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. ==Notes==