Paul of Aleppo (1627 – 1669) was a Syrian archdeacon, traveler, and writer. He accompanied his father, Patriarch Makarios III of Antioch, on a journey from Aleppo to Istanbul, Wallachia, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Muscovy in 1652–9. Paul’s journal of the journey provides valuable eyewitness details about the history, geography, culture, folkways, architecture, and religious life of the indigenous population. In Ukraine, their route started with Rashkiv on the Dnister River (10 June 1654).
“As soon as we got clear of this forest, and out of the narrow road, we proceeded another mile, making four in all, for this day’s journey; and we came upon a large town with fortifications and a castle, named Bogoslafi [Bohuslav]; and crossed, in boats, over a large river near to it, called Rosh [Ros]. At this moment the Clergy of the six above-mentioned towns, in their robes and with their banners and the children of the choir, attended by their congregations, and the troops under the standard of the warlike Khatman [Ataman], the beloved of Christ, Zenobius [Bohdan Zynoviy Khmelnytsky], which was of black and yellow cloth with cross streaks, were all waiting for us on the banks of the river; and when our Lord the Patriarch stepped up from the boat, they all knelt down before him; and he kissed their crosses and images, as usual, and they kissed his cross and his right-hand.
As for the Khatman Akhmil [Ataman Khmelnytskyi], he was encamped with his army outside the town; and information was sent to him of our arrival. On the forenoon of Wednesday, notice was given us, that he was coming to make his salutations to our Lord the Patriarch; and we went out from our lodgings to meet him; for by them was the road to the castle, where they had prepared him an apartment. At this moment he approached from the gate of the city with a numerous troop, in the midst of whom it was impossible for any one to distinguish him, otherwise than by observing that they were all clothed in handsome garments, and accoutred with valuable arms; whereas he wore mean and scanty clothing, and was provided with armour of no price. As soon as he beheld our Lord the Patriarch at a distance, he alighted from his horse, with all his attendants ; and came and knelt down, and kissed the hem of the Patriarch s train, a first and a second time; then the cross, and his right-hand. And our Lord the Patriarch kissed the Khatman’s forehead.
Where are your eyes, ye Begs of Moldavia and Wallachia? and where is now your grandeur, where your haughtiness? Each of you is inferior in value to any Prokonikos of the Khatman’s suite, and in justice and moderation infinitely below him. Kings and Emperors are unequal to the contest of magnanimity with him; for he immediately laid hold of the arms of our Lord the Patriarch, and walked with him, step for step, till they entered the castle; weeping as he went. There they sat down to table; and the several officers called by the title of Prokonikos sat with them. It was delightful to witness the beauty of the Khatman’s language, his placid demeanour, his humility and condescension, and his tears of joy ; for he was exceedingly pleased to see our Lord the Patriarch, and loved him to an extreme, and said, “Praise be to God ! who has granted me before my death to have a meeting with your Holiness.” He conversed much with the Patriarch on matters of climate and the winter season, and granted him every thing he asked him: for the Beg of Wallachia, Kyr Constantine, and the Grandees of that country, were in much fear of the Khatman, and in apprehension of his coming upon them suddenly with his army, on account of what Matthi Beg had done to him at the time of his discomfiture, and to his Cossack troops, when Matthi slaughtered and made them prisoners, &c. They much therefore entreated our Lord the Patriarch to intercede for them, that he would forgive them; and to beg him to write them a letter, which might tranquillize their minds. The Khatman granted the Patriarch his request, and sent them what they asked for. In like manner, Stephani, the new Beg of Moldavia, was in great fear of the Khatman, for having caused the death of his son Timotheus, and for other enormities which the Moldavians had been guilty of towards the Cossacks, as far even as wilful murder of them; and he pardoned them also, and sent to Constantine a letter in answer to theirs, in which he made many inquiries as to their circumstances.
This Akhmil is an old man, of those who have been most prospered by the blessing of God: in possession of every quality to be a leader and of the most important of all, secrecy he is the spontaneously chosen of his fellow-men. There is no affair in which he is engaged to which he does not himself attend; and he is moderate in his eating and drinking and clothing. His mode of conduct is conformable to that of the greatest of kings, Basil the Macedonian, according as it is described in history. Every person who sees him is in admiration of him, and says, “Is this that Akhmil, whose fame is spread over the whole world ?” In the country of the Franks, as we were informed, they have composed poems in his praise, and in celebration of his wars and conquests; so great is the blessing of God upon him, and so entirely overlooked is the meanness of his person.
Now Vasili Beg of Moldavia was perfect in the majesty of his stature, and in the fierce command of his countenance, and was renowned throughout the universe for his wealth and treasures; and yet all this availed him nothing; but in his first battle, and in his second and third, and many times more, he was defeated, and put to flight. Where is thy name, O Akhmil! Where is thy personal appearance, and where are thy actions? Truly God is with thee; and it is He who has raised thee to deliver his peculiar people from their bondage to the nations; as Moses formerly delivered the Israelites from the servitude of Pharaoh, whom, with his followers, he overwhelmed in the Red Sea: but thou hast destroyed them, the filthy Poles, with thy depopulating sword glory to God, who has done in thee all these great works!
When any person came to complain to him at table, or to address any discourse to him, he used to talk with him in secret, in such a situation as that none could hear what he said: and this was his constant practice. In respect to his manner of sitting at table, let it be observed, that he placed himself in a lower seat, and our Lord the Patriarch in the seat of eminence, according to the reverence due to him in every assembly. He was not like the Begs of Moldavia and Wallachia, who seated themselves in the centre, and placed the Head of the Clergy below them.
Then they brought upon the table some bowls of spirits, which they drank out of noggins; and the liquor was hot: but for Akhmil they set a silver cup of a particular kind of spirit. Having first made the Patriarch drink, the Khatman was the second to drink himself; and then he sent down the cup to each of us, for we were standing before him. How admirable this humility of a soul, which may the Almighty preserve still long on earth! He had no cup-bearers, nor any officers to cover up and guard the vessels of his meat or drink, as is the fashion of Princes, and even of subordinate Governors. Next, they served up earthen ware dishes of salt-fish boiled, and other eatables, in a plain way. There were no silver plates, nor forks, nor spoons, nor any thing of the kind: and yet every one of the servants of his servants had numerous chests full of bowls and cups and spoons of silver and gold, with other treasure, gained from the Poles; which none of them desired or cared for here, being out on a military expedition: but when they are at home, in their own native places, it is a different thing.
At even-tide he dismissed the Patriarch, sending him home in a carriage drawn by one horse only, and accompanying him to the outside of the castle-gate. Here were no princely coaches to be seen, covered with high-priced cloths; nor harnessed with a number of beautiful horses, though the Khatman had thousands of the latter at his command: and though, at the moment, there was a heavy fall of rain, he set out for his camp, with a white cloak thrown over him; and left us, after he had sent us our expenses for the road, with many excuses. He furnished us also with a billet for meat and drink over the whole extent of his territory, and for the use of horses and carriages; and gave us letters to the Emperor of Moscow and the Voivoda of Potiblia. This is what passed on the present occasion.” (The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch)
The famoust Repin’s painting The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to the Turkish Sultan depicts the years very close to the events described by Paul of Aleppo.
