Saint Vladimir of Kiev

Dear readers, good morning. Today, I think I might talk about Saint Vladimir.

Vladimir was originally a pagan prince of the Rus, son of Sviatoslav of Kiev, who divided his realm between his three sons: the Drevliani to Oleg, Kiev to Yaropolk, and Novgorod to Vladimir.

A war broke out between his brothers, and he fled to Scandinavia, from which he would later return with an army and reconquer Novgorod, and, marching towards his brother Yaropolk, he would go as far as Kiev, where his brother was slain, leaving Vladimir as the sole ruler of the Rus.

A fervorous pagan, Vladimir would erect many statues to the pagan deities, take part in sacrifices, and martyrize christians. He also had several wives and concubines.

This would change though with the conquest of the greek Crimean city of Kherson, which would put him in contact with Byzantium. He demanded the emperor's sister as a wife, threatening to march towards Constantinople in case of refusal.

For such marriage, his conversion to Christianity was demanded, which he accepted. But what could seem as a merely political move actually gave fruits, and Vladimir became a devout Christian, putting away his other women, destroying pagan statues, erecting churches, schools, establishing the tithe, and promoting the conversion of his people, of which it is said that in Kiev such was done rather peacefully, but in Novgorod met rebellion.

Saint Vladimir is also revered among Catholics, not only Orthodox, because his conversion happenned at a time preceding the schism, which means it was made in communion with Rome.

The famous story according to which he would have refused the "plain" churches and rites of the Latin Germans, instead choosing the magnificence of the Constantinopolitan liturgy, is a later tale by Nestor, and even then it would only mean a preference to the Byzantinian rite instead of the Latin, not a preference of the Orthodox religion instead of the Catholic, since at the time, I repeat, such division, though already envisioned and precedented (by events such as Photius' schism), was not yet fully accomplished.

Saint Vladimir is held as patron saint for both Ukrainians and Russians, both Catholics and Orthodox.

Rio de Janeiro, January 16th, 2021.