Pylyp Orlyk about himself

Abstract

This article explores various forms of self-presentation of the hetman on the path of self-knowledge in the conditions of hopelessness caused by emigration. Pylyp Orlyk’s handwritten diary of 1725, 1726, and 1727 is dominated by motives of accustoming to emigration conditions, protection of privacy, discourses, illness and recovery, friendship, solitude with reading, and finally, more clearly than before, the self-awareness of the soul. “Peregrine”, as Orlyk calls himself in 1727, after eighteen years of emigration. He orders two or three services at once for the children on their birthdays, for the health of his wife Anna of the Hercyk family. Orlyk visits all the churches in Thessaloniki, is a good Christian, but nowhere emphasizes his denomination. He believes in the power of praying for the health of his family and friends. Sincere prayer becomes medicine. One of the described disasters of that time is perceived today in a very modern way - “bad air”. This euphemism is repeated in the manuscript when it comes to the plague pandemic in Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Istanbul.