Prince, Saint and Apostle: Prince Vladimir Svjatoslavic of Kiev, His Posthumous Life, and the Religious Legitimization of the Russian Great Power

by Jukka K. Korpela

The Baptist of Russia, Vladimir, is a key figure of the today's Nationalistic policy and culture of the country. Our actual knowledge about the prince who governed from 978-1015 in Kiev is however extremely little. Our views are based on the texts, which were written down a long time after his death and contain political, religious and national interpretations with which rulers ofdifferent periods sought to justify publicly their own policy with reference to the Baptist of Russia. For the first time the figure of the St. Vladimir occurred, as the religious east west contrast around the turn from the 13th to 14th Century in Europe was finally fixed. With the posthumous interpretation of the lifework Vladimirs conquests of the ascending Muscovite empire from the 14th to 16th Century were justified. The veneration of St. Vladimir returned with the Muscovites conquest and the Russification of the Ukraine in the 17th to 19th Century into the homeland of the prince, to Kiev.

267 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2001