The Russian princes Boris and Gleb became the first saints, demonstrating to people how to accept God's will, how to live and die with the name of the Lord and according to his covenants. Three dates of the Orthodox calendar are associated with their names:
- May 2 - the day of the transfer of relics to the tomb of the new church;
- July 24 - Commemoration of Prince Boris;
- September 5 is the day of remembrance of Prince Gleb.
Family of Prince Vladimir
In the X century, when Russia was fragmented and pagan land, the sons Boris and Gleb were born to the Kiev prince Vladimir and his wife Miloliki. The pagan prince already had several marriages, and, accordingly, he had many children. Princes Boris and Gleb, being younger, did not claim the throne of Kiev.
Of the older children, those who could, according to the rules, inherit princely power after their father, were Svyatopolk and Yaroslav. Yaroslav was the prince’s own son, and Svyatopolk was only recognized as such, that is, adopted in an earlier marriage.
The life of Prince Vladimir took place in constant wars and battles, that is how the princes lived at that time: the ability to protect their lands from an external enemy, and to attach to their lands obtained from neighbors - was valued above all.
Baptism of Prince Vladimir
In 988, having won the next war with Byzantium and captured the city of Korsun, Vladimir began to threaten Constantinople. Byzantine co-emperors agree to marry their sister Anna to the prince, but subject to the renunciation of the pagan faith.
The prince was inclined to the Byzantine faith, Christianity has long gradually penetrated into Russian souls. In 957, Princess Olga converted to Orthodoxy. And Vladimir gave his consent. When performing the sacrament, he was baptized with the name Basil. Returning to Kiev, he took his wife, priests, relics, church utensils, icons from the defeated Korsun.
Upon returning to his hometown, he turned to the residents of Kiev with a decree: everyone should come to the bank of the Dnieper for baptism in the Orthodox faith. The people of Kiev treated their prince with respect and fear, therefore they fulfilled his requirement, and the sacrament of the baptism of Rus took place in a peaceful atmosphere.
Life of Boris and Gleb
At this time, the sons of Prince Vladimir Boris and Gleb received a good education, were brought up in piety. They were baptized along with all the Kiev people in the Dnieper and received the Orthodox names of Roman and David.
Elder Boris devoted much time to studying the Holy Scriptures, read the lives of the saints, was interested in their actions, and wanted to follow their example in everything. Both brothers were distinguished by a good heart, sought to provide all possible assistance to all who needed it.
When the time came, the prince married his Boris and allocated him a small inheritance for rule in the Vladimir-Volyn principality with a center in the city of Murom. In 1010, he transferred Boris to reign in Rostov the Great, and gave Murom to the matured Gleb.
The brothers reigned rightly, served as examples of their behavior, spread the Orthodox faith in the principalities.
Prince Vladimir and his sons
In 1015, at the end of his life, the seventy-year-old Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich had eleven relatives and one adopted son from different wives, and there were fourteen daughters.
When the prince fell ill and realized that his life was coming to an end, he decided to transfer the principality of Kiev not to the elder sons Svyatopolk and Yaroslav, but to Boris, whom he had great love for.
And besides, the old prince did not have trust in his elder sons. Svyatopolk The Accursed son, was already suspected of organizing a conspiracy to assassinate the prince, for which he was put together with his wife in prison.
Yaroslav, who had ruled in Veliky Novgorod since 1010, behaved wisely for four years, and then refused to obey his father and pay the due tribute to the Kiev treasury. Prince Vladimir, outraged by the rebellious behavior of the heir, decides to go to war in Veliky Novgorod, and the frightened Yaroslav calls for the help of the Vikings. What the confrontation in 1014 of the old prince and elder sons turned into is unknown. But the prince fell ill.
The death of Prince Vladimir
Boris was in these difficult hours next to his sick father. And then inopportunely came the news of the raid on the Kiev lands of the Pechenegs. The sick father gave Boris an eight-thousandth army and sent him on a campaign. The Pechenegs, hearing about the power that was coming upon them, disappeared into the steppes. On the way back to Kiev, Boris received from the messenger the mournful news of the death of the prince.
Svyatopolk, as the senior heir, was immediately released from prison and occupied the throne of Kiev, contrary to the plans of the old prince. Realizing that he will not receive the principality by law because of his father’s will, and also appreciating the love of the common people for Boris, he plans the evil. Turning to the residents of Kiev for support, he spares no promises and treasury. He himself is making bloody plans to eliminate all competitors for his father’s inheritance.
The death of Boris
Meanwhile, the sons of Prince Vladimir Boris and Gleb pray for the soul of a deceased father. Boris with the army returns from an unsuccessful campaign and, learning about the death of Vladimir, stops on the Alta River, which is one day's journey to Kiev. The messenger, who brought the sad news, also announced the seizure of the throne by the Svyatopolk. The outraged governors, the faithful squad of Prince Vladimir, began to call Boris on a campaign against the impostor and forcefully repulsed Kiev from him. Boris refused their help, and they left him.
Guessing what fate awaits him, the young prince decides not to resist fate. Not wanting to shed brotherly blood, he refuses self-defense. So Boris understood the commandments of Christ.
Twenty-five-year-old Boris, waiting for his killers, spent the whole night in prayer. In the morning, people sent by Svyatopolk the Cursed burst into his tent and stabbed him with spears. They wrapped the body of the prince in a tent and drove to the capital as evidence of the executed order. But along the way, it became clear that Boris was still breathing. Then two hired Vikings finished him off with swords.
The body of Boris was secretly buried fifteen miles from Kiev, in Vyshgorod, near the old wooden church of St. Basil the Great.
Gleb: death
Princes Boris and Gleb were in many ways similar in life. They liked the same people, they loved the same thing, their thoughts and actions were similar. And they accepted death at the hands of one villain.
Svyatopolk, clearing his way to the throne, did not stop at nothing. He deceives the young prince to come from Murom to Kiev, and he, without hesitation, sets off on the call of his brother. Another halt was arranged in the area of the city of Smolensk, where Gleb receives news from his elder brother Yaroslav. A messenger gives him a story about the death of his father and Boris and warns him on behalf of Yaroslav, gives him the order not to go to Kiev.
Hearing the terrible news, Gleb turns to God for help and decides not to resist fate. Following the example of his beloved brother Boris, he prays on the banks of the Dnieper in anticipation of his killers. The villains, having done their dirty deed, did not become hindered by the transportation of the body, but buried Gleb on the river bank.
Another of the brothers who could claim the throne of Kiev, Svyatoslav, Prince of Drevlyansky, was killed by the squads of Svyatopolk. He was unable to hide in the Carpathians.
Christian ministry of the noble princes Boris and Gleb
Researchers of the lives of princes who fell at the hands of villains claim that their feat is that they refused to shed their brother’s blood. Being deeply religious people, they honored God's commandments.
Saints Boris and Gleb are the first Christians in Russia to set true humility as an example. The pagan faith that has been in these parts for a long time allowed, and even considered valor, a blood feud. The brothers, having wholeheartedly accepted Orthodox baptism, did not respond to evil with evil. They stopped the bloodshed at the cost of their own lives.
As the researchers of those events write, the Lord punished the power-hungry fratricide. In 1019, after numerous and bloody battles for Russian lands, the squad of Yaroslav the Wise defeated the army of Svyatopolk the Accursed. He fled to Poland, but even there he found no refuge and peace. He died in a foreign land.
Honoring the Princes Boris and Gleb
In the summer of 1019, the Grand Prince of Kiev, Yaroslav the Wise, begins the search for the body of his younger brother Gleb. He sends priests to Smolensk to find out that a beautiful glow is often seen on the banks of the river. The found body of the young prince is transported to Vyshgorod and buried next to the remains of Boris. The place of their burial was the old wooden church of St. Basil, built in honor of his saint by their father, Prince Vladimir.
After some time, people began to notice incomprehensible phenomena occurring at the grave of the brothers. Everyone began to see light and fire, to hear the singing of angels, and when one of the Varangians accidentally stepped on the grave, a flame erupted from there and scorched the legs of the defiler.
After a while, a fire happened in the old church, and it burned to the ground. But among the coals, all the holy icons and church utensils remained untouched by the fire. Then the parishioners understood that this was the intercession of the brothers-princes Boris and Gleb. Yaroslav reported the miracle to Metropolitan John I, and Vladyka decided to open the tomb.
They built a small chapel on the site of the old church and transferred the found relics there, which turned out to be incorrupt.
Two new miracles, the correction of lameness and the insight of the blind man, convince the most incredulous in the sanctity of princely relics. Then a decision is made to build a new church, where in 1021 they finally placed the relics of Saints Boris and Gleb. The new church erected on the site was consecrated in honor of the princes and became known as Borisoglebskaya. And the princes themselves were canonized under the Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise and Metropolitan John I on July 24, 1037 in the Kiev diocese.
According to church laws, the process of canonization of saints is carried out in three stages. The second stage takes place in 1073, when the relics of the saints are transferred to a new church, built to replace the already old one. From this moment, the process of glorification of the martyr-martyrs Boris and Gleb begins.
Suffering in the name of Christ
In Orthodoxy, the sufferers are called sufferers for the sake of the Lord God. But was the death of the brothers in the name of God? Did they glorify the Savior with their death and torment?
Researchers of the events of those times had a long debate on this topic. Among the brethren were doubting the legality of the canonization of princes. After all, the assassination of princes Boris and Gleb was purely political in nature, as they would say today: "It was custom-made." Many princes of that time died in the princely feud, the victims were before and after them. Finally, their older brother, Svyatoslav, died for the same reason, at the hands of the same killer. But the question of the canonization of this prince has never been raised. So what is the difference?
It turns out that the fact is that the brothers had different motives for acting. The holiness of Boris and Gleb lies in the fact that they accomplished a feat previously unseen in Russia: they simply wanted to live and die according to the word of Christ, to save the world by their death.
By the way, the arguments for canonization were not at first clear to everyone, and the canonization of princes even required additional coordination with Constantinople.
The memory of the princes
In 1113, a new church was erected in Vyshgorod, the noble princes Boris and Gleb, but the transfer of the relics and the consecration of the cathedral took place only under Prince Vladimir Monomakh of Kiev in May 1115. Borisoglebskaya church was the largest and most beautiful in pre-Mongol Russia.
Over time, faith in the intercession and miraculous power of the princes grew. It is believed that thanks to them such victories of Russian weapons took place:
- in the fight against Polovtsy in the XI century;
- at the Battle of Neva in 1240, when both brothers appeared in the boat before the army;
- during the battle on Lake Peipsi in 1242;
- when the Novgorod army captured the Swedish fortress Landskrona at the mouth of the Neva;
- during the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, where Prince Dmitry Ivanovich and other soldiers saw with their own eyes how the heavenly warriors, led by Boris and Gleb, helped them on the battlefield.
The participation of saints in other, later events in the history of the Russian state, taking place in the XIV-XVI centuries, is described in numerous legends about Boris and Gleb.
In honor of the holy princes in Russia, a lot of churches were consecrated, monuments and monasteries were erected, icons and literary works were painted.
Not far from Moscow, on the territory of the Borisoglebsky Monastery in Dmitrov in 2006, a beautiful monument was erected. Boris and Gleb, two bronze riders, rise on a high pedestal. Author Alexander Rukavishnikov devoted his work to the anniversary of the founding of the monastery.
The names of the brothers are cities and streets. Many talented icon painters in their works reflected fragments from the lives of the holy princes Boris and Gleb. There are paired and single icons, there are in full growth and on horseback. Books and poems written by great writers such as Joseph Brodsky and Boris Chichibabin have been written about the exploits of the brothers.
But the main thing is that the chronicles describe many cases of healing sick and crippled people who, through their faith in the Lord, contributed to the creation of a miracle.