Dr Augustine Sokolovski
June 12 is celebrated as Russia Day. It is commonly believed that this holiday is connected exclusively with events of recent history that are secular and political in nature. However, every political and secular phenomenon has its own invisible theological tectonics. Often, even those who create these events are unaware of it.
By a remarkable coincidence, June 12 is also the day on which the Church commemorates Saint Isaac of Dalmatia—the heavenly patron of Saint Petersburg, of the city’s greatest church, Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, the patron saint of Peter the Great, and consequently of the Russian Empire.
It is believed that Peter was born on the feast day of Saint Isaac and therefore chose him as his heavenly patron. This may be true, or it may not be. It is possible that the birth date itself was later “chosen” for its symbolic significance, as a kind of pseudonymous birthday.
Isaac was a Syrian ascetic who came to Constantinople and settled in the city founded by Emperor Constantine about half a century earlier. During Isaac’s lifetime, the heretical Emperor Valens came to power. Isaac foretold his death. In response, Valens imprisoned him, saying something to the effect of: “When I return, you will be judged, severely punished, and executed.”
However, Valens went to war against the Gothic tribes, was killed, and even his body was never found. This is an exceptionally rare occurrence in Roman history. Isaac, meanwhile, was released and gained renown as a prophet. The title “of Dalmatia” is not connected with the Balkan region of that name, but rather with a district of Constantinople where the monastery in which Isaac later resided was located.
If Peter I had indeed been born on that day, it would have been far more logical for him to choose as his heavenly patron—and as the heavenly patron of the new city of Saint Petersburg—Saint Varlaam of Khutyn (1122–1192). After all, he was a Novgorodian saint, that is, a saint of a land situated essentially next to Saint Petersburg. In much the same way, Alexander Nevsky was later chosen.
It was important for Peter to unite two traditions: the tradition of Constantinople—the new city of an emperor, the Orthodox new emperorand the tradition of the ancient city in which a heretical emperor had arisen and against which Saint Isaac had stood.
Peter was often accused of pursuing anti-church policies. By choosing Saint Isaac as his heavenly patron—the very saint who had once dared to oppose a heretical emperor—Peter emphasized that he was not a destroyer but a reformer; that he remained an Orthodox sovereign; and that the policies he pursued were aimed at strengthening and building up the Orthodox Empire and the Orthodox Church, rather than dismantling them.