Saint Michael, First Metropolitan of Kiev

Life

At the request of Grand Prince Vladimir, he was sent by the Patriarch of Constantinople to Russia to baptize the pagan people and to establish and organize the Church. Saint Michael baptized the people in Kiev, Novgorod, Rostov, and in many other cities and villages; he organized the Church, appointed bishops and presbyters, laid the foundation of the Monastery of Saint Michael in Kiev, and sent missionaries among the Bulgars and Tatars, winning many of them for Christ. All this and much more of benefit did this saint accomplish in only four years. He reposed peacefully in the year 992. His relics rest in the Lavra of the Caves.