St. Olga, Equal-to-the-Apostles

Princess of Kiev, the widow of Prince Igor, whom the Drevlians killed, and whose revenge on them the chronicle tells without softening. Ruling for her young son, she went to Constantinople around 957 and was baptised there, the first of the ruling house of Rus to become a Christian. She could not persuade her son Sviatoslav, who said his warriors would laugh at him, but she raised her grandson Vladimir, who would baptise the land. She died in 969 and asked for a Christian burial without a pagan feast. The Church calls her the morning star before the sun. Feast: July 11.