Rogneda

Exclusive. The life of Reverend Anastasia (Princess Rogneda-Horyslava), the first wife of Equal-to-the-Apostles Volodymyr

Rogneda

Many biographers of the Grand Duke of Kyiv Volodymyr Svyatoslavych not without reason see in the encounter with Princess Rohnida a manifestation of a deep and favorable moral revolution, something that happened in his soul even before the adoption of Christianity. Today we will talk about the fate of Rognida and how it contributed to the enlightenment of Volodymyr.

Princess Rognida was born around 960. She lived in Polotsk, together with her father, Prince Rogvolod, and her mother and brothers, who are not named in the annals. In "The Tale of Bygone Years" it is said: "this Rogvolod came from across the sea and held his power in Polotsk." According to some historians, the ruling dynasty in Polotsk was of foreign (Varyangian) origin, which August Schlotzer tried to prove at the beginning of the XNUMXth century, pointing to the names: Rogvolod - "Ragnwald", Rogneda - "Ragnhild".

Rogvolod, and Prince Turovskyi Tur, mentioned together with him in the annals, did not belong to the Rurik family, who ruled in Kyiv and other lands of the Eastern Slavs. Some Scandinavian historians consider the names of Rognida and her father to be Scandinavian. According to other researchers, in particular, the name Rognida is of Slavic origin and means "born for power." An older form of the name is considered to be Rogned. From the end of the 15th century, Horyslava, which is not identical, but very close to Rognida, also appears in the chronicles.

In 980, Rognida was announced as the bride of Yaropolk Svyatoslavich, the Grand Duke of Kyiv. Yaropolk's brother Volodymyr, the Prince of Novgorod at that time, was greatly humiliated by Rohnida, because he also wooed her, but he was called a "robychich" (that is, the son of a slave) and was refused: the princess considered it unacceptable to marry the son of a concubine.

Having killed Rogvolod and his sons and taken Rognida as his wife by force, Volodymyr took her to Kyiv. Around 987, she decided to take revenge and kill her husband. According to the chronicle, at night, when Volodymyr was sleeping, Rognida wanted to stab him, but the prince woke up and managed to deflect the blow. Rognidi was threatened with the death penalty for the attempt. Enraged, Volodymyr ordered his wife to dress smartly and took a sword in his hands, but their first-born son Izyaslav ran to his mother's cry and defended his mother, also with a sword in his hands. Volodymyr could not kill Rognida in front of his son.

On the advice of his boyars: "do not kill her for the sake of this child, but build her father's father's house and give it to her with your son", Volodymyr settled Rognida and Izyaslav in their Polotsk land - a city that was called Izyaslavl (Zaslavl).

A change took place in the young prince, who until the incident with Rognida had strictly followed pagan customs regarding revenge, violence, capturing "trophy" wives and concubines. Protecting her female dignity, Rognida refused to live according to the norms common to her time and encouraged her husband to do so. Ready to pay with her life for her dignity and the rights of her child, she awakened his conscience, encouraged him to search for moral laws.

The princess appreciated both the mercy and nobility of Volodymyr, who saved her life, contrary to pagan laws. Forgiven, now confident in the future of her son Izyaslav, Rognida reconciled with her husband. Moreover, she was once again respected as the grand duchess of Kyiv, a faithful wife and a caring mother.

The vivid image of the beautiful and strong Slavic woman Rognida has not disappeared over time. In the Tver and Lavrentiy chronicles under the year 1128, there is her biography, which sounds like a poem. Elevating the personality of Rognida, chroniclers pay tribute to her undeniable virtues: boundless devotion to her native land, feminine wisdom, marital fidelity, and self-sacrificing maternal love.

The marriage with Rohnida brought Volodymyr many children, among whom the most famous was Yaroslav "who was born from Rohnida" - as the official "Stepennaya kniga" recalled in the 16th century. Thus, Rognida became the progenitor of all the Rurik families who ruled until the end of the 16th century.

But let's return to the figure of her husband. Recently, both in Shvabrostan and partly in Ukraine, it has become fashionable to talk about the fact that the church canonized a fratricide and a rapist.

Of course, the life of the pagan prince was far from the commandments of Christ. He placed idols everywhere, worshiped them, took many concubines, the number of which was simply amazing. But his soul was burdened by this, yearning for something greater, truer.

We do not deny these facts from the prince's biography, but here it is important to note that those people who express similar views do not understand anything in the creed, especially in those parts that concern dogmatics.

All the sins and grave crimes committed by Volodymyr were washed away during the Sacrament of Baptism. But after he sincerely and consciously accepted Christianity, his activities were not limited to simply repenting of what he had done, but not just good deeds, but great accomplishments took the place of sin. He began to serve Christ, he did an incredible thing. All about this a little below. And we appreciate him not for the first, dark half, his life, but for the second, light.

That is why it is customary for serious scientists, and not new writers and bloggers, to divide the life periods of St. Volodymyr into two - "pagan" and "Christian", which is fair, and we will explain why. Many were interested in who studied the personality of the holy prince, often mentioning his cool character, as if blaming him for his inconsistency with Christian norms of life. But no one changes people from the first meeting like our Lord Jesus Christ.

As Saint Nicholas of Serbia wrote: God's providence "it was necessary to show all subsequent Russian generations a sinner who repented and to place a pagan who had become enlightened at the origins of the new Russia, so that he would stand and instruct, strengthen and heal those who had fallen away and those of little faith, all Russian Christians in all times to come. The best evidence of the effectiveness of any medicine is the patient who has recovered. It was necessary to show the healed prince of Kyiv to those who were still sick, so that they would gladly accept the same medicine. Of all the miracles wrought by Christ's faith, the most impressive is the conversion of a sinner to a righteous man. And here, as evidence of such a miracle of personal transformation, St. Volodymyr stands at the gates of Christian Russia and as if calls out to every Christian: "I was night and turned into day! who were you Who have you become?"

Volodymyr really deserved his holiness in the eyes of the Church, in the eyes of all Christians. Christian holiness was never perceived as absolute sinlessness. Christ did not come to call the righteous, but to bring sinners to repentance. And Volodymyr is just an example of a person who, having gone through a very sinful life, not yet being a Christian, not even being baptized yet, not being born again in Christ, became a Christian, knew repentance, called not only himself to it, but came to holiness .

According to the reports of many church historians, Prince Volodymyr, first of all, changes his lifestyle: he dissolves the harem, frees the slaves, and marries Princess Anna, who belonged to the Imperial House of Constantinople. He changes so internally that the shocked people, who trembled with fear at the sight of their ruler, began to call him the Red Sun. The people could not call their ruler that way out of a sense of fear - it can only be called that out of love. And people love not those who inspire fear, but those from whom love comes, because fear divides, and love unites.

According to the words of the apostle: "where sin abounds, grace abounds." In order to bear such a fruit of repentance, it was necessary to descend into that impenetrable abyss of sin, into which the Lord deliberately allowed our Baptist to descend. In order to love Christ so ardently and boundlessly with all one's heart, it was necessary to escape from the mouth of the devil.

We do not know exactly when the prince saw his sight, saw his actions with the eyes of God. But it is absolutely clear: this insight was sincere, so profound changes took place in his character and in his life. It is also obvious that Volodymyr's baptism was preceded by his personal search for God. At the same time, the prince first found God for himself and only then offered his faith to the people.
It should be noted that upbringing by Princess Olga, which grew like a seed in Volodymyr's soul, played its role. Otherwise, how would the prince then have started looking for God in monotheism, and not in "native, paternal" polytheism. Biographers understand this step of his to baptism in this way: "the visitation of the Most High came upon him, and his heart was kindled by the Holy Spirit, and he wanted to receive Holy Baptism" - write the chroniclers of Metropolitan Hilarion, Yakov Mnikh and others.

The grace given during the Sacrament of Baptism affects everyone. But it depends on the person to what extent he will be able to accept this gift and say goodbye to the sinful in himself. How deeply he will reveal himself to God. As the chronicler reports, after hearing the Gospel words "blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy", Volodymyr ordered every beggar to come to the prince's court and take everything he needed. Having arranged in this way, the prince understands that the weak and sick will not be able to reach his court, and for such he orders to equip wagons with everything necessary. After learning about the commandments "thou shalt not kill", he tries to abolish the death penalty. "I'm afraid of sin," Volodymyr answers when asked why he doesn't execute robbers. A literal and pure perception of Christianity, theologians will say about it later.

Another thing is important: according to that decision, the direction that Volodymyr took even before his baptism was that he really renounced wars of conquest and even more so predatory wars. He tried to live in peace with the neighboring sovereigns.

Many are confused that a person who became a saint killed, entered into a criminal relationship, etc., but as the apostle said, "love will cover many sins." And he had love for the Russian people and for the True God.

The once cruel and vindictive Volodymyr, having become a Christian, became a model of meekness and love. And the prince began to do many good deeds.
Volodymyr Svyatoslavich is not only a Christian in a personal sense, he is a Christian sovereign, the first true sovereign of Russia, and by and large a model of a Christian sovereign for many generations to come. And most importantly: he accepted Christianity, he determined the vector of development of the Ukrainian people for millennia.

Certainly, his choice was not the result of his own efforts alone. Not wanting to belittle his real merits to the Church, our people and God, I would like to point out that his choice was facilitated not only by his grandmother, the great and wise princess Olga, his god-married wife, the Greek princess Anna, but also to a certain extent by Rognida.

In 989, Volodymyr, having accepted Christianity, married the Byzantine princess Anna in Korsun. On the way back to Kyiv, he sent word to his first wife, Rognida: "Now, having been baptized, I must have one wife, with whom I have acquired a Christian marriage; you choose a husband from among my boyars whom you wish." Rognida's answer, which she ordered to be given to Volodymyr, entered the annals: "and if you accepted holy baptism, then I can be the bride of Christ." Rognida became a nun under the name Anastasia. According to the relatively late "Tver Chronicle", this decision supposedly so impressed Yaroslav, who was present at the conversation, that he was cured of paralysis, only lameness remained.

The sad fate of the mother certainly left an impression on Yaroslav - he himself, unlike his father Volodymyr, was not inclined to polygamy and condemned the marriage of girls without their consent. Thus, in the articles of the Charter of Prince Yaroslav Volodymyrovych, the punishment of the parents was foreseen, they were not considered to have the free will of the bride in matters of marriage.

Rognida Rogvladavna died, probably in the city of Izyaslav around the year 1000. Her burial place is unknown. In 1866, a richly decorated crypt was found near the village of Chernytsia. Scientists assumed that this was the burial place of Rognida.

In conclusion, we will say that she was in many ways similar to her predecessor, Princess Olga-Olena. Like her, she strove to be independent in her likes and dislikes, fearlessly expressed her opinion, fiercely defended her honor, and fought for the rights of children. At the same time, she readily accepted baptism and actively began to spread Orthodoxy among the people under her control. The memory of the monastery she founded and the Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral built by her remained etched in human memory for a long time.

Unlike Olga, Rognida managed to instill her own ideals in her children, primarily her sons, since her daughters were apparently left behind by Volodymyr in Kyiv. Together with his mother, Izyaslav revived the Polotsk Principality, built churches, patronized church leaders, and strove to be merciful and just. Rognida's second son Yaroslav, nicknamed the Wise for his good deeds, managed to achieve even more. True, he was completely under the care of his mother only in early childhood. Then from a young age he had to independently rule the Rostov land. But we can assume that his mother visited him and gave useful advice.

She could help him in the Christianization of the country, she instilled a love for books and reading. By the end of his life, Yaroslav collected a large library, one of the first in Russia. Following the example of his mother, he built temples and founded monasteries. St. Sophia's Cathedral, built by him in Kyiv, became a masterpiece of ancient Russian art. The second Sophia Cathedral was built by Yaroslav's son Volodymyr in Novgorod, and the third Sophia Cathedral was built in Polotsk by Rognida's great-grandson Vseslav Bryachislavich, popularly nicknamed the Magician for his cunning, fearlessness and ability to suddenly appear in the most unexpected places.

Another son of Rognida was probably Mstislav Tmutarakansky, nicknamed Brave for his military prowess and glorious victories on the battlefield. He also readily accepted Christianity and actively engaged in construction activities. First, he built the stone Dormition Cathedral in the capital of his principality, the city of Tmutarakan, then, capturing Chernihiv, he built the majestic Transfiguration Cathedral in it, possibly in memory of his mother.

It is quite likely that Vsevolod was also engaged in the Christianization of his Volodymyr-Volyn principality, but there is practically no information about his activities.

Analyzing the activities of Volodymyr I Svyatoslavich, it can be seen that the independent behavior of Rognida prompted him to do a number of fateful actions for the Old Russian state: the annexation of the Principality of Polotsk, the defeat of Yaropolk, and the unification of all Slavic lands under his rule. Even marrying Princess Anna can be seen as a challenge to the Polotsk princess, who is fighting for her honor. After all, the Greek woman stood much higher than Rognida on the hierarchical ladder. In addition, the official church wedding with Anna, as it were, annulled all pagan marriages and turned the Polish woman into an ordinary concubine.

For Rognida, the termination of difficult marital relations with Volodymyr and the move to Izyaslavl appeared to be the greatest blessing. In her homeland, she finally turned into a full-fledged mistress of her own destiny. Having strengthened her son's power, she zealously engaged in the spread of Christianity in the Polotsk land. She founded one of the first women's monasteries in Russia and became a mentor for her followers in it.

Ivan Verstyanuk, Newssky columnist