Ss. Boris and Gleb, the Passion-bearers

Two young sons of St Vladimir, killed in 1015 on the orders of their elder brother Sviatopolk in the struggle for Kiev. Boris had his father’s army with him and would not lead it against his brother; he sent it away and waited, praying, for the men who came to kill him, and Gleb was killed soon after. They were not martyred for confessing the faith, and the Russian Church made them the first of its saints anyway, as passion-bearers: those who accept an unjust death without resisting it, in the likeness of Christ. The category is the Russian Church’s own and begins with them. Feast: July 24.