 Fedorovych addressed the Ukrainian commoners with several Universals calling upon everyone to join his uprising against the Polish "usurpers".The turbulence spread over the nearby territories, with many Cossacks and peasants rising against the local Polish nobles as well as wealthy Jewish merchants who, despite their limited involvement in the local power structure were also hated by the peasants as Polish land owners frequently gave to the Jews the role of arendators (see tax farming) in the local taxation system.As religious services such as baptism, wedding ceremonies and funerals conducted in the Eastern Orthodox tradition customary for Ruthenians, were now to be taxed, with most of the commoners and especially the Cossacks being fiercely Orthodox, the Jews were perceived by many Ruthenians as a part of the oppressor/exploiter group.