The truth is that all men were accepted on Sich, regardless of nationality, language of communication (if I could connect three words), skin color and family status.
However, the most important condition for a candidate's entry into Sich, without which a person was not accepted into the Cossacks, was the confession of Orthodox Christianity.
In memoirs and historical literature, the procedure of acceptance into the Zaporizhzhya Army is recounted.
The arrival on Sich was usually brought to the kosh chieftain, who asked:
- "Do you believe in God? »
The newcomer answered: "I believe."
- "And do you believe in the Mother of God? »
- "And I believe in the Mother of God."
- "Well, cross yourself!" »
The man was baptized. This limited the clarification of religious affiliation. In cases where the recruit was not Orthodox, he had to be baptized in this faith before joining the Army.
Thus, in the request of the Archimandrite of the Neforoshchan Monastery to the Metropolitan of Kyiv about the conversion of the novice Iov Kryzhanivskyi into a monk, it was reported that this novice "of the Polish nation, in the town of Penske from his Jewish parents, left them and went to Sich Zaporizhzhia, accepted the Christian faith there and was baptized there, the head of the Mezhyhirsky monastery, Hieromonk Feodorit..., and his name is Iov, and his adopters were the Zaporozhian Cossacks Ivan Shvydkiy and Artem Vasyliv."
In the case when very young boys or people completely ignorant of military matters were accepted for the Sich, he was attached to an experienced Cossack and he became a jura, learned from his mentor how to handle cold and firearms, and adopted the traditions of the Zaporizhia Sich.
Jurys also had to study at the Sich school. Familyless Cossacks often had a son-in-law who inherited their property, weapons, and horses. Dzhura lived and ate in the same kuren as his mentor.
In the certificate of the Cossack Vasyl Perekhrist, it was reported that he was also born in the "Polish region", in a Jewish family, and of his own accord came to Zaporizhzhia Sich, where he was baptized in the Pokrovsky Church in Sich by the head of the Kyiv-Mezhyhirsky Monastery, and he was baptized by Zaporozhian Cossacks. Sometimes Jews who had already converted to Christianity arrived in Zaporizhzhia.
So, Ivan Leontiyovych Kovalevsky, born in Smila to a Jewish family, was baptized by his mother as a child, after which the family moved to Novy Kodak. In Zaporizhzhia, Kovalevsky first served in the Army, and later became a priest in the Holy Trinity Church in Samarchitskyi.