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Music and Art at the Ukrainian Institute of America
Posted by Greg on August 25, 2005 at 02:30:29:
In Reply to: Re: Of course the UGCC should be in Kyiv NOT posted by Knowitall on August 24, 2005 at 23:02:52:
: I take issue with your comment "Why do Ukrainians invite these foreigners to govern their historic church?" My understanding is that Prince Vlad (or his parents) who were foreigners invited to come to kyiv to rule the people in and abouts it. Isn't that right?
Askold and Dir, the first princes of Kiev, were Varangians (Swedish Vikings). To say that they were "invited" to rule is a bit of a fairy tale, though, it is more likely that they conquered the Dnieper valley area.
The next prince, Oleh, was of the house of Rurik, also supposedly of Varangian origin. There are some historians who dispute this, and claim that Oleh was a Slav. At any rate, even if he was a Varangian, the Dynasty had become fully Slavicised and acculturated by the time of Prince Sviatoslav.
At any rate, you don't take this to mean that Ukraine should be ruled by foreigners, do you? Ukraine has had a perfectly miserable history beling ruled by Russians and Poles.