Wife Olga from Pleskov (Pskov?). On the basis of the news of one later chronicle, Pleskov was identified with the Bulgarian city of Pliskuva and Olga was considered the Bulgarian princess; but this assumption, although it explains many facts of ancient Russian history, cannot be considered proven.

According to the Joachim Chronicle, she belonged to the family of the Izborsk princes - one of the ancient Russian princely dynasties. They called her a Varangian name Helga, in Russian pronunciation - Olga (Volga).

Tradition calls the village of Vybuty, not far from Pskov, up the Velikaya River, Olga's homeland. The life of Saint Olga tells that here for the first time her meeting with her future husband took place. Young Prince Igor was hunting "in the Pskov region" and, wishing to cross the Velikaya River, he saw "a certain one floating in a boat" and called him to the shore. Having sailed from the coast in a boat, the prince discovered that a girl of amazing beauty was taking him. Igor was inflamed with lust for her and began to persuade her to sin. The carrier turned out to be not only beautiful, but chaste and intelligent. She embarrassed Igor by reminding him of the princely dignity of a ruler and judge, who should be a "bright example of good deeds" for his subjects. Igor parted with her, keeping in memory her words and a beautiful image. When the time came to choose a bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality were gathered in Kiev. But none of them pleased him. And then he remembered Olga, "marvelous in girls" and sent for her a relative of his prince Oleg. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the great Russian princess.

After his marriage, Igor went on a campaign against the Greeks, and returned from him as a father: his son Svyatoslav was born. Soon Igor was killed by the Drevlyans. Olga began to rule the Kiev land for her young son Svyatoslav.

Fearing revenge for the murder of the Kiev prince, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors to Princess Olga, inviting her to marry their ruler Mal. Olga pretended to agree. By cunning she lured two embassies of the Drevlyans to Kiev, putting them to painful death: the first was buried alive "in the prince's court", the second was burnt in a bathhouse. After that, five thousand Drevlyansky men were killed by Olga's soldiers at a funeral service for Igor near the walls of the Drevlyansky capital Iskorosten. The next year Olga again approached Iskorosten with an army. The city was burned with the help of birds, to whose feet a burning tow was tied. The surviving Drevlyans were captured and sold into slavery.

The chronicles are full of evidence of her tireless "walks" across the Russian land in order to build the political and economic life of the country. She achieved the strengthening of the power of the Kiev Grand Duke, centralized state administration with the help of a system of "graveyards" (administrative centers). The chronicle notes that she and her son and retinue walked through the Drevlyansky land, "establishing tributes and quitrent fees", marking villages and encampments and hunting places to be included in the Kiev grand ducal possessions. She went to Novgorod, arranging churchyards along the Msta and Luga rivers. “She (hunting grounds) were all over the land, signs, her places and churchyards,” the chronicler writes, “and her sleigh stands in Pskov to this day, there are places she indicated for catching birds along the Dnieper and along the Desna; and her village Olgichi still exists today. " Pogosts (from the word "guest" - merchant) became the mainstay of the grand ducal power, centers of ethnic and cultural unification of the Russian people.

The Life tells the following about Olga's works:

“And Princess Olga ruled the regions of the Russian land subject to her not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in her hands and bravely defending herself from enemies. And she was terrible for the latter. She is loved by her people, as a merciful and pious ruler, as a righteous judge and not offending anyone, imposing punishment with mercy, and rewarding the good; she instilled fear in all evil, rewarding each in proportion to the dignity of his actions, but in all matters of government she showed foresight and wisdom. At the same time Olga, merciful by heart, was generous to the poor, the poor and the poor; fair requests soon reached her heart, and she quickly fulfilled them ... With all this, Olga combined a temperate and chaste life, she did not want to remarry, but was in pure widowhood, observing her son's princely power until the days of his age. When the latter matured, she handed over to him all the affairs of the government, and she herself, having withdrawn from rumor and care, lived outside the worries of government, indulging in matters of goodness. "

Russia grew and became stronger. Cities were built, surrounded by stone and oak walls. The princess herself lived behind the reliable walls of Vyshgorod, surrounded by a faithful squad. Two-thirds of the collected tribute, according to the chronicle, she gave at the disposal of the Kiev veche, the third part went “to Olga, to Vyshgorod” - to the military building. The establishment of the first state borders of Kievan Rus dates back to the time of Olga. The heroic outposts, sung in epics, guarded the peaceful life of the Kievites from the nomads of the Great Steppe, from attacks from the West. Foreigners rushed to Gardarik("The country of cities"), as they called Russia, with goods. Scandinavians, Germans willingly joined the Russian army as mercenaries. Russia was becoming a great power.

The pagan reaction manifested itself so strongly that not only German missionaries suffered, but also some of the Kiev Christians who were baptized with Olga. By order of Svyatoslav, Olga's nephew Gleb was killed and some of the temples she built were destroyed. Saint Olga had to come to terms with what had happened and go into matters of personal piety, leaving control to the pagan Svyatoslav. Of course, she was still reckoned with, her experience and wisdom were invariably referred to on all important occasions. When Svyatoslav was absent from Kiev, the administration of the state was entrusted to Saint Olga. The glorious military victories of the Russian army were consolation for her. Svyatoslav defeated the long-standing enemy of the Russian state - the Khazar Kaganate, forever crushing the power of the Jewish rulers of the Azov region and the lower Volga region. The next blow was dealt to the Volga Bulgaria, then the turn of the Danube Bulgaria came - eighty cities were taken by the Kiev warriors along the Danube. Svyatoslav and his soldiers personified the heroic spirit of pagan Rus. The chronicles have preserved the words of Svyatoslav, surrounded with his retinue by a huge Greek army: “We will not disgrace the Russian land, but we will lay our bones here! The dead have no shame! " Svyatoslav dreamed of creating a huge Russian state from the Danube to the Volga, which would unite Russia and other Slavic peoples. Saint Olga understood that with all the courage and courage of the Russian squads, they could not cope with the ancient empire of the Romans, which would not allow the strengthening of pagan Rus. But the son did not listen to his mother's warnings.

The son finally moved to Pereyaslavets-on-Danube. While in Kiev, she taught her grandchildren, the children of Svyatoslav, the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize them, fearing the anger of her son. In addition, he obstructed her attempts to establish Christianity in Russia. In recent years, amid the triumph of paganism, she had to secretly keep a priest with her, so as not to cause a new outbreak of anti-Christian sentiments.

Prayer Words

Troparion, voice 1

The Krilami of the Divine Mind, having perfected your mind, / flew over the visible creature, / having sought God and the Creator of all, / and, having inferior, baptized, having baptized;

In troparion, voice 8

In you, God-wise Helen, / is known for salvation, there is an image in the Russian country, / as if you received the blessing of the Holy Baptism, / afterwards I did Christ, / do the same, share the souls and rejoice, rejoice the same and with Angela rejoices, // Equal to the apostles, your spirit.

In troparion, voice 4

Having left the idol flakes, / afterwards to Thou Christ, the Immortal Bridegroom, / Olgo Bogomadraya, / in His devil rejoicing, continually praying // for those who honor the faith and love of your holy.

In troparion, jellinsky, voice 3

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Christ's chosen one, / Princess Olgo, / your people with the verbal and pure milk of Christ gave to drink, / I prayed to the Merciful God, / let sin be left to our souls.

Kontakion, voice 4

Let us commemorate this day, the Benefactor of all God, / glorified in Russia Olga God, God, / let her prayers / give our souls forgiveness of sin.

Ying kondak, voice 4

Appearing day to thank all God, / glorified in Russia Olga Bogomadru, / with her prayers, Lord, // people give sin for abandonment.

Exaltation

We magnify thee, / blessed and equal to the apostles Princess Olgo, / and we honor your holy memory, / who trampled on the idols / and enlightened many people of Russia with holy Baptism.

Ino dignity

We magnify thee, / Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olgo, / as the morning dawn in our earth that has risen / and the light of Orthodox faith / foretold her people.

Literature

• About Olga's origin
• arch. Leonid, "Where did the Holy Grand Duchess of Russia Olga come from?" ("Russ. Old Man", 1888, book 7)
• I. I. Malyshevsky, "The origin of the Russian Grand Duchess Olga St." ("Kievskaya Starina", 1889, 7 and 8, etc.).
• Lives of St. Olga:
• intermediate (see "Readings in the historical community. Nestor years.", II, and Macarius, "History of the Russian Church"),
• in Cheti-Minea Macarius and in the Book of Degrees,
• in processing - at Filaret, "Russian Saints", under 11 July.

All prayers to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga (Elena)

Commemoration: July 11/24

Princess Olga, in baptism Elena is called "the head of the faith" and "the root of Orthodoxy" in the Russian land. Patroness of sovereign people. They pray to her for children, for their upbringing in faith and piety, for the admonition of unbelieving children and relatives, or those who have fallen into sects.

***

Troparion to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga, Tone 1

Having gripped your mind with the krilami of God, you flew above the visible creatures, seeking God and the Creator of all, and having found Him, you received birth by Baptism, you, enjoying the animal tree, imperishable forever, Olga the ever-glorious.

Kondak Equal to the Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga, Tone 4

Let us sing this day to the Benefactor of all God, who glorified Olga in Russia, God-wise, and through her prayers she will give our souls forgiveness of sins.

First Prayer to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga

O Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, accept praise from us, unworthy servant of God ( names), before your honest icon praying and humbly asking: protect us with your prayers and intercession from misfortunes and troubles, and sorrows, and fierce sins; also save you from future torments, honestly creating your holy memory and glorifying the glorified God, glorified in the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever

Second Prayer to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga

O great saint of God, chosen and glorified by God, Equal to the Apostles Grand Duchess Olga! You rejected Thou pagan wickedness and wickedness, Thou hast believed in the One True Trinitarian God, and Thou hast received holy baptism and laid the foundation for the enlightenment of the Russian land with the light of faith and piety. You are our spiritual ancestor, you, according to Christ our Savior, are the first to blame for the enlightenment and salvation of our race. You are a warm prayer book and intercessor about the kingdom of all Russia, about its kings, the governors of the people, the army and about all people. For this reason, we humbly pray to thee: look upon our weakness and beg the merciful King of Heaven, may he not be angry with us, as through our weakness we sin all the days, may he not destroy us with our iniquities, but may he have mercy and save us by His mercy, let His saving fear instill in our hearts, let our mind enlighten with His grace, let us understand the ways of the Lord, leave the paths of wickedness and error, strive in the paths of salvation and truth, the unswerving fulfillment of the commandments of God and the statutes of the Holy Church. Pray, blessed Olga, God's Man-lover, may he add His great mercy to us: may he save us from the invasion of aliens, from internal disorders, rebellions and strife, from hunger, deadly diseases and from all evil; let the goodness of the air and the fruitfulness of the earth give us, let the shepherd give zeal for the salvation of the flock, let all people hasten to correct their service diligently, have love among themselves and like-mindedness, for the good of the Fatherland and the Holy Church, faithfully fight for the good of the Fatherland and the Holy Church, let the light of saving faith in Our homeland, in all its ends; may they turn to the unbelieving faith, may all heresies and schisms be abolished; so, having lived in peace on earth, let us be vouchsafed with you eternal bliss in heaven, praising and exalting God forever and ever. Amen.

Third Prayer to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess of Russia Olga

About the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, the first pleasing of Russia, warm intercessor and prayer book for us before God. We run to you with faith and pray with love: wake us in everything for the good of a helper and a helper, and, as in our temporary life, you tried to enlighten our forefathers with the light of holy faith and instruct me to do the will of the Lord, so it is now, staying in heavenly lordship, favorable with your prayers to God, help us in enlightening our minds and hearts with the light of the Gospel of Christ, so that we flourish in faith, piety and the love of Christ. In poverty and sorrow of the present consolation, give the needy a helping hand, the offended and assaulted intercession, delusions from the right faith and blinded by heresies with reason, and ask us from the All-Blessed God all that is good and useful in temporal and eternal life, so that we will be pleased with the inheritance here. eternal blessings in the endless Kingdom of Christ our God, all glory, honor and worship befitting Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit always, now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.

Orthodox Christians celebrate the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga (in the baptism of Helena) on July 24 according to the new style (July 11 according to the old style).

When the Grand Duchess Olga ruled

The years of life of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga: 890-969. The Grand Duchess ascended the throne of the Old Russian state after the death of her husband, the Grand Duke of Kiev Igor Rurikovich. She ruled for seventeen years - from 945 to 962. Olga had a son - Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich.

The origin of the Grand Duchess Olga

We read about Grand Duchess Olga in The Tale of Bygone Years. The Grand Duke of Kiev Igor Rurikovich took a bride from Pskov as his wife. She came from the clan of Izborsk princes. It was one of the forgotten ancient Russian princely dynasties. The chronicle writes: "And they brought him a wife from Pskov, named Olga." Olga was of Varangian origin, and her name sounded in the Varangian manner - Helga. The Russian people converted him into Olga, or Volga.

The reign of Grand Duchess Olga before the adoption of Christianity

At the beginning of her reign, Olga became famous as a tough, even cruel ruler. Her first act was revenge on the Drevlyans who killed her husband, the Grand Duke of Kiev Igor. Olga's troops mercilessly burned, chopped down the Drevlyans, and even buried them alive.

The Grand Duchess Olga went down in history as one of the founders of Russian statehood. She traveled around the Russian lands, suppressed the revolts of small local princes, centralized state administration with the help of the "graveyard" system. Pogosty - financial, administrative and judicial centers - were a strong support of the princely power in the lands remote from Kiev.

After the adoption of holy Baptism, Olga gave orders to build churches in the churchyards. Already under Saint Vladimir, the churchyard and the temple were perceived as a single whole. Now "graveyard" means "cemetery", but this is a later meaning of the word.

Thanks to the Grand Duchess, the defensive power of Russia increased significantly. Under her, strong walls rose up around the cities; By the time of her reign, historians attribute the establishment of the first state borders of Russia - in the west, with Poland.

Kiev during the time of the Grand Duchess was a center of attraction for foreign merchants; grew at the expense of stone buildings, sometimes very skillful, such as Olga's city palace. Archaeologists found its foundation and the remains of the walls in the 70s of the XX century.

Baptism of Grand Duchess Olga

Grand Duchess Olga became the first ruler of Kievan Rus to accept the Christian faith. Interestingly, after her baptism, the princely squad and the entire people remained pagans. Even the son of the future saint, the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav Igorevich, was not a Christian.

As the "Tale of Bygone Years" says, Olga was baptized in 957 in the capital of Byzantium - Constantinople. She went there, entrusting Kiev to her son Svyatoslav, who by that time had grown up and could run the state. In Constantinople, Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople baptized the Russian princess personally: “And she was named in baptism by the name Helen, as well as the ancient queen mother of Emperor Constantine I”. The patriarch admonished Olga with the words: “Blessed are you in the wives of the Russians, for you left the darkness and loved the Light. Russian people will bless you in all future generations, from grandchildren and great-grandchildren to your most distant descendants. "

There are other versions of who, when and under what political circumstances baptized the Grand Duchess Olga. One thing is certain - it happened in the capital of Byzantium. The ruler returned to Kiev already a Christian.

Death, veneration and glorification of the Grand Duchess Olga

After Holy Baptism, Olga lived a little over ten years. She died in 969 and was buried according to the Christian rite. The grandson of the Grand Duchess - Saint Vladimir Equal to the Apostles, the baptist of the Russian land, transferred her relics to the famous Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, the first stone church of the Old Russian state

At the same time, during the reign of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, Olga began to be venerated as a saint. The Day of Remembrance of St. Olga (in the baptism of Helen) was celebrated on July 11 (July 24 in the new style).

In 1547, the Grand Duchess was ranked among the Equal-to-the-Apostles saints.

Iconography of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga

The iconography of the Grand Duchess Olga is traditional for all Equal-to-the-Apostles saints. Equal to the apostles are those saints who served the Lord, enlightening people with the light of Christ. For example (if we are talking about holy princes and kings), they converted to Christianity the citizens of the country in which they reigned. These saints are likened to the apostles - for spreading the Gospel. This is Saint Mary Magdalene; and Emperor Constantine and his mother, Queen Helena; and Prince Vladimir, who baptized Rus; and Saint Nina, the enlightener of Georgia; and the Grand Duchess Olga.

Equal to the Apostles Olga is traditionally depicted standing on icons. In her right hand is a cross, a symbol of Christ's sermon, which was conducted by all the Equal-to-the-Apostles saints. In his left hand is a symbolic image of the temple.

Another traditional image of St. Olga is together with the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

Prayer of the widow for protection, for help, for illumination and softening of offenders, compiled by the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga

O merciful Lord my God Jesus Christ, kiss my soul to you, and your right hand is pleasing to me: incline your ear to me and hear my prayer. And let me find the way, and I will get to please You: I long for the source of salvation.

Wake me helper and do not leave me. God to my Savior, as my Father and my mother have left me, and my spouse is deprived of life; from him they hugged one son, and that one is rebellious and unfaithful, so also people are unfaithful. You, Lord, alone have called me to hope.

But I, Lord, in Thy mercy, trusting and in the abyss of Thy compassion, I lay my soul hope and, running to You, I pray: teach me to do Thy will and save me from this obstinate generation, a multitude of unfaithful people. If they have misled the essence of Your grace, but You, O Lord, for Your humanity's sake, do not despise them, but visit and call into your mind, and bring your knowledge. Even from the old days you have appropriated Thy property, so, Lord, and this people who are sick with unbelief, heal with trust and, turning to Himself, invitees, and even those, once Your enlightenment, will glorify Thy name, the Most Holy Father and the Son and the Holy One. Spirit for generations, and for generations, and forever.

Prayers to Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga

1.

O Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga, the first pleasing Russian, warm intercessor and prayer book for us before God. We run to you with faith and pray with love: wake us in everything for the good of a helper and a henchman and, as in our temporary life you tried to enlighten our forefathers with the light of holy faith and instruct me to do the will of the Lord, so it is now, staying in heavenly lordship, favorable with your prayers to God, help us in enlightening our minds and hearts with the light of the Gospel of Christ, so that we flourish in faith, piety and the love of Christ. In poverty and sorrow of the present comfort, give the needy a helping hand, offend and assailed to intercede, delusions from the right faith and blinded by heresies with reason, and ask us from the all-generous God all that is good and useful in a temporal and eternal life, so that we will be pleased with the inheritance here. eternal blessings in the endless Kingdom of Christ our God, all glory, honor and worship befitting Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit always, now and ever, and forever and ever. Amen.

2.

O Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, accept praise from us, unworthy servant of God (names), before your honest icon praying and humbly asking: protect us with your prayers and intercession from misfortunes and troubles, and sorrows, and cruel sins; also save you from future torments, honestly creating your holy memory and glorifying the glorified God, in the Holy Trinity glorified, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever.

3.

O great saint of God, chosen and glorified by God, Equal to the Apostles Grand Duchess Olga! Thou hast rejected thou wickedness and pagan wickedness, thou hast believed in the One True Trinitarian God, and thou hast received holy baptism and laid the foundation for the enlightenment of the Russian land with the light of faith and piety. You are our spiritual ancestor, you, according to Christ our Savior, are the first to blame for the enlightenment and salvation of our race. You are a warm prayer book and intercessor about the kingdom of all Russia, about its kings, the governors of the people, the army and about all people. For this reason, we humbly pray to thee: look upon our weakness and beg the merciful King of Heaven, may he not be angry with us, as through our weakness we sin all the days, may he not destroy us with our iniquities, but may he have mercy and save us by His mercy, let our saving fear instill in our hearts, let our mind enlighten with His grace, let us understand the ways of the Lord, leave the paths of wickedness and error, strive in the paths of salvation and truth, the unswerving fulfillment of the commandments of God and the statutes of the Holy Church. Pray, blessed Olga, God's Man-lover, may he add His great mercy to us: may he save us from the invasion of aliens, from internal disorders, rebellions and strife, from hunger, deadly diseases and from all evil; let the goodness of the air and the fruitfulness of the earth give us, let the pastor give zeal for the salvation of the flock, let all people hasten to correct their service diligently, have love among themselves and like-mindedness, for the good of the Fatherland and the Holy Church, to work faithfully for the good of the Fatherland and the Holy Church, let the light of saving faith in Our homeland, in all its ends; may they turn to the unbelieving faith, may all heresies and schisms be abolished; so, having lived in peace on earth, let us be vouchsafed with you eternal bliss in heaven, praising and exalting God forever and ever. Amen.

The exaltation of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, in holy baptism to Elena

We magnify thee, Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, as if the morning dawn has shone in our land, and the light of the Orthodox faith has foretold to its people.

Troparion to Saint Olga Equal to the Apostles, in holy baptism to Helen

Having gripped your mind with the Krilami of Godmind, you flew above the visible creature, seeking God and the Creator of all, and having found Him, you received birth by baptism: enjoying the animal tree, imperishable forever, Olga the glorious.

Church in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga in the Mikhailovsky estate

The temple in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga is located in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, in the Mikhailovskaya estate, not far from Strelna.

Historically, the estate was the property of Grand Duke Mikhail, the youngest son of Nicholas I. It was a whole complex of buildings with a house church in the center. At the request of the prince, it was consecrated in honor of the patron saint of his wife - Olga Feodorovna, nee Cecilia-Augusta, Princess of Baden. By tradition, the patronymic Feodorovna was given to all German princesses who converted to Orthodoxy - in honor of the Feodorov Icon of the Mother of God.

The Russian-style church was designed by the St. Petersburg architect David Grimm in 1864. An open gallery surrounded by eighteen columns adjoined the temple on three sides. The church was crowned with a dome of red copper. Unfortunately, the painting of the walls has not survived to this day.

The last owner of the Mikhailovsky estate, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov, was shot in 1918 together with the Holy Monk Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. It happened in Alapaevsk, in an old abandoned mine - it was there that the executioners threw the bodies of the martyrs.

During the Soviet years, manor buildings were used for a variety of needs. Since 1918, the church belonged to the Krasnye Zori orphanage, where seeds were stored. During the Great Patriotic War, Mikhailovka was occupied - a German hospital was located in the buildings of the estate. After the victory, the church became a grocery store. In 1968, it was badly damaged by a fire, then destroyed from year to year. By the 90s, only walls with door and window openings remained from the once majestic temple.

The revival of the church in the name of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga in the Mikhailovskaya estate began in 1998. The first Liturgy after many years of oblivion was served here in 2002.

The current address of the temple: St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg highway, 109, bldg. five.

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

The Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga is for women. In 1988 it was founded by His Holiness Patriarch Pimen and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church - in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus. If we count in terms of the time of establishment, this order is the third in the Russian Church.

The Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga is awarded to abbesses of monasteries and secular women who in one way or another serve the Church and the cause of Christian enlightenment.

Monument to Grand Duchess Olga in Kiev

There are several monuments to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga. One of the most famous is in Kiev, on the old Mikhailovskaya Square. This is a whole sculptural composition. In the center - Princess Olga, on the right side of her - the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, on the left - Saints Cyril and Methodius, enlighteners of the Slavic people.

The monument was opened more than a hundred years ago - in 1911. The sculptural composition was an element of a large project "Historical Way" - monuments were erected throughout Ukraine in honor of the first Russian princes. As conceived by the authors, the monuments were supposed to form a kind of alley from Sofiyskaya to Mikhailovskaya Square. Nicholas II gave the go-ahead for the creation of this alley and allocated 10,000 rubles for the construction.

The city authorities organized a competition for a monument to Grand Duchess Olga. The work of the sculptor F.P. Balavensky, but after long disputes the jury chose other authors for the monument - sculptors I.P. Kavaleridze, with F.P. Balavensky, P.V. Snitkin and V.N. Rykov. The composition was made of concrete, which was fashionable in those years. Plates were installed on the pedestal: "This is the first to enter the Kingdom of Heaven from Russia, this is what the sons of Russia are praising as a boss" and "The gift of the Sovereign Emperor to the city of Kiev."

It is interesting that the grand celebrations on the occasion of the opening of the monument did not work: in one of the Kiev hospitals in those days the great Pyotr Stolypin was dying.

In the Soviet years, the monument to St. Olga suffered a sad fate. In 1919, the statue was thrown from the pedestal and broken into two parts. The side sculptures were boarded up with boards. Instead of Princess Olga, a bust of the writer Taras Shevchenko was installed. In the 1920s, the sculptural composition was completely dismantled, and a square was laid out in its place.

In 1996, excavations were carried out in the park - archaeologists found some parts of the broken figure of the Grand Duchess Olga. Pieces of the old monument were fastened and placed in the Ivan Kavaleridze sculpture park on Andreevsky Spusk. And the composition on Mikhailovskaya Square was carefully recreated. The students of the first author of the monument, Ivan Kavaleridze, worked on the reconstruction.

Troparion, St. Equalap. led. book Olga, voice 1:
Having gripped your mind with the krilami of God, you flew above the visible creature, seeking God and the Creator of all, and having found Him, you received birth by Baptism, you, enjoying the animal tree, imperishable forever, Olga, glorious.
Kontakion, voice 4:
Let us sing this day to the Benefactor of all God, who glorified Olga in Russia, God-wise, and through her prayers she will give our souls forgiveness of sins.

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga became the spiritual mother of the Russian people, through her began their enlightenment with the light of Christ's faith.
The depth of the great and holy sacrament of baptism is immeasurable! It is the first in a series of sacraments established by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and kept by the Church. Through him lies the path to eternal life in grace-filled union with God.
The establishment of Christianity in Russia during the reign of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir (Comm. 15/28 July) was preceded by the reign of the Grand Duchess Olga, who in ancient times was called the root of Orthodoxy. Blessed Olga appeared like the dawn before the bright day of holy faith in Christ - the Sun of Truth, shone like the moon in the darkness of the night, that is, in the darkness of idolatry that encircled the Russian land. During her reign in Russia, the seeds of the faith of Christ were successfully planted. According to the chronicler, St. Olga, Equal to the Apostles, "in the whole of Russia of the earth, was the first ruiner of idols and the foundation of orthodoxy."
Princess Olga, glorified by her wise rule in the days of paganism and even more by her conversion to Christianity, which she pointed out to her great grandson, has become from time immemorial an object of popular love. Many legends about her, pagan and Christian, have survived, each of them is imbued with the spirit of its faith, and therefore it should not be surprising if paganism, thinking to glorify its princess, depicted with vivid features what seemed to him the first virtue - revenge for his spouse. More gratifying are the legends about the first days of her youth, which breathe the freshness of the pure customs of the Slavs - this is the first appearance of St. Olga in her high career.
Tradition calls the village of Vybuty, not far from Pskov, up the Velikaya River, Olga's homeland.
The life of Saint Olga tells that here for the first time her meeting with her future husband took place.
The young prince was hunting "in the Pskov region" and, wishing to cross the Velikaya River, he saw "a certain one floating in a boat" and called him to the shore. Having sailed from the coast in a boat, the prince discovered that a girl of amazing beauty was taking him. Igor was inflamed with lust for her and began to persuade her to sin. The carrier turned out to be not only beautiful, but chaste and intelligent. She embarrassed Igor by reminding him of the princely dignity of a ruler and judge, who should be a "bright example of good deeds" for his subjects.
Igor parted with her, keeping words and a beautiful image in his memory. When the time came to choose a bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality were gathered in Kiev. But none of them pleased him. And then he remembered Olga and sent for her a relative of his prince Oleg. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the great Russian princess. After marriage, Igor went on a campaign against the Greeks, and returned from him as a father: his son Svyatoslav was born. Soon Igor was killed by the Drevlyans. Fearing revenge for the murder of the Kiev prince, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors to Princess Olga, inviting her to marry their ruler Mal. Olga pretended to agree. By cunning she lured two embassies of the Drevlyans to Kiev, putting them to painful death: the first was buried alive "in the prince's court", the second was burnt in a bathhouse. After that, five thousand Drevlyansky men were killed by Olga's soldiers at a funeral service for Igor near the walls of the Drevlyansky capital Iskorosten.

The next year Olga again approached Iskorosten with an army. The city was burned with the help of birds, to whose feet a burning tow was tied.

The surviving Drevlyans were captured and sold into slavery. She achieved the strengthening of the power of the Kiev Grand Duke, centralized state administration with the help of a system of "graveyards".
As a wise ruler, Olga saw on the example of the Byzantine Empire that it was not enough to worry only about state and economic life. It was necessary to start organizing the religious, spiritual life of the people. Having made her choice, the Grand Duchess Olga, entrusting Kiev to her grown son, sets off with a large fleet to Constantinople ...

In Constantinople, Olga decides to become a Christian. The sacrament of Baptism was performed on her by Patriarch Theophylact of Constantinople.

Olga returned to Kiev with icons, liturgical books - her apostolic ministry began. She erected a church in the name of St. Nicholas over the grave of Askold - the first Christian prince of Kiev and converted many Kievites to Christ. With the preaching of faith, the princess set off to the north. In the Kiev and Pskov lands, in distant lands, at crossroads, she erected crosses, destroying pagan idols.
Saint Olga laid the foundation for a special veneration of the Most Holy Trinity in Russia. The temple, built by Olga, burned down in 1017, and in its place Yaroslav the Wise erected the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Irina, and the relics of St. Sophia Olga's temple were transferred to the still standing stone church of St. Sophia of Kiev, founded in 1017 and consecrated around 1030.

In the Prologue of the XIII century about Olga's cross it is said: "That one now stands in Kiev in St. Sophia in the altar on the right side."
After the conquest of Kiev by the Lithuanians, the Holguin cross was stolen from the St. Sophia Cathedral and taken by the Catholics to Lublin. His further fate is unknown to us.
The zealots of pagan antiquity raised their heads more and more boldly, looking with hope at the growing Svyatoslav, who resolutely rejected his mother's persuasions to accept Christianity. The Tale of Bygone Years tells about it this way: “Olga lived with her son Svyatoslav, and her mother persuaded him to be baptized, but he neglected it and plugged his ears; however, if anyone wanted to be baptized, he did not forbid him, nor mocked him ...
Olga often said: “My son, I have come to know God and I rejoice; here you too, if you learn, you will also begin to rejoice. " He, not listening to this, said: “How can I want to change my faith alone? My vigilantes will laugh at this! " She told him: "If you are baptized, everyone will do the same."
He, not listening to his mother, lived according to pagan customs, not knowing that if someone does not listen to his mother, he will get into trouble, as it is said: "If someone does not listen to his father or mother, then he will die." angry with his mother ... But Olga loved her son Svyatoslav when she said: “Let the will of God be done. If God wants to have mercy on my descendants and the Russian land, let him command their hearts to turn to God, as it was given to me. ”And saying this, she prayed for her son and for his people all day and night, taking care of her son until he matures.
Saint Olga had to endure many sorrows at the end of her life. While in Kiev, she taught her grandchildren, the children of Svyatoslav, the Christian faith, but did not dare to baptize them, fearing the anger of her son. In addition, he obstructed her attempts to establish Christianity in Russia.
In recent years, amid the triumph of paganism, she, once the revered mistress of the state, who was baptized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in the capital of Orthodoxy, had to secretly keep a priest with her so as not to cause a new outbreak of anti-Christian sentiments.
In the spring of 969 Kiev was besieged by the Pechenegs: “and it was impossible to bring the horse out to drink, the Pechenegs were standing on the Lybed”. The Russian army was far away on the Danube. Having sent messengers to her son, Saint Olga herself led the defense of the capital. Svyatoslav, having received the news, soon galloped to Kiev, "greeted his mother and children and lamented what happened to them from the Pechenegs." But, having defeated the nomads, the militant prince again began to tell his mother: “I don’t like to sit in Kiev, I want to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube - there is the middle of my land”. Svyatoslav dreamed of creating a huge Russian state from the Danube to the Volga, which would unite Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Black Sea region and the Azov region and extend its borders to Constantinople itself. Wise Olga understood that with all the courage and courage of the Russian squads, they could not cope with the ancient empire of the Romans, Svyatoslav was in for a failure. But the son did not listen to his mother's warnings. Blessed Olga with tears told him: “Why are you leaving me, my son, and where are you going? Looking for a stranger, to whom do you entrust yours? After all, your children are still small, and I am already old and sick. I expect an imminent death - a departure to the beloved Christ, in whom I believe. Now I am not worried about anything, but only about you: I regret that although I taught you a lot and persuaded you to leave the idolatrous wickedness, to believe in the True God, known by me, and you neglected it. And I know that for your disobedience to me, a bad end awaits you on earth, and after death - eternal torment prepared for the pagans. Fulfill now at least this last request of mine: do not go anywhere until I am dead and buried, and then go wherever you want. After my death, do not do anything that is required in such cases by pagan custom; but let my presbyter with the clergy bury my sinful body according to the Christian custom: do not dare to pour a grave mound over me and do feasts, but send gold to Constantinople to the Most Holy Patriarch, so that he would make a prayer and an offering to God for my soul and give alms to the poor. " Hearing this, Svyatoslav wept bitterly and promised to fulfill everything she bequeathed, refusing only to accept the holy faith.
After three days, St. Princess Olga fell into extreme exhaustion. Having partaken of the Divine Mysteries of the Most Pure Body and the Life-giving Blood of Christ our Savior, she was all the time in fervent prayer to God and to the Most Pure Mother of God, Who, according to God, had always been a Helper, and called all the saints. Blessed Olga prayed with special zeal for the enlightenment of the Russian land after her death: looking into the future, she repeatedly prophetically predicted in her life that God would enlighten the people of the Russian land and many of them would be great saints; Saint Olga prayed for the speedy fulfillment of this prophecy at her death. And another prayer was on her lips when her honest soul was released from the body, - “and having lived like this and glorified God in the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, rest in the blazi faith, ending your life in peace in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. " So she moved from earthly to heavenly and was vouchsafed to enter the palace of the Immortal Tsar - Christ God, and as the first saint from the Russian land was numbered among the saints.
St. Equal to the Apostles Olga, in holy baptism Elena, on the 11th day of July 969, all the years of her life were about ninety. "And her son and her grandchildren and all the people wept for her with great lamentation."

After the repose of Saint Olga, her prophecy about the evil death of her son and about the good enlightenment of the Russian land came true. The remarkable commander Svyatoslav (as the chronicler reports) was killed not in a glorious campaign, but in an insidious ambush of the Pechenegs in 972. The Pechenezh prince cut off Svyatoslav's head and made himself a cup from the skull, bound it with gold and wrote the following: "He who owns a stranger destroys his own." During a feast with his nobles, the prince drank from this cup. So the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich, brave and hitherto invincible in battles, according to the prediction of his mother, suffered an evil end because he did not listen to her. The prophecy of Blessed Olga and about the Russian land was fulfilled. Nineteen years after her death, her grandson Prince. Vladimir (Comm. 15/28 July) received holy baptism and enlightened the Russian land with holy faith.
God glorified the holy toiler of Orthodoxy, the "head of the faith" in the Russian land with miracles and incorruptible relics. Jacob Mnich (+ 1072), 100 years after her death, wrote in his "Memory and Praise to Vladimir": "God glorify the body of His servant Helen, and her body is honest in the grave, and remains indestructible to this day. Blessed Princess Olga glorified God with all her good deeds, and God glorified her. " Under the holy prince Vladimir, according to some sources, in 1007 the relics of Saint Olga were transferred to the Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, because for the maintenance of his prince. Vladimir gave a tenth of his estates, and were placed in a special sarcophagus, in which it was customary to lay the relics of saints in the Orthodox East. “And sometimes you hear a miracle about her: the tomb of stones is small in the Church of the Holy Mother of God, that church was created by the blessed prince Vladimir, and there is the coffin of blessed Olga. And on the top of the coffin a little window was created - so you see the body of blessed Olga lying intact. " But not everyone saw the miracle of the incorruptible relics of the Equal-to-the-Apostles princess: “He comes in faith, the window opens, and sees an honest body lying whole, as if sleeping, resting. And to others who do not come with faith, the little window of the grave will not be opened, and does not see the body of that honest one, but only the coffin. " So in her death, Saint Olga preached eternal life and resurrection, filling the faithful with joy and admonishing the unbelievers. She was, in the words of the Monk Nestor the Chronicler, "the forerunner of the Christian land, like the day before the sun and like the dawn before the light."

The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, offering his thanks to God on the day of the Baptism of Rus, testified on behalf of his contemporaries about the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga with significant words: "Bless thee, the son of Rustia ..." In the words of the Monk Nestor: "Rejoice, Russian knowledge of God, the beginning of our reconciliation with Him."

Materials from the book "Russian Saints" were used.

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS!
With the blessing of His Grace Maxim, Bishop of Eletsk and Lebedyansk, the sister of the Sezenovsk Ioanno-Kazan Convent, information is being collected about the miraculous help through the prayers of St. John, Sezenovsky's recluse. We turn to the request - whoever received grace-filled help in a prayer appeal to the monk, inform the sisters of our monastery about this, this can be done by writing to us by e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

History of the monastery

The founder of the monastery, located in the village. Sezenovo, Lebedyansky district, Lipetsk region, on the right high bank of the Skvirnya river, 12 km. from the city of Lebedyan, one should consider the hermit John, who received the name of Sezenovsky at the place of his spiritual exploits. Then the God-loving who settled near the reclusive cell ...

July 24(July 11, Old Style) The Church honors memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, baptized Helena... Saint Princess Olga ruled the Old Russian state from 945 to 960 as regent under her young son Svyatoslav, after the death of her husband, Prince of Kiev Igor Rurikovich. Olga was the first of the rulers of Russia to adopt Christianity. They pray to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga for the strengthening of the Christian faith and for the deliverance of the state from enemies. Saint Olga is also revered as the patroness of widows.

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

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

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

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

Igor's wife was called by the Varangian name Helga, in Russian pronunciation Olga (Volga). Tradition calls the village of Vybuty, not far from Pskov, up the Velikaya River, Olga's homeland. The life of Saint Olga tells that here for the first time her meeting with her future husband took place. The young prince was hunting in the Pskov land and, wishing to cross the Velikaya River, he saw "a certain one floating in a boat" and called him to the shore. Having sailed from the coast in a boat, the prince discovered that a girl of amazing beauty was taking him. Igor was inflamed with lust for her and began to persuade her to sin. Olga turned out to be not only beautiful, but chaste and intelligent. She put Igor to shame, reminding him of the princely dignity of the ruler:

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

Igor parted with her, keeping in memory her words and a beautiful image. When the time came to choose a bride, the most beautiful girls of the principality were gathered in Kiev. But none of them pleased him. And then he remembered Olga and sent Prince Oleg for her. So Olga became the wife of Prince Igor, the great Russian princess.

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

Along with this, the annals are full of evidence of her tireless "walks" across the Russian land in order to build the political and economic life of the country. She achieved the strengthening of the power of the Kiev Grand Duke, centralized state administration with the help of a system of "graveyards". The chronicle notes that she and her son and retinue walked along the Drevlyansky land, establishing tributes and dues, marking villages and encampments and hunting places to be included in the Kiev grand ducal possessions. She went to Novgorod, arranging churchyards along the Msta and Luga rivers. The Life tells the following about Olga's works:

And Princess Olga ruled the regions of the Russian land subject to her not as a woman, but as a strong and reasonable husband, firmly holding power in her hands and bravely defending herself from enemies. And she was terrible for the latter, loved by her own people, as a merciful and pious ruler, as a righteous judge and not offending anyone, imposing punishment with mercy and rewarding the good; she instilled fear in all the evil, rewarding each in proportion to the dignity of his actions; in all matters of government, she showed foresight and wisdom. At the same time Olga, merciful by heart, was generous to the poor, the poor and the poor; fair requests soon reached her heart, and she quickly fulfilled them ... With all this Olga combined a temperate and chaste life, she did not want to remarry, but was in pure widowhood, observing her son's princely power until the days of his age. When the latter matured, she handed over to him all the affairs of the government, and she herself, having withdrawn from rumor and care, lived outside the worries of government, indulging in matters of goodness..

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

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

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

Blessed Olga from an early age was looking for wisdom, what is the best in this light, and found a valuable pearl- Of Christ.

The Grand Duchess Olga, entrusting Kiev to her grown-up son, set off with a large fleet to Constantinople. Old Russian chroniclers will call this act of Olga "walking", it combined in itself a religious pilgrimage, and a diplomatic mission, and a demonstration of the military might of Russia. " Olga wanted to go to the Greeks herself in order to see with her own eyes the Christian service and be fully convinced of their teaching about the true God.", - narrates the life of St. Olga. According to the chronicle, Olga made the decision to become a Christian in Constantinople. The sacrament of Baptism was performed over her by the Patriarch of Constantinople Theophylact (917-956), and the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (905-959), who left in his essay "On the ceremonies of the Byzantine court", a detailed description of the ceremonies during Olga's stay in Constantinople, was the recipient. At one of the receptions, a golden dish decorated with precious stones was presented to the Russian princess. Olga donated it to the sacristy of the Cathedral of St. Sophia, where he was seen and described at the beginning of the 13th century by the Russian diplomat Dobrynya Yadreykovich, later Archbishop Anthony of Novgorod (died 1232): “ The dish is great, the service gold of Olga Russian, when she took a tribute, went to Constantinople: in Olga's dish there is a precious stone, on the same stones Christ is written". The Patriarch blessed the newly-baptized Russian princess with a cross carved from a single piece of the Life-giving Tree of the Lord. There was an inscription on the cross:

The Russian land was renewed with the Holy Cross, which was also received by Olga, the noble princess.

Olga returned to Kiev with icons and liturgical books. She erected a church in the name of St. Nicholas over the grave of Askold - the first Christian prince of Kiev and converted many Kievites to Christ. With the preaching of faith, the princess set off to the north. In the Kiev and Pskov lands, in distant lands, at crossroads, she erected crosses, destroying pagan idols. Princess Olga laid the foundation for a special veneration of the Most Holy Trinity in Russia. From century to century, the story of a vision that happened to her near the Velikaya River, not far from her native village, was passed on. She saw that "three bright rays" were descending from the sky from the east. Addressing her companions who had witnessed the vision, Olga said prophetically:

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

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

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

After the conquest of Kiev by the Lithuanians, the Holguin cross was stolen from the St. Sophia Cathedral and taken by the Catholics to Lublin. His further fate is unknown. At that time, the pagans looked with hope at the growing Svyatoslav, who resolutely rejected his mother's persuasions to accept Christianity. " Tale of Bygone Years»So narrates about it:

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

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

Svyatoslav defeated the long-standing enemy of the Russian state - the Khazar Kaganate. The next blow was dealt to the Volga Bulgaria, then the turn of the Danube Bulgaria came - eighty cities were taken by the Kiev warriors along the Danube. Svyatoslav and his soldiers personified the heroic spirit of pagan Rus. The chronicles have preserved the words Svyatoslav surrounded with his retinue by a huge Greek army:

We will not put the Russian land to shame, but we will lay our bones here! The dead have no shame !.

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

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

Probably during the reign of Yaropolk (972-978) Princess Olga began to be revered as a saint. This is evidenced by the transfer of her relics to the church and the description of miracles given by the monk Jacob in the 11th century. Since that time, the day of remembrance of St. Olga (Helena) began to be celebrated on July 11 (Art. Art). Under the Grand Duke Vladimir, the relics of St. Olga were transferred to the Tithe Church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos and placed in the sarcophagus. There was a window in the church wall above the tomb of St. Olga; and if anyone came to the relics with faith, he saw through the little window of the relics, and some saw the radiance emanating from them, and many sick people were healed. The prophecy of the holy princess Olga about the death of her son Svyatoslav has come true. According to the chronicle, he was killed by the Pechenezh prince Kurei (10th century), who cut off Svyatoslav's head and made a cup for himself from the skull, bound it with gold and drank from it during feasts. The prayer labors and deeds of Saint Olga confirmed the greatest deed of her grandson Saint Vladimir - the Baptism of Rus. In 1547 Olga was canonized as a saint equal to the apostles.

The main information about Olga's life, recognized as reliable, is contained in the "Tale of Bygone Years", the Life from the Book of Degrees, the hagiographic work of the monk Jacob "Memory and Praise to Prince Volodimer of Russia" and the essay of Konstantin Porphyrogenitus "On the ceremonies of the Byzantine court." Other sources provide additional information about Olga, but their reliability cannot be accurately determined. According to the Joachim Chronicle, Olga's original name was Prekras. The Joachim Chronicle reports on the execution by Svyatoslav for his Christian beliefs of his only brother Gleb during the Russian-Byzantine war of 968-971. Gleb could have been the son of Prince Igor both from Olga and from another wife, since the same chronicle reports that Igor had other wives. The Orthodox faith of Gleb testifies in favor of the fact that he was Olga's youngest son. The medieval Czech historian Tomáš Peshina, in an essay in Latin “Mars Moravicus” (1677), told about a certain Russian prince Oleg, who (940) became the last king of Moravia and was expelled from there by the Hungarians in 949. According to Tomáš Peshina, this Oleg Moravsky was Olga's brother. Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentioned the existence of Olga's blood relative, calling him anepy (hence, nephew or cousin), in listing her retinue during a visit to Constantinople in 957.

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

Troparion, voice 1

Kriloma of Godmind, having fixed her mind, you flew above the visible creatures, seeking God and the Creator of all. And having acquired that, you received the baptismal creation. And you delight in the tree of the animal cross of Christ, you abide forever, forever glorious.

Kontakion, voice 4

Let us sing this day to the Benefactor of all God, who glorified God-wise Olga in Russia. And by her prayers to Christ, grant our souls forgiveness of sins.

Library of the Russian Faith
→

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

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

Icon "Blessed Princess Olga and Great Martyr George". Russian North, early 18th century

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

In the north-west of Russia there was a graveyard of Holguin Cross. It was here, as the chronicle sources say, that Princess Olga came to collect taxes in 947. In memory of her amazing salvation while crossing the rapids and non-freezing Narova, Princess Olga erected a wooden and then a stone cross. In the Holguin Cross tract there were local revered shrines - a temple in the name of St. Nicholas, built in the 15th century, a stone cross, installed, according to legend, in the 10th century by Princess Olga. Later, the cross was embedded in the wall of the church of St. Nicholas. In 1887, the church was supplemented with a side-chapel in the name of the holy princess Olga. Nikolsky temple was blown up in 1944 by retreating German troops.

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

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

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

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

National memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga

In Pskov there is the Olginskaya embankment, the Olginsky bridge, the Olginskaya chapel, as well as two monuments to the princess. Monuments to the saint were erected in Kiev and Korosten, and Olga's figure is also present at the monument "Millennium of Russia" in Veliky Novgorod. In honor of the holy princess Olga, the Olga Bay of the Sea of ​​Japan and an urban-type settlement in the Primorsky Territory are named. Streets in Kiev and Lvov are named in honor of St. Olga. Also, in the name of St. Olga, the following orders were established: The insignia of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga (established by Emperor Nicholas II in 1915); "Order of Princess Olga" (state award of Ukraine since 1997); Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga (ROC).

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

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

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

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