Saint Vladimir de Kiev
Grand Prince de Kiev
(+1015)
Vladimir était le plus jeune fils du prince de Kiev, Sviatoslav. Sa mère s'était convertie au christianisme, mais le jeune prince fut élevée dans le paganisme. En 980, il devint prince de Kiev, après avoir éliminé son frère aîné (qui avait lui-même assassiné un autre de leurs frères). Son alliance est alors sollicitée par les Bulgares, les Khazars, les Allemands et les Byzantins qui représentent les quatre religions de présence: l'islam, le judaïsme, le christianisme latin et le christianisme byzantin. Vladimir, d'après la tradition, envoie alors des ambassadeurs recueillir de plus amples renseignements sur ces religions. L'islam des Bulgares respire la tristesse; les offices latins des allemands sont dépourvus de beauté. A Constantinople, la splendeur de la liturgie célébrée dans l'église Sainte Sophie, l'encens projeté vers le ciel par le balancement des lourds encensoirs, l'or des icônes, les hymnes célestes transportent d'enthousiasme les âmes slaves des envoyés du prince: "Nous ne savions plus si nous étions au ciel ou sur la terre ! c'est là que Dieu demeure avec les hommes!" Vladimir se fait donc baptiser, dans le Dniepr, avec tous ses sujets en 988 et reçoit pour épouse une princesse byzantine.
Une évangélisation plus profonde du pays suivit rapidement cet acte fondateur du baptême de la Rous' de Kiev(*).
Lire aussi:
- Homélie de Jean-Paul II, 10 juillet 1988, Divine liturgie du rite
byzantin-ukrainien pour le millénaire du baptême de la Rus' de Kiev dans la
Basilique Saint-Pierre
[Italien]
- Homélie de Jean-Paul II, 24 juin 2001, à l'aéroport de Chayka (Ukraine)
Voir aussi: L'église St-Vladimir le Grand à Paris est une cathédrale catholique de rite byzantin ukrainien
(*) Un internaute du Conseil Paroissial de la Paroisse St Vladimir le Grand à Paris et du Conseil de l'Exarchat de l'Église Gréco Catholique en France nous signale qu'il s'agit à cette époque de la Rous de Kiev appelée dans les écrits occidentaux Ruthénie.
À Kiev dans la Rus, l'an 1015, saint Vladimir, prince qui reçut au baptême le
nom de Basile et mit tous ses soins à la diffusion de la foi orthodoxe dans les
peuples qui lui étaient soumis.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1518/Saint-Vladimir-de-Kiev.html
Saint
Vladimir le Grand - Vladimir le BEAU SOLEIL (980-1015) et le Baptême de la
Russie
Il est l'une des grandes
figures de la Russie médiévale, tant d'un point de vue politique que spirituel.
Vladimir était le plus jeune fils du prince de Kiev, Sviatoslav. Sa mère
s'était convertie au christianisme, mais le jeune prince fut élevée dans le
paganisme. En 980, il devint prince de Kiev, après avoir éliminé son frère aîné
(qui avait lui-même assassiné un autre de leurs frères).
Son alliance est alors sollicitée par les Bulgares, les Khazars, les Allemands
et les Byzantins qui représentent les quatre religions de présence: l'islam, le
judaïsme, le christianisme latin et le christianisme byzantin. Vladimir,
d'après la tradition, envoie alors des ambassadeurs recueillir de plus amples
renseignements sur ces religions.
L'islam des Bulgares respire la tristesse; les offices latins des allemands
sont dépourvus de beauté. A Constantinople, la splendeur de la liturgie
célébrée dans l'église Sainte Sophie, l'encens projeté vers le ciel par le
balancement des lourds encensoirs, l'or des icônes, les hymnes célestes
transportent d'enthousiasme les âmes slaves des envoyés du prince: "Nous
ne savions plus si nous étions au ciel ou sur la terre ! C'est là que Dieu
demeure avec les hommes!" Vladimir se fait donc baptiser, avec tous ses
sujets en 988 et reçoit pour épouse une princesse byzantine.
La Russie commémore le 28
juillet le jour de son baptême
. Les chercheurs ne sont pas jusqu’à présent parvenus à s’entendre quant à
l’année, la date et le lieu de cet évènement. Nous ne savons pas avec précision
où a été baptisé le prince Vladimir, à Kiev, Chersonèse ou Berestov, non loin
de Kiev. Il est cependant évident que la christianisation de la « Rus » a
déterminé pour l’essentiel l’avenir du pays. Les peuples scandinaves ainsi que
les Hongrois reçoivent le baptême simultanément, c'est-à-dire vers la fin du X
siècle. Adopter la foi chrétienne a été pour le prince Vladimir une décision
pour ainsi dire naturelle. En effet, c’est Vladimir qui suggère à son cousin
Olaf, canonisé par la suite, de faire baptiser la Suède ce qui se produit dans
les cinq années suivantes.
Le prince Vladimir appartenait à la dynastie des Rurikides a commencé à
gouverner Novgorod en 970. En 978 il s’empare du pouvoir à Kiev et en 988 il
opte pour le christianisme en tant que religion d’Etat. Les chroniques nous
donnent un portrait haut en couleurs du prince Vladimir. La christianisation a
été pour lui une décision tout à fait personnelle et intime.
Son propre baptême le
fait radicalement changer de vie !
Vladimir le BEAU SOLEIL était un grand amateur de femmes. Cette propension lui
a fait commettre une série de crimes : il tue son frère pour lui prendre sa
femme, une moniale grecque défroquée qui au moment des évènements était
enceinte du frère de Vladimir. Il tue les parents de son autre épouse, Rognède.
Il se disait qu’une femme belle ne se risquait pas à sortir dans Kiev craignant
d’être violée. Dès son baptême le prince Vladimir change radicalement et fonde
une famille exemplaire.
La peine de mort est abrogée. Ses sujets ne sont plus vendus en esclavage,
l’esclavage est pratiquement aboli.
Vladimir se met à racheter les Slaves prisonniers dans d’autres contrées
puisant pour ceci dans sa cassette. Les relations entre Slaves, Varègues et
Ougro-finnois subissent de profonds changements. Elles étaient hostiles
auparavant car les Varègues s’estimaient être supérieurs. Le prince Vladimir se
consacra à fusionner les trois ethnies.
L’apparition des Russes anciens fut une conséquence logique de la
christianisation. Nous savons aujourd’hui que l’ethnie russe slave s’est
constituée grâce au baptême. En voici une simple preuve : les Varègues
n’avaient pas d’alphabet alors que les Slaves avaient une écriture. Bien avant
Vladimir les Slaves du Sud purent bénéficier de l’alphabet élaboré par Saints
Cyrille et Méthode. Le christianisme se fonde sur les Écritures, il est
inconcevable sans textes liturgiques.
Aussi l’ethnie russe slave qui se forma à l’époque choisit pour langue
littéraire commune non les dialectes varègues et ougro-finnois mais
le slavon. Cet immense « melting pot » ethnique qui produisit en définitive les
anciens Russes comprenait d’ailleurs non seulement les trois peuples énumérés
mais aussi les Khazars.
Cette ethnie se divisa
historiquement en Russes, Ukrainiens et Biélorusses.
Cette division commença à peu près un siècle après le début de l’occupation
mongolo-tatare. A la fin du XIV siècle les princes lituaniens libèrent des
Tatars les territoires de l’Ukraine et de la Biélorussie modernes. Cela fait se
constituer un monde Russe ouvert sur l’Occident car limitrophe de la Pologne et
de la Lituanie. Se constituent alors les ethnies biélorusse et ukrainienne. La
Biélorussie moderne est restée dans la composition de la Lituanie après la
conclusion de l’Union polono-lituanienne. La Lituanie confie à la Pologne
l’administration des territoires qui constituent l’Ukraine moderne. Moscou
ainsi que les villes de Vladimir et de Novgorod restent à l’écart de ces
formations. Novgorod représentait une forme de culture russe très spécifique
qui n’a jamais été tributaire des Tatares. Le monde de Novgorod était ouvert
sur l’Occident par la mer Baltique. Il fut, malheureusement, entièrement
détruit par Moscou.
La partie orientale de l’ethnie russe donna le type grand-russien, la
conscience politique y était tartare. Je pense à une orientation qui se
distinguait de ce que qui existait chez les Russes de l’Ouest et aspirait à
l’isolement du monde extérieure, à une société fermée, à la réalisation de
l’idée de la « Moscou- Troisième Rome ». Cette idéologie prend forme à la fin
du XV et au début du XVI siècles. C’est l’époque de la division « objective »
entre les trois ethnies. Elles se perçoivent subjectivement chacune à part,
Ukrainiens, Biélorusses et Russes, au XVI et surtout au XVII siècles.
André
Zoubov historien- professeur à l’Institut des relations
internationales
Le baptême de Vladimir, et le Baptême de la Russie : 2 toiles de Viktor
Vasnetsov (1890) Entre 1884 et 1889, Vasnetsov est chargé de peindre des
fresques pour la cathédrale Saint-Vladimir de Kiev.
Traduction : Nikita Krivocheine
"Radio Liberty", émission André Shary
Rédigé par Parlons
D'orthodoxie le 28 Juillet 2019 à 06:30 | Permalien
Saint
VLADIMIR, grand-prince de KIEV, Égal-aux-Apôtres et illuminateur du peuple
russe.
Le 15 juillet
A la suite du siège
manqué de Constantinople (864), le Patriarche Saint Photios envoya à Kiev un
Evêque accompagné de Prêtres, afin d'y semer les premières semences du
Christianisme (1). Mais cette mission fut bientôt interrompue lors de la prise
de la ville par les princes varègues (Vikings) Oleg et Igor (880-883), qui
favorisèrent l'implantation de leur congénères idolâtres. Par la suite, les
trois attaques tentées par les Russes contre la capitale byzantine (911, 944 et
971) conduisirent à l'installation de marchands qui embrassèrent le
Christianisme et devinrent missionnaires en rentrant dans leur patrie, si bien
qu'en 945 Kiev possédait une assez grande Communauté Chrétienne, qui se
rassemblait dans l'église du Prophète-Elie.
La veuve du prince Igor, Sainte
Olga, se fit baptiser alors qu'elle était régente (cf. 11 juil.), mais
cette conversion resta personnelle et n'eut pas de répercussion notable dans
son peuple. Bien au contraire, dès que son fils Sviatoslav prit le pouvoir,
restant sourd aux exhortations d'Olga, il encouragea le paganisme, car la
conversion au Christianisme était considérée comme une transgression de la
tradition de son peuple et une honte.
À la mort de Sviatoslav,
son fils laropolk, qui était plus favorable aux Chrétiens, devint prince de
Kiev, alors que son frère cadet, Vladimir, s'installait à Novgorod. Chassé de
là par laropolk, il alla se réfugier en Scandinavie, d'où il revint peu après
avec un fort contingent de Varègues. Il expulsa son frère, qui mourut au cours
du combat, et s'installa à Kiev (980). Les instructions de sa grand-mère, Sainte
Olga, et de sa mère, Malousa, n'avaient pu décider Vladimir à renoncer à
l'idolâtrie et animé d'un zèle ardent pour les dieux des Vikings, dès son
intronisation, il fit édifier sur les hauteurs de la cité un temple dédié au
dieu du tonnerre, Péroun, où l'on faisait même des sacrifices humains. Et,
conséquence de cette impiété, le prince menait une vie excessivement débauchée,
qui le rendit tristement célèbre. Monarque belliqueux et soucieux d'étendre son
territoire, il avait déclaré une guerre sans merci aux peuples voisins :
Bulgares et Lituaniens. Au retour d'une campagne victorieuse contre les
Jatvagues (983), il décida de rendre grâces aux dieux par un sacrifice humain.
Le sort tomba sur un marchand varègue, Théodore, et son fils Jean, qui étaient
Chrétiens et qui devinrent ainsi les premiers-Martyrs du sol russe (cf. 12
juil.). Cet ignoble sacrifice fit cependant une forte impression sur l'âme de
Vladimir. Il se mit alors à méditer sur la religion et à nourrir des doutes à
propos de l'idolâtrie. Ces préoccupations vinrent à la connaissance des peuples
qui vénéraient un seul Dieu: les Bulgares musulmans de Kama, les Juifs Khazars,
les Germains, Chrétiens latins, et les Grecs Orthodoxes. Ils envoyèrent des
émissaires à Kiev, qui essayèrent d'influencer le prince en présentant leurs
arguments; mais seul l'envoyé de Byzance parvint à capter son attention en
réfutant toutes les autres religions et en lui exposant l'oeuvre salvatrice de
Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Après avoir consulté ses boïars, le prince décida
d'envoyer ses propres ambassadeurs dans ces différents pays, afin de se rendre
compte par eux-mêmes de la manière dont on y vivait la religion. Quand les
émissaires envoyés dans la capitale byzantine assistèrent à la Divine Liturgie
et aux diverses cérémonies qui avaient lieu à Sainte-Sophie, leur impression
fut si forte qu'ils en restèrent stupéfaits et rapportèrent ensuite à leur
souverain : « Nous ne savions plus si nous étions au ciel ou sur la terre. Car
il n'y a pas sur terre un tel spectacle, ni une telle beauté, et nous sommes
incapables de l'exprimer. Nous savons seulement que c'est là que Dieu demeure
avec les hommes, et que leur culte dépasse celui de tous les pays. Cette beauté
nous ne pouvons l'oublier, et nous savons qu'il nous sera désormais impossible
de vivre en Russie d'une manière différente! » Convaincu que cette gloire
manifestée dans la Liturgie ne pouvait être que le respIendissement de la
Vérité, Vladimir se décida donc à devenir chrétien.
Entre-temps, l'empereur
de Byzance, Basile II, affaibli par la guerre contre le tsar des Bulgares,
Samuel, et menacé d'être expulsé de Constantinople par la révolte de Bardas
Phocas (987), fit appel au grand-prince de Kiev. Vladimir proposa de lui envoyer
six mille Varègues, mais demanda en échange la main de sa soeur, Anne
Porphyrogénète, en promettant de se convertir au Christianisme avec tout son
peuple. Grâce à l'intervention des Varègues la révolte de Bardas fut réprimée,
mais l'empereur tarda à tenir sa promesse et à envoyer à Kiev sa soeur qui
répugnait à s'unir à un païen. Jamais, en effet, une princesse de rang impérial
n'avait été mariée à un barbare. Vladimir marcha alors vers la Crimée et
s'empara de la ville de Cherson, menaçant de poursuivre vers Constantinople si
l'empereur ne tenait pas sa promesse(2). Effrayé, Basile envoya sans retard sa
soeur, accompagnée de l'Evêque Saint Michel (cf. 30 sept.) et des Prêtres qui
avaient été assignés pour la mission en Russie. Le grand-prince fut baptisé, sous
le nom de Basile, le jour de la Théophanie(3) avec les officiers de sa suite,
puis on célébra les noces(4). En cadeau Vladimir rendit la ville de Cherson aux
Byzantins, puis il repartit pour Kiev, avec la princesse et les Clercs qui
avaient pris à Cherson un fragment des Reliques de Saint Clément de Rome ainsi
que d'autres glorieux trophées, Icônes et objets de culte.
Aussitôt arrivé dans sa
capitale, le prince libéra de leurs obligations ses épouses païennes, déclarant
qu'il ne pouvait désormais avoir qu'une seule épouse, et il commença à purifier
la ville de tout culte idolâtre. Avec le même zèle qu'il avait auparavant pour
le culte des faux dieux, il fit renverser leurs idoles et ordonna d'attacher la
statue de Péroun à la queue de chevaux, qui lui firent dévaler la colline et
allèrent la précipiter dans le Dniepr aux yeux de tout le peuple. Saint Michel
commença alors à prêcher la parole de Dieu, aidé par Vladimir en personne. Le
jour de la Pentecôte, une multitude d'habitants de Kiev fut baptisée dans le
fleuve: jeunes et vieux entrèrent ensemble dans le bain de la nouvelle
Naissance, les uns plongés dans l'eau jusqu'au cou, d'autres jusqu'à la taille,
les enfants groupés au bord et les nourrissons dans les bras de leurs mères.
L'Evêque célébra le Baptême et demanda au prince Vladimir de servir de parrain
à tout son peuple.
Changeant complètement
son caractère et adoptant la douceur des moeurs évangéliques, Vladimir supprima
la peine de mort et mena dès lors une vie agréable à Dieu, qui le fit surnommer
par son peuple: le "Soleil radieux". Il fit édifier des églises à la
place des temples païens, et en particulier une splendide église, dédiée à la
Dormition de la Mère de Dieu, fut érigée à l'endroit même du Martyre de Saint
Théodore et de son fils, à laquelle le prince affecta un dixième de ses
revenus(5). Il fonda aussi des écoles pour l'instruction du peuple et la
formation des Prêtres. Des missionnaires furent envoyés dans les autres
principautés, afin d'y proclamer la Bonne Nouvelle en langue slave(6). La ville
de Kiev devint ainsi le siège de l'Evêque métropolitain, dépendant du
Patriarcat de Constantinople, ayant juridiction sur cet immense territoire. Du
fait de la résistance des prêtres païens, seule la principauté de Novgorod
resta rétive, et c'est par la force que Vladimir y imposa le Christianisme.
Vers la fin de sa vie,
après la mort de sa femme, le Saint prince eut à endurer de cruelles
afflictions de la part de ses deux fils aînés, Sviatopolk et Iaroslav. Sous
l'influence de son beau-père, le roi de Pologne, qui l'avait convaincu de se
convertir au catholicisme, Sviatopolk s'insurgea contre Vladimir, qui fut mis
en prison, et une guerre de courte durée éclata entre la Pologne et la Russie
(1013). L'année suivante, Iaroslav, profitant de la haine que nourrissait la
principauté de Novgorod à l'égard de Kiev qui lui avait retiré l'hégémonie au
temps d'Oleg, fomenta une révolte. Mais avant que la guerre ne soit déclarée,
saint Vladimir tomba gravement malade. Il envoya son fils Boris combattre
contre les Petchénègues, païens endurcis et de moeurs sauvages, qui attaquaient
son territoire, et relâcha Sviatopolk avant de rendre son âme à Dieu, le 15
juillet 1015. Sviatopolk essaya de cacher au peuple la mort de son père(7);
mais au matin la cathédrale, dans laquelle le corps avait été transporté, se
trouva entourée de milliers de personnes de toutes qualités, qui versaient
d'abondantes larmes et élevaient vers Dieu leurs lamentations, car ils venaient
de perdre leur père et le nouvel-Apôtre qui leur avait apporté la lumière de la
foi et qui, tel un autre Constantin, avait élevé leur peuple au rang des
grandes nations chrétiennes. Ses précieuses Reliques furent cachées pendant
l'invasion mongole, et on ne les retrouva, dans les ruines de l'église, qu'en
1631. Son crâne est conservé dans l'église principale du Monastère des Grottes
de Kiev, sa mâchoire dans la Cathédrale de la Dormition à Moscou, et d'autres
fragments dans divers Sanctuaires de Russie.
1). Selon d'autres, ils furent envoyés par le Patriarche Saint Ignace.
2). Selon certains historiens, la prise de Cherson ne fut pas un acte de menace. Au contraire Vladimir serait venu alors en aide à Basile en prenant cette ville qui s'était insurgée et avait pris parti pour Bardas Phocas.
3). En 989 à Cherson ou selon d'autres en 988 à Kiev. La Chronique russe rapporte que Vladimir étant devenu aveugle peu avant son baptême, recouvra la vue en sortant des eaux baptismales.
4). Il semble que le mariage ait plutôt eu lieu à Kiev, après le Baptême du peuple.
5). Lors du grand incendie de 1070, 700 églises furent détruites à Kiev. Ce qui montre l'importance de la christianisation. En ce temps-là Kiev était considérée comme une des principales capitales d'Europe en ce qui concerne les arts et les lettres.
6). C'est de Bulgarie, où l'oeuvre des Sts Cyrille et Méthode avait été poursuivie par leurs disciples, que furent importées les traductions indispensables à la formation de la culture ecclésiastique de la Russie de Kiev. Ce fut surtout Iaroslav le Sage, successeur de St Vladimir (1019-1054), qui favorisa cette activité de traduction des livres grecs.
7). C'est lui qui fit assassiner peu après les deux fils préférés de Vladimir,
qu'il avait eu de la princesse Anne: Saints
Boris et Gleb (cf 24 juil.).
Saint Vladimir sur le monument du millénaire, Novgorod
Also known as
Svyatoy Vladimir
Vladimir Svyatoslavich
Vladimir the Great
Vladimir Veliky
Profile
Grandson of Saint Olga
of Kiev. Son of the pagan Norman-Rus prince Svyatoslav
of Kiev and his consort Malushka. Grand prince of
Kiev. Prince of
Novgorod in 970.
On the death of
his father in 972,
he fled to Scandinavia,
enlisted help from an uncle, and overcame Yaropolk, another son of Svyatoslav,
who had attempted to seize Novgorod and Kiev. By 980 Vladimir
had consolidated the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea, and had
solidified the frontiers against Bulgarian,
Baltic, and Eastern nomads.
Christianity had
made some progress in Kiev, but Vladimir remained pagan,
had seven wives, established temples, and participated in idolatrous rites,
possibly involving human sacrifice. Around 987,
Byzantine Emperor Basil II sought military aid from Vladimir. The two reached a
pact for aid that involved Basil’s sister Anne in marriage,
and Vladimir becoming a Christian.
He was baptized,
took the patronal name Basil, then ordered the Christian conversion of
Kiev and Novgorod. Idols were
thrown into the Dnieper River, and the new Rus Christians adopted
the Byzantine rite in the Old Church Slavonic language. Legend says Vladimir
chose the Byzantine rite over the liturgies of German Christendom,
Judaism, and Islam because of its transcendent beauty; it probably also
reflected his determination to remain independent of external political
control.
Byzantines maintained
ecclesiastical control over the new Rus church; the Greek metropolitan for
Kiev reported to both the patriarch of Constantinople and
of the emperor. Rus-Byzantine religio-political integration checked the
influence of the Roman Latin church in the Slavic East, and determined the
course of Russian Christianity.
Vladimir expanded education,
judicial institutions, and aid to the poor.
He and Anne had the martyr sons Saint Boris
and Saint Gleb.
Following the death of
Anne in 1011,
another marriage affiliated
him with the German Holy
Roman emperors. His daughter became the consort of Casimir I the Restorer
of Poland.
Born
956 at
Kiev as Vladimir Svyatoslavich
15 July 1015 at
Berestova, near Kiev
reformed
and penitent murderers
—
—
Ukrainian
Catholic Diocese of Stamford, Connecticut, United
States
Winnipeg,
Manitoba, archeparchy of
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
How
Vladimir, “Fair Sun”, Became Saint Valdimir
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Religious Information Service of Ukraine
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Vladimir I of
Kiev“. CatholicSaints.Info. 14 January 2022. Web. 9 March 2022. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-vladimir-i-of-kiev/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-vladimir-i-of-kiev/
Saint
Vladimir le Grand, timbre ukrainien, 2000
Saints of the Day – Vladimir of Kiev, King
Article
(also known as Vladimir
of Russia)
Born c.955; died at
Beresyx, Russia, 1015. Vladimir was the grandson of Saint Olga, an early
convert to Christianity among the Scandinavian rulers of the province of Kiev,
and the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Sviastoslav and his mistress, Malushka.
He was given Novgorod to rule by Sviastoslav. When Sviastoslav died in 972, the
three sons fought for the crown. Forced to flee to Scandinavia in 977 when his
half brother Yaropolk defeated and killed another half brother, Oleg, and
captured Novgorod. Vladimir returned with a Viking army, recaptured Novgorod,
and captured and killed Yaropolk at Rodno in 980.
Notorious for his cruelty
and barbarity, Vladimir was now ruler of Russia. He conquered Kherson in the
Crimea in 988. That same year he proposed a military alliance with the
Byzantine Emperor Basil II. After a good deal of hesitation, Vladimir was
baptized in 989 in order to marry Anne, the Christian sister of the emperor. His
conversion marked the beginning of Christianity in Russia.
Vladimir took his new
religion very seriously and indeed sought to impose it by force on his people,
not all of whom were willing to accept it. He reformed his own life (putting
aside his five former wives), built schools and churches, destroyed idols, brought
Greek and German missionaries to his realms, exchanged ambassadors with Rome,
abolished or grated restricted capital punishment, gave lavish alms to the
poor, and aided Saint Boniface in his mission to the Pechangs. In his later
years he was troubled by rebellions led by the sons of his earlier marriages,
but two of his sons by Anne, Romanus (Boris) and David (Gleb), became saints.
Vladimir died while
leading an expedition against his rebellious son Yaroslav in Novgorod. Vladimir
reportedly gave all his possessions to his friends and to the poor on his
deathbed. His utter conversion resulted in a picture of him that caused later
generations to look on Saint Vladimir as the first-born of the new Christian
people of Russia and her borderland. He was esteemed as a saint and the subject
of a cycle of folklore and heroic poems. A descendant of his, Vladimir
Monomakh, married Gytha, the daughter of King Harold of England. Vladimir is
the patron saint of Russian Catholics (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
MLA
Citation
Katherine I
Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
4 July 2020. Web. 14 July 2020. <https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-vladimir-of-kiev-king/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-vladimir-of-kiev-king/
Statue
de Saint Vladimir, Cathédrale
Notre-Dame-de-Kazan, Saint-Pétersbourg
St. Vladimir the Great
(VLADIMIR or VOLODOMIR).
Grand Duke of Kieff and
All Russia,
grandson of St. Olga, and the first Russian ruler to embrace Christianity,
b. 956; d. at Berestova, 15 July, 1015. St. Olga could not convert her son and
successor, Sviatoslav, for he lived and died a pagan and
brought up his son Vladimir as a pagan chieftain.
Sviatoslav had two legitimate sons, Yaropolk and Oleg, and a third son,
Vladimir, borne him by his court favourite Olga Malusha. Shortly before his
death (972) he bestowed the Grand Duchy of Kieff on Yaropolk and gave the land
of the Drevlani (now Galicia) to Oleg. The ancient Russian capital of Novgorod
threatened rebellion and, as both the princes refused to go thither, Sviatoslav
bestowed its sovereignty upon the young Vladimir. Meanwhile war broke
out between Yaropolk and Oleg, and the former conquered the Drevlanian
territory and dethroned Oleg. When this news reached Vladimir he feared a like
fate and fled to the Varangians (Variags) of Scandinavia for help, while
Yaropolk conquered Novgorod and united all Russia under
his sceptre. A few years later Vladimir returned with a large force and retook
Novgorod. Becoming bolder he waged war against
his brother towards the south, took the city of Polotzk, slew its prince,
Ragvald, and married his daughter Ragnilda, the affianced bride
of Yaropolk. Then he pressed on and besieged Kieff. Yaropolk fled to Rodno, but
could not hold out there, and was finally slain upon his surrender to the
victorious Vladimir; the latter thereupon made himself ruler of Kieff and
all Russia in
980. As a heathen prince
Vladimir had four wives besides Ragnilda, and by them had ten sons and two
daughters. Since the days of St. Olga, Christianity,
which was originally established among the eastern Slavs by
Sts. Cyril and Methodius, had been making secret progress throughout the land
of Russ (now eastern Austria and Russia)
and had begun to considerably alter the heathen ideas.
It was a period similar to the era of the conversion of Constantine.
Notwithstanding this
undercurrent of Christian ideas,
Vladimir erected in Kieff many statues and
shrines (trebishcha) to the Slavic heathen gods,
Perun, Dazhdbog, Simorgl, Mokosh, Stribog, and others. In 981 he subdued the
Chervensk cities (now Galicia), in 983 he overcame the wild Yatviags on the
shores of the Baltic Sea, in 985 he fought with the Bulgarians on
the lower Volga, and in 987 he planned a campaign against the Greco-Roman
Empire, in the course of which he became interested in Christianity.
The Chronicle of Nestor relates that he sent envoys to the neighbouring
countries for information concerning their religions.
The envoys reported adversely regarding the Bulgarians who
followed (Mohammedan),
the Jews of
Khazar, and the Germans with
their plain missionary Latin churches, but they were delighted with the solemn
Greek ritual of the Great Church (St. Sophia) of Constantinople, and reminded
Vladimir that his grandmother Olga had embraced that Faith. The next year (988)
he besieged Kherson in the Crimea, a city within the borders of the eastern
Roman Empire, and finally took it by cutting off its water supply. He then sent
envoys to Emperor Basil II at Constantinople to ask for his sister Anna in
marriage, adding a threat to march on Constantinople in case of refusal. The
emperor replied that a Christian might
not marry a heathen,
but if Vladimir were a Christian prince
he would sanction the alliance. To this Vladimir replied that he had already
examined the doctrines
of the Christians, was inclined towards them, and was ready to be baptized.
Basil II sent this sister with a retinue of officials and clergy to
Kherson, and there Vladimir was baptized,
in the same year, by the Metropolitan Michael and took also the baptismal
name of Basil. A current legend relates that Vladimir had been
stricken with blindness before the arrival of Anna and her retinue and had
recovered his sight upon being baptized.
He then married Princess Anna, and thereafter put away his pagan wives.
He surrendered the city of Kherson to the Greeks and returned to Kieff in state
with his bride. The Russian historian Karamsin (Vol. I, p. 215) suggests that
Vladimir could have been baptized long
before at Kieff, since Christians and
their priests were
already there; but such an act would have humbled the proud chieftain in the
eyes of his people, for he would have accepted in a lowly manner an inconspicuous
rite at the hands of a secret and despised sect.
Hence he preferred to have it come from the envoys of the Roman Emperor of
Constantinople, as a means of impressing his people.
When Vladimir returned to
Kieff he took upon himself the conversion of his subjects. He ordered the statues of
the gods to be thrown down, chopped to pieces, and some of them burned; the
chief god, Perun, was dragged through the mud and thrown into the River
Dnieper. These acts impressed the people with the helplessness of their gods,
and when they were told that they should follow Vladimir's example and
become Christians they
were willingly baptized,
even wading into the river that they might the sooner be reached by the priest for baptism.
Zubrycki thinks this readiness shows that the doctrines
of Christianity had already been secretly spread in Kieff and that the
people only waited for an opportunity to publicly acknowledge them. Vladimir
urged all his subjects to become Christians,
established churches and monasteries not
only at Kieff, but at Pereyaslav, Chernigoff, Bielegorod, Vladimir in Volhynia,
and many other cities. In 989 he erected the large Church of St. Mary ever
Virgin (usually called Desiatinny Sobor, the Cathedral of
the Tithes), and in 996 the Church of
the Transfiguration, both in the city of Kieff. He gave up his warlike career
and devoted himself principally to the government of his people; he
established schools,
introduced ecclesiastical
courts, and became known for his mildness and for his zeal in
spreading the Christian
faith. His wife died in 1011, having borne him two sons, Boris and Glib
(also known as Sts. Roman and David, from their baptismal names).
After this his life became troubled by the conduct of his elder children.
Following the custom of his ancestors, he had parcelled out his kingdom amongst
his children, giving the city of Novgorod in fief to his eldest son Yaroslav;
the latter rebelled against him and refused to render either service or
tribute. In 1014 Vladimir prepared to march north to Novgorod and take it away
from his disobedient son, while Yaroslav invoked the help of the Varangians
against his father.
Vladimir fell ill and died on the way. His feast in celebrated on 15 July in
the Russian Orthodox and Ruthenian Greek Catholic calendars,
and he has received the name of Ravnoapostol (equal to the Apostles)
in the title of the feast and the troparion of the liturgy. The Russians have
added in their service books words referring his conversion and
intercession to the present Russian Empire (rossiiskaya zemlya), but the Ruthenians have
never permitted these interpolations.
Sources
PELESZ, Gesch. der
Union, I (Vienna, 1878), 79-127; NILLES, Kalendarium Manuale, I (Innsbruck
1896), 212; Acta SS., IV, July, p.4; Bogoslovskaya Enciclopedia, III
(St. Petersburg, 1902), 564-67; GOLUBINSKI, Istoria Russkoi Tserkvi, I
(Moscow, 1901), pt. I, 105-87; MALTZEW, Die Nachtwache (Berlin,
1892), 724-27; ADENEY, The Greek and Eastern Churches (New York,
1908), 358-65; MOURAVIEFF, Hist. of the Russian Church (Oxford,
1842), 10-18; ZUBRYCKI, Gesch. des Fürstenthums Galicz (Lemburg,
1852).
Shipman,
Andrew. "St. Vladimir the Great." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. 14 Jul. 2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15497a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Victoria Theresa Scarlett. Dedicated
to Joseph H. Anderson.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15497a.htm
Saint Vladimir in Gdansk, Poland. Celebrated on 2015 on the occasion of the millennium since the death of the baptist of Kievan Rus. Built with the help of the Ukrainian community of Gdansk and the Ukrainian diaspora of the world.
How
Vladimir, “Fair Sun”, Became Saint Vladimir
Among the many wives whom
Svyatoslav, Prince of Kiev, had loved, was Malyusha, his mother’s handmaiden;
and her son Vladimir was treated by his princely father just the same as the
other sons borne to him by his chief wives. The little lad grew up in the
apartments of his clever grandmother Olga, who may have spoken to the bright
and high-spirited boy about her own faith; but it had evidently not made any
impression on him, and Vladimir grew up into a most zealous worshipper of
Perun, the god of thunder.
While yet a child, his
father appointed him Prince of Novgorod, for the people of that city had requested
Svyatoslav to allow a prince of his house to come and live among them; and
Vladimir, under the guardianship of his mother’s brother, one Dobrinya, spent
his boyhood and early manhood in that ancient northern trading centre.
So long as Svyatoslav,
who reigned from 958 to 973, was alive, all went well; but when he died, in the
full bloom of manhood, quarrels broke out between his sons. Yarapolk, his
eldest son,. who had taken his brother Oleg’s principality by force, was now
going to make war on Vladimir in order to take possession also of Novgorod;
whereupon Vladimir fled to Scandinavia with his uncle, and for two years
Yarapolk held undisputed sway over all the Russian lands. Another cause for
bitter strife between the two brothers was a beautiful maiden, Rogneda, the
daughter of Rogvolod, Prince of Polotsk. Both brothers desired her, but it was
to Yarapolk that she betrothed herself, having refused Vladimir with these
scathing words: “Never will I unloose the shoe-latchet of the son of a slave” —
referring to his mother’s lowly position. This insult he decided to avenge,
and, having gathered together a band of warriors ready to follow him anywhere,
he returned to Russia. He conquered Polotsk, killed Rogneda’s father and
brothers, and took the proud damsel to wife. Not satisfied with having robbed
his brother of his bride, Vladimir now aimed. at depriving him of his
principality, for he who ruled over Kiev was considered chief among the
princes.
Through the forests he
and his Drujina rode on towards that famous city. As they approached it,
Vladimir sent messengers before him to warn his brother of his coming, for it
was against the code of honour of a Russian prince to take his enemy unawares.
Yarapolk was, however, betrayed by one of his followers and killed. Kiev was
then seized by Vladimir, who also took to himself his brother’s young widow, a
fair and lovely Greek lady, formerly a nun, whom his father had brought back as
a captive of war.
He now reigned in Kiev,
and soon the fame of his prowess, of his victorious campaigns, of his feasts
and revellings, and of his merry, cheerful nature spread all over the country.
Warriors and knights came from all parts to join his company of heroes — his
Drujina. It was a time when the restless Norsemen were threading the seas in
all directions, coming as invaders to Britain to be bought off with the
Danegeld, and as welcome guests to Kiev. All the knights who joined Vladimir,
or “Fair Sun,” as they called him, were glad to follow so great a leader and so
generous, genial and clever a ruler. The Russians loved fair women as well as
brave men, and this led to his becoming a much-married man; for, according to
the chronicler, he had as chief wives Rogneda, the proud beauty of Polotsk, his
brother’s Grecian widow, and also a Bohemian and a Bulgarian, and, besides
them, eight hundred secondary wives, who were established in three diflferent
parts of the country.
The first five years of
his reign in Kiev were passed in campaigns, for “Fair Sun” undertook many war-like
expeditions, conquering tribes and levying tribute. On the west his dominions
extended right up to the gates of Cracow and Przemysl; he also took all Galicia
and Volhynia, where he founded the town of Vladimir, and in the south his rule
extended as far as the Carpathians.
Under Vladimir the
worship of the gods Perun, Daghbog, and Voloss was zealously practised. In
various places the Grand Duke had images of these gods put up; in one place a
gigantic figure of Perun, with a silver head and a heavy gold moustache. This
revival of paganism made life more difficult for the small band of Christians
who, during Svyatoslav’s reign, had been left in peace, for now they were not
only scoffed at but occasionally even persecuted. Although human sacrifices
were not customary among the Slavs, Vladimir on one occasion desired to
celebrate a victory by the sacrifice of a youth or maiden, the victim to be
chosen by the casting of lots. The choice fell on a Christian boy, “beautiful
in soul and body,” but his father, a Christian Varangian, refused to hand him
over, saying, “You say, ‘Our gods want thy son’; well, these are not gods, but
just pieces of wood which in a short time rot away. Your idols neither eat nor
drink, nor do they speak. There is only one God, He whom the Greeks worship and
serve, and Who has made heaven and earth, the stars, the sun and the moon, and
all that has life. But your gods, what have they done? They themselves have
been made by you, and therefore I will not give my son to be sacrificed unto demons.”
This speech, and the
father’s refusal to give up the boy, greatly enraged the people, who fell upon
the Christian and his son, killing both. Some years later this same father and
son were canonized by the Church as the first Russian martyrs, and July 8 is the
day dedicated to these two saints, Saint Theodor and Saint Ivan.
A time came, however,
when even Vladimir turned from his idols. In order not to be behind the times,
and also to enhance his prestige and power, he decided to exchange his heathen
faith for the religion of the States with which he had come into political
contact — the Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland. It was difficult
for him to decide upon a matter about which he knew so little, in spite of the
fact that his grandmother had been a devout Christian, and that many of the
merchants who traded with Kiev came from Christian countries. It is, however,
possible that the chronicler is right in crediting Vladimir with partly
spiritual motives. He tells us that “The Spirit of the Highest came upon him
and enlightened his mind and heart so that he perceived the vanity and error of
paganism, and therefore he turned to the one God who created all creatures
visible and invisible.” Whether this was so, or whether it was merely political
wisdom that influenced Vladimir, who can tell? He was, however, evidently
sincerely desirous of choosing the best religion, and therefore listened
readily to the various missionaries who, according to the chronicler, came to
him for the purpose of urging him to accept their creed. But perhaps these men
had an eye to business as well, and were anxious to promote the interests of
trade by winning over the famous prince to their own religion.
The first men to speak to
him on the subject were some Moslem Bulgars; they told him that, although he
was a great and wise ruler, he was nevertheless ignorant of the law and faith
of the great Prophet. In reply to Vladimir’s question, in what their law
consisted, the Moslems told him that it consisted in the rite of circumcision,
in abstention from all strong drink and from the flesh of swine; but, in
compensation for this self-denial, great pleasures awaited the faithful in
paradise, where at least seventy of the most beautiful women should be given to
him by the prophet. The prohibition of the drinking of wine, that “joy of the
Russians,” was sufficient to prejudice the prince against Islam.
When, therefore, some
Germans in their turn brought messages from the Pope and ofFered to instruct
him in their faith, he willingly listened to them. “We have the true light,”
they said; “and while we worship the Creator of all things, thou, O Prince, art
bowing down to idols made of wood.” So far, so good! The hitch came when he
asked for the rules of their religion. “Fasting to the uttermost of one’s
strength, and all eating and drinking to be done only to the glory of God.”
This did not appeal to the pleasure-loving Russian any more than did the Moslem
creed; and he therefore bade the representatives of the Western Church depart.
News that Vladimir was
looking out for a new religion had also reached the Jews who dwelt among the
Khazars, and they now felt it their duty to go and urge upon him the acceptance
of their creed. “We hear that the Bulgars and Germans have come to lay before
thee their several religions,” they said. “We worship God, but the Christians
worship One whom we have crucified.” Just as Vladimir had enquired of the
others, so now he questioned the Jews regarding their law, and also asked them
which country was theirs. To the first question they replied that their law
enforced circumcision and abstention from the flesh of swine and hares. To the
second question their answer was “Jerusalem.” But when he heard from them that
God had been angry with their fore-fathers, and because of their sins had
scattered their people and had given their land to the Christians, Vladimir was
wrath with them, and said, “How dare you even attempt to teach others while you
yourselves are under the anger of your God. If He had really loved you and your
law He would not have scattered you; but now you want the same ill-fate to
befall us!”
The next to come were
Greeks from Byzantium, who put before Vladimir the beauty of their faith. They
spoke of “Christ the Incarnate Word, of His death and passion,” and as Vladimir
listened he was overcome with awe and surprise, and asked, “Why did God come
down upon earth, and why did He take such suffering upon Himself?” Perceiving
that they had touched his heart, the Greek Christians “now told him all from
the very beginning, until the Seventh Council.” They also showed him a painting
in which the Last Judgment was vividly depicted. There, at the right hand were
the righteous going up into paradise with joy and gladness, while there, at the
left, were the wicked going down into perdition. When the meaning of the
picture had been explained to Vladimir, he sighed deeply and said, “How happy
is the lot of those at the right hand, but woe unto those on the left!” Seeing
what a deep impression they had made on the prince, the missionaries told him
that this blessedness could be his on condition that he would allow himself to
be baptised.
Although Vladimir took
all this to heart, he was not going to be hurried into making a definite
decision on so important a question, but promised to enquire still further into
the mysteries of their faith. He was so much in earnest that he selected ten of
his most trusted friends and sent them on a journey to Bulgaria, Rome and
Byzantium, where they were to see for themselves how the various peoples
worshipped God.
When news reached the two
Emperors, Constantine and Basil, at Byzantium that a Russian embassy had come
to study the Christian religion on behalf of the famous Prince of Kiev, they
gave orders to the Patriarch to hold a specially solemn service for the benefit
of the pagan envoys, who were deeply impressed by the clouds of incense and by
the wonderful singing of the choir. Delighted and enchanted by this pomp and
beauty, they listened gladly to an explanation of the deep symbolic meaning of
the service. The Emperors sent for the envoys, did them much honour, gave them
presents and told them to return to their country and report to their prince
all they had seen.
This they did, and to the
Grand Duke and his councillors, who were sitting round him listening with eager
interest, these envoys now described the squalid mosques of Bulgaria, and the
lack of beauty in the churches at Rome; when, however, they came to their visit
to Tsargrad, joy welled up in their hearts at the memory of all the glory and
beauty they had been privileged to behold at Byzantium. “We were taken to the
place where the Greeks worship their God,” they said, “and we almost thought we
were already in heaven, for nowhere on earth had we beheld such beauty, nor can
we describe it. But this we learnt: that God dwells everywhere with man, and
that he is worshipped in many lands. Never shall we forget the beauty we have
seen, and, just as no one willingly tastes the bitter after having tasted the
sweet, so we also can no longer remain here, but must return to the place where
God is worshipped in such beauty.”
This report greatly
affected the boyars, who urged Vladimir to accept the faith of the Greeks; and,
to strengthen their plea, they reminded him of the fact that his grandmother
Olga, who had been the wisest of women, had made this form of faith her own. So
in the end Vladimir decided to become a Christian, and the only question
remaining to be settled was where he should he baptised.
Just about this time the
two Emperors of Byzantium were being pressed on many sides by their enemies the
Poles and the Germans, and in their need they called upon the mighty Ruler of
Kiev for aid. As a reward they offered him the hand of their sister Anna, on
condition, however, that he should first be baptised. Vladimir was glad to
assist them; but time went on, and the promised princess was not sent to him,
for now that the danger of an attack was passed, it seemed unthinkable to give
the ** purple-born ” daughter of the “purple-born” Emperor in wedlock to the
Russian barbarian. This enraged- Vladimir, and he therefore laid siege to the
city of Korsun in the Crimea, where Sevastopol now stands. He had, however, yet
another reason for besieging the town; for, having decided to become a
Christian, he needed priests to baptise him and his people. But his pride
rebelled against having to ask for them, so he meant to get them by force of
arms.
There were also important
political reasons under-lying his action, for Vladimir knew that the Greek
Emperors were only too ready to claim all orthodox Christians as their
subjects; and in order to avoid the danger of his being considered a vassal, he
took this high-handed proceeding, intending to come before them as a conqueror
instead of a suppliant.
After a siege of six
months’ duration, the town was forced to surrender, having been betrayed by a
Greek, who gave certain information to the Grand Duke of Kiev, which enabled
him to cut off the water-supply. Vladimir’s threat to attack Byzantium unless
the promised bride was brought to him influenced the terrified Byzantine
rulers, and Anna’s objections to the marriage were overridden. She was consoled
for the sacrifice by the assurance that in marrying the Russian barbarian she
would have a unique opportunity of influencing a heathen people to adopt
Christianity.
Before, however, the
marriage ceremony could be performed, or even before he could become a
Christian, Vladimir was obliged to get rid of his many wives; among the
principal of these four had been Christians when he married them. Predslava, a
Varangian, he sent to Novgorod; Rogneda, the beautiful maiden of Polotsk, whom
he had renamed Glorislava, retired into a nunnery; Malfreda, the Bohemian, did
not long survive the separation; but there were still Adel (a Czech) and
Milolika (a Bulgarian — his favourite) to dispose of, and these and his other
eight hundred wives he gave in marriage to his vassals and boyars.
Finally all was arranged,
and the Greek princess was married in Korsun to Vladimir, who, meanwhile, had
been baptised. He did not return the conquered town, but handed it over to his
wife as a dowry, and in doing so restored it to Byzantium. After the wedding
Vladimir left Korsun, carrying back with him to his capital not only priests to
baptise and instruct his people, but also holy pictures and vestments to help
in furnishing the churches which he meant to build. For this latter purpose he
also brought back with him Greek architects and builders.
The first thing Vladimir
set himself to do on arriving in Kiev was to have hi& subjects baptised. As
there was no priestly caste among the heathen Russians, and as their faith
contained no dogma, but consisted chiefly of superstitions, there were no
particular objections to be overcome. The people in and around Kiev were the
first to undergo the new rite. On a given day, in the year 988, when all had
been summoned for the general baptism, the great statue of Perun was pulled
down, tied to the tail of a horse, dragged down the hill, beaten with sticks,
and finally flung into the river. The vast crowd witnessed the degradation of
their god, and saw for themselves that he was incapable of defending hin^self,
not even seeming to resent the ill-treatment meted out to him.
Trusting in the superior
wisdom of their rulers, of the princes and the boyars, the people “joyfully
entered the river and received baptism, sure that what the great people had
accepted must be good.” True, the chronicler tells us that “Vladimir advised
his people to be baptised, and those who did not do so from inclination did so
from fear, as the Grand Duke’s zeal for the faith was linked with violence, and
no one dared disobey his pious command.”
In Novgorod, however,
where Vladimir sent his uncle Dobrinya, together with a bishop and some
priests, the change of religion was not so peacefully brought about. The people
bitterly resented the attacks on their idols by the emissaries of the Grand
Duke, who preached to them in the streets and market-place; and when called
together by their chiefs, the crowds of heathen angrily refused to listen to
this new doctrine, convinced that it was better for them to die than to let
their gods be insulted. Influenced by the wonderful eloquence of their chief,
the people broke out in riot, attacked Dobrinya’s house and killed his wife;
they also destroyed a church which had been built some time before by Christian
Varangians. But by means of a ruse, Poutyata, one of Vladimir’s men, managed to
get the upper hand; he sent for men from another town, and with this aid
attacked Novgorod, and a regular battle ensued. It was only after many houses
had been destroyed and many people killed that the citizens sued for peace, which
was promised on condition that they would be baptised.
To this they consented,
and Dobrinya promptly proceeded to destroy all the idols: those of stone were
broken up and thrown into the river, and those of wood were burned. This caused
great sorrow and anguish of heart to the heathen, who wept bitterly, and
pleaded with Dobrinya to spare their gods. But he only laughed and said, “Ye
unreasonable people, why do you worry about those who cannot help themselves?”
Perun was especially badly treated, and as he was being beaten and dragged to
the river, a demon entered into him, who cried out, “Woe is me; I am catching
it soundly from unmerciful hands!” The bishop strictly forbade anyone to give
him help or shelter, and therefore when, the next day, Perun swam ashore and
tried to climb up the banks, one of the newly-baptised Christians pushed him
back into the river, saying, “Perun, thou hast eaten and drunk thy fill; now
just swim away!”
On a given day all the
people had to present themselves for baptism, and those who did not come
voluntarily were dragged along by armed force. Thus everybody was baptised in
the river, the men above, the women below, the bridge. Many, however, in order
to escape baptism, pretended that they were already Christians. When this was
found out, all who had been christened were commanded to have a cross hung
around their necks, and whoever was detected without one was thereupon forcibly
baptised. Thus quiet was restored in Novgorod, and Poutyata returned to Kiev;
but the people scofFed at the way in which Christianity had been introduced,
saying: “Poutyata baptised with the sword, and Dobrinya with fire!”
Gradually the new faith
spread throughout the Russian lands, and all Vladimir’s Slav subjects were
baptised. For political reasons, however, he left the other tribes— especially
those of the north-east of Russia, who clung to their old faith — undisturbed;
since his rule over them was not yet established, the prudent prince did not
wish to irritate them.
Thus the Russians became
Christians outwardly, but remained heathens in their hearts, retaining all
their old customs. There were not sufficient priests to teach them, and the
people merely added Christianity to their old beliefs. Just as they had been
baptised themselves, so in all good faith they also christened their gods.
Perun, the Thunder God, they christened Elijah, and to this day the prophet
celebrates his day with thunder. For quite two centuries the Russian people
held this dual faith, much to the grief of their spiritual leaders. Vladimir
realized the necessity of instructing the people in the new religion, but the
great difficulty was to procure priests who could speak to them in their own
tongue. Finally he sent to Bulgaria, where a language very similar to the Russian
was spoken, whence priests came who brought with them the written Word — for
Cyril and Methodius, the great missionaries to the southern Slavs, had invented
an alphabet and had translated the Holy Scriptures into Slavonic.
Vladimir built many
churches in Kiev, some of wood and some of stone, besides a fine cathedral
which he dedicated to “the Mother of God.” For the upkeep of this cathedral,
and for the support of the Metropolitan and his clergy, the Grand Duke set
apart a tenth of all his princely revenues, whether in fur or honey, in corn or
merchandise. Thus, the church of the “tenth,” as it was called, stands to this
day a witness to Vladimir’s zeal and earnestness.
He also commanded the
boyars and the leading citizens to send their children to the newly-founded
schools, where they were taught by the priests. The mothers wept over this
order as though it were death, and not instruction, that awaited their little
ones. By this far-seeing policy Vladimir prepared a future generation of
Christians, not only in name, but in reality; and this first set of scholars
provided Russia with native-born Christian leaders and priests.
According to the
Chronicle, “Vladimir prepared the soil, broke up the ground and made it soft
and loose; that is to say, he enlightened the people by introducing
Christianity. To his son Yaroslav, however, it was given to sow the seed in the
soil which was already prepared: he furthered instruction by means of books.
Vladimir baptised, Yaroslav taught and established the people in the faith.”
In his desire to spread
Christianity the Grand Duke travelled all over the country, urging the people
to become Christians. “Thus,” again to quote the chronicler, “our land began to
praise the Christ, the Father, and the Holy Ghost,” and paganism became a
forbidden creed. Most of those who adhered to it did so in secret. But there
were others who rebelled against this change of faith, and openly clung to
their old gods; they fled into the forests, where they lived as outlaws, and
thus the number of robbers enormously increased. Vladimir at first did not
proceed against them with sufficient energy, for the erstwhile warlike prince
had, since his baptism, become averse to fighting and was growing almost too
lenient. But a strong hand was needed to keep down this lawlessness, and at
last the Bishop of Kiev asked Vladimir why it was that he did not have these
robbers put to death. “Because I do not wish to commit sin,” was the Grand
Duke’s reply. Then he was told by the bishop that God had entrusted him with
power and had made him a judge over evildoers and a rewarder of virtue, “and
that it was his duty to punish the robbers, but that a thorough enquiry should
be made first.” Thereupon Vladimir no longer merely imposed fines, but had the
robbers put to death instead, until his counsellors, perceiving how much money
was thereby lost, induced him to reestablish fines. “For,” they said, “we have
frequent wars, and this money comes in usefully for the purchase of weapons and
horses.”
The increased intercourse
with Byzantium, now no longer merely commercial, deeply influenced Russian life
and customs. The introduction of Christianity brought culture in its wake;
moreover, Vladimir loved beauty and art, and appreciated learning. A wise man,
he knew how to retain the old and yet adapt it to the new conditions; his
generous and humane character, his desire to see all around him happy and
content, the cheerfulness of his disposition and his love of merriment and
social pleasure made him merciful and charitable. Formerly he and his Drujina
and the boyars had revelled and feasted to their hearts* content, had eaten and
drunk and been merry. Now the poor and needy, the orphan and the widow were
remembered when the feast was spread; and to those who were too sick to come to
the palace he sent food. On all the great saints’ day and holy days everybody
was free to join the feasting in his palace yard, where prince and people,
leaders and led, met in friendly intercourse. This also served the political
purpose of drawing the classes together.
Valorous knights from all
parts were drawn to Kiev by the fame of Vladimir, for the renown of this merry,
genial, and generous prince had spread far and wide. Thus it came about that
while he remained at home organizing his lands, building up his dominion and
fostering the peaceful arts, his Bogatyrs or knights went out to fight against
enemies and oppressors, and returned to him to tell of great deeds done and of
victories won.
Vladimir’s most bitter
and dangerous foes were the Petchenegs, from whose raids his people suffered
terribly. Tales of their fierceness and cruelty had spread even as far as
Germany, and the missionary Brun writes in the year 1007 that he “went to the
fiercest of all the heathen — the Petchenegs,” and that “the Grand Duke of Kiev,
who reigned over vast lands, pleaded with him not to go amongst those people,
as he was sure that he, Brun, would be killed by them.” He gratefully records
that on his refusal to give up his intention, Vladimir himself accompanied him
to the very borders of the Petchenegs’ country, where they parted, the prince
full of foreboding for the gentle Christian. Five months later, however, after
a successful mission, Brun returned to Kiev, having not only baptised thirty
heathen, but having also prevailed upon the Chief of the Petchenegs to make
peace with Vladimir. This prince now sent one of his sons, accompanied by a
bishop, as envoy to his former enemies, and for a while Russia was at rest.
Towards the end of his
reign Vladimir suffered much grief and sorrow on account of his sons, some of
whom rebelled against him. For Vladimir had given to his twelve sons and
several nephews land for their possession, laying thereby the foundation for
much trouble in the future, and the realm he had so zealously striven to consolidate
was to be rent asunder under the rule of his descendants. Yaroslav, to whom he
had given Novgorod, caused him much trouble by his refusal to hand over the
right proportion of the taxes gathered by him on behalf of his father. Vladimir
then decided to go against his son and meet him in battle; but death overtook
him, and “the devil was robbed of the pleasure of seeing father and son at war
with each other.”
When the people heard of
Vladimir’s death they gathered in crowds and made great lamentation. “The
boyars bemoaned the loss of their leader, the people of their protector, and
the poor of their sustainer.” Vladimir was a new type of ruler in Russia — not
merely a knight amongst knights, or a greater chief amongst lesser chiefs — but
an acknowledged king, the founder of a dynasty. He was also a true statesman,
to whose wisdom and foresight ancient Russia owed her first consolidation as a
state. It was he who introduced gold and silver coinage; on one side of the
coin was the figure of Our Lord, and on the other Vladimir in imperial robes,
holding a cross in his hand. A Russian Metropolitan, one of the first-fruits of
the schools founded by Vladimir, wrote in praise of him in 1050: “Rome sings
the praise of Peter and Paul, all countries and cities and men honour and
glorify their teacher who has taught them the faith. Let us also, as much as in
us lies, praise with humble thanksgiving our teacher and instructor, who has
done great and wondrous teachings, the great Khan of our land, Vladimir, the grandson
of Igor, the son of the glorious Svyatoslav….” Yet it was not until 1257,
nearly two and a half centuries after his death, that this champion of the
Christian faith was canonized; for the very feasts, with their sumptuousness
and good cheer, which had made him so popular with his people, were made a
reproach to him by the ascetic clergy of a later date, and it was only after
these festivities had been forgotten that his zeal for the faith was recognized
by the Church, and he was made into Saint Vladimir.
In the memory of a loving
people, however, he lives as the joyous, chivalrous, glorious “Fair Sun.”
Around his attractive personality and exploits, as well as those of the mighty
men who surrounded him, whole cycles of romantic tales have been woven, and it
is in these “Byilinas” that the life and soul of those heroic days have been
preserved for all time. The most famous of Vladimir’s bold knights were Ilya
Mourometz, Dobryinia Nikititch, and Alesha Popovitch, whose names have become
household words. Thus, in the story of the life of Vladimir, romance, tradition
and history meet, and at one and the same time he is glorified as the valorous
pagan knight, venerated as the Christianizer of Russia, and appraised as the
founder of the Russian Empire.
– text taken from Some Russian Heroes, Saints and Sinners, by
Sonia E Howe, 1917
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/how-vladimir-fair-sun-became-saint-vladimir/
Statue
de Saint Vladimir et de Saint Théodore dans la ville de Vladimir
Equal of the Apostles
Great Prince Vladimir (in Baptism Basil), Enlightener of the Russian Lands
Commemorated on July
15
The “capable girl”
Malusha became a Christian (together with Great Princess Olga at
Constantinople), but she preserved in herself a bit of the mysterious darkness
of the pagan Drevlyani forests. Thus she fell in love with the austere warrior
Svyatoslav, who against the will of his mother Olga made her his wife. The
enraged Olga, regarding as unseemly the marriage of her “housekeeper” and
captive servant to her son Svyatoslav, heir to the Great Kiev principality,
sent Malusha away to her own native region not far from Vybut. And there in
about the year 960 was born the boy with the Russian pagan name Volodimir,
meaning peaceful ruler, ruling with a special talent for peace.The Holy Great
Prince Vladimir, Equal of the Apostles. Few names in the annals of history can
compare in significance with the name of Saint Vladimir, the Baptizer of Rus,
who stands at the beginning of the spiritual destiny of the Russian Church and
the Russian Orthodox people. Vladimir was the grandson of Saint Olga, and he
was the son of Svyatoslav (+ 972). His mother, Malusha (+ 1001) was the
daughter of Malk Liubechanin, whom historians identify with Mal, prince of the
Drevlyani. Having subdued an uprising of the Drevlyani and conquered their
cities, Princess Olga gave orders to execute Prince Mal for his attempt to
marry her after he murdered her husband Igor, and she took to herself Mal’s
children, Dobrynya and Malusha. Dobrynya grew up to be a valiant brave warrior,
endowed with a mind for state affairs, and he was later on an excellent help to
his nephew Vladimir in matters of military and state administration.
In the year 970
Svyatoslav set out on a campaign from which he was fated not to return. He had
divided the Russian Land among his three sons. At Kiev Yaropolk was prince; at
Ovrucha, the center of the Drevlyani lands, was Oleg; at Novgorod was Vladimir.
In his first years as prince, we see Vladimir as a fierce pagan. He headed a
campaign, in which the whole of pagan Rus is sympathetic to him, against
Yaropolk the Christian, or in any case, according to the chronicles, “having
given great freedom to the Christians”, on July 11, 978 he entered into Kiev,
having become the “sole ruler” of the Kiev realm, “having subdued the
surrounding lands, some by peaceful means, and the unsubmissive ones by the
sword.”
Though Vladimir indulged
himself in a wild, sensuous life, he was far from the libertine that they
sometimes portray him as being. He “shepherded his land with truth, valor and
reason”, as a good and diligent master, of necessity he extended and defended
its boundaries by force of arms, and in returning from military campaigns, he
made for his companions and for all Kiev liberal and merry feasts.
But the Lord prepared him
for another task. Where sin increases, there, in the words of the Apostle,
grace abounds (Rom. 5: 20). “And upon him came visitation of the Most High, and
the All-Merciful eye of the Good God gazed upon him, and shone forth the
thought in his heart, of understanding the vanity of idolous delusion, and of
appealing to the One God, Creator of all things both visible and invisible.”
The matter of accepting Baptism was facilitated through external circumstances.
The Byzantine Empire was in upheaval under the blows of the mutinous regiments
of Bardas Skliros and Bardas Phocas, each of whom sought to gain the imperial
throne. In these difficult circumstances the emperors, the coregent brothers
Basil the Bulgar-Slayer and Constantine, turned for help to Vladimir.
Events unfolded quickly.
In August 987 Bardas Phocas proclaimed himself Emperor and moved against
Constantinople, and in autumn of that same year the emissaries of Emperor Basil
were at Kiev. “And having exhausted his (Basil’s) wealth, it compelled him to
enter into an alliance with the Emperor of the Russians. They were his enemies,
but he besought their help,” writes one of the Arab chronicles of events in the
980s. “And the Emperor of the Russians consented to this, and made common cause
with him.”
As a reward for his
military help, Vladimir asked for the hand of the emperors’ sister Anna, which
for the Byzantines was an unheard of audacity. Princesses of the imperial
lineage did not marry “barbarian” rulers, even if they were Christians. At the
same time the emperor Otto the Great was seeking the hand of Anna for his son,
and he was refused. However, in Vladimir’s case Constantinople was obliged to
consent.
An agreement was
concluded, according to which Vladimir had to send the emperors six thousand
Varangians, and to accept holy Baptism. Under these conditions he would receive
the hand of the imperial daughter Anna. Thus in the strife of human events the
will of God directed the entering of Rus into the grace-filled bosom of the
Ecumenical Church. Great Prince Vladimir accepted Baptism and sent the military
assistance to Byzantium. With the aid of the Russians, the mutineers were
destroyed and Bardas Phocas killed. But the Greeks, gladdened by their
unexpected deliverance, were in no hurry to fulfill their part of the bargain.
Vexed at the Greek
duplicity, Prince Vladimir “hastened to collect his forces” and he moved
“against Korsun, the Greek city,” the ancient Chersonessos. The “impenetrable”
rampart of the Byzantine realm on the Black Sea fell. It was one of the vitally
important hubs of the economic and mercantile links of the empire. This blow
was so much felt, that its echo resounded throughout all the regions of
Byzantium.
Vladimir again had the
upper hand. His emissaries, the commanders Oleg and Sjbern soon arrived in
Constantinople for the imperial daughter. Eight days passed in Anna’s
preparation, during which time her brothers consoled her, stressing the
significance of the opportunity before her: to enable the enlightening of the
Russian realm and its lands, and to make them forever friends of the Byzantine
realm. At Taurida Saint Vladimir awaited her, and to his titles there was added
a new one: Caesar (Tsar). The haughty rulers of Constantinople had to accede
also in this, to bestow upon their new brother-in-law the imperial insignia. In
certain of the Greek historians, Saint Vladimir is termed from these times as a
“mighty basileios-king”, he coins money in the Byzantine style and is depicted
on it with the symbols of imperial might: in imperial attire, and on his head
the imperial crown, and in his right hand the sceptre with cross.
Together with the empress
Anna, there arrived for the Russian See Metropolitan Michael ordained by holy
Patriarch Nicholas II Chrysoberges. He came with his retinue and clergy, and
many holy relics and other holy things. In ancient Chersonessos, where each
stone brings to mind Saint Andrew the First-Called, there took place the
marriage-crowning of Saint Vladimir and Blessed Anna, both reminiscent and
likewise affirming the oneness of the Gospel of Christ in Rus and in Byzantium.
Korsun, the “empress’s dowry”, was returned to Byzantium. In the spring of 988 the
Great Prince and his wife set out through the Crimea, Taman and the Azov lands,
which had come into the complexion of his vast realm on the return trip to
Kiev. Leading the princely cortege with frequent Services of Thanksgiving and
incessant priestly singing they carried crosses, icons and holy relics. It
seemed, that the Ecumenical Holy Church was moving into the spacious Russian
land, and renewed in the font of Baptism, Holy Rus came forth to meet Christ
and His Church.
Then followed an
unforgettable and quite singular event in Russian history: the morning of the
Baptism of the Kievans in the waters of the River Dneipr. On the evening
before, Saint Vladimir declared throughout the city: “If anyone does not go
into the river tomorrow, be they rich or poor, beggar or slave, that one shall
be my enemy.” The sacred wish of the holy Prince was fulfilled without a
murmur: “all our land glorified Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit at
the same time.”
It is difficult to
overestimate the deep spiritual transformation of the Russian people effected
by the prayers of Saint Vladimir, in every aspect of its life and world-view.
In the pure Kievan waters, as in a “bath of regeneration”, there was realized a
sacramental transfiguration of the Russian spiritual element, the spiritual
birth of the nation, called by God to unforeseen deeds of Christian service to
mankind.
“Then did the darkness of
the idols begin to lift from us, and the dawn of Orthodoxy appear, and the Sun
of the Gospel illumined our land.” In memory of this sacred event, the
regeneration of Rus by water and the Spirit, the Russian Church established the
custom of an annual church procession “to the water” on August 1. Later, the
Feast of the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Creating Cross of the
Lord, which Russia celebrated with the Greek Church, was combined with the
Feast of the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Theotokos (established by
Saint Andrew Bogoliubsky in the year 1164). In this combination of feasts there
is found a precise expression of the Russian theological consciousness, for
which both Baptism and the Cross are inseparable.
Everywhere throughout
Holy Rus, from the ancient cities to the far outposts, Saint Vladimir gave
orders to destroy the pagan sanctuaries, to flog the idols, and in their place
to clear land in the hilly woods for churches, in which altars would be
consecrated for the Bloodless Sacrifice. Churches of God grew up along the face
of the earth, at high elevated places, and at the bends of the rivers, along
the ancient trail “from the Variangians to the Greeks” figuratively as road
signs and lamps of national holiness. Concerning the famed church-building
activity of Saint Vladimir, the Metropolitan of Kiev Saint Hilarion (author of
the “Word on Law and Grace”) exclaimed: “They demolished the pagan temples, and
built up churches, they destroyed the idols and produced holy icons, the demons
have fled, and the Cross has sanctified the cities.”
From the early centuries
of Christianity it was the custom to raise up churches upon the ruins of pagan
sanctuaries or upon the blood of the holy martyrs. Following this practice,
Saint Vladimir built the church of Saint Basil the Great upon a hill, where a
sanctuary of Perun had been located, and he built the stone church of the
Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (Desyatinnaya) on the place of the
martyrdom of the holy Varangian Martyrs (July 12). The magnificent temple was
intended to become the cathedral for the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus, and
thus the primal altar of the Russian Church. It was built in five years, and
was richly adorned with frescoes, crosses, icons and sacred vessels, brought
from Korsun. The day of the consecration of the church of the Most Holy
Theotokos, May 12 (in some manuscripts May 11), was ordered by Saint Vladimir
to be inserted into the Church calendar as an annual celebration. This event
was linked with other events celebrated on May 11, and it provided the new
Church a twofold sense of continuity. Under this day in the calendar is noted
the churchly Founding of Constantinople “dedicated by the holy emperor Saint
Constantine as the new capital of the Roman Empire, the city of Constantine is
dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos (330). On this same day of May 11, the
church of Sophia, the Wisdom of God was consecrated at Kiev (in the year 960
under Saint Olga). Saint Vladimir, having had the cathedral church consecrated
to the Most Holy Theotokos, followed the example of Saint Constantine in
dedicating the capital city of the Russian Land (Kiev) to the Queen of Heaven.
Then a tithe or tenth was
bestown on the Church; and since this church had become the center of the
All-Russian collection of churchly tithes, they called it the Tithe church. The
most ancient text of the grant, or church rule by holy Prince Vladimir spoke
thus: “For I do bestow on this church of the Holy Mother of God a tenth of all
my principality, and also throughout all the Russian Land from all the princely
jurisdiction a tithe of squirrel-pelts, and from the merchant, a tithe of the
week, and from households each year, a tenth of every herd and every
livelihood, to the wondrous Mother of God and the wondrous Savior.” The grant
also specified “church people” as being free from the jurisdictional power of
the prince and his “tiuni” (officials) and placed them under the jurisdiction
of the Metropolitan.
The chronicle has
preserved a prayer of Saint Vladimir, with which he turned to the Almighty at
the consecration of the Dormition Tithe church: “O Lord God, look down from
Heaven and behold, and visit Your vineyard, which Your right hand has planted.
And make this new people, whom You have converted in heart and mind to know
You, the True God. And look down upon this Your church, which Your unworthy
servant has built in the name of the Mother Who gave birth to Thee, the
Ever-Virgin Theotokos. And whoever prays in this church, let his prayer be
heard, through the prayers of the All-Pure Mother of God.”
With the Tithe church and
Bishop Anastasius, certain historians have made a connection with the
beginnings of Russian chronicle writing. At it were compiled the Life of Saint
Olga and the account of the Varangian Martyrs in their original form, and
likewise the “Account, How in the Taking of Korsun, Vladimir came to be Baptized.”
Here also originated the early Greek redaction of the Lives of the Holy Martyrs
Boris and Gleb.
During the time of Saint
Vladimir, the Kiev Metropolitan See was occupied successively by the
Metropolitan Saint Michael (September 30), Metropolitan Theophylactus, who
transferred to Kiev from the See of Armenian Sebaste (991-997), Metropolitan
Leontius (997-1008), and Metropolitan John I (1008-1037). Through their efforts
the first dioceses of the Russian Church were opened: at Novgorod (its first
representative was Saint Joachim of Korsun (+ 1030), compiler of the Joachimov
Chronicle), Vladimir-Volyn (opened May 11, 992), Chernigov, Pereslavl,
Belgorod, and Rostov. “And thus throughout all the cities and villages there
were set up churches and monasteries, and the clergy increased, and the
Orthodox Faith blossomed forth and shone like the sun.”
To advance the Faith
among the newly enlightened people, learned people and schools were needed to
help prepare them. Therefore, Saint Vladimir and the holy Metropolitan Michael
“commanded fathers and mothers to take their young children and send them to
schools to learn reading and writing.” Saint Joachim of Korsun set up such a
school at Novgorod, and they did the same in other cities. “And there were a
multitude of schools of scholars, and of these were there a multitude of
philosophers.”
With a firm hand Saint
Vladimir held in check enemies at the frontiers, and he built fortified cities.
He was the first in Russian history to set up a “notched boundary,” a line of defensive
points against nomadic peoples. “Volodimir began to set up cities along the
Desna, along the Vystra, along the Trubezha, along the Sula and along the
Stugna. And he settled them with the Novgorodians, the Smolyani, the Chuds and
the Vyatichi. He made war against the Pechenegs and defeated them.” But the
real reason for his success was the peaceful Christian preaching among the
pagans of the steppes.
In the Nikol’sk
Chronicles under the year 990 was written: “And in that same year there came to
Volodimir at Kiev four princes from the Bulgars and they were illumined with
Divine Baptism.” In the following year “the Pecheneg prince Kuchug came and
accepted the Greek faith, and he was baptized in the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and served Vladimir with a pure heart.” Under
the influence of the holy prince several apparent foreigners were also
baptized. For example, the Norwegian “koenig” (king) Olaf Trueggvason (+ 1000)
who lived several years at Kiev, and also the renowned Torvald the Wanderer,
founder of a monastery of Saint John the Forerunner along the Dneipr near
Polotsk, among others. In faraway Iceland the poet-skalds called God the
“Protector of the Greeks and Russians.”
In addition to the
Christian preaching, there were the renowned feasts of Saint Vladimir. After
Liturgy on Sundays and Church Feasts there were put out abundant feasting
tables for the Kievans, they rang the bells, choirs sang praise, the
“transported infirm” sang bylini-ballads and spiritual verses. On May 12, 996,
for example, on the occasion of the consecration of the Tithe church, the
prince “made a bright feast.” He distributed goods “to many of the poor, and
destitute and wanderers, and through the churches and the monasteries. To the
sick and the needy he delivered through the streets casks and barrels of mead,
and bread, and meat, and fish, and cheese, desiring that all might come and
eat, glorifying God”. Feasts were likewise celebrated in honor of the victories
of Kievan warriors, and the regiments of Vladimir’s retinue: of Dobrynya,
Alexander Popovich, Rogda the Bold.
In the year 1007 Saint
Vladimir transferred the relics of Saint Olga to the Tithe church. Four years
later, in 1011, his spouse and companion in many of his undertakings, the Blessed
Empress Anna, was also buried there. After her death the prince entered into a
new marriage with the young daughter of the German Graf Kuno von Enningen,
granddaughter of the emperor Otto the Great.
The era of Saint Vladimir
was a crucial period for the formation of Orthodox Rus. The unification of the
Slavic lands and the formation of state boundaries under the domain of the
Rurikovichi resulted from a strenuous spiritual and political struggle with
neighboring tribes and states. The Baptism of Rus by Orthodox Byzantium was a
most important step in its self-definition as a state. The chief enemy of
Vladimir became Boleslav the Brave, whose plans included the extensive
unification of the West Slavic and East Slavic tribes under the aegis of
Catholic Poland. This rivalry arose back when Vladimir was still a pagan: “In
the year 6489 (981). Volodimir went against the Lakhs and took their cities,
Peremyshl, Cherven, and other cities, which be under Rus.” The final years of
the tenth century are likewise filled with the wars of Vladimir and Boleslav.
After a brief lull (the
first decade of the eleventh century), the “great stand-off” entered into a new
phase: in the year 1013 a conspiracy against Saint Vladimir was discovered at
Kiev. Svyatopolk the Accursed, who was married to a daughter of Boleslav,
yearned for power. The instigator of the conspiracy was Boleslav’s cleric, the
Kolobzheg Catholic bishop Reibern.
The conspiracy of
Svyatopolk and Reibern was an all-out threat to the historical existence of the
Russian state and the Russian Church. Saint Vladimir took decisive measures.
All the three involved were arrested, and Reibern soon died in prison.
Saint Vladimir did not
take revenge on those that “opposed and hated” him. Under the pretense of
feigned repentance, Svyatopolk was set free.
A new misfortune erupted
in the North, at Novgorod. Yaroslav, not yet “the Wise,” as he was later to be
known, in the year 1010 having become ruler of Novgorod, decided to defect from
his father the Great Prince of Kiev. He formed his own separate army, moving on
Kiev to demand the customary tribute and tithe. The unity of the Russian land,
for which Saint Vladimir had struggled all his life, was threatened with ruin.
In both anger and in sorrow Saint Vladimir gave orders to “secure the dams and
set the bridges,” and to prepare for a campaign against Novgorod. His powers
were on the decline. In the preparations for his final campaign, happily not
undertaken, the Baptizer of Rus fell grievously ill and surrendered his soul to
the Lord in the village of Spas-Berestov on July 15, 1015. He had ruled the
Russian realm for thirty-seven years (978-1015), twenty-eight of these years
after his Baptism.
Preparing for a new
struggle for power and hoping for Polish assistance, and to play for time,
Svyatopolk attempted to conceal the death of his father. But patriotically
inclined Kievan nobles, by night, secretly removed the body of the deceased
sovereign from the Berestov court, where Svyatopolk’s people were guarding it,
and they conveyed the body to Kiev. At theTithe church the coffin with the
relics of Saint Vladimir was met by Kievan clergy with Metropolitan John at the
head of the procession. The holy relics were placed in a marble crypt, set
within the Saint Clement chapel of the Dormition church beside the marble crypt
of Empress Anna.
The name and deeds of the
holy Equal of the Apostles Saint Vladimir, whom the people called the Splendid
Sun, is interwoven with all the successive history of the Russian Church.
“Through him we too have come to worship and to know Christ, the True Life,” testified
Saint Hilarion. His deeds were continued by his sons, and grandsons and
descendants, rulers of the Russian land for almost six centuries, from Yaroslav
the Wise, who took the first steps towards the independent existence of the
Russian Church, down to the last of the Rurikovichi, Tsar Theodore Ioannovich,
under whom (in 1589) the Russian Orthodox Church became the fifth independent
Patriarchate in the dyptichs of Orthodox Autocephalous Churches.
The festal celebration of
the holy Equal of the Apostles Vladimir was established under Saint Alexander
Nevsky, in memory of the intercession of Saint Vladimir on May 15, 1240, for
his help in gaining the renowned victory by Nevsky over Swedish crusaders.
But the first veneration
of the holy prince began in Rus rather earlier. The Metropolitan of Kiev Saint
Hilarion (+ 1053), in his “Word on Law and Grace,” spoken on the day of memory
of Saint Vladimir at the saint’s crypt in the Tithe church, calls him “an
apostolic sovereign”, like Saint Constantine, and he compares his apostolic
evangelisation of the Russian Land to the evangelisation by the holy Apostles.
Vladimir le Grand partant en guerre contre les Viatitches, Chronique de Radziwiłł
San Vladimiro (Basilio) di Kiev Principe
Kiev. Ucraina, 956 circa - 15 luglio 1015
Figlio del principe Svjatoslav, nel 970 succedette al
padre a Novgorod mentre i fratelli Jaropolk e Oleg succedevano rispettivamente
a Kiev e nella regione di Drevljan. Coinvolto nella contesa tra i due fratelli,
nel 977 Vladimiro passò in Scandinavia. Ritornato in Russia conquistò Kiev
(980) e, eliminato Jaropolk che aveva sconfitto il fratello e preso il suo
territorio, si fece proclamare principe di tutta la Russia. Regnando sul
vastissimo territorio dai laghi del Nord alla steppa, dall'incerta frontiera
occidentale al Volga, Vladimiro si trovò impegnato continuamente in guerra
contro i popoli confinanti. Sotto di lui il principato di Kiev conobbe il
periodo più brillante della sua storia, anche se lo stato era lontano
dall'essere fondato su sicure basi e dal possedere un'adeguata organizzazione
unitaria. Di fondamentale importanza per lo stato russo e per la civiltà
dell'Europa orientale furono la conversione di Vladimiro al cristianesimo (988)
e le sue nozze con la principessa bizantina Anna, sorella di Basilio II e di
Costantino VIII: la Russia divenne una provincia ecclesiastica del patriarcato
bizantino, aprendosi da allora all'influenza della civiltà di Bisanzio.
All'alba del Terzo Millennio il papa San Giovanni Paolo II ha incluso il nome
di San Vladimiro, già venerato dalla Chiesa Ortodossa Russa, nel Martirologio
Romano.
Etimologia: Vladimiro = colui che possiede o
domina la pace.
Martirologio Romano: A Kiev nell’odierna Ucraina,
san Vladimiro principe, che ricevette al battesimo il nome di Basilio e spese
le sue forze a diffondere tra i popoli a lui soggetti la retta fede.
Nel X secolo il principato russo di Kiev è pagano,
tranne alcuni gruppi cristiani di Variaghi, di origine scandinava. Era
cristiana Olga, moglie del Gran principe Igor I; ma lui è rimasto pagano, come
il figlio Svjatoslav e i figli di questi. Vladimiro, escluso dalla successione
perché figlio illegittimo di Svjatoslav, nel 980 toglie il regno e la vita al
fratellastro Jaropolk, il quale aveva fatto lo stesso col fratello Oleg. Sono i
metodi del tempo. Così sale al trono chi sarà chiamato “il santo” dalla voce
popolare. Dapprima Vladimiro appoggia i culti pagani. Ma poi cristianizzerà lo
Stato, attraversando vicende che sono narrate vivacemente da un documento
attribuito al monaco Nestore di Kiev: la Cronaca degli avvenimenti passati. Qui
troviamo un Vladimiro dapprima violento e sensuale, e poi diverso, nuovo, che
si interessa di ebraismo, islam e cristianesimo. La politica lo spinge poi ad
allearsi con l’Impero cristiano di Costantinopoli, e ad aiutarlo coi suoi
soldati a domare una rivolta. Vladimiro salva l’Impero, e vuole in cambio come
moglie la principessa Anna, sorella degli imperatori Basilio II e Costantino
VIII. Pare che le nozze si celebrino già durante il conflitto, ma poi Basilio
II rifiuta di lasciar partire Anna. Allora Vladimiro occupa finalmente la città
imperiale di Cherson, in Crimea (luglio 989), e si porta a casa Anna: Basilio
ha ceduto.
Eccolo a Kiev come principe cristiano, avendo ricevuto
il battesimo a Cherson. All’epoca le due Chiese di Roma e di Costantinopoli
sono unite, sebbene in continuo dissenso. Il papa Giovanni XV manda ambasciate
a Vladimiro, e così Roma è “presente” alla nascita del nuovo regno cristiano (e
infatti il culto per Vladimiro sarà poi riconosciuto da entrambe le Chiese). Ma
a Kiev prevale l’influenza religiosa bizantina; sicché, con lo scisma d’Oriente
avvenuto nel 1054, la Chiesa di Kiev seguirà Costantinopoli.
Resta da vedere come Vladimiro si guadagni il titolo
di santo. Ha sì battezzato il suo popolo: ma come sbrigativo sovrano che
comanda, non come apostolo che persuade (dopo di lui ci saranno infatti moti
anticristiani). La buona fama si forma più tardi, grazie al mutamento della sua
vita, che deve impressionare chi l’ha conosciuto prima. La sua generosità, dice
un cronista, "riscatta i dissoluti costumi di un tempo". Egli mitiga
poi in senso cristiano le leggi e pone i problemi dell’educazione e dell’aiuto ai
poveri tra i doveri dei regnanti. Nel 1011, essendo morta Anna, Vladimiro
sposa una nipote dell’imperatore Ottone I, collegandosi anche con l’Impero di
nazione germanica.
La sua vita austera negli ultimi anni – sempre facendo
i confronti – e la sua mitezza lo rendono ancora più popolare, motivando
l’appellativo di “santo” dopo la morte. E il suo nome verrà tramandato nel
tempo da un vasto fiorire di leggende e ballate popolari.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/62700
The
famous statue of en:St Vladimir, opened in en:1853,
overlooks the steep bank of the en:Dnieper
River in en:Kiev. Sculptors: en:Peter Klodt von Urgensburg, en:Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky.
Architect: en:Konstantin Thon.
Vladimir Soloviev (Соловьёв Владимир Сергеевич).
« Saint Vladimir et l’État chrétien », Article paru dans L’Univers,
4, 11 et 19 août 1888. LA BIBLIOTHÈQUE RUSSE ET SLAVE : https://bibliotheque-russe-et-slave.com/Livres/Soloviev%20-%20Saint%20Vladimir%20et%20l'Etat%20chretien.htm
Ianuarij Ivlijev. « La signification spirituelle du
baptême de la Russie » Revue
Théologique de Louvain Année 1988 19-3 pp.
269-275 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/thlou_0080-2654_1988_num_19_3_2318
Statue de Saint Vladimir faite par la diaspora ukrainienne, Toronto, Canada
Voir aussi : https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/church-history/tenth-century/saint-vladimir-of-kiev
