Boris and Gleb, sons of Vladimir and Anna of Armenia

Boris and Gleb – in baptism Roman and David, Russian princes, sons of the Grand Prince of Kyiv Vladimir Svyatoslavich and his wife – Byzantine princess Anna from the ARMENIAN (Macedonian) dynasty.

Boris and Gleb became the FIRST RUSSIAN SAINTS, they were canonized as martyrs and passion bearers, making them patrons of Kyivan Rus and heavenly assistants of its princes.

Vladimir Monomakh

Vladimir’s mother, wife of Vsevolod, Maria (Mariam) was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor from the ARMENIAN (Macedonian) dynasty Constantine IX Monomachus (1042-1054), from whom Vladimir inherited the nickname “Monomakh”.

Mariam was married to Vsevolod, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, the Grand Prince of Kyivan Rus. Vsevolod was an educated man, he knew five languages, among which was Armenian – the language of his wife Maria. This is hinted at by Vladimir Monomakh himself, who writes that his father Vsevolod, “sitting at home, knew 5 languages,” that is, “sitting at home, he knew 5 languages.”

And at “home” with him “sat” his Armenian wife, who, of course, in addition to Greek, knew Armenian and was familiar with the music, literature, and history of Armenia, like any representative of the Armenian nobility.

According to tradition, the harsh winter was usually spent in Constantinople, where Maria went with the children, visiting her father and all the Byzantine relatives. Of course, Vladimir could not remember his maternal grandfather Constantine, who died in 1054.

But his grandmother, Empress Theodora (1054-1056), undoubtedly held her grandson in her arms, and his uncle – mother’s brother – Michael Stratotykos (Emperor Michael VI from 1056 to 1057) probably noted the resemblance to his grandfather Constantine Monomachus in him.

Despite the change of Byzantine dynasties, when in 1057 the Macedonian dynasty gave way to a related branch – also the ARMENIAN Kaminakan (Komnenos) dynasty, Vladimir perceived the memory of his regal grandfather Monomachus as a commandment of life and proudly wore the nickname Monomachus as a symbol of hereditary continuity.

Yuri Dolgorukiy

The son of Vladimir Monomakh from his second wife – an Armenian from the royal Bagratuni dynasty, whom Vladimir’s mother Mariam personally selected among the princesses – Armenians of the Byzantine imperial house.

He is the founder of the cities of Yuryev-Polsky, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Dmitrov, Kosnyatin, Kineshma, Zvenigorod, Pereyaslavl, Vladimir, Rostov.

Yuri’s second wife was the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel Komnenos (from the ARMENIAN Kaminakan dynasty), who held the Byzantine throne from 1143 to 1180. Probably, from the Byzantine Armenian, Yuri had at least three sons – Vasily, Mikhail, and Vsevolod.

Queen Tamar

At the end of the IX century, Gurgen Bagratuni married an Abkhazian princess and became the king of Abkhazia. His son George – George I Bagratuni, inheriting the Abkhazian throne, also became the king of Virk in 1001 after the Armenian prince David Kuropalat, being childless, bequeathed him his possessions in northern Armenia.

Historians trace the founding of the Georgian Kingdom to exactly 1001, when an Armenian, Gevorg – George I Bagratuni-Bagration, son of an Armenian – the King of Abkhazia Gurgen Bagratuni, began to rule in Virk and Abkhazia.

Following Armenian royal tradition, he married an Armenian woman; the official language of the kingdom was Armenian. The Armenian Bagratunis of Virk were no different from other kingdoms of Armenia; the successors received Armenian names, such as George – George, Bagrat, David, Tamar.

The island of Akhtamar in Lake Van has topographically fixed this Armenian name (“Akhtamar”). If Gurgen Bagratuni was Armenian, George I Bagratuni – his son – was Armenian, their descendants George II, David the Builder, George III – Armenians by both father and mother, then the daughter of George III Bagratuni is also Armenian. She is Queen Tamar (Tamara).

by Alexander Bakulin

Tranclated by Vigen Avetisyan