which up to 500 carts were transporting dismantled master's mansions from different cities; and another courtyard is being built there for the clerk Vygovsky.

On December 3, the Kalnitsky colonel Fedorenko with a Cossack retinue arrived from the convoy near Zhvanets in Putivl, brought letters from the hetman to the ambassadors and offered to take them to Pereyaslav, the hetman invited him there, and not to Chigirin because this city is small and poor in bread and feed, for the reason locusts and drought. The ambassadors sent Fedorenko back, but they themselves remained in Putivl, still awaiting the hetman's regalia and further orders from Moscow. Having received all this, only on November 20 the embassy moved from Putivl abroad. Here, from the first Cossack town of Korybutov, ceremonial meetings began, by order of the hetman. Ten miles from the town, the embassy was met by Fedorenko’s son with a hundred Cossacks under the banner and said greetings. Moscow clergy traveling with the ambassadors served in the St. Nicholas Church in the town; Moreover, the Blagoveshchensk deacon Alexei “cryed many years” to the sovereign, empress and noble princesses; On the right choir, priests and deacons of the monasteries of Chudov and Savva Storozhevsky “sang for many years,” and on the left, a local priest with clerics. The population gathered in the church prayed and cried with joy, “that the Lord God ordered them to be under the sovereign’s hand.” Then similar meetings and prayers took place further. In Krasnoe, in addition to the Cossacks with a banner, priests in robes with crosses, icons and holy water came out to meet them while bells were ringing and cannon fire. Next came the town of Ivonitsa, the regimental town of Priluki (where Colonel Voronchenko met), the towns of Galitsa, Bykovo, Baryshevka, etc. During their solemn procession, the ambassadors constantly exchanged messengers and letters with Khmelnitsky and Vygovsky.

On December 31, the embassy reached Pereyaslav. Five miles away he was met by Pereyaslavl Colonel Pavel Teterya with centurions, atamans and 600 Cossacks to the sound of trumpets and kettledrums. Dismounting from his horse, the colonel addressed the boyar Buturlin and other ambassadors with a greeting that indicated his familiarity with rhetoric and began with the words: “Blessed and pious of the pious sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, autocrat of all Rus' and many states sovereign and possessor, of his sovereign greatness, the great boyars and others of the Lord! With joy we accept your safe coming,” etc. The population with their wives and children and the city clergy with crosses and icons were waiting at the city gates. When the ambassadors and their retinue venerated the images and sprinkled themselves with St. water, Archpriest Gregory also gave them a welcoming speech, which he ended with: “Enter joyfully into this God-saved city, advise peace, good and useful to all Christianity, as if by your prosperity under His Royal Majesty the quietly overshadowing wings of our Little Russia Orthodoxy will rest.” . From here, the embassy, ​​together with the religious procession on foot, moved to the cathedral Church of the Assumption, where they brought the Moscow image of the Savior, sent by the Tsar to Ukraine with the ambassadors. A prayer service was held in the cathedral for the health of the king, queen and princesses. From the cathedral, the ambassadors, accompanied by cannon fire, went to the courtyard allotted to them.

The hetman was in Chigirin at that time and did not yet go to Pereyaslav due to the difficult crossing of the Dnieper, along which there were icy caviar, and the river had not yet stopped. On January 6, on the day of Epiphany from Peredelen, there was a religious procession to the Trubezh River, to the Jordan; Along with the Pereyaslavl clergy, Moscow clergy also served here, namely: Archimandrite Prokhor of the Kazan Transfiguration Monastery, Nativity Archpriest Andreyan, Savva Starozhevsky priest Jonah and deacons. Before the evening on this day, the hetman arrived, and the next day the clerk Vygovsky. At the call of the hetman, many colonels and centurions gathered in Pereyaslav. On the evening of the 7th, Khmelnitsky arrived at the embassy courtyard with Vygovsky and Colonel Teterey. Boyar Buturlin and his comrades informed him of the gracious sovereign decision or decree on his petition (for citizenship), and agreed with him that tomorrow the hetman would announce a decree on the retreat of the court and then the oath of allegiance to the sovereign would be taken.

And so everything was done.

On the morning of January 8, the hetman first held a secret meeting of colonels and all the military senior officers, who then confirmed their consent to Moscow citizenship. Then for a long time a drum was beaten in the city square while Cossacks and other residents of Pereyaslav gathered in large numbers for the national rally. They moved the crowd apart and created a spacious circle for the troops and the sergeant major. In the middle of the circle stood the hetman under a horsetail, and around him were judges, esauls, a clerk and colonels. The military captain ordered everyone to be silent. When silence reigned, the hetman addressed the people with a speech.

“Panov’s colonels, yasauls, centurions and the entire Zaporozhye army And all Orthodox Christians! - he began. “You all know how God freed us from the hands of enemies who are persecuting the Church of God and embittering the entire Christianity of our Eastern Orthodoxy, that for six years now we have been living without a sovereign in our land in incessant battles and bloodshed with persecutors and our enemies who want to eradicate the Church of God, so that the Russian name is not remembered in our land; that the great people have already bothered us all, and we see that we can no longer live without the king. For this reason, you have now gathered a council that is open to all the people, so that naturally you can choose with us the sovereign from among the four whom you want.” This was followed by an indication Turkish Sultan, Crimean Khan, Polish King and Moscow Tsar. The first two are infidels and enemies of Christians; the third acts in concert with the Polish lords, who are cruelly oppressing the Orthodox Russian people. What remains is the pious eastern king of the same faith, “Except for his high royal hands,” the hetman concluded, “the most gracious refuge is not addressed, but if anyone does not agree with us, now the shortcut wants a free road.”

At this speech, all the people cried out: “We will obey the Eastern Orthodox Tsar!”

Colonel Teterya, going around the circle, asked in all directions: “Are you still doing this?”

“Everyone,” the people responded unanimously.

“Wake up,” said the hetman. - “May the Lord God strengthen us under his royal strong hand.”

“God confirm, God strengthen, that we may all be one forever!” - the people repeated.

Pereyaslav Rada 1654 Painting by M. Khmelko, 1951

Khmelnitsky and the foreman went to the exit yard, where boyar Buturlin and his comrades were waiting for him. The boyar announced the sovereign's letter to the hetman and the entire Zaporozhye army and presented him with this letter. The hetman kissed it, opened it, and, giving it to the clerk Vyhovsky, ordered it to be read aloud. After reading, the hetman and colonels expressed their joy and their readiness to serve, straighten and lay down their heads for the sovereign. Having asked them in the royal name about their health, Buturlin turned to the hetman with a speech in which he briefly outlined the constantly renewed petition to his royal majesty to accept the Zaporozhye army under his high hand, about the tsar’s futile attempts to reconcile the Cossacks with the Poles and to keep these latter from persecution of the Orthodox faith , about the king’s completed consent to the petition. The boyar ended with a call to faithful service to the sovereign and a promise of royal mercy to the army and defense from enemies.

From the exit courtyard, the hetman and the royal ambassadors rode in a carriage to the cathedral of the Assumption Church. Here the Moscow clergy with Archimandrite Prokhor and the local clergy with Archpriest Gregory were already waiting for them, who met them on the porch with crosses and censers. In the church, the clergy, putting on their vestments, wanted to begin reading the oath according to the official book sent from Moscow. But here a certain difficulty arose, or, more precisely, the first collision of the autocratic Moscow system with Polish concepts and customs, to which Little Russian Ukraine did not remain alien, occurred.

Khmelnitsky suddenly expressed a desire for the Moscow ambassadors, in the name of their sovereign, to take an oath not to violate the liberties of the Zaporozhian army, to respect all his fortunes with their land properties and not to hand him over to the Polish king. Boyar Buturlin and his comrades replied that in the Moscow state, subjects swear an oath to their sovereign, and not vice versa, and then they hoped that the tsar would grant the hetman and the Zaporozhye army, would not take away their liberties, and whoever owned them would order them to continue to own them.

The hetman said that he would talk about it with the colonels, and went to Pavel Tetera’s courtyard. There was a meeting taking place, and the ambassadors and clergy stood in the church and waited. The foreman sent Teterya and also Mirgorod Colonel Sakhnovich, who repeated the same request; and Buturlin repeated his same answer, saying: “It was never customary for subjects to take an oath for their sovereign, but subjects give an oath to the sovereign.” The colonels pointed to the Polish kings who swear allegiance to their subjects. The ambassadors objected that “it is obscene to set him up as a model, because those kings are unfaithful and not autocrats,” and urged the colonels “not to speak such obscene speeches.” The colonels tried to refer to the Cossacks, who allegedly demanded an oath. Buturlin recalled that the great sovereign accepted them under his high hand based on their own petition for the sake of the Orthodox faith, and advised such people to stop using obscene words. The Moscow boyar-diplomat skillfully noted that the sovereign would probably grant the Zaporozhye army even greater favors and benefits than they themselves Polish kings. The colonels left; soon the hetman and all the elders returned and announced that they relied in everything on the mercy of the sovereign and “were ready to wholeheartedly perform the faith (oath), according to the Gospel commandment, to the great sovereign.”

After that, Archimandrite Prokhor swore in the hetman and the foreman according to the official book. At the end of it, the Blagoveshchensk deacon Alexei (who probably had a good voice) called out to the sovereign for many years. Many of the people ahead shed tears of joy. The hetman and the ambassadors rode in a carriage to the exit yard, where the colonels and other people went on foot. There the hetman was presented with a banner, a mace, a feryaz, a hat and sables from the tsar; Boyar Buturlin, according to his order, accompanied the delivery of each of these things with an appropriate word. For example, giving the hat, he said: “To your head, admonished by God with a lofty mind and a considerate providence for the protection of Orthodoxy, the bright royal majesty bestows this hat as a covering, so that God may keep your head healthy, admonishing with all his mind for the good of the glorious army.” etc. The hetman distributed the “sovereign’s salary” (sables and other gifts) to Vygovsky, the colonels, esauls and the oboznichi. Khmelnitsky and the foreman returned to his yard on foot in the fairies and cap granted to him with a mace in his hand, and an unfurled banner was carried in front of him.

The next day, the archimandrite and the consecrated cathedral in the same church swore in the oath of centurions, regimental esauls and clerks, simple Cossacks and townspeople. Then the ambassadors demanded from the hetman a painting of the cities and places owned by the Zaporozhye army, in order to big cities go yourself to take the oath, and send captains and nobles to others. In the subsequent conversations between the hetman and the ambassadors, he expressed wishes that he asked to convey to the sovereign. Namely: firstly, so that everyone remains in his rank, a nobleman as a nobleman, a Cossack as a Cossack, and a tradesman as a tradesman, and after his death, his rank is not taken away from his wife and children, as the Poles did, who took these ranks for themselves; secondly, to create a Zaporozhian army of 60,000 people, and even more than that, the better, because “they do not ask the Tsar’s Majesty for a salary for those Cossacks.” The ambassadors reassured the hetman with the royal consent to these wishes. Still, the estates are royal, master's, Catholic churches and it was agreed that the monasteries would be taken over by the sovereign.

Clerk Vygovsky continued to be zealous; He assured that in the Lithuanian cities, having learned about what had happened in Little Russia, many would also rush to come under the high royal hand, and he volunteered to write about this to Mogilev to an Orthodox nobleman he knew, and the latter would write with the Mogilevites to other cities. However, this zeal did not prevent him on January 12, together with the colonels, from coming to the ambassadors and asking them, following the Polish model, for a written commitment that the liberties, rights and toils of the Cossacks would not be violated. It was as if the colonels needed to show this to people when they arrived in their regiments, otherwise there would be doubt in the cities when the captains and nobles began to take the oath. The ambassadors, of course, rejected this request, calling it “not enough.” Local Orthodox gentry also came to the ambassadors with a request to leave behind them the various orders that they had written for themselves. This request was also eliminated and called “indecent.” The hetman said goodbye to the ambassadors and left for Chigirin.

The head of the Streltsy, Artamon Matveev, went to the sovereign as a seunschik, i.e., a messenger, with the ambassadors’ replies.

The ambassadors sent officers, solicitors and nobles to the cities of all 17 Little Russian regiments to take the oath; and on the 14th they went to Kyiv, where they arrived two days later. Ten miles from the city, even before crossing the Dnieper, the ambassadors were met by Kyiv centurions with banners and more than a thousand Cossacks. And not reaching the city ramparts, a mile and a half from the Golden Gate, they were met by the Kyiv abbots and abbots, who rode out in carts and sleighs with Metropolitan Sylvester, Chernigov Bishop Zosima and Pechersk Archimandrite Joseph at their head. The Metropolitan, as you know, was not at all happy about the change from Polish to Moscow citizenship, but had to hide his feelings. Coming out of the cart, he said a welcoming word: in his face, said Sylvester, the ambassadors are greeted by Vladimir the Holy, Andrew the First-Called, Anthony, Theodosius and the Pechersk ascetics. Then we went to St. Sophia Cathedral, where they were met by all the cathedral, monastery and parish priests in vestments, with crosses, images, banners and holy water. In the cathedral, the Metropolitan served a prayer service for the health of the Tsar and his family, and the Archdeacon proclaimed many years to them. After which the boyar V.V. Buturlin addressed the Metropolitan. Mentioning the past repeated petitions to the sovereign by the hetman and the entire Zaporizhian army, regarding their acceptance under the sovereign’s high hand, he said that the metropolitan had never participated in these petitions and “did not seek royal mercy for himself”; and therefore the boyar asked “for the Metropolitan to tell them why he did not beat the great sovereign with his forehead and write?” Sylvester responded with ignorance about these petitioners. Buturlin, in the name of the sovereign, asked the metropolitan, bishop, archimandrites and the entire consecrated cathedral “about being saved,” that is, about health; The spiritual authorities thanked for this sovereign mercy.

The next day, the ambassadors swore in the Kyiv Cossacks and townspeople. But in vain they sent clerks and clerks to demand the oath of the metropolitan and Pechersk service gentry, courtyard servants and townspeople. Sylvester Kossov and Joseph Trizna made an excuse by saying that they were free people, they served for hire, they had no responsibilities, and therefore they did not need to swear allegiance. For two whole days these spiritual authorities persisted; but the persistence of the Moscow ambassadors prevailed; the required people were sent and sworn in. In order to retain the favor of the Polish government, just in case, the Metropolitan entered into secret relations with it and indicated that he had to submit to force.

Having completed the oath in Kyiv, the ambassadors went to Nizhyn. Here, 5 miles from the city, Colonel Zolotarenko and Archpriest Maxim met them; the latter said a greeting, then a prayer service was served in the Trinity Cathedral; and the next day, January 24, the oath took place. The same thing was repeated in Chernigov, where his archpriest Gregory served a prayer service in the Spassky Cathedral. Having sent Prince Danil Nesvitsky to swear in the cities and towns of the Chernigov regiment, V.V. Buturlin and his comrades arrived again in Nezhin on January 30, and here they awaited the sovereign's decree on their return to Moscow. He continued to carefully collect news from everywhere about what was happening in Ukraine and Poland and send a report about everything to the sovereign; corresponded with the hetman, as well as with Prince Fyodor Semenovich Kurakin, who was appointed governor of Kyiv, and, together with his comrades in Putivl, waited for the arrival of military men.

On the night of February 1, Artamon Matveev arrived in Nezhin with a royal letter, which ordered Buturlin and his comrades to go to Moscow. Togo. on the same date they set off. The most gracious reception awaited them for the successful execution of the “sovereign’s business.” Steward A.I. was sent to Kaluga to meet them. Golovin to ask about his health on behalf of the sovereign and say a word of praise. Particular praise was given to them for the fact that they with dignity and firmness rejected the insistence of the hetman and the foreman about an oath to observe Cossack liberties. They were rewarded with a generous hand. Boyarin V.V. Buturlin received the palace with a path a golden satin fur coat with sables, a gilded silver cup with a roof, four forty sables and 150 rubles in addition to his salary, which was 450 rubles. (And on his way he was assigned half of the income from some Yaroslavl fishing settlements and circle yards and ship duties, the other half went to the sovereign). Okolnichy Iv. V. Alferyev was granted the same fur coat, two forty sables and 70 rubles in addition to his salary (to 300 rubles); and to the Duma clerk Lar. Lopukhin received a fur coat, a cup, two forty sables and some increase in salary (250 rubles). “All sables are 100 rubles. forty,” i.e., a relatively high price. These awards were announced to them by Duma clerk Almaz Ivanov at the royal table on Holy Week, at the end of March. Such a solemn announcement was obviously delayed until the delicate negotiations with the Hetman's embassy on the rights of the Little Russian people were brought to an end.

Meanwhile, on February 5, Tsarina Marya Ilyinichna gave birth to a son and heir, Alexei. This event immediately served as a means to unite both Great and Little Rus' in common joy. The steward Paltov was sent to the latter with letters of notification and a merciful royal word, namely to Chigirin and Kyiv. The hetman responded with a congratulatory message, the lower and higher Kiev clergy, i.e., the metropolitan and the Pechersk archimandrite, performed thanksgiving prayers with the proclamation of the usual many years to the tsar, queen, newborn prince and princesses.

In December 1653, Russia sent an embassy from the boyar V. Buturlin to Khmelnitsky. In January 1654 it was convened Rada in city Pereyaslavl(Poltava region) which was attended by representatives of the Cossacks, nobility, burghers, merchants, and clergy. 01/08/1654 (January 21 according to the present day) Khmelnitsky at the Pereyaslav Rada proclaimed the entry of Ukrainian territories liberated from Polish oppression into Russian citizenship

SPEECH BY BOGDAN KHMELNITSKY.
- Gentlemen colonels, esauls, the entire Zaporozhye Army and all Orthodox Christians!

You all know how God has freed us from the hands of our enemies, persecuting the church of God and embittering the entire Christianity of our Eastern Orthodoxy. For 6 years now we have been living without a sovereign, in constant battles and bloodshed with our persecutors and enemies who want to eradicate the Church of God, so that the RUSSIAN NAME is not remembered in our land she is already very bored with us all, and we see that we cannot live without a king.

For this purpose, we have assembled a Rada, visible to all the people, so that you and us can choose for yourself a sovereign from among the four whom you want: first tsar - Turkish, who many times through his ambassadors called us under his authority;
second - Khan of Crimea;
the third is the king of Poland, who, if we want, can still accept us with the same affection;
the fourth is the Orthodox Tsar of Great Russia, Tsar Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, eastern autocrat of all Rus', whom we have been asking ourselves for 6 years with incessant prayers.

Here, choose the one you want!
Tsar Turkish - Basurman: You all know how our brothers, Orthodox Christians, the Greeks suffer misfortune and live under godless oppression;
Crimean Khan - too Basurman, whom we, out of necessity, accepted into friendship, what unbearable troubles we experienced!
There is no need to talk about oppression from the Polish lords: you yourself know that you respected a Jew and a dog better than a Christian, our brother.
A Orthodox Christian great sovereign - Eastern piety united with us, Greek law, common confession, We are one Church body with the Orthodoxy of Great Russia having Jesus Christ as its head.

This is the great sovereign, the Christian king, having taken pity on the unbearable bitterness of the Orthodox Church in our Little Russia, Having not despised our six-year prayers, now having inclined the merciful royal heart to us, he deigned to send his great neighbors to us with his royal mercy. If we love him with zeal, then, except for his great royal hand, we will not find the most gracious refuge. If anyone doesn’t agree with us, then where does he want to go? free road.

Then all the people screamed:

— Let's follow the king of the Eastern Orthodox! It is better to die in your pious faith than to fall to the hater of Christ, the bastard! Then Pereyaslavl Colonel Teterya, walking in a circle, asked us in all directions:
- Is that all right?
“Everything is unanimous,” came the answer.

The hetman began to say again: “Be it so, may the Lord our God strengthen us under his royal strong hand!”

The people screamed unanimously at this: God, confirm! God strengthen! May we all be one forever!