2015—the year of Yaroslav the Wise

The year 2014 is drawing to a close, having been dominated in this country and on The Day’s pages in particular by Taras Shevchenko’s genius, his life, work, and prophetic visions of our future. Ukraine celebrated the 200th anniversary of its spiritual father, and our newspaper, far from staying on the sidelines, published dozens of different contributions dealing with various aspects of the Bard’s career.

Which of the heroes of national history should become the focus of the year 2015 on The Day’s pages? Having given a lot of thought to this issue, we have chosen as our hero Grand Prince of Kyiv and All Rus’-Ukraine Yaroslav Volodymyrovych (978-1054), called by his subjects and chroniclers (with good reason!) the Wise. He was a    true statesman, a ruler who cared less about keeping power than about the fate of future generations (and Rus’ was lucky to have this great strategist at the helm for almost four decades), a prominent cultural figure, a clever and brilliant diplomat who maintained relations with all countries of Europe and the Orient and influenced the policies of Byzantium. This remarkable man certainly deserves special attention of The Day’s readers. Among other things, the legacy of Yaroslav the Wise offers a lesson for today’s so-called elite on how to govern the country; maybe, someone will learn this difficult art, after all?

Why have we chosen 2015 for celebrating his legacy? Well, Yaroslav’s father, the official baptizer of Rus’ Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great, also known as the Fair Sun, died in the hamlet of Berestove near Kyiv almost exactly 1,000 years ago, in July 1015. Yaroslav was the designated successor, but the next great ruler of Ancient Ukraine had to fight a bitter four-year-long power struggle with his brother before finally establishing himself on the throne. Amazingly, this trial did neither embitter Yaroslav nor make him a despot, as he managed to combine adequate strength and power of the state with genuinely democratic and humanist attitudes (by the standards of the 11th century, of course), making Kyivan Rus’ famous all over Europe and the world. How did he do it? The Day will reveal the answers throughout 2015.