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The Holy Equal to the Apostles Volodymyr (Vladimir) -
July 15
Holy Prince Vladimir, you were like a
merchant in search of fine pearls. By sending
 servants
to Constantinople for the Orthodox Faith, you found Christ,
the priceless pearl. He appointed you to be another Paul,
washing away in baptism your physical and spiritual
blindness. We celebrate your memory, asking you to pray for
all Orthodox Christians and for us, your spiritual children.
Troparion in Tone 4
In his early life St. Vladimir was a devout pagan. He was a
great conqueror who had many wives and erected many pagan
statues in the lands that he ruled over. Upon finding out
that other faiths existed beyond his own paganism, he
decided to send his envoys out into the world to find out
what was the true faith on earth.
His envoys met with Muslims, but felt that there was no joy
among them, and that their faith was very mechanical. The
envoys also met with Jews and Latin Catholics, but were
still unimpressed.
Everything changed, however, when the envoys arrived in
Constantinople. Upon attending Divine Liturgy in Hagia
Sophia, the envoys said, “We no longer knew whether we were
in heaven or on earth.”
Taking the word of his envoys, St. Vladimir had himself
baptized in Cherson and his nation baptized in the river
Dnipro by missionary fathers from Constantinople. Being
newly illumined St. Vladimir changed completely after his
baptism. His spiri tual
ascension was marked with a miracle like God’s calling of
Saul (Paul) on the road to Damascus – the Prince of Kyiv
physically and spiritually recovered his sight: through
encouragement by his blessed fiancée, a Byzantine Princess
Anna, he regained his physical sight and gained spiritual
insight in the baptismal font. Following his baptism he
destroyed all the pagan statues that stood in Kyivan Rus',
and replaced them with Churches. He also attempted to live
in peace as much as possible with his neighbors and had only
one wife.
People called Vladimir “the Beautiful Sun” for his
generosity to poor people, for providing clothing and food
to cripples and needy persons. He required teaching children
the Law of God, built schools and organized orphanages. He
departed on July 15th, 1015, and was buried next to his
mother Saint Olha’s incorruptible relics. Two of his sons –
Boris and Hlib – were later glorified/canonized as Saint
Blessed Princes-Martyrs.
“My Lord, my God! I lived without knowing You, but You had
mercy on me and enlightened me with Thy Holy Baptism – and I
beheld You, God for everybody, Creator of all things animate
and inanimate, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!”, –
these words of Saint Vladimir’s prayer sound as a voice of
every Christian soul that went through the crucible of
temptations.
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