‘We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth’

Saint Vladimir of Kiev (963–1015) is commemorated today by the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches as a saint of the undivided, pre-schism Church.

He ruled the lands of Kievan Rus, centred on Kiev and encompassing territories that today form parts of Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. The Christianisation of these lands came relatively late. Under Vladimir's rule, Christianity gradually supplanted the pagan deities and religious practices that had long held sway among the peoples of Rus.

Saint Vladimir used princely authority to promote the Christianisation of his realm. This process almost certainly involved varying degrees of coercion and compulsion, though historians continue to debate the extent to which conversions were forced.

Through his embrace of Christianity in the Byzantine tradition, Saint Vladimir introduced to Rus the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church, including the beautiful Divine Liturgies of Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Basil.  According to a well-known tradition, Vladimir sent envoys to observe different forms of worship before making his decision. After witnessing the liturgy in Constantinople, they reported:

Then we went to Greece, and the Greeks (including the Emperor himself) led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty.  [source: Orthodox Church in America].

Dostoevsky famously put into the mouth of one of his characters the words:

Beauty will save the world.

The liturgy, I would suggest, has an important role in revealing that saving beauty. And the Eucharist is the source and summit of all liturgy.

We are conscious that Saint Vladimir, like many great saints of history, has been claimed and sometimes used for political ends in competing historical narratives. We are also painfully aware of the terrible suffering endured by the peoples of Eastern Europe, both in the last century and, more recently, through the war in Ukraine.

Let us pray for a greater unity of minds and hearts, and for a peaceful and lasting settlement in that troubled land. May Saint Vladimir and all the saints of the Slavic peoples intercede for us, and may we draw strength from the Divine Liturgy handed down to us through the Apostles.