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 Princes Boris
and Gleb were sons of the Equal-to-the-Apostles prince Vladimir and princess
Anna, the Byzantine. Since youth they were noted for their devoutness.
According to the scripts we also know that Prince Boris liked church singing
very much. Saint Vladimir held them especially dear for their devotion to
the holy faith and brotherly love towards each other.
While still alive Prince Vladimir assigned Boris to rule the Rostov
province, and Gleb received the Murom princedom. Both Princes worked hard to
convert the rough pagans living in those territories into Christians. Saint
Gleb is considered to be an educator of the Murom-Riazan region, where from
those ancient times up to now he is remembered as the first Christian
evangelist and protector of the country.
In the year of 1015 after St. Vladimir's death, his son Sviatopolk
(nicknamed "the cursed") seized the power over the great princedom. Being
afraid to compete fairly with his pious brothers, he decided to kill them.
At the time St. Boris was deployed with his armed forces on the Alta River.
His troops suggested attacking and seizing Kiev, but St. Boris did not want
to violate the sacred kinship relations and rejected the proposal with
indignation. Sviatopolk informed St. Boris of their father's death,
insidiously offered brotherly cooperation, and promised to expand St. Boris'
princedom while at the same time sending mercenaries to assassinate him. On
the night of July 23rd the mercenaries approached Boris' tent. When they
heard psalms sung in the tent, they decided to wait until Boris fell asleep.
Hardly had the saint prince gone to his bed, the murderers broke into the
tent and speared him and his slave Georgui, a Hungarian, who tried to
protect his master with his own body. The assassins wrapped the martyr who
was still breathing into a tent cloth and rode to Sviatopolk. When
Sviatopolk learned that Saint Boris was still alive, he sent two Variangians
to pierce his heart with swords. The body of Saint Boris was secretly
brought to Vyshgorod and buried there in the church of Saint Vasilii.
After killing Saint Boris, Sviatopolk invited Saint Gleb, who at the time
was staying near Smolensk, to visit their father who allegedly got seriously
ill. The young prince already knowing about Sviatopolk's atrocious deeds was
tearfully praying for his father and brother. Horacer, who headed the
assassins, ordered the prince's cook, a Turk, to butcher his master. The
order was carried out on September 5, 1015.
In 1019, Kiev was conquered by Vladimir's son Jaroslav who ordered that
Saint Gleb's body be found and buried next to Boris' grave. Soon the grave
was noticed to work wonders. After the church of Saint Vasilii was destroyed
by a fire, the bodies of the princes were brought to a new church built in
Vishgorod in their honor. When the caskets were opened, metropolitan Ioann
and the clergy witnessed a miracle: the bodies of the saints were as white
as snow and their faces were shining with holy light, a heavenly incense
filled the church and all that were present awed. In 1240, during the Batyi
invasion, the bodies of the princes disappeared. Both princes-martyrs are
glorified in Russia, beginning from those ancient times. This is testified,
among other things, by the great number of monasteries and churches that
were built in their honor and came through the ages to our time in many
parts of Russia.
Russian people regarded the saint princes-martyrs as their protectors and
intercessors. The scripts are full of descriptions of many people
wonderfully healed near the relics of the saint princes and of the victories
that were won with their help (e.g. the victory of Ruric, son of Rostislav,
over Konchak; or the triumph of Alexander-of-the-Neva over the German
tribes).
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