July 24, 2019, on the memorial day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga , with the blessing of His Grace Gideon, Bishop Makarovsky, the abbot of the Tithes Monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, a festive divine service was performed at the monastery by the brethren in the priesthood patronal feast of the Vladimir-Olginsky church.
After the reading of the Holy Gospel, a fervent prayer was raised for peace in Ukraine and for the unity of the Orthodox Church.
At the end of the service, a procession of the cross was performed around the temple and the site of the first cathedral church of Kievan Rus, Desyatinny Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos.
On July 24, according to the new style, Orthodox Christians celebrate the day of memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga (in the baptism of Elena). The Grand Duchess became the ruler of the Old Russian state after her husband, the Grand Duke of Kiev Igor Rurikovich, died. She ruled for seventeen years - from 945 to 962.
Soon she received the sacrament of baptism, which Patriarch Theophylact performed on her, and the emperor himself was the godfather. Upon her return to Russia, Olga begins to build the first churches. The Grand Duchess Olga became the first ruler of Kievan Rus who adopted the Christian faith.
After Holy Baptism, Olga lived a little over ten years. She died in 969 and was buried in a Christian manner. The grandson of the Grand Duchess, Saint Vladimir Equal to the Apostles, the baptist of the Russian land, transferred her relics to the famous Tithe Church , the first stone church of the Old Russian state. There was a window in the sarcophagus in which the relics of the holy princess Olga were. When someone came to the tomb with faith, it opened by itself and you could see the body of the blessed princess, which shone like the sun.
Many people received healing from various diseases. The relics were hidden under the cover, that is, under the ruins of the temple after the invasion of the Tatars to Kiev in 1240. According to legend, they were rediscovered by St. Peter Mogila in the 17th century, but by the 18th century they were finally lost.
