She returned to Kief, and there resided with her son, for many years, in peace and happiness.  The whole empire was tranquil, and in the lowly cabins of the Russians there was plenty, and no sounds of war or violence disturbed the quiet of their lives.  This seems to have been one of the most serene and pleasant periods of Russian history.  This noble woman was born a pagan.  But the gospel of Christ was preached in the churches of Kief, and she heard it and was deeply impressed with its sublimity and beauty.  Her life was drawing to a close.  The grandeur of empire she was soon to lay aside for the darkness and the silence of the tomb.  These thoughts oppressed her mind, which was, by nature, elevated, sensitive and refined.  She sent for the Christian pastors and conversed with them about the immortality of the soul, and salvation through faith in the atonement of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  The good seed of Christian truth fell into good soil.  Cordially she embraced the gospel.

That her renunciation of paganism, and her confession of the Saviour might be more impressive, she decided to go to Constantinople to be baptized by the venerable Christian patriarch, who resided there.  The Christian emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenete, informed of her approach, prepared to receive her with all the pomp worthy of so illustrious a princess of so powerful a people.  He has himself left a record of these most interesting ceremonies.  Olga approached the imperial palace, with a very splendid suite composed of nobles of her court, of ladies of distinction, and of the Russian embassadors and merchants residing at Constantinople.  The emperor, with a corresponding suite of splendor, met the Russian queen at a short distance from the palace, and conducted her, with her retinue, to the apartments arranged for their entertainment.  It was the 9th of September, 955.  In the great banqueting hall of the palace there was a magnificent feast prepared.  The guests were regaled with richest music.  After such an entertainment as even the opulence of the East had seldom furnished, there was an exchange of presents.  The emperor and the queen strove to outvie each other in the richness and elegance of their gifts.  Every individual in the two retinues, received presents of great value.

The queen at her baptism received the Christian name of Helen.  We do not find any record of the ceremonies performed at her baptism.  It is simply stated that the emperor himself stood as her sponsor.  Olga, as she returned to Kief, with her baptismal vows upon her, and in the freshness of her Christian hopes, manifested great solicitude for her son, who still continued a pagan.  But Sviatoslaf was a wild, pleasure-seeking young man, who turned a deaf ear to all his mother’s counsels.  The unbridled license which paganism granted, was much more congenial to his unrenewed heart than the salutary restraints of the gospel of Christ.  The human heart was then and there, as now and here.  The Russian historian Karamsin says,