Saint Olga of Russia

     Olga was most likely born into a Viking family in northwest Russia in 925 A.D. She married Prince Igor who was the son of Rurik prince of Novgorod. Rurik was the founder of the famous Rurik dynasty that ruled Russia from 862 – 1598. After Rurik’s death, Oleg became grand prince of Kiev and Novgorod. But in the year, 912 A.D. Oleg died paving the way for Igor to rule the Kievan Rus. Before the Rurik dynasty, the Slavic tribes of eastern Europe each had their own small territory. But prince Rurik had united many of the Slavic tribes stretching from the land south of Kiev to the Arctic Ocean and created an empire. 

     After Igor became prince of the Kievan Rus, he went to the Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans to demand a high tribute. But the Drevlyans were angered by this and killed him. This threw the Kievan Rus into chaos. The royal family had to decide who would rule in place of Igor. Generally, when a king does, his son becomes king, but in this case the king’s son was only three years old. Princess Olga decided to take power. She had the full support of the army making the transition of power smooth and peaceful. Soon Olga became Queen, the Drevlyans sent ambassadors asking her to make peace with them by marrying their prince. But Olga was not interested in peace. Angered by her husband’s death, she killed the ambassadors by burying them alive. Then she asked the Drevlyans to send better ambassadors to her. But it was a trap. As soon as the ambassadors arrived, she burned them to death in a bathhouse. Next Olga travelled to the land of the Drevlyans probably for the funeral ceremony of her husband. While she was there, she made some of her enemies drunk during the feast and then had them all killed. Sometime later, she once again went to the land of the Drevlyans this time to demand tribute. When she came to the town of Iskorosten, she asked each household to give her a dove as a gift. When she received all the doves, she tied a burning paper to the doves’ feet and made the doves fly into the town. The entire town burned to the ground. 

     After several years had passed, Olga’s son, Svyatoslav became old enough to be king. Svyatoslav preferred to handle the military, going from place-to-place organizing military campaigns to enlarge his territory. He left his mother in charge of internal policy which she liked to handle very much. During this time, there was fear that the kingdom of the Kievan Rus would collapse and return to its state of small tribes as it had been before. Svyatoslav and Olga wanted to prevent this. Olga divided the kingdom into administrative states so that it could be ruled more easily. She also established a better system of tribute gathering which is sometimes thought of as the first legal tax system in Europe. Trade and commerce increased greatly in the kingdom. Svyatoslav and Olga thought it was important to build more defensive fortifications to protect their empire from other Slavic tribes.

     The Kievan Rus soon became even more powerful. It conquered the southern tribes on the edge of the black sea. Soon there was a Russian fleet operating on the shores of the Black Sea. Concerned by this development, the great Byzantine empire that lay to the south wanted to negotiate with the Rus. In the summer of the year 954, Olga travelled to the Byzantine empire on a diplomatic mission. After arriving in Constantinople, Olga attended several church services in the city even though she was a pagan. Olga observed Byzantine life with much curiosity. She marveled at how stable the empire was. Her kingdom was constantly suffering from internal chaos and turmoil. She sought to find the secret of Byzantium’s stability. After staying in Byzantium for some time, she concluded that it was the empire’s Christianity that kept it stable. She soon fell in love with Christianity and decided to convert. She informed the emperor of Byzantium of her decision, and he became greatly encouraged. He suggested that she become baptized which she soon did eagerly. At her baptism, the patriarch of Constantinople told her, “Blessed are you among Russian women, for you have forsaken the darkness and have loved the Light. The Russian people shall bless you in all the future generations, from your grandson and great-grandson to your furthermost descendants.” The Patriarch taught her all about church traditions, scripture, and theology. She listened eagerly with her head bowed and resolved to put into practice what she had learned. 

     Olga was now a very different person from the ruthless killer she had been when she first took the throne. She now sought to bring Christianity to the Kievan Rus. Her son was displeased with her conversion and was worried that she would lose the respect of the army and the people. One of the matters that Olga discussed with Byzantium was the possibility that her son could marry the Byzantine princess to ensure an alliance and cooperation between the two empires. This proposal, however, did not work out along with many of the other negotiations with Byzantium. Strangely, relations with the Rus and Byzantium seemed to deteriorate after Olga’s conversion. The two nations simply didn’t see eye to eye on many important political and military matters. But Olga’s dynasty would outlast the Byzantium empire by hundreds of years. It would soon become an even greater empire covering most of eastern Europe. 

     Olga now considered spreading Christianity throughout her empire to be the most important mission that she could do. She sent missionaries to evangelize the pagans and built many churches throughout the land. But there was much pushback from the pagans. Wanting the land to remain pagan, they began to persecute Christians especially near the city of Kiev. Many of the Christians that Olga had helped baptize, not began to suffer great persecution at the hands of the pagans. King Svyatoslav ordered some of the churches that Olga had built to be destroyed. He even killed Olga’s nephew. 

     Soon Olga had to step down from her position of governance. King Svyatoslav took full control over the kingdom. However, Olga was still given control of the kingdom when her son was away on military campaigns. Olga was sad that her son did not embrace Christianity, but she was encouraged by the success of the Russian military. The Russians soundly defeated the Khazars and the Volga Bulgars. The Kievan Rus would go on to become a great empire, but Olga would not live to see it. Knowing she would die soon; she forbade pagan funeral ceremonies for her death. She asked that a priest bury her in accordance with Christian funeral procedures. In 1547, the orthodox church proclaimed Olga to be a saint equal to the apostles. She is one of five women in history to have this honor. She never could have imagined the honor she would receive after her death. She was saddened that her empire remained pagan. But she prayed earnestly that one day the Kievan Rus would embrace Christianity. Soon her wish would be realized.