Varvatsi, Ivan Andreevich

Ioannis Varvakis (in Russian he was first called Jan Varvach or Vorvach, and later Ivan Andreevich Varvatsi) was born, according to some sources, in 1732 , according to others in 1750 on the small island of Psara , in the northeast of the Greek archipelago.

At age 35, the famous pirate, behind whose head the Turkish sultan promised a thousand piastres, in 1770 Varvakis, like many of his fellow countrymen, voluntarily joined on his own twenty-gun ship the Russian squadron of the First Archipelago Expedition under the command of Count A. Orlov and Admiral G. Spiridov , unexpectedly appeared in the Aegean. There was a Russian-Turkish war . The Baltic Fleet was given an adventurous task: to secretly go around Europe as far as possible, intensify the partisan struggle of the Balkan peoples and strike a blow at the Turkish fleet. To the amazement of all of Europe, the task was completed and almost the entire Turkish fleet was destroyed in the night battle of Chesme on June 26, 1770.

It is with Chesma that tradition connects the beginning of the Russian service of Captain Varvakis, although documents only indirectly confirm this. In the ninth part of the General Tombstone of the noble families of the All-Russian Empire it is said: "Ivan Varvatsi entered the service from the Greeks in 1770, and during the war with the Turks in the Archipelago with his own naval vessel was in different naval battles." For his services, he received the rank of lieutenant, as the empress herself testifies in a later decree: “It will be known to everyone that we served in the past war with Our fleet from the Greeks Jan Vorvach for his service in Our zeal and diligence in Our assignments 1772 years , October 21 days all mercifully granted. "

According to archival data, the battle episode with the participation of Varvakis is given by the famous Russian naval historian A. Sokolov in the last century. In the spring of 1774, during the "usual annual campaign against the Dardanelles" squadron under the flag of Admiral Elmanov on the night of May 30 from the frigate "Glory" in the Chios Strait, "landed in the number of 130 Ipsariots under the command of Varvach, and he took one battery of four guns "(" Notes of the Hydrographic Department for 1849 ").

Two months later, a peace treaty was signed in the Turkish village of Kucuk-Kainardji . The Russian Empire received southern Ukrainian lands before the Bug and free access to the Black and Mediterranean Seas, the Crimean Khanate was declared independent of Turkey. The Russian Imperial Fleet (Imperial Fleet) was returning to Kronstadt . Together with him, many Greek and Slavic families (mainly insurgents) moved to their new homeland, becoming the first inhabitants of the southern and Black Sea lands of the Empire.

The position of Varvakis has become very difficult. He was a Turkish subject, but also a military officer of the Imperial Navy; he is a merchant, but so far all of his property was one ship. For such a brave and adventurous person, the best way out under these conditions would be to continue to serve Russia on the Black Sea, where the Russian Empire had just received the fortresses of Kerch and Kinburn and where, it seems, it was possible to start a fleet. However, first Varvakis settles in Astrakhan , where he organizes the procurement and sale of caviar, from where he goes to Persia on his ship and even redeems a prisoner there (subject to the Russian Empire). In 1779, Varvakis in his galliot takes out from Rasht to Astrakhan the property and personnel of the Russian consulate. He is also known for his participation in the laying of the Astrakhan city canal between the Volga and Kutum river (by decree of December 31, 1817 it became known as Varvatsievsky ^[1] , later - the canal named after May 1, September 25, 2017 returned its historical name ^[2] ).

In 1780, at an audience with Potemkin in St. Petersburg, he receives the task of participating in the Persian expedition of Count M. I. Voinovich.

In 1789, the Greek was adopted "into the eternal citizenship of the Russian Empire." He devoted all his outstanding abilities and energy to commerce and charity. Ioannis Varvakis, who is now referred to in documents as Mr. Advocate Ivan Andreevich Varvatsiy, soon became a millionaire.

Growing into the life of the Russian Empire, Varvatsiy never forgot about his homeland. Little evidence has been preserved, but it is very likely that he constantly maintained ties with the Greek diaspora, most of which lived in the southern and Black Sea lands of the Russian Empire, mainly between Kerch and Taganrog .

It is known that negotiations with the Taganrog city ​​society on the construction of the Alexander Nevsky Church in the Greek Jerusalem Monastery (the church in which in 1825 there was a coffin with the embalmed body of Alexander I for more than a month) began Varvatsii in 1809, and in 1813 he finally moved to Taganrog .

It was at this time in the south of the Empire that two interconnected societies arose. One - “Filomuson Eteria” - (see Muses Friends Society (Vienna) ) acted legally. It was founded by Count John of Kapodistria . Another is secret, “ Filiki Eteria ”, whose leader was the son of the former sovereign of Moldova , a young general of 1812, a friend of Denis Davydov and Decembrist M. Orlov , Alexander Ipsilanti .

When in March 1822, Ipsilanti raised a rebellion in Iasi, which became the impetus of the Greek revolution, Varvatius - a prominent member of Etheria - bought in Tula and sent the rebels a large batch of weapons.

Apparently, in 1823 (that is, simultaneously with Byron ) he illegally moved to Greece. With his money, he armed a detachment of rebels and participated with them in the siege of the Modena fortress. For more than a year - until his death on the eve of Christmas 1825 - Ioannis Varvakis again lived and fought in his homeland.

If the traditional date of his birth is correct (1750), he died at 75 years old, if the family information published by A.S. Markov is correct, then at 93 years old.

At the grave of Ioannis Varvakis in Athens stands a majestic marble monument.

• Varvatsi

• In 2015, the Russian-Greek biographical film “ Pirates of the Aegean Sea ” was released (God loves caviar; Greek Ο Θεός αγαπάει το χαβιάρι (ταινία) ; starring Sebastian Koch ).
• In the 19th century, the canal laid in Astrakhan from Kutum to the Volga backwaters received the name of the Varvatsievsky canal. In 1920, it was renamed the Canal named after May 1, but on September 25, 2017, the historical name was returned to it ^[2] .

• Krasheninnikov A. F. , Mikhailova M. B. To the Glory of Astrakhan and the Russian State / Review of A. Markov's book Varvakis . Astrakhan, 2000 .-- 303 p. // Bibliography. - 2002. - S. 37-39.
• Voinovich P.V. Warrior under the flag of St. Andrew. - M. , 2011.