Born at Pryluky, in the province of Poltava (modern-day Ukraine), Joachim Gorlenko was the son of Colonel Andrei Dmitrievich Gorlenko of the Pryluky Regiment by his marriage to Maria Danylovna, a daughter of Danylo Apostol (1654–1734), a significant military leader and Hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate from 1727 until his death.