The order had four degrees and was awarded for continuous civil and military service. People who had been awarded with the St. Vladimir Order for military merits bore it with a special fold on the ribbon – "with a bow". There was a certain hierarchy of Russian Orders. According to this, the First Class Order of Saint Vladimir was the second one—the first was the Saint George Order—by its significance. According to Russian laws on nobility, people who were awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir had the rights of hereditary nobility until the Emperor's decree of 1900 was issued. After this, only three first classes of the order gave such a right. Today, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, pretender to the Russian throne, and Head of the Russian Imperial House continues to award the Russian Imperial Order of Saint Vladimir as a dynastic order of knighthood. This is disputed by some historians and by some members of the Romanov Family Association.
Styles
; First class: A red cross with black and golden borders; the badge of the order depended from a sash worn over the right shoulder, and a gold-and-silver eight-rayed star was fastened over the left chest ; Second class: The red cross on the neck and the star over the left chest ; Third class: The red cross of a smaller size on the neck ; Fourth class: The red cross over the left chest
Insignia
A red enamelledcross pattée with black enamelled borders, and a black enamelled central disc bearing a crowned red and erminemantle with the monogram of Saint Vladimir. Worn on a sash by the first degree, on a necklet by the second and third degrees, and on a chest ribbon by the fourth degree. A four-pointed star superimposed upon a four-pointed gold star, with a golden cross pattée and the letters "CPKB" between the arms of the cross on a black enamel background at the centre surrounded by the motto of the order "Benefit, Honour and Glory". Worn on the left chest by the first and second degrees. This motto was transferred to present-day star of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, which was established in 1992 by President Boris Yeltsin and is today the second highest ranking decoration of that country.
In 1957, in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Patriarch of Moscow's restoration in Russia, an Order of Saint Vladimir was created by the Russian Orthodox Church. The order is to be awarded to priests and nuns of the Orthodox church for their service to the Soviet Union and later Russia. There are three degrees of the order. It has no relation to the imperial order.
