Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv (1051-1054 AD)

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Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of

Kyiv (1051-1054 AD)

Thèse

Ronald Bozyk

Doctorat en théologie de l’Université Laval

offert en extension à l’Université de Sherbrooke

Philosophiæ doctor (Ph. D.)

Université de Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke, Canada

FTSR-Fac. théol. sces religi.

Université Laval

Québec, Canada

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Résumé français

Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv (1051 – 1054 A.D.)

La Grande Commission donnée aux Apôtres par le Seigneur Jésus Christ (Mt.28:19-20) représente la base de la mission chrétienne non seulement à l’ère biblique ou patristique mais pendant toute l’histoire de l’Église du Christ. Chacun des Apôtres et missionnaires est chargé d’expliquer le besoin du Baptême. Pourquoi devenir chrétien? St Paul l’Apôtre explique la nécessité de la Foi et du Baptême en jouant sur le contraste et la comparaison entre la Foi et la Loi, le Baptême et la circoncision, le Christ et Moïse, la Nouvelle Alliance et l’Ancienne.

Dans le Prologue de l’Évangile St Jean l’Évangéliste parle de la Nouvelle Alliance établie sur Jésus Christ Dieu-Homme.

“Car la Loi fut donnée par Moïse; la grâce et la vérité sont venues par Jésus Christ” (Jn 1:17).

St Ilarion de Kyiv en Rous’-Kyivienne du XIe siècle a proclamé le Sermon pascal basé sur ces mots de la péricope de l’Évangile pascale qui sont lus liturgiquement dans l’Église orthodoxe. St Ilarion commence son Sermon sur la Loi et la Grâce en continuant la parole de St Jean:

“Sur la loi, donnée par Moïse, sur la Grâce et la Vérité qui le furent par Jésus Christ”.

Donc la littérature de la Rous’-Kyivienne commence avec un sermon néo-patristique signifiant le remplacement de la Loi par la Grâce du Christ et aussi manifestant la joie que l’Église de la Nouvelle Alliance a apportée au peuple de la Rous’-Kyivienne.

“La vraie Foi se répandit sur toute la terre. Elle parvint aussi jusqu’à notre peuple de la Rous’. Le lac de la Loi s’assécha, tandis que la source de l’Évangile, après s’être gorgée d’eau et avoir recouvert toute la terre, se déversa jusque chez nous.” (Lines 240-243).

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Abstract of Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of

Kyiv (1051 – 1054 A.D.)

The Great Commission given by the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles (Mt. 28:19 – 20) is the basis of the Christian mission not only in the Biblical and Patristic eras but throughout the growth of the Christian Church. Every Apostle and Missionary was charged to explain the need for repentance and Baptism. Why be a Christian? St. Paul the Apostle explains the necessity of Faith and Baptism by comparing and contrasting Faith and Law; Baptism and Circumcision; Christ and Moses; the New Covenant and The Old.

St. John the Evangelist in his Prologue to his Gospel speaks of the New Covenant based on the Person of Jesus Christ.

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17).

St. Ilarion of Kyiv in eleventh century Kyivan-Rus’ proclaimed a Paschal Sermon built upon these words of St. John which are the last words of the traditional pericope read at Pascha in the Orthodox Church and began his sermon:

Concerning the Law given by Moses, and concerning Grace and Truth which came through Jesus Christ.

Thus the literature of Kyivan-Rus’ begins with a neo – patristic sermon expressing the supersedence of the Law of Moses by the Grace of Christ and also the great joy that the New Covenant Church has reached the people of Kyivan-Rus’.

Our Good God did not forget any corner of the world, nor us; He desired and saved us and brought us to true understanding. (Lines 258 – 259).

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Анотація Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of

Kyiv (1051 – 1054 A.D.)

Велике доручення Господа Ісуса Христа Апостолам в Євангелії Святого Матвія (МТ. 28: 19-20) стає основою й мотивацією апостольської місії, а також зростання Тіла Христового впродовж всього історичного шляху церкви. Кожен апостол чи місіонер повинен був пояснити мету Хрещення. Серед них і Святий Іларіон Київський. Проповідь Святого Іларіона починається поясненням або ж продовженням Прологу (першого розділу) Євангелії Святого Івана. Це пасхальне читання, яке закінчується словами: «Бо Закон через Мойсея дано було, а благодать і істина через Ісуса Христа сталася» (ІВ 1:17). Після читання цих віршів Євангелії, Митрополит Київський виголосив своє слово: «Про Закон Мойсеєм даним, і про Благодать та Істину, що сталися через Ісуса Христа; і як-то Закон відійшов, а Благодать та Істина наповнили всю землю і віра на всі народи розійшлася». «Слово...» вперше було публічно виголошене на Пасху у 1049 році в Києві. Його провідною темою є роз’яснення різниці між Старим і Новим Заповітами, керуючись термінами «закон» і «благодать», де «закон» репрезентує Старий Заповіт, а «благодать» - Новий. Друга тема «Слова...» - рішення Святого Володимира охрестити Русь-Україну зумовило становлення нового і вічного Божого народу, зростаючого на засадах самого Господа Бога Ісуса Христа. «Добрий Бог Наш усіх кінців світу і нас не забув; захопив – і спас нас, і до правдивого розуміння привів». (Lines 258-259)

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INTRODUCTION

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Years before I entered post-secondary studies, I had felt a growing calling to serve God and the people as a priest in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Thus entering simultaneously, the Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary – St. Andrew’s College in Winnipeg and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Manitoba I soon developed a keen interest in both biblical Studies and Ukrainian literature.

As my B.A. studies progressed, my major concentration was in Ukrainian language and literature with a minor concentration in French. It was not long before the work of St. Ilarion of Kyiv Concerning Law and Grace was mentioned in class as it represents the earliest extant literary work of Kyivan-Rus’. This work of the eleventh century became the starting point of all study of Ukrainian literature and also was a reference point in the literature of neighbouring nations.

During my seminary studies, the figure of the first Metropolitan of Kyiv of local origin, St. Ilarion, stood at the beginning of the study of the early years of Kyivan-Rus’, centered in what is now Ukraine. Likewise, St. Ilarion was prominent in the study of the birth and development of the Orthodox Church in Kyivan-Rus’.

While I was at St. Andrew’s College as a student, the first translation of the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace into modern Ukrainian was made. I began to read the work of this Metropolitan as a seminarian preparing to serve as a priest. As a student of the New Testament I was captivated by St. Ilarion’s exegesis of St. Paul and as a student of Ukrainian literature was impressed by the fact that the very first piece of literature in Kyivan-Rus’ is a Paschal sermon on salvation through faith in Jesus Christ the corner-stone of the New Covenant. St. Ilarion announces the Evangel – Good News that the Law of the Old Covenant (and all other laws) are being superseded by the Grace of Christ through the New Covenant Baptism.

During my M.A. second cycle studies at Collège dominicain de la philosophie et de théologie (now Collège universitaire dominicain) in Ottawa, I concentrated on Biblical Studies and became more and more convinced that I needed to work someday on the life and work of St. Ilarion of Kyiv.

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This work being presented to Université de Sherbrooke is the fruit of this labor of love.

This thesis will show that St. Ilarion of Kyiv as the first native – born Metropolitan of Kyiv is the founder of what could be called a new apostolic age as he distills, in the eleventh century, the scriptural and patristic teaching on the significance of Baptism and the New Covenant of the Grace of Christ and that he as, Bishop and Scholar, expresses the joy of his people in Kyivan-Rus’ becoming part of the new people of God.

My thesis will examine the question of Law and Grace in the work of St. Ilarion of Kyiv (1051 – 1054) in the following manner:

First it will begin with a survey of the current state of the question and why this dissertation is an essential advancement in scholarship on St. Ilarion of Kyiv followed by an examination of the works of St. Ilarion and the primary sources extant on St. Ilarion.

Second, the life and times of St. Ilarion will be reviewed with particular attention given to his biography and the historical / ecclesial situation in which he found himself. The question of his significance to the people of Kyivan-Rus’ and his canonization are important as is the respect given to the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace itself. The main body of this dissertation will discuss the Sermon beginning with a review and refutation of the various trends of misinterpretation of the text and then, after presenting the entire text, continuing with a theological interpretation. This theological study of the text will explain the content noting the scripture and other possible sources and demonstrating the uniqueness and significance of the work of St. Ilarion of Kyiv. This part of the study will follow the progression of St. Ilarion’s text itself followed by a conclusion bringing together the important teaching and themes of St. Ilarion’s work. This will show that a clear scholarly understanding of the work and teaching of St. Ilarion of Kyiv would be incomplete without this present dissertation: Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv (1051 – 1054).

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St. Ilarion’s Sermon Concerning Law and Grace was known in medieval times but in more modern times was available to the general reader only in excerpts and quotations. Since St. Ilarion in the eleventh century stands at the very start of the literature of Kyivan-Rus’ it could never be completely ignored as all Ukrainian and even Russian literary studies were obliged to begin with St. Ilarion. These commentaries discuss some motivation and sources but do not comment extensively on the theological content of the Sermon. George P. Fedotov1 _{is an exception to this}

rule.

Commentaries in the twentieth century were written or edited by soviet – atheistic writers or by those who followed them and thus concentrated on historical, political, or nation-building aspects of the Sermon and avoided seeing the obvious Biblical parallels. Examples of this trend are the articles of Ivan Nukutenko2_{and Ihor}

Economtsev3_{among others.}

The works of St. Ilarion of Kyiv were mentioned perfunctorily by historians of literature such as Dmytro Cizevsky4_{and church historians treating the early histories}

of the church of Kyiv. The nominal academic interest in St. Ilarion saw a brief flowering near the end of the 20th_{century around the date of the 1988 celebration of}

the Millennium of the 988 acceptance of Orthodoxy by the state of Kyivan-Rus’ often called the Baptism of Rus’ or the Baptism of Ukraine into the Holy Orthodox Faith. The most serious academic treatment of St. Ilarion’s work is led by linguists. They considered the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace as a source for the study of the tenth century Slavic language. Two of the most important such linguistic analyses were undertaken by Ludoff Müller5_{in Germany in the 1960}_{– 1970’s and by A.M.}

1_{Fedotov, George P., The Russian Religious Mind (I); Kievan Christianity. (Belmont, Mass.: Norland, 1975).}

2_{Nukutenko, Ivan, “Ilarion the Metropolitan of Kyiv and his work ‘Concerning Law and Grace’”. The Orthodox Herald, #3 March,}

1983, (Kyiv: Church Publication, 1983), and “Metropolitan’s Leadership in the Church of Rus’ during the times of Volodymyr and Yaroslav”, The Orthodox Herald #3, March 1984, (Kyiv; Church Publication, 1984).

3_{Economtsev, Ihor, “The Baptism of Rus’ and the External Politics of the Ancient State of Rus’”, The Orthodox Herald, #7 July}

1987, (Kyiv: Church Publication, 1987).

4_{Cizevsky, Dmytro, History of Ukrainian Literature from its Origin to the Realistic Period, (New York: Ukrainian Academy of}

Arts and Science in the U.S., 1956).

5_{Müller, Ludolf, Des Metropoliten Ilarion Lobrede auf Vladimir Den Heiliegn und Glaubensbekenntes, Slavistische}

Studienbücher II, (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1962), and Die Werke Des Metropoliten Ilarion, Forum Slavicum Band 37, (München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1971).

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Moldovan6_{in Soviet Ukraine in the 1980’s. While Müller provides some theological /}

biblical review, biography and a German translation, he clearly is a linguist dealing with an early Slavic language document. Moldovan is even more intensely focused on the language of St. Ilarion of Kyiv. This may reflect the fact that in the Soviet Union of the 1980’s linguistic analysis was the only type of analysis of early religious literature that was encouraged.

The most important linguistic work and publication was completed by N. Rozov7_in

Leningrad, USSR, and published in 1963 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Rozov provides some background and commentary in Russian and most importantly provides the complete Old Slavonic text of St. Ilarion’s Sermon. As such, it becomes the primary source used by most other studies including this present thesis.

I have great respect for the work of Rozov, Müller and Moldovan, none of which I could reproduce or challenge, but all these and most of the later, lesser literary, historical and / or ecclesial treatments of the question do not enter into a serious examination of the actual theological content of the works of St. Ilarion of Kyiv. That objective is fulfilled by this thesis.

The linguist N.K. Nikolskiy in 1906 noted that the actual text of St. Ilarion’s Sermon has four extant forms.

All the texts of the ‘sermon’… number 31, the copies can be divided into 4 redactions:

1. The first and complete, 2. And abridged…

3. An interpolated…

6_{Moldovan, A.M., “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Ilarion, (Kyiv: Scientific Thought Publishing of Akademiya Nauk, 1984).} 7_{Rozov, N. N, Slavia, Revue de Philosophie Slave, Tom XXXII, (Prague: L’Institut Slave de l’Académie tchécoslovaque, 1963).}

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6 4. An interpreted recension.8

The manuscript used and presented by N. Rozov is the only complete version available in our time. This first and complete version contains the most reliable version of the entire text. Known as “Synodal” text No. 591, it was found in the Moscow Synodal Library.

In the manuscript No. 591 of the Synodal Library, at the present time in the State Historical Museum in Moscow, ‘Sermon Concerning Law and Grace’ has come down to us in its full scope. 9

This synodal text No. 591 is the complete text of the final version including the added Creed, edited by St. Ilarion himself and bearing his signature and post-script. It was essential to reproduce this full complete text in the academic study of the work of St. Ilarion.

All this makes indispensable a new edition of the synodal manuscripts which most closely match the original. Such an edition is of interest equally to specialist of literature and linguistics.10

Of all the partial and limited editions only the Synodal text published with commentary by N.N. Rozov proves to be the standard text used by contempory academics.

There are, therefore, many editions, but no critical edition: none of the editors systematically incorporates preferred variant, conjecture, and emendations to form a hypothetical reconstruction of the Sermon in it’s original state… The present translation (by Simon Franklin) is, of course, based on S [Synodal text No. 591].11

Thus is it this text in Church Slavic that becomes the source of all known translation in contemporary languages.

8_{Nykolskaya, A., “The Sermon of Ilarion of Kyiv in the Later Literary Tradition”, Slavia, Revue de philologie slave Tome VII,}

(Prague: l’Institut Slave de l’Academie tchécoslovaque, 1928-29). p. 551, 552.

9_{Rozov, N.N., “The Synodal List of the Work of Ilarion, an Eleventh Century Writer of Rus’”, Op. Cit. p. 144.} 10_Ibid

11_{Franklin, Simon, “A Note on the Translations”, Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus’, Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian}

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Two versions of somewhat updated Slavonic texts were published in the twentieth century reproducing the original text in the language of the succeeding centuries. This type of language is generally referred to as Hrazhdanka. This somewhat artificial language was a bridge from the Slavonic text to the more understandable Ukrainian or Russian. The first of these to be published appeared in Rome in 1973 as a reprint of the work done in Lviv in 1930 by Y. Levytsky.12_{A slightly different}

version of the Hrazhdanka text was published in 1969 in Oxford.13

A translation into the Russian language of the mid-nineteenth century was made by A. Gorskij in Moscow in 1844 which was the version republished by Ludolf Müller in his book Des Metropoliten Ilarion in 1962.14

In 1962 his (Müller’s) book dedicated to Ilarion appeared in which was reproduced letter by letter the edition of A.V. Gorskij.15

Amongst the translations into living languages first of all is a German translation published in München in 1971.16_{There are a number of translations into English. In}

1978 Nancy Louisa Ickler published a translation at UCLA in Los Angeles.17_This

translation also contains an English rendering of the Confession of Faith and the extended signature of Ilarion but has anachronistically been unable to distinguish between Rus’ and Russia and has thus misrepresented or mistranslated terms of the eleventh century document.18

12_{Levytsky, Y., De Exordiis Praedicationis Ucrainorum, II Editio, Opera Greco – Catholicae Adademiae Theologicae Vol.}

XXXV, (Romae: Editiones Universitatis Catholicae Ucrainorum, S. Clementis Papae, 1973).

13_{Fennel, John and Obolensky, Dimitri, editors, “Sermon Concerning Law and Grace”, A Historical Russian Reader, (Oxford:}

Clarendon Press, 1969).

14_{Müller, Des Metropoliten … 1962.} 15_{Moldovan, op. cit. P. 23.}

16_{Müller, Die Werke… 1971}

17_{Ickler, Nancy Louisa, “Slovo o Zakone I Blagodati: A Discourse on the Law and Grace”, Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval}

and Renaissance Studies Vol. Nine. (Los Angeles: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UCLA, 1978).

18_{The Ukrainian land of the early centuries was historically known as Rus’. The name Ukraine was used for these territories}

after the twelfth century unofficially and in modern times has become the official name of the state centered around Kyiv. Moscow did not exist when Rus’ developed around Kyiv, but from 1721 Moskovy began to call itself Russia or the Russian Empire, thus seeming to appropriate the early history of Kyivan-Rus’. The use of the terminology Russia or Russian to refer to Rus’ is an anachronism which unfortunately has been accepted by many historians and commentators. In quotations, of course, I will not correct the inaccurate usage used in sources written by those who academically are not able to get past their biases. Similarly, I prefer to use the spelling of Ukraine’s capital – “Kyiv” which Ukraine has established as the proper spelling in languages that use a latin-based alphabet.

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In 1984 a very good translation in English was produced in Montreal by Dr. I Kutash19_{et al and published in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1986, another English}

translation was published in Winnipeg by Orysia Ferbey.20_{In 1991, a fourth English}

translation was completed by Simon Franklin and was published in 1991 by Harvard University.21

Simon Franklin’s fine translation was published well after I began to write about my nearly life-long study of St. Ilarion and thus I have not used it in this thesis other than to avail myself of the useful footnotes and commentary. Nonetheless, I do prefer both the sectional division and the more contempory Ukrainian to English transliteration used in the 1984 Montreal translation.22

Dr. S. Jarmus published a Ukrainian translation in Winnipeg in 1982.23_{In modern}

Russian, a translation by A. Mymrukov was published in Moscow in 1987.24

A French translation of selected sections of the work of St. Ilarion was completed by Irène Popowycz and published in Paris in 2004.25

I have read and consulted the original, reprinted by Rozov in 1963 in Prague and all of the aforementioned translations but in my thesis I use the English text from 1984 translated in Montreal. This text is reproduced later in this work and quoted as “lines”. One correction has had to be made: In line 13 the work “salt” has been changed to “envoy”.

19_{Kutash, Dr. I. et al, Translators, “Concerning Law and Grace”, Faith and Culture No. 6, Journal of the Metropolitan Ilarion}

Theological Society, (Winnipeg: St. Andrew’s College in Winnipeg, 1984).

20_{Ferbey, Orysia, Translator, “Sermon on Law and Grace and a Eulogy to our Prince Volodymyr”, in The Ukrainian Church.}

English Edition, (Author – Metropolitan Ilarion of Winnipeg) (Winnipeg: Millennium Central Committee of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, 1986).

21_{Franklin, Simon, “Ilarion : Sermon on Law and Grace”, op. cit. p. 3 – 29.} 22_{Kutash et al Loc. Cit.}

23_{Jarmus, Dr. S. (Translator) “Concerning Law and Grace”, The Ukrainian Church (in Ukrainian – Author – Metropolitan Ilarion}

of Winnipeg), (Winnipeg: Consistory of the Ukrainian Church of Canada, 1982).

24_{Mymrukov, Alexander, “Sermon on Law and Grace”, Theological Works, Vol. 28 (Moscow: Moscow Patriarchal Publishing,}

1987).

25_{Popowycz, Irène (Translator), “Sermon sur la Loi et la Grâce”, Anthologie de La Littérature Ukrainienne du XI}e _{and XX}e

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The Old Slavic term “Sol” is a homonym which means “salt” or “envoy / ambassador”. The word “envoy” is the preferred term in the context (Lines 12 – 14). St. Ilarion, here, is bringing forth the Biblical understanding, seen in St. Paul, of the superiority or Grace of the Law of Moses as Grace comes directly from God while the Law was received by envoys (the angels) through Moses, a messenger.

He [God] looked upon His people and not with an envoy nor with a messenger but He, Himself (through His son) saved us (Lines 12 – 14).

God sent an angel (Exodus 3) to call Moses and Moses later becomes the messenger of God (Exodus 19) to bring the law to the people.

Why then the law?... and it was ordained by angels through an intermediary. (Galatians 3:19).

Envoy fits theologically into the theme of the Letter to the Hebrews in which Christ the Lord and Establisher of the New Covenant is seen throughout as superior to any person or religious institution of the Old Covenant.

Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant… but Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and pride in our hope. (Hebrews 3:5,6)

A good envoy, ambassador, angel or prophet is essential when reaching out to the people of the Old Covenant but now, in the time of the New Covenant, God the Son, Jesus Christ has become Incarnate and calls us directly as St. Ilarion rightly explains. (Lines 12 – 14)

The translation of “sol” as “envoy” rather than “salt” is also supported by similar terms found in the modern translations I have consulted.

There are two works which are attributed to St. Ilarion of Kyiv: Sermon Concerning Law and Grace and Confession of Faith. The Sermon is considered by some to be itself a compendium of three separate works: the Sermon proper, the Panegyric to Volodymyr and the Prayer for the Nation. The Sermon, as a whole, later had the Confession with an autobiographical post-script attached to it when St. Ilarion later as Metropolitan re-edited his work.

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I, Ilarion, through the mercy of God who loveth man, a monk and priest, was through his good pleasure consecrated by God-loving bishops and enthroned in the great and divinely protected city of Kiev, there to serve as metropolitan, pastor and teacher. These things came to pass in the year 6559 (A.D. 1051) during the reign of the pious Khan Jaroslav, the son of Vladimir. Amen. 26

As a famous early writer and Metropolitan his name attracted other non-authentic prayers and sermons.

Great names attract attributions… anonymous written works wander through the pages of medieval manuscripts and modern scholarship in search of prestigious named authors. 27

In more contemporary times many have seen St. Ilarion’s hand in various anonymous collections of sermons or chronicles but it may be more a question of influence or commonplace knowledge.

In the small world of the Kievan ecclesiastical elite, in the ‘old boy network’ of the Caves Monastery one is hardly surprised to find similar ideas and styles and phrases surfacing in various places as parts of a shared vocabulary of culture. There is no need to assume either textural interdependency or authorial identity.28

Notwithstanding this general practice few of these additional works are thought to be actually written by St. Ilarion.29

As L. Müller asserts, the post-script signature at the end of the final corpus containing the three parts of the Sermon with the added Confession demonstrate that St. Ilarion was conscious of his own completed work and thus that anything else has little possibility of being authentic.30

In church practice a candidate for consecration as a Bishop is to explain his beliefs by reciting the formal creed and then using his own words. The point of this is to

26_{Ickler, Op. Cit., p. 48.} 27_{Franklin, Op. Cit. p. XXIX.} 28_{Ibid p. XXX – XXXI.}

29_{For a list of non-authentic works attributed to Ilarion see – Archanhelsky, A. “Ilarion”, Encyclopedic Dictionary Vol. XII, (St.}

Petersburg, Russia: 1894) p. 911 or Franklin, Op. Cit. p. XXX.

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demonstrate that the candidate, as someone who knows the faith, is worthy of episcopal consecration.

By definition it excludes original speculation, but tries to condense into short formulas the common dogmatic inheritance of the church.31

Even the exposition in his own words may follow accepted patterns used earlier by other Bishops.

“The Confession of Faith” was read by Metropolitan Ilarion before his “installation” as Metropolitan, during the Council of the bishops of Rus.”32

The text of Ilarion’s own Confession of Faith follows the construction and in many formulations, older confessions of the same genre above all the Confession of Faith of Michael Synkellos but he does not follow them in a slavish way…33

It is historically and ecclesially significant that the Nicene Creed recited by St. Ilarion in the eleventh century did not contain the filioque. It demonstrates St. Ilarion’s and the Kyivan Church’s solidarity with the Patriarchate of Constantinople during the polemics which led to the mutual excommunication of Cardinal Humbert and Patriarch Michael Cerularius in 1054.

I believe in the seven councils of the orthodox Holy Fathers, and whom they curse even him shall I curse. And that which they have passed down to us in writing I accept.34

No matter how significant the Confession of Faith might have been it cannot be compared to St. Ilarion’s masterpiece Sermon which proclaims the fundamental truths of faith and shows God’s plan for the people of Kyivan-Rus’.

In short all of the existing authentic works of St. Ilarion revolve around or find their provenance in the main part of the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace which theologically explains the great truths of our salvation. St. Volodymyr is praised because of his role in the Enlightenment or Baptism of the nation and the Prayer of St. Ilarion is that of the leading Bishop for the newly baptized and enlightened

31_{Fedotov, Op. Cit. p.85}

32_{Mymrukov, Alexander “The Prayer by Ilarion Metropolitan of Kyiv”, Note #122 to the translation, Op. Cit. p. 343.} 33_{Müller, Loc. Cit.}

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people. Thus the joyous Paschal theological sermon is the foundation of all that follows.

The ‘Slovo’ (Sermon) as a whole is a theological dissertation which in an expansive concept touches the specific questions of Christian theology… and at the same time the theme of the meaning of the great historical change of Russia [sic] to which Ilarion was himself a witness.35

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14 1. THE HISTORICAL SITUATION

The Orthodox Church in Kyivan-Rus’, has two generally accepted points of origin. The first beginning of the Christian mission is traced to St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle. St. Andrew the Apostle after the Great Commission given by Christ (Mt. 28:19) preached in Asia Minor, Greece and the Greek colonies around the Black Sea which led him to the mouth of the great Dnipro/Dnieper river. The Primary Chronicle, a record of the early history of Kyivan-Rus’, records that St. Andrew himself, with his missionary entourage, traveled up the Dnipro and when arriving at a beautiful place of many hills where Kyiv was eventually built said:

See you these hills? Behold, for on them shall shine the blessing of God. A Great City shall be built here and God shall cause to rise upon them many churches.36

It is historically believed that St. Andrew the First called Apostle of Christ had visited the hills upon which Kyiv was later built and thus there were always, from the first century, Christians in Kyiv albeit not a large number. The Christian community was seriously strengthened when St. Olha the regent of Kyiv became an Orthodox Christian in 955.

Olga went to Greece, and arrived at Tsar’grad (Constantinople)… The Emperor, with the assistance of the Patriarch, accordingly baptised her.37

It was only possible during the reign of Great Prince (Kniaz) Volodymyr in the tenth century for the mission to baptize the entire nation to begin. St. Volodymyr the Great rejected his pre – Christian beliefs and sent emissaries to investigate the religious life of his neighbours who each adhered to one of the four major religions of that era: Islamic Bulgars, Jewish Khazars, Latin Christians and Byzantine Orthodox Christians.

The Primary Chronicle, compiled by the monk Nestor of the Kyivan Caves Monastery in the eleventh century and often called the Chronicle of Nestor,

36_{The Russian Primary Chronicle - Laurentian Text, Translation and commentary by Samuel H. Cross, (Cambridge, Mass:}

The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953), p. 54.

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elaborates how St. Volodymyr in 987/988 evaluated the religions of the neighbouring lands and even sent out envoys to visit them at worship. According to the Chronicle it was the beauty of the Byzantine Orthodox worship in the great Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople which captured the hearts and souls of St. Volodymyr’s delegation.

“The Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth… We only know that God dwells there among men…38

The delegation being overwhelmed by the worship and spectacle in the Great Church in Constantinople could not tell whether they were on earth or in heaven. Constantinople, for the people, theologically and emotionally became the New Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the ancient centre of the Old Covenant Temple and was the place of contact between humanity and God. The centralization of the Old Covenant worship in the Temple of Jerusalem prepared Israel and the world for the Messiah. The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2) brought about the mission to all the world

Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24: 46, 47).

Similarly, for the people of Kyivan-Rus’, and much of the Eastern Christian areas of Europe, Constantinople became that new Jerusalem which enlightened all in this case especially Kyivan-Rus’, with the Cross of Christ.

Now, Christ is called King among use just as among them. He [Constantine], together with his mother, Helena, sent the Cross over all the world, bringing it from Jerusalem, in order to strengthen the faith; and you (Volodymyr), together with your grandmother, Olga, bringing the Cross from the New Jerusalem, Constantinople, erected it throughout all your land for the confirmation of the faith. (Lines 443 – 447)

This New Jerusalem, Constantinople, fulfilled the role, specifically for the Eastern Slavs, that Jerusalem played for the early Church in general. Kyiv of the tenth and

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eleventh centuries saw Constantinople as the central example of all of the Christian heritage.

…until the twelfth century, Byzantine civilization surpassed… that of the European West. Until the year 1000 – the time of the … conversion (of Rus’) – Western Europe (was)… a province of the one Christian civilization, the center of which was definitely not in Rome, but in Constantinople. The latter was the treasure store of classical literature which preserved for us (Rus’) the ancient pagan and Christian traditions of Greece.39

The status of Constantinople as New Jerusalem the source – city of the true faith and the heritage of the Church is strengthened by the Holy Canons which place Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire, in the leading role as the “New Rome”.

Let the Bishop of Constantinople, however, have the priorities of honor after the Bishop of Rome, because of its being New Rome.40

This Canon of the Second Ecumenical Council, (381 A.D.) is cited and expanded upon at the Fourth Ecumenical Council. (451 A.D.)

Everywhere following the decrees of the Holy Fathers (of the Second Ecumenical Council) … we too decree and vote the same things in regard to the privileges and priorities of the most holy church of that same Constantinople and New Rome. … with good reason deeming that the city (Constantinople) which is the seat of the empire … should be magnified also as she is in respect of ecclesiastical affairs …41

Awe and respect towards Constantinople were inculcated in St. Volodymyr’s delegates of the tenth century and in St. Ilarion of the eleventh as Constantinople became the city of the Great Christian Emperor and the leading Patriarch of Christ’s True Church.

… the see of Constantinople … was an essential fact of history 42

39_{Fedotov, op. cit p. 23}

40_{Canon III of the Holy and Ecumenical Second Council, The Rudder, English Translation by D. Cummings, (Chicago:The}

Orthodox Christian Educational Society, 1957). P. 210.

41_{Canon XXVIII of the Holy and Ecumenical Fourth Council, Ibid. P. 271.}

42_{Meyendorff, John, The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church, (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,}

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St. Volodymyr’s actions were seen as being led by God but nonetheless he was praised for emulating the standards set in the Great Church of Constantinople as Constantinople was, for Kyivan-Rus’, the earthly source of pious belief and practice. It was not just the Church Canons that effected the relationship between Kyiv and Constantinople but the cultural and societal expectations in an era of peace and familial ties.

Certainly Jaroslav and his associates [including St. Ilarion] worked to create for the new Christian Rus’ a cultural and historical identity, a sense of self, of historical being under Providence. But this identity was not created in a vacuum, ex nihilo, … All the prestigious cultural models were Byzantine. All the historical explanations were Byzantine …. To show Kiev’s historical and providential destiny meant to fit Kiev into schemes of sacred history borrowed from Byzantium.43

In short, it was through the model of Constantinople that St. Ilarion interpreted the saintly acts of St. Volodymyr accepting Christ and, by God’s loving Providence, bringing the people of Kyivan-Rus’ to the new people of God.

St. Ilarion of Kyiv, writing in the century following the choices made by St. Volodymyr, attributed these great deeds to the Holy Spirit.

Tell us, your servants, tell us, our teacher: whence came the fragrance of the Holy Spirit to you? (Lines 384 – 385).

Amongst the first generation of Church leaders and scholars to be raised in the newly Orthodox land of Kyivan-Rus’ was St. Ilarion of Kyiv who became the first native – born Metropolitan of Kyiv in 1051 A.D. or approximately one generation after the baptizing of the nation by St. Volodymyr.

The year 988 A.D. is considered the true beginning of the organized church in Kyivan-Rus’ as this is the year that the Kniaz (Grand Prince/King) Volodymyr was himself baptized and baptized the nation making Orthodox Christianity the religion of his Kingdom.

… every country, city and nation honours and praises its own teacher who taught it the Orthodox Faith. Let us also praise … the great ‘Kahan’ (emperor) of our land Volodymyr. (Lines 320 – 324).

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He was baptised into Christ, he put on Christ, … when this came about, he was not content with this achievement alone, … but devoted himself to further efforts, ordaining that all in his land be baptised .. and that all became Christians … the small and the great, slaves and freemen, young and old, nobles and commoners, the rich and the poor. (Lines 346, 351 – 353, 355, 356).

Despite speculation as to the historical reasons for St. Volodymyr’s actions, the conversion was understood as being sincere and having had great religious significance.

All… political reasons considered, we must however come to the conclusion, that none of them made the acceptance of Christianity inevitable, forcing Volodymyr to christianize his realm.44

How one understands the initial ecclesial structure or episcopal jurisdiction of the Kyivan Church influences how one interprets the Sermon of St. Ilarion.

There has been little consensus amongst historical commentaries on the question of the ecclesial situation of the Church of Kyiv in 988 AD nor likewise the status of the Church in the following century during the time of the life of St. Ilarion of Kyiv. Nonetheless,

One fact stands out, uncontroverted and well-known: from 1039, when a Byzantine prelate is mentioned in Kiev, to 1448… the Russian [sic] church was a metropolitan diocese of the Byzantine Patriarchate…45

The Church of Bulgaria played a large role in the early development of the newly formed Church of Kyiv and this historical fact has led to some uncertainty about the status of the Church of Kyiv. Clergy in the ninth and tenth centuries from Bulgaria had the advantage of speaking and praying in a language that was very similar to that of Kyiv. Traditionally it is accepted that the hierarchy of the Kyivan Church was sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople but the lower clergy (priests) who actually did most of the missionary work were most likely Bulgarian. Some historians even consider that the first Metropolitan of Kyiv, Michael, was Bulgarian.

44_{Baran, Alexander, “The Motivations for Volodymyr’s Acceptance of Christianity, Analecta Ordinis S. Basilii Magni, Occasione}

Sacri Millennii Rus’ – Ucrainae 988 – 1988. (Romae: Sumtibus PP. Basilianorum, 1988). p. 374.

45_{Obolensky, Dimitri, “Byzantium, Kiev and Moscow: A Study in Ecclesiastical Relations”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers Number}

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… there is a passage in the Novgorod Chronicle about the first Metropolitan Michael, who came to Rus’ with the four bishops… Metropolitan Michael was, possibly, a Bulgarian.46

Did this mean that the Church of Kyivan-Rus’ was under the Patriarch of Ochrid in Bulgaria?

...le Grand Duc Vladimir… cherchait un centre chrétien qui pourrait donner à la nouvelle Eglise naissante, son indépendance. Ni Rome, ni Constantinople, ne pouvaient aller au-devant de ce désir et il s’adressa à Okhidra, capital religieuse du royaume de Bulgarie, qui avait acquis, au début du Xe _{siècle (927) son indépendance religieuse de Constantinople}

(autocéphalie) et qui était prête à l’accorder à la Russie [sic] de Kiev.47

This “Bulgarian Theory” is an important question because if it can be seen that the Church of Kyiv was dependant on Bulgaria or maybe actually autocephalous then the Sermon of St. Ilarion could be interpreted as an anti-Bulgarian tract. This is not necessarily so.

It seems more plausible to accept that the Bulgarian Church itself was not autocephalous (self-headed) but directed by Constantinople and thus clergy preaching in early Kyivan-Rus’ from Bulgaria were sent by Constantinople rather than being there by their own decision. The presence of Slavic – speaking clergy from Bulgaria does not prove or disprove the traditional view that the mission to Kyiv was always under the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Some have taken the matter even further in asserting that the Bulgarian clergy in Kyiv were a type of missionary refugees serving in Kyiv when or because Constantinople closely dominated the Church of Ochrid.

…it can be agreed…that an Archbishop, bishops and priest arrived from Ochridian Bulgaria to preach the Word of God, which could not be done by the Greeks who did not know the Slavic language, but this Bulgarian

46_{Karpiak, Protopriest Ilarion, “The First Metropolitans of Kyiv”, The Orthodox Herald, #1, January, 1981. (Kyiv: Church}

publication, 1981). p. 28.

47 _{Kovalevsky, Pierre, “Historie de l’Eglise Orthodoxe en Orient: Les Evénements de 1054, vus de Russie”, Presence}

Orthodoxe, Revue de l’Orthodoxie Occidentale. (Paris: Diffussion et Renseignements à Presence Orthodoxe, ler trimestre, 1971). p. 61.

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clergy left their homeland because they were deposed from their positions by the Greeks.48

Moreover, some historians assert that Michael of Ochrid was not the first Metropolitan of Kyiv but Theophylaktos, who was clearly Greek under Constantinople, was.

In any case, in Byzantium during the years 987 – 988 when the Rus’ Church Province was founded with the former Metropolitan of Sebeste, Theophylaktos, a man loyal to Basil II, at its head, the event was thought of primarily as a dynastic alliance and a diplomatic mission to the Kievan court.49

The theory of Bulgarian administrative authority over the Church of Kyiv has little true acceptance and thus the traditional view that the Kyivan Church was from its very origins dependant on Constantinople must be seen as true. Theories about Rome or Tumutorokan leading the missionary work in Kyivan Rus’ have even less credibility than that of Bulgaria.

We may therefore safely assume that at least the first generation of bishops ordained for Russia [sic] came from the Byzantine Empire…we know that before Hilarion (AD 1051) all of them (Metropolitans) were appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople.50

This traditional thought is supported by the understanding that the pre-Volodymyr missionary work on the territory of Rus’ was directed by Constantinople and thus there is no reason to believe that the whole orientation of the Kyivan Church would be changed after the official baptism of the Great Ruler Volodymyr in 988. St. Volodymyr followed his grandmother, St. Olha, who was baptized in Constantinople in 954 – 955.

In the Primary Chronicle, the words of the boyars (governing officials) addressed to Volodymyr were quoted:

48_{Andrusiak, M., “The Origin of Christianity in Ukraine:, The Ukrainian Historian, 1 – 4 (61 – 64), 16}th_{year. (New York, Toronto,}

München: Ukrainian Historical Assoc., 1979). p. 14.

49_{Poppe, Andrzej, “How the Conversion of Rus’ Was Understood in the Eleventh Century”, Harvard Ukrainian Studies Vol. XI,}

Number 3 / 4. (Cambridge, Mass.: Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, December 1987). p. 290.

50_{Honigmann, Ernest, “Studies in Slavic Church History: The Foundation of the Russian Metropolitan Church According to}

Greek Sources”, Bizantion Vol. XVII, 1944 – 1945. (American Series, III), (Cambridge, Mass.: Byzantine Institute & the Mediaeval Academy of America, 1945). p. 147.

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If the Greek faith were evil, it would not have been adopted by your grand-mother Ol’ha who was wiser than all (…) men.51

Subsequently, St. Volodymyr, as a baptized Orthodox, married the sister of the Byzantine Emperor, the Royal Princess Anna. It seems implausible that after this marriage that the nascent Kyivan Church would not accept the ecclesiastical oversight of Constantinople.

L’ultime phase de l’incorporation de la Russie [sic] dans l’oikonménè byzantine fut franchie à la fin de Xe_{siècle par la conversion du prince}

Vladimir a l’orthodoxie et son mariage avec la porphyrogénète Anne.52

The ecclesiastical dependence of Kyiv on Constantinople was completely accepted in the eleventh century and seen by Yaroslav the Wise as a continuation of the earlier situation.

Russia [sic] was from the beginning a metropolitan see of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.53

Iaroslav est présenté à un moment où l’existence à Kiev d’une métropole grecque ne fait aucun doute – comme le continuateur de la politique ecclésiastique de son père.54

2. BIOGRAPHY

The birth date and early life of Ilarion of Kyiv are not known with any certainty but he seems to be one of the first to benefit from the schools set up by St. Volodymyr and his successor, Yaroslav the Wise. St. Ilarion was a monk who lived a life of prayer in a cave where the great Monastery of Caves later grew into the centre of Orthodox monasticism in the land of Kyivan-Rus’. As a man of prayer, he later was well known as an ascetic and an early academic, and was acknowledged as one of the best educated leaders of his time.

51_{Primary Chronicle. p. 111.}

52_{Arrignon, Jean-Pierre, “Les Relations Diplomatiques Entre Byzance et la Russie de 860 à 1043, Revue des Etudes Slaves,}

Tome 55, (Paris: Institut d’Etudes Slaves, 1983). p. 134.

53_{Müller, Ludolf, Des Metropoliten Ilarion Lobrede …, 1962. p. 3.}

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His extensive theological knowledge, rhetoric and the ability to write leads us to conclude that he enjoyed a systematic usage of the literature of the church fathers which would make it most probably that he could understand Greek.55

There is some speculation as to where St. Ilarion may have studied but there is no solid evidence anywhere other than in the newly formed schools established after the official acceptance of Orthodox Christianity a generation earlier.

De cette tentative…d’initier les Russes (sic) à la culture byzantine il ne subsiste, au plus, qu’un témoin, le métropolite Hilarion dont la connaissance de la littérature patristique dépasse sensiblement celle de ses compatriots, mais rien n’exclut qu’il ait pu recevoir sa formation ailleurs qu’ à Kiev.56

St. Ilarion as a monk became a priest at Berestovo which was the summer residence of the Kniaz Yaroslav the Wise. Yaroslav the Wise became Kniaz of Kyiv after the death of Sviatoslav, who had tried to stall Christian growth. Yaroslav soon had opportunity to appoint St. Ilarion as Metropolitan of Kyiv. As the Paterik or Chronicle of the Kyiv Caves Monastery notes:

The God-loving prince Jaroslav [Kniaz Yaroslav] liked Berestovo and its Church of the Holy Apostles and had many priests under his care. In it there was a priest named Ilarion, a devout man, knowledgeable about the Scriptures and an ascetic. He used to go from Berestovo to a hill above the Dnieper, where the old Caves Monastery now is, and pray… Here he dug a small cave, fourteen feet deep and he used to come there from Berestovo and sing the Psalter and pray to God in secret. After some time it pleased God to inspire the pious great prince Jaroslav to assemble the bishops in the year 1051, and he appointed [Ilarion] Metropolitan in St. Sophia, and he abandoned his cave.57

As Metropolitan of Kyiv, St. Ilarion had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all of the churches and missions in the land of Kyivan-Rus’ and was himself under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is the central Patriarchate of the Orthodox world and which had directed the early missions in Rus’ and surrounding lands.

55_{Müller, Ludolf, Die Werke … 1971. p. 9.} 56_{Vodoff, Op. Cit. p. 105.}

57_{The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery, (Cambridge, Mass: Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University, 1989),}

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It is believed that, as a pious, educated ascetic, knowledgeable in the Scriptures, St. Ilarion of Kyiv wrote his most famous work Concerning Law and Grace prior to his elevation to the position of Metropolitan.

The various opinions as to the status of the newly-established Church led to three main evaluations of the election of St. Ilarion as Metropolitan of Kyiv:

1. that approval was not asked for , nor received from the Patriarch of Constantinople and thus that the election of St. Ilarion, a native-born priest, as Metropolitan was done in defiance of Constantinople to deliberately separate the Church of Kyiv from Constantinople;

2. that the election and consecration of St. Ilarion was done first but that subsequently he received the blessing of Constantinople and thus no rupture took place;

3. that the Patriarch of Constantinople saw no provocation or defiance from the Church of Kyiv as the election and consecration of a local cleric is a normal, expected outcome of missionary activity.

Those historians who see, or wish to see, in the eleventh century a desire for autocephaly see St. Ilarion’s consecration as being a significant break with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Yaroslav, unknown to Byzantium, names to the Metropolitan’s Cathedral a native of Rus’, Ilarion, who had been elected by a council of the bishops of Rus’ reminding the emperor and the Patriarch of the virtual independence of the Church of Rus’ which is enjoyed [yet] at the time of the Great King [Kniaz] Volodymyr.58

Historians and ecclesial politicians who wish to see a rift in the eleventh century between the church of Kyiv and Constantinople find some support in the fact that St. Ilarion was Metropolitan for a short time and replaced by Ephraim, a Greek, in 1054. The King [Kniaz] Yaroslav sacrificed Ilarion to reconcile with the Greeks.59

58_{Nukutenko, Ivan. “Ilarion the Metropolitan…”, 1983, p. 27.}

59_{Gerus, S. “Ilarion Metropolitan of Kyiv and the Question of his Canonization”, Faith and Culture, Vol 1, (Winnipeg: Ilarion}

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[Ilarion] quitta la métropolie et devint moine à l’archiabbye des Grottes. Les relations avec Constantinople furent alors rétablies par le Grand Duc Iziaslav [fils de Iaroslav] et le siège de Kiev, occupé par le grec Ephrem.60

Obviously, there arose negotiations, not bringing for Ilarion the desired result: in Constantinople they refused to confirm him, and Ilarion had to withdraw to the shadows.61

Notwithstanding these anachronistic sentiments it must be remembered that St. Ilarion’s appointment did not lead to any difficulties. In fact St. Ilarion’s name is found on canonical lists of the leaders of the Kyivan Church.

…the later catalogues of the primates of Russia [sic], based on the official diptychs of the Church of Kiev, contain the name of Hilarion, whereas the Metropolitan Clement who… was appointed a century later in defiance of the Byzantine authorities and contrary to their wish, does not figure in them.62

The Church in Kyivan-Rus’ was in the family of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, was highly influenced by the Byzantine Empire and had family ties with the royal family of Byzantium. Thus the aspirations for de jure autocephaly are appropriate only for later periods of Ukrainian Church history and even more so for the history of the Russian Church.

Very likely there may have been a yearning to have a locally recruited and trained candidate to be Metropolitan of Kyiv but this desire alone does not constitute defiance nor does it require a rupture. Having a qualified candidate in Kyiv, the plan may have been to elect him immediately and then seek the concurrence of the Patriarch. A local candidate does not a rupture make nor does canonical control by the Patriarch of Constantinople always need a Greek to be appointed to the Kyivan See.

it is not impossible that the Russian [sic] authorities, convinced that they were acting in conformity with Canon Law, requested the Patriarch to ratify Hilarion’s consecration post factum.63

60_{Kovalevsky, Art. Cit. p. 62.}

61_{Priselkov, M.D. , Essays on the Church – Political History of Kyivan Rus’ of the X – XII Centuries, (St. Petersburg, 1913). p.}

110.

62_{Obolensky, Art. Cit. p. 63.} 63_{Ibid. p. 64.}

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According to a later Greek chronicle of the fourteenth century, there may have been an agreement to alternate the Metropolitans by nationality.

it was laid down that he [the Metropolitan] would be taken alternately now from that nation… now from those who were born and brought up here (ie in Byzantium), each primate always being raised to the throne there, after the death of the previous incumbent, by alternate succession…64

This third interpretation of St. Ilarion’s election does not have much historical evidence of support as the Metropolitans for the first centuries were predominantly Greeks sent from Constantinople. Nonetheless, Yaroslav the Wise and the Church of Kyiv could, in the eleventh century, have believed that alternation was allowed or expected and thus that they were within their prerogative to elect St. Ilarion before contacting the Church administration in Constantinople.

Whatever the historical scenario might have been for the short time of St. Ilarion as Metropolitan of Kyiv it most likely was a result of local circumstances and/or the relationship between Kyiv and Constantinople and not a result of the aftermath of other significant events which happened at the time in the Church of Christ.

The year 1054 as the year of the Great Schism between Rome and Constantinople or as it became known as the break between the Pope of Rome and the Orthodox Patriarchates did not seem to figure in the abrupt end of St. Ilarion’s tenure as Metropolitan of Kyiv. St. Ilarion in his Sermon Concerning Law and Grace and in his confession of Faith showed his theological agreement with the position of the Patriarchate of Constaninople vis – à – vis the Pope of Rome and thus there is no evidence that the schism became a reason for the supposed disposal of St. Ilarion. For St. Ilarion of Kyiv, 1054 was much more significant as the year of the death of Yaroslav the Wise the Grand Prince (Kniaz) of Kyiv who had engineered his election as Metropolitan. Thus 1054 may have been, politically, the year that St. Ilarion lost his protector and ally and thus thought it best to return to the monastery.

64_{Livre XXXVII de l’Histoire Romaine de Nicéphore Gregoras (Paris, 1851). Quoted by Obolensky in English translation –}

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… a new metropolitan, Ephrem, was in office in 1055. Ilarion’s patron Jaroslav had died in 1054.65

It is not clear which of the theories of St. Ilarion’s departure from the position of Metropolitan is the most likely but one thing is certain, it is clearly nothing but a historical coincidence that his time as Metropolitan of Kyiv ended during the same year as the Great Schism (1054).

The actual reason or process of St. Ilarion’s departure may never be historically proven or unanimously accepted as is evident in the evaluation of a later researcher.

“There is no clear evidence that Ilarion was actually deposed after Jaroslav’s death, or that he was deposed at all. For all we know, he could have died in his sleep two weeks or two months or two years after taking office.66

In short, rather than being a sign of foreign pressure of one sort or another, the early departure of St. Ilarion could be a result of his piety and desire to lead a life of monastic prayer or possibly, simply, to his death.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ST. ILARION

St. Ilarion was important for his nation precisely because his interpretation of the place and role of the people of Kyivan-Rus’ was fundamental in the formation of the early and subsequent world – view of the nation. St. Ilarion saw the people of Kyivan-Rus’ as a great and strong nation which has been enlightened and adopted into the people of God, the Christian nation, by the Grace of the New Covenant. The belief that Kyivan-Rus’ was an integral part of God’s new chosen people built up the self – worth of the people at that time and in subsequent centuries.

The nation centered in Kyiv and called by God was not some abandoned, unimportant people but people whose salvation was always in God’s plan. As St. Ilarion sermonized:

65_{Franklin, Simon, “Introduction”, Op. cit. P. XXII.} 66_{Ibid P. XXIV, XXV.}

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That is the way it is: The faith of Grace is spreading and has come to our Rus’ (…) nation…and has covered the whole earth, and has flowed even to us.” (Lines 240 - 243).

St. Ilarion of Kyiv and his Sermon stand at a pivotal point in the development of the Orthodox Church mission. One, he is an inheritor of the long patristic tradition of expounding upon the significance of baptism and thus what it is to be a Christian. The Lord and God Jesus Christ has saved his creation and through baptism each created human being becomes a new creation and inherits eternal life. Two, St. Ilarion is the first native born Metropolitan of Kyiv and as such is an inheritor and beneficiary of the decision of St. Volodymyr and of the missionary work of the first bishops, priests and teachers which began their concerted efforts in 988 A.D. Also, as this first native bishop and truly the first to leave a written legacy, he has influenced the theological thought and even literary development of Kyivan-Rus’. It is this Sermon Concerning Law and Grace, filled with the joy of Christ’s gift of eternal life, which constitutes the oldest extant literary work in Kyiv. Three, as Metropolitan he strives to relay to his flock the great significance of, and joy in, the acceptance of the new Covenant Grace through Baptism. The salvation of each believing member of the flock led by St. Ilarion the Metropolitan was not some illusion or simply a historical accident but was truly part of God’s providence.

Just as the Law brought those under it to the grace of Baptism, so Baptism brings its children into eternal life. (Lines 28 – 29).

The Law of Moses was good as it was part of God’s plan to prepare the world for the coming of the Saviour Jesus Christ. It led Israel to hear the call to accept the New Covenant. Likewise, in the eyes of St. Ilarion, the New Covenant Grace of Christ the Lord has led St. Volodymyr and all his people to eternal salvation.

Our good God did not forget any corner of the world, nor us; He desired and saved us and brought us to true understanding. (Lines 258 – 259).

The enlightenment of Volodymyr, the Great Kahan (emperor) of Kyiv, his baptism and the subsequent mass conversion of Kyivan-Rus’, made early Ukraine one of the family of Christian nations in the Byzantine – centered Orthodox Church. These events became known as the Baptism of Kyivan-Rus’ and so it is not a surprise that

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St. Ilarion in the next century would write his great Paschal Sermon on the significance of Baptism. He expounds upon the joyous change that comes through Holy Baptism both for the individual and for the nation.

An exposition on Baptism and with it a teaching on the significance of the Old and New Testaments and the superiority of the Grace of the New Testament over the Old Testament Law is truly required of all apostles, missionaries and theologians. It is the same for St. Ilarion of Kyiv. He too must fulfill the Great Commission given by Christ.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Mt. 28:19).

It is significant that the people who lived at the time of St. Ilarion were exposed to a deep theological sermon explaining the typological significance of Law and Grace. His local training and heritage were important to later generations as they underlined the spiritual maturity and equality of the newly – enlightened nation. Yet his Sermon showed just how he and his people were integrated into the Byzantine world and truly into the people of God’s New Covenant. On the Church question, St. Ilarion’s position as Metropolitan, his method of elevation and the subsequent building of the church structure are of pivotal importance. Nevertheless it is the lasting legacy of the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace that is paramount.

… Ilarion is significant and important and interesting not because he was an ecclesiastical functionary, but because he was a writer. As an ecclesiastical functionary he is barely discernable. As a writer he is the most brilliant figure of the age.67

I believe a balanced approach to St. Ilarion is in order. He was both a theologian and church official. His position as Metropolitan made it imperative that he explain the great significance of Baptism and his theological sermon showed why he was a great metropolitan who placed his people on the road to salvation both canonically and spiritually.

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When the Sermon Concerning Law and Grace is studied in isolation with a historical – political world – view it seems to appear out of nowhere. Why would a writer in eleventh – century Kyiv spend so much energy speaking on Old Testament Law vis – à – vis New Testament Grace? The answer lies in the fact that St. Ilarion must, as a Metropolitan and theologian, explain the essential question of what is the point of being baptized and in why is a Christian different from a Jew or a pagan.

For this reason, St. Ilarion’s Sermon does not stand up to modern attempts at allegorization to make some political point. The Sermon should be seen as a sermon answering joyously the question posed to the Lord himself:

Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? (Mk 10:17).

SITZ IM LEBEN

The significance of St. Ilarion of Kyiv and his Sermon Concerning Law and Grace is amplified by the fact that he lived and worked at a great historical vortex of the growth of the Kyivan state and the continued theological interest in the significance and meaning of Baptism. Thus, in eleventh century Kyivan-Rus’, the long on – going Patristic treatment of the supersedence of the Old Testament by the New, circumcision by Baptism, Moses by Christ and Judaism by Christianity intersects with the first great flowering of Christ’s Church in Kyiv in the generation after the “Baptism” in 988.

St. Volodymyr the Great having been baptized put his full imperial support behind the building of the Church in Kyivan-Rus’ and the Christianization of society. This acceptance of Christ led to a rebirth of the nation and its preliminary integration into the Byzantine Oikoumene / world.

Thus, the society and state of Kyivan-Rus’ composed of the heritage of the ancient Scythians and Slavs and having a ruling class descended from the Vikings aligned itself ecclesially and politically with Constantinople by accepting the Orthodox Faith of Byzantium and by the royal marriage of Volodymyr to Anne, the Born – in – the – Purple, the sister of the Byzantine co-emperors.

Law and Grace in the Work of St. Ilarion, Metropolitan of Kyiv (1051-1054 AD)