The Holy Church remembers today the blessed repose of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga. More than a thousand years divide us but our people lovingly keep her name in memory.

“A precursor of Christianization of our lands, like a morning star before sunrise, and dawn before the light of the day. Like a moon in the middle of the night, she radiated light in the midst of the pagan world. Even after death, she intercedes before God for Rus,” wrote Venerable Nestor the Chronicler about Holy Princess Olga.

Holy Princess Olga has walked the path of apostolic glory in the Russian lands. It was owing to her that the foundations of Christian faith were laid out throughout our lands.  A pagan by culture and upbringing, Olga had to remain one due to political reasons and as a head of a pagan state. However, once she became a follower of Christ and accepted baptism in Byzantium, Olga quietly took steps to persuade her people at becoming the adherents of the new faith. Instead of using the power of her authority, she guided the people with a meek word and the example of her life, so that even if at her lifetime Rus still remained formally pagan, still the dozens of Orthodox churches were erected in Kiev and other places.

St. Olga lived, died, and was buried as a Christian. With deep humility, she professed her hopes for our people:  “God’s will be done. If it pleases God to have mercy upon my native Russian Land, then they shall turn their hearts to God, just as I have received this gift.”

Olga was unable to implement her wish and baptize the pagan Rus; she also failed to convert her son Sviatoslav to Christianity. But her grandson Vladimir leaned towards becoming a Christian; he summoned his boyars and warchiefs to make a fateful decision. The boyars presented the abundant proof in favor of accepting Orthodoxy from Tsargrad and said: “Had it been any good, the most wise of all women Olga wouldn’t have accepted it.” This argument acted so conclusively on Prince Vladimir that that the matter of accepting the new faith was settled. What Princess Olga couldn’t finish during her lifetime, the Lord has fulfilled through her prayers after death.

“You are our spiritual matriarch, you are who was first to initiate our enlightenment in Christ the Savior and the salvation of our race,” we sang glory to the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga at today’s festive service.

According to an established monastery tradition on July 24, the remembrance day of Great Princess Olga, her namesakes, in baptism or at tonsure, among the nuns of the Diveyevo monastery have taken part in the celebration of the patronal feast at the Znamensky skete of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. Once of five side chapels of the church in the skete is dedicated to Holy Princess Olga. A vigil, a prayer canon to the Mother of God with blessing of water and Divine Liturgy were served there.

Hegumenia Sergiya, the abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, prayerfully attended the services.

At the conclusion of the liturgy, the monastery clergy, matushka hegumenia, the sisters, and the faithful walked in a cross procession around the church.