Between Faith and Dogma: Ideological Attitudes of Ordinary Participants in the Bohdan Khmelnytsky Uprising

This work explores the theme of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising (1648–1654), the relevance of which is determined by the significant geopolitical consequences of these events in Eastern Europe. Within the framework of this study, we propose to look at the phenomenon of the uprising through the lens of social mentality history, a development that has only recently begun in Eastern European historiographies. The subject of this research is the worldview and perceptions of ordinary participants and contemporaries of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's uprising regarding the large-scale events unfolding before their eyes. An attempt is made to create a mental map of the lower-ranked Cossacks, peasants, townspeople, merchants, and lower ranks of clergy, directly or indirectly involved in the conflict, which becomes possible through the analysis of a vast array of interrogational speeches and petitions. Two concepts are defined to qualify the actions and judgments of the respondents: faith as an emotionally motivational impulse and dogmatism as adherence to social expectations. The participants of the uprising are divided into four categories depending on their motivation. Based on a comparative analysis of the interrogational speeches, recurring trends in the behavior and reasoning of the respondents are identified. The scientific novelty of the presented work lies in the author's introduction of a non-traditional perspective for the historiography of the topic, allowing the conflict to be examined from a "grassroots" viewpoint, using unique, partly unpublished archival materials—interrogational speeches—that reveal the opinions and assessments of ordinary people. Based on the conducted research, it is concluded that the involvement of the Cossacks and merchants in the uprising is driven by pragmatic motives related to their worldview, while religiosity is perceived as performing rituals and fulfilling social expectations. At the same time, peasants and clergy, possessing deep religious conviction, view their struggle as a means of defending faith and cultural identity, where material and spiritual well-being are interconnected.