Relics stored in Saint Sophia in Kyiv don’t belong to Prince Yaroslav the Wise

Traditionally it is known that relics of Grand Prince of Rus Yaroslav the Wise are stored special sarcophagus in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. After tomography, anthropological and other studies appeared that relics of the sarcophagus are the remains of a woman.

On the basis of modern methods scholars determined that remains have anthropological characteristics of the Scandinavian type. And there is hypothesis that it can be remains of Yaroslav’s wife Ingegerd (daughter of the king of Sweden).

The scholars need to examine DNA. Polish and Russian laboratories agreed to do proper research but there is no permission from the Ministry of 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 1940 and 2009 year. There is a hypothesis that in 1943 the relics were brought to Yaroslav abroad and now kept in the Ukrainian diaspora (in Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA under the Patriarchate of Constantinople).