Blessed Yaropolk (in Baptism Peter), Prince of Vladimir-Volhynia

Holy Prince Yaropolk Izyaslavich, in Holy Baptism Peter, was the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, and great-grandson of Saint Vladimir. He shared the sad fate of his father, the Kievan Great Prince Izyaslav, expelled by his brothers from Kiev.

Yaropolk journeyed on various missions for his father to the Polish king, the German emperor, and the Bishop of Rome Saint Gregory VII (1073-1085). Upon the death of Great Prince Svyatoslav in 1078, Prince Izyaslav was restored to his principality, and Yaropolk received Vyzhgorod. After the death of his father, he was given as his appanage the city of Vladimir-Volynsk, from which the Rostislavichi attempted to displace him.

On the way from Vladimir to Zvenigorod-Galitsk, Yaropolk was treacherously murdered by Neryadets, one of his retainers (+1086). The murderer indeed had been bribed by the Rostislavichi. The body of Yaropolk was transferred to Kiev and on December 5 was buried at the monastery of Saint Demetrius in the church of Saint Peter, which he himself had begun to build. Many Church memorials, beginning with the Chronicle of Saint Nestor, testify that the murdered Prince Yaropolk be venerated in the rank of saints well-pleasing to God.