Equal to the Apostles Princess Olga short life. Icon of Saint Olga: meaning, what do they pray for in front of her? Saint Olga - biography

Ruled Russia from 945 to 960. At birth, the girl was given the name Helga, her husband called her by his own name, but the female version, and at baptism she began to be called Elena. Olga is known for being the first of the rulers of the Old Russian state to voluntarily convert to Christianity.

Dozens of films and TV series have been made about Princess Olga. Her portraits are in Russian art galleries; based on ancient chronicles and found relics, scientists have tried to recreate a photographic portrait of the woman. In his native Pskov there is a bridge, an embankment and a chapel named after Olga and two of her monuments.

Childhood and youth

The exact date of Olga’s birth has not been preserved, but the Degree Book of the 17th century says that the princess died at eighty years old, which means she was born at the end of the 9th century. If you believe the “Arkhangelsk Chronicler”, the girl got married when she was ten years old. Historians are still arguing about the year of birth of the princess - from 893 to 928. The official version is recognized as 920, but this is the approximate year of birth.

The oldest chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years,” describing the biography of Princess Olga, indicates that she was born in the village of Vybuty, Pskov. The names of the parents are not known, because... they were peasants, and not persons of noble blood.

The story of the late 15th century says that Olga was the daughter of the ruler of Russia until Igor, the son of Rurik, grew up. He, according to legend, married Igor and Olga. But this version of the princess’s origin has not been confirmed.

Governing body

At the moment when the Drevlyans killed Olga’s husband, Igor, their son Svyatoslav was only three years old. The woman was forced to take power into her own hands until her son grew up. The first thing the princess did was take revenge on the Drevlyans.

Immediately after the murder of Igor, they sent matchmakers to Olga, who persuaded her to marry their prince, Mal. So the Drevlyans wanted to unite the lands and become the largest and most powerful state of that time.

Olga buried the first matchmakers alive along with the boat, making sure that they understood that their death was worse than Igor’s. The princess sent a message to Mal that she was worthy of the best matchmakers from the strongest men in the country. The prince agreed, and the woman locked these matchmakers in the bathhouse and burned them alive while they washed themselves to meet her.

Later, the princess came with a small retinue to the Drevlyans to, according to tradition, celebrate a funeral feast at the grave of her husband. During the funeral feast, Olga drugged the Drevlyans and ordered the soldiers to cut them down. The chronicles indicate that the Drevlyans then lost five thousand soldiers.

In 946, Princess Olga went into open battle on the land of the Drevlyans. She captured their capital and, after a long siege, using cunning (with the help of birds with incendiary mixtures tied to their paws), she burned the entire city. Some of the Drevlyans died in the battle, the rest submitted and agreed to pay tribute to Rus'.

Since Olga’s grown son spent most of his time on military campaigns, power over the country was in the hands of the princess. She carried out many reforms, including the creation of centers of trade and exchange, which made it easier to collect taxes.

Thanks to the princess, stone construction was born in Rus'. Having seen how easily the wooden fortresses of the Drevlyans burned, she decided to build her houses from stone. The first stone buildings in the country were the city palace and the ruler's country house.

Olga established the exact amount of taxes from each principality, the date of their payment and frequency. They were then called “polyudya”. All lands subject to Kyiv were obliged to pay it, and a princely administrator, a tiun, was appointed in each administrative unit of the state.

In 955, the princess decided to convert to Christianity and was baptized. According to some sources, she was baptized in Constantinople, where she was personally baptized by Emperor Constantine VII. During baptism, the woman took the name Elena, but in history she is still better known as Princess Olga.

She returned to Kyiv with icons and church books. First of all, the mother wanted to baptize her only son Svyatoslav, but he only mocked those who accepted Christianity, but did not forbid anyone.

During her reign, Olga built dozens of churches, including a monastery in her native Pskov. The princess personally went to the north of the country to baptize everyone. There she destroyed all pagan symbols and installed Christian ones.

The vigilantes reacted to the new religion with fear and hostility. They emphasized their pagan faith in every possible way, tried to convince Prince Svyatoslav that Christianity would weaken the state and should be banned, but he did not want to contradict his mother.

Olga was never able to make Christianity the main religion. The warriors won, and the princess had to stop her campaigns, locking herself in Kyiv. She raised Svyatoslav's sons in the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize, fearing the wrath of her son and the possible murder of her grandchildren. She secretly kept a priest with her so as not to give rise to new persecution of people of the Christian faith.

There is no exact date in history when the princess handed over the reins of government to her son Svyatoslav. He often went on military campaigns, therefore, despite the official title, Olga ruled the country. Later, the princess gave her son power in the north of the country. And, presumably, by 960 he became the ruling prince of all Rus'.

Olga's influence will be felt during the reign of her grandchildren and. They were both raised by their grandmother, from infancy they became accustomed to the Christian faith and continued the formation of Rus' on the path of Christianity.

Personal life

According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Prophetic Oleg married Olga and Igor when they were still children. The story also says that the wedding took place in 903, but, according to other sources, Olga was not even born then, so there is no exact date of the wedding.

There is a legend that the couple met at a crossing near Pskov, when the girl was a boat carrier (she dressed in men's clothes - this was a job only for men). Igor noticed the young beauty and immediately began to pester her, to which he received a rebuff. When the time came to get married, he remembered that wayward girl and ordered to find her.

If you believe the chronicles describing the events of those times, then Prince Igor died in 945 at the hands of the Drevlyans. Olga came to power while her son grew up. She never married again, and there is no mention of relationships with other men in the chronicles.

Death

Olga died of illness and old age, and was not killed, like many rulers of that time. The chronicles indicate that the princess died in 969. In 968, the Pechenegs raided Russian lands for the first time, and Svyatoslav went to war. Princess Olga and her grandchildren locked themselves in Kyiv. When the son returned from the war, he lifted the siege and wanted to immediately leave the city.

His mother stopped him, warning him that she was very ill and felt her own death approaching. She turned out to be right; 3 days after these words, Princess Olga died. She was buried according to Christian customs, in the ground.

In 1007, the grandson of the princess, Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, transferred the relics of all the saints, including the remains of Olga, to the Church of the Holy Mother of God in Kyiv, which he founded. The official canonization of the princess took place in the middle of the 13th century, although miracles were attributed to her relics long before that, she was revered as a saint and called equal to the apostles.

Memory

• Olginskaya street in Kyiv
• St. Olginsky Cathedral in Kyiv

Movie

• 1981 – ballet “Olga”
• 1983 – film “The Legend of Princess Olga”
• 1994 – cartoon “Pages of Russian History. Land of the ancestors"
• 2005 – film “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars. The Legend of Olga the Saint"
• 2005 – film “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars. Vladimir's ladder "Red Sun"
• 2006 – “Prince Vladimir”

Literature

• 2000 – “I know God!” Alekseev S. T.
• 2002 - “Olga, Queen of the Rus.”
• 2009 - “Princess Olga.” Alexey Karpov
• 2015 - “Olga, forest princess.” Elizaveta Dvoretskaya
• 2016 - “United by Power.” Oleg Panus

July 24(July 11, Old Art.) The Church honors memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, named Helen in holy baptism. Holy Princess Olga ruled the Old Russian state from 945 to 960 as regent for her young son Svyatoslav, after the death of her husband, Prince of Kyiv Igor Rurikovich. Olga was the first of the rulers of Rus' to convert to Christianity. They pray to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga for the strengthening of the Christian faith and for the deliverance of the state from enemies. Saint Olga is also revered as the patroness of widows.

Life of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

The chronicles do not report Olga's year of birth, but the later Book of Degrees states that she died at the age of about 80, which places her date of birth at the end of the 9th century. The approximate date of her birth is reported by the late “Arkhangelsk Chronicler,” who clarifies that Olga was 10 years old at the time of her marriage. Based on this, many scientists calculated the date of her birth - 893. The short life of the princess states that at the time of her death she was 75 years old. Thus, Olga was born in 894. But this date is called into question by the date of birth of Olga’s eldest son, Svyatoslav (c. 938-943), since Olga should have been 45-50 years old at the time of her son’s birth, which seems unlikely. Looking at the fact that Svyatoslav Igorevich was Olga’s eldest son, researcher of Slavic culture and history of Ancient Rus' B.A. Rybakov, taking 942 as the prince’s date of birth, considered the year 927-928 to be the latest point of Olga’s birth. A. Karpov in his monograph “Princess Olga” claims that the princess was born around 920. Consequently, the date around 925 looks more correct than 890, since Olga herself in the chronicles for 946-955 appears young and energetic, and gives birth to her eldest son in 942. The name of the future enlightener of Rus' and her homeland is named in the “Tale of Bygone Years” in the description of the marriage of the Kyiv prince Igor:

And they brought him a wife from Pskov, named Olga.

The Joachim Chronicle specifies that she belonged to the family of the Izborsky princes - one of the ancient Russian princely dynasties.

Igor's wife was called by the Varangian name Helga, in Russian pronunciation Olga (Volga). Tradition calls the village of Vybuty, not far from Pskov, up the Velikaya River, Olga’s birthplace. The life of Saint Olga tells that here she first met her future husband. The young prince was hunting on the Pskov land and, wanting to cross the Velikaya River, he saw “someone floating in a boat” and called him to the shore. Sailing away from the shore in a boat, the prince discovered that he was being carried by a girl of amazing beauty. Igor was inflamed with lust for her and began to incline her to sin. Olga turned out to be not only beautiful, but chaste and smart. She shamed Igor by reminding him of the princely dignity of the ruler:

Why do you embarrass me, prince, with immodest words? I may be young and ignorant, and alone here, but know: it is better for me to throw myself into the river than to endure reproach.

Igor broke up with her, keeping her words and beautiful image in his memory. When the time came to choose a bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality were gathered in Kyiv. But none of them pleased him. And then he remembered Olga and sent Prince Oleg for her. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the Grand Duchess of Russia.

In 942, a son, Svyatoslav, was born into the family of Prince Igor. In 945, Igor was killed by the Drevlyans after repeatedly exacting tribute from them. Fearing revenge for the murder of the Kyiv prince, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors to Princess Olga, inviting her to marry their ruler Mal (d. 946). Olga pretended to agree. By cunning, she lured two Drevlyan embassies to Kyiv, putting them to a painful death: the first was buried alive “in the princely courtyard,” the second was burned in a bathhouse. After this, five thousand Drevlyan men were killed by Olga’s soldiers at a funeral feast for Igor at the walls of the Drevlyan capital Iskorosten. The next year, Olga again approached Iskorosten with an army. The city was burned with the help of birds, to whose feet burning tow was tied. The surviving Drevlyans were captured and sold into slavery.

Along with this, the chronicles are full of evidence of her tireless “walks” across the Russian land in order to build the political and economic life of the country. She achieved the strengthening of the power of the Kyiv Grand Duke and centralized government administration through the system of “cemeteries.” The chronicle notes that she, her son and her retinue, walked through the Drevlyansky land, establishing tributes and dues, marking villages and camps and hunting grounds to be included in the Kyiv grand-ducal possessions. She went to Novgorod, setting up graveyards along the Msta and Luga rivers. The life tells about Olga’s works as follows:

And Princess Olga ruled the regions of the Russian land under her control not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in her hands and courageously defending herself from enemies. And she was terrible for the latter, but loved by her own people, as a merciful and pious ruler, as a righteous judge who did not offend anyone, inflicting punishment with mercy and rewarding the good; She instilled fear in all the evil, rewarding everyone in proportion to the merit of his actions; in all matters of government she showed foresight and wisdom. At the same time, Olga, merciful at heart, was generous to the poor, the poor and the needy; fair requests soon reached her heart, and she quickly fulfilled them... With all this, Olga combined a temperate and chaste life, she did not want to remarry, but remained in pure widowhood, observing princely power for her son until the days of his age. When the latter matured, she handed over to him all the affairs of the government, and she herself, having withdrawn from rumors and care, lived outside the concerns of management, indulging in works of charity..

Rus' grew and strengthened. Cities were built surrounded by stone and oak walls. The princess herself lived behind the reliable walls of Vyshgorod, surrounded by a loyal squad. Two-thirds of the collected tribute, according to the chronicle, she gave to the Kyiv veche, the third part went “to Olga, to Vyshgorod” - to the military building. The establishment of the first state borders of Kievan Rus dates back to Olga's time. The heroic outposts, sung in epics, guarded the peaceful life of the people of Kiev from the nomads of the Great Steppe and from attacks from the West. Foreigners flocked to Gardarika, as they called Rus', with goods. The Scandinavians and Germans willingly joined the Russian army as mercenaries. Rus' became a great power. But Olga understood that it was not enough to worry only about state and economic life. It was necessary to start organizing the religious and spiritual life of the people. The Degree Book writes:

Her feat was that she recognized the true God. Not knowing the Christian law, she lived a pure and chaste life, and she wanted to be a Christian by free will, with the eyes of her heart she found the path of knowing God and followed it without hesitation.

Reverend Nestor the Chronicler(c. 1056-1114) narrates:

From an early age, Blessed Olga sought wisdom about what is best in this world, and found valuable pearls- Christ.

Grand Duchess Olga, entrusting Kyiv to her grown-up son, set off with a large fleet to Constantinople. Old Russian chroniclers will call this act of Olga “walking”; it combined a religious pilgrimage, a diplomatic mission, and a demonstration of the military power of Rus'. " Olga wanted to go to the Greeks herself in order to see with her own eyes the Christian service and be fully convinced of their teaching about the true God", - narrates the life of Saint Olga. According to the chronicle, in Constantinople Olga decides to become a Christian. The sacrament of Baptism was performed on her by Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople (917-956), and the successor was Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-959), who left a detailed description of the ceremonies during Olga’s stay in Constantinople in his essay “On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court”. At one of the receptions, the Russian princess was presented with a golden dish decorated with precious stones. Olga donated it to the sacristy of the Hagia Sophia, where it was seen and described at the beginning of the 13th century by the Russian diplomat Dobrynya Yadrejkovich, later Archbishop Anthony of Novgorod (d. 1232): “ The dish is large and gold, the service of Olga the Russian, when she took tribute while going to Constantinople: in Olga’s dish there is a precious stone, on the same stones Christ is written" The Patriarch blessed the newly baptized Russian princess with a cross carved from a single piece of the Life-Giving Tree of the Lord. On the cross there was an inscription:

The Russian land was renewed with the Holy Cross, and Olga, the blessed princess, accepted it.

Olga returned to Kyiv with icons and liturgical books. She erected a temple in the name of St. Nicholas over the grave of Askold, the first Christian prince of Kyiv, and converted many Kiev residents to Christ. The princess set off to the north to preach the faith. In the Kyiv and Pskov lands, in remote villages, at crossroads, she erected crosses, destroying pagan idols. Princess Olga laid the foundation for special veneration of the Holy Trinity in Rus'. From century to century, a story was passed down about a vision she had near the Velikaya River, not far from her native village. She saw “three bright rays” descending from the sky from the east. Addressing her companions, who witnessed the vision, Olga said prophetically:

Let it be known to you that by the will of God in this place there will be a church in the name of the Most Holy and Life-Giving Trinity and there will be here a great and glorious city, abounding in everything.

At this place Olga erected a cross and founded a temple in the name of the Holy Trinity. It became the main cathedral of Pskov. On May 11, 960, the Church of St. Sophia of the Wisdom of God was consecrated in Kyiv. The main shrine of the temple was the cross that Olga received at Baptism in Constantinople. In the 13th century Prologue about Olga's cross it is said:

It now stands in Kyiv in St. Sophia in the altar on the right side.

After the conquest of Kyiv by the Lithuanians, Holga's cross was stolen from St. Sophia Cathedral and taken by Catholics to Lublin. His further fate is unknown. At that time, the pagans looked with hope at the growing Svyatoslav, who decisively rejected his mother’s entreaties to accept Christianity. " The Tale of Bygone Years" tells about it this way:

Olga lived with her son Svyatoslav, and persuaded his mother to be baptized, but he neglected this and covered his ears; however, if someone wanted to be baptized, he did not forbid him, nor mocked him... Olga often said: “My son, I have come to know God and I rejoice; so you, if you know it, you will also begin to rejoice.” He, not listening to this, said: “How can I want to change my faith alone? My warriors will laugh at this!” She told him: “If you are baptized, everyone will do the same.”.

He, not listening to his mother, lived according to pagan customs. In 959, a German chronicler wrote: “ The ambassadors of Elena, Queen of the Russians, who was baptized in Constantinople, came to the king and asked to consecrate a bishop and priests for this people" King Otto, the future founder of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, responded to Olga's request. A year later, Libutius, from the monastery of St. Alban in Mainz, was installed as Bishop of Russia, but he soon died. Adalbert of Trier was dedicated in his place, whom Otto finally sent to Russia. When Adalbert appeared in Kyiv in 962, he “ “I didn’t succeed in anything for which I was sent, and saw my efforts in vain.” On the way back " some of his companions were killed, and the bishop himself did not escape mortal danger“- this is how the chronicles tell about Adalbert’s mission. The pagan reaction manifested itself so strongly that not only the German missionaries suffered, but also some of the Kyiv Christians who were baptized along with Olga. By order of Svyatoslav, Olga's nephew Gleb was killed and some churches built by her were destroyed. Princess Olga had to come to terms with what had happened and go into matters of personal piety, leaving control to the pagan Svyatoslav. Of course, she was still taken into account, her experience and wisdom were invariably turned to on all important occasions. When Svyatoslav left Kyiv, the administration of the state was entrusted to Princess Olga.

Svyatoslav defeated the longtime enemy of the Russian state - the Khazar Khaganate. The next blow was dealt to Volga Bulgaria, then it was the turn of Danube Bulgaria - eighty cities were taken by Kyiv warriors along the Danube. Svyatoslav and his warriors personified the heroic spirit of pagan Rus'. Chronicles have preserved the words Svyatoslav, surrounded with his squad by a huge Greek army:

We will not disgrace the Russian land, but we will lie here with our bones! The dead have no shame!

While in Kyiv, Princess Olga taught her grandchildren, the children of Svyatoslav, the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize them, fearing the wrath of her son. In addition, he hindered her attempts to establish Christianity in Rus'. In 968, Kyiv was besieged by the Pechenegs. Princess Olga and her grandchildren, among whom was Prince Vladimir, found themselves in mortal danger. When news of the siege reached Svyatoslav, he rushed to the rescue, and the Pechenegs were put to flight. Princess Olga, already seriously ill, asked her son not to leave until her death. She did not lose hope of turning her son’s heart to God and on her deathbed did not stop preaching: “ Why are you leaving me, my son, and where are you going? When looking for someone else's, to whom do you entrust yours? After all, Your children are still small, and I am already old, and sick, - I expect an imminent death - departure to my beloved Christ, in whom I believe; Now I don’t worry about anything except about you: I regret that although I taught a lot and convinced you to leave the wickedness of idols, to believe in the true God, known to me, but you neglect this, and I know what for your disobedience A bad end awaits you on earth, and after death - eternal torment prepared for the pagans. Now fulfill at least this last request of mine: do not go anywhere until I am dead and buried; then go wherever you want. After my death, do not do anything that pagan custom requires in such cases; but let my presbyter and the clergy bury my body according to Christian custom; do not dare to pour a grave mound over me and hold funeral feasts; but send the gold to Constantinople to the Holy Patriarch so that he would make a prayer and offering to God for my soul and distribute alms to the poor». « Hearing this, Svyatoslav wept bitterly and promised to fulfill everything she had bequeathed, refusing only to accept the holy faith. After three days, blessed Olga fell into extreme exhaustion; she received communion of the Divine Mysteries of the Most Pure Body and the Life-Giving Blood of Christ our Savior; all the time she remained in fervent prayer to God and to the Most Pure Mother of God, whom she always had as her helper according to God; she called upon all the saints; Blessed Olga prayed with special zeal for the enlightenment of the Russian land after her death; seeing the future, she repeatedly predicted that God would enlighten the people of the Russian land and many of them would be great saints; Blessed Olga prayed for the speedy fulfillment of this prophecy at her death. And another prayer was on her lips when her honest soul was released from her body and, as a righteous one, was accepted by the hands of God" The date of repose of Princess Olga is July 11, 969. Princess Olga was buried according to Christian custom. In 1007, her grandson Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavichokolo (960-1015) transferred the relics of saints, including Olga, to the Church of the Virgin Mary, which he founded in Kyiv.

Veneration of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

Probably, during the reign of Yaropolk (972-978), Princess Olga began to be revered as a saint. This is evidenced by the transfer of her relics to the church and the description of miracles given by the monk Jacob in the 11th century. From that time on, the day of remembrance of Saint Olga (Elena) began to be celebrated on July 11 (O.S.). Under Grand Duke Vladimir, the relics of Saint Olga were transferred to the Tithe Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary and placed in a sarcophagus. There was a window in the church wall above the tomb of St. Olga; and if anyone came to the relics with faith, he saw the relics through the window, and some saw the radiance emanating from them, and many sick people were healed. The prophecy of Saint Princess Olga about the death of her son Svyatoslav came true. He, as the chronicle reports, was killed by the Pecheneg prince Kurei (10th century), who cut off Svyatoslav’s head and made himself a cup from the skull, bound it with gold and drank from it during feasts. The prayerful works and deeds of Saint Olga confirmed the greatest deed of her grandson Saint Vladimir - the Baptism of Rus'. In 1547, Olga was canonized as Saint Equal to the Apostles.

Basic information about Olga’s life, recognized as reliable, is contained in the “Tale of Bygone Years”, the Life from the Book of Degrees, the hagiographic work of the monk Jacob “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Volodymer” and the work of Constantine Porphyrogenitus “On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court”. Other sources provide additional information about Olga, but their reliability cannot be determined with certainty. According to the Joachim Chronicle, Olga’s original name was Beautiful. The Joachim Chronicle reports the execution by Svyatoslav of his only brother Gleb for his Christian beliefs during the Russian-Byzantine war of 968-971. Gleb could be the son of Prince Igor both from Olga and from another wife, since the same chronicle reports that Igor had other wives. Gleb's Orthodox faith testifies to the fact that he was Olga's youngest son. The medieval Czech historian Tomas Pesina, in his work in Latin “Mars Moravicus” (1677), spoke about a certain Russian prince Oleg, who became (940) the last king of Moravia and was expelled from there by the Hungarians in 949. According to Tomas Pesina, this Oleg of Moravia was Olga’s brother. The existence of Olga’s blood relative, calling him anepsium (meaning nephew or cousin), was mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his list of her retinue during his visit to Constantinople in 957.

Troparion and Kontakion to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

Troparion, tone 1

Having fixed your mind on the wing of God's understanding, you soared above visible creatures, seeking God and the Creator in every way. And having found Him, you again accepted the destruction through baptism. And having enjoyed the tree of the living cross of Christ, you remain incorruptible forever, ever glorious.

Kontakion, tone 4

Let us sing today to God, the Benefactor of all, who glorified the God-wise Olga in Rus'. And through her prayers, Christ, grant remission of sins to our souls.

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Library of Russian Faith
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Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. Icons

On the icons, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga is depicted full-length or waist-length. She is dressed in royal clothes, her head is decorated with a princely crown. In her right hand, Saint Princess Olga Vladimir holds a cross - a symbol of faith, as the moral basis of the state, or a scroll.

Temples in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

In the north-west of Rus' there was a churchyard called Olgin Krest. It was here, as chronicle sources say, that Princess Olga came to collect taxes in 947. In memory of her amazing rescue while crossing the rapids and ice-free Narova, Princess Olga erected a wooden and then a stone cross. In the Olgin Cross tract there were local revered shrines - a temple in the name of St. Nicholas, built in the 15th century, a stone cross, installed, according to legend, in the 10th century by Princess Olga. Later, the cross was embedded in the wall of the Church of St. Nicholas. In 1887, the temple was supplemented with a chapel in the name of St. Princess Olga. St. Nicholas Church was blown up in 1944 by retreating German troops.

In Kyiv on Trekhsvyatitelskaya Street (Victims of the Revolution Street) until the 30s. XX century there was a church in the name of three saints - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. It was built in the early 80s. XII century by Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich at the princely court and consecrated in 1183. The church had a chapel in the name of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga.

In the Church of the Assumption from the ferry (from Paromenya) in Pskov, a chapel was consecrated in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. The church was erected on the site of an earlier one, built in 1444. Since 1938, the church has not operated; in 1994, services were resumed there.

In the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, the Edinoverie Church in Ulyanovsk was consecrated. The church was built in 1196.

In the city of Ulyanovsk there is a church of the same faith of the Russian Orthodox Church.

People's memory of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

In Pskov there is the Olginskaya embankment, the Olginsky bridge, the Olginsky chapel, as well as two monuments to the princess. Monuments to the saint were erected in Kyiv and Korosten, and Olga’s figure is also present on the “Millennium of Russia” monument in Veliky Novgorod. Olga Bay in the Sea of ​​Japan and an urban-type settlement in the Primorsky Territory are named in honor of Saint Princess Olga. Streets in Kyiv and Lviv are named after Saint Olga. Also in the name of Saint Olga, orders were established: Insignia of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga (established by Emperor Nicholas II in 1915); “Order of Princess Olga” (state award of Ukraine since 1997); Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga (ROC).

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. Paintings

Many painters turned to the image of Saint Princess Olga and her life in their works, among them V.K. Sazonov (1789–1870), B.A. Chorikov (1802–1866), V.I. Surikov (1848–1916), N.A. Bruni (1856–1935), N.K. Roerich (1874–1947), M.V. Nesterov (1862–1942) and others.

The image of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga in art

Many literary works are dedicated to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, such as “Princess Olga” (A.I. Antonov), “Olga, Queen of the Rus” (B. Vasiliev), “I Know God!” (S.T. Alekseev), “The Great Princess Elena-Olga” (M. Apostolov) and others. Such works as “The Legend of Princess Olga” (directed by Yuri Ilyenko), “The Saga of the Ancient Bulgars” are known in cinema. The Legend of Olga the Saint" (director Bulat Mansurov) and others.

Date of publication or update 11/01/2017

To the table of contents: lives of saints

Life of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga,
in the holy baptism of Helen.

The depth of the great and holy sacrament of baptism is immeasurable! It is the first in a series of sacraments established by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and preserved by the Church. Through him lies the path to eternal life in grace-filled union with God.

The establishment of Christianity in Rus' under the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev (July 15/28) was preceded by the reign of Grand Duchess Olga, who in ancient times was called the root of orthodoxy. Blessed Olga appeared like the dawn before the onset of the bright day of holy faith in Christ - the Sun of Truth, and shone like the moon in the darkness of the night, that is, in the darkness of idolatry that surrounded the Russian land. During her reign, the seeds of the faith of Christ were successfully planted in Rus'. According to the chronicler, Saint Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles, “in the entire Russian land, the first destroyer of idolatry and the foundation of orthodoxy.”

Princess Olga, glorified by her wise rule in the days of paganism and even more so by her conversion to Christianity, which she indicated to her great grandson, has become from time immemorial the object of people's love. Many legends have been preserved about her, pagan and Christian, each of them is imbued with the spirit of its faith, and therefore it should not be surprising if paganism, thinking of glorifying its princess, depicted with vivid features what seemed to it the first virtue - revenge for a spouse. More gratifying are the legends about the first days of her youth, which breathe the freshness of pure Slavic morals - this is the first appearance of St. Olga to her high career.

Equal to the Apostles Olga was born in the Pskov land, her ancestry goes back to Gostomysl, that glorious man who ruled in Veliky Novgorod until, on his own advice, Rurik and his brothers were called from the Varangians to reign in Russia. She belonged, the Joachim Chronicle clarifies, to the family of the Izborsky princes, one of the forgotten ancient Russian princely dynasties that existed in Rus' in the 10th-11th centuries. no less than twenty, but all of which were supplanted over time by the Rurikovichs or became associated with them through marriages. She was born into a pagan family and was called by the Varangian name Helga, in Russian “okaya” pronunciation - Olga, Volga. The female name Olga corresponds to the male name Oleg, which means “saint”.

Although the pagan understanding of holiness is completely different from the Christian one, it also presupposes in a person a special spiritual attitude, chastity and sobriety, intelligence and insight. Later legends called it the family estate of the entire Vybutskaya, a few kilometers from Pskov, up the Velikaya River. Blessed Olga's parents managed to instill in their daughter those rules of an honest and reasonable life that they themselves adhered to, despite their idolatry. Therefore, already in her youth she was characterized by a deep intelligence and moral purity that was exceptional in a pagan environment. The ancient authors call the holy princess God-wise, the wisest of her kind, and it was purity that was the good soil on which the seeds of the Christian faith bore such rich fruit.

Rurik, dying, left behind his son Igor as a young boy, so Rurik entrusted both Igor and the reign itself until the days of his son’s majority to the care of a relative of his prince. Oleg. Having gathered a significant army and having with him the young heir to the reign of Igor, he went to Kyiv. Having killed here the Russian princes Askold and Dir, who had recently converted to Christianity, Oleg subjugated Kyiv and became the autocrat of the Varangian-Russian possessions, retaining the reign for his nephew Igor. During Oleg's reign from 882 to 912. Rus' turns into a huge strong state, uniting under the rule of Kyiv almost all Russian lands up to Novgorod.

Prince Igor, having reached adolescence, was engaged in hunting. It happened that while hunting in the outskirts of Novgorod, he entered the boundaries of Pskov. While tracking the animal near the village of Vybutskaya, he saw on the other side of the river a place convenient for fishing, but could not get there for lack of a boat. After a little time, Igor noticed a young man sailing in a boat, and, calling him to the shore, ordered himself to be transported to the other side of the river. As they swam, Igor, carefully peering into the rower’s face, saw that it was not a young man, but a girl - it was blessed Olga. Olga's beauty stung Igor's heart, and he began to seduce her with words, inclining her to unclean carnal mixing.

However, the chaste girl, having understood the thoughts of Igor, fueled by lust, stopped the conversation with a wise admonition: “Why are you embarrassed, prince, planning an impossible task? Your words reveal a shameless desire to abuse me, which will not happen! I ask you, listen to me, suppress within yourself these absurd and shameful thoughts that you should be ashamed of. Remember and think that you are a prince, and a prince should be like a ruler and judge for people, a bright example of good deeds - but now you are close to lawlessness. If you yourself, overcome by unclean lust, commit atrocities, then how will you keep others from doing them and judge your subjects fairly? Abandon such shameless lust, which honest people abhor; they may hate you for this, although you are a prince, and betray you to shameful ridicule. And even then, know that, although I am alone here and powerless compared to you, you still will not defeat me. But even if you could overcome me, then the depth of this river will immediately be my protection; It’s better for me to die in purity, burying myself in these waters, than to have my virginity violated.” Such exhortations to chastity brought Igor to his senses, awakening a sense of shame. He was silent, unable to find words to answer. So they swam across the river and parted. And the prince was surprised at such an outstanding intelligence and chastity of the young girl. Indeed, such an act of blessed Olga is worthy of surprise: not knowing the True God and His commandments, she discovered such a feat in defending chastity; carefully guarding the purity of her virginity, she brought the young prince to reason, taming his lust with words of wisdom worthy of her husband’s mind.

A little time passed. Prince Oleg, having established the throne of reign in Kyiv and planted his governors and others subordinate to him in the cities of the Russian land, began to look for a bride for Prince Igor. They gathered many beautiful girls to find among them one worthy of the princely palace, but not one of them fell in love with the prince. For in his heart the choice of a bride had long been made: he ordered to call the one who transported him across the Velikaya River at the hour of fishing in the dense forests of Pskov. Prince Oleg brought Olga to Kyiv with great honor, and Igor married her in 903.

Since 912, after the death of Prince Oleg, Igor began to rule in Kyiv as sole ruler. At the beginning of his independent reign, Igor waged persistent wars with the surrounding peoples. He even went to Constantinople, capturing many countries of the Greek land, and returned from this campaign with much booty and glory. He spent the remaining years of his life in silence, having peace with the border lands, and wealth flowed to him in abundance, for distant countries also sent him gifts and tributes.

During the reign of Igor, who was loyal to the Christian religion, the faith of Christ became a significant spiritual and state force in the Russian state. This is evidenced by the surviving text of Igor’s treaty with the Greeks in 944, which was included by the chronicler in the Tale of Bygone Years, in an article describing the events of 6453 (945).

The peace treaty with Constantinople had to be approved by both religious communities of Kiev: “Baptized Rus'”, that is, Christians, were sworn in in the cathedral church of the holy prophet of God Elijah and “Unbaptized Rus'”, pagans, were sworn in arms in the sanctuary of Perun the Thunderer. And the fact that Christians are placed in first place in the document speaks of their predominant spiritual significance in the life of Kievan Rus.

Obviously, at the moment when the treaty of 944 was drawn up in Constantinople, people in power in Kyiv were sympathizers with Christianity and aware of the historical necessity of introducing Rus' to the life-giving Christian culture. Prince Igor himself may have belonged to this trend, whose official position did not allow him to personally convert to the new faith without resolving the issue of baptizing the entire country and establishing an Orthodox church hierarchy in it. Therefore, the agreement was drawn up in cautious terms that would not prevent the prince from approving it both in the form of a pagan oath and in the form of a Christian oath.

Prince Igor was unable to overcome the inertia of custom and remained a pagan, therefore he sealed the agreement according to the pagan model - with an oath on swords. He rejected the grace of baptism and was punished for his unbelief. A year later, in 945, the rebel pagans killed him in the Drevlyansky land, tearing him between two trees. But the days of paganism and the way of life of the Slavic tribes based on it were already numbered. With her three-year-old son Svyatoslav, Igor's widow, Grand Duchess Olga of Kiev, took upon herself the burden of public service.

The beginning of the independent reign of Princess Olga is associated in the chronicles with stories of terrible retribution against the Drevlyans, the killers of Igor. Having sworn by swords and believed “only in their own sword,” the pagans were doomed by God’s judgment to perish by the sword (Matthew 26:52). Those who worshiped fire, among other deified elements, found their vengeance in fire. The Lord chose Olga as the executor of fiery punishment, who mourned her husband together with her son Svyatoslav; All the residents of Kyiv also cried. The Drevlyans came up with the following daring plan: they wanted Olga, hearing about her beauty and wisdom, to marry their prince Mala, and to secretly kill the heir.

In this way, the Drevlyans thought to increase the power of their prince. They immediately sent twenty deliberate husbands to Olga on boats to ask Olga to become the wife of their prince; and in case of refusal on her part, they were ordered to force her with threats - even if by force, she would become the wife of their master. The sent men reached Kyiv by water and landed on the shore.

Hearing about the arrival of the embassy, ​​Princess Olga called the Drevlyan husbands to her and asked them: “Have you arrived with good intentions, honest guests?” “Good luck,” they answered. “Tell me,” she continued, “why exactly did you come to us?” The men answered: “The Drevlyansky land sent us to you with these words: Do not be angry that we killed your husband, for he, like a wolf, plundered and robbed. And our princes are good rulers. Our current prince is without comparison better than Igor: young and handsome, he is also meek, loving and merciful to everyone. Having married our prince, you will become our mistress and owner of the Drevlyansky land.” Princess Olga, hiding her sadness and heartache for her husband, told the embassy with feigned joy: “Your words are pleasing to me, because I can’t resurrect my husband, and it’s not easy for me to remain a widow: being a woman, I’m not able to, as it should, to govern such a principality; my son is still a young boy.

So, I will willingly marry your young prince; besides, I’m not old myself. Now go, rest in your boats; in the morning I will invite you to an honorable feast, which I will arrange for you, so that the reason for your arrival and my consent to your proposal will become known to everyone; and then I will go to your prince. But you, when those sent in the morning come to take you to the feast, know how you must respect the honor of the prince who sent you and your own: you will arrive at the feast in the same way as you arrived to Kiev, that is, in boats that the Kievites will carry on their heads “Let everyone see your nobility, with which I honor you with such great honor before my people.” With joy, the Drevlyans retired to their boats. Princess Olga, taking revenge for the murder of her husband, was thinking about what kind of death to destroy them with. That same night she ordered a deep hole to be dug in the courtyard of the princely palace, in which there was also a beautiful chamber prepared for the feast. The next morning the princess sent honest men to invite matchmakers to a feast. Having put them in small boats one by one, the Kievans carried them away, puffed up with empty pride. When the Drevlyans were brought to the prince's court, Olga, watching from the chamber, ordered them to be thrown into a deep hole prepared for this. Then, approaching the pit herself and bending down, she asked: “Does such an honor please you?” They shouted: “Oh, woe to us! We killed Igor and not only did we not gain anything good through this, but we received an even more evil death.” And Olga ordered them to be buried alive in that pit.

Having done this, Princess Olga immediately sent her messenger to the Drevlyans with the words: “If you really want me to marry your prince, then send for me an embassy that is both more numerous and more noble than the first; let it lead me with honor to your prince; send ambassadors as soon as possible, before the people of Kiev hold me back.” The Drevlyans, with great joy and haste, sent fifty of the noblest men, the most senior elders of the Drevlyan land after the prince, to Olga. When they arrived in Kyiv, Olga ordered a bathhouse to be prepared for them and sent to them with a request: let the ambassadors, after a tiring journey, wash themselves in the bathhouse, rest, and then come to her; They happily went to the bathhouse. When the Drevlyans began to wash themselves, the servants who had been specially assigned immediately sealed the closed doors from the outside, lined the bathhouse with straw and brushwood, and set it on fire; So the Drevlyan elders along with their servants burned down from the bathhouse.

And again Olga sent a messenger to the Drevlyans, announcing her imminent arrival for the wedding with their prince and ordering to prepare honey and all kinds of drink and food at the place where her husband was killed, in order to create a funeral feast for her first husband before her second marriage, then There is a funeral feast, according to pagan custom. The Drevlyans prepared everything in abundance to rejoice. Princess Olga, according to her promise, went to the Drevlyans with many troops, as if she was preparing for war, and not for a wedding. When Olga approached the capital city of the Drevlyans, Korosten, the latter came to meet her in festive clothes and received her with jubilation and joy. Olga first of all went to her husband’s grave and cried a lot for him. Having then performed a funeral feast according to pagan custom, she ordered a large mound to be built over the grave.

“I no longer mourn my first husband,” said the princess, “having done what should have been done over his grave. The time has come to prepare with joy for a second marriage with your prince.” The Drevlyans asked Olga about their first and second ambassadors. “They are following us along another path with all my wealth,” she answered. After this, Olga, having taken off her sad clothes, put on the light wedding clothes characteristic of a princess, showing at the same time a joyful appearance. She ordered the Drevlyans to eat, drink and be merry, and ordered her people to serve them, eating with them, but not to get drunk. When the Drevlyans got drunk, the princess ordered her people to beat them with weapons prepared in advance - swords, knives and spears, and up to five thousand or more died. So Olga, having mixed the joy of the Drevlyans with blood and thus avenged the murder of her husband, returned to Kyiv.

The next year, Olga, having gathered an army, went against the Drevlyans with her son Svyatoslav Igorevich, and recruited him to avenge the death of his father. The Drevlyans came out to meet them with considerable military force; Having come together, both sides fought fiercely until the Kievans defeated the Drevlyans, whom they drove to their capital city of Korosten, putting them to death. The Drevlyans secluded themselves in the city, and Olga relentlessly besieged it for a whole year. Seeing that it was difficult to take the city by storm, the wise princess came up with such a trick. She sent a message to the Drevlyans, who had shut themselves up in the city: “Why, crazy people, do you want to starve yourself to death, not wanting to submit to me? After all, all your other cities have expressed their submission to me: their inhabitants pay tribute and live peacefully in cities and villages, cultivating their fields.” “We would also like,” those who had secluded themselves answered, “to submit to you, but we are afraid that you will again take revenge for your prince.”

Olga sent a second ambassador to them with the words: “I have already taken revenge on the elders and on your other people more than once; and now I do not wish for revenge, but I demand tribute and submission from you.” The Drevlyans agreed to pay her whatever tribute she wanted. Olga suggested to them: “I know that you are now impoverished from the war and cannot pay me tribute in honey, wax, leather, or other things suitable for trade. Yes, I myself don’t want to burden you with a large tribute. Give me some small tribute as a sign of your submission, at least three doves and three sparrows from each house.” This tribute seemed so insignificant to the Drevlyans that they even mocked Olga’s female intelligence. However, they hastened to collect three doves and sparrows from each house and sent them to her with a bow.

Olga said to the men who came to her from the city: “Behold, you have now submitted to me and my son, live in peace, tomorrow I will retreat from your city and go home.” With these words, she dismissed the aforementioned husbands; all the inhabitants of the city were very happy when they heard about the words of the princess. Olga distributed the birds to her soldiers with the order that late in the evening each pigeon and each sparrow should be tied to a piece of cloth soaked in sulfur, which should be lit, and all the birds should be released into the air together.

The soldiers carried out this order. And the birds flew to the city from which they were taken: each dove flew into its nest and each sparrow into its place. The city immediately caught fire in many places, and Olga at that time gave her army the order to surround the city from all sides and begin an attack. The population of the city, fleeing from the fire, ran out from behind the walls and fell into the hands of the enemy. So Korosten was taken. Many people from the Drevlyans died from the sword, others with their wives and children burned in the fire, and others drowned in the river that flowed under the city; At the same time, Prince Drevlyansky also died. Of the survivors, many were taken into captivity, while others were left by the princess in their places of residence, and she imposed a heavy tribute on them. So Princess Olga took revenge on the Drevlyans for the murder of her husband, subjugated the entire Drevlyan land and returned to Kyiv with glory and triumph.

And Princess Olga ruled the regions of the Russian land under her control not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in her hands and courageously defending herself from enemies. The Grand Duchess traveled around the Russian land in order to streamline the civil and economic life of the people, and the chronicles are full of evidence of her tireless “walks.” Having achieved the internal strengthening of the power of the Kyiv Grand Duke, weakening the influence of small local princes who interfered with the gathering of Rus', Olga centralized all state administration with the help of a system of “cemeteries”, which, being financial, administrative and judicial centers, represented a strong support for the Grand Duke’s power locally. Later, when Olga became a Christian, the first churches began to be erected in churchyards; From the time of the baptism of Rus' under Saint Vladimir, graveyard and church (parish) became inseparable concepts (only later did the word “pogost” in the sense of cemetery evolve from the cemeteries that existed near churches).

Princess Olga put a lot of effort into strengthening the country's defense power. Cities were built up and fortified, overgrown with stone and oak walls (visors), bristling with ramparts and palisades. The princess herself, knowing how hostile many were to the idea of ​​strengthening princely power and unifying Rus', lived constantly “on the mountain”, above the Dnieper, behind the reliable visors of Kyiv’s Vyshgorod (Upper City), surrounded by a loyal squad. Two-thirds of the collected tribute, according to the chronicle, she gave to the Kiev veche, the third part went “to Olza, to Vyshgorod” - for the needs of the military structure. Historians attribute the establishment of the first state borders of Russia to the time of Olga - in the west, with Poland. Bogatyr outposts in the south guarded the peaceful fields of the Kievites from the peoples of the Wild Field. Foreigners hurried to Gardarika (“the country of cities”), as they called Rus', with goods and handicrafts. The Swedes, Danes, and Germans willingly joined the Russian army as mercenaries. Kyiv's foreign connections expanded. This contributed to the development of stone construction in cities, which was started by Princess Olga. The first stone buildings of Kyiv - the city palace and Olga's country tower - were discovered by archaeologists only in our century (the palace, or rather its foundation and the remains of the walls, were found and excavated in 1971-1972).

In all matters of government, Grand Duchess Olga showed foresight and wisdom. She was terrible for her enemies, but loved by her own people, as a merciful and pious ruler, as a righteous judge who did not offend anyone. She instilled fear in the evil, rewarding each in proportion to the merit of his actions. At the same time, Olga, merciful at heart, was a generous giver to the poor, the poor and the needy; Fair requests quickly reached her heart, and she quickly fulfilled them. All her deeds, despite her stay in paganism, were pleasing to God, as worthy of Christian grace. With all this, Olga combined an abstinent and chaste life: she did not want to remarry, but remained in pure widowhood, observing princely power for her son until the days of his age. When the latter matured, she handed over to him all the affairs of the reign, and she herself, having withdrawn from rumors and cares, lived outside the concerns of government, indulging in works of charity.

An auspicious time has come, in which the Lord wanted to enlighten the Slavs, blinded by unbelief, with the light of holy faith, bring them to the knowledge of the truth and guide them on the path of salvation. The Lord deigned to reveal the beginnings of this enlightenment to the shame of hard-hearted men in a weak female vessel, that is, through blessed Olga. For just as He previously made myrrh-bearing women preachers of His resurrection and His honorable Cross, on which He was crucified, was revealed to the world from the depths of the earth by His wife-Queen Helen (May 21/June 3), so later He deigned to plant the holy faith in the Russian land with a wondrous wife. , the new Elena - Princess Olga. The Lord chose her as an “honorable vessel” for His Most Holy Name - may she carry It through the Russian land. He kindled the dawn of His invisible grace in her heart, opening her intelligent eyes to the knowledge of the True God, Whom she did not yet know. She already understood the seduction and delusion of pagan wickedness, becoming convinced, as a self-evident truth, that the idols revered by crazy people are not gods, but a soulless product of human hands; therefore, she not only did not respect them, but also abhorred them. Like a merchant looking for valuable pearls, so Olga wholeheartedly sought right worship of God.

History has not preserved the names of Saint Olga’s first Christian mentors, probably because the blessed princess’s conversion to Christ was associated with Divine admonition. One of the ancient texts puts it this way: “Oh wonder! She herself did not know the Scriptures, neither the Christian law nor the teacher about piety, but she diligently studied the morals of piety and loved the Christian faith with all her soul. O ineffable Providence of God! The blessed one did not learn the truth from man, but from above, a teacher in the name of God’s Wisdom.” Saint Olga came to Christ through a search for truth, seeking satisfaction for her inquisitive mind; the ancient philosopher calls her “God’s chosen keeper of wisdom.” The Monk Nestor the Chronicler narrates: “Blessed Olga from an early age sought wisdom, which is the best in this world, and found a pearl of great value - Christ.”

According to God's vision, Princess Olga heard from some people that there is a True God, the Creator of heaven, earth and all creation, in whom the Greeks believe; besides Him there is no other god. Such people, as the famous historian E.E. Golubinsky suggests, were Christian Varangians, of whom there were many among the squad of Prince Igor. And Olga drew attention to these Varangians of the new faith; for their part, the Varangians themselves dreamed of making her their supporter, hoping that she was a woman not just with a great mind, but with a state mind. Therefore, the fact that Christianity has become the faith of almost all the peoples of Europe, and in any case is the faith of the best peoples among them, and the fact that a strong movement towards Christianity began among its own relatives (Varangians), following the example of other peoples, could not but have an effect on Olga’s mind, making it necessary for her to conclude that people are the best and their faith should be the best. And striving for true knowledge of God and not being lazy by nature, Olga herself wanted to go to the Greeks in order to look at the Christian service with her own eyes and be fully convinced of their teaching about the True God.

By this time, Rus' had grown into a great power. The princess completed the internal structure of the lands. Rus' was strong and powerful. Only two European states in those years could compete with it in importance and power: in the east of Europe - the ancient Byzantine Empire, in the west - the kingdom of the Saxons. The experience of both empires, which owed their rise to the spirit of Christian teaching and the religious foundations of life, clearly showed that the path to the future greatness of Rus' lies not only through the military, but, above all, and primarily through spiritual conquests and achievements.

With its sword, Rus' constantly “touched” neighboring Byzantium, testing again and again not only the military-material, but also the spiritual strength of the Orthodox empire. But behind this hid a certain aspiration of Rus' towards Byzantium, sincere admiration for it. The attitude of Byzantium towards Rus' was different. In the eyes of the empire, Rus' was not the first and not the only “barbarian” people captivated by its beauty, wealth and spiritual treasures. Proud Byzantium looked with undisguised irritation at the new “semi-savage” people, who dared to cause great troubles to it and who, in the minds of the imperial court, stood at the lowest level of the diplomatic hierarchy of states and peoples. To fight him off, to pay him off, and, if possible, to turn him into an obedient subject and servant - this is the main line of the empire’s attitude towards the young state of the Russians. But the Russian land, ready to accept Orthodoxy, professed and demonstrated in wondrous beauty by the Greek Church, did not at all intend to bow its head under the yoke. Rus' tried to defend its independence and establish a close alliance with Byzantium, but one in which it would occupy a dominant position. The exalted empire did not know then that Rus' would achieve its goal! For God’s Providence determined that it was Rus' (and, perhaps, precisely for the intimate sincerity of love) that determined to become the historical successor of Byzantium, to inherit its spiritual wealth, political power and greatness.

Grand Duchess Olga also combined serious state interests with her natural desire to visit Byzantium. Recognition of Rus', increasing its status in the hierarchy of Byzantium's allies, and therefore increasing prestige in the eyes of the rest of the world - this was what was especially important for the wise Olga. But this could only be achieved by accepting Christianity, because in those days trust between the states of Europe was established on the basis of religious community. Taking with her especially noble men and merchants, Grand Duchess Olga in the summer of 954 (955) set off with a large fleet to Constantinople. It was a peaceful “walk”, combining the tasks of a religious pilgrimage and a diplomatic mission, but political considerations demanded that it become at the same time a manifestation of the military power of Rus' on the Black Sea and reminded the proud “Romans” of the victorious campaigns of princes Askold and Oleg, who killed their shield “at the gates of Constantinople.” And the result was achieved. The appearance of the Russian fleet on the Bosporus created the necessary preconditions for the development of a friendly Russian-Byzantine dialogue.

The Russian princess was received with great honor by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (913-959) and Patriarch Theophylact (933-956), to whom she presented many gifts worthy of such persons. For the distinguished Russian guest, not only were diplomatic techniques observed, but special deviations from them were also made. So, contrary to the usual rules of the court, Prince. Olga was received not together with ambassadors from other states, but separately from them.

At the same time, the emperor managed to reflect in the reception ceremonies the “distance” that separated the Russian princess from the ruler of Byzantium: Prince. Olga lived for more than a month on a ship in Suda, the harbor of Constantinople, before the first reception took place at the palace on September 9. There were long, tedious negotiations about how and with what ceremonies the Russian princess should be received. At the same time, the prince herself attached great importance to the ceremony. Olga, who sought recognition of the high prestige of the Russian state and herself personally as its ruler. In Constantinople, Olga studied the Christian faith, daily diligently listening to the words of God and looking closely at the splendor of the liturgical rite and other aspects of Christian life. She attended services in the best churches: Hagia Sophia, Our Lady of Blachernae and others. And the southern capital amazed the stern daughter of the North with the decorum of divine services, the wealth of Christian churches and the shrines collected in them, the variety of colors, and the splendor of architecture.

The heart of wise Olga opened to holy Orthodoxy, and she decided to become a Christian. According to the chronicler, the sacrament of baptism was performed on her by Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople, and the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus himself was the recipient. She was given the name Elena in baptism, in honor of Saint Helen, Equal to the Apostles. In an edifying word spoken after the ceremony, the patriarch said: “Blessed are you among the Russian women, for you have left darkness and loved the Light. The Russian people will bless you in all future generations, from your grandchildren and great-grandchildren to your most distant descendants.” He instructed her in the truths of faith, church rules and prayer rules, and explained the commandments about fasting, chastity and almsgiving. “She,” says the Monk Nestor the Chronicler, “bowed her head and stood, like a soldered lip, listening to the teaching, and, bowing to the patriarch, said: “By your prayers, lord, may I be preserved from the snares of the enemy.” After this, the newly baptized princess visited the patriarch again, sharing her grief: “My people and my son are pagans...” The Patriarch encouraged, consoled her and blessed her. Then Blessed Olga accepted from him the honorable cross, holy icons, books and other things needed for worship, as well as elders and clergy. And Saint Olga left Constantinople to her home with great joy.

It was not easy to force such a hater of Russians as Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus to become the godfather of a Russian princess.

The chronicles preserve stories about how Olga spoke decisively and on an equal footing with the emperor, surprising the Greeks with her spiritual maturity and statesmanship, showing that the Russian people were just capable of accepting and multiplying the highest achievements of the Greek religious genius, the best fruits of Byzantine spirituality and culture. Thus, Saint Olga managed to peacefully “take Constantinople,” which no commander had been able to do before her. The Grand Duchess achieved extremely important results.

She was baptized with honors in the capital of Byzantium (in the Church of Hagia Sophia - the main cathedral church of the Universal Church of that time). At the same time, she received, as it were, a blessing for an apostolic mission in her land. In addition, the head of the Russian state receives the title of “daughter” from the emperor, placing Rus' in “the highest rank of the diplomatic hierarchy of states after Byzantium itself.” The title coincides with Olga-Elena's Christian position as goddaughter of the emperor. And in this, according to the chronicle, the emperor himself was forced to admit that he was “outwitted” (outwitted) by the Russian princess. And in his essay “On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court,” which has come down to us in a single list, Constantine Porphyrogenitus left a detailed description of the ceremonies that accompanied Saint Olga’s stay in Constantinople.

He describes a gala reception in the famous Magnavre Chamber, and negotiations in a narrower circle in the Empress’s chambers, and a ceremonial dinner in the Justinian Hall, where, by coincidence, four “ladies of state” providentially met at the same table: the grandmother and mother of Saint Vladimir Equal to the Apostles (Saint Olga and her companion Malusha) with his grandmother and mother of his future wife Anna (Empress Elena and her daughter-in-law Feofano). A little more than half a century will pass and in the Tithe Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kyiv the marble tombs of St. Olga, St. Vladimir and Blessed Queen Anna will stand side by side.

During one of the receptions, says Konstantin Porphyrogenitus, the Russian princess was presented with a golden dish decorated with stones. Saint Olga donated it to the sacristy of the St. Sophia Cathedral, where it was seen and described at the beginning of the 13th century by the Russian diplomat Dobrynya Yadreikovich, later Archbishop Anthony of Novgorod: “The dish is a great gold service of Russian Olga, when she took tribute while going to Constantinople; in Olzhin’s dish there is a precious stone, and Christ is written on the same stone.”

As for the immediate diplomatic outcome of the negotiations, Saint Olga had reason to remain dissatisfied with them. Having achieved success in matters of Russian trade within the empire and confirmation of the peace treaty with Byzantium concluded by Igor in 944, she was unable, however, to persuade the emperor to two main agreements for Rus': on the dynastic marriage of Svyatoslav with the Byzantine princess and on the conditions for the restoration of the existing at the book Askold of the Orthodox Metropolis in Kyiv. Her dissatisfaction with the outcome of the mission is clearly heard in the answer she gave, upon returning to her homeland, sent to the ambassadors from the emperor. To the emperor’s question regarding the promised military assistance, Saint Olga sharply answered through the ambassadors: “If you stand with me in Pochaina as I do in Court, then I will give you soldiers to help you.” The Grand Russian Princess made it clear to Byzantium that the empire was dealing with a powerful independent state, the international prestige of which the empire itself had now raised in full view of the whole world!

Returning from Constantinople to Kyiv, the new Helen - Princess Olga - began Christian preaching. Much depended on whether her son Svyatoslav, who was about to take the reins of government, would turn to Christ. And from him, according to the chronicle, the Equal-to-the-Apostles princess began her sermon.

But she could not lead him to true reason, to the knowledge of God. Wholly devoted to military enterprises, Svyatoslav did not want to hear about holy baptism, but he did not forbid anyone to be baptized, but only laughed at the newly baptized, because for the infidels, who did not know the glory of the Lord, the Christian faith seemed madness, according to the word of the apostle: We preach Christ Crucified, For the Jews it is a temptation, for the Greeks it is foolishness, because the foolish things of God are wiser than men, and the weak things of God are stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:23, 25). Blessed Olga often said to Prince Svyatoslav: “My son, I have come to know God and rejoice in spirit. If you come to know Him, you too will rejoice.” But he did not want to listen to his mother, continuing to follow pagan customs, and told her: “What will my squad say about me if I betray the faith of my fathers? She will swear at me.”

Such speeches were difficult for the mother, but she rightly remarked to her son: “If you are baptized, then everyone will do the same.” This was the first attempt in history to arrange a universal baptism of Rus'. Svyatoslav could not object and therefore, as the chronicle says, “he was angry with his mother.”

It was not only the fear of ridicule that held him back, but also his own “desire to live according to pagan customs.” Wars, feasts, fun, long campaigns, life according to the lusts of the heart and flesh - this is what possessed the soul of Svyatoslav. In all this, the desperately brave, intelligent, broad-minded Svyatoslav wanted to find the fullness of life. But his mother knew that this would not bring true joy to his soul, she deeply grieved for him and for the Russian land and used to say: “God’s will be done; If God wants to have mercy on this race and the Russian land, then he will put in their hearts the same desire to turn to God that he gave to me.” And with warm faith she prayed day and night for her son and for the people, so that the Lord would enlighten them about what destinies he knew. Meanwhile, unable to soften Svyatoslav’s heart, she tried to sow the seeds of Christianity in her three young grandchildren - Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir, whom her warrior father left to her. This holy seed in due time bore favorable fruit, taking root in the heart of young Vladimir.

Despite the failure of efforts to establish a church hierarchy in Rus', Saint Olga, having become a Christian, zealously devoted herself to the exploits of Christian evangelism among the pagans and church building; “Crush the trenches of demons and begin to live in Christ Jesus.” To perpetuate the memory of the first Russian confessors of the name of Christ, the Grand Duchess erected the St. Nicholas Church over the grave of Askold and founded a wooden cathedral over the grave of Dir in the name of St. Sophia the Wisdom of God, consecrated on May 11, 960. This day was subsequently celebrated in the Russian Church as a special church holiday. In the monthly parchment of the Apostle of 1307, under May 11, it is written: “On the same day, the consecration of Hagia Sophia in Kiev in the summer of 6460.” The date of commemoration, according to church historians, is indicated according to the so-called “Antiochian” calendar, and not according to the generally accepted Constantinople chronology and corresponds to 960 from the Nativity of Christ.

It is not for nothing that the Russian princess Olga received in baptism the name of Saint Helen, Equal to the Apostles, who found the Venerable Tree of the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem. The main shrine of the newly created St. Sophia Church was the holy eight-pointed cross, brought by the new Helen from Constantinople and received by her as a blessing from the Patriarch of Constantinople. The cross, according to legend, was carved from a single piece of the Life-Giving Tree of the Lord. There was an inscription on it: “The Russian land was renewed with the holy cross, and Olga, the blessed princess, accepted it.” The cross and other Christian shrines, with the grace emanating from them, contributed to the enlightenment of the Russian land.

St. Sophia Cathedral, having stood for half a century, burned down in 1017. Yaroslav the Wise later built the Church of St. Irene on this site, in 1050, and moved the shrines of the St. Sophia Holgin Church to the stone church of the same name - the still standing St. Sophia of Kyiv, founded in 1017 and consecrated around 1030.

In the Prologue of the 13th century it is said about Olga’s cross: “It now stands in Kyiv in St. Sophia in the altar on the right side.” The plunder of Kyiv shrines, continued after the Mongols by the Lithuanians, who acquired the city in 1341, did not spare him either. Under Jogaila, during the Union of Lublin, which united Poland and Lithuania into one state in 1384, Holga's cross was stolen from St. Sophia Cathedral and taken by Catholics to Lublin. His further fate is unknown.

Then, preaching the holy faith, the holy princess set off to the north. She visited Veliky Novgorod and other cities, wherever possible, leading people to the faith of Christ, while crushing idols, putting up honest crosses in their place, from which many signs and wonders were performed to reassure the pagans. Having come to her homeland, to Vybutskaya, blessed Olga spread the word of Christian preaching to people close to her. While staying in this direction, she reached the bank of the Velikaya River, flowing from south to north, and stopped opposite the place where the Pskova River, flowing from the east, flows into the Velikaya River (at that time a large dense forest grew in these places).

And then Saint Olga from the other bank of the river saw that from the east three bright rays were descending from the sky onto this place, illuminating it. Not only Saint Olga, but also her companions saw the wonderful light from these rays; and the blessed one rejoiced greatly and thanked God for the vision, which indicated the enlightenment of the grace of God on that side. Turning to the persons accompanying her, Blessed Olga said prophetically: “Let it be known to you that by the will of God, in this place, illuminated by triluminous rays, a church will arise in the name of the Most Holy and Life-Giving Trinity and a great and glorious city will be created, abounding in everything.” After these words and a rather lengthy prayer, Blessed Olga put up a cross; and to this day the prayer temple stands on the spot where Blessed Olga erected it.

Having visited many cities of the Russian land, the preacher of Christ returned to Kyiv and here she showed good deeds for God. Remembering the vision on the Pskov River, she sent a lot of gold and silver to create a church in the name of the Holy Trinity, and ordered that the place be populated by people. And in a short time the city of Pskov, so named from the Pskova River, grew into a great city, and the name of the Most Holy Trinity was glorified in it.

The prayers and labors of Saint Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles, bore rich fruit: Christianity in Rus' began to quickly spread and strengthen. But he was opposed by paganism, which established itself as the dominant (state) religion. Among the boyars and warriors in Kyiv there were many people who, according to Solomon, “hated Wisdom,” like the holy princess Olga, who built temples to Her. The zealots of pagan antiquity raised their heads more and more boldly, looking with hope at the growing Svyatoslav, who decisively rejected his mother’s entreaties to accept Christianity and was even angry with her for this. It was necessary to hurry with the planned task of baptizing Rus'. The deceit of Byzantium, which did not want to give Christianity to Rus', played into the hands of the pagans.

In search of a solution, Saint Olga turns her eyes to the West. There is no contradiction here. Saint Olga (d. 969) still belonged to the undivided Church and hardly had the opportunity to delve into the theological subtleties of the Greek and Latin teachings. The confrontation between the West and the East seemed to her primarily as a political rivalry, secondary in comparison with the pressing task - the creation of the Russian Church, the Christian enlightenment of Rus'.

Under the year 959, a German chronicler, called the “continuator of Reginon,” writes: “The ambassadors of Helen, Queen of the Russians, who was baptized in Constantinople, came to the king and asked to consecrate a bishop and priests for this people.” King Otto, the future founder of the German Empire, willingly responded to Olga’s request, but conducted the matter slowly, with purely German thoroughness. Only at Christmas of the following year 960, Libutius, from the brethren of the monastery of St. Alban in Mainz, was installed as Bishop of Russia. But he soon died (March 15, 961). Adalbert of Trier was ordained in his place, whom Otto, “generously supplying with everything necessary,” finally sent to Russia. It is difficult to say what would have happened if the king had not delayed so long, but when Adalbert appeared in Kyiv in 962, he “did not succeed in anything for which he was sent, and saw his efforts in vain.” Worse, on the way back, “some of his companions were killed, and the bishop himself did not escape mortal danger.”

It turned out that over the past two years, as Olga foresaw, a final revolution took place in Kyiv in favor of the supporters of paganism, and, having become neither Orthodox nor Catholic, Rus' decided not to accept Christianity at all. The pagan reaction manifested itself so strongly that not only German missionaries suffered, but also some of the Kyiv Christians who were baptized with Olga in Constantinople. By order of Svyatoslav, Saint Olga's nephew Gleb was killed and some of the churches built by her were destroyed. Of course, this could not have happened without Byzantine secret diplomacy: opposed to Olga and alarmed by the possibility of strengthening Rus' through an alliance with Otto, the Greeks chose to support the pagans.

The failure of Adalbert's mission had providential significance for the future of the Russian Orthodox Church, which escaped papal captivity. Saint Olga had to come to terms with what had happened and completely withdraw into matters of personal piety, leaving the reins of government to the pagan Svyatoslav. She was still taken into account, her statesmanship was invariably turned to in all difficult cases. When Svyatoslav left Kyiv - and he spent most of his time on campaigns and wars - control of the state was again entrusted to the princess mother. There could no longer be any talk of the baptism of Rus', and this, of course, upset Saint Olga, who considered Christ’s piety the main work of her life.

The Grand Duchess meekly endured sorrows and disappointments, tried to help her son in state and military concerns, and guide him in heroic plans. The victories of Russian weapons were a consolation for her, especially the defeat of the long-time enemy of the Russian state - the Khazar Kaganate. Twice, in 965 and 969, Svyatoslav’s troops marched through the lands of the “foolish Khazars,” forever crushing the power of the Jewish rulers of the Azov and Lower Volga regions. The next powerful blow was dealt to Muslim Volga Bulgaria, then it was the turn of Danube Bulgaria. 80 cities along the Danube were taken by Kyiv squads. One thing worried Olga: as if, carried away by the war in the Balkans, Svyatoslav had not forgotten about Kyiv.

In the spring of 969, Kyiv was besieged by the Pechenegs: “and it was impossible to take the horse out to water, the Pechenegs stood on Lybid.” The Russian army was far away on the Danube. Having sent messengers to her son, Saint Olga herself led the defense of the capital. Svyatoslav, having received the news, soon rode to Kyiv, “greeted his mother and children and lamented what had happened to them from the Pechenegs.” But, having defeated the nomads, the militant prince again began to say to his mother: “I don’t like to sit in Kyiv, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - there is the middle of my land.” Svyatoslav dreamed of creating a huge Russian power from the Danube to the Volga, which would unite Rus', Bulgaria, Serbia, the Black Sea region and the Azov region and would extend its borders to Constantinople itself. Wise Olga understood that with all the courage and bravery of the Russian squads, they could not cope with the ancient empire of the Romans; failure awaited Svyatoslav. But the son did not listen to his mother’s warnings.

Blessed Olga said to him with tears: “Why are you leaving me, my son, and where are you going? When looking for someone else's, to whom do you entrust yours? After all, your children are still small, and I am already old and sick. I expect an imminent death - departure to my beloved Christ, in whom I believe. Now I don’t worry about anything except about you: I regret that although I taught you a lot and convinced you to leave the idolatry of wickedness, to believe in the True God, known to me, but you neglected this. And I know that for your disobedience to me, a bad end awaits you on earth and, after death, eternal torment prepared for the pagans. Now fulfill at least this last request of mine: do not go anywhere until I am dead and buried, and then go wherever you want. After my death, do not do anything that pagan custom requires in such cases; but let my presbyter and the clergy bury my sinful body according to Christian custom: do not dare to pour a grave mound over me and hold funeral feasts, but send gold to Constantinople to His Holiness the Patriarch, so that he may make a prayer and offering to God for my soul and distribute alms to the poor.” Hearing this, Svyatoslav wept bitterly and promised to fulfill everything she had bequeathed, refusing only to accept the holy faith.

After three days of St. Princess Olga fell into extreme exhaustion. Having partaken of the Divine Mysteries of the Most Pure Body and the Life-Giving Blood of Christ our Savior, she remained all the time in fervent prayer to God and to the Most Pure Mother of God, Whom God always had as her Helper, and called upon all the saints. Blessed Olga prayed with special zeal for the enlightenment of the Russian land after her death: seeing the future, she repeatedly prophesied during the days of her life that God would enlighten the people of the Russian land and many of them would be great saints; Saint Olga prayed for the speedy fulfillment of this prophecy at her death. And there was also a prayer on her lips when her honest soul was released from her body - “and having thus lived and glorified God well in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, rested in the blasphemy of faith, ending her life in peace in Christ Jesus, Our Lord."

So she moved from the earthly to the heavenly and was honored to enter the palace of the Immortal King - Christ God, and as the first saint from the Russian land she was canonized. St. reposed Equal to the Apostles Olga, in holy baptism Elena, on the 11th day of July in the year 969, all the years of her life were about ninety. “And her son and her grandchildren and all the people wept for her with great weeping.” In recent years, amid the triumph of paganism, she, the once proud mistress, baptized by the patriarch in the capital of Orthodoxy, had to secretly keep a priest with her so as not to cause a new outbreak of anti-Christian fanaticism. But before her death, having regained her former firmness and determination, she forbade pagan funerals to be performed on her and bequeathed to openly bury her according to the Orthodox rite. Presbyter Gregory, who was with her in Constantinople in 957, carried out her will exactly.

After the death of Saint Olga, her prophecy about the evil death of her son and about the good enlightenment of the Russian land came true. The remarkable commander Svyatoslav (as the chronicler reports) was killed not in a glorious campaign, but in a treacherous ambush of the Pechenegs in 972. The Pechenezh prince cut off Svyatoslav's head and made himself a cup from the skull, bound it with gold and wrote the following: “He who has someone else’s, destroys his own.” During a feast with his nobles, the prince drank from this cup. So the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich, brave and hitherto invincible in battle, according to his mother’s prediction, suffered an evil death because he did not listen to her. The prophecy of Blessed Olga about the Russian land was also fulfilled. Nineteen years after her death, her grandson, Prince. Vladimir (July 15/28) accepted holy baptism and enlightened the Russian land with holy faith.

God glorified the holy worker of Orthodoxy, “the head of the faith” in the Russian land, with miracles and the incorruption of her relics. Jacob Mnich (d. 1072), 100 years after her death, wrote in his “Memory and Praise to Vladimir”: “God glorified the body of His servant Helen, and her honest and indestructible body remains in the tomb to this day. Blessed Princess Olga glorified God with all her good deeds, and God glorified her.” Under Saint Prince Vladimir, according to some sources, in 1007 the relics of Saint Olga were transferred to the Tithe Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because for the maintenance of its prince. Vladimir gave a tenth of his estates, and they were placed in a special sarcophagus, in which it was customary to place the relics of saints in the Orthodox East. “And you hear another miracle about her: a small stone coffin in the Church of the Holy Mother of God, that church was created by blessed Prince Vladimir, and there is the coffin of blessed Olga. And at the top of the coffin a window was created - so that you could see the body of blessed Olga lying intact.” But not everyone was shown the miracle of the incorruption of the relics of the Equal-to-the-Apostles princess: “Whoever comes with faith, opens the window, and sees the honest body lying intact, as if sleeping, resting. But for others who do not come with faith, the window of the tomb will not open, and they will not see that honest body, but only the tomb.” So at her death, Saint Olga preached eternal life and resurrection, filling believers with joy and admonishing non-believers. She was, in the words of St. Nestor the Chronicler, “the forerunner of the Christian land, like the morning star before the sun and like the dawn before the light.”

The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, offering his thanks to God on the day of the baptism of Rus', testified on behalf of his contemporaries about Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga with significant words: “The sons of Rusty want you to bless you...” The Russian people honors Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga as the founder of Christianity in Rus', turning to her in the words of St. Nestor: “Rejoice, Russian knowledge of God, the beginning of our reconciliation with Him.”

“At the beginning of the faith” and “the root of the right-of-glory” in the Russian land, from ancient times the holy equal is called -oh-so-so-Ol-gu people. Ol-ga’s baptism was meant-me-no-va-but pro-ro-che-ski-mi words-va-mi pat-ri-ar-ha, baptizing her : “Blessed are you among the Russian wives, for you left the darkness and loved the Light. The Russian sons will glorify you until the next generation!” At the Baptism, the Russian princess was honored in the name of the holy equal of the great Elena, who worked a lot - in the spread of Christianity in the huge Roman Empire and the discovery of the Living Cross, on which -then the Lord was crucified. Like her heavenly blood, Olga became equal to such a pro-knowledge of Christ -an-stva on the vast expanses of the Russian land. There are a lot of chronic inaccuracies and misunderstandings about her in the summer written evidence, but it’s unlikely that they can -no doubt about the accuracy of most of the facts of her life, until now Blessed are the holy princes who established the Russian land. Let's get back to the news about her life.

The name of the future pro-sve-ti-tel-ni-tsy of Ru-si and its birth, the most ancient of the summer-to-pi-sei - “In the Tale of Times” years old" refers in the description to Prince Igor of Kiev: "And did you bring him his wife from Pskov, named after Ol-ga.” Joachim's chronicle specifies that it belonged to the family of the princes of Iz-bor - one of the ancient Russians. princely di-na-sties.

Su-pr-gu Igor was called by the Var-Ryazh name Hel-ga, in the Russian pro-iz-no-she-nii - Ol-ga (Vol-ga). Pre-da-nie na-zy-va-et ro-di-noy Ol-gi village You-bu-you are not far from Pskov, up the river Ve-li-koy . The life of Saint Olga tells us that here for the first time I met her future husband. The young prince was hunting “in the Pskov region” and, wanting to cross the Ve-li-kaya river, he saw “some he's sailing in the boat" and called him to the shore. Sailing from the shore in a boat, the prince realized that he was being carried by a de-wush-ka of amazing beauty. Igor was inflamed with lust for her and began to tempt her to sin. The re-voz-chi-tsa turned out to be not only beautiful, but whole-wise and smart. She mouthed Igor, reminding him of the princely dignity of the rule and judge, which should be “a bright example of good deeds” for one’s own. Igor broke up with her, keeping her words and a beautiful image in his memory. When the time came for you to marry your bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality gathered in Kiev. But not a single one of them pleased him. And then he remembered the “wonderful girl” Olga and sent his relative, Prince Oleg, for her. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the great Russian princess.

Afterwards, Igor went on a campaign against the Greeks, and returned from it as a father: a son, Saint Slav, was born. Soon Igor was killed by the ancients. Fearing revenge for the murder of the Kiev-prince-zya, the Drev-Lyans from the right-of-words to Princess Olga, inviting her to join drink in marriage with your right-of-mind Mal. Ol-ha pretended to agree. She hit two embassies of the Drev-Lyans in Kiev, giving them a painful death: the first was for- alive in the same way “in the prince’s yard”, the second - with burning in the bathhouse. After this, five thousand men of the Drev-Lyansky were killed by Olga at the funeral feast for Igor at the walls of the Drev-Lyansky capital -tsy Is-ko-ro-ste-nya. The next year, Ol-ga again went with an army to Is-ko-ro-wall. The city was burned down with the help of birds, to the feet of which they attached burning oakum. The ancient people who remained alive were not spared and were sold into slavery.

Along with this summer-to-pi-si, there are full of testimonies about her tireless “walks” across the Russian land with the goal of building -e-ness of the country's economic and economic life. She fought to strengthen the power of the Ki-ev prince, the central state control with the help of the “by-government” system. The letter says that she, her son and a friend, walked through the Drev-Lyanskaya land, “established and about-ro-ki", from-cha-cha-la and hundred-no-vi-scha and places of hunting, subject to inclusion in the Ki-ev-skie ve-li -ko-prince's power. She went to Novgorod, arranged a party along the rivers Msta and Luga. “There were her (hunting places) all over the earth, there were established signs, her places and places,” she writes le-to-pi-sets, - and she stands in Pskov to this day, there are places indicated by her for catching birds along the Dnieper and along the Desna; and her village Ol-gi-chi exists to this day.” By-go-sty (from the word “guest” - merchant) has become a support for the great princely power, the heart of this-no-thing skogo and cultural association of the Russian nation.

Life tells us about Ol-ga’s work: “And Princess Ol-ga ruled under her power over Rus. of the earth not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in his hands and masculinely defined falling away from enemies. And she was scary for them. I love my own people, as the lord -ny and not offending anyone, on-la-ga-yu-sha-nie with cute-ser-di-em and on-civil-da-yu- good; she instilled fear in all the evil ones, rewarding each one in proportion to his actions, but in all matters of management she has vision and wisdom. At the same time, Ol-ga, sweet-hearted at heart, was generous with the poor, the wretched and the poor; rightful requests would soon reach her heart, and she would quickly fulfill them... With all this, Olga co- having lived a strong and whole-wise life, she didn’t want to remarry, but she would wa-la in pure widowhood, guarding her son until the days of his rise to princely power. When he finally got back together, she gave him all the rights, and she herself, having withdrawn from the rumors and -pe-che-nii, lived outside the care of management, pre-da-va-yas de-lam of the good-of-re-re-tion.”

Rus' grew and strengthened. Cities were built, surrounded by stones and doubly walls. The princess herself lived behind the walls of You, surrounded by a faithful friend. Two-thirds of the so-bran-noy, according to the evidence of the le-to-pi-si, she is from-da-va-la in the ra-s-rya-same ki-ev -sky ve-cha, the third part went “to Ol-ga, to Vy-sh-city” - to the military formation. By the time Olga had established the first state borders of Kievan Rus. The Bo-ha-tyr-for-sta-you, re-established in the past, the hundred-ro-li-lived the peaceful life of the Ki-ev-lyans from the nomads of Ve -li-koy Step-pi, from na-pa-de-niy with Za-pa-da. The foreigners rushed to Gar-da-ri-ku (“country of cities”), as they called Rus', from then-va-ra -mi. Scan-di-na-you, the Germans willingly joined the Russian army. Rus' has become a great country.

As a wise ruler of paradise, Ol-ga vi-de-la on the example of the Viz-an-tiy empire, which is not enough for -bot is only about state and economic life. It would be necessary to start arranging a re-li-gi-oz-noy, spiritual life for the na-ro-yes.

The author of the “Step-book” writes: “Her [Ol-gi]’s move was that she recognized the true God. Without knowing the nature of Christianity, she lived a pure and whole-wise life, and she wished to be a Christian an-koy, by free will, with the heart-of-my eyes, the path of the knowledge of God was discovered and walked along it without co-le-ba- nia". The Pre-reputable one in the West-wu-et: “Blessed Ol-ga from an early age has been seeking wisdom, which is the best thing in all of life.” “And this, and I found a many-valuable pearl - Christ.”

Having made your choice, Great Princess Ol-ga, in the hands of Ki-ev, under her grown-up son, from-ru-la-et-sya with a large fleet in Kon-stan-ti-no-pol. Ancient-Russian le-to-scribes call this de-i-nie of Ol-ga “ho-de-no-em”, it is united in itself and re-li-gi-oz-noe pa-lom-ni-che-stvo, and di-pl-ma-ti-che-mission, and de-mon-strat-tion of military-en-no- the power of Ru-si. “Ol-ga for-ho-te-la herself go to the Greeks so that with her own eyes she can look at the Christian service and to be completely convinced of their teaching about the true God,” according to the life of Saint Olga. According to the evidence of le-to-pi-si, in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le Ol-ga has decided to become a Christian coy. The ta-in-stvo of Baptism was co-performed over her by the pat-ri-arch Kon-stan-ti-no-pol-sky Fe-o-fi-lakt (933-956), and the restoration -no-one was the em-per-tor Kon-stan-tin Bag-rya-no-native (912-959), who left in his co-chi-ne “About the ce-re-mo-ni-yah of the Vi-zan-tiy-court” a detailed description of the ce-re-mo-niy during the stay -niya Ol-gi in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le. At one of the Russian princess's receptions there was a not-so-gold, adorned-with-precious-with-stones. mi dish-do. Ol-ha sacrificed him in the robes of St. Sophia, where he was seen and described in the early 13th century Russian diplomat Dob-ry-nya Yad-rey-k-vich, subsequently the arch-bishop of Nov-gorod-sky An-to-niy: “Dish how evil was the service of Olga the Russian, when she took tribute, went to Tsar-grad: in Olga’s dish ka- less drag-gy, on the same stone on-pi-san Christ.”

Pat-ri-arch of the blessed-word-forged the newly-baptized Russian princess with a cross cut from a whole piece of Zhi -in the creation of the Tree of the Lord. On the cross there was an inscription: “The Russian land is surrounded by the Holy Cross, which was received by Ol-ga, the blessed one.” prince-gi-nya.”

Ol-ga returned to Ki-ev with iko-na-mi, bo-go-serv-ing books - her apos-tol-like servant began -nie. She erected a temple in the name of St. Niko-lay over the grave of As-kol-da - the first Ki-ev-prince-zya-khri -sti-a-ni-na and many ki-ev-lyans converted to Christ. With pro-ve-dyu-ry, the princess went to the north. In the Kiev and Pskov lands, in village villages, at the crossroads of the roads, crosses, uniforms were erected what pagan idols.

Saint Ol-ga lived on-cha-lo especially-ben-no-go in the Ru-si of the Most Holy Trinity. From century to century, there has been news of the vision that she had near the Ve-li-koy river, not -le-ku from the family village. She saw that “three very bright rays” were descending from the sky. Turning to her companions, former sv-de-te-la-mi vi-de-niya, Ol-ga told about-ro-che-ski : “May you know that because of God there will be a church in this place in the name of the Most Holy and Living -creative Trinity and there will be a great and glorious city here, abundant for everyone.” At this place Olga erected a cross and founded a temple in the name of the Holy Trinity. It became the main cathedral of Pskov, a glorious Russian city, which has since been called the “House of the Holy Trinity” -i-tsy." That-in-the-we-mi-spirit-of-spirit-succession through four-hundred-years is the-chi-ta-nie re-re-da -but it would have been very kind to Sergius Ra-to-tender.

On May 11, 960, the Church of St. Sophia of the Most Wisdom of God was consecrated in Kiev. This day was celebrated in the Russian Church as a special holiday. The main sanctuary of the temple was the cross received by Ol-goi at the Baptism in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le. The temple, built by Ol-goi, burned down in 1017, and in its place Yaro-slav the Wise erected a holy church -che-ni-tsy Irina, and St. Sofiy-sko-go Ol-gi-na the temple-re-carried in the still standing stone Church of St. Sophia of Kiev, founded in 1017 and consecrated around 1030. In the Pro-log of the 13th century it was said about the Ol-gi-nom cross: “It now stands in Ki-e-ve in St. Sophia in the al-ta-re on the right side". After the za-vo-e-va-niya of Ki-e-va li-tov-tsa-mi, Ol-gin’s cross was stolen from So-fiy-sko-go-bo-ra and vy- ve-zen ka-li-ka-mi to Lub-lin. His further fate is unknown to us. The apostolic works of the prince met the secret and open co-operation of the pagans. Among the bo-yars and druzhin-ni-kovs in Ki-e-ve there were a lot of people who, according to the words of the summer scribes, “carried “You don’t see the Pre-wisdom,” just like Saint Olga, who built temples to Her. The roar of the language of the ancient world is becoming more and more bold under the go-lo-woo, looking with hope at the sub-ras yu-she-holy-glory-va, decided-but-from-the-niv-she-go-go-ry ma-te-ri to accept Christianity. “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells about it like this: “Ol-ga lived with her son, Saint-glory, and they agreed -his mother wanted to be baptized, but he neglected it and covered his ears; however, if someone wanted to be baptized, he didn’t scold him, nor did he stand over him... Ol-ha speaks often -ri-la: “My son, I know God and rejoice; here you are, if you know, then you will begin to rejoice.” He, without listening to this, said: “How can I want to change my faith alone? My friends will laugh at this!” She told him: “If you are baptized, everyone will do the same.”

He, without listening to ma-te-ri, lived according to pagan customs, not knowing that if someone doesn’t listen to ma-te-ri, in a child is in trouble, as it is said: “If anyone does not listen to his father or mother, he will accept death.” Moreover, he was also angry with his mother... But Ol-ga loved her son of the Holy Glory, when ri-la: “God’s will be done.” If God wants to have mercy on my people and the Russian land, let him command their hearts to turn to God, how could it be so good for me.” And saying so, she prayed for her son and for his people all the days and nights, caring for her son until he got married.” .

Despite the success of her trip to Kon-stan-ti-no-pol, Ol-ga could not persuade him-per-ra-to-ra to co-gla-she- on two important issues: about the di-na-sti-che-marriage of the Holy-Glory with the Byzantine Tsar-rev-noy and about the -vi-yah restoration of the existence-vav-shay at As-kol-de mit-ro-po-li in Ki-e-ve. This is why Saint Olga turns her eyes to the West - the Church was one at that time. It’s unlikely that the Russian princess could have known about the divine-word differences between the Greek and Latin faiths. nia.

In 959, a German chronicler writes: “The ambassadors of Elena, the queen of the Russians, came to the king -heaven of baptism in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le, and ask-to-consecrate for this na-ro-da epi-sco-pa and sanct- ni-kov." King Otton, the future founder of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, responded to the request -bu Ol-gi. A year later, Li-bu-tsii, from the brotherhood of the monastery of the holy Al-ba-n in Mainz, was appointed bishop of the Russian, but he died soon (March 15, 961). In its place, the saint of Adal-ber-t of Trier, who-ro-th Ot-ton, “generously supplied with everything necessary”, from-ruled , finally, to Russia. When Adalbert appeared in Kiev in 962, he “did not succeed in anything for which he was sent, and saw his efforts on -pras-us." On the way back, “some of his companions were killed, and the bishop himself did not escape mortal danger,” - this is how they tell us about the mission of Adal-ber-ta.

The pagan re-action manifested itself so strongly that stra- da-y not only the German mis-si-o-ne-ry, but also some -rye from Kiev Christians who were baptized together with Olga. By order of the Holy Glory, Olga's nephew Gleb was killed and some temples built by her were destroyed. Saint Olga had to come to terms with what had happened and go into the business of personal goodness, giving control le-nie language-no-ku Holy-glory. Of course, she was still taken into account, her experience and wisdom were invariably addressed in all important cases -cha-yah. When Saint Slav departed from Ki-e-va, the administration of the state was in the hands of Saint Olga. The glorious military victories of the Russian army were a consolation for her. Holy glory defeated the enemy of the Russian state - Khazar ka-ga-nat, forever with-kru -shiv the power of the Jewish pra-vi-te-leys of the Azov region and the Lower Volga region. The next blow was on the Volga Bulgaria, then came the Danube Bulgaria - eighty the cities were taken by the Kiev squads along the Danube. The Holy Glory and its warriors represent the god-like spirit of the pagan Rus. Le-to-pi-si co-keep the words of the Holy-glory, surrounded by her friend with a huge Greek howl -skom: “It’s not disgraceful to the Russian land, but let’s lie down here!” The dead have no shame!” Saint Slav dreamed of creating a huge Russian state from the Danube to the Volga, which would unite Rus' and other -gye Slavic peoples. Saint Ol-ga knows that with all the courage and from the Russian troops they cannot cope with the ancient im-peri -ey ro-me-ev, who will not allow paradise to strengthen the language of pagan Russia. But the son did not listen to the warning ma-te-ri.

Saint Olga had to endure a lot of sorrows at the end of her life. The son of the window-cha-tel-but per-re-se-lil-sya in Per-re-ya-s-la-vets on the Danube. Staying in Ki-e-ve, she taught her grandchildren, children of the Holy Glory, the Christian faith, but did not decide I wanted to baptize them, fearing my son’s wrath. In addition, he prevented her from trying to establish Christianity in Russia. In the last years, amidst the triumph of the language, once upon a time everyone believed that -you, baptized from the All-Len-sk pat-ri-ar-ha in the capital of the right-of-glory, came to the tai-no der -to be sacred in front of you, so as not to cause a new outbreak of an-ti-chri-sti-an-s-structures. In 968 Ki-ev wasa-di-li pe-che-ne-gi. The holy princess and her grandchildren, among whom was Prince Vladimir, found themselves in mortal danger. When the news about the wasp reached the Holy Glory, he hurried to help, and no one was called upon on the run. Saint Olga, being already seriously ill, begged her son not to leave until her death. She didn’t lose hope of turning her son’s heart to God, and on her deathbed she didn’t stop talking about it. : “Why are you leaving me, my son, and where are you going? Looking for someone else's, who will you eat yours? After all, Your children are still small, and I’m already old, and I’m sick, - I expect a quick death - a departure to my beloved Christ, in whom I believe; Now I don’t worry about anything except about you: I regret that although I taught a lot and convinced I wanted to leave the idolatrous wickedness, to believe in the true God, as I know, and you neglect this, and I know that for your disobedience to me, a bad end awaits you on earth, and after death - eternal torment, wow. naya lingual-ni-kam. Fulfill now at least this last request of mine: don’t go anywhere until I give up and sin. be-na; then go wherever you want. After my death, do not do anything that is required in such cases by pagan customs; but let my pre-sweater with the kli-ri-ka-mi in the gre-but according to the custom of Christ-an-sko-mu my body; don’t you dare lay a grave on me and hold funeral feasts; but let's go to Tsar-grad to the holy pat-ri-ar-hu, so that he will perform the prayer and at-she- I thanked God for my soul and gave alms to the beggars.”

“Hearing this, Saint Slav cried bitterly and promised to fulfill everything she had given him, appearing only from -nya-tiya of the holy faith. After three days, blessed Olga fell into extreme inability; she partook of the Divine Mysteries of the Most-Pure Body and the Living-Creative Blood of Christ our Savior ; all the time she remained in diligent prayer to God and to the Most Pure God, to whom I always pray according to God she had no power; she called upon all the saints; With especial diligence, blessed Olga prayed for illumination of the Russian land after her death; fore-seeing the future, she repeatedly fore-said that God would enlighten the people of the Russian land and many of there will be great saints among them; Blessed Olga prayed for the speedy fulfillment of this promise at her death. And there was still a prayer on her lips, when her honest soul was separated from her body and how the righteous one was received ru-ka-mi Bo-zhi-i-mi.” On July 11, 969, Saint Olga died, “and her son and grandchildren and all the people wept for her.” Pre-sweeper Gri-goriy fulfilled her re-statement exactly.

Holy equal-to-capital Ol-ga was-la ka-no-ni-zi-ro-va-na on the so-bo-re of 1547, which is under-tver -did it in all-local language in Russia back in the pre-Mongol era.

God glorified “at the beginning” of faith in the Russian land with chu-de-sa-mi and incorruptible relics. Under the Holy Prince Vladimir, the relics of St. Olga were transferred to the Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy -that Bo-go-ro-di-tsy and in the sar-ko-fa-ge, in which it was possible to place the relics of the holy you on the right-glorious East. There was a window in the church wall above the tomb of Saint Olga; and if anyone came to the relics with faith, saw the relics through the window, and some saw them coming from them there is a shi-i-nie, and many sick-obsessed pains are caused by healing. When he saw a small window, it opened, and he could not see the relics, but only the coffin.

So, after her death, Saint Ol-ga proclaimed eternal life and resurrection, filled with the joy of faith. Yu-shchih and lying incredulous.

Her prophecy about the evil death of her son came true. Saint-slav, as the le-to-pi-sets says, was killed by the Pe-che-tender prince Ku-rey, who cut off his head Woo the Holy Glory and made a cup for himself from the skull, surrounded it with gold and drank from it during feasts.

The fulfillment and prophecy of the saint about the Russian land. The prayerful works and deeds of St. Olga are confirmed by the great deeds of her grandson St. Vladimir di-mi-ra (memory of July 15 (28)) - Baptism of Ru-si. The images of the holy equals Olga and Vladimir, mutually complementing each other, embodying They have Ma-Te-rin-skoe and father-skoe in Russian spiritual history.

Holy equal-to-capital Ol-ga became the spiritual mother of the Russian people, through her his pro-sweetness began -sharing the light of Christ's faith.

The pagan name Olga corresponds to the masculine Oleg (Hel-gi), which means “saint.” Although the pagan-ness of holiness is from Christianity, it is pre-la-ha- The person has a special spiritual disposition, whole-wisdom and sobriety, intelligence and insight. Revealing the spiritual meaning of this name, the people called Ole the Prophet, and Olga the Wise. Subsequently, Saint Olga began to be called God-wise, emphasizing her main gift, which became the basis -I eat all the words of the holiness of Russian wives - wisdom. Sa-ma Most Holy Bo-go-ro-di-tsa - House of the Pre-wisdom of God - blah-say-la Saint Ol-gu on her apo -so much work. The construction of her So-fiy-sko-bo-ra in Ki-e-ve - ma-te-ri of Russian cities - was a sign of participation Goddess Ma-te-ri in the Do-mo-stro-i-tel-stvo of the Holy Ru-si. Kiev, i.e. Christian Kievan Rus, became the third priesthood of God Ma-te-ri according to the Universe, and this statement is the lot on earth began through the first of the holy wives of Rusi - the holy equal of the capital Olga.

The Christian name of Saint Olga - Elena (in translation from the ancient Greek “fa-kel”) - you became -ra-the-n-e-e-go-re-niya of her spirit. Saint Olga (Elena) brought the spiritual fire, which has not been extinguished in the entire thousand-year history of Christ. An-skaya Russia.

The Complete Life of Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia

The holy equal of the capital Olga was the su-ru-goy of Prince Igor of Kiev. The struggle of Christianity against paganism under Igor and Olga, princes who lived after Oleg († 912), enters a new period. The Church of Christ in the last years of Prince Igor († 945) became a significant spiritual and spiritual -sovereign power in the Russian state. This is evidenced by the preserved text from Igor’s time with the Greeks of 944, which is included let-the-scribe in “The Tale of Bygone Years”, in the article describing the events of 6453 (945).

A peace treaty with Kon-stan-ti-no-po-wives had to be approved by both re-li-gi-oz-us-societies -mi Ki-e-va: “Rus is baptized”, that is, the Christians came to the priest in the cathedral church of St. the pro-ro-ka of God Elijah; “Rus' is unbaptized,” pagans, swore on weapons in the sacred place of Pe-ru-on Gro-mo-verzh-tsa. The fact that Christians have taken first place in do-ku-men speaks of their pre-eminent spirituality. the greatest significance in the life of Kiev Rus.

Obviously, at the moment when, before 944, the thief was installed in Tsar-Gra-de, in power in Ki-e-ve hundred -Am I people who have a feeling for Christianity, who are aware of the need for it? society of Ru-si to the living-creative Christian culture. Perhaps Prince Igor himself, an official position of some kind, was attached to this right-handed position. it was not allowed for him to personally convert to the new faith without deciding the question of the Baptism of the entire country and the establishment of new le-nii in it the right-glorious church hierarchy. For this reason, the agreement was drawn up in careful steps, which would not have prevented the prince from approving - to give it both in the form of a pagan oath, and in the form of a Christian oath.

But while the Byzantine envoys arrived in Kiev, the settlement on the Dnieper essentially left me. The pagan op-position was clearly defined, at the head of which were the hundred Va-Ryazh vo-ds of the Holy -neld and his son Msti-slav (Msti-sha), to whom Igor gave the Drev-lyansky land as a holding.

The influence of the Khazar Jews was also strong in Kiev, and they could not like the idea of ​​triumph right to glory in the Russian land.

Unable to overcome the inertia of custom, Igor remained a pagan and sealed the agreement according to the pagan pattern - oath on swords. He rejected the blessings of Baptism and was punished for unbelief. A year later, in 945, the rebel pagans killed him in the Ancient land, tearing him apart between two trees. But the days of paganism and the way of life of the Slavic tribes based on it were already over. I bore the burden of government service with my three-year-old son, the Holy-glorious widow of Igor - ve -li-princess of Ki-ev-skaya Ol-ga.

The name of the future pro-sve-ti-tel-ni-tsy of the Russian region and its birth “The Tale of Bygone Years” is for the first time named in an article about Igor’s wife: “and did you bring him a wife from Pskov, named Ol-gu.” She came-above-le-zha-la, specifies Joachim's chronicle-writing, to the family of the princes of Iz-bor, one of the forgotten trees -non-Russian princely di-nasties, which were in Russia in the 10th-11th centuries. no less than twenty, but some of which were all close to you over time Ryu-ri-ko-vi-cha-mi or merged with none -through marriage. Some of them were of local, Slavic origin, others were newcomers, Varangian. It is known that the Scandinavian ko-nuns, invited to reign in Russian cities, invariably no Russian language, often - Russian names and quickly a hundred - appeared on the Russian - as if by design -in life, both in terms of world-view and even in terms of physical appearance.

So Igor’s wife-in-law was called by the Var-Ryazh name Hel-ga, in the Russian “eye-of-the-eye” pro-iz-no-she-nii - Ol-ga, Vol-ga. The female name Ol-ga corresponds to the male name Oleg (Hel-gi), which means “saint”. Although the pagan-ness of holiness is completely different from Christianity, it is also pre- there is a special spiritual disposition in a person, whole-wisdom and sobriety, intelligence and insight. Revealing the spiritual meaning of the name, the people called Ole the Prophet, Olga the Wise.

Later legends named the village as her birth name. You are a few kilometers from Psko- up the river Ve-li-koy. Not long ago, there seemed to be a bridge on the Olgin River - at the ancient river crossing, where Olga met Igor. Pskovskaya then-kept a lot of names associated with the pa-my-great Psko-vi-tyan- ki: de-rev-ni Ol-zhe-nets and Ol-gi-no Po-le, Ol-gi-ny Vo-ro-ta - one of the ru-ka-vov of the river Ve-li-koy, Ol -gi-na Mountain and Ol-gin Cross - near Pskov Lake, Ol-gin Ka-men - near the village of You-bu-you.

Na-cha-lo sa-mo-sto-ya-tel-no-go-ru-le-niya of Prince Olga in connection with the story about the terrible retribution of the ancients to us, the murderers of Igor. Swearing on swords and believing “only in your sword”, the tongues about-re-che-were God’s su- the house from the sword and die (). By bowing to fire, among other deified elements, they found their vengeance in the fire. The Lord took Olga from half-full of fiery punishment.

The struggle for the unity of Ru-si, for the subordination of the Ki-ev center to the mutual enmity of the tribes and the principalities of the pro-kla-dy-va-la path to the window-cha-tel-noy of Christianity in the Russian land. Behind Ol-ga, still a pagan, the hundred-I-la Kiev Christian Church and its heavenly patron, the holy pro- the fate of God Elijah, with his fiery faith and prayer, his wondrous fire from the sky, and her victory over the ancients, despite the su -news of be-di-tel-ni-tsy, there was a vi-de-doy of Christian, creative forces in the Russian state-su- the gift of the si-la-mi languages, the dark-mi and the destruction of the tel-us.

Ol-ga of God-wise-paradise entered history as a great co-creator of state life and cult -ry of Kiev Ru-si. Le-to-pi-si is full of testimonials about her tireless “walks” across the Russian land for the purpose of good development and emphasis on civil and economic life under the given. Having achieved the internal strengthening of the power of the Kiev prince, weakening the influence of the me-shav- shih co-bi-ra-niu of Ru-si of small local princes, Ol-ga tsen-tra-li-zo-va-la all state-government from to -with the power of the system "by-go-stov". In 946, with her son and friend, she walked through the Drev-Lyanskaya land, “established yes-no and about-ro-ki”, from- me-cha villages, hundred-no-vi-scha and places of hunting, subject to inclusion in the Ki-ev-ki-princely authorities -de-niya. The next year she went to Novgorod, set up camps along the rivers Msta and Luga, leaving visible traces of her everywhere -ey de-ya-tel-no-sti. “There were places for her (hunting places) all over the earth, established signs, places for her and places for her,” she wrote le-to-pi-sets, - and she stands in Pskov to this day, there are places indicated by her for catching birds along the Dnieper and along the Desna; and her village Ol-zhi-chi still exists today.”

Arranged by Ol-goy in-go-sty, being a finan-co-administrator and su-deb-ny centers, provided a strong support for the princely power on the ground.

Being before everything, according to the very meaning of the word, the center of trade and trade ("guest" is a merchant), with -bi-paradise and or-ga-ni-zuya around yourself on-se-le-nie (instead of the former “for-people” gathering yes-no and na-lo- gov-implementation now equally and emphatically according to the rules), Ol-gins have become important -the very cell of this-no-thing and cultural association of the Russian nation.

Later, when Olga became chri-sti-an-koy, the first temples began to be erected according to the rules; from the time of the Baptism of Ru-si at the Holy Vladimir according to GOST and the temple (parish) became inseparable according to -I-mi. (Only subsequently, from the existence of cemeteries near temples, did the word “according to GOST” develop in the sense of le "treasure-bi-sche".)

Princess Olga did a lot of work to strengthen the country's defense power. The cities have become strong and fortified, you-sh-go-ro-dy (or de-tin-tsy, except us) have become -men-ny-mi and du-bo-you-mi ste-na-mi (for-bra-la-mi), more-ti-ni-wa-la-mi, often-to-ko- la-mi. The princess herself, knowing how hostile many were to the idea of ​​strengthening princely power and unity Ru-si, she lived in a hundred-yang-but “on the mountain”, above the Dnieper, behind-the-bra-la-mi of Ki-ev-sko-go-go- sh-go-ro-da (Top-not-go-ro-da), surrounded by a faithful friend. Two-thirds of the so-bran-noy, according to the evidence of the le-to-pi-si, she is from-da-va-la in the ra-s-rya-same ki-ev -th ve-cha, the third part went “to Ol-ze, to Vy-sh-city” - for the needs of the military structure. By the time Ol-ga is-to-ri-ki, the establishment of the first state borders of Russia - for-pa- Yes, with Poland. Bo-ga-tyr-skie for-sta-you in the south hundred-ro-lived peaceful n-you ki-ev-lyans from the people of Di-ko-go Pol. The foreigners rushed to Gar-da-ri-ku ("country-well-towns"), as they called Rus', from that-va-ra -mi and ru-ko-de-lya-mi. The Swedes, Danes, and Germans willingly joined the Russian army. Shi-ryat-sya for-ru-be-z-zi-ki-e-va. This contributes to the development of stone construction in the city, at the beginning of Once upon a time there lived Princess Olga. The first stone buildings of Ki-e-va - the city palace and Ol-ga's out-of-town tower - only in our century. Have you found ar-heo-lo-ga-mi? (The palace, or more precisely, its foundation and the remains of the walls, were found and disassembled in 1971-1972.)

But not only the strengthening of the state and the development of economic forms of national life attracted attention ma-nie wise-roy prince-gi-ni. What seemed even more urgent to her was the radical transformation of the re-li-gi-oz-life of Ru-si, do -khov-noe pre-ob-ra-zhe-nie of the Russian na-ro-da. Rus' has become a great country. Only two European states in those years could compete with her in significance and power: in the first place Europe - the ancient Byzantine empire, in the background - the kingdom of the Saxons.

The experience of both empires, which owe their high-high-spirit of Christian teachings, re-li-gi-oz to the main points of your life, it seemed clear that the path to the future great Russia lies not only through en-nye, but first of all and pre-importantly through spiritual goals and achievements. In the hands of Ki-ev under the grown-up son of the Holy Glory, Great Princess Ol-ga in the summer of 954, vys-kav bla-go-da-ti and is-ti-ny, from-la-et-sya with a large fleet to Tsar-grad. This was a peaceful “walking”, which was due to re-li-gi-oz-no-go-pa-lom-no-things and di- pl-ma-ti-che-skoy mission, but po-li-ti-che-skie so-o-ra-zhe-niya requirements so that it becomes one-now-men -but the manifestation of the military power of Ru-si on the Black Sea, which reminds us of the proud-smoking "ro-me" -yam" about the be-do-nos-nyh walks of As-kol-da and Ole-ga, who in 907 brought their shield "at the gates of the Tsar -gra-da."

The result was achieved. The appearance of the Russian fleet on the Bosphorus created the necessary pre-references for the development of other the same Russian-vi-zan-tiy-dia-lo-ga. In turn, the southern capital of Se-ve-ra’s stern daughter gave a different color, -ko-le-pi-eat ar-hi-tek-tu-ry, mix-she-ni-em languages ​​and peoples of the world. But a special impression is made of the wealth of Christian temples and the shrines collected in them. Tsar-grad, “king-city” of the Greek empire, even at the very foundation (more precisely, the re-establishment) le-nii) in the year 330, dedicated to the saint equal to the capital Kon-stan-ti-n the Great (commemorated on May 21) Most Holy -that Bo-go-ro-di-tse (this event was celebrated in the Greek Church on May 11 and passed from there to Russia) heavenly months), strive in everything to be worthy of your Heavenly Protector. The Russian princess is present for God's service in the best churches of Kon-stan-ti-no-po-la - Holy that Sophia, Blachernae Bo-go-ma-te-ri and others.

The heart of the wise Olga opened to the holy right, she made the decision to become a Christian. The ta-in-stvo of Baptism was co-performed over her by the pat-ri-arch Kon-stan-ti-no-pol-sky Fe-o-fi-lakt (933-956), and the restoration -no-one was the emperor Kon-stan-tin Bag-rya-no-native himself (912-959). She was given the name Elena in Baptism in honor of the holy equal of the capital Elena (commemorated on May 21), ma-te- ri of the holy Kon-stan-ti-na, the Honest Tree of the Cross of the State. In the na-zi-da-tel-word, said at the completion of the ob-rya-da, the pat-ri-arch said: “Bla-go-slo-ven -you are in the wives of the Russians, for you left the darkness and loved the Light. The Russian people bless you in all lands- those who live with you, from your grandchildren and great-grandchildren to your descendants.” He in- structed her in the is-ti-nah of the faith, the church charter and the prayer rule, explained the di about po-ste, tse-lo-wisdom and cuteness. “She,” says the reverend, “bowed her head and stood, as if she were saying a word.” May, listening to the teaching, and, bowing to Pat-ri-ar-hu, said: “Pray-to-va-mi yours, Vla- come on, let's save ourselves from the networks of the enemy."

Exactly like that, with a slightly bowed head, an image of St. Olga on one of the frescoes of Kiev So-fiy-sko-go so-bo-ra, as well as at the contemporary Vi-zan-Ti-skaya mi-ni-a-tyu-re, in the face of the hand -pi-si Chro-ni-ki Ioan-na Ski-li-tsy from Mad-Rid-skaya na-tsio-nal-noy bib-lio-te-ki. The Greek inscription, with-about-the-leader-da-yu-shaya mi-ni-a-tyu-ru, calls Ol-gu “ar-hon-tes-soy (that there is a vla-dy-chi-tsey) rus-sov", "the woman, El-goy by name, who came to the Tsar Kon-stan-ti-nu and was ba-sche-na." The princess is depicted in a special head-dress, “like a newly-baptized Christ-an-ka and an even-naya Dia -ko-nis-sa of the Russian Church." Next to her, in the same baptismal attire, is Ma-lusha († 1001), subsequently the mother of the holy equal. no-go Vla-di-mi-ra (on July 15).

So-who-hates-no-Russians, such as the emperor Kon-stan-tin Bag-rya-but-native was, it was not easy for- Let's become the godfather of "ar-khon-tes-sy Ru-si". In the Russian let-to-pi-si there were stories about how to decide-but and equally-go-va-ri-va-la Ol-ga with im-per-ra-to-rum, surprising the Greeks with spiritual maturity and state-wisdom, in a way Vaya that the Russian people have the power to accept and live wisely the highest achievements of the Greek re-li-gi-oz -no-genius, the best fruits of the Vi-zan-Ti-spirit-no-sti and culture. So Saint Olga managed to peacefully “take Tsar-Grad”, something that no other half-council had been able to do before her. According to the evidence of the le-to-pi-si, the im-pe-ra-tor himself had to admit that “per-re-klu-ka-la” (per-re -hit-ri-la) his Ol-ga, and the people's memory, united-niv about the prophetic Ol-ga and the wise Ol-ga, for-pe -chat-le-la this spiritual victory in the story “About the capture of the Tsar-rya-city by Prince Ol-goy.”

Kon-stan-tin Bag-rya-no-native in his co-chi-ne-nii “About the ce-re-mo-ni-yah of the Vi-zan-ti-court”, who came to us in a single list, left a detailed description of the ceremonies that co-promoted the leaders -va-nie of Saint Olga in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le. He describes a ceremonial reception in the famous pa-la-te Magnaur, accompanied by the singing of bronze birds and the growling of honey -nyh lions, where Ol-ga appeared with a huge retinue of 108 people (not counting the people from the Holy-glory), and re-go-vo-ry in a narrower circle in the villages im-pe-ra-tri-tsy, and a happy dinner in the Yus-ti hall -no-a-na, where, due to the circumstances of the pro-mind, we met at the same table. sovereign ladies": ba-bush-ka and the mother of the holy equal of Vla-di-mi-ra (Saint Ol-ga and her companion -ni-tsa Ma-lusha) with grandma-bush-koy and ma-teryu of his future su-pru-gi Anna (im-per-ra-three-tsa Elena and her brides -ka Fe-o-fa-no). He'll walk a little more along-lu-ve-ka, and in the De-sha-tiny temple of the Holy God-ro-di-tsy in Ki-e-ve-ka there will be Near the house there are a hundred marble-sea coffins of St. Olga, St. Vla-di-mir and the blessed "Tsar Anna" ".

During one of the receptions, Kon-stan-tin is talking about Bag-rya-but-native, the Russian princess was under -not-that-but-golden, stone-decorated dish. Saint Ol-ga sacrificed him in the vestment of So-fiy-sko-go-bo-ra, where he was seen and described in the na-cha-le 13th century Russian diplomat Dob-ry-nya Yad-rei-kovich, subsequently arch-bishop of Novgorod An-to-niy: “The dish of great evil was the service of Ol-ga the Russian, when she took tribute, she went to Tsar-Grad; in the dish Ol -zhine ka-men dr-giy, on the same ka-me-ni na-pi-san Christos.”

However, the lu-ka-vy im-per-ra-tor, having communicated so much in detail, as if in retaliation for the fact that “per-re- Ol-ga pecked him,” gave a difficult riddle to the is-to-ri-kam of the Russian Church. The point is that the most venerable Nestor Le-to-pi-sets speaks in “In the Time of Years” about the Cre- Olga’s research in the year 6463 (955 or 954), and this corresponds to the Byzantine chronology of Ked-ri-na . Another Russian church writer of the 11th century, Jacob Mnih, in the word “Praise and praise Vladimir... and how the grandmother Vla-di-mi-ra Ol-ga was baptized,” speaking about the death of the holy princess († 969), from-me-cha- It is said that she lived as a Christian for fifteen years, and at the same time she was Baptized in 954, which is it is exactly the same up to a few months from Nestor’s indication. Meanwhile, Kon-stan-tin Bag-rya-no-native, describe Ol-ga’s pre-existence in Kon-stan-ti-no-on-le and na-zy -the exact details of the reception he arranged in her honor, with uncertainty he lets it be understood that all this was about-ho-di-lo in 957. For the acceptance of the given le-to-pi-si, on the one hand, and the Kon-stan-ti-na, on the other, Russian churches had to choose one of two things: either Saint Olga for the continuation of re- re-go-vo-ditch with im-per-ra-to-rum in 957 came-e-ha-la to Kon-stan-ti-no-pol for the second time, or she She was baptized not in Tsar-Gra-de, but in Ki-e-ve in 954, and her only fall-away was in Vi -zan-tiyu so-ver-shi-la, already bu-duchi hri-sti-an-koy. The first pre-position is more plausible.

What ka-sa-et-sya directly-but di-plo-ma-ti-che-sko-go is-ho-da per-re-go-vo-ditch, from Saint Olga would there be any reason to remain dissatisfied with them. Having achieved success in questions about Russian trade within the empire and confirmation of peace before -in-ra with Vi-zan-ti, imprisoned by Igo-rem in 944, she could not, however, persuade the thread to im- ra-to-ra to two important co-gla-she-ni-yams for Russia: about the di-na-sti-che-marriage of the Holy-glory with Vi-zan-tiy -sky tsar-rev-noy and about the conditions for the restoration of the existence of the Vav-shays under As-kol-de of the right-glorious mit-ro-po -lia in Ki-e-ve. Her dissatisfaction with the mission is clearly heard in the response she gave upon her return to the di-well, sent from im-per-ra-to-ra in slam. In response to their request from-no-si-tel-but the promised military help from Saint Ol-ga through the words of sharply from-ve-ti-la: “If you stay with me in Po-China as much as I do in Su-du, then I’ll give you a vo-ev in po- power".

At the same time, despite the failure of the old government to establish a church hierarchy in Russia, Saint Olga, having become a Christian -what, zeal-but-pre-da-va-was-at-the-movements of the Christian-good-news among the pagans and churches -th construction: “tre-bi-scha be-sov-skaya co-cru-shi and on-cha-ti about Christ Jesus.” She erects temples: St. Nicholas and St. Sophia in Ki-e-ve, the Blessings of the Most Holy -that Bo-go-ro-di-tsy - in Vi-teb-sk, the Holy Life-at-the-chief Tro-i-tsy - in Pskov. Since then, Pskov has been called the House of the Holy Trinity in the summer. The temple, built by Olga over the Ve-li-kay river, at the place indicated to her, according to the testimony of the scribe, from above "Beam of the Three-si-tel-no-go-god-stvo", pro-stood for more than a century. In 1137, the holy prince Vse-vo-lod-Gav-ri-il († 1138, commemoration of February 11) for-menil de-re-vyan-ny temple ka-men -nym, which was re-built, in turn, in 1363 and replaced, finally, to the present day shim Tro-its-kim so-bo-rum.

And another important monument to the Russian “mo-nu-men-tal-no-go-go-word”, as they often call to the church architecture, associated with the name of the holy equal to the capital Olga - the temple of Sophia the Most Wisdom of God to her in Ki-e-ve, married soon after her return from the Tsar-city and consecrated on May 11, 960. This day was subsequently celebrated in the Russian Church as a special church holiday.

In the month of the per-ha-men-no-go Apo-sto-la of 1307, on May 11, for-pi-sa-no: “On the same day, the consecration of St. -that Sophia in Ki-e-ve in the summer of 6460." Yes, pa-my-ti, in the opinion of the churches of the is-to-ri-kov, pointing out according to the so-called "an-tio-hiy" -sko-mu", and not according to the general-pri-nya-mu kon-stan-ti-but-pol-su-summer-is-number-and-from-vet It is 960 years after the birth of Christ.

Saint Ol-ga not without reason received the name of the holy equal of the capital Helen in Baptism, who found the Honest Tree The Cross of Christ in Ieru-sa-li-me. The main sanctuary of the newly-created Sophia Church was the Holy Cross, which was founded by the new Helen of Tsa -ry-gra-da and received by her in a blessing from Kon-stan-ti-no-pol-go pat-ri-ar-ha. The cross, according to legend, was cut from a single piece of the Living Tree of the Lord. On the cross there was an inscription: “The Russian land is protected by the Holy Cross, which Ol-ga, blessed and faithful, received.” prince-gi-nya."

Saint Ol-ha did a lot of things to commemorate the memory of the first Russian scholars named after Christ -va: over the grave of As-kol-da, he erected the Nikol-sky temple, where, according to some sources, she herself was in as a consequence, in a good way, above the grave of Di-ra is the highest-called St. Sophia Cathedral, which is simply -after half a century, it burned down in 1017. Yaro-slav the Wise built on this place later, in 1050, the church of St. Irene, and St. Sophia Ol -gi-to the temple-re-carried to the stone temple of the same name - the still-standing Sophia of Ki-ev-skaya, for-lo-female- new in 1017 and consecrated around 1030. In the Pro-log of the 13th century it was said about the Ol-gi-nom cross: “it now stands in Ki-e-ve in St. Sophia in al-ta-re on the right side". The plunder of the Ki-evo shrines, continued after the mon-go-lovs of Li-tov-ts-mi, to which the city became -Xia in 1341, didn’t spare him either. Under Jagai-le during the Union of Lublin, Poland and Lithuania were united in 1384 into one state, Ol- The gin cross was stolen from So-fiy-sko-go-bo-ra and taken by someone to Lub-lin. His further fate is unknown.

But among the bo-yars and druzhin-ni-kovs in Ki-e-ve there were a lot of people who, according to So-lo-mo-na, " “I don’t see the Great Wisdom,” as did the holy princess Olga, who built temples to Her. The roar of the language of the ancient world is becoming more and more bold under the go-lo-woo, looking with hope-of-paradise at the under-growth She-holy-glory-va, decided-but-from-niv-she-go-go-ry ma-te-ri to accept Christianity and yes- I am angry with her for this. It would be necessary to hurry with the thoughtful business of the Creation of Rus. The co-war-stvo of Vi-zan-tiya, it was not the same to give Christianity to Ru-si, it was in the hands of the tongue-n-kam. In search of a solution, Saint Olga turns her eyes to the west. There is no pro-ti-vo-speech here. Saint Olga († 969) still belonged to the undivided Church and hardly had the opportunity to delve into God. word tones of Greek and Latin faith teachings. Pro-ti-in-a-sto-i-ness of Za-pa-da and Vo-sto-la-was presented to her before everything in the same way -thing, second-degree in comparison with the real one for-whose - co-creation of the Russian Church, christ- An-skim pro-sve-sche-ni-em Ru-si.

Under the year 959, the German chronicler, named "pro-dol-zha-tel Re-gi-no-na", writes: "they came to the king of Elena, the queen of the Russians, who was baptized in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le, and pro-si- "Should we consecrate a bishop and priests for this?" King Otton, the future os-no-va-tel of the German Empire, willingly responded to Olga’s request, but - he conducted the business slowly, with a purely German-ness. Only on the next birthday, 960, was the Russian bishop installed Li-bu-tion, from the mon-on-brotherhood the monastery of Saint Alba in Mainz. But he soon died (March 15, 961). In his place, Adalbert of Trier was ordained, who Otton, “generously supplied with everything necessary,” from Netz, to Russia. It’s hard to say what would have happened if the king hadn’t waited so long, but when in 962 Adalbert appeared in Ki-e -ve, he “didn’t succeed in anything for which he was sent, and saw his efforts in vain.” Well, on the way back, “some of his companions were killed, and the bishop himself did not escape the mortal danger."

It turned out that over the past two years, just like before Olga, a window has finally opened in Ki-e-ve. re-turned in favor of the sides of paganism and, without becoming either right-glorious or anything else, Russia -in general, once again I thought about Christianity. The linguistic re-action manifested itself so strongly that not only the German mis-si-o-not-ry, but and some of the Kiev Christians who were baptized with Olga in Tsar-Grad. By order of the Holy Glory, the nephew of Saint Olga Gleb was killed and some buildings built by her were destroyed. We. Ra-zu-me-et-sya, this could not have happened without Vi-zan-Tiy’s secret diplomacy: those built against Olga and the meeting military opportunities for strengthening Ru-si due to cooperation with Otto, the Greeks preferred to support the language -kov.

The failure of the Adal-ber-t mission had a conceptual significance for the future Russian Orthodox Church, because escaped papal captivity. Saint Olga was left to come to terms with what had happened and completely go into the business of personal goodness, having given the reins of the rights of the tongue to the Holy Glory. They continued to take her into account, to her state-wisdom they invariably turned to her in all difficult cases. I. When Saint Slav departed from Ki-e-va, and he spent most of his time in campaigns and wars, managing -the state of the state was once again entrusted to the princess-gina-ma-te-ri. But the question of the Baptism of Rusi was temporarily removed from the agenda of the day, and this, of course, upset Saint Olga, consider -making Christ the good news the main thing in my life.

She meekly endured grief and grief, tried to help her son in the state and military for-bo-tah, to guide them in their heroic plans. The victory of the Russian army would have been a consolation for her, especially the defeat of the long-time enemy of the Russian state -gifts - Ha-zar-skogo ka-ga-na-ta. Twice, in 965 and in 969, the troops of the Holy Glory passed through the lands of the “non-insane Kha-zarov”, forever co- crushed the power of the Jewish authorities in the Azov region and the Lower Volga region. The next powerful blow was on the Muslim Volga Bulgaria, then it was the turn of Bulgaria Du- nay-skoy. Seventy cities along the Danube were taken as friends. One thing bothers Ol-gu: as if, carried away by the war at Bal-ka-nakh, St. Slav did not forget about Ki-e-ve.

In the spring of 969, Ki-ev wasa-di-li pe-che-ne-gi: “and it’s impossible for you to bring co-nya to-it, sto-ya pe-che-ne-gi on Ly-be-di." The Russian army was here and there, on the Danube. Having glorified the messengers to the son, Saint Ol-ga herself led the round of the hundred-faces. Saint Slav, having received the news, soon galloped to Kiev, “greeted his mother and children and com- crushed “What happened to them because of the bad guys.” But, having defeated the nomads, the military prince again began to speak to ma-te-ri: “I don’t like sitting in Ki- e-ve, I want to live in Pe-re-ya-s-lav-tse on the Danube - there’s s-re-di-on my land.” Saint Slav dreamed of creating a huge Russian state from the Danube to the Volga, which would unite Russia, Bol -garia, Serbia, the Black Sea region and the Azov region and extended their pre-deeds to the Tsar-city itself. Ol-ga is wise, no-ma-la, that with all the courage and from-va-ge of the Russian squads, they will not be able to cope with the ancient im-peri -ey ro-me-ev, Holy-glory was waiting for failure. But the son did not listen to the warning ma-te-ri. Then Saint Olga said: “You see, I’m in pain. Where do you want to get away from me? When is it good for me?” -nya, go wherever you want."

Her days were so long, her labors and sorrows eroded her strength. On July 11, 969, Saint Olga died, “and her great son, and her grandchildren, and all the people wept for her.” In the last years, amidst the triumph of the language, she, who was once a proud ruler, was baptized from the patrimony -ri-ar-ha in the capital of the right-of-glory, the elk came secretly, but keep the sacred one with you, so as not to call new howl flash-ki an-ti-hri-sti-an-sko-go fa-na-tiz-ma. But before death, having again regained her former firmness and determination, she for-gave pagan funeral feasts over her and opened the door according to the right order. Presbyter Gregory, who was with her in 957 in Kon-stan-ti-no-po-le, exactly executed her for -broadcasting.

Saint Olga lived, died, and was like a Christian. "And so alive and well is the glory of God in the Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in bliss of faith, end your life in peace in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” As her pro-ro-che-testament following the-to-le-ni-yam, she is with the deep-christian-smi-re-ni -we-have-da-la our faith about our-ro-de: “For God’s will, let it be! wa-ti-ro-du my-e-Land of Russia, let it lay on their hearts to turn to God, just as this God is to me yes-ro-va."

God glorified the holy work of the right-of-glory, “at the head of the faith” in the Russian land, chu-de-sa- We have no decaying relics. Jacob Mnih († 1072), a hundred years after her death, wrote in his “Pa-me-ti and in praise of Vla-di-mi-ru”: “God pro- glorify the body of your servant Olena, and there is her honorable body in the grave, and my indestructible remains to this day. The blessed princess Olga praised God with all her good deeds, and God glorified her ". Under the holy prince Vladimir, according to some data, in 1007, the relics of St. Olga were -we are in the Dec-tiny Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy God-ro-di-tsy and in a special sar-ko-fa- hey, in what places would the relics of the saints be placed in the right-glorious East. “And you’ve heard something wonderful about her: the stone’s coffin is small in the Church of the Holy Gods, that church was created by the blessed Prince Vla -di-peace, and there is the coffin of the blessed Olga. And on the top of the coffin there is a window - yes, you can see the body of the blessed Ol-gi le-zha-sche tse-lo.” But not everyone saw the miracle of the incorruptibility of the relics of the equal princess: “He who will come with faith will - there is a window, and he sees an honest body lying there intact and di-wit-sya chu-du that-ko-vo-mu - that-or-so-years-in-gro- be-le-zha-sche the body is unbreakable. as if he were sleeping, he could not see. And others, who do not come with faith, do not see the window of the tomb, and do not see it. la that’s honest, but only a coffin.”

So, after her death, Saint Ol-ga proclaimed eternal life and resurrection, filled with the joy of faith. Yu-shchih and lying incredulous. She was, according to the words of the Pre-ex-Nestor Le-to-scribe, “the pre-Christian land, like a den “nothing before the sun and like dawn before the light.”

Holy equal-to-great Prince Vladimir, exalting his blessing to God on the day of the Baptism of Ru -si, testify on behalf of his contemporaries about the holy equal of the so-so Olga, who knows-me-on-tel- in our words: “Bla-go-slo-vi-ti want the sons of Russia, and in the last generation the grandson of yours.”

See also: "" in the text of St. Di-mit-ria of Ro-stov.

Prayers

Troparion to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Helen

With the wings of God's understanding, you flew above the visible creation, / having sought God and the Creator of all things, / and, having found Him, you were born again through Baptism ́,/ the trees of the living beings enjoy, they remain incorruptible forever,// Olgo, ever-glorious.

Translation: Having covered your mind with the wings of the knowledge of God, you soared above the visible creation, seeking God and the Creator of all and, having found Him, received a new birth in Baptism, enjoying the Tree of Life, remaining incorruptible forever, Olga, always glorified.

Having abandoned the flattery of idols,/ you followed Christ, the Immortal Bridegroom, Olgo the God-Wise,/ rejoicing in His devil,/ praying unceasingly// for those who honor your holy memory with faith and love ́.

Translation: Leaving deception, you followed Christ, the Immortal Bridegroom, Olga the God-Wise, rejoicing in His palace, without ceasing to pray for those who honor your holy memory with faith and love.

Troparion to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Elena

In you, God-wise Elena, you know the image of salvation in the Russian country, / how, having received the bath of holy Baptism, you followed Christ, / creating and teaching, even if you left the idolatry. exist,/ take care of the soul, things more immortal, // also and with the Angels, Equal-to-the-Apostles, your spirit rejoices.

Translation: In you, God-wise Elena, there was an exact image of salvation for the Russian country, since you, having accepted the font of holy Baptism, followed Christ, teaching by deed to leave the seduction of idols and take care of the soul, an immortal creation, therefore your spirit, equal to the apostles, rejoices with the Angels .

Troparion to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Helen, Hellenic

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles to the chosen one of Christ, Princess Olgo,/ gave thy people the verbal and pure milk of Christ to drink,/ praying to the Merciful God,/ that the remission of sins// may grant our souls .

Translation: Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles chosen one of Christ, Princess Olga, who gave your people the verbal and pure milk of Christ to drink (), pray to the Merciful God that He may grant forgiveness to our souls for sins.

Kontakion to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Elena

Let us sing today to God, the Benefactor of all,/ who was glorified in Russia by Olga the God-Wise:/ so that through her prayers/ she will grant to our souls// remission of sins.

Translation: Today let us sing to God, the Benefactor of all, who glorified Olga the God-Wise in Russia, and through her prayers may grant forgiveness of sins to our souls.

Kontakion to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Elena

Today the grace of God appears to all, / having glorified Olga the God-Wise in Russia, / with her prayers, O Lord, / grant people // forgiveness of sins.

Translation: Today the grace of God appeared to everyone, glorifying Olga the God-wise in Rus', through her prayers, Lord, grant forgiveness of sins to people.

Greatness to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism Elena

We magnify you,/ holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olgo,/ like the morning dawn that rose in our land/ and the light of the Orthodox faith// who foreshadowed to her people.

First prayer to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Elena

Oh, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olgo, First Lady of Russia, warm intercessor and prayer worker for us before God! We come running to you with faith and pray with love: be your helper and helper in all things for our good, and, just as in your earlier life you tried to enlighten our forefathers with the light of holy faith and tradition I will do the will of the Lord, so even now, in the Heavenly Lordship, you remain favorable With your prayers to God, help us in enlightening our minds and hearts with the light of the Gospel of Christ, so that we may advance in faith, piety and love of Christ. In poverty and sorrow, present consolation, give a helping hand to those in need, intercede for those who are offended and attacked, those who have gone astray from the right faith and those blinded by heresies to their understanding and ask us from the Almighty of God, all that is good and useful to life, temporal and eternal, so that having lived here well, we will be worthy of inheriting eternal blessings in the endless Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him together with the Father and the Holy Spirit belongs all glory, honor and worship always, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Second prayer to Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, in Holy Baptism to Elena

Oh, great saint of God, God-chosen and God-glorified, equal to the apostles Grand Duchess Olgo! You rejected pagan evil and wickedness, you believed in the One True Trinitarian God, and you received holy Baptism, and you laid the foundation for the enlightenment of the Russian land. volume of faith and piety. You are our spiritual ancestor, you, according to Christ our Savior, are the first culprit of enlightenment and salvation of our race. You are a warm prayer and intercessor for the Fatherland of the All-Russians, the army and all people. For this reason, we humbly pray to you: look at our weaknesses and beg the Most Merciful King of Heaven, may he not be sorely angry with us, because because of our weaknesses we sin all day long, may he not destroy us with the lawless ours, but may he have mercy and save us by mercy May He plant His saving fear in our hearts, may He enlighten our minds with His grace, so that we may understand the ways of the Lord, leave the paths of wickedness and error, and strive in the paths of salvation and truths s, unwavering fulfillment of the commandments of God and the statutes of the Holy Church. Pray, blessed Olgo, the Human-lover of God, may He add His great mercy to us, may He deliver us from the invasion of foreigners, from internal disorder, rebellion and strife, from famine, deadly diseases and from all evil, may he give us the goodness of the air and the fruitfulness of the earth May he preserve our country from all the snares and slander of the enemy, may he preserve truth and mercy in the judges and rulers, may he give zeal to the shepherds for the salvation of his flock, may he give haste to all people, who will serve diligently To correct your own, love each other and have like-mindedness, yes For the good of the fatherland and the Holy Church, let us strive faithfully, so that the light of saving faith may shine in our country in all corners of the country, so that nonbelievers may turn to the faith, and may all heresies and schisms be abolished. Yes, having lived in peace on earth, we will be made worthy of eternal bliss in Heaven, praising and exalting God forever and ever. Amen.

Canons and Akathists

Canon to Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

Song 1

Irmos: Having drowned the majestic Pharaoh in the sea with his weapons and horsemen, having gloriously saved Israel and led him through the dry land, we sing of Christ, as if we were glorified.

You are our greatness and praise, Olgo the God-Wise: through you we are freed from idolatry’s flattery. Now pray for the generation and generations you brought to God, singing to Christ, as if you were glorified.

You drove out the majestic devil from Russia, you destroyed the wicked idols, you freed all people from lawlessness, teaching with wisdom the songs of Christ, as if you were glorified.

You have washed away the blackness of sin by the bath of Baptism, you have loved Christ, who stands before Him, praying for your servants, truly glorifying you.

Theotokos: Isaiah calls Thee the rod, the Most Pure One, David calls Thee the throne of the Lord, Habakkuk the shaded mountain, and Moses the bush, and we call Thee the Mother of God.

Song 3

Irmos: With a sovereign hand and a strong word you created Heaven and earth, even with Your Blood you redeemed Your Church, which is established in You, calling: for nothing is holy except You, Lord.

With a sovereign hand, and with wise words, and with a strong word, you taught your son the law of Christ and you forbade people from eating idols, O most glorious Olgo, who has now come together in your memory, we glorify you.

You, like a bee, have sought for the good mind far from the blossoming faith of Christ, and, like native honey, having received Baptism in the Royal City, you have bestowed upon your city and people, from which all the saturations of the sorrows of sin escape.

We offer all praise and prayer to you, Olgo, because you know God, who now stands before Him, asking for peace to the fatherland, and for filthy victories, and for the remission of sins to our souls, who sing to you, ever-blessed one.

Theotokos: You have appeared as a friend, O Virgin, of the Unapproachable God, so the angels sing unceasingly to You, obeying the Master, for You gave birth to the Word of the Father, the Co-Original, without a father: oh, miracle! Holy Spirit of Autumn Ty.

Sedalen, voice 3

We honor your feat, blessed one, for the strength of your spirit is marvelous, appearing in the weakness of your body; Having despised pagan flattery, you boldly preached the faith of Christ, giving us an image of zeal for the Lord.

Song 4

Irmos: The prophet, Habakkuk the Divine, was cleansed by the Spirit of God, breathing in him, fearing, saying: when summer draws near, you will be known, O God, for the salvation of men.

The Spirit of God rests on you, as on Devora, the prophetess of old, who, having been enlightened, strengthening the wise Vladimir, brought Sisera down into the devil's net by Baptism, as did Barak in Potots Kisso before.

Like the rapids, Olgo the God-wise, with a contrite heart, praying to God, you delivered your people from the insult of idols and freed you from the captivity of the enemy, calling on Christ for our help.

On the special day of your holy repose, we joyfully celebrate, sending up a prayer song to Christ, who crowned you with an incorruptible crown, Olgo the God-wise: ask us for the forgiveness of sins, who glorify you faithfully.

Theotokos: You, who flourished from the root of Jesse, as Isaiah prophesied, Christ the Flower that vegetated, and who bore the Original in the flesh, and the Rod of God's Spirit, we praise You, as the Mother of God and the Pure Virgin.

Song 5

Irmos: The Word of God, Omnipotent, sent peace to the whole world, illuminating and enlightening everything with true light, glorifying Thee out of the night.

Like a chaste dove, you arose on the date of virtues, you, possessing a sacred krill, flying in the image, you nested in the paradise of food, glorious Olgo.

Solomon spoke about you first: the royal olive tree flourished outside the grapes; You planted a holy dream with Baptism in Russia, creating the fruit of repentance, about which Christ Himself rejoices.

Have mercy, O Master, on Your newly enlightened people, do not deliver us into the hands of the filthy for our many iniquities, but through the prayers of our mentor Olga, deliver us from all misfortune.

Theotokos: Sprinkle all the clouds of joy, as it is written, upon the earth: for God’s Child, Christ, cleanse the world from sins, was incarnate of the Virgin and was given to us.

Song 6

Irmos: Let my prayer come to Thy Holy Heavenly Church, I cry to Thee, like Jonah, from the depths of the heart of the sea: lift me from my sins, I pray to Thee, Lord.

Having received the zeal of the Holy Spirit into your hearts, you hated the evil of your fathers, and having sought Christ the true God, you appeared as a child of light, and you rejoiced with the firstborn of the saints in Heaven.

You have appeared as a new disciple of Christ in Russia, going around towns and villages, crushing idols and teaching people to worship the one God, Whom you pray for for your singing.

O God-blessed Olgo, pray for your children to God: ask for unmoving peace for our fatherland and for us remission of sins, who always glorify you.

Theotokos: Having known by You the indescribable Word of God, the Only Begotten Son of the Almighty, we cry out to You, O earthly beings: Rejoice, blessed Mother of God, hope of our souls.

Kontakion, tone 4

Let us sing today to God, the Benefactor of all, who glorified Olga the God-Wise in Russia, and through her prayers may grant remission of sins to our souls.

Ikos

Seeing the life of Christians and understanding pagan obscenity, you declared within yourself, Olgo the God-Wise: Oh, the abyss of wisdom and goodness of all the Creator! How have you hidden from me until now? How can I honor idols from now on? No one, having tasted the sweet, will delight in the bitter, for this sake, even in old age, call me, Holy Trinity, and grant me remission of sins.

Song 7

Irmos: Having enslaved the flames of the cave, the pious youths, the more I have been showered, are ready to burn by nature, but more than by nature I will masculinely: blessed art thou, O Lord, on the Throne of Glory of Thy Kingdom.

Like Judith you did, you entered into the midst of the idol bodies, you crushed those leaders and you put the demon-worshippers to shame, and you taught all people to cry out to Christ in purity: blessed are you, O Lord, on the Throne of Glory of Your Kingdom.

We offer flowers of praise, like a royal crown, to your God-wise head in your memory, even as Christ has crowned us with incorruptibility, O venerable Olgo, praying for your flock, will be delivered from all evil crying: blessed art thou, O Lord, on the Throne of Glory of Thy Kingdom.

Shall we call Mount Lebanon thee? The dew of Heaven is upon you. Or the Pison River, the kindest sapphire, the honest stone, the property of Vladimir, through which the Russian land will be enlightened? But pray for us, crying out: blessed art thou, O Lord, on the Throne of Glory of Thy Kingdom.

Theotokos: The ark, gilded by the Spirit, we call You, who saved the world from the intelligent flood, Virgin, save us, for we hope in You and we resort to You, deliver those desperate in the abyss from sin and misfortune, crying out: blessed art thou, O Lord, on the Throne of Glory of Thy Kingdom.

Song 8

Irmos: The three strong youths, enveloping themselves in the power of the Holy Trinity, caught and defeated the Chaldeans, and their nature marvelously changed: how was fire turned into dew? Without tightness, I preserve you, like with swaddling clothes, O God who sheds wisdom in all Your deeds, We exalt You forever.

Strong, like a lioness, enveloped by the power of the Holy Spirit, she alone strives to tear idols everywhere, and it is marvelous in Heaven and on earth: how can a woman know God first, and by her was the fall of the whole race? By the same salvation now, we sing: O God who has shed wisdom in all Your deeds, We exalt You forever.

The wisdom of God previously wrote about you: Behold, you are my good and beautiful, and there is no vice in you. The shine of your face, like the sense of smell of peace, marks your baptism, Olgo, which, in the midst of idol flattery, Christ brought us all from the stench of demons to repentance by His mercy.

Remember me, Mrs. Olgo, your wretched servant, stolen from the enemy and who has sinned more than man, and pray to Christ to grant me forgiveness for all the sins I have committed insensibly, the accursed one, and cry out in repentance: O God who has shed wisdom in all your deeds, we exalt you in eyelids.

Theotokos: Do not despise, Virgin, Your servant's prayers, for we boast in You, We are Your little flock, striving for our intercession and taking us away from our enemies, showing mercy to the Mother of God who knows You and crying to Your Son: O God who sheds wisdom in all Your deeds, We extol You forever.

Song 9

Irmos: Our great-grandmothers came out of Eden for the sake of Eve, and were called by You, who gave birth to us a new Adam - Christ, into two natures, the Pure Virgin. Adam, the great-grandfather, jumped up, as if he had broken the first oaths, but we boast in You, as we know You for God’s sake, and we magnify You.

Rejoice, O ancestress, who deceived you and brought you out of Eden, but is now trampled underfoot by your offspring. Behold, Olga, the animal tree, the Cross of Christ, set up in Russia, to which paradise was opened to all the faithful, but we, boasting that we knew it for God’s sake, together with Vladimir, magnify this.

We call you a wife by nature, but you have moved beyond the strength of a woman. You have exhausted the darkness of your gold, and having acquired Christ’s law and teachers, you have enlightened the Russian land, but we boast of you, as we know you for God’s sake, and we magnify you as martyrs.

3 Law to the pure mentor and teacher of the faith of Christ, accept praise from unworthy servants and make a prayer for us to God, who honestly honor your memory, so that we will be freed from misfortunes, troubles, sorrows, and cruel sins, and also deliver us from the torment that awaits us. , we pray to you, who constantly magnify you.

Theotokos: Behold the Church, behold the door, behold the holy mountain of God, behold the rod and vessel of gold, behold the sealed fountain, behold the holy paradise of the new Adam, behold the terrible throne, behold the Most Pure Mother of God, Intercessor of all of us who sing Yu.

Svetilen

Enlightened by the light of God's grace, you kindled the lamp of true faith in your fatherland, Olgo the God-Wise One, and you gave the image to our father Vladimir, to whom we too were brought from the darkness of ignorance to the Light of Christ.

Akathist to Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga of Russia

Kontakion 1

First-chosen from the entire Russian family, more glorious and equal to the apostles, let us praise the saint of God Olga, as at the dawn, in the darkness of idolatry, the light of faith rose and showed the way to Christ to all Russians. But you, who have boldness towards the Lord who has glorified you, protect us from all troubles with your prayers, so we call to you:

Ikos 1

Creator of angels and men, who has placed times and seasons in His power and governed the destinies of kingdoms and peoples according to His will, when you desire to enlighten the Russian race with Holy Baptism, then, seeing the good will of your heart, calling you first into the knowledge of Himself, so that you may be an image of all Russians and a teacher in the Christian faith. For this reason, we praise you:

Rejoice, morning star in the Russian sky, foreshadowed by the First-Called Apostle on the mountains of Kyiv; Rejoice, dawn, shining brightly in the darkness of ignorance.

Rejoice, good vine of the grapes of Christ, from the pagan root of the wonder; Rejoice, wonderful summer growth, not the great tree of orthodoxy on the earth of our age.

Rejoice, our first teacher and enlightener; Rejoice, for by your knowledge we worship the Creator in the Trinity.

Rejoice, for for your sake the Most Holy Name of the Lord is glorified by all Russians; Rejoice, for your glorious name, together with Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, is praised throughout the world.

Rejoice, our Russian country is a spiritual treasure; Rejoice, glorious adornment of the whole Church of Christ.

Rejoice, great kindness from the cities of Kyiv and Pskov; Rejoice, good helper to our people against their enemies.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 2

Seeing you, Saint Olgo, like a weed of thorns: you were born into paganism, and you have always had the law of God written in your heart, and you have had chastity like the apple of your eye; We sing with gratitude to God, who is wondrous in His saints: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

With your mind, knowing all the good, you knew, God-wise Olgo, that idols, the hands of human creation, are not gods; Moreover, having rejected you, you tried to know the true God. For this reason, praising your prudence, we cry out to you:

Rejoice, good woman, who first of all knew the error of the Russians and understood the futility of idolatry; Rejoice, you who diligently sought the true knowledge of God and the right faith.

Rejoice, you who do not yet know the true God, like Cornelius the centurion, who pleased Him with good deeds; Rejoice, having lived righteously before understanding the law of God according to the law of conscience.

Rejoice, having done deeds befitting a Christian before accepting the Christian faith; Rejoice, gifted with wisdom from God.

Rejoice, thou who bravely defended thy power from the invasion of the adversary; Rejoice, you who created righteous judgments in the people subordinate to you.

Rejoice, honored with royal glory on earth and in Heaven; Rejoice, for you, Equal to the Apostles, glorified by God.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 3

Moved by the power of God's grace, you, God-wise Olgo, strived to reach Constantinople, where you beheld the beauty of the church's splendor and listened to the teachings of the Divine words, and you were inflamed with all your heart in the love of Christ, crying out to Him in gratitude: Alleluia.

Ikos 3

Having a heart like a good land, you have comfortably accepted, Olgo, the seed of the holy faith, having come to know Christ the true God. In the same way, you received holy baptism from the hand of the Patriarch of Constantinople, who also predicted that from now on you will be blessed by the sons of Russia. If we want to fulfill this prophecy, we cry out to you:

Rejoice, thou who has left the darkness of idolatry; Rejoice, you who have sought the light of knowledge of God.

Rejoice, you who escaped endless destruction by faith; Rejoice, you who have acquired eternal life in Christ.

Rejoice, having been washed from the defilement of sin in the font of holy baptism; Rejoice, spiritually born by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Rejoice, intelligent turtledove, who flew away from the claws of the soul-destroying corvid; Rejoice, you who flew under the wing of the Heavenly Eagle.

Rejoice, you who brought with you many souls to Christ through baptism; Rejoice, for this reason you have received special reward from God.

Rejoice, with undoubted faith, illuminating the light that comes from your venerable relics; Rejoice, you who give to the souls and bodies of those who benefit.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 4

Why do we not marvel at your prudence, Olgo, blessed, for you wisely rejected the offer of the king of the Hellenes to marry him, deciding to him: not for the sake of marriage did I come, and not for the sake of reigning with you, but let me be dismayed by Baptism to the Immortal Bridegroom Christ God: Whom shall I love above all else? My soul and Him from now on will never cease to sing: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Having heard from the patriarch who baptized you a parting word about purity, fasting, prayer and all the virtues befitting a Christian, you formed this in your heart to fulfill all the deeds you promised. Therefore, out of duty, we sing to you:

Rejoice, zealous hearer of the words of the Divine; Rejoice, zealous doer of the Christian law.

Rejoice, having cleared the field of your heart from the thorns of soul-harming passions; Rejoice, you who have watered you with tears of repentance.

Rejoice, for the seed of the word of God has taken root in your heart, for it has taken root in the good earth; Rejoice, for this seed has vegetated and brought a hundredfold fruit of good deeds.

Rejoice, having immaculately preserved your widowhood purity; Rejoice, having pleased God through abstinence and prayer.

Rejoice, having propitiated the Creator with alms; Rejoice, you who provided the needs of the poor and needy.

Rejoice, you who foresaw the enlightenment of the Russian land with the light of Christ’s teaching.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 5

Having clothed yourself with the richly woven robe of holy baptism and the incorruptible food of the Most Pure Body and Blood of Christ, having been spiritually strengthened, O blessed One, you were not afraid of the desire of your unfaithful compatriots, our ancestors, to preach to them the One True God, to whom now all Russia, as one mouth, sings: Alleluia .

Ikos 5

Having seen, Saint Olgo, all the people of the Russian land immersed in the darkness of idolatry, you zealously tried to enlighten you with the light of Christ’s faith and create sons of the day and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Remembering your great care for them, we gratefully call to you:

Rejoice, wise ruler of the Russian people; Rejoice, good teacher of the flock entrusted to you.

Rejoice, the first of Christians to imitate Queen Helena in Divine zeal; Rejoice, and you who received your name in holy baptism.

Rejoice, you who brought the honorable cross of Christ and holy icons from Constantinople to the city of Kyiv; Rejoice, you who brought priests and clergy with you to Russia.

Rejoice, who taught people with your wise words to leave the darkness of pagan wickedness and accept the light of Christian piety; Rejoice, you who have enlightened many Russians with the light of the faith of Christ.

Rejoice, you who laid the foundation for the enlightenment of the entire Russian land; Rejoice, you who have proclaimed the teachings of Christ through the preaching of the Russian cities.

Rejoice, first from the land of Russia to be considered a saint.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 6

As a spirit-bearing preacher, an Apostle, imitating the God-wise Olga, you went around the cities and towns of your powers, leading, very powerfully, people to the faith of Christ and teaching them to sing to the One glorified God in the Trinity: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

Confirming in your state the beginnings of the Christian faith, you created temples of God in the city of Kyiv and in the country of your birth, at the Velitsa River near the city of Pskov. And so the Russians began to glorify Christ our God everywhere, and to you, their enlightener, sing praises:

Rejoice, for from the pure source of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church you received pure teaching; Rejoice, for by this you have taught us to know the One true God.

Rejoice, destroyer of idolatry and idols; Rejoice, creator of God's holy temples.

Rejoice, like the First-Called Apostle, who went around the Russian land preaching the Gospel; Rejoice, you who preached the coming of Christ to the world to Veliky Novugrad and other Russian cities.

Rejoice, you who erected honorable crosses in the place of your preaching, from them many signs and wonders, assurances for the sake of the infidels, I became virgins by the power of God.

Rejoice, for through you the All-Good Lord has revealed His knowledge to the sons of Russia; Rejoice, for through them you enlightened many other nations with the light of faith.

Rejoice, for from the root of your honor the Lord of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir showed us to eat; Rejoice, for by the way of your life the holy Prince Vladimir was moved to accept the Christian faith.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 7

Wanting to save your son Svyatoslav from eternal destruction, you diligently exhorted him to abandon the veneration of idols and believe in the true God. But she did not heed your mother’s punishment and did not want to change her wickedness to piety. Moreover, as an infidel, I am alienated from eternal life and am not worthy to sing with you in the Heavenly Kingdom: Alleluia.

Ikos 7

The Lord showed you a new sign of His favor, when, in the image of the Most Holy Trinity, three bright rays from heaven fell on the place of the oak forest, which not only you saw, but all the people there saw, and together with you you glorified the Triune God. We, leading the fulfillment of your prophecy about the creation in this place of the temple of the Life-Giving Trinity and the city, please you:

Rejoice, great servant of God, honored with the gift of prophecy.

Rejoice, spectator of the Trisienna of Heavenly Light; Rejoice, the all-good will of God for the enlightenment of the Russian people, according to the Apostle Andrew, the first executor.

Rejoice, original founder of the city of Pskov; Rejoice, intercessor and patroness of all Russian powers.

Rejoice, for by the will of God the Russian power has now spread from sea to sea; Rejoice, for the whole city and its entirety have been adorned with many temples of God.

Rejoice, for in these churches the saints and priests offer the Bloodless Sacrifice for people to God; Rejoice, for the hosts of monastics throughout the entire face of the Russian land unanimously sing the praises of the Holy Trinity.

Rejoice, for the inhabitants of the city of Kyiv and Pskov exalt and please you; Rejoice, for all Orthodox Russians have revered and glorified you since ancient times.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 8

Ending your earthly journey, you prayed to the warmth of the Lord, O blessed Olgo, that He would not leave the Russian land after your repose in the darkness of ignorance, but may He enlighten you with the light of the holy faith and may all the sons of Russia teach you to chant: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

Having been completely embraced by the grace of God, praiseworthy Olgo, you saw with your thoughts the enlightenment of all your people and prophetically predicted that many great saints of God, like bright stars, will shine in the lands of Russia, which will come true by the will and grace of the almighty God. For this reason, out of duty, we sing to you:

Rejoice, our spiritual mother, who asked God for enlightenment by our forefathers; Rejoice, for the All-Good Lord, in vain the kindness of your soul, for your sake all the Russian people love.

Rejoice, for you have found Christ a worthy vessel, through whom He began to pour out His grace to the Russian land; Rejoice, for you have prepared your people to receive the faith and grace of Christ.

Rejoice, for thou shrewdly foresaw the greatness and glory of thy power; Rejoice, for you rejoiced at the piety you foresaw for the sons of Russia.

Rejoice, for according to your prophecy, many holy things have arisen from our generation; Rejoice, home of the Life-Giving Trinity, organizer.

Rejoice, interceding us with your prayers in sorrows and misfortunes; Rejoice, you who preserve our Fatherland in evil circumstances and deliver us from enemies.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 9

Having been filled with all sorts of virtues, Blessed Olgo, with prayer in her mouth, you gave up your spirit in the hand of God, who placed you in the heavenly abodes and was the first among the Russians to be numbered among His Equal-to-the-Apostles. In the same way, ask us from the Lord for a peaceful Christian death, so that we may give up our souls in the hands of Christ our God, singing a song of praise to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

The stories of many things cannot adequately praise you, Olgo the God-wise: how you, having been taught and admonished by no one from man, have known the vanity of idolatry, you have sought the right faith and, like Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen, you have found the priceless beads, Christ, enjoying the sight of Him in Heaven Now, do not forget us, darkened by the charms of this world and forgetting about the eternal blessings, yes, we are guided by you on the right path, we cry to you joyfully:

Rejoice, having prepared for yourself the habitation of Divine grace through your good deeds and right will of mind and heart; Rejoice, for the Holy Spirit Himself was your teacher, leading you to know Christ the Son of God.

Rejoice, you who saw no signs or wonders and believed in Christ; Rejoice, because of your faith you have put to shame many persecutors and tormentors, who saw signs and wonders and did not believe.

Rejoice, having given yourself over to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; Rejoice, you who have shown perfect submission to the will of God.

Rejoice, you who appeared obedient to the voice of grace that called you; Rejoice, you who have labored since the eleventh hour in the city of the Lord and received compensation with the first.

Rejoice, for the Lord has made you wise to combine royal honor, wealth and glory with Christian humility; Rejoice, for in this way you have clearly shown us that earthly blessings are not an obstacle for God-loving souls to achieve Heavenly blessings.

Rejoice, glorified by the kindness of chastity and the lightness of understanding; Rejoice, having received the gift from God through the strength of faith and the chaste purity of life of your prophecy.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 10

Arranging the path of salvation for your Russian son and fulfilling your dying request, the All-Good Lord will grow in your grandson Vladimir the seed of faith you have sown and through him enlighten the entire Russian land with Holy Baptism. Therefore, we glorify you, blessed Olgo, as the first culprit of our enlightenment with the light of the holy faith, and we tenderly sing to Christ our Savior: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

Having received Holy Baptism, your grandson Vladimir, trying to remove from the earth your incorruptible relics, filled with a wonderful fragrance, and with Saint Leonty and all the multitude of people, I placed the Most Pure Mother of God in the church, and from there I began to exude healing from them with every ailment that comes with faith. For this reason, we praise you:

Rejoice, for the grace of the Holy Spirit has entered into you, bestowing incorruptibility with your might and creating in your relics a source of healing for all ailments; Rejoice, I did not allow those who came to see them with little faith.

Rejoice, having brought joy to the infant Russian Church by the appearance of your relics; Rejoice, you have greatly pleased your grandson Vladimir with the glorification of them.

Rejoice, for even to this day the pious people of the Russian lands delight in your glorious memory; Rejoice, for through your faithful petition to God the Russians have been granted many blessings from the Lord.

Rejoice, having begged God with your prayers for the enlightenment of the Russian land; Rejoice, you who prophesied that many great saints will soon appear on the Russian lands.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 11

We offer a song of tenderness to you, the saint of God, and we humbly pray to you: pray for us, the One Lover of Mankind, God, that He may not turn His face away from us, unworthy, constantly sinning and grieving His goodness, but may He punish us here, as the Father who loves His children, may, in in the future, may he save and have mercy, as the righteous Judge and Rewarder, so that, having been delivered from eternal torment, we will be honored with you in the heavenly abodes to sing to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

Illuminated by a tri-radiant light, you now stand with all the saints in Heaven at the Throne of the King of Reigns, Olgo the All-Blessed, and from there, like a luminous luminary, you enlighten the entire Russian country, dispelling the darkness of delusion and showing the path to true enlightenment to Heavenly bliss. For this reason, glorifying you, we say:

Rejoice, moon-illumined from the never-setting Sun of Truth; Rejoice, guide, showing us the right path to eternal salvation.

Rejoice, powerful helper and strengthener of preachers of the Orthodox faith; Rejoice, patroness of good mentors of youth and all those who work well for the common good.

Rejoice, teacher and patroness of the legislators of the Russian country; Rejoice, wise and kind giver of advice, rulers and rulers of this country.

Rejoice, sedition and strife consumer; Rejoice, intercessor of all those offended and unjustly persecuted.

Rejoice, quick consoler of the sorrowful; Rejoice, merciful healer of the sick.

Rejoice, you who give our people help through your prayers from God; Rejoice, representative and intercessor of all Russian countries.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olgo, God-wise.

Kontakion 12

Ask for the grace of the Most Holy Spirit for us, our mentor, from the All-Generous God and our Savior, admonishing and strengthening us in the work of salvation, so that the seed of the holy faith planted in us by you will not be fruitless, but may it vegetate and create fruit, which would enable us to nourish our souls in the future eternal life, where all the saints sing to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Singing your many and glorious good deeds, revealed to the Russian country in the enlightenment of that light of the faith of Christ, we offer thanksgiving, calling with love:

Rejoice, God-chosen and God-glorified autocrat of the Russian land, her indestructible fence, protection and protection.

Rejoice, to the Russian virgins the image of a chaste life; Rejoice, mother, teacher of lawful marriage and good upbringing of children.

Rejoice, rule for widows to live a life pleasing to God; Rejoice, teacher and image of all virtues to all Russians.

Rejoice, co-participant in Heaven of the lot of preachers of the faith of Christ; Rejoice, partaker of the eternal bliss of the righteous.

Rejoice, warm prayer book for us before God; Rejoice, zealous intercessor for our salvation.

Rejoice, at the hour of our death, intercessor for us to God; Rejoice, you who provide help and consolation to this body after our departure from this mortal body.

Rejoice, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, God-wise.

Kontakion 13

O holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, graciously accept from us this laudatory thanksgiving for all that the Lord has given to us, our father and forefather and the entire Russian state, through you, and pray to the All-Good God to increase His mercy on us and on the generations of our generations, to establish us in orthodoxy and piety, keep us from all misfortunes, troubles and evils, so that with you, like children of matter, we may be worthy to sing to God forever: Alleluia.

This kontakion is read three times, then the 1st ikos “Creator of Angels and Men...” and the 1st kontakion “First Chosen of All...”.

First prayer

O holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olgo, first saint of Russia, warm intercessor and prayer book for us before God. We resort to you with faith and pray with love: be your helper and accomplice in everything for our good, and just as in temporary life you tried to enlighten our forefathers with the light of the holy faith and instruct me to do the will of the Lord, so even now, in the heavenly lordship, favorable With your prayers to God, help us in enlightening our minds and hearts with the light of the Gospel of Christ, so that we may advance in faith, piety and love of Christ. In poverty and sorrow, give comfort to the needy, give a helping hand to the needy, stand up for those who are offended and shepherded, those who have gone astray from the right faith and are blinded by heresies, and ask us from the All-Bountiful God for all that is good and useful in temporal and eternal life, so that having lived here well, we will be worthy of an inheritance eternal blessings in the endless Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, belongs all glory, honor and worship, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Second prayer

O great saint of God, God-chosen and God-glorified, equal to the apostles Grand Duchess Olgo! You rejected pagan evil and wickedness, you believed in the One True Trinitarian God, and you accepted holy Baptism, and you laid the foundation for the enlightenment of the Russian land with the light of faith and piety. You are our spiritual ancestor, you, according to Christ our Savior, are the first culprit of the enlightenment and salvation of our race. You are a warm prayer book and intercessor for the All-Russian Fatherland, the army and all people. For this reason, we humbly pray to you: look at our weaknesses and beg the Most Merciful King of Heaven, so that He will not be extremely angry with us, as through our weaknesses we sin all day long, and may He not destroy us with our iniquities, but may He have mercy and save us in His mercy, may He implant His saving fear in our hearts, may He enlighten our minds with His grace, so that we may understand the ways of the Lord, leave the paths of wickedness and error, and pursue the paths of salvation and truth, the unwavering fulfillment of the commandments of God and the Holy Orders of the Church. Pray, blessed Olgo, to the Lord who loves mankind, may He add His great mercy to us, may He deliver us from the invasion of foreigners, from internal disorder, rebellion and strife, from famine, deadly diseases and from all evil, may He give us the blessing of the air and the fruitfulness of the earth, and will preserve our country from all the intrigues and slander of the enemy, may he preserve truth and mercy in judges and rulers, may he give zeal to the shepherds for the salvation of his flock, and may all people have haste to diligently perform their services, have love among themselves and have like-mindedness, for the good of the fatherland and let the Holy Church strive faithfully, so that the light of the saving faith may shine in our country at all ends of it, so that non-believers may turn to the faith, so that all heresies and schisms will be abolished. Yes, having lived in peace on earth, you and I will be worthy of eternal bliss in Heaven, praising and exalting God forever and ever. Amen.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga. At baptism, Elena went down in history as the great creator of state life and culture of Kievan Rus. Celebrated on July 24th.

Princess Olga is one of the few female rulers in Russian history. Its role in strengthening the power of the ancient Russian state cannot be underestimated. This is the image of a Russian heroine, a wise, intelligent and at the same time cunning woman who, like a real warrior, was able to avenge the death of her husband Igor the Old. There are few facts about her, like other rulers of the ancient Russian state; in the history of her personality there are controversial points, about which historians debate to this day. Olga is the first Russian saint. It was from her that Orthodoxy came to Rus'. Her name will forever go down in the history of our country as the name of a heroine woman who sincerely loved her husband, her Motherland and her people.

Memorial Day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga July 24 The Orthodox Church honors the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga on the day of her repose. Princess Olga (~890-969) – Grand Duchess, widow of the Grand Duke Igor Rurikovich killed by the Drevlyans, who ruled Russia during the childhood of their son Svyatoslav. The name of Princess Olga is at the source of Russian history, and is associated with the greatest events of the founding of the first dynasty, with the first establishment of Christianity in Rus' and the bright features of Western civilization. After her death, ordinary people called her cunning, the church - holy, history - wise. The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, in holy baptism Elena, came from the family of Gostomysl, on whose advice the Varangians were called to reign in Novgorod, was born in the Pskov land, in the village of Vybuty, into a pagan family from the dynasty of the Izborsky princes. In 903, she became the wife of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Igor. After his murder in 945 by the rebel Drevlyans, the widow, who did not want to marry, took on the burden of public service with her three-year-old son Svyatoslav. The Grand Duchess went down in history as the great creator of state life and culture of Kievan Rus. In 954, Princess Olga went to Constantinople for the purpose of a religious pilgrimage and a diplomatic mission, where she was received with honor by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. She was struck by the grandeur of Christian churches and the shrines collected in them. The sacrament of baptism was performed over her by the Patriarch of Constantinople Theophylact, and the emperor himself became the recipient. The name of the Russian princess was given in honor of the holy Queen Helena, who found the Cross of the Lord. The Patriarch blessed the newly baptized princess with a cross carved from a single piece of the Life-Giving Tree of the Lord with the inscription: “The Russian land was renewed with the Holy Cross, Olga, the blessed princess, accepted it.” Upon returning from Byzantium, Olga zealously carried the Christian gospel to the pagans, began to erect the first Christian churches: in the name of St. Nicholas over the grave of the first Kiev Christian prince Askold and St. Sophia in Kiev over the grave of Prince Dir, the Church of the Annunciation in Vitebsk, the temple in the name of the Holy and Life-Giving One Trinity in Pskov, the place for which, according to the chronicler, was indicated to her from above by the “Ray of the Trisplendent Deity” - on the bank of the Velikaya River she saw “three bright rays” descending from the sky. Holy Princess Olga reposed in 969 on July 11 (old style), bequeathing her open Christian burial. Her incorruptible relics rested in the tithe church in Kyiv.

Marriage with Prince Igor and the beginning of the reign of Olga, Princess of Kyiv Tradition calls Olga’s birthplace the village of Vybuty not far from Pskov, up the Velikaya River. The life of Saint Olga tells that here she first met her future husband. The young prince was hunting “in the Pskov region” and, wanting to cross the Velikaya River, he saw “someone floating in a boat” and called him to the shore. Sailing away from the shore in a boat, the prince discovered that he was being carried by a girl of amazing beauty. Blessed Olga, having understood the thoughts of Igor, kindled by lust, stopped his conversation, turning to him, like a wise old man, with the following admonition: “Why are you embarrassed, prince, planning an impossible task? Your words reveal your shameless desire to violate me, which will not happen! I don't want to hear about it. I ask you, listen to me and suppress in yourself these absurd and shameful thoughts that you should be ashamed of: remember and think that you are a prince, and a prince should be a bright example of good deeds for people, as a ruler and judge; Are you now close to some kind of lawlessness?! If you yourself, overcome by unclean lust, commit atrocities, then how will you keep others from doing them and judge your subjects fairly? Abandon such shameless lust, which honest people abhor; and you, although you are a prince, may be hated by the latter for this and subjected to shameful ridicule. And even then, know that, although I am alone here and powerless compared to you, you still will not defeat me. But even if you could defeat me, then the depth of this river will immediately be my protection: it is better for me to die in purity, burying myself in these waters, than to be desecrated to my virginity.” She shamed Igor by reminding him of the princely dignity of a ruler and judge, who should be a “bright example of good deeds” for his subjects. Igor broke up with her, keeping her words and beautiful image in his memory. When the time came to choose a bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality were gathered in Kyiv. But none of them pleased him. And then he remembered Olga, “wonderful in maidens,” and sent his relative Prince Oleg for her. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the Grand Duchess of Russia.

After his marriage, Igor went on a campaign against the Greeks, and returned from it as a father: his son Svyatoslav was born. Soon Igor was killed by the Drevlyans. Fearing revenge for the murder of the Kyiv prince, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors to Princess Olga, inviting her to marry their ruler Mal. Revenge of Princess Olga on the Drevlyans After the murder of Igor, the Drevlyans sent matchmakers to his widow Olga to invite her to marry their prince Mal. The princess successively dealt with the elders of the Drevlyans, and then brought the people of the Drevlyans into submission. The Old Russian chronicler describes in detail Olga's revenge for the death of her husband: 1st revenge of Princess Olga: Matchmakers, 20 Drevlyans, arrived in a boat, which the Kievans carried and threw into a deep hole in the courtyard of Olga's tower. The matchmaker-ambassadors were buried alive along with the boat. And, bending towards the pit, Olga asked them: “Is honor good for you?” They answered: “Igor’s death is worse for us.” And she ordered them to be buried alive; and they fell asleep.. 2nd revenge: Olga asked, out of respect, to send new ambassadors from the best men to her, which the Drevlyans willingly did. An embassy of noble Drevlyans was burned in a bathhouse while they were washing themselves in preparation for a meeting with the princess. 3rd revenge: The princess with a small retinue came to the lands of the Drevlyans to, according to custom, celebrate a funeral feast at her husband’s grave. Having drunk the Drevlyans during the funeral feast, Olga ordered them to be chopped down. The chronicle reports 5 thousand Drevlyans killed. 4th revenge: In 946, Olga went with an army on a campaign against the Drevlyans. According to the First Novgorod Chronicle, the Kiev squad defeated the Drevlyans in battle. Olga walked through the Drevlyansky land, established tributes and taxes, and then returned to Kyiv. In the PVL, the chronicler made an insert into the text of the Initial Code about the siege of the Drevlyan capital of Iskorosten. According to the PVL, after an unsuccessful siege during the summer, Olga burned the city with the help of birds, to whose feet she ordered lit tow with sulfur to be tied. Some of the defenders of Iskorosten were killed, the rest submitted. A similar legend about the burning of the city with the help of birds is also told by Saxo Grammaticus (12th century) in his compilation of oral Danish legends about the exploits of the Vikings and the skald Snorri Sturluson. After the reprisal against the Drevlyans, Olga began to rule Kievan Rus until Svyatoslav came of age, but even after that she remained the de facto ruler, since her son was absent most of the time on military campaigns.

The reign of Princess Olga Having conquered the Drevlyans, Olga in 947 went to the Novgorod and Pskov lands, assigning lessons there (a kind of tribute measure), after which she returned to her son Svyatoslav in Kyiv. Olga established a system of “cemeteries” - centers of trade and exchange, in which taxes were collected in a more orderly manner; Then they began to build churches in graveyards. Princess Olga laid the foundation for stone urban planning in Rus' (the first stone buildings of Kiev - the city palace and Olga's country tower), paid attention to the improvement of the lands subject to Kiev - Novgorod, Pskov, located along the Desna River, etc. In 945, Olga established the dimensions of the “polyudye” - taxes in favor of Kiev, terms and frequency of their payment - “rents” and “charters”. The lands subject to Kyiv were divided into administrative units, in each of which a princely administrator was appointed - “tiun”. On the Pskov River, where she was born, Olga, according to legend, founded the city of Pskov. On the site of the vision of three luminous rays from the sky, which the Grand Duchess was honored with in those parts, the temple of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity was erected. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in his essay “On the Administration of the Empire” (chapter 9), written in 949, mentions that “the monoxyls coming from external Russia to Constantinople are one of Nemogard, in which Sfendoslav, the son of Ingor, the archon of Russia, sat.” From this short message it follows that by 949 Igor held power in Kyiv, or, which seems unlikely, Olga left her son to represent power in the northern part of her state. It is also possible that Constantine had information from unreliable or outdated sources. The Life tells the following about Olga’s labors: “And Princess Olga ruled the regions of the Russian land under her control not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in her hands and courageously defending herself from enemies. And she was terrible for the latter, but loved by her own people, as a merciful and pious ruler, as a righteous judge who did not offend anyone, inflicting punishment with mercy and rewarding the good; She instilled fear in all evil, rewarding each in proportion to the merit of his actions, but in all matters of government she showed foresight and wisdom. At the same time, Olga, merciful at heart, was generous to the poor, the poor and the needy; fair requests soon reached her heart, and she quickly fulfilled them... With all this, Olga combined a temperate and chaste life; she did not want to remarry, but remained in pure widowhood, observing princely power for her son until the days of his age. When the latter matured, she handed over to him all the affairs of the government, and she herself, having withdrawn from rumors and care, lived outside the concerns of management, indulging in works of charity.” As a wise ruler, Olga saw from the example of the Byzantine Empire that it was not enough to worry only about state and economic life. It was necessary to start organizing the religious and spiritual life of the people. The author of the “Book of Degrees” writes: “Her (Olga’s) feat was that she recognized the true God. Not knowing the Christian law, she lived a pure and chaste life, and she wanted to be a Christian by free will, with the eyes of her heart she found the path of knowing God and followed it without hesitation.” The Rev. Nestor the Chronicler narrates: “Blessed Olga from an early age sought wisdom, which is the best in this world, and found a valuable pearl - Christ.”

Baptism of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga “From an early age, Blessed Olga sought wisdom, what is best in this world, and found a pearl of great value - Christ.” Having made her choice, Grand Duchess Olga, entrusting Kyiv to her grown-up son, sets off with a large fleet to Constantinople. Old Russian chroniclers will call this act of Olga “walking”; it combined a religious pilgrimage, a diplomatic mission, and a demonstration of the military power of Rus'. “Olga wanted to go to the Greeks herself in order to look at the Christian service with her own eyes and be fully convinced of their teaching about the true God,” the life of Saint Olga narrates. According to the chronicle, in Constantinople Olga decides to become a Christian. The Sacrament of Baptism was performed on her by Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople (933 - 956), and the successor was Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (912 - 959), who left a detailed description of the ceremonies during Olga’s stay in Constantinople in his essay “On the Ceremonies of the Byzantine Court”. Baptism of Princess Olga in Constantinople "Baptism of Princess Olga in Constantinople" Akimov Ivan. 1792 At one of the receptions, the Russian Princess was presented with a golden dish decorated with precious stones. Olga donated it to the sacristy of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral, where it was seen and described at the beginning of the 13th century by the Russian diplomat Dobrynya Yadreikovich, later Archbishop Anthony of Novgorod: “The dish is a great gold service for Olga the Russian, when she took tribute while going to Constantinople: in Olga’s dish there is a precious stone “Christ is written on the same stones.” The chronicle story about the events preceding Olga's baptism is very peculiar. Here Olga is waiting, waiting for a long time, for months, for the emperor to receive her. Her dignity as a Grand Duchess receives a severe test, just as her desire to receive the true faith, to become a participant in the faith through Holy Baptism, is tested. The main test is before baptism itself. This is the famous “marriage proposal” of the Byzantine emperor, who admired the Russian princess. And the chronicle version, I think, is not accurate. According to it, according to the chronicle, Olga reproaches the emperor, saying how you can think about marriage before baptism, but after baptism - we’ll see. And asks the emperor to be her successor, i.e. godfather. When, after the baptism, the emperor returns to his marriage proposal, Olga reminds him that there can be no marriage between “godfathers.” And the delighted emperor exclaims: “You outwitted me, Olga!” This message has an unconditional historical basis, but there is also a distortion, perhaps “according to the reason” of those who preserved the tradition. The historical truth is as follows. On the throne of the “universal” Byzantine Empire was then Constantine Porphyrogenet (i.e., “Porphyrogenitus”). He was a man of more than extraordinary intelligence (he is the author of the famous book “On the Administration of the Empire,” which also contains news of the beginning of the Russian Church). Konstantin Porphyrogenet was a hardened politician and a successful politician. And, of course, he was educated enough to remember the impossibility of marriage between a godfather and a goddaughter. In this episode, the chronicler’s “stretch” is visible. But the truth is that there most likely was a “marriage proposal”. And it was probably quite in the spirit of the famous Byzantine treachery, and not simple-minded admiration for the “barbarian”, in the perception of the Byzantine, princess of distant Russia. This proposal put the Russian princess in a very unpleasant position.

This is what the essence of the imperial “marriage proposal”, its subtext, should have been truly “Byzantine” in cunning.

“You, newcomer, princess of a distant but powerful state, which is inhabited by ambitious warriors who have more than once shaken the walls of the “capital of the world” Constantinople, where you are now looking for the true Faith. The glory of what kind of warrior your son is, Svyatoslav, resounds throughout all countries and is known to us. And we know about you how strong you are in spirit, your powerful hand holds in submission the many tribes inhabiting your land. So why did you come, princess from a family of ambitious conquerors? Do you really want to get the true Faith and nothing more? Hardly! Both I, the emperor, and my court suspect that by acquiring baptism and becoming our fellow believer, you want to get closer to the throne of the Byzantine emperors. Let's see how you handle my offer! Are you as wise as your fame says! After all, to refuse the emperor directly is a disregard for the honor bestowed on the “barbarian”, a direct insult to the imperial throne. And if you, princess, despite your advanced age, agree to become the empress of Byzantium, then it is clear why you came to us. It’s clear why you, despite your wounded pride, waited for months for the imperial reception! You are as ambitious and cunning as all your Varangian ancestors. But we will not allow you, barbarians, to be on the throne of noble Romans. Your place is the place of mercenary soldiers - to serve the Roman Empire.” Olga's answer is simple and wise. Olga is not only wise, but also resourceful. Thanks to her answer, she immediately receives what she is looking for - Baptism into the Orthodox Faith. Her answer is the answer of both a politician and a Christian: “I thank you for the honor of becoming related to the great Macedonian (that was the name of the then ruling dynasty) imperial house. Come on, Emperor, let's become related. But our relationship will not be according to the flesh, but spiritual. Be my successor, godfather!” “I, princess, and we, Russian Christians, need the true, saving Faith, which you, the Byzantines, are rich in. But only. And we don’t need your throne, drenched in blood, disgraced by all the vices and crimes. We will build our country on the basis of the Faith we share with you, and let the rest of yours (and the throne too) remain with you, as given by God in your care.” This is the essence of Saint Olga’s answer, which opened the path to Baptism for her and Russia. The Patriarch blessed the newly baptized Russian princess with a cross carved from a single piece of the Life-Giving Tree of the Lord. On the cross there was an inscription: “The Russian land was renewed with the Holy Cross, and Olga, the blessed princess, accepted it.” Olga returned to Kyiv with icons and liturgical books - her apostolic service began. She erected a temple in the name of St. Nicholas over the grave of Askold, the first Christian prince of Kyiv, and converted many Kiev residents to Christ. The princess set off to the north to preach the faith. In the Kyiv and Pskov lands, in remote villages, at crossroads, she erected crosses, destroying pagan idols. Saint Olga laid the foundation for special veneration of the Most Holy Trinity in Rus'. From century to century, a story was passed down about a vision she had near the Velikaya River, not far from her native village. She saw “three bright rays” descending from the sky from the east. Addressing her companions, who were witnesses to the vision, Olga said prophetically: “Let it be known to you that by the will of God in this place there will be a church in the name of the Most Holy and Life-Giving Trinity and there will be a great and glorious city here, abounding in everything.” At this place Olga erected a cross and founded a temple in the name of the Holy Trinity. It became the main cathedral of Pskov, the glorious Russian city, which has since been called the “House of the Holy Trinity.” Through mysterious ways of spiritual succession, after four centuries, this veneration was transferred to St. Sergius of Radonezh. On May 11, 960, the Church of St. Sophia, the Wisdom of God, was consecrated in Kyiv. This day was celebrated in the Russian Church as a special holiday. The main shrine of the temple was the cross that Olga received at baptism in Constantinople. The temple built by Olga burned down in 1017, and in its place Yaroslav the Wise erected the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Irene, and moved the shrines of the St. Sophia Olga Church to the still standing stone Church of St. Sophia of Kiev, founded in 1017 and consecrated around 1030. In the Prologue of the 13th century, it is said about Olga’s cross: “It now stands in Kyiv in St. Sophia in the altar on the right side.” After the conquest of Kyiv by the Lithuanians, Holga's cross was stolen from St. Sophia Cathedral and taken by Catholics to Lublin. His further fate is unknown. The apostolic labors of the princess met secret and open resistance from the pagans.

The last years of the life of Saint Princess Olga Among the boyars and warriors in Kyiv there were many people who, according to the chroniclers, “hated Wisdom,” like Saint Olga, who built temples for Her. The zealots of pagan antiquity raised their heads more and more boldly, looking with hope at the growing Svyatoslav, who decisively rejected his mother’s entreaties to accept Christianity. “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells about it this way: “Olga lived with her son Svyatoslav, and persuaded his mother to be baptized, but he neglected this and covered his ears; however, if someone wanted to be baptized, he did not forbid him, nor mocked him... Olga often said: “My son, I have come to know God and I rejoice; so you, if you know it, you will also begin to rejoice.” He, not listening to this, said: “How can I want to change my faith alone? My warriors will laugh at this!” She told him: “If you are baptized, everyone will do the same.” He, without listening to his mother, lived according to pagan customs. Saint Olga had to endure many sorrows at the end of her life. The son finally moved to Pereyaslavets on the Danube. While in Kyiv, she taught her grandchildren, the children of Svyatoslav, the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize them, fearing the wrath of her son. Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga In addition, he hindered her attempts to establish Christianity in Rus'. In recent years, amid the triumph of paganism, she, once the universally revered mistress of the state, baptized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in the capital of Orthodoxy, had to secretly keep a priest with her so as not to cause a new outbreak of anti-Christian sentiment. In 968, Kyiv was besieged by the Pechenegs. The holy princess and her grandchildren, among whom was Prince Vladimir, found themselves in mortal danger. When news of the siege reached Svyatoslav, he rushed to the rescue, and the Pechenegs were put to flight. Saint Olga, already seriously ill, asked her son not to leave until her death. She did not lose hope of turning her son’s heart to God and on her deathbed did not stop preaching: “Why are you leaving me, my son, and where are you going? When looking for someone else's, to whom do you entrust yours? After all, Your children are still small, and I am already old, and sick, - I expect an imminent death - departure to my beloved Christ, in whom I believe; Now I don’t worry about anything except about you: I regret that although I taught a lot and convinced you to leave the wickedness of idols, to believe in the true God, known to me, but you neglect this, and I know what for your disobedience A bad end awaits you on earth, and after death - eternal torment prepared for the pagans. Now fulfill at least this last request of mine: do not go anywhere until I am dead and buried; then go wherever you want. After my death, do not do anything that pagan custom requires in such cases; but let my presbyter and the clergy bury my body according to Christian custom; do not dare to pour a grave mound over me and hold funeral feasts; but send the gold to Constantinople to the Holy Patriarch, so that he may make a prayer and offering to God for my soul and distribute alms to the poor.”

“Hearing this, Svyatoslav wept bitterly and promised to fulfill everything she bequeathed, refusing only to accept the holy faith. On July 11, 969, Saint Olga died, “and her son and grandchildren and all the people cried for her with great lamentation.” Presbyter Gregory fulfilled her will exactly. Saint Olga Equal to the Apostles was canonized at a council in 1547, which confirmed her widespread veneration in Rus' even in the pre-Mongol era. The Great Olga became the spiritual mother of the Russian people, through her their enlightenment with the light of Christ's faith began. The pagan name Olga corresponds to the masculine Oleg (Helgi), which means “saint.” Although the pagan understanding of holiness differs from the Christian one, it presupposes in a person a special spiritual attitude, chastity and sobriety, intelligence and insight. Revealing the spiritual meaning of this name, the people called Oleg Prophetic, and Olga - Wise. Subsequently, Saint Olga will be called Bogomudra, emphasizing her main gift, which became the basis of the entire ladder of holiness for Russian women - wisdom. The Christian name of Saint Olga - Elena (translated from ancient Greek as “Torch”), became an expression of the burning of her spirit. Saint Olga (Elena) received a spiritual fire that did not go out throughout the thousand-year history of Christian Rus'.