Did you know anything about the execution of Principal Scribe Vasyl Kochubey and Poltava Colonel Ivan Iskra who were buried near the old Refectory Church of
Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra? Here are some details.

Vasyl Kochubey and Ivan Iskra were dicapitated on Thursday, June 15, 1708, near the village of Borshchahivka (Borshchivka, Borshchiv, now the village in Pohrebyshche district, Vinnytsia region). This is the place, where the Hetman’s convoy was stationed. The execution took place before the morning service held in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Volodymyr. The heads of Vasyl Kochubey and Ivan Iskra were cut off with an ax. Their headless bodies were left lying near the execution platform so that everyone could look at them. When the liturgy was over, the Hetman allowed to put their bodies into the coffins, which were then transported to Kyiv. They were buried near the wall of the old Refectory Church on June 17. The curious fact is that after Kochubey's execution his bloodied shirt was taken by his relatives and preserved like a “relic”. Although in the 19th century it was washed by one of the nuns). The first place where the shirt was preserved was the Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin, in Zhuki village (Poltava region). Nowadays it is part of the collection of Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore. Later, during the 19th and 20th centuries, the romanticized image of Iskra and Kochubey was repeatedly used by the Russian imperial propaganda.

Captions to the illustrations:

1. The execution of Ivan Iskra and Vasyl Kochubey. A scene from “Mazepa” silent movie, 1909.

2-3. Monument to Vasyl Kochubey and Ivan Iskra at the place of their execution (between the villages of Borshchahivka and Koshiv). Photo by O. Pastushenko, 1951 [National Kyiv-Pehersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, inv. № KPL-F-11813, 11817]

4. Kochubey's shirt. Modern photo [inv. № Tk-2682, PKM-7565]. Publication: O.M. Lomko Memorial things of Vasyl Kochubey from the collection of Vasyl Krychevsky Poltava Museum of Local Lore.

5. The cover of Archimandrite Hadrian's brochure, where Kochubey and Iskra are compared to Petro Stolypin (killed in Kyiv) in their “martyrdom for the Fatherland”.