The final chapter of the book puts forward a new theory about the canonization of royal saints in early Rus. I suggest that there was a long-overlooked dimension to the creation of these sacred heroes: one that was not exclusively a matter of miracles and investigations, but of narratives and ritual myth-making. Indeed, the medieval hymnography for Vladimir and his kin indicates that an important, and hitherto undiscovered, process had taken place in Rus in the first few centuries after the conversion. The baptismal rites of the Byzantine church had informed the story of Olga’s baptism, and this story later became a part of her liturgical office. The episcopal prayers said during the divine liturgy had helped to inspire the chronicle accounts for Vladimir, which had in turn helped to inspire the hymns chanted on his feast day. The Eucharistic rites had shaped the writing of the chronicle tale of Boris and Gleb, which then subsequently shaped the writing of their early liturgical offices. Hymns became history and became hymns again. Prayers became the written past and became prayers again. Ultimately, it was this liturgical-historiographical-liturgical loop that permitted select members of the Rurikid dynasty to enter into the liturgical past.

The chronicle entry for the year 1015 recounts the murder of two of Vladimir’s sons, Princes Boris and Gleb. Once more, a series of close readings reveals a deep liturgical subtext underlying the chronicle text, only this time that subtext is Eucharistic: Prince Boris prepares for death in the exact way that an eastern Christian priest prepares for the Eucharistic sacrifice during the celebration of the divine liturgy. And just as the sacrifice offered in the Eucharist is Christ Himself, so the sacrifice that Boris offers in the chronicle is his own life, and the life of his brother Gleb. A second level of liturgical subtext is also discussed in the chapter, and it is connected to the Byzantine rite for consecrating a new church. The chroniclers in Rus were clearly familiar with this rite and it may have guided their large-scale conception of the founding of Christianity in Rus. Indeed, when we consider what a bishop says and does during the consecration rites—what he prays about and what he asks for—it reveals a crucial theological link between Vladimir’s role as bishop and the martyrdom of his sons Boris and Gleb.