Historical Context
The Varangians were Scandinavian merchants and soldiers who played active roles in the governance of Kievan Rus', controlling the trade routes from the Baltic to the Black Sea known as 'the Way from the Varangians to the Greeks.' Prince Vladimir I initially ruled as a convinced pagan and relied on Varangian military support.
The martyrdom is placed amid a widespread pagan reaction across the Slavic lands and is traditionally dated to 983. The Primary Chronicle records the episode under the year 6491 (983 CE), relating that after Vladimir conquered the Yatvingians, he and his people conducted sacrifices to idols and resolved to cast lots upon the young men and women to determine whom to sacrifice.
The Martyrdom
When the lot fell upon Theodore's son and messengers came to demand the boy for sacrifice, Theodore refused. According to the sources he answered that the idols were not gods but only wood, and that he would not give up his son to devils.
Theodore resisted by positioning himself and his son at the entrance of his house with weapons, challenging the pagans: if their gods were real, let one of the gods come and take his son. The angry crowd broke down the stockade and the supports surrounding the house and killed both father and son on the porch.
Theodore and John thereby became the first Christian martyrs in the lands of Rus'. According to legend, their courage impressed Vladimir and influenced his later decision to convert to Christianity.
Legacy
Saint Vladimir later built the Church of the Tithes (the Desyatin or Desyatynna Church) at the site of the martyrdom. It was the first stone church in Kiev, erected between roughly 989 and 996; Vladimir financed its construction and maintenance by setting aside a tithe of his income and property, which gave the building its popular name.
The church was damaged by fire in 1017 and rebuilt by Yaroslav, sacked in 1171 and 1203, and collapsed during the Mongol siege of 1240 when Kievans used it as a final refuge. A 19th-century replacement in the Russian Revival style was built between 1828 and 1842 but was destroyed by Soviet authorities in 1935; today only archaeological foundations remain at the site in Kyiv.
Relics & Shrines
The burial location of Theodore and John is not known. The Church of the Tithes was raised over the site of their martyrdom rather than their grave.
Excavations in 1908 uncovered the preserved wooden framework of their house at the site.
