1653 the last Zemsky Sobor. The decision of the Zemsky Sobor on the reunification of Ukraine with Russia

(continuation)

Council verdict on the adoption of citizenship. - The behavior of the higher Little Russian clergy.

In Moscow, the tsarist decision to accept Little Russia as a subject was first of all tried to be secured by a conciliar verdict.

As early as the beginning of 1651, the Zemsky Sobor was convened, for the discussion of which the Little Russian question was proposed along with Polish lies, which are: non-observance of the royal title, the publication of books containing dishonor and reproach to the Moscow ranks and the sovereign himself, the Crimean Khan’s instigations to fight the Muscovite state together, etc. But then the Great Zemstvo Duma spoke in favor of accepting Little Russia and for a war with the Poles conditionally: if they do not correct themselves, i.e. will not give you satisfaction. Obviously, the Little Russian question is not yet mature enough in the eyes of the Moscow government; it waited for further circumstances to show, continuing to maintain a peace treaty with Poland, and in its diplomatic relations with it so far limited itself to complaints about the violation of the articles of "eternal completion", mainly about non-observance of the full royal title, as well as about the dishonor caused by the publication of books, full of blasphemy against the tsar and the entire Muscovite state. Our government has already demanded no more, no less than the death penalty for those responsible, in accordance with the Sejm constitution (decree) of 1638. Such a demand was presented in 1650 by the Moscow ambassadors boyar and gunsmith Grigory Gavr. Pushkin and his comrades, and in 1651 the envoys Afanasy Pronchishchev and the clerk Almaz Ivanov. The king and pan-rada answered such a demand with various excuses, called it a “small deed” and sent embassies with empty excuses, and they blamed insignificant persons who were not known where. For example, in July 1652, the Polish envoys, the royal nobleman Penceslavsky and the royal secretary Unechovsky, came to Moscow with a similar answer. In the following year, 1653, when the last desperate struggle between the Cossacks and the Poles took place and when Khmelnitsky made especially persistent requests to the tsar to accept Little Russia into his citizenship, Moscow considered it possible to intervene in this struggle, but began with diplomatic intervention.

In April, the sovereign sent to Poland the great and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the boyar princes Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and Fed. Fed. Volkonsky with the embassy clerk Almaz Ivanov and a large retinue. This embassy presented the same demands for the punishment of those guilty of "registration" of the royal title or of belittling the "state's honor"; in addition, they complained about the robberies of Polish and Lithuanian people in foreign cities and the export of peasants from boyar and noble estates and estates, about insidious links with the Crimean Khan and the passage of his ambassador to Sweden, all with the same intent, i.e., to fight Moscow together state. But all these Polish non-corrections, in the name of the sovereign, the Moscow ambassadors proposed to consign to oblivion if the Commonwealth stops the persecution of the Orthodox faith, returns the churches selected for union, ends the internecine war with the Cossacks and establishes peace with them under the Treaty of Zborov. To these submissions, the pan-rada did not give any satisfactory answer, and they directly laughed at the demand for the death penalty for those guilty of registration of the title; the Polish troops set out against the Cossacks even during the stay of our embassy with them. The latter left with nothing, although he declared that his royal majesty would no longer tolerate Polish non-corrections, and “for the Orthodox faith and his sovereign honor, he will stand as much as the merciful God of help will give.” Only at the end of September, Prince Repnin-Obolensky and his comrades returned to Moscow. Here they received timely news of the unsuccessful course of the negotiations, and, of course, they counted on this failure in advance, and therefore they had already made appropriate decisions and were preparing for an armed struggle. These decisions, as we have said, the young tsar and the Boyar Duma found it necessary to back up with solemn popular consent. For this purpose, the usual Zemsky Sobor was convened in Moscow in advance from the clergy, boyars, nobles, merchants and all kinds of ranks of people.

The Council began its meetings in the month of June and slowly discussed the important issue of Little Russia. It ended on October 1, the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. The tsar with the boyars listened to mass in the temple of this holiday (better known under the name of St. Basil the Blessed); and then, with a procession, he arrived at the Faceted Chamber, where spiritual and elected zemstvo people gathered together with the consecrated cathedral, which was headed by Patriarch Nikon. At the beginning of the meeting, a statement was read (by the Duma clerk) of the above-mentioned Polish untruths and Cossack harassment before the tsar; moreover, the arrival of a new hetman's envoy, Lavrin Kaputa, was reported with a notice of the renewed war with the Poles and with a request for help, although by a small number of military men.

Zemsky Cathedral. Painting by S. Ivanov

At the council, the Little Russian question was raised primarily on religious grounds; the salvation of the Western Russian Orthodox Church from Polish persecution and from the union introduced by the Poles came to the fore. It was pointed out that King Jan Casimir, during his election, swore on the freedom of "different" Christian denominations and in advance allowed his subjects to be faithful and to himself from obedience, if he did not keep this oath and began to oppress someone for their faith; and since he did not keep his oath, the Orthodox people became free and can now enter into citizenship to another sovereign. The ranks of the Zemsky Sobor cast their votes in the usual manner. Their answers, of course, had already been formed in advance and were now clothed only in a solemn form. The opinion of the consecrated cathedral was already known. Subsequently, the boyars, in their response, rested mainly on the persecuted Orthodoxy, as well as on the fear that the Zaporizhzhya army, out of need, would not succumb to the Busurman sovereigns, the Turkish sultan or the Crimean Khan; therefore, they concluded, it is necessary to “take Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya army with cities and lands under the high state hand.” After the boyars, the court ranks, the nobles and children of the boyars, the streltsy heads, the guests, the merchant and black hundreds, and the hard-working people of the palace settlements repeated the same thing. The service people, as usual, expressed their readiness to fight the Lithuanian king for the sovereign honor, not sparing their heads, and the merchants pledged to repair “auxiliaries” (money) for the war and also “die their heads” for the Sovereign. Following the verdict of the cathedral, on the same day, the embassy of the boyar Vas was announced, obviously prepared in advance. You. Buturlin, stolnik Alferyev and Duma clerk Larion Lapukhin, who was supposed to go to Kyiv and Ukraine to swear allegiance to the hetman, the entire Zaporizhzhya army, the townspeople "and all kinds of tenant people."

Although negotiations on the unification of Ukraine with Great Russia were conducted mainly on a religious basis, and the Moscow government in particular brought to the fore the salvation of Orthodoxy in Little Russia, however, it is curious that the higher Little Russian clergy almost did not participate in these negotiations at all and - as we have already pointed out that it did not express any desire to exchange Polish citizenship for Moscow. The monks and priests, on the contrary, were clearly striving for such a change and even left in significant numbers for the Muscovite state.

The fact is that the metropolitan, bishops and abbots of the most important monasteries for the most part came from that Russian gentry, which, although it still retained Orthodoxy, had already undergone significant Polishization in its language, customs, beliefs and feelings, was very unsympathetic to the autocratic Moscow system and she looked down on the people of Moscow, considering them to be significantly lower in culture and almost barbarians. A good example of this, in addition to the well-known Adam Kisel, is the Orthodox Little Russian gentry Joachim Yerlich, who in his notes is hostile to the Khmelnitsky uprising and to any enemy of the Commonwealth. The Kyiv hierarchy at that time was of gentry origin and came out of the school of Peter Mohyla, who, as you know, was in family and friendly relations with the Polish aristocracy, and if he turned to Moscow, then only for the sake of helping schools and churches. His successor in the metropolia, Sylvester Kossov, a Belorussian gentry by birth, just as willingly used alms from Moscow and, at her request, sent Kyiv scientists; but he valued more the privileges associated with his chair, was pleased with the improved position of the higher Orthodox clergy during the time of Khmelnitsky, and did not express any desire to reunite the Little Russian flock with the Great Russian. He did not smile at all at the idea of ​​exchanging his nominal dependence on the Patriarch of Constantinople, i.e., almost complete independence, for actual submission to the stern Patriarch of Moscow. In addition, with the separation of Ukraine from Poland, the Orthodox flock was divided into two parts; for Belarus and Volhynia remained with the Poles; consequently, the Metropolitan of Kyiv could lose both power and income in this other part of his metropolis. Therefore, not only was he not offended by the refusal of the senators to accept him into their midst, contrary to the Zboriv Treaty, but even after that he continued to be an intermediary between Khmelnitsky and the Polish government and fussed about their reconciliation. The successor of Peter Mohyla in the Kiev-Pechersk archimandry, Joseph Trizna, and partly the Kievobrat Archimandrite Innokenty Gizel acted in the same spirit. The Moscow government, of course, paid attention. Their constant non-participation in the hetman's petition for citizenship and expressed their bewilderment; but Khmelnitsky assured them of their secret agreement with him, and the silence was justified by the fear of vengeance of the Poles if his petition was not crowned with success. When it was crowned, then the true attitude of the Little Russian hierarchs to the cause of reunification was revealed.

Regarding the Zemsky Sobor of 1651, see Latkina"Materials for the history of Zemsky Sobors of the 17th century". (Research of his Zemsky Sobors of Ancient Russia. 231 and next, with references to the Archive of the Ministry of Justice, St. Petersburg, 1885). Child about Zemsky Sobors ("Rus. Thought", 1883. No. 12). In the Acts of Moscow. State. (II. No. 459 under 1651) there is news about the choice in Krapivna of nobles and boyar children to the great zemstvo and Lithuanian affairs. It is clear that we are talking about the Zemsky Sobor of 1651. The nobles chose two people. And instead of two townsman governors, he himself appointed the son of a boyar, and a gunner; for which he was reprimanded. Polish untruths are also mentioned in the order to envoys to Emperor Ferdinand III. ("Monuments of diplomatic relations" III. 95 - 97). The Acts of the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 were published in S. G. G. and D. III. No. 157. II. P. 3. I. No. 104. Acts of the South. and Zap. Ros. X. No. 2. The general content of this act in the Palace Rank. III. 369 - 372. A more complete copy of it, extracted by Mr. Latkin from Mosk. Arch. M. In. Cases, published by him in the appendices to his memorable research, 434 et seq. Different opinions about this cathedral: Solovyov "History of Russia". T. X. "Rus. Vest." 1857. April. K. Aksakov "Works". I. 207. Child mentioned work. Platonov "Notes on the history of Zemsky Sobors". J. M. H. Pr. 1883. No. 3. G. Latkin rightly proves that the meeting of October 1 was only the final, solemn one at the Council of 1653, that its meetings began on June 5, and elections for it were made in May. Confirmation is given from the Palace. Res. (III. 372) the news that on the same day, October 1, the boyar Buturlin and his comrades were informed of the embassy to Ukraine to take the oath. Consequently, it was prepared in advance in accordance with the already held conciliar verdict. On the basis of the hitherto incorrect notion of a one-day meeting of the council, as Latkin points out, there was an incorrect polemic between Solovyov and Aksakov about his significance among the zemstvo councils in general. (239–241). Tsar Alexei, on April 24, 1654, releasing Prince. Al. Nick. Trubetskoy and other governors on the campaign, he said to military people: "Last year there were cathedrals more than once, at which there were elected nobles from all cities, two people each; at these cathedrals we spoke about the lies of the Polish kings." (Soloviev. X. p. 359 of the first edition. From the Polish Affairs of Moscow. Arch. M. In. D.). Obviously, various meetings of the Council of 1653 are understood here. Acts of Moscow. State. II. Nos. 527, 530, 535, 538. (News from Putivl and Chernigov about Khmelnytsky and Vyhovsky, they and the colonels threatened to become Turkish citizenship if the tsar refuses to accept the Zaporizhzhya army. Art. Matveev’s embassy to Bogdan. Review of Ukrainian boyar children for preparation them for the trip, etc.).

This day in history:

On October 1, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor met in Moscow, whose task was to consider the issue of reuniting the lands of the previously unified ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus. And although at that time the satisfaction of the request of the Cossacks considered by the Council, speaking on behalf of everything that was exhausted from the Polish oppression of the people of South-Western Russia (still then called Little Russia), to receive "under the high hand of the Moscow sovereign" meant a war with Poland, the opinion of the Council on the formation of a single state was unanimous.

The reunification of Little Russia with Moscow Rus corresponded to the vital interests and aspirations of the forcibly divided population of the ancient Russian state and was conditioned by the entire previous course of history.

The ancestors of both Little Russians and Great Russians were East Slavic tribes, who from ancient times inhabited the territory from the Carpathians to the Volga and from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Eastern Slavs moved from a primitive communal system to a feudal one, having a common territory, religion, culture, a single language and way of life. In the VI-VIII centuries. AD they formed the largest single ancient Russian nationality in Europe.

The interests of socio-economic, political and cultural development, as well as the need for defense against external enemies, led to the creation of one of the largest and most powerful states in Europe - Kievan Rus. However, due to the laws of development of feudal society, the ancient Russian state was divided into a number of separate principalities. In the XIII century. the Mongol-Tatar invasion from the east, German and Swedish aggression from the west, hostile relations with the Poles and Hungarians put Russia in extremely difficult conditions. She was able to repel German and Swedish attacks, but could not resist the Mongol-Tatar hordes.

After the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the ancient Russian state turned out to be significantly weakened, which was not slow to take advantage of the neighbors. Already in the XIV century. Western Russia (now Belarus), Volyn, Eastern Podolia, Kiev region, Chernihiv-Severshchina, as well as Smolensk lands were captured by the Lithuanians. The Poles at the same time captured the southwestern Russian lands - Galicia and Western Volhynia (and in the 15th century, Western Podolia). Bukovina was included in the Moldavian Principality, and Transcarpathian Rus back in the 11th century. fell into the hands of the Hungarians. In the 15th century, Turkey seized Moldova and the southern Russian lands on the northern coast of the Black and Azov Seas - Novorossia (now part of Ukraine) and placed the Crimean Khanate, which by that time had separated from the Golden Horde, into vassal dependence. In the 16th century, already at the Principality of Lithuania, Poland essentially wrested Eastern Volyn, Bratslav and Kiev regions with part of the left bank of the Dnieper. As a result of all these seizures, Kievan Rus was torn apart into territories that fell under the rule of various countries.

However, even in these difficult conditions, the ancient Russian people did not succumb to assimilation: the previously achieved high level of economic and cultural development, its internal strength, affected. Ethnic, economic, cultural and political ties were preserved and continued to develop. The ideas of unity and independence, as evidenced, in particular, by the Kievan and Galician-Volhynian chronicles*, were firmly rooted in the consciousness of the entire Russian people as early as the period of feudal fragmentation of Kievan Rus. Therefore, having strengthened itself internally, the people waged a liberation struggle against the enslavers, striving to restore their unity.

This desire for unity manifested itself, first of all, in the form of the resettlement of the inhabitants of Little Russia to the Muscovite state. Starting from the end of the 13th century, all classes moved: from peasants to boyars and princes. Moreover, the latter, as a rule, moved with their lands and peasants.

A wave of popular uprisings swept across the territory of the occupied lands. At the end of the 14th century, the Kiev region rebelled against foreign domination. At the beginning of the 15th century, uprisings engulfed Galicia, Volhynia, Podolia, and again the Kiev region. The struggle of the Little Russians against the enslavers reached a special strength in the second half of the 15th century.

At this time, the apotheosis of Russian resistance was the deliverance from the hated Mongol-Tatar yoke of North-Eastern Russia, united in the Muscovite state. In the future, it was it that played a decisive role in the liberation and unification of all the occupied Russian territories. As it rose, Moscow became more and more the center of attraction for the Russian people, who found themselves under the yoke of foreign enslavers.

The tsarist government after the great "standing on the Ugra" almost immediately took an active position in the issue of the return of the seized lands. In 1492, Grand Duke Ivan III demanded from the Grand Duke of Lithuania: "... and you would have given up our cities and volosts, lands and waters that you hold behind you." **. He declared to the Poles that "United Great Russia will not lay down its arms until it returns all the other parts of the Russian land, torn off by its neighbors, until it has gathered all the people" ***. All Russian lands, based on the ethnicity of the population and their historical past, were called "fatherland". “Our fatherland is not the only one, which cities and volosts are now behind us: and the whole Russian land, Kyiv and Smolensk and other cities ... from antiquity ... our fatherland ....” ****, - Russian diplomats explained.

Ivan the Terrible also demanded the return of Russian lands. So, in 1563, he presented King Sigismund II Augustus with a list in which a number of Russian lands and cities captured by the Poles were named. Among them were Przemysl, Lvov, Galich and others. Justifying the rights of Russia to them, Russian diplomats declared: “... and those cities were originally Russian sovereigns ... and that patrimony came for your sovereign ... some hardships after Batu’s captivity, as the godless Batu captured many Russian cities, and after that from our sovereigns ... those cities have departed” *****. Since the invaders did not even think of returning the seized territories, the Russian people more than once had to wage liberation wars for their liberation.

The Little Russians, for their part, also fought for unification with Muscovite Rus. In the XVI century. on the territory of Southwestern Russia, they launched a broad people's liberation movement. A prominent place in it was occupied by the Cossacks, who appeared in Zaporozhye (as earlier on the Don and in other places on the southern borders of what was then Russia), who were destined to play an important role in the future of the historical fate of Little Russia, in its struggle for liberation from the yoke of the Polish-Lithuanian invaders and reunification with Russia.

In order to suppress the liberation struggle and strengthen their dominance, the Polish and Lithuanian pans in 1569 united Poland and Lithuania into the Commonwealth (Union of Lublin). In Southwestern Russia, the Poles seized vast possessions, numbering in some cases up to hundreds of settlements. The Polish gentry strengthened the feudal-serf, religious and national-colonial oppression. Serfdom in Poland in the 16th century reached the highest level in Europe. “The gentry even arrogated to themselves the right of life and death over their peasants: to kill a serf for a gentry was like killing a dog” ******. The situation of local townspeople in Little Russia also deteriorated significantly. They were limited in everything, even in the right to reside: in Lvov, for example, they were allowed to settle only on one street (“Russkaya Street”). The Poles waged a tough fight against Orthodoxy. In 1596, a union was formalized in Brest, proclaiming the subordination of the Orthodox Church to the Catholic Church, the recognition of the Pope of Rome as the head of the Uniates and the adoption of the main dogma of Catholicism. The Orthodox clergy were subjected to repression.

The planting of Catholicism, Polonization, national discrimination - everything was aimed at the Vatican-inspired denationalization of the Little Russians, the weakening of their ties with the Muscovite state, and the strengthening of the dominant position of the Poles and Lithuanians. The population was required to have knowledge of the Polish language as the only state language of the Commonwealth. It was forbidden to use the national language in business correspondence, schools teaching in Russian were closed. Such a policy of the ruling circles of the Commonwealth put the bulk of the local peasantry and philistinism in an exceptionally difficult and disenfranchised position.

The strengthening of Polish oppression after the Unions of Lublin and Brest caused a new upsurge in the liberation movement of the Little Russians. The main forces of this movement were the peasantry and the Cossacks. In the early 90s of the 16th century, protests against Polish dominance became widespread.

At the end of the 16th century, the resettlement of the Little Russians, primarily the Cossacks, to the borders of Muscovite Russia intensified. The Cossacks settled, as a rule, on its southern borders, protecting them. At the same time, they not only moved to the lands of the Russian state, but sometimes passed into the citizenship of the king along with the territories cleared by them from the Polish pans. In this regard, the example of such a transition of the Cossack army led by Kr. Kosinsky is widely known, in correspondence with whom in 1593 the Russian tsar already calls himself, among other things, the sovereign of “Zaporozhye, Cherkasy and Nizovsky”.

The Polish lords responded to the liberation struggle of the people by strengthening the national-colonial oppression. "To exterminate Russia in Russia" - this is how the goals and policy of the Commonwealth regarding South-Western Russia were defined in one of the appeals to the Sejm in 1623. The uprisings were suppressed with particular cruelty. The Poles continued to use force and coercion as the main means of maintaining their rule. Separate attempts to somehow soften such a policy did not lead to anything. For example, the so-called "Articles for the Calm of the Russian People" by King Vladislav IV (1633) did not in fact grant any rights and freedoms to the oppressed.

Resistance to the Polish lords, the fight against common enemies - the Turks and the Crimean Tatars contributed to the expansion and strengthening of the military-political ties of the Little Russians and the Great Russians, especially the Cossacks of the Zaporizhzhya Sich and the Don. Russian-Little Russian economic ties have also undergone significant development. After 1612, there was an increase in the liberation struggle and an intensification of the desire of the population of the lands of Southwestern Russia occupied by the Poles to reunite with Eastern Russia, with Moscow.

In the 17th century, representatives of Little Russia repeatedly turned to the Russian sovereigns with requests to accept the Little Russians "under their high hand." Such plans often arose among the Cossacks ******, especially since the Cossacks have been actively entering the service of Moscow since the time of Ivan the Terrible. This service to the Russian tsar with the entire Zaporizhzhya army ******** was sought even by such hetmans as Sagaydachny, a gentry by birth, who got along well with Warsaw (1620).

However, not only the Cossacks wanted to unite with Moscow Rus. Representatives of the Orthodox clergy, Archbishop Isaiah Kopinsky (later Lithuanian Metropolitan) in 1622 and Metropolitan Job Boretsky in 1625, appealed to the Moscow Tsar for patronage and the reunification of Little Russia with Russia.

After the suppression of a number of uprisings in the 30s of the 17th century, the Polish lords further intensified feudal, national and religious oppression. Along with the peasants and philistines, the petty Ukrainian gentry and the Orthodox clergy were subjected to harassment.

General discontent and protest resulted in the Liberation War of the Ukrainian people against the Commonwealth of 1648-1654. Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky led the fight against the oppression of Pan Poland. At the initial stage of the war, he tried to win over to his side the Turkish sultan, the Crimean Khan, and the Swedish king. At first, B. Khmelnitsky was lucky. The rebels won a series of victories: at Zhovti Vody, near Korsun and near Pilyavtsy. However, later, due to the betrayal of the Crimean Khan, the hetman suffered a series of serious defeats: in 1649 near Zborov, in 1651 near Berestechko, and in 1652 in the vicinity of Zhvanets. The well-known historian S.M. Solovyov wrote that “the defeat near Berestechko clearly showed B. Khmelnitsky and the Cossacks that they cannot cope with Poland alone ..., and you can’t rely on the Khan either when it comes to fighting with a large army, not to rob…" *********.

For six years the Little Russians fought hard against the Poles. The war demanded huge sacrifices and enormous exertion of forces. The position of Little Russia was extremely difficult. Under these conditions, the hetman began to offer reunification to Moscow even more actively. They sent about 20 embassies to the king with such a request. B. Khmelnitsky even offered Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, with the support of the rebels, to take the then free Polish throne and thus unite Little Russia and Russia **********.

However, the Russian government, fearing a new war with Poland, took a low-key position. Muscovite Russia has not yet fully recovered from the Time of Troubles. In addition, such a war could push (and then pushed) Sweden to seize Primorye (which was then in the hands of the Poles), which would make it difficult for Moscow to return the Russian lands adjacent to the Baltic Sea.

At the same time, Russia could not remain completely aloof from the struggle of the Little Russians and provided assistance to the rebels with "bread and guns", as well as diplomatic methods. In 1653, the tsar demanded from Warsaw not to violate the rights of the Orthodox population in Little Russia and to stop persecuting the Orthodox Church. However, the embassy sent in this regard returned with nothing.

Taking into account the numerous requests of the representatives of Little Russia for its admission to Russia and the danger that threatened the Little Russians from the Poles, as well as the Turks and Tatars ***********. (who were increasingly asserting their claims to South-Western Russia), the tsarist government decided to convene the Zemsky Sobor in order to enlist the support of the entire people when deciding on the issue of reunification.

On October 1 (11), 1653, almost all segments of the population of the then Russian state gathered in Moscow: the clergy, boyars, representatives of Russian cities, merchants, peasantry and archers.

When considering the issue of “petition to the sovereign for the allegiance of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya Army,” the serious danger looming over Little Russia was emphasized: “in the year 161 (1652) at the Sejm in Brest-Litovsk, it was indeed sentenced that they, Orthodox Christians ... who live in Korun of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to beat ... "***************. The intentions of the Poles "to eradicate the Orthodox Christian faith and destroy the holy churches of God to the end..." ************** were also noted.

The cathedral was informed that the Turkish sultan called the Little Russians to his citizenship, but the hetman "refused him"; that the Cossacks called the Crimean Khan with a horde into their allies against the Poles "involuntarily"; that the Cossacks sent their embassies with a request to take them into citizenship and help in the war with Poland "many times".

Despite the fact that the report was discussed separately at the meetings of each class, the decision was unanimous. The Council “sentenced”: “so that the great sovereign, the tsar and the great prince Alexei Mikhailovich of all Russia, deigned that hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya Army with their cities and lands to accept under their sovereign high hand for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God ... "** ************* Here it was not only about the hetman's army, which a year ago it was proposed to settle on the lands of Muscovite Russia, but also about "cities" and "lands", i.e. The liberation of the Little Russians from the citizenship of the Commonwealth in legal terms was justified not only by their desire, but also by the failure of the king himself to fulfill the oath in terms of non-oppression of his subjects of the non-Catholic faith.

It was obvious that in connection with the reunification of the Russian lands, the war with the Poles could not be avoided. With this in mind, the Council decided: “there is a message of war against the Polish king” **************** On October 23 (November 2), 1653, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, the tsar, referring to this decision, announced about the beginning of the war with Poland.

The resolutions of the Council were announced to the Russian people and met with unanimous support.

The Hetman's embassy, ​​headed by L.Kapusta, was also present at the Council, which immediately after its completion left for B.Khmelnitsky and informed him of the decisions taken. To complete the process of reunification, a special tsarist embassy was also sent to the hetman, headed by the close boyar V.V. Buturlin. Having received Moscow's consent to the unification, B. Khmelnitsky on January 8, 1654 in the city of Pereyaslavl convened a national assembly - the Rada, which, according to Cossack traditions, alone was competent to resolve the most important political issues. The Rada was "explicit", that is, open to all the people. It represented both all Little Russian lands and all estates (Cossacks, clergy, philistines, merchants, peasants). Thus, the question of reunification with Russia and in Little Russia was decided with the widest possible representation. After the polls, the people unanimously “cryed out: We will free under the Tsar of the East, the Orthodox ... God confirm, God strengthen, so that we will be united forever!” *****************.

After the Rada, first the inhabitants of Pereyaslavl, and then the Cossack regiments (military administrative units of Little Russia) and the population of the cities of Little Russia swore allegiance to the Russian sovereign.

The March Articles of 1654 formalized the position of Little Russia within Russia, and also defined the rights and privileges of the Cossacks, the Ukrainian gentry and the clergy.

The decisions of the Zemsky Sobor and the Pereyaslav Rada clearly demonstrated the will of a single people divided back in the years of the Mongol-Tatar invasion to live in a single state. Then, in accordance with the clearly expressed desire of all segments of the population of Little and Great Russia, their reunification began in a single state.

There were still centuries of struggle ahead for the return of all the lands seized from Kievan Rus. Only after the bloody wars with the Polish lords in 1667, according to the Andrusovo truce, Left-bank Little Russia went to the Moscow state, and in 1686, according to the "Eternal Peace", Kyiv and its environs were returned. The northern Black Sea region or Novorossiya were conquered from Turkey in the wars of 1768-1774. and 1787-1791. Right-bank Little Russia became part of Russia as a result of the partitions of Poland in 1793 and 1795. Galicia and Northern Bukovina were returned in 1939-1940, and Transcarpathian Rus in 1945. The Russian Crimea, conquered from the Turks in 1783, was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. The modern independent state of Ukraine appeared on the political map of the world in 1991.

___________________________________________________________

* Great Soviet Encyclopedia, third edition, M., "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1977, V.26, p.539.

** Collection of the Russian Historical Society, St. Petersburg, 1882, volume XXXV, pp. 61-66.

*** V. O. Klyuchevsky, Course of Russian History. Works in 9 volumes, M. Thought, 1988, Vol. III, p. 85.

**** Collection of the Russian Historical Society, St. Petersburg, 1882, volume XXXV, pp. 457-460.

***** Ibid., pp. 265-270

****** V.O.Klyuchevsky, Vol.III, p.97.

******* Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RGADA), f. 210, Discharge order, Moscow table, stb. 79, ll. 370-372.

******** Reunification of Ukraine with Russia. Documents and materials in three volumes, M., publishing house of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1953. Vol. 1, No. 1.

********* S.M. Soloviev. Works in 18 volumes. History of Russia since ancient times. M., Thought, 1990, T.T. 9-10, pp. 559.

********** Reunification of Ukraine with Russia Vol. II, pp. 32-33.

*********** V.O. Klyuchevsky, T III, p. 111.

*************** Reunification of the Ukraine with Russia, T III, p. 411.

**************** Ibid.

*************** Ibid., p. 413.

**************** Ibid.

***************** Ibid., p. 461.

Historical Documentary Department

On January 8, 1654, the Pereyaslav Rada decided to reunite the Ukrainian people with the Russian people in a single Russian state. This event was preceded, as is known, by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor in 1653 on the acceptance of Ukraine into Russian citizenship and on the war with Poland.

Despite the great historical significance of this Cathedral, so far it has not attracted the attention of researchers. Therefore, it is necessary to at least briefly highlight its activities.

From the beginning of the liberation war in 1648, the Russian government provided extensive economic and financial assistance to the struggling Ukraine. Gradually expanded diplomatic support for Ukraine from Russia, as well as assistance in people, weapons, ammunition. At the beginning of 1649, the Russian government recognized Hetman Khmelnytsky and since that time regularly exchanged ambassadors with him. At the same time, the government informed the hetman of its readiness to accept Ukraine into Russian citizenship, but considered it necessary for the time being to avoid a war with Poland.

In its diplomatic speeches in Poland, the Russian government made no secret of the fact that, depending on the outcome of the negotiations, the eye would bring the issue of Ukraine to the consideration of the Zemsky Sobor. So, the Russian ambassadors G. and S. Pushkin and G. Leontiev, having arrived in Warsaw in 1650, quite decisively raised the question of “untruths” before the royal government, threatening to break off relations. At the same time, the Russian ambassadors warned the Polish government that if the pans "didn't improve," the tsar would "order a Council to be held in Moscow" and "deduct the king's wrongs" and discuss violations by the other side of the "peaceful end" 1 . The lords "didn't improve"; in December 1650, the Seimas passed a decision to resume the war in Ukraine.

In late 1650 - early 1651, the hetman's embassy headed by M. Sulichich arrived in Moscow. The Russian government put before him the question of how to carry out the transition of Ukraine into citizenship and how to organize the administration of Ukraine in the future 2 . Shortly thereafter, the Russian government for the first time considered it necessary to bring the Ukrainian question to the Zemsky Sobor. This was done by the Councils in 1651 and 1653.

At the end of January 1651, after negotiations with the embassy of M. Sulichich, the government decided to hastily convene the Zemsky Sobor. Its convocation was scheduled for February 19, 1651. In the "draft of conscription" of the government of January 31, 1651, it was ordered to choose two people from the nobles, "and two people from the townspeople at the same time", sending the elected "by the specified date" 3 .

However, at first only the consecrated Council was convened. He started

1 S. M. Solovyov. Russian history. Book. 2. T. VI - X. St. Petersburg, b. city, page 1596

2 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Documents and materials in three volumes. T. II. M. 1953, pp. 490 - 492.

3 B. Latkin. Materials for the history of Zemsky Sobors of the 17th century St. Petersburg. 1884, p. 91.

his work in Moscow on February 19, 1651. The government reported to the clergy about the state of affairs in Ukraine, about Russia's relations with Poland, and also about the threat to Russia from the Crimea, Poland and Sweden 4 .

On February 27, 1651, the clergy, headed by Patriarch Joseph, presented their opinion ("advice") to the government. Its meaning was as follows: if the Polish government "does not give justice and justice to the guilty under the agreement and will not give eternal completion", then the church "may give permission" from the kissing of the cross under the agreement; in this case, "hetman from Cherkasy can be accepted with approval." However, it was recommended that even if the Polish king was "right", then the government would act according to the circumstances, as "God will inform" 5 .

Having received a response from the clergy, the government convened in full force the secular part of the Zemsky Sobor. Here, in addition to the tsar, the clergy, boyars and duma people, stewards, solicitors, Moscow nobles, nobles and boyar children, elected from the cities, living room, cloth and black hundreds and settlements and city elected trade people were represented. In the "postscript" to the government's report to the consecrated Council it is said that the meeting of the secular part of the Council took place in the "dining hut" in the Kremlin on February 28 and to those gathered "according to this letter it was announced" 6 . However, in the available documents there is no information either about the decision of the secular part of the Council, or about the decision of the Council in its entire composition.

Until now, historians believed that this was the result of poor preservation of the sources. Now, we think, this idea should be reconsidered. The Russian government, through its ambassadors, warned Poland that it would raise the question of the "falsehood" of the Polish government at the Council. But in February 1651, only the opinion of the spiritual part of the Cathedral was requested. The secular part of the Council was only made aware of these "untruths". However, she apparently did not make decisions on this issue, since Russia was not at that moment sufficiently prepared for a war with Poland. Such a final decision was made by the secular part of the Zemsky Sobor only in 1653. It is no coincidence that the decision of the Council of 1653, especially its first half, largely repeats the text of the materials of the Council of 1651. It can be assumed that the discussion of the issue of Ukraine at the Zemsky Sobor in 1651 was important for the Russian government in order to prepare public opinion for a war with Poland for Ukraine. This was the significance of the Council of 1651.

After this Council, the Russian government took the path of realizing the reunification of Ukraine with Russia more and more firmly. In this regard, a special conference on the question of Ukraine, convened at the beginning of 1653, little covered in our historical literature, was of great importance. At one time, S. M. Solovyov mentioned this fact, but did not attach much importance to it. Materials about this meeting, unfortunately, were not included in the three-volume "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia."

The meeting began on February 22, 1653 in Moscow. It was attended by the king and the boyars. It ended on March 14, 1653. At this meeting, it was decided to send a great embassy to Poland, convene a Zemsky Sobor in Moscow and begin preparations for war with Poland. At the same time, it was planned to strengthen ties with the hetman Khmelnitsky and inform him of the consent of the Russian government to accept the Zaporizhzhya Host as his citizenship and, finally, send an embassy to the hetman "to take over" Ukraine. All these activities have been implemented.

4 See "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". T. III. page 11.

5 Ibid., pp. 11-12.

6 See ibid., p. 11.

On March 19, 1653, a decree was sent "to all cities" "to be service people" in Moscow "by the 20th of May, with all the service, and for that period their sovereign deigns to look at Moscow, at the horses" 7 .

On April 24 of the same year, it was decided to send an embassy to Poland, headed by Prince B. A. Repnin-Obolensky and B. M. Khitrovo. At the same time, preparations began for the convening of the Zemsky Sobor. There is no reason to believe that the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 was convened only on October 1 and lasted only one day, as S. M. Solovyov, for example, claims 8 . As early as May 2, 1653, that is, shortly after the state meeting in February - March, the government sent out a "draft letter" with a call to Moscow for elected people from the nobility. In the "Palace ranks" for 1653, the following entry speaks of this: "On the second day of May, sovereign letters were sent to Zamoskovye and to all Ukrainian cities to governors and to order people. It was ordered in all cities to send two people from each city from the choice gentlemen of good and reasonable people, and send them to Moscow for a specified period, on the 20th of May" 9 .

By the deadline, the majority of the elect came to Moscow 10 . On the appointed day, May 20, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor began its work. This is directly indicated by the June letter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich discovered by us to the ambassadors in Poland B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo. “Yes, you know,” this letter said, “there was a Council on the seventh week on Wednesday Maya on the 20th day ...” The same charter indicates that one question was submitted to the Council - about Ukraine. The discussion dragged on; "For a long time the conversation was repaired," the letter said. "And all the ranks of the people were interrogated whether to accept Cherkasy" 11 .

By May 25, the unanimous opinion of the Council became clear. "And all sorts of ranks and market people all unanimously spoke about that, in order to accept the Cherkasy." The tsar approved this opinion, which made those present at the Council "overjoyed" 12 .

The fact that on May 25 the opinion of the Council was determined is also confirmed by the surviving draft of the decision of this Council (or the report at it) 13 . Subsequently, this draft formed the basis of the final verdict of the Council, issued on October 1, 1653. As you know, this verdict began with a reference to the May discussion of the issue: “In the past, in the year 161 May 25, by decree of the great sovereign ... it was said at the councils about the Lithuanian and Cherkasy affairs. the great sovereign ... indicated that a council should be held about the same Lithuanian and Cherkasy affairs ... " 14 . The expression "spoken at the councils" confirms the fact that the issue was discussed at a number of meetings of the Council, as evidenced by the June tsarist letter cited above. On October 1, the Council met in its former composition, only to formalize its final decision, prepared on May 25. This connection is indicated by the beginning of the sentence on October 1, 1653. On October 1, 1653, the Council met with the members elected in May, since there were no new elections during the period from June to September 1653.

The Zemsky Sobor of 1653 certainly belongs to the so-called "full" Sobors. It included more than one rank, estate. In the record of the "Palace Ranks" the composition of the Cathedral is defined as follows: the tsar, the consecrated Cathedral, the boyars, the devious, thoughtful people, "with the stolniks and with

7 It was about the general review of the Russian army, which took place on the Maiden's field from June 13 to 28, 1653. "Palace ranks". T. III. SPB. 1852, pp. 343, 356.

8 S. M. Solovyov. Decree. cit., p. 1631.

9 "Palace ranks". Vol. III, p. 350.

10 Central State Archive of Ancient Acts (TSGADA), Discharge. Belgorod table, p. 351, ll. 346 - 351.

11 Ibid., State Archive, Category XXVII, N 79, 1653, fol. one

14 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Vol. III, p. 406.

solicitors, and from the nobles of Moscow, and from the tenants, and with the elected townspeople ..., and from the stewards, and from the solicitors, and from the nobles, and from the tenants, and from the townspeople were elected people "15.

From the very beginning, this Council included a significant part of the elect "from Zamoskovye and Ukrainian cities" - from nobles, children of boyars and merchants 16 . It also included the consecrated Cathedral - the patriarch, two metropolitans, a bishop, abbots, as well as the Boyars, the Duma in full force and the king. It should be noted that Metropolitan Mikhail of Serbia also participated in the work of the Council and was specially mentioned in the verdict. In the draft decision of the Council of May 25, stewards, solicitors and nobles of Moscow and clerks, who were present, obviously at the call of the government, were also named from among its non-elected participants. The verdict of the Zemsky Sobor on October 1 refers to a more expanded composition of its participants. In addition to those who previously participated in the work of the Council, in addition to the Moscow nobles, tenants are also named in the cathedral act, then guests and living rooms and cloth hundreds and black hundreds, and palace settlements and all kinds of ranks, people, and archers. In the final part of the verdict on October 1, in addition, more streltsy heads were named and it was clarified that taxable people 17 participated from the Black Hundreds and the palace settlements.

Thus, the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 began its work in May in a limited composition, in which the proportion of elected from the provincial nobility (2 people each from the county) and merchant people was relatively high. When the verdict was passed, the composition of the Cathedral was significantly expanded by the Moscow prikaz administration, streltsy heads, as well as hard-working merchants from the Moscow Black Hundreds, palace settlements and archers. Since in the presentation of the opinions of these ranks, the verdict speaks only of service and merchant "all kinds of ranks" people, it can be concluded that only merchants, that is, actually townspeople, were attracted from the black hundreds and palace settlements, although legally they could be peasants. It was important for the government to know the opinion of merchants of all ranks, since the financing of the upcoming war was connected with this.

The Zemsky Sobor of 1653 opened on May 20, met with long breaks, and finished its work only on October 1. On May 25, when the unanimous consent of the members of the Council to the annexation of Ukraine was determined and a draft of his sentence had already been drawn up, the work of the Council was interrupted. This break can be established not only by the above quotation from the judgment of October 1st. In the list of cities we found in the archives, from which "the nobles were sent to Moscow by the sovereign's decree and were at the cathedral" in 1653, those cities are also named, from where "the nobles came after the cathedral." Those who arrived after May 25 18 are included in the list of absentees.

The government was going to resume the activities of the Cathedral from June 5. This is evidenced by letters sent from the Razryad to Kursk, Putivl, Sevsk and Voronezh. Thus, in a letter received in Kursk on May 30, it was ordered that the electors who did not appear should be sent "to Moscow in the Razryad for the period of June by the 5th" 19 .

How to explain the break in the sessions of the Council? This is directly answered by the royal charter sent in June to Poland to B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo. Having announced the consent of the Zemsky Sobor to "accept the Cherkasy", the government announced the break of the meetings of the Council until the return of the ambassadors from Poland: "and we postponed this until you..." 20 .

15 "Palace ranks". Vol. III, p. 369.

16 TsGADA, Discharge, Sevsky table, pp. 145, 148. Belgorod table, pp. 351, 362, 366; Polish Affairs, 1653, NNs 6 and 8.

17 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Vol. III, pp. 407, 414.

18 TsGADA, Discharge, Belgorod table, p. 351, l. 352a.

19 Ibid., Sevsky Table, p. 148, ll. 152, 154, 179.

20 Ibid., State Archive, Category XXVII, N 79, fol. one.

It is known that the embassy, ​​which left for Poland on April 30, completed negotiations only on August 7 and returned to Moscow only in September 21. That is why the Cathedral did not resume its work on June 5, since the government intended in its decision to take into account the results of the embassy of Prince B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo.

The government was well aware of the mood of all the ranks of the Zemsky Sobor. In this regard, the departure of the embassies of A. Matveev and I. Fomin to Ukraine in early June becomes understandable. A. Matveev later stated that he was "sent to Hetman Khmelnitsky to call for citizenship" 22 .

Already on June 22, the government informed the hetman by royal letter of consent to accept Ukraine as a subject. This letter was also sent after the preliminary opinion of the Zemsky Sobor was revealed. Shortly before this, information about the growth of aggressive aspirations on the part of Turkey accelerated this step of the government. The royal charter of June 22, 1653 informed the hetman of his readiness to accept Ukraine and that "our military people ... are recruiting a builder and a builder for the militia"; the government offered to exchange ambassadors 23 .

Meanwhile, there was still no news from the embassy of Prince B. A. Repnin from Poland. Then it was decided to send ambassadors R. Streshnev and M. Bredikhin to the hetman. They had to inform the hetman that the government was waiting for the return of the embassy of B. A. Repnin to make a final decision. At the same time, it was instructed to clarify with the hetman the issues of future joint military operations, to find out about the forces of the enemies, etc.

Streshnev and Bredikhin left Moscow on September 13, and in the middle of that month news was received that the embassy was returning from Poland. Therefore, on September 20, a royal letter was sent to M. Bredikhin and R. Streshnev, in which the government suggested that the ambassadors notify the hetman that the royal decree would be sent "soon" through the personal representative of the hetman L. Kapusta, who arrived at that time in Moscow. At the same time, the ambassadors were ordered to inform the hetman about the acceptance of Ukraine into citizenship if the battle with the royal army had already taken place, and, conversely, that the hetman waited for the decree if there had not yet been a battle 24 .

This directive of the Russian government by no means gives grounds to see the existence of any fluctuations in its policy. If the war in the Ukraine was resumed and the battle had already taken place, then this also predetermined Russia's entry into the war even before the final decision of the Council. If there was no battle, then the responsible decision, which should have entailed Russia's entry into the war with Poland, should have been made with the participation of the Zemsky Sobor. The decision of the Council was necessary, since the impending war would inevitably require large human and material sacrifices on the part of Russia.

Such was the meaning of the instructions sent by the government to Streshnev and Bredikhin. Klyuchevsky was mistaken in considering this directive "a cruel mockery."

On September 25, 1653, the Russian ambassadors finally returned from Poland and were immediately received by the tsar, who was at that time in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. In September, but a little earlier, the hetman's embassy arrived in Moscow, headed by Bogdan Khmelnitsky's personal confidant, Colonel Lavrin Kapusta, Chigirinsky. L. Kapusta asked the government to immediately send to Ukraine - to Kyiv and other cities

21 In the article list of the embassy there is a mention of the royal charter received on July 5 (TsGADA, Polskie delo, 1653, N 84, fol. 552).

22 "The story of the innocent imprisonment ... of the boyar Artemon Sergeevich Matveev." SPB. 1776, p. 43.

23 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Vol. III, p. 323.

24 See ibid., p. 406.

yes - under the governors of "military people, although with 3000 people." He said that the horde was already under the Bila Tserkva, that ambassadors had arrived from the Turkish Sultan to the hetman, insistently "calling for his allegiance," but that the hetman "he (the sultan. - A. K.) he refused, but he hopes for the sovereign's mercy" 25 .

The situation in Ukraine was indeed very serious. The reply of the Polish government, delivered by B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo, spoke of Poland's intention to resume the war in Ukraine, which had already actually begun; the hetman set out with an army on a campaign. There was a final decision to be made. The Zemsky Sobor was sufficiently prepared for this during its work from May 20.

On October 1, the last, final meeting of the Zemsky Sobor took place, at which the conciliar act was approved. The meeting took place in the Kremlin, in the Palace of Facets. It is indicative that in the entry of "Palace Ranks" it is noted that at the Council, in fact, only the question of Ukraine was discussed; relations with Poland are not even mentioned. At the final meeting, the tsar appeared with a procession from St. Basil's Church. This emphasized the solemn nature of the meeting. At the Council in full force, the "letter" of the government, that is, the report, was "read aloud". Basically, the first part of the report, devoted to the analysis of relations between Russia and Poland after the Polyanovsky Peace, repeated the report to the Council of 1651 and the draft edition of May 25, 1653. Then the results of the embassy of B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo to Poland were reported.

The embassy demanded that the Polish government stop all "untruths", punish those responsible and invited the king to make peace with Ukraine. The pans refused to comply with this and, in turn, demanded the complete surrender of Khmelnytsky. With the departure of the embassy, ​​Poland resumed the war in Ukraine.

In the report to the Sobor, the Russian government specifically emphasized that the king had taken an oath not to oppress Orthodox subjects, and in the event of its violation, the subjects were released from the oath to the king.

Further, the report stated that the hetman's embassy headed by L. Kapusta had arrived in Moscow, that the war had resumed in Ukraine and was developing favorably for the Ukrainian people's army, but the pans were not inferior and intended to fight with Russia in the future. It was also reported about the request of the hetman to send at least 3,000 soldiers to Ukraine.

To make a decision, all the officials who participated in the Council were interrogated carefully and separately. The answer was given primarily by the boyars and the Duma people, that is, the secular non-elected part of the Cathedral. They spoke in favor of a war with Poland and for the admission of Ukraine. The question of the release of the population of Ukraine from the oath to the Polish king was considered very important, because it affected the principles of monarchism. According to the Duma officials, in connection with the violation of the oath by the Polish king, the Ukrainian people were thereby freed from their oath to the king, and, consequently, the tsarist government accepted "free people", and not rebels. "And for this reason they were sentenced for everything: Hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky and the entire Zaporizhia Host with cities and lands to accept" 27 .

After that, the opinion of the elected people was requested. They were interviewed by class groups. All of them spoke in favor of declaring war on Poland, "for the honor" of the tsar "to stand and wage war against the Lithuanian king." A special conciliar act informs about the unanimous decision of the elected representatives of the two main classes - service people and townspeople. The servants promised that they would "fight without sparing their heads.

25 Ibid. page 412.

26 "Palace ranks". T. III. pp. 369 - 372.

27 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Vol. III, p. 414.

and for the sake of dying for their state honor. "Posadsky, merchant "of all ranks" "people of help and for their state honor with their own heads for the sake of dying." These assurances of servicemen and townspeople, of course, were especially important for the government. In general, the elective part Sobor resolutely recommended to the government to accept Ukraine as a subject of Russia: "And Hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky... would be granted by the great sovereign... according to their petition, he ordered them to be accepted under his sovereign high hand" 28 .

As we see, in the council act of October 1, 1653 there is no mention of the opinion of the clergy, the consecrated Council, and this is not accidental, since this opinion was already expressed on February 27, 1651 at the first Zemsky Sobor dedicated to the issue of Ukraine.

How did the verdict of the Council on October 1 differ from the draft decision (or government report) on May 25? In general, the verdict sounds more decisive, referring to the rationale for the break with Poland and the acceptance of Ukraine into citizenship, while this intention was not formulated in the draft. It recalled the obligation of the parties not to claim other people's lands, "and not to fight and not to hook on both sides of the lands, but to put aside all past and new affairs and pacify and forward ... no hostility to take revenge" 29 .

The judgment does not mention this. On the other hand, it strengthens the accusatory part against the Polish government with reference to the results of the embassy of B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo. For example, it is reported about the king's relations with the khan, about the passage of the Crimean ambassadors to Sweden "for quarrels and war." The verdict also strengthens the concept of the liberation war of the Ukrainian people, gives an explanation of the reasons for the alliance of Bohdan Khmelnitsky with the khan and the hetman's appeals to Russia.

In the verdict, the Polish king Jan Casimir is accused of violating his oath of religious tolerance, and thereby justifies the right of Ukrainians to consider themselves free from the oath to the Polish king. Finally, and most importantly, there is a final part in the verdict with a decision on the war against Poland and the adoption of Ukraine into Russian citizenship.

Thus, comparing these two documents related to the beginning and end of the work of the Zemsky Sobor, we can trace a certain evolution in the views of the Russian government, its readiness to finally make a firm decision on this issue by October 1, 1653.

In accordance with the position of individual ranks in the Russian feudal-absolutist state of the middle of the XVII century. the participation in the Zemsky Sobor of all these ranks was also of a different nature. While the boyars and the Duma people "were condemned for everything" and their sentence was entirely inscribed in the decision of the Council, the rest of the ranks were only interrogated "separately". The servants could only answer whether they were ready to “fight without sparing their heads” on this decision with the king. The trading people had to answer whether they would provide the war with "assistance", whether they would fight.

By the end of the final session, the Council was informed of the government's intention to send an embassy to Ukraine, headed by V. Buturlin, in order to "bring to faith" its inhabitants. "And this date (October 1. - A. K.) boyar Vasily Vasilyevich Buturlin and his comrades in the Faceted Room said "30, - recorded in" Palace ranks ".

On October 4, the hetman's embassy, ​​headed by Lavrin Kapusta, left for Ukraine, and behind them on October 9 "to seize" Ukraine, the embassy of V. Buturlin also left Moscow.

29 TsGADA, Polish affairs, 1653, N 6, l. 3.

30 "Palace ranks". Vol. III, p. 372.

The decision of the Zemsky Sobor in 1653 under the conditions of the feudal-absolutist monarchy could not be binding on the tsarist government. However, the government took into account the opinion of the "officials" of the state. Suffice it to recall, for example, the royal letter to the embassy of Prince B. A. Repnin and B. M. Khitrovo regarding the break in the work of the Cathedral in June 1653.

However, in relations with both new subjects, tsarism never referred to the decision of the Zemsky Sobor of 1653 and did not even mention it. An example is the royal letter sent on the second day after the decision was made to ambassadors Streshnev and Bredikhin to Ukraine, as well as the article list of the embassy of V. V. Buturlin, who "received" Ukraine 31 .

For all that, the decision of the Zemsky Sobor in 1653, of course, was of historical significance. It expressed the opinion of certain social circles (landlords, merchants and archers close to the masses, as well as taxable black hundreds and palace settlements). The opinion of these circles, represented at the Council in 1653, was undoubtedly influenced by the mood of the Russian people, their sympathetic attitude towards the struggling Ukraine. Without the categorical and unanimous verdict of the Zemsky Sobor in 1653, the tsarist government would not have taken the risk of accepting Ukraine as a subject and starting a war for it with Pan Poland.

Soviet historical science gave a correct assessment of the Zemsky Sobor of 1653. This assessment found its expression in the "Theses on the 300th Anniversary of the Reunification of Ukraine with Russia", approved by the Central Committee of the CPSU: "The decision of the Zemsky Sobor was an expression of the will and desire of the entire Russian people to help the fraternal Ukrainian people in their liberation struggle against foreign enslavers" 32.

31 "Reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Vol. III, p. 415.

32 "Abstracts on the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia (1654 - 1954)". M. 1954, p. 10.

On October 1 (11), 1653, the Zemsky Sobor met in the Moscow Kremlin, which decided to reunite Left-bank Ukraine with Russia.

Zemsky Sobors - the central class-representative institution of Russia in the middle of the XVI-XVII centuries. The Zemsky Sobor included the tsar, the Boyar Duma, the Consecrated Cathedral in full force, representatives of the nobility, the upper classes of the townspeople (trading people, large merchants), i.e. candidates of the three estates. The regularity and duration of meetings of Zemsky Sobors were not regulated in advance and depended on the circumstances and the importance and content of the issues discussed.

The Zemsky Sobor of 1653 was assembled to decide on the inclusion of Ukraine into the Muscovite state.

In the 17th century most of Ukraine was part of the Commonwealth - the united Polish-Lithuanian state. The official language on the territory of Ukraine was Polish, the state religion was Catholicism. The increase in feudal duties, religious oppression of Orthodox Ukrainians caused dissatisfaction with Polish domination, which in the middle of the 17th century. turned into a liberation war of the Ukrainian people.

The beginning of the war was initiated by an uprising in the Zaporizhzhya Sich in January 1648. Bohdan Khmelnitsky was at the head of the uprising. Having won a number of victories over the Polish troops, the rebels took Kyiv. Having concluded a truce with Poland, Khmelnytsky in early 1649 sent his representative to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with a request to accept Ukraine under Russian rule. Having rejected this request due to the difficult internal situation in the country and unpreparedness for a war with Poland, the government at the same time began to provide diplomatic assistance, allowing the import of food and weapons to Ukraine.

In the spring of 1649, Poland resumed hostilities against the rebels, which continued until 1653. In February 1651, the Russian government, in order to put pressure on Poland, for the first time announced at the Zemsky Sobor that it was ready to accept Ukraine into its citizenship.

After a long exchange of embassies and letters between the Russian government and Khmelnitsky, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in June 1653 announced his consent to the transfer of Ukraine to Russian citizenship. one(11) October 1653 Zemsky Sobor decided to reunite Left-bank Ukraine with Russia.

On January 8 (18), 1654, in Pereyaslavl the Great, the Rada unanimously spoke in favor of Ukraine joining Russia and entered the war with Poland for Ukraine. As a result of the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667. The Commonwealth recognized the reunification of Left-bank Ukraine with Russia(Andrusov truce) .

The Zemsky Sobor of 1653 was the last Zemsky Sobor assembled in its entirety.

Lit .: Zertsalov A.N. On the history of Zemsky Sobors. M., 1887; Cherepnin L.V. Zemsky Sobors of the Russian State. M., 1978; Schmidt S. O. Zemsky Sobors. M., 1972. T. 9 .

See also in the Presidential Library:

Avaliani S. L. Zemsky Sobors. Odessa, 1910 ;

Belyaev I. D. Zemsky Sobors in Russia. M., 1867 ;

Vladimirsky-Budanov M.F. Zemsky Sobors in the Moscow State, V.I. Sergeevich. (Collection of state knowledge. Vol. II). Kyiv., 1875 ;

Dityatin I.I. The role of petitions and zemstvo councils in the administration of the Moscow state. Rostov n / a., 1905 ;

Knyazkov S.A. Paintings on Russian history, published under the general editorship [and explanatory text] S.A. Knyazkov. No. 14: S. AT. Ivanov. Zemsky Sobor (XVII century). 1908 ;

Latkin V. N. Zemsky Sobors of Ancient Russia, Their History and Organization in Comparison with Western European Representative Institutions. SPb., 1885 ;

Lipinsky M. A. Criticism and bibliography: V. N. Latkin. Zemsky Sobors of Ancient Russia. SPb., 1885 ;

Last year in 161 1 May 25 by decree of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and the Grand Duke Alexey Mikhailovich of all Russia, the Autocrat spoke at the cathedrals about the Lithuanian and Cherkassy affairs.

And this year, in the 162nd year of October, on the 1st day, the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the Autocrat pointed out about the same Lithuanian and Cherkasy affairs to establish a cathedral 2 , and at the council be the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and metropolitan, and archbishop, and bishop, and black power, and boyars, and devious, and thoughtful people, and stolniks, and solicitors, and nobles of Moscow, and clerks, and nobles, and boyar (elected) children from cities 3 , and guests, and trading and all sorts of ranks people. And the Sovereign ordered them to announce the King of Lithuania and the lords are glad of the former and current lies that are being done on their part to violate the eternal end, and there was no correction from the King and the lords. And so that those of their lies by his sovereigns of the Moscow state of all ranks were known to people. Likewise, the Zaporizhzhya hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky sent an announcement that they beat the brow under the sovereign's high hand into citizenship. And that now the king and the pans are happy with the sovereign's great ambassadors, according to the treaty, they did not commit corrections and let them go without work.

And the Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia Autocrat, having come from the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos for crosses and being in the cathedral church, for the cathedral was in the Faceted Chamber. And at the cathedral were: the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Nikon, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Selyvestre of Krutitsy, Metropolitan Mikhailo of Serbia, archimandrites and abbots with the entire consecrated cathedral, boyars, devious, thoughtful people, stewards and solicitors, and Moscow nobles, and residents , and nobles from cities, and boyar children, guests and living rooms and cloth hundreds and black hundreds, and palace settlements, merchants and all sorts of other ranks, people and archers. And according to the Sovereign Tsar and the Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, the decree about the lies of Jan Kazimer, King of Poland, and the gentlemen are glad and about the petition to the sovereign for the allegiance of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporozhye was read aloud to everyone:

In the final letters of blessed memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, Autocrat and Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, it is written: be both of them the Great Sovereign among themselves and their sovereign's child and heir in fraternal friendship, and in love, and in connection. And the Great Sovereign of our Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia Autocrat and his sovereign children and heirs to Vladislav the King, and forward being the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and the Pan Rada, and the entire Commonwealth in all letters describe and name by his sovereign dignity and by the eternal end the Great Sovereign-Tsar and the Grand Duke of All Russia Autocrat, with his full sovereign titles, according to his sovereign dignity. And how he, the Great Sovereign, will describe himself according to the final letter from now until the age and forward motionlessly without any application. And Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and forward being the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, write according to the old custom with their full titles according to the final letter. And to the Muscovite state Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his brothers, and children, and grandchildren lamentations in nothing and the Tsar and the Grand Duke of all Russia, and the titles of the Muscovite state should not be written or named. And that eternal ending on both sides, first the great ambassadors, and after that the wallpaper of the Great Sovereigns with their sovereign souls, with the kiss of the cross, confirmed with letters and seals that between them, both Great Sovereigns, that eternal affirmation to be forever indispensable.

And on the part of Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, under him, Vladislav the King, the eternal end is broken: the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia, Autocrat and the son of his sovereign, the Great Sovereign of our Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia The autocrat, in royal charters in many letters and border cities governors, and castellans, and elders, and captains, and sovereigns in sovereign border cities to governors in the sheets of their naming and titles are not written according to eternal completion, with many changes. And other villains in many sheets wrote with great dishonor and reproach, and the royal name was written with the royal name and of many states the sovereign and owner. And about those royal many lies sent from them, the sovereigns, to Poland and Lithuania to Vladislav the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, their sovereign great ambassadors and envoys. And they were ordered, being at the King’s embassy and happy with the answers, about the sovereign’s honor, and the original capital sheets of the case, and the lists from them to give, and ask for executions and punishments on those people.

And in the year 148, Vladislav the King wrote to the Sovereign in his letters: which people, following his royal order, will learn the sovereign's name and write titles not according to their sovereign approval, and those will be executed, and those who wrote incautiously, and those with The Seimas single-handedly orders the execution, but that will by no means happen in the future.

And in a response letter, the gentlemen are glad, what it was like to be given in the 153rd year by the sovereign's great ambassador to the boyar, Prince Alexei Mikhailovich Lvov, and his comrades, it is written that the King, while there was no place for the right, then it was not possible to repair the punishment. And now, for those offenses, after the right was set, the king ordered to call to the Diet, and the execution for their offense against their right will be truly committed. And according to those royal letters, and according to response letters, and according to the agreements of the gentlemen, there was no correction under Vladislav the King.

And under the current Jan Casimir, the King of Poland was taught to be even worse than before: blessed memories of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia Autocrat and about his sovereign’s grandfather, blessed memories of the Great Sovereign, His Holiness Patriarch Filaret Nikitich of Moscow and All Russia, also about the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia Autocrat, evil dishonors, and reproaches, and blasphemy are printed in their books. What is not only the Great Sovereign of the Christian, the anointed of God, and the common man to hear, and endure is impossible, and it is terrible to think. Also in the Muscovite state about the boyars and about all the ranks of people, many dishonors and evil reproaches are printed in those books, which in no state is not only for eternal ending, and that does not happen in debauchery. And Vladislav Korol was written by the deceived Grand Duke of Moscow past the eternal end.

And last year, in the year 158, according to the sovereign tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, by decree, the sovereign's great and plenipotentiary ambassadors - the boyar and gunsmiths and the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Grigory Gavrilovich Pushkin and comrades were sent to Poland and Lithuania to Jan Casimir the king 4 . And they were ordered to speak firmly about those royals and lords, and for the honor of the state, according to the embassy agreement, ask for the death penalty on the guilty.

And by royal decree, the pans are glad to those sovereign great ambassadors gave an agreement behind their hands and behind seals that all of them about the sovereign name and title of the accused people who, in the painting from them, great words, they, the pan council, are written in Warsaw at the Sejm, according to the law of the Korun and Lithuanian and against the Sejm code of the constitution of 1637 judged. And condemning them according to their misconduct, and by death, whoever is worthy, be executed in the presence of the sovereign's ambassadors or envoys. And in the constitution of 1637 5 year it is written: and on those who would dare to write, or diminish the titles, or cancel, we lay the penam perduellionis, and in Russian that word is the death penalty and excommunication of the estate.

And by sovereign decree, and by royal dispatch, envoys Ofonasii Pronchishchev and clerk Almaz Ivanov were sent to the King at the Sejm with capital sheets 6 . And being with the King and the lords glad, in response they spoke about the sovereign's honor, and they asked for the guilty under the contract and according to the constitution, they asked for execution; and stood firm about it. And the King and the pans are happy at that Sejm in the presence of the sovereign’s envoys, not only that they didn’t make corrections under the contract, and they didn’t put many wine people on trial, and they didn’t show the truth in anything.

And after that, Jan Casimir the King sent his envoys to the Sovereign - Albrecht Petslavsky and Hryshtop Unichovsky, and with them he sent from the Sejm to those subjects of his, accused for the sovereign honor, people with a decree. And in that decree nothing was written for direct correction. And many guilty people have been freed from their guilt not on business, but on whom ordinary few people have been blamed, and it is written about those in the same decree: where they are, whether they are alive or dead, they themselves do not know about. And according to the sovereign decree, that decree was not accepted by them, envoys, for such obvious falsehoods. And it was said by him and in the response letter it was written that in order to accomplish those deeds, the Sovereign would send his sovereign great ambassadors to Jan Casimir the King.

And last year, in the year 161, the sovereign's great and plenipotentiary ambassadors, the boyar and governor of Great Perm, Prince Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and comrades, were sent to him, Jan Kazimir the King, so that Jan Kazimir

The king, mindful of the eternal end, and the embassy agreements, and his Sejm codes, the constitution, ordered that a decent correction be made in those above-named cases. And those sovereign great ambassadors, being in response, about the sovereign's honor about the correction of the accused people under the agreement of the Pan Rada spoke and stood about it with all sorts of measures. And Jan Casimir King did not make any corrections in that matter. And the pans are glad in the answers every now and then that they, the great ambassadors, spoke about the honor of the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia Autocrat and the son of his sovereign, Grand Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia Autocrat, called small business.

And those sovereign great ambassadors to them, pan council, spoke about that, that they, gentlemen Rada, put the initial and main thing, sovereign honor, into nothing and call it a small matter, not fearing God and not remembering the eternal end. And thus our Great Sovereigns, blessed in memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia Autocrat and his son, our Great Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia Autocrat, were dishonored.

And the lords of the glad spoke and pointed to their previous unjust judgment and decree, that they would not judge and remake that case, their sovereign honor, past the previous court and decree. And they denied it. And which sheets were written after their trial and decree, and about those sheets, the lords of the glad said that they will judge those people from whom the sheets were written in the same way as for the previous registrations. And they laughed at those words, but no one did justice in that case and put such a great deed into nothing.

Yes, he, Jan Casimir the King, forgetting the eternal end, plotting evil enemy plans over the Muscovite state, often referred to the common Christian enemy with the Crimean Khan and contrived all sorts of inventions in order to fight and ruin the Muscovite state together. Yes, he, Jan Casimir the King, through his states let the common Christian enemy of the Crimean Khan, the ambassador, pass to the Sveian queen Christina for a quarrel and war. And before this, it never happened to be the Crimean ambassador through Poland and Lithuania to Sveya.

Yes, from his royal side they taught to be great enthusiasm in foreign places: coming to the sovereign’s side, their Polish and Lithuanian people of the sovereign’s border cities of the nobles and children of the boyar estates and patrimonies ruined, and their people and peasants were robbed and tortured with various torments, and abroad they take out strongly, and all sorts of anger are repaired to them. And their officers, according to the letter of the sovereign's border governors, do not repair reprisals. And for that, according to all measures, many falsehoods were committed to the violation of the eternal finish on the royal side.

And on the sovereign’s side, the eternal end in all measures and places is kept firmly and inviolably.

Yes, in past years, the Zaporizhzhya hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya army sent their envoys to the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia many times, that the pans are glad and the whole Commonwealth on the Orthodox Christian faith of the Greek law and on the holy eastern churches of God rose up and persecution did a big thing. And they, the Zaporizhian Cherkasy, were taught to excommunicate and captivate from the true Orthodox Christian faith, in which they have long lived, and to their Roman faith. And they sealed the churches of God, and in others they committed a union, and all sorts of persecution, and reproach, and non-Christian anger were repaired over them, which they do not repair both heretics and Jews. And they, Cherkasy, not even though the pious Christian faiths departed and the holy churches of God in ruin to see and seeing themselves in such an evil persecution, involuntarily calling to help the Crimean Khan with the horde, taught for the Orthodox Christian faith and for the holy churches of God against them stand . And they ask the Royal Majesty for mercy, so that he, the Great Christian Sovereign, W&L0I the pious Orthodox Christian faiths and the holy churches of God and them, Orthodox Christians, shedding innocent blood, have mercy on them, ordered them to accept a high hand under his royal majesty. And he charged them with the persecutors of the Christian faith and the Holy Churches of God, against the Poles, to help and sent his troops.

And in the past, in 161, hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky of Zaporozhye sent his envoys to the Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia twice, that from the royal side under an agreement, on which they put up with them, the Zaporizhzhya Cherkasy, was not fulfilled , and the churches of God, which were written in the agreement to give away from the union, they did not give, but which few were given, and they were turned back under the union. And although the Orthodox Christian faith was uprooted and the holy churches of God were completely destroyed, they gathered Korun and Lithuanian troops against them, and many cities and places, and in those cities and places the holy churches of God were defiled, and cursed, and ruined. And many Orthodox Christians of the spiritual and worldly rank were innocently tortured with various evil torments, and they repaired every evil desecration, which is pitiful to hear about.

And they ask the Tsar's Majesty the Zaporizhzhya Cherkasy for mercy with many tearful petitions, so that he, the Great Sovereign, root out the Orthodox Christian faiths in the holy churches of God, ruin them by their persecutor and perjurer, and have mercy on them, ordered the hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporozhye take under his sovereign's high hand. And if the Sovereign does not grant them, he will not deign to accept the high hand of his sovereign, and the Great Sovereign, His Royal Majesty for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, intervened in them, ordered them to reconcile through his sovereign great ambassadors, so that that world would be reliable for them . And they do not want to put up with the Poles, because the Poles do not stand up for their truth.

And according to the sovereign’s decree, and according to the petition of Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporizhzhya, his sovereign’s great ambassador, boyar and viceroy of the Great Permian prince Boris Alexandrovich Repnin-Obolensky and his comrades, they were ordered to speak about that world and about the mediation of the king and pan council. And according to the sovereign's decree, his sovereign's great ambassadors, the boyar Prince Boris Alexandrovich and his comrades, in response to the pan council said that the king and pans of the council would calm down that internecine strife and reconcile with the Cherkasy. And they didn’t persecute the Orthodox Christian faith of the Greek law, and they didn’t take away the churches of God, and they didn’t fix bondage in anything, but they would make peace according to the Zborov Treaty 7 , and which churches are turned under the union, and those churches would give them back. And the king and the pans will be glad that they will make peace with the Zaporizhzhya Cherkasy, and in faith they will not learn to fix bondage in advance, and the churches of God will be given to them as before, and the Great Sovereign His Royal Majesty for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God to his brother he will commit such an act to royal majesty: to those people who appeared in his state registration in the registration, those of their guilt orders them to give.

And Jan Casimir, the king and the pans of the glad, put that matter to nothing, and they refused peace from the Cherkasy, and, although they eradicate the Orthodox Christian faith and destroy the churches of God, they went to war with them, the great ambassadors.

Yes, as with the King and the lords, last year, in the year 161, the Sejm was in Brest Lithuania, and they really sentenced at the Sejm that their Orthodox Christians of the Greek law, who live in Koruna of Poland and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, should also be beaten by churches God's despise, so that the faith of the Greek law is uprooted.

And the sovereign's great ambassadors, seeing their great stubbornness, told them with great deduction in the chamber and going to the corets, going out loud to all people, that the Great Sovereign, His Royal Majesty, for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, although to calm their internecine strife, to those people who for their state honor they were worthy of death, I wanted to give them their guilt. And if he, Jan Cosimir is the king, and they, gentlemen of the glad, then they put in nothing and did not make corrections in anything, and the Great Sovereign, His Royal Majesty, such is their evil dishonor and they will not endure much of the uncorrected bolypi that they will not endure. And he will not teach his ambassadors and envoys to send them ahead, but orders them to write about those untruths and violation of the eternal end to all the surrounding states to the Great Sovereigns of Christian and Busurman. And for the Orthodox Christian faith, and for the holy churches of God, and for their state worthy honor, they will stand, how much the Merciful God of help will give.

And the lords of the glad did not go to any measure, and they did not show similarities, and they did not make corrections in anything, and they refused everything, and those sovereign great ambassadors were released without work. And how Jan Casimir the king was elected to the kingdom and took an oath to be crowned, and in his oath it was written, among other things, that he should guard and protect among those who differ in the Christian faith, and do not oppress himself with any measures for faith, and do not let anyone do that. And if he does not keep that oath, and he makes his subjects free from all loyalty and obedience, and he will not ask anyone for permission about that oath and will not accept it.

And now Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and all the Zaporizhzhya army with his envoy and Lavrin Kapusta wrote to the Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia of Zaporozhye that the King and his troops were going to Ukraine. And they, not even though they would betray the monasteries and churches of God and Christians in torment, beat with their foreheads so that the Sovereign granted him, they soon ordered their troops to be sent to them. And if he, the Great Sovereign, and now over them, Orthodox Christians, will not take pity on them, as they cry for mercy from him, the Sovereign, and those of other faiths will ruin something for them and make them fit for themselves, then they will repair their will according to need. And the Zaporizhian envoy Lavrin Kapusta said: hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky ordered yes with him, and ordered the Sovereign to beat with his forehead, so that the Sovereign ordered to send his sovereign governors to Kyiv and other cities, and with them military men, although with 3,000 people, and then for the same sovereign governors, and the hetman de people have a lot. Yes, the Crimean Khan with the horde wanted to be with him, and some Tatars have already come and are standing under the White Church. Yes, the Sultan of Tursk sent his envoy to the hetman in Borki, calling him to his citizenship. And the hetman refused him that, but he hopes for the sovereign's mercy. And if the Sovereign does not grant him, does not order him to accept, and he will begin to testify before God that he asked for a lot of mercy from him, the Sovereign, but he, the Sovereign, did not grant him, but with the king de they have the world will not at all, but will learn to stand against it.

Yes, it was announced in the news that their Cherkasy people with the Polish people in the entrances met twice and fought, and they were lucky and caught many Poles' languages. And the Lithuanian de Hetman Radivil said: if they don’t do anything to the Zaporizhian army, they will immediately make peace with them and go to war on the sovereign’s land.

And after listening, the boyars sentenced: for the honor of the blessed memory of the great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia and for the honor of his son of the sovereign, the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, stand against the Polish king war news. And you can’t endure more than that, because for many years 8 in royal letters and foreign sheets they wrote their sovereign names and titles past the eternal end and the embassy agreement, with many registrations.

And according to the embassy agreement, and according to letters in response, and according to their Sejm constitution, for many years they did not make corrections, and seeing the royal subjects such a non-correction and evil people for their guilt, their insanity did not stop, and from foreign cities their captains and governors to the sovereign border cities to governors in all years wrote the sovereign's name and title with a residence permit. And under the sovereign's ambassadors, under the boyar, Prince Boris Aleksandrovich Repnin and his comrades, they did not make corrections and called that matter - the sovereign's honor - a small matter, and laughing, and put it in nothing, and let the sovereign's ambassadors go idle, and thus they violated the eternal end .

And about the hetman about Bohdan Khmelnitsky and about the whole army of the Zaporizhzhya boyars and duma people ordered that the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia deigned that hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporizhzhya with their cities and lands to be taken under his sovereign a high hand for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, because the pans are glad and the whole Commonwealth against the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God have rebelled and want to eradicate them, and for the fact that they, Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire army of Zaporozhye , sent to the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich) of all Russia to beat with his forehead many times, so that he, the Great Sovereign, uproot the Orthodox Christian faith and destroy the holy churches of God by their persecutor and perjurer, and did not give them mercy, ordered them to be accepted under his own the state's high hand. But if the Sovereign does not grant them, he will not deign to accept them under his sovereign high hand, and the Great Sovereign would intercede in them for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God, ordered them to reconcile through his great ambassadors, so that that world would be reliable for them.

And according to the sovereign’s decree, and according to their petition, the sovereign’s great ambassadors in response to the pan council said that the King and the pans of the council would calm the civil strife, and reconcile with the Cherkasy, and the Orthodox Christian faith would not be persecuted, and the churches of God would not be taken away, and bondage to them in nothing they didn’t repair, but they would make peace according to the Zborovsky treaty.

And the Great Sovereign, His Royal Majesty, for the Orthodox Christian faith, will inflict such an act on Jan Casimir the King: those people who, in his sovereign name, appeared in registrations, orders them to give back their guilt. And Jan Kazimir Korol and the pans are glad and they put that matter in vain and in the world with Cherkasy they refused. Yes, and that is why it is possible to accept them in the oath of John Casimir the King it is written that in the Christian faith he should guard and protect, and do not oppress himself with any measures for faith, and do not allow anyone to do this. And if he does not keep his oath, and he makes his subjects free from all loyalty and obedience.

And he, Jan Casimir, did not keep his oath, and rebelled against the Orthodox Christian faith of the Greek law, and ruined many churches of God, and committed a union in others. And so that they would not be released into citizenship to the Turkish saltan or the Crimean Khan, because they have now become the royal oath of free people.

And for this, they were sentenced for everything: Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya army with cities and lands to accept.

And the stewards, and the solicitors, and the nobles of Moscow, and the clerks, and the tenants, and the nobles, and the children of the boyars from the cities, and the heads of the archers, and the guests, and the living rooms and the cloth hundreds, and the black hundreds and the palace settlements are hard people , and the archers about the state honor and about the reception of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhzhya army were interrogated separately in rank.

And they said that for the honor of the blessed memory of the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhail Fedorovich of All Russia and for the honor of the son of his sovereign, the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, stand and wage war against the Lithuanian King. And they, service people, for their state honor will begin to fight with the Lithuanian King, not sparing their heads, and for the sake of dying for their state honor. And all sorts of merchants of all ranks help people and for their sovereign honor with their own heads for the sake of dying.

And Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky for the Orthodox Christian faith and the holy churches of God would have been granted by the Great Sovereign-Tsar and Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of All Russia, according to their petition, ordered them to be accepted under his sovereign high hand.

TsGADA, f. 79, Relations between Russia and Poland, 1653, No. 8, ll. 1-44 (original).

Here is the ed.: Russia and its colonies. How Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic states and Central Asia became part of Russia. M., 2007, p. 143-164. (Reprint from the book: Under the banner of Russia. Collection of archival documents / Comp., note. .

Notes

1. written above the line.

2. This refers to the Zemsky Sobor on October 1, 1653, at which a decision was made to reunite Ukraine with Russia. For the first time this question was raised at the Council on May 25, 1653, and a draft decision of the Council was prepared on the need to reunite Ukraine with Russia. But the final approval of the project was postponed until the return of the embassies of B. Repnin, F. Volkonsky, B. Khitrovo and the clerk A. Ivanov, sent to Poland on April 30, 1653. The purpose of the embassy was to conclude peace between Poland and Ukraine on the terms of the Zboriv Treaty and liquidate the union . An agreement was not reached, and on August 7, 1653, negotiations ceased (see: Reunification of Ukraine with Russia: Documents and Materials. - M., 1953. - Vol. 3. - No. 155,166).

4. Ambassadors T. and S. Pushkin were sent to Poland in January 1650. During negotiations with the Polish government, they demanded the extradition of the impostor T. Ankudinov, who called himself the son of V. Shuisky. To search for him, P. Protasov, G. Bogdanov and the royal secretary Y. Ermolich were sent to Ukraine from Warsaw, who received a special order (TsGADA, f. 79. Relations between Russia and Poland, book 78, ll. 836, ob. 848) .

5. On the left field of the litter: 146th.

6. The embassy of A. Pronchshtsev and clerk A. Ivanov left Moscow for Warsaw on January 12, 1652. The ambassadors negotiated with the Polish government on a peaceful settlement of relations between Ukraine and Poland and on the punishment of those responsible for the incorrect spelling of the royal title. The Polish government was slow to resolve these issues, promising to give an answer after the decision of the Sejm, which was supposed to convene in May 1653 (Reunification of Ukraine with Russia: Documents and Materials. - Vol. 3. - No. 82).

7. The main conditions of the Zboriv Treaty on August 8, 1649 were as follows: Zaporizhia troops should be 40 thousand according to the register; peasants who did not fall into the register were to return to the citizenship of the gentry; the territory of the settlement of the Cossacks - three provinces: Kiev, Bratslav, Chernihiv; an amnesty was given to everyone who took part in the uprising, including the gentry; in the areas where the Cossacks live, there should not be crown Polish troops; all positions in the voivodships of Kiev, Chernihiv and Bratslav must be appointed only by Orthodox; in the mentioned voivodeships, the stay of Jesuits and Jewish tenants was prohibited; the question of the liquidation of the union, as well as some other questions, were to be decided at the next Sejm.

Read further:

Bila Tserkva Treaty between the Ukrainian hetman B. Khmelnytsky and the commissioners of the Polish government.

Leaf of Bogdan Khmelnitsky sent from Pereyaslav to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with gratitude for the reunification of Ukraine with Russia. January 8, 1654

Letter of Complaint Aleksey Mikhailovich to Hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky and the entire Zaporizhian army on the preservation of their rights and liberties.