Серед десяти інтермедій, поставлених між діями драм Митрофана
Довгалевського на сцені Києво-Могилянської академії на Різдво Христове та Великдень упродовж 1736—1737 навчального року, є дві, де центральним персонажем постає Козак. Він виступає героєм, захисником
поневолених селян від гнобителів — Шляхтича й Жида. У політичній
кон'юнктурі свого часу обидві інтермедії відігравали пропагандистську
роль, пов'язуючи у свідомості глядачів перспективу експансії Російської
імперії на захід із визвольною місією Запорозького козацтва — Нової
Січі, утвореної під юрисдикцією Росії.
During the 1736/1737 academic year, Mytrofan Dovhalevskyi taught a course in poetics
at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. According to the rules of the time, he prepared two school
dramas, the texts of which survived — for Christmas and Easter. Five interludes were set for
each drama. In the 3rd interlude to the Christmas drama and the 5th interlude to the Easter
drama, the plot is based on the confrontation of Liakh (Pole) and Zhyd ( Jew), oppressing
Belarusian and Ukrainian peasants, with Cossack. Moskal (Moscovite) is a powerful ally of
the Cossack. The propaganda sense of both interludes is revealed in the context of political
conflicts of that era. During 1733—1735 Stanisław Leszczyński, a former ally of Hetman
Ivan Mazepa, led the war for the royal throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Most Ukrainian lands were then part of the Commonwealth. The Russian empire introduced
troops into the territory of the Commonwealth and put on the throne Stanisław
Leszczyński’s rival August III. Ukrainian citizens of the Commonwealth were prompted
by Russians to revolt against Polish authorities. The Haidamaky movement emerged which
Russia promised to support. The Cossacks of Zaporizhzhia in 1734 betrayed Hetman Pylyp
Orlyk and came under the jurisdiction of the Russian empress. The interludes to the
Mytrofan Dovhalevskyi’s dramas form the ideological basis for Russian aggression and future
division of the Commonwealth. They impose on the spectators the idea of oppressing
Ukrainians and Belarusians by Poles, complementing it with anti-Semitic nuances. Cossacks
are encouraged to engage in aggression, interpreted as a liberation mission. These trends,
identified still in the Baroque literature, were used in 2014 by the Russian Federation for
motivating its incursion into Ukraine. The modern terminology defines such trends with
the concept of ‘hybrid war’.
