The holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb are revered as intercessors of the Russian land. They pray to them for the good morals of the authorities, for strengthening Orthodox faith and about overcoming unbelief, deliverance from troubles, hunger, illness, sorrow and sudden death.
They pray to these saints to tame all enmity and malice between people. The pious princes are also asked to ask the Lord for the forgiveness of sins, unanimity and health, preservation from the invasion of external enemies, internal strife and courage in the face of mortal danger for those praying.

It must be remembered that icons or saints do not “specialize” in any specific areas. It will be right when a person turns with faith in the power of God, and not in the power of this icon, this saint or prayer.
And .

LIVES OF THE HOLY BLESSED PRINCE-PASSION-BEARERS BORIS AND GLEB

The holy noble princes-passion-bearers Boris and Gleb (in Holy Baptism - Roman and David) are the first Russian saints canonized by both the Russian and Constantinople Churches. They were the youngest sons of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (+ July 15, 1015).

Holy Prince Vladimir with his sons

Vladimir had twelve sons from different wives. Vladimir's older children often quarreled with each other; they were born at a time when the prince was trying to strengthen the pagan faith. Svyatopolk was born from a Greek woman, a former nun, whom Vladimir took as his wife after his brother, who was dethroned by him. Yaroslav was born from Rogneda of Polotsk, whose father and brothers were killed by Vladimir. And then Rogneda herself tried to kill Vladimir, jealous of Anna of Byzantium.

Boris and Gleb were born later, around the years of the Baptism of Rus'. Their mother was from Volga Bulgaria. They were raised in Christian piety and loved each other. Boris was named Roman in holy baptism, Gleb - David. There is evidence that Boris was reading some book, usually the lives or torments of saints, then Gleb sat next to him and listened attentively, and so Gleb remained persistently near his brother, because he was still small.

When his sons began to grow up, Vladimir entrusted them with the management of the territories. Boris got Rostov, and Gleb got Murom. Gleb's reign in Murom was not easy. They say that the Murom pagans did not allow him into their city, and the prince had to live outside the city walls, in the suburbs.

Saint Prince Boris

Prince Vladimir loved Boris more than his other sons, trusted him in many ways and intended to transfer Kyiv and the great reign to him. Boris was married to Agnes, a Danish princess, and over time became famous as a brave and skillful warrior.

Shortly before his death Grand Duke Vladimir called Boris to Kyiv and sent him with an army against the Pechenegs. Soon after Boris's departure, Vladimir died. This happened on July 15, 1015 in the village of Berestov, near Kyiv.
At this time, only Svyatopolk found himself in the capital, who took advantage of his position and arbitrarily seized power in Kyiv, proclaiming himself the Grand Duke of Kyiv. He set out to quickly get rid of his rival brothers before they did anything. Svyatopolk decided to hide his father's death. At night, on his orders, the platform in the princely mansion was dismantled. Vladimir's body was wrapped in a carpet and lowered to the ground on ropes, and then taken to Kyiv, to the church Holy Mother of God, where they buried him without giving him due honors.

Boris, meanwhile, not finding the Pechenegs, turned back to Kyiv. The news of his father's death and Svyatopolk's reign in Kyiv found him on the banks of the small river Alta. The squad persuaded him to go to Kyiv and take the grand-ducal throne, but Saint Prince Boris, not wanting internecine strife, disbanded his army:

“I will not raise my hand against my brother, and even against my elder, whom I should consider as my father!”

Hearing this, the squad left him. So Boris remained on the Altinsky field with only a few of his servants.
Svyatopolk sent Boris a false message with an offer of friendship: “Brother, I want to live in love with you, and I’ll add more to what my father gave you!”

Murder of Prince Boris

He himself, in secret from everyone, sent hired killers, loyal boyars Putsha, Talets, Elovit (or Elovitch) and Lyashko, to kill Boris.
Saint Boris was informed of such treachery by Svyatopolk, but did not hide and, like the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity, readily met death. The killers overtook him while he was praying at Matins on Sunday, July 24 ( old style) 1015 in his tent on the banks of the Alta River. Like wild animals they attacked the saint and pierced his body. Boris's favorite servant, a certain Ugrin (Hungarian) named George, covered him with himself. He was immediately killed along with the prince and his head was cut off to remove it from his neck gold decoration- a hryvnia, which the prince once gave him as a sign of love and distinction.
However, Saint Boris was still alive. Coming out of the tent, he began to pray fervently, and then turned to the murderers:

“Come, brothers, finish your service, and may there be peace to brother Svyatopolk and to you.”

At this time, one of the killers pierced him with a spear. His body was wrapped in a tent, placed on a cart and taken to Kyiv. There is a version that Boris was still breathing on the road and, having learned about this, Svyatopolk sent two Varangians to finish him off. Then one of them drew a sword and pierced him in the heart. Boris's body was brought secretly to Vyshgorod and buried in the Church of St. Basil. He was about 25 years old.

Prince Gleb of Murom was still alive. Svyatopolk decided to lure Gleb to Kyiv by cunning: Messengers were sent to Gleb with a request to come to Kyiv, since his father was seriously ill (for which Svyatopolk hid his father’s death). Gleb immediately mounted his horse and with a small squad rushed to the call. But he was overtaken by a messenger from his brother Yaroslav:

“Don’t go to Kyiv: your father died, and your brother Boris was killed by Svyatopolk!”

Deeply grieving, the holy prince chose death rather than war with his brother. Gleb’s meeting with the killers took place at the mouth of the Smyadyn River, not far from Smolensk. He turned to them with a touching plea to spare “the ear, not yet ripe, filled with the juice of goodness.”
Then, remembering the words of the Lord, “Because of My name you will be betrayed by your brothers and relatives,” he entrusted his soul to Him. Gleb’s small squad, seeing the killers, lost heart. The leader, nicknamed Goryaser, mockingly ordered the cook who was with Gleb to kill the prince. He, “in the name of Torchin, took out a knife and slaughtered Gleb like an innocent lamb.” He was about 19 years old. His body was thrown on the shore, and so lay in obscurity, between two logs.
But neither the beast nor the bird touched him. For a long time no one knew about it, but sometimes lit candles were seen in this place and church singing was heard. Only many years later, by order of Prince Yaroslav, it was moved to Vyshgorod and placed in the Church of St. Basil next to Boris. Later, Yaroslav the Wise built a stone five-domed Boris and Gleb Cathedral on this site, which soon became the family temple of the Yaroslavichs, a sanctuary of their love and loyalty, fraternal harmony and service to the Fatherland.

The noble passion-bearing princes did not want to raise their hands against their brother, but the Lord Himself took revenge on the power-hungry tyrant:

“Vengeance is mine and I will repay” (Rom. 12:19).

Prince Yaroslav, having gathered an army of Novgorodians and Varangian mercenaries, moved to Kyiv and expelled Svyatopolk from Rus'.
The decisive battle between them took place in 1019 on the Alta River - at the very place where Saint Prince Boris was killed. According to the chroniclers, when the defeated Svyatopolk fled from the battlefield, illness attacked him, so that he weakened all over and could not even mount a horse, and was carried on a stretcher. Svyatopolk, called the Accursed by the Russian people, fled to Poland and, like the first fratricide Cain, did not find peace and shelter for himself anywhere and was overwhelmed with such fear that everywhere it seemed to him that they were pursuing him, and he died outside his fatherland, “in a certain deserted place." And a stench and stench emanated from his grave. “From that time,” the chronicler writes, “sedition in Rus' died down.”

Vladimir had other sons who died in the strife. Svyatoslav, Prince of Drevlyansky, was killed by Svyatopolk, but was not canonized because he joined the struggle for power and was going to bring the Hungarian army to the rescue. Another brother - the winner Yaroslav - went against his brother with weapons in his hands. But he is not cursed like Svyatopolk. No wonder Yaroslav had the nickname Wise. Through many years of labor, the construction of temples, and the adoption of laws, he deserved to be numbered among the noble princes, representing an example of an outstanding ruler.

From a rational point of view, the death of the holy brothers seems meaningless. They were not even martyrs for the faith in the true sense of the word. (The Church honors them as passion-bearers - this rank of holiness, by the way, is not known to the Byzantines).
The lives of the holy passion-bearers were sacrificed to the main Christian value - love.

“Whoever says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother is a liar” (1 John 4:20).

They accepted death as a sign of boundless love for Christ, in imitation of his agony on the cross. In the minds of the Russian people, with their martyrdom they seemed to atone for the sins of the entire Russian land, which until recently had been vegetating in paganism. Through their lives, wrote the outstanding Russian writer and historian G. P. Fedotov, “the image of the meek and suffering Savior entered the heart of the Russian people forever as its most cherished shrine.”

The holy brothers did something that in those days in Rus', accustomed to blood feud, was still new and incomprehensible; they showed: evil cannot be repaid with evil, even under the threat of death.
The impression of their act was so great that the whole earth recognized them as saints. This was a revolution from pagan consciousness (lust for power and profit) to Christianity (the achievement of a spiritual and moral ideal).

Boris and Gleb were the first saints canonized by the Russian Church. Even their father, Prince Vladimir, was canonized much later. They were honored in Constantinople, the icon of Boris and Gleb was in Sofia of Constantinople. Their lives were even included in the Armenian Menaions (books for reading for each month). Glorifying the saints, the legend dedicated to them says that they became helpers of the people of “all lands.”

Saints Boris and Gleb are special patrons and defenders of the Russian land. In their name, innocent people were freed from their bonds, and sometimes bloody civil strife was stopped.

There are many known cases of their appearance in difficult times for our Fatherland, for example, on the eve of the battle on the Neva in 1240 (when St. Boris and Gleb appeared in a boat, among the rowers, “clothed in darkness,” with their hands on each other’s shoulders... “Brother Glebe, Boris said, they ordered us to row, so we can help our relative Alexander”), or on the eve of the great Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 (when the holy brothers appeared in a cloud, holding candles and naked swords in their hands, saying to the Tatar governors: “Who ordered you to destroy your fatherland ours, given to us by the Lord?”

The names Boris and Gleb, as well as Roman and David, were favorites among many generations of Russian princes. Oleg Gorislavich's brothers were named Roman (+ 1079), Gleb (+ 1078), Davyd (+ 1123), one of his sons was named Gleb (+ 1138). Monomakh had sons Roman and Gleb, Yuri Dolgoruky had Boris and Gleb, Saint Rostislav of Smolensk had Boris and Gleb, Saint Andrew of Bogolyubsky had the blessed saint Gleb (+ 1174), Vsevolod the Big Nest had Boris and Gleb. Among the sons of Vseslav of Polotsk (+ 1101) there is a full set of “Borisogleb” names: Roman, Gleb, David, Boris.

GREATNESS TO THE Blessed Princes BORIS AND GLEB, IN HOLY BAPTISM TO ROMAN AND DAVID

We magnify you, passion-bearers Saints Boris and Gleb, and honor your honest suffering, which you naturally endured for Christ.

VIDEO ABOUT THE SAINTS

Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich had twelve sons from different wives. The third in seniority was Svyatopolk. Svyatopolk's mother, a nun, was disrobed and taken as a wife by Yaropolk, Vladimir's brother. Vladimir killed Yaropolk and took possession of his wife when she was pregnant. He adopted Svyatopolk, but did not love him. And Boris and Gleb were the sons of Vladimir and his Bulgarian wife. Vladimir placed his children in different lands to reign: Svyatopolk - in Pinsk, Boris - in Rostov, Gleb - in Murom.

As Vladimir's days drew to a close, the Pechenegs moved into Rus'. The prince sent Boris against them. He set out on a campaign, but did not meet the enemy. When Boris was returning back, the messenger told him about the death of his father and that Svyatopolk tried to hide his death. Listening to this story, Boris began to cry. He realized that Svyatopolk wanted to seize power and kill him, but decided not to resist. Indeed, Svyatopolk insidiously took possession of the Kyiv throne. But, despite the entreaties of the squad, Boris did not want to drive his brother out of his reign.

Meanwhile, Svyatopolk bribed the people of Kiev and wrote a kind letter to Boris. But his words were lies. In fact, he wanted to kill all of his father's heirs. And he began by ordering a squad consisting of Vyshgorod men led by Putynya to kill Boris.

Boris set up his camp on the Alta River. In the evening he prayed in his tent, thinking about near death. Waking up, he ordered the priest to serve matins. The murderers sent by Svyatopolk approached Boris’s tent and heard the words of holy prayers. And Boris, hearing an ominous whisper near the tent, realized that these were murderers. The priest and Boris's servant, seeing the sadness of their master, grieved for him.

Suddenly Boris saw the killers with naked weapons in their hands. The villains rushed to the prince and pierced him with spears. And Boris’s servant covered his master with his body. This servant was a Hungarian named George. The killers struck him down too. Wounded by them, George jumped out of the tent. The villains wanted to inflict new blows on the prince, who was still alive. But Boris began to ask to be allowed to pray to God. After the prayer, the prince turned to his murderers with words of forgiveness and said: “Brothers, having begun, finish what was commanded to you.” This is how Boris died on the 24th day of July. Many of his servants were also killed, including George. They cut off his head to remove the hryvnia from his neck.

Boris was wrapped in a tent and taken away on a cart. As they drove through the forest, the holy prince raised his head. And two Varangians pierced him with a sword in the heart again. Boris's body was laid in Vyshgorod and buried near the Church of St. Basil.

After this, Svyatopolk conceived a new crime. He sent Gleb a letter in which he wrote that his father, Vladimir, was seriously ill and was calling Gleb.

The young prince went to Kyiv. When he reached the Volga, he slightly injured his leg. He stopped not far from Smolensk, on the Smyadyn River, in a boat. The news of Vladimir's death, meanwhile, reached Yaroslav (another of the twelve sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich), who then reigned in Novgorod. Yaroslav sent Gleb a warning not to go to Kyiv: his father died and his brother Boris was killed. And when Gleb was crying about his father and brother, the evil servants of Svyatopolk, sent by him to kill, suddenly appeared in front of him.

Saint Prince Gleb was then sailing in a boat along the Smyadyn River. The killers were in another boat, they began to row towards the prince, and Gleb thought that they wanted to greet him. But the villains began to jump into Gleb’s boat with drawn swords in their hands. The prince began to beg that they would not ruin his young life. But Svyatopolk’s servants were relentless. Then Gleb began to pray to God for his father, brothers, and even for his murderer, Svyatopolk. After this, Glebov's cook, Torchin, stabbed his master to death. And Gleb ascended to heaven and met there with his beloved brother. It happened on September 5th.

The murderers returned to Svyatopolk and told him about the fulfilled command. The evil prince was delighted.

Gleb's body was thrown in a deserted place between two logs. Merchants, hunters, and shepherds passing by this place saw a pillar of fire, burning candles, and heard angelic singing. But no one thought to look for the saint’s body there.

And Yaroslav moved with his army against the fratricide Svyatopolk to avenge his brothers. Yaroslav was accompanied by victories. Arriving at the Alta River, he stood at the place where Saint Boris was killed and prayed to God for the final victory over the villain.

The slaughter on Alta lasted the whole day. By evening, Yaroslav prevailed, and Svyatopolk fled. He was overcome by madness. Svyatopolk became so weak that he was carried on a stretcher. He ordered to run, even when the chase stopped. So they carried him through on a stretcher Polish land. In a deserted place between the Czech Republic and Poland, he died. His grave has been preserved, and a terrible stench emanates from it.

Since then, strife has ceased in the Russian land. Yaroslav became the Grand Duke. He found Gleb's body and buried him in Vyshgorod, next to his brother. Gleb's body turned out to be incorrupt.

Many miracles began to emanate from the relics of the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb: the blind received their sight, the lame walked, the hunchbacked straightened. And in those places where the brothers were killed, churches were created in their name.

Holy Blessed Passion-Bearing Princes BORIS and GLEB (†1015)

The holy noble princes-passion-bearers Boris and Gleb (in Holy Baptism - Roman and David) are the first Russian saints canonized by both the Russian and Constantinople Churches.They were the youngest sons of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (+ July 15, 1015).

Vladimir had twelve sons from different wives. Vladimir's older children did not live together and often fought with each other. They were born at a time when the prince was still trying to strengthen the pagan faith. Serious passions then boiled over. Svyatopolk was born from a Greek woman, a former nun, whom Vladimir took as his wife after his brother, who was dethroned by him. Yaroslav was born from Rogneda of Polotsk, whose father and brothers were killed by Vladimir. And then Rogneda herself tried to kill Vladimir, jealous of Anna of Byzantium.

Boris and Gleb were younger and were born around the years of the Baptism of Rus'. Their mother was from Volga Bulgaria. They were raised in Christian piety and loved each other. Boris was named Roman in holy baptism, Gleb - David. It often happened that Boris was reading some book - usually the lives or torments of saints - and Gleb sat next to him and listened attentively, and so Gleb remained persistently near his brother, because he was still small.

When his sons began to grow up, Vladimir entrusted them with the management of the territories. Boris got Rostov, and Gleb got Murom. Gleb's reign in Murom was not easy. They say that the Murom pagans did not allow him into their city, and the prince had to live outside the city walls, in the suburbs.

Rus' in the 11th century.

However, Vladimir did not let Boris go to Rostov and kept him with him in Kyiv. He loved Boris more than his other sons, trusted him in everything and intended to transfer the great reign to him. Boris was married to Agnes, a Danish princess, and over time became famous as a brave and skillful warrior.

Shortly before his death, Grand Duke Vladimir called Boris to Kyiv and sent him with an army against the Pechenegs. Soon after Boris's departure, Vladimir died. This happened on July 15, 1015 in the village of Berestov, near Kyiv.

At this time, only Svyatopolk found himself in the capital, who was not slow to take advantage of his position and arbitrarily seized power in Kyiv, proclaiming himself the Grand Duke of Kyiv. He set out to quickly get rid of his rival brothers before they did anything.

Svyatopolk decided to hide his father's death. At night, on his orders, the platform in the princely mansion was dismantled. Vladimir's body was wrapped in a carpet and lowered on ropes to the ground, and then taken to Kyiv, to the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where they buried him without giving him due honors.

Boris, meanwhile, not finding the Pechenegs, turned back to Kyiv. The news of his father's death and Svyatopolk's reign in Kyiv found him on the banks of the small river Alta. The squad persuaded him to go to Kyiv and take the grand-ducal throne, but Saint Prince Boris, not wanting internecine strife, disbanded his army: “I will not raise my hand against my brother, and even against my elder, whom I should consider as my father!” Hearing this, the squad left him. So Boris remained on the Altinsky field with only a few of his servants.

Svyatopolk sent Boris a false message with an offer of friendship: “Brother, I want to live in love with you, and I’ll add more to what your father gave you!” He himself, in secret from everyone, sent hired killers, loyal boyars Putsha, Talets, Elovit (or Elovitch) and Lyashko, to kill Boris.

Saint Boris was informed of such treachery by Svyatopolk, but did not hide and, like the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity, readily met death.

Murder of Boris

The killers overtook him while he was praying for Matins on Sunday, July 24, 1015, in his tent on the banks of the Alta River. Like wild animals they attacked the saint and pierced his body. Boris's favorite servant, a certain Ugrin (Hungarian) named George, covered him with himself. He was immediately killed along with the prince and his head was cut off in order to remove from his neck a gold ornament - a hryvnia, which the prince had once given him as a sign of love and distinction.

However, Saint Boris was still alive. Coming out of the tent, he began to pray fervently, and then turned to the murderers: “Come, brothers, finish your service, and may there be peace to brother Svyatopolk and to you.”. At this time, one of the killers pierced him with a spear. His body was wrapped in a tent, placed on a cart and taken to Kyiv. There is a version that Boris was still breathing on the road and, having learned about this, Svyatopolk sent two Varangians to finish him off. Then one of them drew a sword and pierced him in the heart. Boris's body was brought secretly to Vyshgorod and buried in the Church of St. Basil. He was about 25 years old.

Prince Gleb of Murom was still alive. Svyatopolk decided to lure Gleb to Kyiv by cunning: Messengers were sent to Gleb with a request to come to Kyiv, since his father was seriously ill (for which Svyatopolk hid his father’s death). Gleb immediately mounted his horse and with a small squad rushed to the call. But he was overtaken by a messenger from his brother Yaroslav: “Don’t go to Kyiv: your father died, and your brother Boris was killed by Svyatopolk!”.

Deeply grieving, the holy prince chose death rather than war with his brother. Gleb’s meeting with the killers took place at the mouth of the Smyadyn River, not far from Smolensk. He turned to them with a touching plea to spare “the ear, not yet ripe, filled with the juice of goodness.” Then, remembering the words of the Lord, “Because of My name you will be betrayed by your brothers and relatives,” he entrusted his soul to Him. Gleb’s small squad, seeing the killers, lost heart. The leader, nicknamed Goryaser, mockingly ordered the cook who was with Gleb to kill the prince. He, “in the name of Torchin, took out a knife and slaughtered Gleb like an innocent lamb.” He was about 19 years old. His body was thrown on the shore, and so lay in obscurity, between two logs. But neither the beast nor the bird touched him. For a long time no one knew about it, but sometimes lit candles were seen in this place and church singing was heard. Only many years later, by order of Prince Yaroslav, it was moved to Vyshgorod and placed in the Church of St. Basil next to Boris. Later, Yaroslav the Wise built a stone five-domed Boris and Gleb Cathedral on this site, which soon became the family temple of the Yaroslavichs, a sanctuary of their love and loyalty, fraternal harmony and service to the Fatherland.

The noble passion-bearing princes did not want to raise their hands against their brother, but the Lord Himself took revenge on the power-hungry tyrant: “Vengeance is mine and I will repay” (Rom. 12:19).

Prince Yaroslav, having gathered an army of Novgorodians and Varangian mercenaries, moved to Kyiv and expelled Svyatopolk from Rus'.

The decisive battle between them took place in 1019 on the Alta River - at the very place where Saint Prince Boris was killed. According to the chroniclers, when the defeated Svyatopolk fled from the battlefield, illness attacked him, so that he weakened all over and could not even mount a horse, and was carried on a stretcher. Svyatopolk, named by the Russian people Damned, fled to Poland and, like the first fratricide Cain, he did not find peace and shelter anywhere and was overwhelmed by such fear that everywhere it seemed to him that he was being pursued, and he died outside his fatherland, “in some deserted place.” And a stench and stench emanated from his grave. “From that time,” writes the chronicler, “sedition died down in Rus'.”

Vladimir had other sons who died in the strife. Svyatoslav, Prince of Drevlyansky, was killed by Svyatopolk, but was not canonized because he joined the struggle for power and was going to bring the Hungarian army to the rescue. Another brother - the winner Yaroslav - went against his brother with weapons in his hands. But he is not cursed like Svyatopolk. No wonder Yaroslav had the nickname Wise. Through many years of labor, the construction of temples, and the adoption of laws, he deserved to be numbered among the noble princes, representing an example of an outstanding ruler.

From a rational point of view, the death of the holy brothers seems meaningless. They were not even martyrs for the faith in the true sense of the word. (The Church honors them as passion-bearers - this rank of holiness, by the way, is not known to the Byzantines).

The lives of the holy passion-bearers were sacrificed to the main Christian value - love. “Whoever says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother is a liar” (1 John 4:20). They accepted death as a sign of boundless love for Christ, in imitation of his agony on the cross. In the minds of the Russian people, with their martyrdom they seemed to atone for the sins of the entire Russian land, which until recently had been vegetating in paganism. Through their lives, wrote the outstanding Russian writer and historian G. P. Fedotov, “the image of the meek and suffering Savior entered the heart of the Russian people forever as its most cherished shrine.”

The holy brothers did something that in those days in Rus', accustomed to blood feud, was still new and incomprehensible; they showed: evil cannot be repaid with evil, even under the threat of death.

The impression of their act was so great that the whole earth recognized them as saints. This was a revolution from pagan consciousness (lust for power and profit) to Christianity (the achievement of a spiritual and moral ideal).

Holy noble princes-passion-bearers Boris and Gleb (Author - icon painter Viktor Morozov, also known as Izograph Morozov)

Boris and Gleb were the first saints canonized by the Russian Church. Even their father, Prince Vladimir, was canonized much later. They were honored in its then center - Constantinople, the icon of Boris and Gleb was in Sofia of Constantinople. Their lives were even included in the Armenian Menaions (books for reading for each month). Glorifying the saints, the legend dedicated to them says that they became helpers of the people of “all lands.”

There were at least three cities in Rus' with the name Borisoglebsk. It is unlikely that anyone would attempt to count the number of churches and monasteries consecrated to the glory of the holy noble princes Boris and Gleb. Saints Boris and Gleb are special patrons and defenders of the Russian land. In their name, innocent people were freed from their bonds, and sometimes bloody civil strife was stopped.

There are many known cases of their appearance in difficult times for our Fatherland, for example, on the eve of the battle on the Neva in 1240 (when St. Boris and Gleb appeared in a boat, among the rowers, “clothed in darkness,” with their hands on each other’s shoulders... “Brother Gleb,” said Boris, tell him to row, so we can help our relative Alexander.”), or on the eve of the great Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 (when the holy brothers appeared in a cloud, holding candles and naked swords in their hands, saying to the Tatar governors: “Who ordered you to destroy our fatherland, given to us by the Lord?” and they began to flog the enemies, so none of them survived).

The names Boris and Gleb, as well as Roman and David, were favorites among many generations of Russian princes. Oleg Gorislavich's brothers were named Roman (+ 1079), Gleb (+ 1078), Davyd (+ 1123), one of his sons was named Gleb (+ 1138). Monomakh had sons Roman and Gleb, Yuri Dolgoruky had Boris and Gleb, Saint Rostislav of Smolensk had Boris and Gleb, Saint Andrei Bogolyubsky had the holy blessed Gleb (+ 1174), Vsevolod the Big Nest had Boris and Gleb. Among the sons of Vseslav of Polotsk (+ 1101) there is a full set of “Borisogleb” names: Roman, Gleb, David, Boris.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

for the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills

Prayer to the noble princes Boris and Gleb
About the sacred duo, the beautiful brethren, the virtuous passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, who from their youth served Christ with faith, purity and love, and adorned themselves with their blood like scarlet, and now reign with Christ! Do not forget us who are on earth, but, like a warm intercessor, with your strong intercession before Christ God, save the young in holy faith and purity undamaged from every pretext of unbelief and uncleanness, protect us all from all sorrow, bitterness and vain death, tame all enmity and malice, erected by the action of the devil from neighbors and strangers. We pray to you, Christ-loving passion-bearers, ask the Great-Gift Master for forgiveness of our sins, unanimity and health, deliverance from the invasion of foreigners, internecine warfare, plagues and famine. Provide your intercession to our country and to all who honor your holy memory, forever and ever. A min.

Troparion, tone 4
Today the depths of the church are expanding, / accepting the riches of God’s grace, / the Russian cathedrals are rejoicing, / seeing the glorious miracles, / even work for those who come to you by faith, / holy wonderworkers Boris and Gleb, // pray to Christ God that he may save our souls.

Troparion, tone 2
Truthful passion-bearers and listeners of the true Gospel of Christ, chaste Romance with beloved David, not resisting the enemy of the present brother who kills your body, but I cannot touch your souls: let the evil power-hungry weep, but you rejoice with the faces of the angels, the upcoming Holy Trinity, pray for the power of your relatives to be pleasing to God, and for your Russian sons to be saved.

Kontakion, tone 4
Appear today in the country of Russia / the grace of healing / to all you blessed ones / who come and cry: // rejoice, warm intercessors.

Innocently killed Boris and Gleb They did not manage to accomplish any military or spiritual feats, nor did they live a long pious life. Why were they the first in Rus' to be ranked among the heavenly army?

Biography

Historians know little about the younger sons of Vladimir the Baptist. Boris and Gleb (baptized Roman and David, respectively) were sons Prince of Kyiv from the Byzantine princess Anna from the Macedonian dynasty. As soon as the boys grew up, Vladimir gave each one a city as an inheritance: Boris - Rostov, and Gleb - Murom.

It is difficult to judge what the princes looked like; however, a description of Boris’s appearance has been preserved, but written down half a century after his death. “The Legend of Boris and Gleb” says that the young man was “handsome in body, tall, round in face, broad shoulders, thin in the waist, kind in his eyes, cheerful in face.”

It is impossible to find such meager information about Gleb; one can only trust one’s imagination or iconographic tradition, which depicts Gleb as very young, long-haired and beardless. That's all that has survived to this day about the two young princes. As if they did not stand out in any way among Vladimir’s other offspring.

It should be noted that Prince Red Sun was a father of many children, from different wives he had several sons: Vysheslav from the Scandinavian Olova, Svyatopolk (by blood - the son of Yaropolk’s brother killed by Vladimir), Izyaslav, Yaroslav and Vsevolod - from Yaropolk’s wife captured by the prince after fratricide Rogneda, Mstislav, Stanislav and Sudislav from Adelya, Svyatoslav from the “Czech woman” Malfrida, Pozvizd, whose mother is unknown, and the children of Anna of Byzantium Boris and Gleb.

It is almost impossible to count the daughters, who were almost never written about in the chronicles, and the illegitimate children from many concubines.

Vysheslav and Izyaslav died before my father, Svyatopolk and Yaroslav rebelled against his power (Yaroslav, for example, refused to give the tribute collected in Novgorod), and Vladimir turned his attention to his younger sons - Boris and Gleb.

Firstly, they were the only of his sons born in Christianity, that is, in the opinion of the Baptist, his most legitimate children. Secondly, the blood of the Byzantine basileus flowed in them, who at that time still remained a model and authority for Russian rulers. And finally, thirdly, the younger ones were, apparently, the most obedient of the princes and could continue their father’s policies after his death.

According to fragmentary chronicles, Vladimir kept Boris with him, thinking of transferring the great reign to him, and even subordinated his squad to him. However, by the time of the death of his parent, Boris went on a campaign against the Pechenegs, and Gleb remained in his inheritance - Murom.

Canonical murder story

It is surprising that with such an abundance of sons, Vladimir did not make formal orders about the heir. He probably shared the common belief of many rulers: he believed that he would rule forever. But the hour of death also came for him, and after his death the question arose: who will become the prince of Kyiv, the main one on Russian soil?

The official history of further events says the following. Since Vladimir’s two sons had already died by 1015, there were two real contenders for the Kiev table: Svyatopolk, married to the daughter of the Polish prince Boleslav, and Yaroslav (then not the Wise, but the Lame), who had the Swedish king Olaf as his father-in-law.

Yaroslav was holed up in the Novgorod inheritance, and Svyatopolk was in Kyiv, so he took power into his own hands. However, according to the chronicle legend, he did not rest on this, but decided to physically eliminate all other contenders for the great reign.

Boris at that time was in a hurry home from an unsuccessful military campaign, but did not have time to find his father alive - he received the news of Vladimir’s death when he stopped camp on the Alta River. The squad, who trusted the young prince, began to persuade him to go to Kyiv and take power. This evidence once again proves that Boris was considered as his father's heir. But the chronicle reports that he did not succumb to the persuasion of the soldiers, and answered them:

I will not raise my hand against my elder brother: if my father died, then let this one be my father instead.

The decision was truly Christian and supported the strength of family ties, but the squad did not agree with it and left for Kyiv. Boris remained only with his nearby youths, which Svyatopolk took advantage of. He sent assassins to Alta, and they carried out their dirty deed without meeting any resistance.

Boris sang psalms and did not think of saving himself, only his old Hungarian servant tried to shield the prince with his body from the spears of the conspirators. Boris's body was transported to Vyshgorod and hastily buried near the Church of St. Basil.

Having got rid of one rival, Svyatopolk set about another brother - Gleb. Chroniclers believe that he not only wanted to destroy another contender for the throne, but also feared revenge from the half-relative of Boris, who he killed.

Gleb received news from Svyatopolk about the death of his father and went to Kyiv, but stopped near Smolensk, where he was found by a second message - from Yaroslav.

It should be noted that the route from Murom to Kyiv itself passes away from Smolensk, and how Gleb ended up there is another mystery of this story. But one way or another, Yaroslav’s letter, reporting a threat to his life, according to the chronicler’s story, found the prince there.

The killers also found him there, and none of his youths, who were strictly forbidden to use weapons, could prevent the crime. Gleb was buried right at the scene of the murder, in a simple coffin made of hollowed out wood.

While the fratricidal strife lasted, Yaroslav gathered 40,000 militia and 1,000 Varangian mercenaries in Novgorod under the leadership of Earl Eymund, moved to Kyiv and expelled Svyatopolk from there, who fled to Poland.

By order of Yaroslav, Gleb’s body was found and transported to Vyshgorod, where it was buried next to Boris.

From that moment on, the dead princes ceased to be just young men killed in the struggle for power, they became a lesson for anyone starting a fratricidal massacre.

Yaroslav did everything to make the memory of them sacred, but to this day historians habitually call Svyatopolk the Accursed. But did he really give the order to kill Boris and Gleb?

Other versions

Along with the traditional hypothesis about the murder of the princes, there is another one, and in it the murderer is the “positive” Yaroslav, who eventually occupied the Kiev table. One of the arguments in favor of this version is explained by ordinary logic.

As is known from chronicle sources, the younger Vladimirovichs supported Svyatopolk in his claims to the throne and resolutely refused to take up arms against him.

Because of his peacekeeping position, Boris even lost power over his squad, which immediately defected to the winner. Of course, it would be more than strange for Svyatopolk to kill his allies.

Another argument accusing Yaroslav is contained in the Scandinavian “Eymund’s Saga”. The jarl was Yaroslav's military leader back in Novgorod. The saga tells how Eymund was hired in Holmgard (Novgorod) to serve King Yarisleif (Yaroslav) and how he fought for power in Gardarik (Rus) with another king Burisleif (Boris).

In the saga of Boris, the Varangians take his life on the orders of Yaroslav, and Eymund brings him in a sack a terrible proof of the work done - Boris's head. Then, the saga says, “all the people in the country went under the hand of Yarisleif and swore oaths, and he became king over the principality that they had previously held together.”

There are also several indirect evidence of Yaroslav's guilt. His ability to get rid of his rivals is confirmed by the 23-year imprisonment of another Vladimirovich in the Kiev prison - the Pskov prince Sudislav.

He was kept in prison by none other than Yaroslav. In addition, Yaroslav, who canonized Boris and Gleb and did so much to glorify their memory, did not name any of his children by their secular or baptismal names.

It would have been more than natural to give children heavenly patrons of their own brothers, but this did not happen. But one of the grandsons of the Kyiv prince bore the name Svyatopolk, which could not have happened if it was the name of the fratricide, the “Russian Cain.”

Both the canonical and the scientific community have supporters in the scientific community. alternative versions. Unfortunately, conclusive evidence of none of them has been found to date.

Long memory

In Russian Orthodoxy, Boris and Gleb occupy a place of honor. Believers honor them as passion-bearers who accepted death from a relative and at the moment of death showed truly Christian gentleness and non-resistance to violence, but they were also canonized because of the miracles performed by the prayers of believers with their holy relics.

On the pages of the “Tale” the blind received their sight, the lame and crippled were healed, repentant sinners were released from prison through prayer, and all these miracles were performed by the holy princes Boris and Gleb.

Later, the martyred brothers also became intercessors of the Russian army in difficult battles: they helped Alexander in the Battle of Neva, Rurik Rostislavich in the battle with Khan Konchak, Dmitry Donskoy in the Battle of Kulikovo.

The merit of Boris and Gleb in the political history of Rus' was no less great. It was not for nothing that Yaroslav was nicknamed the Wise: he used the death of his younger brothers to strengthen the state unity of the country based on the strict fulfillment of the feudal duties of older and younger brothers in relation to each other.

Anna NOVGORODTSEVA

AND The lives of the first Russian saints, the passion-bearing princes Boris and Gleb, are especially loved by our people. Many generations of our ancestors were raised on them. Reading the touching story about the young princes who wished to share the suffering of Christ and voluntarily accepted death at the hands of murderers, the Russian people learned to accept the will of God, whatever it may be, and cultivated in their hearts the seeds of humility and obedience.

However, the historical outline of the events of that time is also interesting, which makes it possible to imagine the situation in which the characters were formed that gave us this great example. We offer our readers an article by historian D. V. Donskoy, who deals with the period Ancient Rus' and compiled the “Dictionary of Russian Rurik Princes”.

The holy princes of Ancient Rus', primarily the princes from the Rurik family, constitute a special, very numerous rank of saints of the Russian Church. Until the end of the 15th century, more than a hundred princes and princesses were canonized for general or local veneration. These are princes equal to the apostles, monks, passion-bearers and princes, glorified by their public service. The passion-bearing princes Boris and Gleb were not the first saints of the Russian land, but they are the first saints canonized by the Russian Church. The main sources of information about their life and veneration are preserved in Russian chronicles, hagiographic works and various liturgical monuments.

Let's turn to historical realities. The beginning of the first decade of the 11th century, the reign of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Baptist of Rus', is coming to an end. He steers with a firm hand the political ship of the Russian state, which occupies an important place in the system of interstate relations of that time. The chronicler emphasizes the friendly nature of relations between Rus' and its western neighbors: “with Boleslav Lyadsky and with Stefan Ougrsky and with Andrichom Cheshsky.” However, the Grand Duke is concerned about his internal family affairs.

At the end of his life, seventy-year-old Vladimir Svyatoslavich had eleven relatives and one adopted son from different wives; The prince had fourteen daughters. The two eldest sons - Svyatopolk (adopted; † 1019) and Yaroslav († 1054), having matured, try to pursue their own policies. This greatly worries the Grand Duke, who, despite his father’s feelings, deals harshly and even cruelly with troublemakers.

Murderers at the tent of Prince Boris
(up); murder of Prince Boris
and Georgiy Ugrin (below).
Miniature from Silvestrovsky
collection 2nd half of the 14th century

The first, Svyatopolk, on suspicion of conspiracy and an attempt on the power of his father, was imprisoned with his wife (daughter of the Polish prince Boleslav I the Brave from the Piast dynasty) and her confessor, Bishop of Kołobrzeg Reinburn. The second, Yaroslav, who reigned in Veliky Novgorod from 1010 after the death of his elder brother Vysheslav, in 1014 refused to transfer the usual tribute of two thousand hryvnia to Kyiv. The Grand Duke perceives this as open rebellion and announces his intention to go to war against his son. In turn, Yaroslav, “fearing his father,” brings Varangian squads from overseas.

The confrontation between sons and father ended with his death, which followed on July 15, 1015 at the princely residence in the village of Berestovo near Kiev. The body of the Grand Duke, wrapped in a carpet and, in accordance with custom, placed on a sleigh, according to the chronicles, is transported to Kyiv. Here the Grand Duke is buried in the stone Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Tithe), to which he generously donated throughout his life. According to the testimony of the German chronicler, Bishop Thietmar of Merseburg, the marble sarcophagus of the Grand Duke stood “in plain sight in the middle of the temple.”

After the death of his father, Prince Svyatopolk, as the eldest in the family, is released from prison and takes the Kiev table, contrary to the plans of his stepfather, who intended Boris, one of his younger sons, to be his heir. Svyatopolk, by distributing generous gifts, tries to win over the residents of Kyiv to his side, and then he begins a bloody struggle against his half-brothers, the Vladimirovichs.

Now let's turn to the brothers Boris and Gleb. The following is known about them. Boris (baptized Roman) Vladimirovich is the ninth son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich and a certain princess, “Bulgarian”. According to the Tver collection, compiled in 1534, he and his brother Gleb were the sons of another wife of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich - Anna, daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Roman II (from the Macedonian dynasty; † 963). According to non-chronicle data, their mother's name was Milolika.

Boris's date and place of birth are unknown; he was baptized in honor of the Venerable Roman the Sweet Singer. As a child, Boris was very friendly with his younger brother Gleb (baptized David, in honor of the prophet David). The date and place of birth of Gleb are also unknown.

Boris, taught to read and write, reads the lives of the saints, praying to God to “walk in their footsteps.” The brothers love to give alms, following the example of their father, whose love of poverty is repeatedly reported in the chronicle. Boris also shows this same mercy and meekness when reigning in his volost, where Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich sends him, already married (“for the sake of the Tsar’s law and obedience for the sake of his father”).

First, the prince was planted by his father in Vladimir-Volynsky (on the right bank of the Luga, the right tributary of the Western Bug), where Boris lives after his marriage. Then, according to non-chronicle data, he owns Murom (on the left bank of the Oka), but is located in Kyiv. And finally, from 1010, the Grand Duke transferred his son to reign in Rostov (on the northwestern shore of Lake Nero). Gleb has reigned in Murom since that time.

In the spring of 1015, Boris is in Kyiv near his dying father, because “we love our father more than anyone else.” The Grand Duke sends him at the head of an army of eight thousand to repel the attack of the Pechenegs. Historical sources they preserved a portrait of Prince Boris, a real warrior, who “had a tall, handsome body, a great face with round shoulders, a good man in the loins, a cheerful face, a small beard and a mustache, still young.”

Having not met any enemies, Boris turns back and at a distance of one day's journey to Kyiv, on the Alta River (the right tributary of Trubezh, near the city of Pereyaslavl-Russky), having set up a camp, he learns from the messenger about the death of his father. He is seized by a premonition that his elder brother Svyatopolk, who by right of eldest sat on the Kiev table, is seeking to destroy him. But in the name of brotherly love, fulfilling the commandments of Christ, Boris decides to submit to his brother and accept the crown of martyrdom, for power and wealth are transitory. The governors from his entourage, on the contrary, advise him to go to Kyiv, start a fight with his older brother for the Kiev table and become a Grand Duke. But Boris refuses, not wanting to “lay hands on his elder brother.” The squad leaves him and probably goes over to Svyatopolk’s side, and Boris is left alone, only with his people: “and then it was the Sabbath day.”

Varangians pierce the heart with a sword
Prince Boris (above); prince's coffin
Boris is carried to burial (below)

In his tent on the river bank, the prince spends the night in prayer on the eve of his death, then prays for Matins. On Sunday, July 24, he is overtaken by assassins, Vyshgorod “Bolyarets” led by a certain Putsha, sent by Svyatopolk. The killers burst into the tent and pierce Boris with spears. His faithful servant, Georgy, “was born Ugrin (Hungarian - Note auto)”, who tried to cover the prince with himself, was killed on his chest. Having wrapped Boris's body in a tent, the villains put him on a cart and take him to Kyiv. On the way, it turns out that Boris is still breathing, and two Varangians, Eymund and Ragnar, finish him off with swords. Prince Putsch's hat and the other murderers present Svyatopolk as proof of the crime.

Prince Boris is buried in Vyshgorod, 15 versts north of Kyiv, near the wooden church of St. Basil the Great, since the people of Kiev, for obvious reasons, fearing his half-brother Svyatopolk, “did not receive him.”

Having dealt with Boris, Svyatopolk, whose depth of fall knows no limits, decides to commit a second murder - his brother Gleb. Fear of revenge on the part of the surviving brothers, primarily Yaroslav, fear for their throne and not last resort the audacity of despair pushes him to this new crime.

Svyatopolk sends a messenger to Gleb to deceive him into Kyiv: “Go ahead and call your father, you won’t fight him.”

According to the chronicle and the anonymous “Tale of the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb,” the prince travels by water, along the Volga and Dnieper, from your volost, from Murom to Kyiv. Having reached Smolensk “in a boat” and sailed about three miles downstream, Gleb moored to the left bank of the Smyadyn River (now dried up) at its confluence with the Dnieper. Unexpectedly, he receives news from Veliky Novgorod, from his brother Yaroslav, with a warning about an assassination attempt on him. This news does not stop him - he does not want to believe in the villainy of his brother Svyatopolk.

According to another version of events, according to the Venerable Nestor the Chronicler, the author of “Reading on the Life and Destruction of... Boris and Gleb,” at the time of his father’s death, Gleb is in Kiev and flees to the north (“the holy gate that exists elsewhere”), fleeing from Svyatopolk . He sets sail on a ship, sails to Smolensk (but only from the south) and also stops at Smyadyn.

On Monday, September 5, the killers sent from Svyatopolk arrive. They capture the ship of Prince Gleb, and the warrior Goryaser, the messenger of the fratricide Svyatopolk, orders one of Gleb’s men, a traitor cook, to characteristic name Torchin (that is, from the Torks, a Turkic nomadic tribe. - Note auto) to kill his prince. The prince's body is buried on the shore "between the two decks", that is, according to a simple peasant custom - in hollowed out logs, and not according to a prince - in a stone sarcophagus.

The killers are waiting for Prince Gleb
(up); murder of Prince Gleb (below)

At the end of the same year or the beginning of the next year, 1016, the noble prince Yaroslav the Wise, having gathered a large army of a thousand Varangians and three thousand Novgorodians, goes against Svyatopolk, burning with the desire to avenge his innocent brothers. The mayor Konstantin Dobrynich (died after 1034) remains in Veliky Novgorod.

Svyatopolk, having learned about the approach of Yaroslav, in turn, attracts the Pechenegs to his side. The troops meet near the city of Lyubech (on the left bank of the Dnieper) and, separated by the river, wait for three months, not daring to start a battle. On the eve of the battle, Yaroslav receives news from his informant that Svyatopolk is carousing with his squad. He crosses the river to the right bank and unexpectedly attacks the enemy. Due to the fact that the lakes covering Svyatopolk's position are covered thin ice, the Pechenegs cannot help him. Svyatopolk suffers a crushing defeat and flees to Poland to his father-in-law, Prince Boleslav I, and his wife is captured by Yaroslav. And then Yaroslav was 28 years old, the chronicler notes.

In the spring of 1016, Yaroslav entered Kyiv and took his father's throne. In 1017, he entered into an alliance with the German Emperor Henry II against Svyatopolk and Boleslav the Brave. In the same year goes by to the city of Berestye (on the right bank of the Bug), where, according to some sources, Svyatopolk established himself. Then he defeats the Pechenegs who approached Kyiv.

In the summer of 1018, the army of the Polish prince Boleslav, joined by Svyatopolk, invaded Rus' and on July 22 defeated Yaroslav on the Bug River. Yaroslav, with only four men, flees to Veliky Novgorod, intending to further “flee overseas”, but the Novgorod mayor Konstantin Dobrynich prevents him, and the Novgorodians “cut open” his boats.

Wanting to continue the war with Boleslav and Svyatopolk, the Novgorodians collect money and hire a large army. Meanwhile, on August 14, Yaroslav’s opponents entered Kyiv. Boleslav the Brave sends Metropolitan John I of Kyiv († around 1038) to Veliky Novgorod with a proposal to exchange his daughter, who is in captivity, for Yaroslav’s relatives captured during hostilities. The story of Merseburg Bishop Thietmar clarifies their composition: “There was the stepmother of the mentioned king (the widow of Yaroslav’s father, her exact origin is unknown. - Note auto), his wife (her name Anna is known from later sources of the 16th century. - Note auto) and nine sisters; one of them, Predslava, whom he had lawlessly sought before, forgetting about his wife, was married by the old libertine Boleslav.” Yaroslav refuses this proposal and at the same time sends an embassy to Sweden to the Swedish king Olav Shotkonung († 1022) with a proposal to create an anti-Polish military alliance.

Construction of a five-domed church
(up); transfer of holy relics
to the newly built church (below)

Meanwhile, in the autumn of the same year, a quarrel occurs between Boleslav and Svyatopolk. Boleslav leaves Kyiv, taking with him the stolen goods, as well as the boyars Yaroslav and his sisters. At the beginning of 1019, Yaroslav sets out from Veliky Novgorod. Having learned of his approach, Svyatopolk flees from Kyiv to the Pechenegs, and Yaroslav again occupies the Kiev table.

In the same year, Svyatopolk, together with a large Pecheneg army, goes to Rus'. In the decisive battle on the Alta River, the site of the death of brother Boris, Yaroslav wins complete victory. His opponent runs to Berest and soon dies a terrible death, which he deserves according to all laws of God and man. Yaroslav, according to the chronicler, “to Kiev wiped off the sweat with his retinue, showing victory and great labor.”

Presumably in the summer of 1019, the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav begins to collect information about the place of death of his brother Gleb. “In one summer (in 1020 - Note auto)" various witnesses report light and radiance at the murder scene on the Smyadyn River. Then Yaroslav sends priests to Smolensk with instructions to find Gleb’s body; Upon discovery, Gleb’s body is transported to Vyshgorod and buried next to the grave of brother Boris at the Church of St. Basil, built by the father of the passion-bearers.

One day, at the burial site of the brothers, parishioners see a “pillar of fire” over the grave of the saints and hear “singing angels,” and then two incidents occur that became the beginning of the people’s veneration of the passion-bearing princes. One of the Varangians “entered” out of ignorance into the holy place where the princes were buried, then fire burst out of the grave and scorched the feet of the one who unintentionally desecrated the holy place. Then the second sign occurs: the Church of St. Basil, next to which the graves were located, burns down, but the icons and all church utensils are saved. This is perceived as a sign of the intercession of the passion-bearers.

The incident is reported to Yaroslav, who informs Metropolitan John I about it. The Bishop remains “in disbelief,” wondering whether this revelation can be trusted. And finally, the metropolitan comes in “dream and joy,” having believed in a miracle. Yaroslav and the Metropolitan decide to open the princely tombs.

In Vyshgorod, where the burnt church stood, a small wooden chapel (“cage”) is being built, the crayfish is solemnly opened, the recovered relics, which remain incorrupt, exude a fragrance. The coffins are brought “into that temple... and I placed them above the ground on the right side of the country.”

Soon two new miracles occur: the lame youth of the city manager named Mironeg is healed after calling upon the saints, and then the same thing happens to a certain blind man. Mironeg himself reports these miracles to the Grand Duke, who reports them to the Metropolitan. The Metropolitan gives the prince the “good thing to please God”: to build a church in the name of the saints (“reward the church’s name with it”), which is what is being done. Then the relics from the “cage”, where they still rested, are transferred to the newly built five-roofed church and installed there. The day of their transfer, July 24, which coincides with the anniversary of the death of Boris, is declared a day of general memory of the princes and is included in church calendar. On the occasion of the holiday, the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav throws a feast.

Before us detailed story about the canonization of saints in all its stages, which is rare in Byzantine and Old Russian literature. After the first miraculous signs (fire from the grave, the fire of the church, in which its decoration and utensils were not damaged), which, due to their ambiguous nature, could not immediately be unconditionally attributed to genuine miracles, the assumption arises whether Boris and Gleb are saints. On this basis, the relics are raised and exhibited for local veneration, permitted by the Church, but not yet officially established.

After some time and two subsequent healing miracles, documented in detail and earning the trust of the Metropolitan, the latter, together with the Grand Duke, decides on canonization. In pursuance of this decision, a church was built in the name of the saints, an annual holiday was established and a service to the passion-bearers was compiled, which was either the personal work of Metropolitan John I, or the work of an unknown author who worked on the orders of the Bishop.

It remains to clarify the chronological detail - the year of canonization of the holy princes Boris and Gleb. According to the testimony of St. Nestor the Chronicler, the healing of the lame man takes place in the presence of Metropolitan John I and Grand Duke Yaroslav. Therefore, the miracle should be dated at the latest to 1039< . Поскольку акт перенесения мощей был совмещен с актом канонизации и приходился на праздничный день, на воскресенье, следует выяснить, на какие годы падает соотношение «24 июля - воскресенье» в период от середины 20-х до конца 30-х годов XI века. Julian calendar tells us that such years were 1026 and 1037.

The choice in favor of the last date is obvious. Firstly, the year 1026 is too close to the events associated with the discovery of the remains and the beginning of the veneration of the holy princes Boris and Gleb. Secondly, it should be borne in mind that only after 1036, when with death younger brother Mstislav (ruler of the eastern Dnieper region and the Left Bank) and the imprisonment of another younger brother, the Pskov prince Sudislav, Yaroslav became the “autocrat” of the entire Russian land (excluding the Principality of Polotsk). At the same time, the establishment in Kyiv of a special metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (“metropolis of the statute”), the opening of which was achieved by the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise. The canonization of the holy passion-bearing princes was supposed to strengthen the independent position of the Russian Church.

So, we can definitely conclude that the holy princes Boris and Gleb were canonized under the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise and Metropolitan of Kiev John I, on Sunday, July 24, 1037 in the Kiev diocese (first stage).

The subsequent fate of the brothers' holy relics is also of considerable interest: they were transferred twice more, both times on Sunday and in May.

After the death of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Yaroslav the Wise, veneration of the holy passion-bearers grew. Their new reburial occurs in 1072, when their nephews, princes Izyaslav (at that time Grand Duke of Kiev; † 1079), Svyatoslav († 1076) and Vsevolod († 1093) Yaroslavich, as well as Russian hierarchs led by Metropolitan George († after 1073) on Sunday, May 20, the remains of the holy brothers are transferred to the new one-domed church. This church was built at the expense of the Grand Duke on the site of the former five-domed one, which was already dilapidated.

Transfer of the relics of Prince Boris
(up); transfer of relics
Prince Gleb (below)

The princes carry Boris’s wooden coffin on their shoulders, and then in the church they transfer the relics into a stone sarcophagus. Then a stone sarcophagus with the relics of Gleb is brought on a sleigh. At the opening of the tombs of the holy princes, the Metropolitan blesses the three brother princes with the hand of Saint Gleb. Then the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, after which a feast is held.

From that time on, the process of all-Russian glorification of the holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb began (the second stage of canonization).

It should be noted that when Boris’s coffin was first opened and the church was filled with the fragrance of the relics (an important fact during the canonization that had already taken place), Metropolitan George, being “not firm in his faith,” fell on his face and began to pray and ask for forgiveness: “ Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned in disbelief towards your saints.”

It should be clarified here that the Greek Metropolitan’s doubts were quite natural. Boris and Gleb are precisely passion-bearers, participants in the passion of Christ, and not martyrs for the faith (the canonization of the princes required additional approval from Constantinople).

The princes fell victims of a political crime, died in princely strife, like many before and after them. At the same time, the third brother, Svyatoslav, fell at the hands of Svyatopolk in the fall of the same year, about whose canonization there was no talk. However, the motives of the holy brothers were completely different, unprecedented in Rus': they sought to act according to the word of Christ, to preserve peace by their death.

Let us also note that almost all the saints of the Greek calendar are among the martyrs for the faith, venerables (ascetic ascetics) and saints (bishops). Laymen in the rank of “righteous” are extremely rare. We must remember this in order to understand the exceptional nature of the canonization of princes killed in civil strife, and, moreover, the first canonization in the new Church, which until quite recently cared for the pagan people.

At the end of the 11th century, the spread of veneration of the holy princes Boris and Gleb became so widespread that “the grace from God in this country of Russia to sling and heal every passion and illness” prompted the Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatoslav Yaroslavich to begin building a stone church “80 cubits” high. Construction was completed shortly before the death of the next Grand Duke, Vsevolod, but after the sudden collapse of the church dome, “there was oblivion about this church” for some time.

Heavenly intercession of the saints
princes Boris and Gleb in battle
Russian troops with the Pechenegs

In 1102, attention to the shrine was attracted by a new generation of princes: the great-nephew of the holy passion-bearers, Prince Oleg Svyatoslavich of Chernigov († 1115), took upon himself the work of erecting a new stone church in Vyshgorod, while another great-nephew, Pereyaslavsky (at that time time) Prince Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh († 1125), ordered the forging of silver boards with images of saints, built a fence of silver and gold for their relics, decorating it with crystal pendants, and installed gilded lamps. The tomb was so skillfully decorated that later pilgrims from Greece, who repeatedly visited the shrine, said: “Nowhere is there such beauty, although we have seen the shrines of saints in many countries.”

Finally, in 1113, the church in Vyshgorod was completed, but the then-ruling Grand Duke of Kiev Svyatopolk Izyaslavich († 1114), who was jealous of Prince Oleg of Chernigov that it was not he who erected the temple for the saints, did not consent to the transfer of the relics. And only after his death, when the Kiev throne was occupied by Vladimir Monomakh, on Saturday May 1, 1115 (in the year of the centenary of the death of the brothers) the newly built stone church was consecrated.

Boris and Gleb Church was one of the largest in pre-Mongol Rus'; it can be compared, for example, with the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov. The new cross-domed building, with a tower for climbing to the choir in the north-west corner, had a length along the west-east axis of 42 meters, with a small width of 24 meters.

The walls were made of brick using the “hidden row” masonry technique, the facades were decorated with arched niches with ledges, and the roof was covered with lead. The inside of the temple was painted with frescoes and paved with glazed tiles. Prince Vladimir Monomakh decorated (“forged with silver and gold”) niches. The temple stood until the end of 1240, when the army of Batu Khan ravaged Kyiv and neighboring cities. Mentions of him in chronicles after Tatar-Mongol invasion disappear. The relics of the holy passion-bearers were lost during those events.

On the Sunday of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, May 2, 1115, in the presence of Metropolitan Nikephoros I of Kyiv and All Rus' († 1121), a council of bishops, abbots, princes and boyars, a solemn transfer of the relics took place to the new stone cathedral. The procession took place in front of a huge crowd of people, so that the shrines with relics moved forward with great difficulty. The ropes (“snakes”) on which the sleigh with crayfish were pulled could not stand it and were continuously torn, so that their transportation took place from Matins to the Liturgy. The brought crayfish were left at the entrance to the church and remained there until May 4, so that during these two days people could venerate the relics of the holy passion-bearers.

After the shrines were brought into the temple, no place was chosen for them, as a dispute arose between the princes. Vladimir Monomakh wanted to place the remains in the middle of the temple “and place a tower of silver over it,” while Oleg and his brother David († 1123) wanted to place them “in a mosquito (an arched crypt for burial. - Note auto), where my father... designated (Grand Duke Svyatoslav Yaroslavich 40 years ago. - Note auto)". The dispute between the princes was decided by the lot cast on the throne in favor of the Svyatoslavichs.

Over the following centuries, the veneration of the holy princes Boris and Gleb as assistants to the Russian princes and defenders of the Russian Land constantly increased. Their miraculous help and intercession was manifested in the fight against the Polovtsians and Pechenegs (11th century), then before the Battle of the Neva (1240), when Saints Boris and Gleb appeared in a boat, among the rowers, “clothed with darkness,” placing their hands on each other’s shoulders. “Brother Gleb,” Boris said then, “let us row, so we can help our relative Oleksandr” (Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky; † 1263). The victory on Lake Peipus (1242) was also won by “the holy martyr Boris and Gleb... with great prayers,” their prayerful help appeared during the capture of the Swedish fortress of Landskrona at the mouth of the Neva by the Novgorod army (1301), during the uprising in Tver (1327) at Prince Alexander Mikhailovich († 1339), who raised the holy Russian kings Boris and Gleb against the Tatars “with the newly revealed prayer”

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