Saint Vladimir I of Kiev

Saint Vladimir I of Kiev, also known as Svyatoy Vladimir, Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Vladimir the Great, and Vladimir Veliky, was born in 956 in Kiev, the capital of the Kievan Rus. He was the grandson of Saint Olga of Kiev and the son of the pagan Norman-Rus prince Svyatoslav of Kiev and his consort Malushka. During his early years, Vladimir held the title of Prince of Novgorod in 970. However, upon the death of his father in 972, his half-brother Yaropolk attempted to seize Novgorod and Kiev. Fearing for his life, Vladimir fled to Scandinavia and sought help from an uncle, securing military aid to overcome Yaropolk's forces. By the year 980, Vladimir had successfully consolidated the Kievan realm, expanding its territories from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He also established stable borders, defending against threats from Bulgarian, Baltic, and Eastern nomads. Despite the progress of Christianity in Kiev, Vladimir himself remained a pagan. He had multiple wives and established temples where idolatrous rites, possibly including human sacrifice, were practiced. In 987, the Byzantine Emperor Basil II sought military assistance from Vladimir, leading to a pact. As part of this agreement, Vladimir married Basil's sister, Anne, and agreed to convert to Christianity. Following his baptism, he took the patronal name Basil and embarked on a mission to Christianize Kiev and Novgorod. Under Vladimir's rule, the idols that were once worshipped in Kiev were ceremoniously thrown into the Dnieper River, representing a symbolic rejection of paganism. The newly converted Rus Christians adopted the Byzantine rite, conducting their liturgies in the Old Church Slavonic language. The Byzantine Empire maintained ecclesiastical control over the new Rus church, with the Greek metropolitan for Kiev reporting to both the patriarch of Constantinople and the emperor. This religious and political integration between Rus and Byzantium curtailed the influence of the Roman Latin church in the Slavic East and shaped the future course of Russian Christianity. Aside from his religious efforts, Vladimir also expanded education, established judicial institutions, and provided aid to the poor. During his marriage to Anne, they had two sons who became martyrs and saints: Saint Boris and Saint Gleb. Following the death of Anne in 1011, Vladimir married again, this time affiliating himself with the German Holy Roman emperors. His daughter from this union became the consort of Casimir I the Restorer of Poland. Saint Vladimir I of Kiev died on July 15, 1015, in Berestova, near Kiev. He is recognized as a patron saint of converts, parents of large families, and reformed and penitent murderers. He is also venerated as a patron of Russia, the Ukrainian Catholic Diocese of Stamford in Connecticut, United States, and the archeparchy of Winnipeg, Manitoba. His feast day is celebrated on July 15th.