On April 5, 1710, near the walls of the Bender fortress – near the Moldavian town of Bendery (according to another version – in the second camp of Charles XII – in the bend of the Dniester), a treaty was concluded between Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and the Cossack foreman and the Cossacks of the Zaporizhzhya Army – “Pacts and Constitution of Laws and Freedoms” Troops of Zaporozhye”. The full name of the contract is “Agreements and resolutions on the rights and freedoms of the military between His Excellency Mr. Pylyp Orlyk, the newly elected hetman of the Zaporizhian Army, and between the generals, colonels and the same Zaporizhian Army, approved on both sides by full consent and with the permission of the same Most Honorable Hetman confirmed years from Christmas 1710, month of April, day 5”. This historical document was also called “Charter”, “Agreement”, “Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk”, “Bender Constitution”.
Contract contained a preamble and 16 articles, written in two languages - Latin and Old Ukrainian. Why in the old Ukrainian language does not have the word “constitution”, and in the Latin version the word “constitutiones” sounds like “decisions” or “constitutions” (always in the plural). The document alternates the names of the territory of the state as Little Russia and Ukraine. The territory is defined as “Little Russia, our homeland”, “Ukraine”, and the inhabitants as “Narod Malorossiysky”, “Sons of Malorossiysk”. Kyiv is called a “table city” and together with other “Ukrainian cities” retains all its rights.
The constitution proclaimed the independence of Little Russia from the Russian Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as a permanent union with the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, which protected it. At the same time, the eternal protectorate of Sweden over the Hetmanship was discussed. The hetman’s power assumed the main obligations to protect the borders of the state, as well as to clean the cities of Ukraine from Moscow garrisons and various external taxes. In addition, the practice of “former hetmans of the Zaporizhzhya Army” who went to the alliance with Muscovy was condemned. Significant powers were given to the Cossack chieftain, who was given the right to decide the most important issues at the General Council, convened three times a year. It was defined in the document and the question of faith: “do not give permission to live in Ukraine to followers of a foreign faith, especially false Judaism.”
According to the plan of Philip Orlyk, the document was supposed to enter into force and be ratified by the King of Sweden, Charles XII, in the event of his victory in the Northern War.
It is believed that Orlyk’s Constitution laid the foundations of Ukrainian constitutionalism.
Eagle was the author of many political works – “Report on Kyiv”, “Collection of Rights of Ukraine”, “Manifesto to European Governments”, “Alkidus the Russian”, “Hippomenus Sarmatian”, and as well as several collections of poems in Polish and the “Traveler’s Diary”, which he kept from 1720 to 1733.
In 1742 Pylyp Orlyk died, he was 69 years old. Buried hetman V Iasi was the then capital of Moldova, but his grave was soon lost.
The name of Pylyp Orlyk is not forgotten in Ukraine – an award named after him was launched, the State Bank of Ukraine issued a coin with his image. In 1993, one of the streets in Kyiv was named after him. In 1997, a stamp with the image of a prominent figure was issued, it was issued in a series dedicated to the Hetmans of Ukraine.
A monument to Pylyp Orlyk was erected in Kyiv, which On June 28, 2011, it was solemnly opened on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of Ukraine. In Belarus, in the village where he was born, a commemorative plaque was installed, as well as a museum-chapel dedicated to him.
