Everything about Boris And Gleb totally explained
» There are other people known as Saint Roman and Saint David.
Boris and Gleb (
Russian: Борис и Глеб;
Ukrainian: Борис і Гліб,
Borys and Hlib), Christian names
Roman and David, were the first
saints of
Kievan Rus' after the
Baptism of Rus' by
Saint Vladimir. According to
11th century Lives of Boris and Gleb (ascribed to
Nestor the Chronicler and
Jacob the Monk), they were children of
Vladimir the Great, who liked them more than his other children. Both were murdered during the internecine wars of
1015-
1019 and
glorified (canonized) by the
Orthodox church in
Rus' in
1071. They were interred at the
Vyshhorod Cathedral, which was re
consecrated in their name; many other Ukrainian and Russian churches were later named after them. Their feast day is observed on
July 24 (
August 6).
The
Primary Chronicle says that their mother was a
Bulgarian woman, and their
Turkic names seem to back up this information. Most modern scholars, however, argue that Boris and Gleb had different mothers, and were of different age. Boris, who had been already married and ruled the town of
Rostov, was probably regarded as
heir apparent to the
Kievan throne. Gleb, who was still a minor, ruled the easternmost town of
Murom.
The Primary Chronicle blamed
Sviatopolk the Accursed for plotting their assassination. Boris and his manservant were stabbed to death when sleeping in a tent. The prince was discovered still breathing when his body was being transported in a bag to Kiev, but the
Varangians put him from his misery with the thrust of a lance.
Gleb was assassinated, on the way to see his dying father, by his own cook who cut his throat with a kitchen knife and concealed his body in a brushwood. The
Life contains many picturesque details of Boris and Gleb's last hours, such as their sister's warning about the murderous plans of Sviatopolk.
The
Life's narrative is a masterpiece of
hagiography, which unites numerous literary traditions. Actual circumstances of Boris and Gleb's life and death can't be extrapolated from their hagiography. Perhaps the crucial evidence comes from several unbiased foreign sources which mention that Boris succeeded his father in Kiev, and wasn't lurking in Rostov as the Russian Primary Chronicle seems to imply.
Moreover, the Norse
Eymund's saga tells a story of the
Varangian warriors who were hired by
Yaroslav I the Wise to kill his brother
Burizleif. Some historians trusted the saga more than sources from Rus', claiming that it was Yaroslav (and not Sviatopolk) who was interested in removing his political rivals and was therefore guilty of his brothers' murder. Others consider "
Burizleif" a misreading of
Boleslaw, the Polish ruler allied to Sviatopolk.
Boris and Gleb in Ancient Literature
The story of the deaths and glorifications of Boris and Gleb is told in
The Tale and Passion and Glorification of the Holy Martyrs Borys and Hlib, which is one of the oldest surviving texts of Rus. It places the blame for the deaths at the hands of
Sviatopolk the Accursed.
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