Page "Olga of Kiev" Paragraph 11

She was the first Rus ' ruler to convert to Christianity, either in 945 or in 957.

The ceremonies of her formal reception in Constantinople were minutely described by Emperor Constantine VII in his book De Ceremoniis.

Following her baptism she took the Christian name Yelena, after the reigning Empress Helena Lekapena.

The Slavonic chronicles add apocryphal details to the account of her baptism, such as the story how she charmed and " outwitted " Constantine and how she spurned his matrimonial proposals.

In truth, at the time of her baptism, Olga was an old woman, while Constantine had a wife.