Breathtaking Run Through 1,500 Years of History

This morning I ran ten complete circuits of a stunningly scenic route that led from my apartment on

Triokhsviatytelska Street, through the Volodymrska Hill Park, outside the monastery walls of St. Michaels of the Golden Domes, and then back down Triokhsviatytelska to the beginning. Total distance is about six to seven miles and took me just over an hour to complete. This run covers nearly 1,500 years of history, from the earliest founding of Kyiv to the present.

The run begins down a long double tree-lined path in the hill park which ends at the Victorian Gazebo and its breathtaking overlook. Along this long sylvan alleyway there are always many walkers, parents or grandparents with baby carriages or young couples. I often see older people feeding the birds out of their hands.

From the gazebo and its lofty prospect, you can see up and down the Dnipro for miles. See also the view of the Pishokhidnyi Footbridge in the background which leads to Trukhaniv Island. To the southeast there is an awesome view of the statute of St. Volodymr, the Baptizer. It was here that Christianity was first brought to eastern Europe and the first baptisms performed in the river below. And it was here in 1991, on the southeast corner of the statue, that a special event occurred which has sacred significance for my faith.

This is the view up the Dnipro from the gazebo, showing the bridges upstream and all of the docks and ships of the river.

The path then heads north from the gazebo past the gates and walls of St. Michaels. Here the golden domes are visible through the winter birch trees in the brilliant sunlight of a snowy morning.

There is a popular playground near the northeast corner of the monastery.

The upper terminus of the Funicular tramway is located next to the rear wall of the monastery near the playground. The lower terminus is adjacent to the Poshtova Ploshcha Metro station.

Next to the monastery on the north are several ministry buildings of the Ukrainian national government, including this flag draped edifice. It was behind this building that I took a picture of the sickle-and-hammer-emblazoned gates a few days ago.

This is the view along the route in front of St. Michaels, with the statue of St. Olga in the foreground and the grand tower of St. Sophia's in the near distance.

The front of St. Michael's is alive with brilliant murals on the outside of the monastery walls. This is me with a "cloud of witnesses" in the background "running the race that is set before me."

Finally, within a hundred steps of my apartment, this is the refectory gate of the monastery with the domes overlooking the walls. These gates front on Triokhsviatytelska Street and are literally across the street from my apartment!

I'll not find a more beautiful run anytime soon.

A Final Walk Through Kyiv

Though it is a cold and overcast day, I left the apartment at mid day (after packing) and took a final ride on the Metro and a walk through the streets of Kyiv. I rode the Funicular, saw St. Michael's, walked past St. Sophia's, visited St. Andrew's, browsed on the Andriysky Spusk, and ended up in my gazebo on the promontory overlooking the Dnipro. From there I said my goodbyes to this great and ancient City, and took my leave.

A Hilltop View of the Rolling Waters of the Dnipro

This Thanksgiving morning I spent about an hour seated in an old Victorian style gazebo which sits on the promontory of Volodymyrska Hill Park. From here there is a sweeping view of the Dnipro River, far below, of the monument to Prince Volodymyr, the "Baptizer," of the beautiful tree-lined avenues of the park, and even of the sunlight glinting off of the spires in St. Michael's of the Golden Domes. I sat for a long time in solitude, gazing at the river and writing.

The view of the Dnipro from this point is incomparable. With the Nile, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Yangtse, the Ganges, the Rhine and the Danube, this is one of the great rivers of the world. It has been the broad avenue of cultural change. The ancient Rus settled on these banks, ultimately carrying their great culture north into present-day Russia. There were great Viking trading outposts here and elsewhere along this river in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In more recent times, this river has been the chief commercial road between the Mediterranean and Black Sea ports and the great interior of the Soviet Union and of Russia. It has witnessed both great prosperity and great tyranny. And the Dnipro flows ever on, oblivious or indifferent to the rise and fall of Tsars and tyrants.

A great man once wrote, "How long can rolling waters remain impure?" As long as the rains and snows of heaven continue to fall upon the land of any people, how long can their rivers run polluted and choked with mud and debris. How long can oppression and hatred and tyranny bind a people when the waters of liberty, goodness and Wisdom are flowing freely. Even in the face of the darkest oppression, the rolling waters will ultimately run as clear as the mountain stream. The waters seem now to be running clear for the Ukrainian people. May the rolling waters sweep away all that clouds and pollutes this great people. May it ever be so.

These, and other thoughts crowded around me as I sat overlooking the beautiful Dnipro. This may be my most memorable Thanksgiving Day, spent in a little gazebo overlooking this special and sacred spot of Kyiv.