Olga(Church Slavonic:Ольга;[3][a]Old Norse:Helga;[4]c. 890–925– 11 July 969)[5]was aregentofKievan Rus'for her sonSviatoslavfrom 945 until 957. Following her baptism, Olga took the nameElenа.[b]She is known for her subjugation of theDrevlians,a tribe that had killed her husbandIgor.Even though it was her grandsonVladimirwho adopted Christianity and made it the state religion,[7]she was the first ruler to be baptized.[8][9]


Olga of Kiev
Saint OlgabyMikhail Nesterov(1892)
Equal to the Apostles, Blessed Princess
Bornc.890–925
PleskovorVybuty[ru],Kievan Rus'
ResidenceKiev, Kievan Rus'
Died11 July 969
Kiev, Kievan Rus'
Venerated inEastern Orthodoxy
Roman Catholicism
CanonizedUnknown, possibly 1284.[1]
MajorshrineChurch of the Tithes
Feast11 July
AttributesCross and church
PatronageWidows,converts
Princess of Kiev
Reign945–957[2]
PredecessorIgor of Kiev
SuccessorSviatoslav the Brave
SpouseIgor of Kiev
IssueSviatoslav the Brave
DynastyRurik
ReligionChalcedonian Christianity
prev.Slavic pagan

Olga is venerated as asaintin theEastern Orthodox Churchwith the epithet "Equal to the Apostles".Herfeast dayis 11 July.[10]

Early life

While Olga's birthdate is unknown, it could be as early as 890 AD and as late as 925 AD.[11]According to thePrimary Chronicle,Olga was ofVarangian(Viking) origin and was born inPleskov.[12][13]Little is known about her life before her marriage to Prince Igor I of Kiev and the birth of their son, Sviatoslav.[citation needed]According toAlexey Karpov,a specialist in the history of ancient Russia, Olga was no more than 15 years old at the time of her marriage. Igor was the son and heir ofRurik,founder of theRurik dynasty.After his father's death, Igor was under the guardianship ofOleg,who had consolidated power in the region, conquering neighboring tribes and establishing a capital in Kiev.[14][15]This loose tribal federation became known as Kievan Rus', a territory covering what are now parts ofRussia,Ukraine,andBelarus.

TheDrevlianswere a neighboring tribe with which the growing Kievan Rus' empire had a complex relationship. The Drevlians had joined Kievan Rus' in military campaigns against theByzantine Empireand paidtributeto Igor's predecessors. They stopped paying tribute upon Oleg's death and instead gave money to a local warlord. In 945, Igor set out to the Drevlian capital,Iskorosten,to force the tribe to pay tribute to Kievan Rus'.[14]Confronted by Igor's larger army, the Drevlians backed down and paid him. As Igor and his army rode home, however, he decided the payment was not enough and returned, with only a small escort, seeking more tribute.[16]

Upon his arrival in their territory, the Drevlians murdered Igor. According to theByzantinechroniclerLeo the Deacon,Igor's death was caused by a gruesome act of torture in which he was "captured by them, tied to tree trunks, and torn in two."[17]D. Sullivan has suggested that Leo may have invented this sensationalist version of Igor's death, taking inspiration fromDiodorus Siculus' account of a similar killing method used by the robberSinis,who lived near theIsthmus of Corinthand was killed byTheseus.[17]

Regency

Thepersonal symbolsof Rurik, Igor, Olga and Svyatoslav.
Princess Olga meets the body of her husband.A sketch byVasily Surikov.

After Igor's death in 945, Olga ruledKievan Rus'as regent on behalf of their sonSviatoslav.[18]She was the first woman to rule Kievan Rus'.[19] Little is known about Olga's tenure as ruler of Kiev, but thePrimary Chronicledoes give an account of her accession to the throne and her bloody revenge on the Drevlians for the murder of her husband as well as some insight into her role as civil leader of the Kievan people.

According to archeologist Sergei Beletsky,KnyaginyaOlga, like all the other rulers beforeVladimir the Great,was also using thebidentas herpersonal symbol.[20]

Drevlian Uprising

RomanovImperial icon created in 1895 of Saint Olga. Silver, gold, color enamel, tempera. Collection V.Logvinenko

After Igor's death at the hands of the Drevlians, Olga assumed the throne because her three-year-old son Sviatoslav was too young to rule. The Drevlians, emboldened by their success in ambushing and killing the king, sent a messenger to Olga proposing that she marry his murderer,Prince Mal.Twenty Drevlian negotiators boated to Kiev to pass along their king's message and to ensure Olga's compliance. They arrived in her court and told the queen why they were in Kiev: "to report that they had slain her husband... and that Olga should come and marry their Prince Mal. "(line 6453).[21]Olga responded:

Your proposal is pleasing to me, indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people. Return now to your boat, and remain there with an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall say, "We will not ride on horses nor go on foot, carry us in our boat." And you shall be carried in your boat.[21]

When the Drevlians returned the next day, they waited outside Olga's court to receive the honor she had promised. When they repeated the words she had told them to say, the people of Kiev rose up, carrying the Drevlians in their boat. The ambassadors believed this was a great honor as if they were being carried bypalanquin.The people brought them into the court where they were dropped into a trench that had been dug the day before under Olga's orders where the ambassadors were buried alive. It is written that Olga bent down to watch them as they were buried and "inquired whether they found the honor to their taste."[21]

Olga then sent a message to the Drevlians that they should send "their distinguished men to her in Kiev, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor."[21]The Drevlians, unaware of the fate of the first diplomatic party, gathered another party of men to send "the best men who governed the land of Dereva."[21]When they arrived, Olga commanded her people to draw them a bath and invited the men to appear before her after they had bathed. When the Drevlians entered the bathhouse, Olga had it set on fire from the doors, so that all the Drevlians within burned to death.[21]

Olga sent another message to the Drevlians, this time ordering them to "prepare great quantities of mead in the city where you killed my husband, that I may weep over his grave and hold a funeral feast for him."[21]When Olga and a small group of attendants arrived at Igor's tomb, she did indeed weep and hold a funeral feast. The Drevlians sat down to join them and began to drink heavily. When the Drevlians were drunk, she ordered her followers to kill them, "and went about herself egging on her retinue to the massacre of the Drevlians."[21]According to thePrimary Chronicle,five thousand Drevlians were killed on this night, but Olga returned to Kiev to prepare an army to finish off the survivors.

The initial conflict between the armies of the two nations went very well for the forces of Kievan Rus', who won the battle handily and drove the survivors back into their cities. Olga then led her army to Iskorosten (what is todayKorosten), the city where her husband had been slain, and laid siege to the city. The siege lasted for a year without success when Olga thought of a plan to trick the Drevlians. She sent them a message: "Why do you persist in holding out? All your cities have surrendered to me and submitted to tribute, so that the inhabitants now cultivate their fields and their lands in peace. But you had rather die of hunger, without submitting to tribute." (line 6454).[22]

The Drevlians responded that they would submit to tribute, but that they were afraid she was still intent on avenging her husband. Olga answered that the murder of the messengers sent to Kiev, as well as the events of the feast night, had been enough for her. She then asked them for a small request: "Give me three pigeons... and three sparrows from each house. "[22]The Drevlians rejoiced at the prospect of the siege ending for so small a price, and did as she asked.

Olga then instructed her army to attach a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth to each bird. At nightfall, Olga told her soldiers to set the pieces aflame and release the birds. They returned to their nests within the city, which subsequently set the city ablaze. As thePrimary Chronicletells it: "There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught fire at once."[22]As the people fled the burning city, Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them, killing some of them and giving the others as slaves to her followers. She left the remnant to pay tribute.

Governance

Olga remainedregentruler of Kievan Rus' with the support of the army and her people. She changed the system of tribute gathering (poliudie) in the first legal reform recorded in Eastern Europe. She continued to evade proposals of marriage, defended the city during theSiege of Kievin 968, and saved the power of the throne for her son.

After her dramatic subjugation of the Drevlians, thePrimary Chroniclerecounts how Olga "passed through the land of Dereva, accompanied by her son and her retinue, establishing laws and tribute. Her trading posts and hunting-reserves are there still."[22]As queen, Olga established trading-posts and collected tribute along the Msta and the Luga rivers. She established hunting grounds, boundary posts, towns, and trading-posts across the empire. Olga's work helped to centralize state rule with these trade centers, calledpogosti,which served as administrative centers in addition to their mercantile roles. Olga's network ofpogostiwould prove important in the ethnic and cultural unification of the Rus' people, and her border posts began the establishment of national boundaries for the kingdom.

During her son's prolonged military campaigns, she remained in charge of Kiev, residing in the castle ofVyshgorodwith her grandsons.

Conversion

Statue of St Olga from theMillennium of Russiamonument

In the 950s, Olga traveled toConstantinople,the capital of the Byzantine Empire, to visit EmperorConstantine VII.[23]There are three primary sources about this event: a prescriptive account of formalities and etiquette inDe CeremoniisorBook of Ceremonies(c.950s, written or commissioned by Byzantine emperorConstantine VIIPorphyrogennetos inGreek), a brief passage in theSynopsis of Histories(writtenc.1070s by Byzantine historianJohn Skylitzesin Greek), and a long adventurous story in thePrimary Chronicle(compiled in Kievc.1110s inOld Church Slavonicby an unknown Rus' monk).[24]All three sources disagree on why Olga went to Constantinople, when, what happened there, and how it happened.[24]

According to theBook of Ceremonies

TheBook of Ceremoniesis concerned with etiquette at the Byzantine imperial court, describing all the formalities during ceremonies such as embassies, receptions and dinners, and uses various practical examples to illustrate established protocol.[25]Olga's visit is used as an example of how to receive a Rus' prince(ss), portraying her in a positive manner.[25]Olga's entourage consisted of various representatives of other Rus' princes, as wel as 43 merchants, and one priest named Gregory.[25]There is no mention of baptism, nor of her taking on the Christian name 'Helena', in theBook of Ceremonies.[25]

According to John Skylitzes'Synopsis of Histories

John Skylitzesrecorded only a very brief passage in chapter 11, section 6 of hisSynopsis of Histories:Olga 'came to Constantinople after her husband died. She was baptized and she demonstrated fervent devotion, then she went back home.'[26]Unlike theBook of Ceremonies,Olga is said to have been baptised in Constantinople and being devout, but not doing anything else.[26]

According to thePrimary Chronicle

Once in Constantinople, Olga converted to Christianity with the assistance of the Emperor and thePatriarchPolyeuctus.While thePrimary Chronicledoes not divulge Olga's motivation for her visit or conversion, it does go into great detail on the conversion process, in which she was baptized and instructed in the ways of Christianity.[c]

While thePrimary Chroniclenotes that Olga was christened with the name "Helena" after the ancientSaint Helena(the mother ofConstantine the Great), Jonathan Shepard argues that Olga's baptismal name comes from the contemporary emperor's wife, Helena.[27]The observation that Olga was "worthy to reign with him in his city" suggests that the emperor was interested in marrying her. While theChronicleexplains Constantine's desire to take Olga as his wife as stemming from the fact that she was "fair of countenance and wise as well," marrying Olga could certainly have helped him gain power over Rus'.[28]

TheChroniclerecounts that Olga asked the emperor to baptize her knowing that his baptismal sponsorship, by the rules of spiritual kinship, would make marriage between them a kind of spiritual incest.[28]Though her desire to become Christian may have been genuine, this request was also a way for her to maintain political independence. After the baptism, when Constantine repeated his marriage proposal, Olga answered that she could not marry him since church law forbade a goddaughter to marry her godfather.[d]

Interpretation of the sources

Francis Butler argues that the story of the proposal was a literary embellishment, describing an event that is highly unlikely to have ever actually occurred.[29]In fact, at the time of her baptism, Constantine already had an empress. In addition to uncertainty over the truth of theChronicle'stelling of events in Constantinople, there is controversy over the details of her conversion to Christianity.[30]According to Church Slavonic sources, she was baptized in Constantinople in 957. Byzantine sources, however, indicate that she was a Christian prior to her 957 visit.[31]

It seems likely that she was baptized in Kiev around 955 and, following a second christening in Constantinople, took the Christian name Helen. Olga was not the first person from Rus' to convert from her pagan ways—there were Christians in Igor's court who had taken oaths at the St. Elias Church in Kiev for theRus'–Byzantine Treatyin 945—but she was the most powerful Rus' individual to undergo baptism during her life.[31]

Efforts to Christianize Kievan Rus'

The PrimaryChroniclereports that Olga received the Patriarch's blessing for her journey home, and that once she arrived, she unsuccessfully attempted to convert her son to Christianity:

Now Olga dwelt with her son Sviatoslav, and she urged him to be baptized, but he would not listen to her suggestion, though when any man wished to be baptized, he was not hindered, but only mocked. For to the infidels, the Christian faith is foolishness. They do not comprehend it, because they walk in darkness and do not see the glory of God. Their hearts are hardened, and they can neither hear with their ears nor see with their eyes. For Solomon has said, "The deeds of the unrighteous are far from wisdom. Inasmuch as I have called you, and ye heard me not, I sharpened my words, and ye understood not. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would have none of my reproach. For they have hated knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah they have not chosen. They would none of my counsel, but despised all my reproof."[6]

This passage highlights the hostility towards Christianity in Kievan Rus' in the tenth century. In theChronicle,Sviatoslav declares that his followers would "laugh" if he were to accept Christianity.[6]While Olga tried to convince her son that his followers would follow his example if he converted, her efforts were in vain. However, her son agreed not to persecute those in his kingdom who did convert, which marked a crucial turning point for Christianity in the area.[citation needed]Despite the resistance of her people to Christianity, Olga built churches in Kiev, Pskov, and elsewhere.[32]

Relations with the Holy Roman Emperor

Seven Latin sources[which?]document Olga's embassy to Holy Roman EmperorOtto Iin 959. The continuation ofRegino of Prümmentions that the envoys requested the emperor to appoint a bishop and priests for their nation. The chronicler accuses the envoys of lies, commenting that their trick was not exposed until later.Thietmar of Merseburgsays that the firstarchbishop of Magdeburg,Adalbert of Magdeburg,before being promoted to this high rank, was sent by Emperor Otto to the country of the Rus' (Rusciae) as a simple bishop but was expelled by pagan allies ofSviatoslav I.The same data is repeated in the annals ofQuedlinburgandHildesheim.[citation needed]

In 2018, Russian historian and writerBoris Akuninpointed out the importance of a 2-year gap between invitation and arrival of bishops: "The failure of Olga's Byzantine trip has inflicted a severe blow to her party. The Grand Knyaginya made a second attempt to find a Christian patron, now in the West. But it seems, in the period between the sending of the embassy to Emperor Otto in 959 and the arrival of Adalbert in Kiev in 961, a bloodless coup took place. Pagan party prevailed, the young Sviatoslav pushed his mother into the background, and that's why the German bishops had to return empty-handed."[33]

According to Russian historianVladimir Petrukhin,Olga invited the Roman rite bishops because she wanted to motivate Byzantine priests tocatechizethe Rus' people more enthusiastically, by introducing competition.[34]

Death

According to thePrimary Chronicle,Olga died from illness in 969, soon after thePechenegs'siege of the city. When Sviatoslav announced plans to move his throne to the Danube region, the ailing Olga convinced him to stay with her during her final days. Only three days later, she died and her family and larger parts of Kievan Rus' mourned:

Sviatoslav announced to his mother and his boyars, "I do not care to remain in Kiev, but should prefer to live inPeryaslavets on the Danube,since that is the centre of my realm, where all riches are concentrated; gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Rus' furs, wax, honey, and slaves. "But Olga made reply," You behold me in my weakness. Why do you desire to depart from me? "For she was already in precarious health. She thus remonstrated with him and begged him first to bury her and then to go wheresoever he would. Three days later Olga died. Her son wept for her with great mourning, as did likewise her grandsons and all the people. They thus carried her out, and buried her in her tomb. Olga had given command not to hold a funeral feast for her, for she had a priest who performed the last rites over the sainted Princess.[35]

Although he disapproved of his mother's Christian tradition, Sviatoslav heeded Olga's request that her priest, Gregory, conduct a Christian funeral without the ritual pagan burial feast.[31]Her tomb remained in Kiev for over two centuries, but was destroyed by the Mongolian-Tatar armies ofBatu Khanin 1240.[31]Thesarcophagusfound in 1826 during excavations ofChurch of the Tithesconducted by architect Nikolai Efimov was attributed as being Olga's and moved first to the Historical Museum and then to St. Sophia Cathedral.

Legacy

Sainthood

Lemkochurch of Saints Vladimir and Olga, modern replica at theShevchenkivskyi Grove open-air museuminLviv

At the time of her death, it seemed that Olga's attempt to make Kievan Rus' a Christian territory had been a failure. Nonetheless, Olga's Christianizing mission would be brought to fruition by her grandson,Vladimir,who officially adoptedChristianityin 988.[31]ThePrimary Chroniclehighlights Olga's holiness in contrast to the pagans around her during her life as well as the significance of her decision to convert to Christianity:

Olga was the precursor of the Christian land, even as the day-spring precedes the sun and as the dawn precedes the day. For she shone like the moon by night, and she was radiant among the infidels like a pearl in the mire, since the people were soiled, and not yet purified of their sin by holy baptism. But she herself was cleansed by this sacred purification.... She was the first from Rus' to enter the kingdom of God, and the sons of Rus' thus praise her as their leader, for since her death she has interceded with God in their behalf.[35]

It is unclear when Olga was canonized, butJohn Fennellargued that this was most likely in 1284, together with Vladimir, whenMetropolitan Maximsummoned the bishops to a council,[36]and was recorded the next year visiting "all the Russian land (i.e. Suzdalia, northeast Russia), teaching, instructing and administering," and spreading news about their canonization, including in Novgorod and Pskov.[37]A northern Russian manuscript from the 15th century mentions that "when Vladimir unearthed the body of Olga, his grandmother [and discovered that it was] uncorrupted, [he then] placed it in a wooden coffin in the Church of the Tithe".[38]In 1547, nearly 600 years after her 969 death, theRussian Orthodox Churchofficially named Olga a saint,equal-to-the-apostles.[36]

Because of her proselytizing influence, theEastern Orthodox Church,theRuthenian Greek Catholic Church,and theUkrainian Greek Catholic Churchcall Olga by the honorific Isapóstolos, "Equal to the Apostles". Olga's feast day is July 11, the date of her death.[11]TheOrthodox Church of Ukrainecelebrates her memory on 24 July.[39][40]In keeping with her own biography, she is the patron of widows and converts.[41]

The honorific title "Equal to the Apostles" was first given to her on the initiative of Archimandrite Innokenty (Prosvirnin) in the 1980s.[42]

Olga is venerated as saint in East Slavic-speaking countries where churches uses the Byzantine Rite:Eastern Orthodox Church(especially inRussian Orthodox Church),Greek Catholic Church(especially in theUkrainian Greek Catholic Church), in churches withByzantine Rite Lutheranism,[43]and amongWestern Catholicsin Russia.[44]

Feast Day

FixedFeast Day (Synaxes)

  • 25 May – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (ROCORandGreek Orthodox Church),
  • 15 July – Synaxis of All Saints of Kiev (ROC),
  • 10 October – Synaxis of Saints of Volhynia (ROC),
  • Synaxis of Saints of Pskov – movable holiday on the 3rd Sunday of Pentecost,

Churches and monuments

Monument to Princess Olga, Saint Apostle Andrew the First-Called and enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, Kiev
Monument to Princess Olga in the city ofKorosten,Ukraine
Ukraine
Russia
United States
Canada
Australia

Modern reception

Image of Saint Olga on a seal ofLyachchyzyvillage inBelarus.The sword is commonly included in Olga's modern iconography linking her to thefemale bogatyrimage.[52]

Scholarship has traditionally focused on Olga's role in the spread of Christianity to Eastern Europe and Russia as well as her role in advising her son against persecution of Christians in the Kievan Rus'.

Modern publications, on the other hand, reflect a broader interest in Olga beyond her role in expandingChristendom.Detailing her story, a 2018 article claimed she showed her countrymen how "a woman could rule with strength and decision."The Russian Primary Chronicle'sclaim that Olga was ofVikingdescent also received attention for its possible contribution to her "warrior spirit".[53]

Russian historianBoris Akuninargues though she certainly reconquered the Drevlians, only her killing of their first envoy is plausible, since Iskorosten was just two days' ride from Kiev, making it difficult to conceal the first public murder.[54]

Arts and literature

In 1981 a newballet based on Olga's lifewas composed to commemoratethe 1500th anniversaryof the city ofKiev.[55]

Toponyms

In most cities ofUkrainethere is Knyagini Olga Street. There is Olhynska Street in the city of Kiev.

Clevelandhas Saint Olga Ave. There is also St. Olga Street in the city ofHamilton(Canada).

See also

Notes

  1. ^Belarusian:Вольга,romanized:Volha;Russian:Ольга,romanized:Olga;Ukrainian:Ольга,romanized:Olha.
  2. ^Old East Slavic:Ѡлена,romanized:Olena.[6]
  3. ^"The reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Olga came before him, and when he saw that she was very fair of countenance and wise as well, the Emperor wondered at her intellect. He conversed with her and remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city. When Olga heard his words, she replied that she was still a pagan, and that if he desired to baptize her, he should perform this function himself; otherwise, she was unwilling to accept baptism. The Emperor, with the assistance of the Patriarch, accordingly baptized her. When Olga was enlightened, she rejoiced in soul and body. The Patriarch, who instructed her in the faith, said to her," Blessed art thou among the women of Rus', for thou hast loved the light, and quit the darkness. The sons of Rus' shall bless thee to the last generation of thy descendants. "He taught her the doctrine of the church, and instructed her in prayer and fasting, in almsgiving, and in the maintenance of chastity. She bowed her head, and like a sponge absorbing water, she eagerly drank in his teachings. The Princess bowed before the Patriarch, saying," Through thy prayers, Holy Father, may I be preserved from the crafts and assaults of the devil! "At her baptism she was christened Helena, after the ancient Empress, mother of Constantine the Great. The Patriarch then blessed her and dismissed her.[6]
  4. ^"After her baptism, the Emperor summoned Olga and made known to her that he wished her to become his wife. But she replied," How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know. "Then the Emperor said," Olga, you have outwitted me. "He gave her many gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still calling her his daughter."[6]

Bibliography

Primary sources

Old Church Slavonic
  • Primary Chronicle(c.1110s).[24]
    • Izbornyk (1928).Лђтопись По Лаврентьевскому Списку (видання 1926—1928 років)[The Chronicle according to the Laurentian Codex (1926–1928 edition)].Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles(PSRL). Volume 2. 2nd Edition. Leningrad: Nauka. p. 579.
    • Izbornyk (1908).Лѣтопись По Ипатьевскому Списку (видання 1908 року)[The Chronicle according to the Hypatian Codex (1908 edition)].Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles(PSRL). Volume 2. 3rd Edition. Saint Petersburg: Typography of Edward Prats. p. 938.
Greek
Latin

Literature

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  33. ^Akunin, Boris(2018).История Российского государства. Книга 1. От истоков до монгольского нашествия. Часть Европы[History of the Russian state. Book 1. From the origins to the Mongol invasion. Part of Europe] (in Russian).AST.ISBN9785457497665.Retrieved8 June2020.Russian:Неудача византийской поездки Ольги должна была нанести сильный удар по её партии...,romanized:Neudacha vizantiyskoy poyezdki Ol'gi dolzhna byla nanesti sil'nyy udar po yeyo partii
  34. ^"Испытание верой: мифы о крещении Руси"[Test by faith: myths about the baptism of Rus] (in Russian).TASS.26 July 2019.Retrieved8 June2020.
  35. ^abCross & Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1953,p. 86.
  36. ^abCurta, Florin (8 July 2019).Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500–1300) (2 vols).Brill. p. 519.ISBN978-90-04-39519-0.
  37. ^Gasparov & Raevsky-Hughes 2021,p. 81.
  38. ^Gasparov & Raevsky-Hughes 1993,pp. 257–258.
  39. ^"Сьогодні вшановують пам'ять святої рівноапостольної княгині Ольги – РІСУ".Релігійно-інформаційна служба України(in Ukrainian).Retrieved2023-09-14.
  40. ^"Вшанування пам'яті святої рівноапостольної Ольги: Велика княгиня, героїчна служниця Бога".Українська православна церква(in Ukrainian). 2023-07-24.Retrieved2023-09-14.
  41. ^The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, "St. Olga," Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019,https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Olga.
  42. ^"ОЛЬГА РАВНОАПОСТОЛЬНАЯ – Древо".drevo-info.ru(in Russian).Retrieved2023-01-16.
  43. ^"Notable Lutheran Saints".Resurrectionpeople.org.Archived fromthe originalon 2019-05-16.Retrieved2019-07-16.
  44. ^ab"Римско-католический приход святой Ольги"[St. Olga Roman Catholic Parish].RetrievedSeptember 15,2019.founded in 1991
  45. ^"От Ольги до Ольги"[From Olga to Olga] (in Russian).Kommersant.24 July 2003.Retrieved8 June2020.
  46. ^"The monument to Saint Olga Equal-to-apostles".pskovgorod.ru.Gorod Pskov.Retrieved2 August2020.
  47. ^"Псковский аэропорт назовут в честь княгини Ольги"[Pskov airport to be renamed after Princess Olga] (in Russian).Moskovsky Komsomolets.4 December 2018.Retrieved8 June2020.
  48. ^"История храма"[Cathedral History].hram-olgi.ru(in Russian). 7 December 2015.Retrieved8 June2020.20 September 2014
  49. ^"История"[History].hram-olgi.moseparh.ru(in Russian).Retrieved8 June2020.
  50. ^"Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral and Parish Hall (115 McGregor Street, Winnipeg)".www.mhs.mb.ca.Retrieved2019-05-01.
  51. ^"Historic Sites of Manitoba: Sts. Vladimir and Olga Ukrainian Catholic Church (Valley River, RM of Dauphin)".www.mhs.mb.ca.Retrieved2019-05-01.
  52. ^"Princess Olga. Spiritual Mother of All Rus'".Russia Forever. August 1, 2013.Retrieved23 October2020.
  53. ^Sheldon, Natasha (February 11, 2018)."Saint Olga of Kiev is the Best Warrior Princess You Never Knew".History Collection.RetrievedFebruary 22,2022.
  54. ^Akunin, Boris(2018).История Российского государства. Книга 1. От истоков до монгольского нашествия. Часть Европы[History of the Russian state. Book 1. From the origins to the Mongol invasion. Part of Europe] (in Russian).AST.ISBN9785457497665.Retrieved8 June2020.Russian:Ольга закрепила за собой ловища (охотничьи угодья) и становища (места стоянок)...,romanized:Ol'ga zakrepila za soboy lovishcha (okhotnich'i ugod'ya) i stanovishcha (mesta stoyanok)
  55. ^Черкашина-Губаренко М. Р.Театральні університети Володимира Рожка.Часопис Національної музичної академії України імені П. І. Чайковського. 2016. № 3 (32). с. 52.
  56. ^Raffensperger & Ostrowski 2023,p. 233.

Media related toOlga, Grand Princess of Kyivat Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by Princess of Kiev
as Regent

945–960s
Succeeded by