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The medal has been minted in 1988 to commemorate Duke Vladimir and Saint OLGA of Kiev and the Mount Athos.
This medaille has been designed by the Polish medallier, Alfred Kozka.
Mount Athos (Greek: Όρος Άθως, Oros Athos) is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Agion Oros (Άγιον Όρος, transliterated often as Hagion Oros), or in English, "Holy Mountain". In Classical times, the peninsula was called Akté (Ακτή) (sometimes Acte or Akte). Politically it is known in Greece as the Self-governed Monastic State of the Holy Mountain. This World Heritage Site is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Vladimir Svyatoslavich the Great, also sometimes spelled Volodymer Old East Slavic: Володимеръ Святославичь (c. 958 – 15 July 1015, Berestovo) was the grand prince of Kiev who converted to Christianity in 988, and proceeded to baptise all of Kievan Rus'. His name is spelt variously: in modern Ukrainian, for example, as Volodymyr (Володимир); in Old Church Slavonic and modern Russian, as Vladimir (Владимир); in Old Norse as Valdamarr; and, in modern Scandinavian languages, "Valdemar".
av.
St. Olga and St.Wladimir of Principality of Kiev
rv.
The Holy Mount Athos
diameter
- 70 mm (2 ¾ “)
weight – 152.50 gr (5.38 oz)
metal – bronze, silver plated
Vladimir Sviatoslavich (Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ
Свѧтославичь, Volodiměrъ Svętoslavičь; Old Norse Valdamarr gamli; c. 958 – 15
July 1015), called the Great, was Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, and ruler of Kievan Rus' from 980 to 1015.
Vladimir's father was Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev of the Rurik dynasty. After the
death of his father in 972, Vladimir, who was then prince of Novgorod, was forced to
flee to Scandinavia in 976 after
his brother Yaropolk murdered his other brother Oleg of Drelinia and conquered Rus'. In Sweden, with the help
of his relative Ladejarl Håkon Sigurdsson,
ruler of Norway, he assembled
a Varangian army and
reconquered Novgorod from Yaropolk.
By 980, Vladimir had consolidated the Rus realm from
modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to
the Baltic Sea and had
solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarians, Baltic tribes and
Eastern nomads. Originally a follower of Slavic paganism, Vladimir
converted to Christianity in 988 and
Christianized the Kievan Rus'.He is thus also known
as Saint Vladimir.
Anna
Porphyrogrnita
Anna Porphyrogenita (Medieval Greek: Ἄννα
Πορφυρογεννήτη, romanized: Anna
Porphyrogennētē, Russian: Анна Византийская, Ukrainian: Анна Порфірогенета; 13 March 963
– 1011) was a Grand Princess consort of Kiev; she was married to Grand
Prince Vladimir the Great.[1]
Anna was the daughter of Byzantine Emperor Romanos II and the Empress Theophano.
She was also the sister of Emperors Basil II Bulgaroktonos
(The Bulgar-Slayer) and Constantine VIII. Anna was
a Porphyrogenita, a legitimate daughter born in the special purple chamber of the
Byzantine Emperor's Palace. Anna's hand was considered such a prize that some
theorize that Vladimir became Christian just to marry her.
Baptism of Rus'
The Primary
Chronicle
reports that in the year 987, as the result of a consultation with his boyars, Vladimir sent envoys to
study the religions of the various neighboring nations whose representatives
had been urging him to embrace their respective faiths. The result is amusingly
described by the chronicler
Nestor.
Of the Muslim Bulgarians of the Volga the envoys reported there is
no gladness among them; only sorrow and a great stench. They also said that the
Bulgars' religion was undesirable due to its taboo against alcoholic
beverages
and pork[citation
needed];
supposedly, Vladimir said on that occasion: "Drinking is the joy of the
Rus'."[citation
needed]
Russian sources also describe Vladimir consulting with Jewish envoys (who may or may not have been Khazars), and questioning them about
their religion but ultimately rejecting it, saying that their loss of Jerusalem was evidence of their having
been abandoned by God[citation
needed].
Ultimately Vladimir settled on Christianity. In the churches of the
Germans his emissaries saw no beauty; but at Constantinople, where the full festival
ritual of the Byzantine Church was set in motion to impress them, they found
their ideal: "We no longer knew whether we were in heaven or on
earth," they reported, describing a majestic Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia, "nor such beauty,
and we know not how to tell of it." If Vladimir was impressed by this
account of his envoys, he was yet more so by political gains of the Byzantine
alliance.