“Love to the Miserable” of Old Rus Princes: Saint Vladimir and Andrey Bogolyubsky

Abstract

“Love to the miserable” was one of characteristics of a good prince in Old Rus. Many times written sources mention alms-giving by Rus princes. For example, most of the so-called necrologues (characteristics of deceased princes accompanying announcements of their passing away in Rus chronicles) mention alms-giving. Almost always necrologues do not present any details of this, except in the case of Andrey Bogolyubsky (the “God-loving”, killed in 1174). This prince is said to have initiated delivering food and drinks for the poor and the prisoners in wagons riding along the streets. This is a clear parallel to the practice of St. Vladimir (d. 1015), the prince of Kiev and the baptizer of Rus. This practice is reported by the Rus “Primary Chronicle” s. a. 996, as an element of the description of Vladimir’s “golden age”. Andrey Bogolyubsky is known to have imitated Vladimir in other respects, and that is why it is the most probable that Andrey deliberately copied Vladimir’s practice of alms-giving, which, in turn, in the 12th century was still an element of the historical memory.