Saint Prince Vladimir the Great: History, Liturgy, Myth

An online lecture by Dr. Sean Griffin

Saint Prince Vladimir the Great of Kyiv oversaw the mass baptism of Rus in the year 988. But where did the stories about Saint Vladimir and the conversion to Christianity come from? Are these tales a credible form of history or merely pious legends? In this talk, Dr. Sean Griffin will uncover the liturgical origins of Prince Vladimir’s depiction in the Rus Primary Chronicle and he will also explore the making of dynastic saints in early Rus.

About the Speaker

Dr. Sean Griffin is a historian of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His first book, The Liturgical Past in Byzantium and Early Rus (Cambridge University Press, 2019) was the winner of the W. Bruce Lincoln Book Prize and the Ecclesiasatical History Society Book Prize. He is currently a research fellow in the Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. His newest book, The Sacred Reign of Vladimir Putin: Religion, Memory, War, will be published with Cornell University Press.

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This program will be recorded.