Martyrs Theodore and John of Kyiv

Today we remember the first Christian martyrs in Rus, Theodore and his son, John.

The reign of Yaropolk (970-978), just like that of his grandmother St. Olga, was a time of predominating Christian influence in the spiritual life of Kyiv. The martyrdom of Saints Theodore and his son John took place in the year 983, during the beginning of Vladimir’s reign, when the wave of pagan reaction rolled not only through Kyiv but throughout all the Slavic-Germanic world. Almost simultaneously pagans rose up against Christ and the Church in Denmark, Germany, the Baltic Slavic principalities, and everywhere the unrest was accompanied by the destruction of churches, and by the killing of clergy and Christian confessors.

“Among the Kievans,” reports Saint Nestor the Chronicler, “lived a Varangian by the name of Theodore, who was in military service at Constantinople long before this, and was baptized there. Theodore had a son John, also confessing Christianity like his father.” When Theodore refused to give up his son for a pagan sacrifice, an enraged mob surrounded their house. Theodore, in the words of the chronicler, “stood at the entrance way with his son,” and with weapon in hand he bravely met the enemy. Seeing that the brave and seasoned warriors Theodore and John could not be beaten in a fair fight, the besiegers knocked down the gallery posts. When they were broken, the crowd rushed upon the confessors and murdered them. Immediately after the murder of Theodore and John, early medieval Rus’ saw persecutions against Christians, many of whom escaped or concealed their belief.

However, Prince Vladimir mused over the incident long after. Within a few years he had converted to Christianity, and had Rus baptized in the name of Christ.

On the place of the martyrdom of the Varangians, Saint Vladimir later built the Desyatin Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, consecrated on May 12, 996. The relics of Saint Olga were transferred into it in the year 1007.

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