The Holy Grand Prince Vladimir (Volodymyr), Equal-to-the-Apostles, Named Basil at Holy Baptism (1015); Holy Martyrs Cyricus and Julitta, His Mother
Galatians 1:11-19; John 10:1-8
All-Night Vigil Feast. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
Read Galatians 1:11-19
Sometimes the Lord calls the most surprising and unlikely people to serve Him. Today’s epistle recalls that St. Paul was an unlikely candidate to become a Christian let alone an Apostle called to further the Gospel among the gentiles. We read this passage today not only for St. Paul but also because we celebrate another unlikely person called by Christ: St. Vladimir Prince of Kyiv and equal to the Apostles. Before his conversion to Christianity, Vladimir was a brute of a man with an insatiable appetite for women. He was a barbarian with great zeal for his ancestral pagan worship; especially, for Perun the god of thunder. This almost paints for us a hopeless case, but yet through the prayers of his grandmother, St. Olga, this barbarian came to accept Christ. Baptism washed away the spiritual filth which weighed him down and blinded him. He embraced his newfound faith and repented of all his crooked ways. All of his concubines, the many hundreds he had, were released and he faithfully upheld his marriage vow to Princess Anna. He truly began to live up to his name, ‘peaceful ruler’.
What didn’t change was his zeal. He reoriented his energy from pagan worship to true worship of the Holy Trinity and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This he did with great zeal by building churches, monasteries, schools and caring for the sick and the poor. He established the faith foundations for the people of Rus-Ukraine and in so doing became an apostle like Paul for the Slavic people of the north. St. Vladimir, pray to God for us that we may be zealous for worship of the Holy Trinity and the furtherance of the Gospel in our country.