FOCUS ON PHILATELY
by Ingert Kuzych
The founding family of Kyivan Rus'
CONCLUSION TO PART II
Olha's conversion was not one of convenience to obtain better trade concessions; she took her baptism seriously and began to consider ways to convert the entire Kyivan-Rus' realm. The Latin chronicle known as the Continuation of the Chronicle of the Abbot Regino of Prum, written by Adalbert of St. Maximin, has the following to say for the year 959: "envoys" from Helen [i.e., Olha], queen of the Rus', who was baptized in Constantinople ... came to the king [German King Otto I] and ... asked for a bishop and priests to be ordained for that people."_24_
Otto was not slow to respond and in Frankfurt, where the king spent Christmas of that same year (959), a monk by the name of Libutius was consecrated "bishop for the Rus' people." Before he had a chance to set out on his mission, Libutius died in March of 961. Adalbert was appointed to succeed him and was also made "bishop for the Rus' people."_25_ He set out for Kyiv probably during the latter part of 961.
Adalbert's description about his mission is frustratingly brief and vague. He writes (in the third person singular): "Unable to accomplish successfully any of the purposes for which he had been sent, and seeing that he was exerting himself in vain, he returned home. While some of his companions were killed during the homeward journey, he himself escaped with great difficulty"_26_ and returned to Germany in 962.
Despite the unsuccessful overture to the west for an ecclesiastical hierarchy, Olha did make efforts to spread Christianity among her subjects (Figure 4). The PVL relates that: "Olha dwelt with her son Sviatoslav, and she urged him to be baptized ... Olha remarked oftentimes, 'My son, I have learned to know God and I am glad for it. If you know him, you too will rejoice.' But he did not heed her exhortation, answering, 'How shall I alone accept another faith? My followers will laugh at that.' But his mother replied, 'If you are converted, all your subjects will perforce follow your example.' Sviatoslav did not heed his mother, but followed heathen usages ... notwithstanding, Olha loved her son Sviatoslav, and said, 'So be the will of God. If God wishes to have pity upon my kin and upon the land of Rus', let him lead my son's heart to return to God, even as God has granted me to do.' Thus saying, she prayed night and day for her son and for the people, while she brought him up to manhood and adult age."_27_
Although Olha could not convince her son to convert, Sviatoslav tolerated the Kyivan Christian community, which flourished under his mother's patronage. "when any man wished to be baptized, he was not hindered, but only mocked. For to the infidels, the Christian faith is foolishness."_28_
Sometime around the year 960 Olha officially relinquished her regency as Sviatoslav came of age and began to reign on his own. She continued to rule for him, however, during his many absences. A renowned warrior, Sviatoslav spent the next several years successfully campaigning to extend the borders of Rus'. In 968: "While Sviatoslav was at Pereiaslavets, the Pechenegs invaded Rus' for the first time. So Olha, shut herself up in the city of Kyiv with her grandsons, Yaropolk, Oleh and Volodymyr. The nomads besieged the city with a great force."_29_
After enduring terrible hardships, the inhabitants of the city through trickery were able to convince the leader of the Pechenegs that a massive relief force was on the way. The enemy withdrew: "But the people of Kyiv sent to Sviatoslav, saying, 'Oh Prince, you visit and frequent foreign lands. But while you neglect your own country, the Pechenegs have all but taken us captive, along with your mother and your children as well. Unless you return to protect us, they will attack us again, if you have no pity on your native land, on your mother in her old age, and on your children.' When Sviatoslav heard these words, he quickly bestrode his charger, and returned to Kyiv with his retinue. His kissed his mother and his children, and regretted what they had suffered at the hands of the Pechenegs. He therefore collected an army, and drove the Pechenegs out into the steppes. Thus there was peace."_30_
The following year: "Sviatoslav announced to his mother and his boyars, 'I do not care to remain in Kyiv, but should prefer to live in Pereiaslavets on the Danube, since that is the center of my realm, where all riches are concentrated; gold, silks, wine and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus' furs, wax, honey and slaves.' But Olha made reply, 'You behold me in my weakness. Why do you desire to depart from me?' For she was already in precarious health. She thus remonstrated with him and begged him first to bury her and then go wheresoever he would. Three days later Olha died [on July 11, 969 OS]._31_ Her son wept for her with great mourning, as did likewise her grandsons and all the people. They thus carried her out, and buried her in her tomb. Olha had given command not to hold a [pagan] funeral feast for her, for she had a priest who performed the last rites over the sainted princess."_32_
The PVL concludes the entry on Olha by extolling her as "the precursor of the Christian land, even as the day-spring precedes the sun and as the dawn precedes the day. For she shone like the moon by night, and she was radiant among the infidels like a pearl in the mire, since the people were soiled and not yet purified of their sin by holy baptism ... She was the first from Rus' to enter the kingdom of God, and the sons of Rus' thus praise her as their leader, for since her death she has interceded with God on their behalf" (Figure 5)._33_
Early in the 11th century Olha's grandson Volodymyr, who officially established Christianity in 988 as the state religion of Rus', had her remains reburied in the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv (Figure 6)._34_ The monk Yakov (Mnikh) writes that: "At the top of the grave a window was cut out and through it one can see the body of the Blessed Olha, which lies incorrupted; and for whomever comes there with faith this window is opened and the incorrupted body, lying intact, can be seen and one wonders at this miracle of the body being unaffected after so many years ... That is how God honors His servant, Olha, princess of Rus', named Helen at the time of her baptism."_35_
During the middle of the 11th century, Metropolitan Ilarion initiated the Christian cult of Olha; the Church canonized her during the first half of the 13 century._36_ In the Ukrainian Church, Olha is considered "equal to the apostles." Her feast day falls on July 24 (July 11 OS)._37_
24. "Reginonis abbatis Prumiensis Chronicon cum Continuatione Treverensi," F. Kurze, editor, (Hanover, 1890), "Monumenta germaniae Historica in usum Scholrum," pp. 170-172. [Back to Text]
25. "Monumenta Germaniae Historica," p. 170. [Back to Text]
26. "Monumenta Germaniae Historica, p. 172. Apparently, Adalbert met with strong resistance from the pagan faction in Kyiv. It was about this time that Sviatoslav, a pagan, took over the reigns of power in Rus'. [Back to Text]
27. PVL, pp. 83-84. [Back to Text]
28. PVL, p. 83. [Back to Text]
29. PVL, p. 85. [Back to Text]
30. PVL, p. 86. [Back to Text]
31. "Eulogy of Volodymyr, Prince of Rus'," text in Golubinsky, "Istoria Russkoi Tserkvi," Vol. 1, second edition Moscow, 1901. [Back to Text]
32. PVL, p. 86. [Back to Text]
33. PVL, pp. 86-87. [Back to Text]
34. PVL, p. 124. [Back to Text]
35. "Eulogy of Volodymyr," see fn 31. [Back to Text]
36. Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 3, s.v. "Olha," by A. Zhdan and A. Zhukovsky. [Back to Text]
37. Isadore Nahayevsky, "Rivnoapostolna Sviata Olha-Olena Kniahynia i Volodarka Rusy-Ukrainy" (Philadelphia) Ukrainian National Women's League of America, 1955. [Back to Text]
CONCLUSION TO PART II
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 10, 2002, No. 45, Vol. LXX
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