The portrayal of the Blessed Princess Olga, at the baptism of Helena

At the end of the dark night of idolatry that encompassed the Russian land, the blessed Olga appeared as the dawn before the dawn of the bright day of the holy faith in Christ <unk> "Sun of truth".

Blessed Olga came from a famous family: she was the great-granddaughter of Gostimyl, the glorious husband who ruled in Veliky Novgorod until, on his own advice, he was called from the Varangians to the Russian Rurik with his brothers [Based on: 1) the name of blessed Olga, which is a Varangian name from the male Oleg, 2) direct testimonies of some lives and 3) the fact that Olga was the wife of Prince Igor, to whom, as a Varangian, all

If it was more natural to take a wife from one's own tribe, it would be more plausible to assume that the blessed Olga was a Varangian.

<unk> Varangians or Normans inhabited the Scandinavian peninsula, and they were separated from the Novgorodian Slavs only by the Finns. The vocation of the Varangians dates back to 862, but it is more accurate to attribute it to 852.]

From the initial Chronicle (around 903) it can be seen that the motherland of the blessed Olga was Pskov, from where Oleg Igor brought her and where she was probably the daughter of one of the governors or boyars.]

Rurik, dying [died 879], left behind his son Igor as a young boy, so both Igor and the prince himself, until the days of his son's adulthood, Rurik entrusted the care of his relative Oleg. The latter, having gathered a considerable army and having with him the minor heir of the principality Igor, went to Kiev.

Oleg killed Ashkolod and Dir here, and subjected Kiev to himself, and he became the sole owner of the Varangian-Russian possessions, keeping the principality for his nephew Igor; Oleg had to be in Kiev, then in the Great Novgorod.

It happened to him, while hunting in the vicinity of Novgorod, to enter the limits of Pskov; tracking the beast near the mentioned Vybutskaya pond, he saw on the other side of the river a place convenient for fishing, but could not get there because he did not have a boat.

When they were swimming, Igor, looking more closely at the face of the rower, saw that the rower was not a young man, but a virgin; and so was blessed Olga, who stood out for her beauty. Olga's beauty made Igor's heart vulnerable; lust burst out in him; and he began to seduce her with words, inclining to impure carnal mixture. Blessed Olga, however, understanding Igor's thoughts, inflamed with lust, interrupted his conversation, turning to him like a wise old man, with this admonition:

Why doest thou, O prince, utter shameful things, and why doest thou devise a thing that cannot be done? Thine own words reveal thy shameful desire to violate me, and there shall not be; and I will not hear of it. Hearken, I pray thee, and put away from thine heart this foolish and shameful thing, which is to be ashamed of; and remember, and consider, that thou, prince, shouldest be a ruler and judge of the people, a light of righteousness; and to what transgression art thou now drawn?

And if thou, being overcome with unclean lusts, shouldest do evil, how canst thou restrain others, and judge thy subjects justly? Leave aside such shameless covetousness as is abhorred by the upright, and thou, though thou be a prince, mayest be hated and reproached for it; and know that though I alone am here, and I am weak in comparison with thee, yet thou shalt not prevail against me.

But even if you were able to overcome me, the depths of this river would immediately be a protection to me: it would be better for me to die clean, burying myself in these waters, than to be insulted by my virginity. Such exhortations to chastity, addressed by the blessed Olga to Igor, made the latter wise, awakening in him a sense of shame. He was silent, not finding words to answer; so they swam across the river, and then parted. And the prince was astonished at the remarkable intelligence and chastity of the young maiden.

Indeed, such an act of the blessed Olga is amazing: not knowing the true God and His commandments, she discovered such a feat in defense of chastity; carefully guarding the purity of her virginity, she rebuked the young prince, curbing his lust with words of wisdom worthy of the mind of a husband.

A short time after this, Prince Igor together with his relative Oleg went to Kiev with the intention of establishing the throne of the principality, which was fulfilled: they sat on the principality in Kiev, and in the Great Novgorod, as in other cities subordinated to him of the Russian land, they sat their deputies.

When the time came for Prince Igor's wedding, many beautiful young women were chosen to find among them a worthy princess, but none of them fell in love with the prince.

The fact that Oleg brought Olga from Pskov confirms the legend about her beauty and great mind: Oleg could not find an equal Olga in qualities among the daughters of the Kiev boyars.] , and Igor married her.

He even went to the Castle: having conquered many countries of the Greek land, he returned from this campaign with booty and glory [Igor's two campaigns against the Greeks in 941 and 944 are known; the first of them was unsuccessful.

The rest of his life he spent in peace, having peace with the bordering lands. During this time Igor had a son Sviatoslav born from the blessed Olga, later the father of the holy and equally apostolic prince Vladimir.

Taking advantage of the peace that had come after many wars, Igor began to go around the cities and regions to collect the customary tribute.

When he came to the Drevlians, he remembered that at the beginning of his reign they had withdrawn from him, and only after the war did they again submit to him: for this Igor doubled the tribute on the Drevlians, which he greatly burdened them.

When the wolf attacks the sheep, one of them can tear the whole herd apart if they don't kill him, and we, if we don't kill Igor, he will destroy us all.

And when Igor sent the tribute received from the drevlians to Kiev, and he remained with them with a small number of the druids, the drevlians considered this occasion suitable for themselves: they suddenly attacked Igor near the city of their Korosteny; they killed the druids of the prince and himself, and buried them there.

After the death of his guardian Oleg, Igor lived for thirty-two years [Killed in 945]. The news of Igor's murder, reaching Kiev, caused strong tears in Olga, who wept with her husband's son Sviatoslav; all the inhabitants of Kiev also wept.

In this way the ancients thought to increase the power of their prince. They immediately sent twenty men on ships to Olga to ask her to become the wife of their prince; and if she refused, they were ordered to force her, even if by force, to become the wife of their lord.

When Princess Olga heard of the arrival of the ambassador, she called the men of the city to her and asked them, "Do you come with good intentions, honorable guests?" "With good intentions", answered the latter. "Tell me", suggested Olga, "why have you come to us?"

The people of Idlib have sent us to you with this message: 'Do not be angry that we have killed your husband, for he is a ravening wolf, and our princes are good rulers who have spread the Idlib land.

Princess Olga, concealing her sorrow and heart-sickness for her husband, said to the ambassador with pretended joy: "I am pleased with your words, for I cannot raise my husband, and to remain a widow is not without sorrow for me: being a woman, I am not able to govern this principality as I ought, and my son is but a little boy.

Now go, rest in your ships, and in the morning I will invite you to a banquet of honour, which I will arrange for you, so that everyone will know the reason for your coming and my agreement to your proposal, and then I will go to your prince.

Let all see your nobility and my love for your prince, for which I honour you with such a great honor before my people.

And the princess Olga, in revenge for the murder of her husband, thought how to destroy them, and she ordered that night a deep pit to be dug in the courtyard of the country palace by the prince, in which was a beautiful chamber prepared for the feast.

We will not go on foot, nor ride upon horses, nor upon chariots; but as our lord has sent us in ships, so will ye carry us on your heads to your princess. And the men of Kiev laughed at their folly, and said, Our lord is dead, and our princess is after your lord; and now we are but slaves, doing as we are commanded.

When they had brought them to the court of the princes, Olga, who watched from the room, ordered them to be thrown into a deep pit prepared for this purpose.

"Oh, woe to us, we have killed Igor, and not only have we not gained anything good, but we have received an even worse death".

If you really want me to go after your prince, then send an embassy after me and more numerous and more noble than the first; let them lead me with honor to your prince; send the men as quickly as possible before the Kievans hold me back. The ancient people with great joy and haste sent to Olga fifty noble men, the chief elders of the ancient land after the prince.

When they came to Kiev, Olga ordered to prepare a bath for them and sent to them with the request: let the ambassadors after a tiring journey bathe in the bath, rest, and then come to her; they gladly went to the bath.

And Olga sent again a messenger to the princes, to tell them that she was about to marry their prince, and to prepare honey and all kinds of drink and food in the place where her husband had been slain, that when she came to them she might make before her second marriage a trizen, that is, a memorial feast after the pagan custom, and then let the marriage take place.

And when she came near to the capital of the people of Dresden, they came out to meet her in festive garments, some on foot, and some on horseback, and received her with gladness and joy.

Olga went first to her husband's grave, and there wept bitterly for him; and after she had made a heathen memorial, she commanded a great mound to be placed over the grave. And the elders said to her, "Mistress, princess, we have killed your husband because he was cruel to us like a ravenous wolf. You are as merciful as our prince, and now we will live in peace".

"I am no longer grieving for my first husband, having done what I ought to have done at his grave; the time has come to prepare with joy for the second marriage with your prince". The elders asked Olga about their first and second messengers. "They are following us by another way with all my wealth", replied the princess.

Then Olga took off her sad clothes, dressed in her princess's bright wedding garb, and at the same time showed a cheerful countenance. She ordered her men to eat, drink, and rejoice, and she ordered her men to serve the princes, eat with them, but not to get drunk. When the princes were drunk, the princess ordered her men to kill the princes with their prepared weapons, swords, knives, and spears.

So Olga, having mixed the merriment of the drevls with blood and avenged the murder of her husband, returned to Kiev.

The ancient people came out to meet them with a considerable army; coming together, both sides fought fiercely until the Kievans overcame the ancient people; and they drove the first of the last to the last.

The capital city of Korosteni, by betraying death.

And when she saw that it was difficult to take the city, the wise princess devised a device, and sent to the elders who were shut up in the city, saying, Why do ye, madmen, want to starve yourselves, and not obey me? For all the rest of your cities have obeyed me, and their inhabitants pay tribute, and live securely in their cities and their villages, tilling their fields.

And the prisoners said, We will also obey thee, lest thou shouldest avenge thyself again upon thy master. And she sent a second messenger to them, saying, I have avenged your elders and all your people several times, and now I will not avenge myself, but I will require of you tribute and obedience. And the elders agreed to give her tribute, as she desired.

And now, behold, I know your affliction from the war, and that ye cannot give me honey, or wax, or skins, or any of your goods; and I will not burden you with your tribute; but give me a small tribute of three turtledoves and three young pigeons from every house; and I will suffice you, that I may know your submission.

The elders found this day so insignificant that they even laughed at Olga's womanly intelligence, and they immediately hurried to collect three doves and sparrows from each house and sent them to her with a bow. Olga said to the men who came to her from the city: "Look, you have now obeyed me and my son, so live in peace, tomorrow I will leave your city and go home.

When she had said this, she let the men go, and all the inhabitants of the city rejoiced greatly at the words of the princess, and Olga gave the birds to her soldiers with the order that late in the evening a bundle of sulfur should be tied to every dove and sparrow, which should be lit and let all the birds fly together.

The birds flew into the city from which they had been taken, and every dove flew to its nest and every sparrow to its place, and immediately the city burned in many places, and Olga at this time gave her army the order to surround the city from all sides and begin the attack.

Thus, Korosteny was captured; many of the drevly people were killed by the sword, others with their wives and children were burned in the fire, and others drowned in the river that flowed under the city; at the same time, the prince of drevly also died. Many of the survivors were taken captive, and the rest were left by the princess in their places of residence, and she imposed a heavy tribute on them.

Thus, Princess Olga avenged the murder of her husband, subjugated the entire land of Drevly and returned to Kiev with glory and dignity.

And she was feared of the latter, and loved of her own people, as a ruler of mercy and godliness, a just judge, who wronged no one, punishing with mercy, and rewarding the good; she feared the wicked, rendering to every man according to his deeds; in all affairs of government she was farsighted and wise.

She was generous to the poor, the needy, and the needy, and she was quick to fulfill their righteous requests, even though she was a pagan.

And when he grew up, she gave him all the affairs of the household, and she withdrew herself from all talk, and devoted herself to charity.

The time has come when the Lord has chosen to enlighten the Slavs, blinded by unbelief, with the light of the holy faith and to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and to lead them to the way of salvation.

For as first He made the woman a herald of His resurrection (Matthew 28:9-10), and His holy cross, on which He was crucified, was revealed to the world from the depths of the earth by His wife, the Empress Helena [Her memory is commemorated by the church on May 21], so afterwards, in the land of Russia, He willed to plant the faith by a holy, wonderful woman, the new Helena <unk> princess Olga.

She had already seen the deception and error of pagan wickedness, and had become convinced as to the self-evident truth that idols worshipped by foolish men were not gods but soulless works of men's hands; so she not only did not worship them but also abhorred them.

As a merchant searches for a precious pearl, so Olga sought true worship with all her heart and found it as follows: According to God, she heard from some people that there is only one true God, the Creator of heaven, earth and all creation, in whom the Greeks believe; there is no other God but Him.

Olga had to pay attention to these Varangians of the new faith; on her part, the Varangians themselves, counting on the same mind of Olga, naturally had to dream of making her their proselyte.

This was to ease the burden of those who had taken it upon themselves to convince her of the truth of Christianity.

The indication that Christianity had become the faith of almost all the peoples of Europe, and in any case there was a faith of the best among them, <unk> the indication that a strong movement towards it had begun among her own relatives (varags), following the example of other peoples, could not but affect Olga's mind, making it necessary for her to conclude that the best people should also have the best faith (History of the Russian Church, t. 1, 1st half, 2nd ed., p. 75).]

Striving for true godly knowledge and not being lazy by nature, Olga wanted to go to the Greeks herself, to see with her own eyes the Christian service and fully convince herself of their teachings about the true God.

In Constantinople, Olga studied the Christian faith, daily paying diligent attention to the words of God and looking at the splendor of the religious rank and other aspects of Christian life.

And the king of Greece, who was then a widower, desired to make Olga his wife, for she was attractive to him by the beauty of her countenance, her prudence, her courage, her glory, and the vastness of the lands of Russia.

And when the emperor began to speak to Olga about marriage, she made a pretence that she did not object to the king's proposal, but first asked to be baptized, saying: I have come here for a holy baptism, not for marriage; and when I am baptized, then it is possible to speak of marriage, for it is not commanded that an unchaste and unbaptized woman should be with a believing husband.

The king began to hurry with the baptism: the patriarch, having instructed Olga enough in the truths of the holy faith, proclaimed her thus to the baptism. And when the cup for the baptism was already prepared, Olga began to ask that the king himself be her receiver from the cup: "I", she said, "will not be baptized unless the king himself is my godfather: I will leave here without baptism, <unk> you will give God an answer for my soul".

The king agreed to her wish, and Olga was baptized as a patriarch, while the king became her father, receiving her from the holy dome. Olga was named Elena, as the first Christian queen mother of Constantine the Great was named Elena.

Blessed art thou amongst women, for thou hast left the darkness to seek the true light, hated the idolatry, loved the one true God, escaped eternal death, and sworn to immortality.

So the patriarch blessed her, and many of those who came with Olga, both men and women, were also baptized, and there was joy in the palace at the baptism of Princess Olga. The king made a great feast that day, and all rejoiced, praising Christ the God.

"How can you take me, your goddaughter, to be your wife, when it is abominable and unacceptable for a father to have a daughter as his wife, not only according to Christian law but also according to pagan law?" "You have outwitted me, Olga!" cried the king.

"I have told you before", said the blessed Olga, "that I have not come here to reign with you, "that I and my son have enough power in the land of Russia, "but to preach to the immortal King, Christ God, whom I have loved with all my soul, desiring to please his eternal kingdom.

Then the king, abandoning his unattainable purpose and carnal love, loved the blessed Olga with spiritual love as his own daughter, generously endowed her and let her go in peace.

Pray to God, holy father, for me, returning to my country, where my son dwells in pagan error and all men are as hard as stone in their ancient wickedness, that the Lord may deliver me there, by your holy prayers, from all evil.

Faithful and blessed daughter of the Holy Spirit, may Christ, in whom you are clothed in holy baptism, himself save you from every evil, as he saved Noah from the flood, Lot from Sodom, Moses and Israel from Pharaoh, David from Saul, Daniel from the mouth of the three young lions from the furnace.

This blessing of the patriarch was accepted by the blessed Olga as a treasure, the most precious of the most precious gifts; along with this she also received instruction on purity and prayer, fasting and abstinence and on all good deeds proper to a God-pleasing Christian life.

And blessed Olga departed from Constantinople to her home with great joy [It is commonly believed that blessed Olga was baptized in Constantinople in 957 under Emperor Constantine Bagryanorodny, but this assumption is difficult to accept.

In this work he describes in detail how the blessed Olga was received at the court during her visit to Constantinople in 957, while the emperor does not even hint that Olga came to Constantinople for baptism and was indeed baptized.

"It seems likely that Olga after Igor's death remained unbaptized until she was the governess of the state under the minor Sviatoslav and continued to remain in the state as an official person, and that she was baptized after, having found an opportunity to lay off the official regency, withdrew, at least formally, into private life, after which the people no longer had the right to ask her for her actions".

The story of the Russian Church, t. 1, 1st half., ed. 20e, p. 78). The latter could happen only after Svyatoslav reached civil adulthood, which at that time began in any case not earlier than 10 years.

When counting from the age of 10 years old, we read that Blessed Olga was baptized between 952 (when she was ten years old) and 957.

Monk Jacob, the founder and initiator of our private historiography, who wrote at the end of Yaroslav's reign and the beginning of Izyaslav's principality, a writer worthy of trust, says in the story about the baptism of Olga and Vladimir that Olga lived in baptism for 15 years.

(969-15=954), when in Greece the emperor was Constantine Bagryanorodny (912-957), and the patriarch <unk> Feofilact (933-956). <unk> When St. Olga traveled to Constantinople in 957, the patriarch was already St. Polievkt.]

It is said that the holy cross she received from the patriarch's hand had the following inscription: "Russian land renewed for life in God by the holy baptism accepted by blessed Olga". After the death of blessed Olga, the faithful kept this cross until the days of the great prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich; the latter, having created a great and beautiful church of St. Sophia in Kiev, placed the cross on its altar, on the right side.

Now this cross no longer exists: for during the many devastations of Kiev, its holy churches were abandoned to desolation. But let us turn to the story of the blessed Olga. Returning to Kiev, the new Elena <unk> princess Olga, like the sun, began to drive away the darkness of idolatrous wickedness, enlightening the dark-hearted.

But she could by no means bring her son to true reason, to the knowledge of God: he was entirely devoted to military enterprises, he did not pay attention to the words of his mother.

<unk> If I accept the Christian faith and get baptized, then the boyars, voivodships and the whole company will withdraw from me, and I will have no one to fight with the enemies and defend our homeland.

St. Olga visited Great Novgorod and other cities, wherever possible, bringing people to the faith of Christ: she smashed idols, putting honest crosses in their place, from which many signs and wonders were done to convince pagans.

During her stay in this country, she reached the bank of the river Velika, flowing from south to north, and stopped opposite the place where the river Velika flows into the river Pskov, flowing from the east (at the time described in these places grew a large dormant forest); and here St. Olga from that bank of the river saw that from the east to the now mentioned places, illuminating them, three bright rays come down from the sky: the miraculous light from these rays was seen not only by St. Olga herself, but also by St.

And when she saw him, she was glad, and glorified God for the vision that she had seen, which shewed the grace of God upon the land.

Turning to her companions, Blessed Olga said prophetically: <unk> Let it be known to you that by the will of God, a church in the name of the Most Holy and Life-giving Trinity will be built in this place, illuminated by brilliant rays, and a great and glorious city will be created, abounding in all things.

After visiting many cities of the Russian land, the preacher of Christ returned to Kiev and here she performed good deeds for God: if in the days of paganism she did good deeds, then even more now, having been educated in the holy faith, blessed Olga adorned herself with all virtues, striving to please the newly known God, her Creator and Enlightener.

Recalling the vision on the river Pskov, she sent a lot of gold and silver to build a church in the name of the Holy Trinity; at the same time, she ordered that the place be inhabited by people: and in a short time the city of Pskov, so named from the river Pskova, grew into a great city, and the name of the Holy Trinity was glorified in it.

At this time, Prince Sviatoslav, leaving his mother and his Yaropolk children, Oleg and Vladimir, in Kiev, went to the Bulgarians [in 967 A.D.]: during the war with them he captured up to eighty cities, and he especially liked their capital city Peryaslavets [On the Danube], where he began to live.

Blessed Olga, while in Kiev, taught her grandchildren, Sviatoslav's children, the Christian faith, as far as the latter was available to their children's understanding; but she did not dare to baptize them, fearing any trouble from her son, and relied on the will of the Lord.

In the 9th century, they lived between the Volga and the Yaik (Ural); until the 60s of the 10th century, the Pechenegs did not disturb the Russians.

Russia tried to protect itself from them with fortifications and cities; this is the origin of the Zmijev valley in the present Kiev province.

The last attack of the Pechenegs on Russia (the siege of Kiev) refers to 1034, when they were completely defeated.] suddenly invaded the Kiev borders, surrounded Kiev and began the siege; St. Olga with her grandchildren locked herself in the city, which the Pechenegs could not take.

The news of the Pechenegs' invasion of Kiev reached Sviatoslav; he hurried with his army from the Bulgarian land, suddenly attacked the Pechenegs and turned them into flight; when he entered Kiev, he greeted his mother, already ill, and wanted to leave her again to go to the Bulgarian land.

For thy children are yet young, and I am now old, and in sickness; and I look forward to the departure of this world, and to the departure of my beloved Christ, in whom I believe; and I have no more anxiety for anything but for thee: and I repent that though I have taught thee many things, and persuaded thee to forsake idolatry, and to believe in the true God, which is known by me, yet thou hast neglected them; and I know that for thy disobedience unto me thou hast a poor end on earth, and after death, an everlasting torment, prepared for thee.

the pagans.

And now, please do this thing to my servant: depart not hence, until I die and be buried; then go whithersoever it is good in thy sight.

Do not do anything at my death that is required by the pagan custom in such cases; but let my priest with clerics bury my sinful body according to the Christian custom; do not dare to heap on me a mound of grave and make a mound; but go to Constantinople to the most holy patriarch, that he may make a prayer and an offering to God for my soul and distribute alms to the poor.

Upon hearing this, Sviatoslav wept bitterly and promised to fulfill all her will, refusing only to accept the holy faith.

After three days the blessed Olga fell into extreme weariness; she received the divine Mysteries of the Pure Body and the Life-giving Blood of Christ our Saviour; all the time she was in earnest prayer to God and the Most Holy Mother of God, whom she always had as her helper from God; she also called all the saints; with special earnestness she prayed for the enlightenment of the Russian land after her death; seeing the future, she repeatedly prayed in the days of her life

She prophesied that God would enlighten the people of the Russian land and many of them would be great saints.

And she was still praying when her honest soul left her body and was accepted by the hands of God as a righteous woman, so she moved from earthly to heavenly and was able to enter into the bosom of the immortal King <unk> Christ God and as the first saint from the Russian land was counted among the saints.

And she was twenty years old, and was a virgin; and she was fifteen years old when she was married, and was about ninety years old.

And her son, Prince Sviatoslav, the boyars, the nobles and all the people mourned her; the blessed Olga was buried with honor according to the Christian rite.

When the prince of Pecheneg was at a feast with his nobles, he drank from this bowl. Thus the great prince, who was brave and undefeated in battles, according to the prophecy of his mother, suffered an evil death because he did not listen to her.

Twenty years after her death, her grandson Vladimir received holy baptism and enlightened the Russian land with holy faith [Remember him July 15].

Having built a stone church in the name of the Most Holy Mother of God (called the tenth church, because Vladimir gave a tenth of his estate to maintain it) and having consulted with Leontius, the Metropolitan of Kiev, St. Vladimir took from the earth the honourable relics of his grandmother, incorruptible, incorruptible and filled with incense; he carried them with great honor to the mentioned church of the Most Holy Mother of God and did not put them down, but placed them openly for the sake of those who came to her with faith and

Many healings of various ailments were given from honest relics. [Invasion of the Mongols relics were hidden under the bottom of the church; by the 17th century.

And they're hiding again in an unknown location for no apparent reason.]

The following must not be forgotten: over the tomb of Blessed Olga in the church wall there was a window; and if one came with firm faith to the honest relics, the window would open itself, and the one standing outside would clearly see through the window the honest miraculous relics lying inside, and especially the worthy ones saw and saw some miraculous light emanating from them; and of the believers who were possessed by any disease, they were immediately healed.

But the window was not opened to the unbeliever, and he could not see the relics, even if he entered the church, but only the coffin and could not be healed.

With the wings of divine understanding, lifted your mind, you soared above the visible creatures: seeking God and the Creator of all things, and finding him, you accepted the baptism of baptism. Trees of the animal enjoy, immortal forever abiding, Olga glorious.