Juliana Olshanskaya ( – ; ) was a member of the

Olshanski Olshanski or Olshansky is a Ukrainian or Belorussian habitational name for someone from Olshana or Olshanka in Ukraine or Olshany in Belarus or a americanized form of Polish and Jewish (from Poland) Olszanski. Notable people with the name include: ...

noble family who became a saint in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...

. Dying a virgin around 16 years of age, she was buried in the monastery of

Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra or Kyivo-Pechers’ka Lavra ( uk, Києво-Печерська лавра, translit=Kyievo-Pecherska lavra, russian: Киево-Печерская лавра), also known as the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Ea ...

. Decades later, her body was uncovered during the digging of a new grave. It is claimed that her remains were in a state of

incorruptibility Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

; relics were taken and she was venerated as a saint. The early 17th-century

Archimandrite The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") who ...

Peter Mogila Metropolitan Petru Movilă ( ro, Petru Movilă, uk, Петро Симеонович Могила, translit=Petro Symeonovych Mohyla, russian: Пётр Симеонович Могила, translit=Pëtr Simeonovich Mogila, pl, Piotr Mohyła; ...

claimed to have had a vision of Saint Juliana in which she reproached him for a lack of respect given to her relics. He arranged for nuns to create a new reliquary. The relics survived a fire in 1718 and are now in the church of the

Near Caves The Near Caves or the Caves of Saint AnthonyAnother name can be ''Caves of Saint Anthony'' because the relics of Saint Anthony are buried here. ( uk, Ближні печери, ''Blyzhni pechery''; russian: Ближние пещеры, ''Blizhn ...

. Her feast day is 10 October, as one of the

seven saints 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

Life

Juliana Olshanskaya was the daughter of Prince Yurii (also Georgy) Dubrovitsky-Olshansky of the

family who ruled part of modern Ukraine. Her father was a benefactor of the

monastery, and Juliana was said to be highly religious. She died in the summer of her 16th year, as a virgin, and was buried in the caves of the monastery. She is thought to have died circa 1540.

Sainthood and relics

Juliana's body was discovered during the time of

Elisey Pletenetsky (in office 1599–1624), whilst digging a grave for the burial of another virgin. After opening a coffin that lay beneath a stone marked with her name and the Olshanski coat of arms, her body was said to be in a state of

. Juliana was clad in expensive silks and gold cloth and wore a gold beaded crown and gold jewelled earrings. Relics of her body were gathered and placed in the Pechersk church. Later in Pletenetsky's time, it is said that an Arianist came to the church and asked to see the relics of Juliana. He is said to have stolen a ring from her finger and, upon leaving the church, suffered painfully before dropping dead. Pletenetsky had the stolen ring placed with the church's most holy relics at the icon of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. On another occasion, Abbot Feodosii Safonovych, visiting from St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, viewed the relics. Safonovych later said he had a vision of Juliana that convinced him to worship more piously. The monastery's Archimandrite

(in office 1633–1646) claimed to have seen a vision of Saint Juliana in one of his dreams. Mogila claimed Juliana reproached him for the lack of respect paid to her relics. He then ordered them to be placed in a new reliquary, made by nuns. Juliana's relics survived a fire in the Pechersk church in 1718 and are now in the church of the

. Her feast day is 10 October, when she is commemorated as one of the

, but she is also commemorated individually by the monastery on 19 July.

References

{{reflist 1520s births 1540s deaths Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain 16th-century women Eastern Orthodox saints from Ukraine Burials at Kyiv Pechersk Lavra