Relics Stored In Saint Sophia In Kiev Don't Belong To Prince Yaroslav the Wise
August 17, 2010
RISU
Traditionally it is known that the relics of the Grand Prince of Rus Yaroslav the Wise are stored in a special sarcophagus in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev. After tomography, anthropological and other studies showed that the relics of the sarcophagus are the remains of a woman.
On the basis of modern methods scholars determined that the remains have anthropological characteristics of the Scandinavian type. And there is a hypothesis that it can be the remains of Yaroslav’s wife Ingegerd (daughter of the king of Sweden).
The scholars need to examine the DNA. Polish and Russian laboratories agreed to do proper research, but there is no permission from the Ministry of the Culture of Ukraine to take relics out of the country.
The place where are the holy relics of Yaroslav the Wise is not known. They disappeared between the years 1940 and 2009. There is a hypothesis that in 1943 the relics were brought abroad and now kept in the Ukrainian diaspora (in a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA under the Patriarchate of Constantinople).