Древняя Русь и Скандинавия: Избранные труды

The second point is Ol’ga’s negative attitude to her reception at the court of Constantine VII. According to the narrative of Ol’ga’s stay in Constantinople, she was received with great honours and the Emperor was so amazed by «her intellect» that he proposed her to become his wife. There is nothing to suspect lack of respect towards Ol’ga. Moreover if her main aim was to be baptized, the princess had no reasons to feel unsatisfied as her goal was brilliantly fulfilled; she had not only been baptized but the Emperor became her godfather.

The narration, however, presents Ol’ga unsatisfied and even irritated by her stay. She indignantly remarks that she had to wait too long a time on the Bosporus to be received by the Emperor which she took as an offence. The two parts of the story contradict each other and they seem to reflect principally different narrative strategies. The first part of the narration, though permeated with folklore motifs, is shaped in accordance with the annalist’s tendency to glorify Ol’ga as the first Christian ruler in Rus’. The second part seems to reflect a non-Christian tradition depicting Ol’ga’s voyage as a political undertaking, not necessarily very successive (from the Russian point of view) and having left unpleasant memories. It seems that the chronicle tale about Ol’ga’s visit to Constantinople developed out of a folklore motif of heroic matchmaking and included few, if any, Christian connotations. Suffice it to point out here that the exposition to the chronicle narrative presents Ol’ga very little interested in being baptized:

Ol’ga went to Greece, and arrived at Tsar’grad. The reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Ol’ga came before him, and when he saw that she was very fair of countenance and wise as well, the Emperor wondered of her intellect. He conversed with her and remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city. When Ol’ga heard his words she replied that she was still a pagan, and that if he desired to baptize her, he should perform this function himself; otherwise, she was unwilling to accept baptism. The Emperor, with the assistance of the Patriarch, accordingly baptized her[1423].

Ol’ga puts forward conditions on which she would agree to get baptized so that it is the Emperor who appears to be the initiator of her baptism and not she herself. The first «conversation» as well as the next one in the course of which the Emperor proposes her to become his wife remind of heroic competitions of the bride with the claimants with the final victory of the bride:

After her baptism, the Emperor summoned Ol’ga and made known to her that he wished her to become his wife. But she replied, «How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know». Then the Emperor said, «Ol’ga, you have outwitted me». He gave her many gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still calling her his daughter[1424].

The final remark “You have outwitted me” looks like a vestige of the verbal competition won by Ol’ga in the original tale. But no matter how this tale was complicated with folklore motifs it belonged to the historical tradition and had a relation about Ol’ga’a real visit to Constantinople as its subject. The political goals of her visit must have been reflected, even if in an obscure way, in this tale, and that determined the last part of the chronicle narration. But for the annalist who knew that Ol’ga was a Christian and that Christianity came to Rus’ from Byzantium it was only natural to reinterpret the voyage of Ol’ga to Constantinople as a quest of the true faith. Thus, Ol’ga’s dissatisfaction with her visit could belong to the historical core of the tale and point to the fact that her visit was not entirely successful.