Paul of Aleppo (1627 – 1669) was a Syrian archdeacon, traveler, and writer. He accompanied his father, Patriarch Makarios III of Antioch, on a journey from Aleppo to Istanbul, Wallachia, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Muscovy in 1652–9. Paul’s journal of the journey provides valuable eyewitness details about the history, geography, culture, folkways, architecture, and religious life of the indigenous population. In Ukraine, their route started with Rashkiv on the Dnister River (10 June 1654). The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch is a source of information about the history of Kyiv Rus that was preserved in the annals of the Church. Here is what it says about the status of the realm:
“To all this country, which is called the Lesser Russia, there were, in ancient times, its own Rulers: and it is related in the histories which treat of them, that, during the reign of Basil the Macedonian [Basil II], king of Greece, they received the faith at his hands. The Prince who governed them at that time was called Vladimiros [Vladimir the Great]; and the seat of their government was the city of Kiov, which bore the crown of empire on its head.”
The quote above confirms what was stated in the “Gardariki, Ukraine” e-book about Kyiv Rus. The stories about ‘weak Kyiv’ of that period were created by Moscow.
