www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News John Kerry's Kyivan Rus (Ukrainian) roots

Yes - it's official; John Kerry is part Ukrainian

It would appear that John Kerry is related to Anna Yaroslava of Kyiv-Rus (Anne of Kyiv).

Anna Yaroslava was the grandaughter of Grand Price Vololdymyr the Great who made Chritianity the official state religion of Kyiv-Rus in 988.

She married the King of France and became Queen - Anne de Kyiv-Rus (in French).

Do any royal watchers know what the King's name was ?

Here is the link:

John Kerry\'s Kyivan Rus ancestry - Reuters News [reuters.com]

Hritzko

Anne was the second wife of Henri I, king of France, third ruler of the Capetian dynasty. Henri was the grandson of Hugh Capet, count of Paris and first king of the House of Capet. The Capetians succeeded the Carolingian dynasty upon the death of Louis V in 987. Upon Henri's death, Anne of Kiev served six years as regent for their son, Phillipe I, who was 7 at the time of his father's death. Henri was the uncle of William, duke of Normandy, aka, William the Conqueror. Queen Anne was the first Queen of France to serve as regent.

Thank you Deacon John,

That was great information. Imagine that - a Ukie girl shows up in Paris and becomes Queen and actually rules for 7 years. That would make any Ukie mama happy (go girl !)

Did she retain her Kyivan-Rus Orthodox Christian traditions when she moved to France or did she become a Latin rite Catholic immediately ?

I did see her grave once, but there was no indication of the Orthodox Christian faith she was born into. Perhaps someone out there knows more. Did she bring any of Byzantium with her to her new digs in Paris ? Did she venerate any Eastern Saints ?

Was it all just a case of wam bam convert to the Latin rite kind of thing, or maybe she was a pioner in 'Orthodox-Catholic' relations.

Maybe someone out there knows more.

Hritzko

PHEW!! For a minute there I thought you were gonna try and tell us he was Ruthenian!

It's just too bad that he's Pro-Choice/Pro-Abort.

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Dear Pilgrim,

Are you sitting down ?

The vast majority of older archival documents are in Latin and therefore anything relating to her native land (now Ukraine) would infact use the word Ruthenia and her 'ethnicity' as Ruthenian.

So in fact, the Subcarpathian Ruthenian-Ukrainians can also claim her ancestry as their own, and therefore John Kerry as one of yours.



Hrizko

You are right. The fact that one of her descendants holds such positions is probably making her turn over in her grave about now.

Hritzko,

Anne married Henri in 1051 at the Cathedral of Rheims before the events of 1054. So there was intercommunion between East and West at this time. Interestingly, her son bears a Byzantine-Greek name, Philip. Upon her arrival in Paris Anne is reported to have remarked that the city was a 'barbarous country where the houses are gloomy, the churches ugly and the customs revolting.' Paris must have been a bad place if someone from the hinterlands of 10th century Kiev could make that statement.

Accounts regarding her regency are rather sketchy. Some report Anne declined the regency in favor of Baldwin, Count of Flanders, Henri's brother-in-law. It has been reported that a year after Henri's death in 1060, Anne took a fancy to Raoul, Count of Cr�py. Known for his political ambition, Raoul accused his wife of adultery and divorced her to marry Anne in 1062. The wife appealed to Pope Alexander II, resulting in Anne's and Raoul's excommunication by the Pope. Other reports tell that Raoul abducted Anne, kept her as his mistress, and married Anne when his wife died.

Dear Deacon John,

Anna Yaroslava's (Anne of Kyiv-Rus) analysis of Paris relative to her home town would be congruent with most peoples opinion at the time.

One of the reasons that Grand Prince Volodymyr the Great of Kyiv-Rus decided to adopt Byzantine Christianity as an official religion in 988 was because of the bricks that the Greeks had developed. At the time, bricks were a high tech material which the Ruler of Kyiv-Rus felt he needed to build many churches for his peoples. Stone cutting was difficult, time consuming, and would never provide the rulers with the materials they needed to create enough churches for at very least the nobles of Rus.

By the time Anna Yaroslava moved on to France some 60 years after the 'Baptism of Rus', Kyiv had grown into a large city with dozens of large and many more smaller churches. It was estimated that there may have been up to 400 churches.

Also, the main part of the Kyiv was fortified and there were well developed roads and bridges. The city was only rivaled by Constantinople itself. Paris, London, Munich, and other major cosmopolitan European centers of today were relatively speaking 'hinterlands' at the time, AND NOT Kyiv.

The cultural, spiritual, and political importance of 11th century Kyiv-Rus should not be underestimated. The French King wanted to marry into the royals of this Slavic Byzantine phenomenon. At the time Anne (of Kyiv-Rus) would have been considered a 'high class gal' from a 'good home' and therefore a great 'catch' for the French King.

As for all of that hanky panky stuff, when in Rome.....

Hritzko

Here is much better updated link:
Portrait comparing facial features of John Kerry to the Queen of France (Anna Yaroslava of Kyiv-Rus) [brama.com]

Hritzko

God save us. Ukrainians and Democrats. We're doomed

An interesting website.

http://www.scaryjohnkerry.com/vietnam.htm

Dan L

Dan:
I have seen some of the same info on one of our TV stations. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Actually, John Kerry's grandfather was from Horni Benesov. That would make him more Moravian than anything. I suppose some obscure link to Ukrainian royalty is more exotic and exciting to most.

He has a first cousin who is a mayor somewhere in Brittany.

I'm not sure what relevance that has to anything in the election.

I can just hear Kerry say " I am Kievan-Rus, I have always been Kievan-Rus and Im proud to proclaim my ancestory as Kievan-Rus".

JoeS