Petro Ivanovich Kalnyshevsky (1690–1691 – 1803) – the last Kish Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host and his age in the history of Ukraine

The article deals with the heroic fate of the champion of human dignity, a native of the Sivershchyna, Petrо Kalnyshevsky, whose unique fate has touched for three centuries. He was a military and political figure of Ukraine, a diplomat, the last Cossack chieftain of Zaporozhian Sich in 1762 and 1765–1775. The times of modern history of Ukraine not only did not erase the memory of the Cossack glory and other fighters for the freedom of Ukraine, but with new force directed modern Ukrainians to fight for freedom, the democratic principles of the new Ukraine. And the last Otaman of the Zaporozhian Sich, Petro Ivanovych Kalnyshevsky, is one of the outstanding figures in our past, who attracted the attention of political elites, researchers, scientists, and the general public. Under his tireless activity, the Zaporozhian Sich gained not only political but also economic autonomy. And the Kish Otaman himself was the most authoritative person in Ukraine. This gave the opportunity to engage in patronage. Kalnyshevsky is known as a builder of cathedrals and churches in Lokhvytsia, Romny, Pustoviytivka, Mezhyhirsk monastery, Petrykivka. At the same time, he was not just the leader of the Cossacks in the last years of the Sich – he became a reflection of the image of a martyr who suffered in the Solovetsky prison for all three centuries of Cossack  freedom. In such a symbolic context, his life and work were perceived during the Ukrainian national revival of the second half of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The heroism of the figure of Peter Kalnyshevsky was inherited after the restoration of Ukrainian statehood in 1991, and it came to an end: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church declared him “holy, righteous”.