Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Footnote about a little-known Ukrainian Royal Saint: 
St Viacheslav Volodymyrovych of Kyiv (1183-1154)

Dr. Alexander Roman alex.roman@unicorne.org

An astute reader of “Ukrainian Orthodoxy” recently called our attention to the existence of a Royal saint of Ukraine whose cult is ancient but who has been overshadowed by his more popular father and older brother.

St Viacheslav of Kyiv (“Wenceslaus”) was the younger son of St Volodymyr Monomakh by his wife, Gytha of Wessex (the daughter of St Harold the King of England who died in battle with William the Conqueror at Hastings). 

Viacheslav’s older brother was Mstislav-Harold who became “St Mstislav the Great” of Kyiv and was named for his English grandfather.  Indeed, in some ancient written sagas, St Mstislav is only referred to by his baptismal name of “Harald.”

Viacheslav became, successively, the ruler of Smolensk, Turiv, Pereyaslavl and then in 1151, he became the Tsar of Kyiv.

By way of aside, please do not adjust your screen and please do not consider sending a note to the site Administrator asking him to get me to correct the above title of the ruler of Kyiv and Rus’ . . .

The ruler of Kyiv is traditionally referred to as “Grand Prince” or “Grand Duke.”   But who started that “tradition?”  The title suggests that the ruler of Kyivan Rus’ was dependent politically on another, more highly placed in the royal-imperial scheme of things. 

Certainly, the Greek and pro-Greek historians of the “Princely Era” of Ukraine had a political stake in affirming the subservient status of the “Grand Duchy of Kyiv”  whom they saw as a vassal to the Byzantine Emperor.  But there are instances, including actual gravure pictures of Saint Volodymyr the Great, for example, where he is indeed titled “Tsar Volodymyr” (which simply means “king” as in “Tsar David” and Tsarstvo – kingdom). 

When St Volodymyr went with his armies to Kherson to confront the Byzantine Emperor – he didn’t do so as a “vassal” but as a powerful aggressor who made demands of Byzantium - and had them met before he returned home.  Interestingly enough, western documents housed in the Vatican libraries that mention Volodymyr refer to him as “Rex Ruthenorum” or “King of the Ruthenians.”  No mention of “Grand Prince” or “Grand Duke” – a title that the same documents give to the then ruler of Muscovy in the north.

So let’s put pay to all this “Grand Prince of Kyiv” nonsense by way of needed historical corrective, shall we?  The Crown of Monomakh is, in and of itself, a Royal Crown which the imperial family of the Romanovs wore on their brows for centuries to indicate their absolute and independent sovereign power.  And we know where that Crown originated from . . .

So Viacheslav became Tsar of Kyiv in 1151 and shared its Throne with his nephew.  He died on February 2nd, 1154 and was buried with his father, Saint Volodymyr Monomakh, and Saint Yaroslav the Wise in St Sophia’s Cathedral.  His local veneration is ancient and our astute reader also called attention to an actual and rare icon of St Viacheslav being sold on eBay. 

May St Viacheslav and all the holy Tsars of Kyivan-Rus’ intercede for us always!

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