The first holy woman of Kievan Rus, a wise and powerful princess with the highest level of emotional intelligence. Legends and stories were written about this ruler, because she became a bright banner for all of Russia, influencing the future of the state by introducing new cultural values and creating the basis for positioning the country as self-sufficient, rich and civilized. Of course, the princess’s work on these tasks was long, patient and strategically thought out.
Even when she was young, her future husband, Prince Igor, met her. He was hunting somewhere in the Pskov forests, and the river blocked his path. The young prince saw the boat and was delighted that he could continue his journey further along the river. Already in the boat, Igor noticed that the carrier was a girl. Olga was quick-witted and sharp-tongued. Igor caught fire with a passion for the young girl, and she, assessing the delicacy of the situation, reassured the prince with the words: “I will most likely drown the boat than waste my purity here.” This really calmed him down, and also sowed a seed of love for the wise and brave stranger. Several years passed, and what kind of brides his father did not offer to Igor. Olga from Pskov did not leave his head and heart. Soon they got married.
Princess Olga became Igor’s loyal and flexible wife. Her discernment, together with a passionate desire to be a true assistant in the administration of the state, helped in many ways to conduct political and economic activities throughout Russia.
In 945, Prince Igor was killed by the Drevlyans. They intended to take possession of the Kiev lands, and even marry the widowed Olga for their prince Mal: ”So we killed the Russian prince, now we will take his wife Olga for our prince Mal, and with his son, Svyatoslav, we will do what we want.” From this difficult page in Olga’s life begins her formation as the ruler and follower of the policy of her deceased husband Igor. A heavy burden fell on the shoulders of a woman with her three-year-old son Svyatoslav. Olga considered it necessary to take revenge on the brave and arrogant Drevlyans. The first ambassadors sent to her from Prince Mal, she cunningly lured into a trap, where they were buried alive. She burned the following noble men from the Drevlyans in the bathhouse. And having arrived in the capital of the Drevlyansб Iskorosten, where Olga was going to conduct a ceremony for her murdered husband, she performed the third revenge, and 5 thousand people were killed. The fourth and final revenge was the siege of the capital of the Drevlyans and the burning of Iskorosten with the help of birds and a mixture of sulfur and wax tied to their feet. The Drevlyans submitted. Princess Olga courageously and firmly vowed now to devote her life to Russia and to make it a civilized state.
Olga could not risk through internal disagreements between the peoples of Kiev, after all, she was on a course to build a state from a barbaric-pagan to a cultural-European society. Princess Olga understood that the responsibility for the fate of the country is now in her hands, which means that every effort must be made to strengthen the positions of the Russian lands. During her reign, they began to build temples, cities surrounded by stone and oak walls. Princess Olga carried out a reform and clearly marked the land from which the tribute was collected. She defined the first borders of the state, trying to take maximum care of the peaceful life of the population. After all, the main value was to preserve, develop and strengthen the great state.
An important step was the trip to Constantinople and the adoption of Christianity. Olga understood that only concern for the state and economic life of the people would not be enough. To unite disparate lands, you need a religion that will keep them from decay.
957 year. Princess Olga with twenty ambassadors, fifty merchants, five translators, a priest and several relatives set off on a journey to Constantinople. Olga was worried that her state would finally cease to be considered a barbaric country. Its goal was to make it possible to establish political ties, open trade routes, cooperation and cultural development.
Arriving on the shores of Constantinople, Olga silently recalled what had brought her here: “Tell the emperors that Russia is also a great and powerful country. We have enough sun, land and sea. We do not want anything from Byzantium, only to live in peace and love, and to trade”. Of course, not only with words, but the princess was also going to implement her intention. She understood that in order to start reckoning with her country, she herself first needed to accept Christianity, which would become a symbol of the birth of new values.
The sacrament of baptism was performed by the patriarch Polyeuctus and the Byzantine emperor Roman II. The ruler of Constantinople invited Olga to marry him, but then the princess was “noted” by her intelligence and clever mind: “How do you want to take me when you yourself baptized me and called me a daughter? After all, Christians are not allowed to do this. You yourself know”. So, the ruler of Russia returned home, already a Christian, gifted with icons and liturgical books. She began to erect temples, crosses instead of pagan idols and preach a new faith that was supposed to unite society into a powerful whole.
Princess Olga still could not find a common language with her son Svyatoslav, who in 964 began to rule the country. Svyatoslav honored paganism, loved to fight and neutralized the religious initiatives of his mother. She realized that she could not convince her son and did not suppress him. Olga took into account the thoughts of the warlike Svyatoslav and directed all her political ambitions to contact with her grandson Vladimir, planting the seeds of Christian faith in a little boy. Her strategic bet worked. Several decades later, Prince Vladimir baptized Russia, carrying out the cherished plan of the princess.
The sacred image of the princess, who built a solid foundation for the development of Kievan Rus from a pagan country into a cultural empire, is revered even now. She is an example of emotional self-control, self-control and the ability to control other people. Her whole life was a string of stories confirming her worthy position of the princess, the guardian of the values of the state.
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