All thinkers
Ruler / statesman · Medieval
St. Olga of Kiev
c. 890–969 · First Christian of Rus'
Saint
Byzantine
“Equal to the Apostles”; feast 11 July in the Byzantine calendar and the Roman Martyrology; grandmother of St. Vladimir.
Widow of Prince Igor and regent of Kiev for her son Svyatoslav. She avenged her husband on the Drevlians with a ferocity the Chronicle records without softening, then traveled to Constantinople and was baptized (c. 957) with the emperor as her godfather, taking the name Helena. She reformed the tribute system, built the first churches in Kiev and tried, without success, to convert her son; her grandson Vladimir finished what she began.
Why he matters: She is the “dawn before the sunrise” of Slavic Christianity, the first ruler of Rus' to be baptized, honored by both lungs of the Church as a mother of Christian Ukraine and Russia.
Where to be careful
Her pre-baptismal revenge on the Drevlians is remembered, not admired; her sanctity lies in what she became.
Reading
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The Russian Primary Chronicletrans. Samuel H. Cross and Olgerd Sherbowitz-Wetzor · Olga's revenge, journey and baptism.
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The Hagiography of Kievan Rus'trans. Paul Hollingsworth · The early lives of the saints of Rus'.
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The Emergence of Rus 750–1200Simon Franklin and Jonathan Shepard · The historical setting.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.
Settled teaching
Its center
Open question
Beyond teaching, not condemned
Condemned error
I
God and Being · What is, and whence it is.
Can reason know that God exists?
Natural theology
Fideism or agnosticism
Natural theology
How is God related to the world?
Creation from nothing
Pantheism or emanation
Creation from nothing
Is the world governed by purpose?
Providence and final causes
Chance and mechanism
Providence and final causes
II
Faith, Reason and Truth · How we know, and whom we trust.
Faith and reason: who has the last word?
Fideism
Rationalism
Fideism
Is truth objective?
Objective truth
Relativism and pragmatism
Objective truth
Who interprets revelation?
Living Tradition and Magisterium
Private judgment
Living Tradition and Magisterium
How should Scripture be read?
Fundamentalist literalism
Critical reductionism
Fundamentalist literalism
Does doctrine develop?
Always the same, in the same words
Always the same, in the same words
A living development
Are the world's learning and arts a danger or a gift?
Between
A danger: Athens has nothing to do with Jerusalem
A gift to be baptized
III
The Human Person · Soul, body, freedom and the Fall.
Is there a spiritual soul?
Immortal spiritual soul
Mind is brain
Immortal spiritual soul
Are you free?
Free will
Determinism
Free will
How fallen is human nature?
Between
Totally depraved
Basically good
The body and its desires
Between
Contempt for the flesh
Desire as its own law
Person and community
Collectivism
Individualism
Collectivism
Marriage, sex and the body's meaning
Given by nature and grace
Given by nature and grace
Defined by consent and identity
What is suffering for?
A share in the Cross
An evil to be relieved
A share in the Cross
IV
The Moral Life · Law, virtue, conscience and the good.
Is morality objective and knowable?
Natural law
Relativism
Natural law
Are some acts always wrong?
Intrinsically evil acts
Consequentialism
Intrinsically evil acts
What is conscience?
Conscience bound to truth
Autonomous conscience
Conscience bound to truth
What is happiness?
Beatitude in God
Earthly flourishing
Beatitude in God
V
Grace and Salvation · How God saves, and whom.
How are we made right with God?
Infused, transforming grace
Forensic imputation
Infused, transforming grace
Who can be saved?
Strict exclusivism
Strict exclusivism
Indifferentism
What is salvation for?
Deification
Pardon and escape
Deification
Hell and hope
The many are lost
The many are lost
All will be saved
Where does your eye rest in Christ: His divinity or His humanity?
The eternal Word made flesh
The eternal Word made flesh
The man Jesus of Nazareth
VI
Church and Society · Authority, the state, wealth and the nation.
Church and state
Social kingship of Christ
Laicism
Social kingship of Christ
Where does authority come from?
Authority from God
Social contract
Authority from God
Reform or tradition?
Guided by tradition
Remake by reason
Guided by tradition
The nation and the Church
Between
Nation or race first
Nation does not matter
May the state restrain false religion?
Between
The confessional state: error has no rights
Civil liberty for every religion
Which form of government best suits a Christian people?
Monarchy and hierarchy
Monarchy and hierarchy
Democracy and participation
May a Christian take up the sword?
Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
Never: the way of the Cross is nonviolence
Yes: war can be just and sometimes a duty
VII
Worship, Prayer and the Two Lungs · Liturgy, icons, the Spirit, and the See of Peter.
Liturgical development
Receive and develop organically
Reconstruct and innovate
Receive and develop organically
Icons and images
Veneration of images
Iconoclasm
Veneration of images
The way of prayer
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Stillness and the Jesus Prayer
Discursive meditation
The procession of the Holy Spirit
From the Father through the Son
From the Father through the Son
From the Father and the Son (Filioque)
The office of Peter
Between
Conciliarism
Universal and immediate primacy
What do the sacraments do?
Efficacious ex opere operato
Signs only
Efficacious ex opere operato
Should the faith take the forms of each culture it enters?
The Gospel in each people's own forms
One form everywhere
The Gospel in each people's own forms
What are the Eastern Catholic Churches?
Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Rites of the one Roman Church
Sister Churches with their own rights and theology
Contemplation or action?
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy
Action: the apostolate and the works of mercy
Contemplation: the one thing needful