Saint Olga

Olga of Kyiv

“Russian Primary Chronicle.” Harvard University by the Mediaeval Society of America. (1953)

There are just some historical figures you don’t want to mess with - like Olga of Kyiv. Olga’s husband, Igor, the ruler of the Kievan Rus, had gone to collect taxes from a group called the Drevlians. But instead of paying the requested amount, the Drevlians decided to murder Igor in an especially brutal way. To add insult to injury, the prince of the Drevlians decided, “who better to marry than the widow of my murder victim?” and sent 20 men by boat to convince Olga of his proposal. As a European widow, even as royalty, Olga didn’t have many options. So when the boat of Drevlians arrived, Olga had the men remain inside - she would show them the great honor of having their boat carried all the way to the palace. You gotta understand, back then this was a massive sign of respect, so the Drevlians agreed. Olga’s men lifted the Drevlians’ boat out of the water and began parading them through the streets. Then they turned a corner, and the Drevlians suddenly found themselves - and their ship - at the bottom of a very deep pit. The Drevlians, stunned, looked up only to receive a face full of dirt. They tried climbing out, but the pit was simply too deep. The 20 Drevlians were buried alive. After a few weeks with no response, the Drevlian prince sent another envoy to Olga, and when this new group arrived, they asked Olga what had happened to their friends. “Oh, they’re out seeing my beautiful country. They’ll be back soon.” Olga continued, “You’ve had such a long journey - why don’t you go to our baths?” So the Drevlians happily went to the bathhouse… and Olga happily locked the doors and burned it down. After dispatching the second band of Drevlians, Olga sent a messenger to the Drevlian prince telling him to prepare for her arrival and a funeral feast for her murdered husband. After the feast, she would marry him. Olga did arrive and participate in the feast, but she also managed to get the Drevlians absolutely wasted. At her signal, Olga’s army stormed the feast and killed every Drevlian in sight. But that wasn’t enough for Olga - these were the men who had taken her husband, her son’s father, and the leader of the Kievan Rus. The Drevlians would have to pay one more debt… Literally. Speaking to a messenger from the surviving Drevlians, Olga demanded a tax of three pigeons and three sparrows from each house. The Drevlians happily paid the tax to save their lives, and Olga happily received the hundreds of birds. But at night, she released them - with pieces of burning sulfur tied to their feet. The birds quickly returned to their homes, setting the entire city on fire. With that, Olga was satisfied. She later became a saint in the Christian Church, but that’s a different story for another day.

Olga of Kyiv (Corrections)

My last video was way more successful than I could have ever anticipated, and, unfortunately, there were two issues with it. The first issue was my pronunciation of the capital of modern-day Ukraine, which is also spelled like this: Kyiv (Ки́їв). So what’s the deal? Historically, English-speakers have exclusively used the Russian spelling and pronunciation, saying a variation of Kee-Evv. However, although the Kievan Rus is the Slavic ancestor of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, the ancient capital of Kyiv is in Ukraine. So my goal was to use the increasingly accepted, Ukrainian pronunciation. But, if you haven’t noticed - I am bad at it. I was trying so hard to keep from saying KEY! EVE! that I oversimplified the pronunciation and ended up saying Keeve. I do always try to pronounce names and places correctly, but I don’t know everything and I make mistakes.

The second issue people had was my last sentence, where I let people know that Olga had been made a saint. My mistake was saying “Catholic saint” because, even though Olga is a Catholic saint, she is also an Orthodox saint. I had intended to say ”Christian saint,” but again, I made a mistake. For those of you who don’t know there was a split, or “schism,” in the Christian Church about 1,000 years ago and it separated into what we now know as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. These traditions existed in some form while Olga was alive, but there’s evidence that she may have practiced either or both - so each tradition claims Olga as their own. Lastly, everyone wants to know how Olga, a mass murderer, became a saint. That’s coming up in my next video later today.

Becoming St. Olga

“Russian Primary Chronicle.” Harvard University by the Mediaeval Society of America. (1953)

"Vladimir I." Encyclopedia Britannica.

"St. Olga." Encyclopedia Britannica.

Now to answer the question everybody seems to wants answered – How did this mass murderer end up a saint?

After her rampage against the people who killed her husband (and a few thousand others), Olga returned home. Sometime after, she converted to Christianity and traveled to Byzantium to see the Byzantine emperor, Constantine VIII. Now, Olga was incredibly beautiful and intelligent, and Constantine was quick to notice just how above average Olga was. If you read in-between the lines, it actually appears that Constantine proceeded to flirt with Olga. In fact, he even invited her to rule with him in Byzantium. But Olga, always one step ahead, told Constantine, “I can’t rule with you because I haven’t been baptized. And if you want me to get baptized, you’ll have to do it yourself.” You see, baptism is an important part of Christian tradition because it is used as a symbol of a person’s new status as a member of the faith. Because of the importance of baptism, Constantine agreed to Olga’s demand and she was quickly baptized. After Olga’s baptism though, Constantine finally revealed his true intentions: to marry Olga. But Olga was ready for such a proposal. Unlike the previous proposal though, there wouldn’t be any murder. “But you baptized me!” Olga said. “According to Christian teaching, you are my spiritual father - such a union is not allowed.” With that, Olga was dismissed, taking with her many treasures from Byzantium. When Olga returned home once again, she tried to convert her son, but he was worried that his future subjects might see him as weak for converting to a new religion. Although Olga persisted, her son never converted to Christianity. It wouldn’t be until the reign of her grandson, Vladimir, that the Rus converted. So why is Olga given credit for the Christianization of the Rus? It really breaks down into two factors. First, Olga was incredibly devout and incredibly wise. In church tradition, it is common to call Olga “equal among the apostles,“ in reference to the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. And while she was not initially successful in her conversion of the Rus, her personal devotion to Christianity was seen as the spark that grew into widespread conversion through her grandson, Vladimir. It is for these efforts that Olga has been established as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.