MANY AMERICANS ARE DESCENDED FROM OLGA OF KIEV, AND UKRAINIANS ARE FAMILY

SAINT OLGA OF KIEV "EQUAL TO THE APOSTLES"

c. 888 - 11 July 969

My 34th Great Grandmother

In 1978, I began researching my genealogy, but it would be about 40 years before I had a breakthrough that led me to the discovery that my ancestry included many notable nobles and saints, including Saint Olga of Kiev, who ruled in what was called "Kievan Rus'."  

People of modern day Ukraine, Belarus and Russia occupy various territories of the ancient Kievan Rus', but Kiev (spelled variously, such as "Kyiv) is located in Ukraine and, since discovering my link with that land and those people, I have had a tender place in my heart for all the concerns of those people.

Thanks to my DNA results from Ancestry, which conclusively confirm my personal genealogy research, my relationship to the world at large is a lot more complex and comprehensive than I could ever have imagined, prior to 1978, when I first began this journey.

Knowing the width and depth of my relations, going back many centuries, has increased my Catholic love for all peoples of the world. We cannot behave meanly toward anyone, not only because we must love our neighbors (and even our enemies) but the person on the receiving end of our displeasure and our punishment may very well be related to us, and therefore family!

Broadly speaking, my direct ancestry is:

42% - England and Northwestern Europe

28% - Wales

25% - Ireland

3%  - France

2% - Spain

Spain also includes individuals from Portugal. Northwestern Europe includes individuals from Ukraine and Nordic countries. There was more movement across larger swaths of land than one would think possible in those early years. Also, I discovered that, while some women originated in Portugal, they ended up married to kings in Spain, etc. That kind of thing went on quite a bit. Kings would often import  noble wives from the nobility of other lands.

With regard to the reason why many Americans are descended from or otherwise related to European royalty, we have to remember the type of people who originally came to this country and settled it. those of us whose roots go back to very early Virginia, for instance, are descended from people like Lieutenant Colonel Walter Aston, who was my 11th great grandfather, and it is through him (among several others) that I gain my ancestry from Saint Margaret of Scotland and Saint Olga of Kiev!

Distinctly separate from all the above, in 2003, when I began to live as a religious hermit, I had decided to dedicate, in general, my spiritual practices to the benefit of the renewal of the Unified Christian Church that existed prior to the Great Schism of 1054, during which Mother Church split in two, with the Western Church being called the "Roman Catholic Church," and in the East, the "Eastern Orthodox Church." 

I have not been a Christian my entire life, but as soon as I became converted, and I learned about the Great Schism, it broke my heart in two, just as Mother Church had been broken in two. I am sure that Jesus would not want this separation of his people, and I pray that all my pains and sufferings that are offered up on behalf of the reunification of our church may reach heaven and that all my sainted ancestors, including Saint Olga, my 34th great grandmother, will intercede for this special purpose.

All of these separate occurrence have helped to greatly increase my sensitivities toward the Ukrainian people, especially after I began to follow the news of its numerous invasions by Russia since 2014. 

The idea that a giant bear of a nation could simply roll its tanks and armies over the borders of a sovereign country and mow down its people, taking and occupying land against the wishes of and over the dead bodies of Ukrainian citizens who love their country dearly, infuriates me and makes me cry at the same time.

What is even more shocking is that our current president, who has long been suspected of being an asset of Russia, has behaved despicably toward the beleaguered president of Ukraine, Velodymir Zelensky. Ignoring the treaties that Russia has already signed with Ukraine, and which Russia has violated over and over again for more than a decade, President Trump has thrown Ukraine under the bus and is refusing to help them any more.

It is unconscionable that Trump had already pushed aside Zelensky and inserted himself into this matter, arrogantly purporting to have the authority to negotiate with Putin on Ukraine's behalf, entirely without the input of Ukraine, and then to also demand that Ukraine PAY US BACK by giving us half of the valuable rare minerals that are located in the land that Russia has brutally occupied.

With Trump's affection for Putin and Russia, I could easily see him GIVING to Putin those rare earth minerals immediately upon signing the agreement with Zelensky, who is wise to pause before agreeing to this devil's bargain, as far as I am concerned.

We all watched in horror as, against all prior expectations of the decorum expected of a president, Trump savaged poor President Zelensky, who remained remarkably calm and centered during the onslaught of vulgar words and demands thrown at him.  

He and our Vice President even criticized the fact that the man was not wearing a SUIT, as if this man's country was not in ruins, as if life just went on, unabated for him, while his compatriots fought and died for their land.  How could Zelensky dress up, like an elite effete snob in an expensive suit, unaffected by the carnage that is being wrought in his country, thanks to villainous Putin? He could not do that.

When President Zelensky gently but persistently tried to educate Trump and inform him that Russia had broken every agreement they had signed, to date, and that therefore Ukraine needed some kind of security to make sure that Russia would keep THIS particular agreement, Trump became enraged. His face became bright scarlet, and I felt sure that I could see a cold sweat of fury dripping from him. Trump is a man who cannot be taught anything. He is impervious to information that does not comport with what he thinks he already knows, all of which must always serve his ego and self-image in one way or another.

Trump and his smarmy sidekick ended up telling President Zelensky to leave. They want him to apologize and to sign the agreement without any changes. Imagine - after dragging him over there and subjecting him to a dressing down in front of the cameras, which included RUSSIAN outlets (which we never used to allow before), Trump expects that poor man to apologize. It is the worst kind of gaslighting I have ever seen in my life.

Within the next day or two, the entire EU embraced Zelensky and promised him a few million dollars in aid, which is not enough to stop this terrible war and beat the Russians back behind the gate. But I hope that Zelensky does NOT do as Trump wishes, because once he capitulates, all will be lost anyway.

I find it most shocking that Trump supporters are defending all of this. They don't care that he is driving America into the arms of the Russians, our enemies, who hate us, who have always hated us, and who want our destruction. Imagine how happy Putin must be at this moment, now that Trump has not only kicked our allies in the face, but he has also thrown Ukraine to the wolves.

"America first" has become "America only" and, worst of all, "America alone." Trump's supporters are clueless about how dangerous this is for us. They are buying into Trump's childish claims that NATO and the other alliances we have formed over decades were only calculated to take our money. His cynical and completely ignorant claim is being repeated from the rooftops by members of his cult who believe this garbage. And it IS garbage. It is not true. That is not how America would ever have characterized itself.

Worst of all, Trump's evil mischaracterization of the motives of others causes even more division than already exists. It is as if he is trying to pry the U.S.A. entirely out of the world community, leaving it alone and vulnerable.

Please join me in praying for a miracle for Ukraine. Pray that they do not have to sign that evil agreement with Trump but that somehow, some way, they are able to be victorious over the Russian hordes that have invaded their land.

Please join me in appealing to our Saint Olga, "Equal to the Apostles" that she intercede on the behalf of the Ukrainian people and also those in America who know the risks that are being taken by Trump's isolationism. Join me in praying that, instead of isolating ourselves, that people of good will join together, unimpeded, so that the message of Jesus, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, can most easily be accomplished.

Also, please pray that the people who have been brainwashed with the awful, hateful, and divisive lies and dystopian vision of Trump, may have their eyes opened to the truth so that they may join us on the world stage and embrace Zelensky, as the European Union has done.

And I would love very much if some of you could find it in your hearts to also join me in the prayer for the unification of Holy Mother Church so that she may breathe through both lungs, East and West, once more.

Today, we are ALL Ukrainians.

God bless you all.

Silver Rose