Rakushka, Roman

Rakushka, Roman or Rakushka-Romanovsky [Ракушка, Роман; Rakuška], b 1622 in Nizhyn, d 1703. Member of the Cossack starshyna and Orthodox priest. He was inspector general of the Hetman state’s treasury and treasurer of Nizhyn regiment in 1654–5, captain of Nizhyn company in 1658–63, judge of Nizhyn regiment in 1659, and general treasurer of the Hetman state under Hetman Ivan Briukhovetsky in 1663–8. After clashing with Hetman Demian Mnohohrishny he moved to Right-Bank Ukraine, was ordained, and in 1668–75 served as an archpriest in Bratslav. In 1670 he was Metropolitan Yosyf Tukalsky-Neliubovych’s envoy to the Patriarch of Constantinople. In 1676 he returned to Left-Bank Ukraine and settled in Starodub, where he served as pastor of Saint Nicholas’s Church. According to many historians (eg, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, Kostiantyn Kharlampovych, Dmytro Doroshenko, Oleksander Ohloblyn, Mykola Petrovsky, Viktor Romanovsky, Mykhailo Marchenko, Yaroslav Dzyra) Rakushka is the author of the Samovydets Chronicle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Modzalevs'kyi, Vadym. ‘Pershyi viis'kovyi pidskarbii (1663–1669) Roman Rakushka (Narys ioho zhyttia ta diial'nosty),’ Zapysky Istorychno-filolohichnoho viddilu VUAN, 1, 2–3 (1919, 1922)
Petrovs'kyi, Mykola. ‘Do pytannia pro pevnist' vidomostei Litopystsia Samovydtsia i pro avtora litopysu (Romana Rakushku-Romanovs'koho),’ Zapysky Nizhyns'koho instytutu narodnoï osvity, 6 (1926)

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]