Danylo Apostol

Danylo Apostol
Portrait, second quarter of the 18th century
Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host
In office 1727–1734
Monarchs	Peter II Anna
Preceded by	Office restored (Collegium of Little Russia)
Succeeded by	Office liquidated (Governing Council of the Hetman Office)
Personal details
Born	( 1654-12-14)December 14, 1654 Sorochyntsi, Cossack Hetmanate
Died	January 28, 1734(1734-01-28) (aged 79) Sorochyntsi, Cossack Hetmanate
Resting place	Church of Lord's Transfiguration, Velyki Sorochyntsi
Spouse	Uliana Iskrytska
Awards	Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky
Military service
Allegiance	Russia
Years of service	1682–1734
Battles/wars	Azov campaigns (1695–1696) Great Northern War Pruth River Campaign

Danylo Pavlovych Apostol^[a] (December 14 [O.S. December 4] 1654 – January 28 [O.S. January 17] 1734) was Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host from 1727 to 1734.^[1]

Born into a Cossack family of Moldavian origin, Danylo Apostol was a prominent military leader, polkovnyk (colonel) of the Myrhorod Regiment, and a participant in the Russian campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and Crimean Khanate. He fought in the Great Northern War between 1701 and 1705 against the Swedes in Livonia and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, but in 1708, briefly joined the hetman Ivan Mazepa who sided with Charles XII of Sweden against Peter I of Russia. Later, Danylo Apostol again switched sides and fought on the Russian side, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Poltava. In 1722, he led Cossack units during the Russo-Persian War that led to the expansion of Russian power in the Caspian region. Danylo Apostol lost his eye during the capture of a Persian fortress in Derbent that led to him receiving the nickname "blind Hetman".

In the 1723–1725 Cossack starshyna, Danylo Apostol was accused of being involved in the alleged mutiny plot of hetman Pavlo Polubotok and was suspected of treason by Catherine I. In 1727, Apostol was elected to be the hetman of left-bank Ukraine. During his rule, Little Russia and the Cossack nobility increased their wealth and estates at the same time as it was further incorporated into the Russian Empire. Danylo Apostol died in 1734, and the new hetman was not elected until 1750.

Apostol's grandson Joachim A. Gorlenko (1705–1754), the son of his daughter Maria, entered the priesthood of the Russian Orthodox Church and became Joasaph of Belgorod, who was glorified as a saint in 1911.

•  "Апостол, Даниил Павлович" . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.

• Danylo Apostol at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine

Predecessor Collegium of Little Russia (Pavlo Polubotok)

Hetman of Zaporizhian Host 1727–1734

Successor Governing Council (Yakiv Lyzohub)

Predecessor Mykhailo Kiyashko

Colonel of Myrhorod Regiment 1682–1727

Successor Pavlo Apostol