Here is what historian Vicki Leon had to say about our patron in her humorous book 4000 Years of Uppity Women:
Russian history includes female rulers who were by turns brutal, bold, and bawdy - and sometimes all three.
Around A.D. 945 a dynamo named Queen Olga was having a dickens of a time. A Slavic tribe had just killed her husband, Igor. As new ruler, she methodically went after the guilty parties, wiping them out in ways designed to put the fear of Olga into the survivors. The first batch of 20 she buried alive; she parboiled the second batch inside their bathhouses. After that she hosted a massacre of 5,000, relying on more conventional sword-stabbing. By now her subjects were quite ready to pay annual tribute and let Olga reign. When she introduced the Greek Orthodox form of Christianity to Russia, peasants and aristocrats alike bought into it, no questions asked. For her outstanding slaughter-for-God work, she was declared a saint - one of only five women to ever win the halo from the Orthodox Church.
And that pretty much sums it up nicely.
Header: St. Olga by artist Gladsome Light via onlythatdotcom where you can purchase this beautiful icon for your shrine to St. Olga, equal-to-the-apostles... and ass kicker
The Sisterhood of Saint Olga Society
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy New Year!
The Sisterhood wishes you a bright, happy and healthy 2013. May your enemies be always slow and trusting.
Icon of St. Olga circa 1892 via Wikipedia ~
Icon of St. Olga circa 1892 via Wikipedia ~
Monday, December 24, 2012
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays from Kiev! Above is the beautiful monument to Cyrill, Methodius, Saint Andrew and our patron, Princess Olga, smack dab in the middle. Click over to Dertour UK for more information on planning your pilgrimage to Kiev.
Friday, December 14, 2012
A Family Tree
St. Olga of Kiev icon via OrthodoxWiki
Hartford.com has a curious bit of our patron's family tree posted here This lineage makes her an ancestor of the French royal family (through Henri I's wife, Anna of Kiev). There is also a lovely painting of Princess Olga being baptized at the same link. Enjoy!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Sisters in St. Olga
Saint Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Cooper City, Florida, USA has a Sisterhood of Saint Olga. Read about them here.
We are not alone...
We are not alone...
Friday, December 7, 2012
Welcome
Welcome to the inaugural post here at the official site of the Sisterhood of Saint Olga Society.
We are open to ladies and honorary gentlemen who admire and aspire to the greatness of Saint Olga of Kiev Equal-to-the-Apostles. It should be noted that we have no religious affiliation but simply aspire to the tenacity and determination of our namesake. The Sisterhood is brand new and has been created spontaneously by a dynamic group of talented people from around the world. Our impetus came from the story of Saint Olga's fascinating life. If you are curious about that, you can start here.
More to come soon but, if you are interested in joining the Sisterhood, please follow us at this blog.
We are open to ladies and honorary gentlemen who admire and aspire to the greatness of Saint Olga of Kiev Equal-to-the-Apostles. It should be noted that we have no religious affiliation but simply aspire to the tenacity and determination of our namesake. The Sisterhood is brand new and has been created spontaneously by a dynamic group of talented people from around the world. Our impetus came from the story of Saint Olga's fascinating life. If you are curious about that, you can start here.
More to come soon but, if you are interested in joining the Sisterhood, please follow us at this blog.
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