[«Our Mazepa is holy...» – hetman in the perception of the inhabitants of the Hetmanate

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the character of Hetman Ivan Mazepa on the basis of impressions about him recorded in materials on "word and deed" or political crimes, which were under various institutions of political investigation of the Russian Empire during the XVIII century. The main objectives are to identify the components of the character of the hetman, which was formed in the public consciousness, the factors that influenced its creation. The scientific novelty lies in the introduction a number of sources into scientific circulation, on the basis of which the analysis of the impressions of representatives of different classes of society of Ukrainian autonomy about the era of Mazepa and himself was carried out. The main methods were archival heuristics and reconstruction of texts, such as materials of investigative cases, which are considered in the article primarily as monuments of mentality and public opinion. Conclusions. Contrary to the content and instructions of the tsarist manifestos, an alternative image of Mazepa was constructed in the public consciousness of the Hetmanate era. Its main components were positioning hetman as a philanthropist, a legitimate and just ruler, a symbol of opposition to the growing influence of the metropolis. Sometimes to these characterizes of Ivan Mazepa were even added elements of sacralization