St. Gleb

St. Gleb was a son of St. Vladimir, the grand prince who brought Christianity to the Rus', and a young prince of Kievan Rus' in the early eleventh century. When his father died in 1015 and his brother Svyatopolk seized power, murdering their brother Boris, the same fate was prepared for Gleb.

Lured toward Kiev under false pretenses and warned too late of his brother Boris's death and his own danger, the young Gleb wept and prayed but, like his brother, would not take up arms to save himself or shed the blood of kinsmen for a throne. He was killed by his own men, betrayed to the assassins, meeting death with the same innocent meekness as Boris. The two brothers, who chose to suffer rather than resist evil with violence, were among the first saints of the Church of the Rus', venerated together as "passion-bearers" and models of Christlike non-resistance. They are celebrated on 24 July.