mazepa

Mazepa’s decision led to ostracism and excommunication by the Orthodox Church and, during the Soviet era, designation as a symbol of “Ukrainian bourgeois nationalism.” In post-Soviet Ukraine, his star has risen and he has begun to be seen as one of the first Ukrainian leaders to stand up to the tsar. In the West, meanwhile, aided in large part by a romantic-heroic poem by Byron, Mazepa has been seen as a symbol of resilience and independence. At least three towns in the US (in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania) are named for him.