St Volodymyr's Cathedral

Today I was an hour or so early for my lecture at Taras Shevchenko University, and so wandered across the street to Патріарший кафедральний собор св. Володимира, or St. Volodymyr's Cathedral. This is the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church--Kyiv Patriarchy (distinguished from the Russian Orthodox Church, as I have discussed elsewhere in this blog). I spent more than an hour inside, studying the neo-Byzantine architecture and the amazing interior mosaics, executed by a team of Venetian masters. This is the church that I visited briefly last week with my teaching assistant, Tetiana Rogozianska. After our lectures today, Tetiana and I returned for another visit, and she provided me with some amazing additional insights and I bought a little history of the cathedral in Ukrainian from the ikon shop, which I am trying to work out little by little.

The cathedral appears most ancient, but it actually was built in 1852 to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the baptism of the Kievan Rus by St. Volodymyr the Great. It is Volodymyr's statue overlooking the Dnipro at the site of the baptisms which has caught my special devotion and attention over the years. (Incidentally, I have recently been exploring my ancestry and find that I am a direct descendant of Volodymyr--but that is another story altogether). The cathedral is laid out as a traditional six piered Храм or temple, much like others I have seen at Pecherska Lavra and elsewhere in Kyiv.

Outside the appearance of the cathedral is most striking. The thing which has most caught my eye and captured my imagination over the years has been the amazing paint- and gold-work on the seven domes--a deep blue base filled with golden stars.

The interior of the cathedral is literally filled with colorful mosaics and gold accents which draw the eye up and up to the amazing light-filled cupolas more than 150 feet above the floor! The vast mosaics were created by a team of Venetian masters, and individual pieces by the artist Viktor Vasnetsov. I noted in the gold lettering high in the domes both Russian and Greek inscriptions. There are many, many panels depicting scriptural themes, including the Decalogue, the feeding of Elijah by the birds, the Creation (including a stunning portrait of the Father--not often seen in Orthodox Churches), and many scenes from the life of Christ and the Apostles from the New Testament.

During the Soviet era the cathedral survived essentially intact, with all of its interior artwork undamaged. The building served as a museum of religion and atheism. The cathedral was one of the only places in the entire U.S.S.R. where one could openly visit a working and largely intact Orthodox Church. In fact, some relics from other less fortunate churches were moved to St. Volodymyr's by the Soviets--thus the cathedral houses the relics of St. Barbara, a 3rd century martyr which were brought here from the desecrated Mykhailivsky Zlatoverkhy Cathedral (St. Michael's of the Golden Domes).

Tetiana told me that every Christmas and Easter a flame is brought from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to relight the altars and in St. Volodymyr's, and from thence to relight all of the Ukrainian Orthodox churches throughout the country. She said that the transport of this flame is usually televised and publicized widely. So the individual candles of the surge of worshippers who come here--and in other churches--daily are lit and relit from the flame brought from Jerusalem. Since I will be in Jerusalem in a little more than three days, this detail appeals to me greatly.

Included here are several of Vasnetsov's most beautiful panels: a portrait of Russian Bishops, the arched representation of the Temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, the baptism of the Kievans in the Dnipro in 987 A.D., and the baptism of Prince (and later Saint) Volodymyr by a convocation of Byzantine Orthodox Priests.