In the year 862, the
Novgorod Slavs asked Rurick to be their prince. Two of his
comrades-in-arms, Askold and Dir, left Novgorod to try their luck in the
south of the country. They saw Kiev on the bank of the Dniepre
and conquered it. In 866 they launched a campaign moving the Russian
army from Kiev against Tzargrad (Constantinople). In Constantinople, the
Emperor Mikhail the III and the Patriarch Photios prayed to God and
after the night service in the Vlakhern Cathedral they carried the cross
to the shore of the Bosphorus Bay. They dipped the chasuble of the
Theotokos into the waters of the bay. The sea that had been calm before
that, became suddenly stormy and wrecked the ships of the Russians. Many
of them died, and the ones who survived came home impressed and awed by
the wrath that the Lord sent upon them. (Later that event began to be
celebrated as the Protection of the Most-Holy Theotokos).
Before long a Greek bishop came to
Russia and started preaching and telling Russians about our Lord the
Savior and the Holy wonders recorded in the Old and New Testaments. The
Russians who heard him telling about the three young men surviving the
blazing furnace of Babylon (Dan. 3), stopped him and said, "If we do not
see a similar miracle, we will not believe you." The bishop said prayers
and then placed the holy Gospel into the fire. The flames did not harm
the Gospel, not even the cloth book markers were singed. This miracle
impressed the people so much that many of them started to convert to
Christianity. A church dedicated to Nicolas the Wonderworker was built
on the grave of one of those Christians.
Oleg, Rurick's relative, succeed
his throne. He conquered Kiev and had a successful military campaign
against Tzargrad (year 906). He also accomplished a trade treaty with
the Greeks that was profitable for the Russians. Rurick's son, Igor,
signed a new trade treaty with Tzargrad after another war in 945.
Describing this event the chronicler mentioned that in Kiev the prince's
army swore to observe the treaty; pagans vowed before the statue of
Perun , while Christians vowed in the church of St. Ilias. This shows
that under Igor there were Christians in Kiev and even among the
prince's soldiers. Igor's wife, Olga, was very beautiful, intelligent
and virtuous. After Igor's death she ruled Russia because her son
Svyatoslav, was too young at the time. According to the annals, she was
terrible and merciless to the enemies of her motherland. But the Russian
people loved and respected her as a mother for her caring devotion,
compassion and fairness. She never tyrannized anyone, she was a fair
judge, her punishments were merciful, and she cared for the poor, the
elderly and the crippled. She listened patiently to every petitioner and
was glad to fulfill every fair request.
When Svyatoslav grew older she
could spend more time on charity. Her conversations with Kiev clergymen
led her to understand the value of true faith in contrast to paganism
and she decided to be baptized (in 957). According to the old stories
told at that time, she went to Constantinople for the sacred mystery of
Christening to be performed by the Patriarch Polyeuctus. Emperor
Constantine the Bagryanorodni was her godfather. Saint Olga was baptized
Elena. After being christened Saint Olga tried to persuade her son to
convert to Christianity, but Svyatoslav was to belligerent to accept her
convictions. "I will be a laughing stock for my soldiers," he said. At
the same time he did not prohibit his subjects to get baptized. When St.
Olga came home after Christening she devoted her life to Christian piety
and to the spreading of the Christian faith among her subjects. It is
believed that it was St. Olga who built the wooden church of St. Sofia
in Kiev.
According to an author from that
period, St. Olga "having perceived the true God, Maker of heaven and
earth, and having converted into Christianity, destroyed the idols of
the devil and began to live according to Jesus Christ's commandments.
She loved God with all of her heart and soul and sanctified herself with
the good deeds of clothing the poor, giving food and rest to homeless,
providing the destitute, orphans and widows with everything they needed
and doing this all with the quiet love of her heart."
Saint Olga left our world in 969.
Prince Vladimir put her imperishable relics to Desyatinnaia cathedral.
It was the first time that the sacred relics were revealed in Russia.
Later (before the Mongol invasion) God glorified the relics of the
Princess Olga with wonders and she was sanctified.
Troparion
Thou didst give wings to thy
mind with the knowledge of God./ and soar beyond creatures to God the
Creator of all./ And when thou hadst found him thou was baptized and
reborn./ Thou dost enjoy the Tree of Life, remaining eternally
incorrupt, O ever glorious Olga.
Dates: about
890 (?) - July 11, 969 (?)
Known for: founder,
with her grandson Vladimir, of Russian Christianity; ruler of Kiev as
regent for her son; grandmother of St. Vladimir, great-grandmother of
Saint Boris and Saint Gleb
Also known as: St.
Olga, Saint Olga, Saint Helen, Helga (Norse), Olga Piekrasa, Olga the
Beauty, Elena Temicheva. Baptismal name Helen (Helene, Yelena, Elena).
About Princess
Olga of Kiev: Olga's origins are not known with certainty, but
she may have come from Pskov. She was probably of Varangian
(Scandinavian) heritage. Olga married Prince Igor I of Kiev in about
903. Igor was the son of Rurik who is considered the founder of Russia.
Igor became the ruler of Kiev, a state which included parts of what is
now Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Poland.
Princess Olga as
Ruler: When Igor was murdered in 945, Princess Olga assumed the
regency for her son, Svyatoslav. Olga served as regent until her son was
of age in 964. She was known as a ruthless and effective ruler,
revenging her husband's murder by executing the killers and their
followers.
Princess Olga
and Religion: Princess Olga turned to religion. She traveled to
Constantinopole in 957, where some sources say that she was baptized by
the Patriarch Polyeuctus with the Emperor Constantine VII as her
god-father. She may have converted to Christianity before her trip to
Constantinopole.
After Princess Olga returned to
Kiev, she was unsuccessful in converting her son or very many others.
Her example, however, may have helped to influence her grandson,
Vladimir I, who was the third son of Svyatoslav.
Princess Olga died, probably on
July 11, 969. She is considered the first saint of the Russian Orthodox
Church. Her relics were lost in the 18th century.
Sources: Princess
Olga's story is found in several sources, which don't agree in all the
details. A hagiography was published to establish her sainthood; her
story is told in the Russian Primary Chronicle; and Emperor Constantine
VII describes her reception in Constantinopole in "De Ceremoniis."
More About
Princess Olga of Kiev:
Places: Kiev (or, in various sources,
Kiev-Rus, Rus-Kiev, Kievan Rus, Kiev-Ukraine)
Religion: Russian Orthodox Christianity
