Petro Sahaidachny

Restoration of the Orthodox church hierarchy

In 1619, Job Boretsky, one of the founders of the Kyiv Brotherhood, was elected abbot of the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv. Church and secular Orthodox circles of Ukraine rallied around him. As one of the leaders of the Orthodox brotherhood, Job Boretsky actively cooperated with the foreman of the Zaporizhzhian Army, in particular with hetman Peter Sahaydachny. In this environment, the idea appeared, contrary to the prohibitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, to restore the Orthodox hierarchy of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, which was lost as a result of the Brest Church Union of 1596. Petro Sahaidachny took the most active part in the meetings regarding the restoration of the church hierarchy, whose opinion, as a representative of the Zaporozhian Army, was significant. The Cossacks were a collective member of the Kyiv Brotherhood, and Sahaidachny became the founder (guardian) of the school founded under him, providing it with funds. Petro Sahaidachny joined this Orthodox brotherhood in 1616 together with "the entire Zaporozhian army".