Prince Vladimir, the baptist of Rus' - a significant figure in our history
The name of Prince Vladimir of Kyiv can rightfully be considered one of the most significant in Russian history. In the memory of the people, the great ancient Russian prince forever remained not only as Vladimir the Saint, but also as Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. It was he who had to solve the most difficult task of that time - the fight against the Pechenegs, the main enemies of Rus' at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. On the southern borders of the state, he built many fortress cities that protected Rus' from enemy invasions. The people loved and respected the prince not only for his worthy defense of the Russian land, but also for his many Christian virtues.
The Kiev prince was born around 962 AD. His father is the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, and his mother is the housekeeper of Princess Olga (Svyatoslav’s mother) Malusha. As the chronicle says, Princess Olga was angry with her housekeeper and exiled her to a distant village called Budutina, where Vladimir was born. After some time, little Vladimir was taken from his mother and brought to Kyiv. Here, at court, he was raised by his grandmother, Princess Olga. However, for a long time the young prince had to endure offensive nickname"robicic", which means "son of a slave".
In 969, Kievan Rus was divided by Svyatoslav between his sons. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, Vladimir was considered the third son of Svyatoslav in seniority, inferior in age to Yaropolk and Oleg. However, there is a hypothesis that he could be the second son of the prince after Yaropolk, surpassing Oleg in years. This assumption is based historical fact about the transfer of Novgorod to him before his father left for the Byzantine War in 70. If Oleg had been older than Vladimir, he would have received this strategically important city, and Vladimir would have received the Drevlyansky land with its center in Ovruch. But, at the behest of Svyatoslav, Kyiv was given to the eldest son, Novgorod was given to Vladimir, and Oleg ruled the Drevlyansky land.
In 972, Svyatoslav died, and his young sons became independent princes. In 977, Yaropolk and Oleg started a war against each other, as a result of which Oleg died. This news greatly frightened Vladimir and he, having escaped from Novgorod, settled in the Baltic states. Novgorod was captured by the governors of Yaropolk. After some time, Vladimir gathered a hired Varangian army and came to Novgorod. In 978, as a result of the siege of Kyiv by Vladimir's troops, Yaropolk had to flee to Rodnya. However, soon this town was besieged by Vladimir’s troops. Among Yaropolk's entourage, Vladimir found a traitor (his name was Blud), who was able to persuade Yaropolk to stop resisting and surrender to his brother. When Yaropolk was brought to Vladimir's chambers, he was killed by two Varangians. Thus, Prince Vladimir began his reign in Kiev with the murder of his brother.
The biography of Prince Vladimir today may seem terrifying, because in modern world the fact of fratricide is completely unthinkable. However, it is worth remembering that his brothers, although they were related on their father’s side, had different
Until the age of 25, the young prince led the wild life of a pagan and despised everything that was connected with Christianity. At that distant time, people worshiped and made sacrifices to pagan gods. The main deity in those days in Rus' was Perun - the personification of unity Old Russian state. Before accepting Christianity, the prince was very cruel, vindictive, and had many vices. At that time he had 5 wives:
- One of them, the Polotsk princess Rogneda, witnessed Vladimir’s murder of her parents.
- Another wife, a Greek woman, is the widow of Yaropolk, killed by Vladimir.
- In addition to his legal wives, the prince had several hundred concubines.
The question involuntarily arises: why did the Lord choose Vladimir, who spent the first half of his life in sins and evil, as the baptist who spiritually reborn the Russian people? Perhaps the entire subsequent Russian generation needed to be shown a repentant sinner, a pagan who had become enlightened. Prince Vladimir, the baptist of Rus', in his new role became a mentor, strengthening and healing those who had stumbled. After all, the main miracle that faith in Christ can create is when a sinner turns into a righteous man.
By the time of Prince Vladimir's reign, Rus' already knew about the existence of Christianity. The fact is that neighboring states - Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria - have long revered the Christian faith. Many decades before the reign of Vladimir, Russians became acquainted with the Word of God in their native language. The first teachers of the Slavs and their disciples, Saints Cyril and Methodius, translated many sacred and liturgical books into the Slavic language. And this made it possible to take root Slavic faith in Rus'.
Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich led the successful defense of Rus' from invaders and expanded the borders of his state. He placed his sons in all the most important centers of Rus'.
Children of Prince Vladimir
- The eldest son named Vysheslav became the Prince of Novgorod.
- Izyaslav became the Prince of Polotsk, and Svyatopolk became the Prince of Turov.
- The latter was adopted by Vladimir, his father is Yaropolk Svyatoslavovich.
- Yaroslav reigned in Rostov. After Vysheslav died, Yaroslav received Novgorod, and Vladimir transferred Boris to Rostov.
- Murom was ruled by Gleb, Vladimir-on-Volyn by Vsevolod, the Drevlyansky land by Svyatoslav, Tmutorokanskaya by Mstislav, Smolensk by Stanislav, and Pskov by Sudislav.
As you can see, Vladimir had many sons, 12 in total. During the reign of Prince Vladimir, his innovations made it possible to rule directly in the named cities with his sons.
History does not know enough about how Prince Vladimir baptized Rus'. This, undoubtedly, became the main event in his life and it is connected with the conquest of Chersonesus by the Russians. Chersonesus is a Byzantine city located in Crimea. Vladimir had to besiege this city for a very long time, until a certain defender of Chersonesus named Anastas advised the Russians to dig up the pipes that led water to the city. The prince made a vow that he would accept the Christian faith if Chersonesus was captured. However, after the fall of the city, Vladimir was in no hurry to be baptized. The Russian prince sent a demand to Constantinople, to the emperors Constantine and Vasily, that they marry their sister Anna to him. The Byzantine emperors agreed, but in return they set the condition that Vladimir convert to Christianity. The Russian prince answered them that he liked the Christian faith, and he agreed to accept it. Princess Anna arrived in Chersonesos, where she was solemnly greeted by the residents.
And at this time a misfortune happened to Vladimir: he lost his sight. The prince was frightened and did not know what to do. At this time, Anna told him that he needed to be baptized quickly if he wanted to get rid of his illness. Vladimir agreed, and when the bishop’s hand touched the prince during baptism, he received his sight. At least, this is what the chronicle says and this is one of the versions of why Prince Vladimir chose Christianity.
There is another version of the description of Vladimir’s acceptance of the Christian faith. According to this version, the Prince of Kiev at the time of baptism began to be called by a new name - Vasily. This baptism supposedly took place in Kyiv.
According to the chronicle, Vladimir overthrew the pagan idols that he himself had erected several years ago: on his orders, some were chopped up and others were put on fire. Perun was tied to a horse's tail and dragged down the mountain. Infidels - people who had not yet accepted the Christian faith, mourned this event.
Perun was floated down the river, making sure that he reached the Dnieper rapids and did not land on the shore. Afterwards, a heavy stone was tied to the idol, and it sank to the bottom. Thus ended the era of paganism in Rus' and began the era of Christianity.
Baptism of Prince Vladimir
The chronicle says that Vladimir ordered the Russian people to gather near the banks of the Pochayna River (a tributary of the Dnieper). The sacrament of baptism in ancient Rus' was performed by the priests whom Anna brought with her to Rus'. The Church of St. Basil, the heavenly princely patron, was erected on the site of a former sanctuary of paganism. Over time, Greek craftsmen built the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kyiv, which was called the tithe. The church became the main temple of Kievan Rus during the reign of Vladimir the Great. At the same time, an important reform of the prince came into force - church tithes were established.
The process of Christianization lasted in Rus' for several decades. People did not always and not everywhere accept this procedure peacefully.
With the adoption of Christianity in Rus', Prince Vladimir changed greatly in better side, - after all, the new faith was accepted by his soul completely sincerely. The prince did good deeds - he distributed alms to the needy, fed the hungry. “And not only in Kyiv, but throughout the Russian land,” chroniclers write about the good deeds of the Grand Duke of the Russian land.
What role do you think Prince Vladimir played in our history? Share your opinion on
The country owes this historically significant event to Saint Prince Vladimir. Historians called him the Great, the church canonized him as a saint equal to the apostles, and the people called him none other than Prince Vladimir the Red Sun.
Biography before coming to power
The exact date of birth of the prince is not known. The chronicles only mention that his father Svyatoslav was born in 942, and his eldest son Vysheslav in 977. Based on these data, historians give an approximate date of 960.
As the story goes, the future Grand Duke Vladimir the Red Sun was born in a remote place called Budutino, which was located somewhere near Pskov. According to legends, it was there that the angry Princess Olga exiled her former housekeeper Maklusha from the city of Lyubech, who suffered from her son Svyatoslav Igorevich. Pagan customs allowed a son to inherit from his father, regardless of who his mother was. Therefore, as soon as Vladimir grew up, Princess Olga immediately took him away. His guardian was his maternal uncle, the warrior Dobrynya.
Prince Vladimir the Red Sun was the youngest of the sons of Svyatoslav Igorevich. Before his death, he divided the entire Russian land between his children. So, Yaropolk (as the eldest) went to Kyiv, Oleg (middle) - the land of Drevlyanskaya, and Vladimir (the youngest) - Novgorod. There is an opinion that Vladimir was middle-aged, since Novgorod is much more significant than the land of Drevlyanskaya.
Civil strife
In 972, when Prince Svyatoslav died, Kyiv came under the rule of his eldest son Yaropolk. And a serious war broke out between the brothers. Vladimir and Oleg joined forces and moved to the lands of Kyiv. However, in 977 they failed. Retreating during the battle with Yaropolk, Prince Oleg fell into a ditch and was crushed by horses. Vladimir with the remnants of the army fled to Norway to his patron King Hakon the Mighty. So Prince Yaropolk began to rule Russia.
However, Prince Vladimir, together with his faithful assistant Dobrynya, recruited troops in Scandinavia and returned to their homeland. Initially, he overthrew the governor Yaropolk and reigned in Novgorod. Then he conquered Polotsk, which was supported by Kyiv at that time. Vladimir killed the ruler Rogvolod and his two sons, and forcibly made his daughter Rogneda, who was considered the bride of Yaropolk, his wife. And then, with a large Varangian army, he marched on Kyiv and subjugated it. Now the Prince of Kiev, Vladimir the Red Sun lured and then killed his brother Yaropolk. He made his pregnant wife his concubine.
Before baptism
According to the chronicles, Prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko reigned in Kyiv in 980. The biography of the ruler of that period is full of cruelty and adultery. So, it began with the fact that the sovereign disbanded his Varangian army, sending some of the soldiers to serve in Constantinople, and leaving the rest in his squad.
Prince Vladimir the Red Sun (photo in the article) immediately after his accession to the throne in Kyiv began the reformation of the pagan cult. By order of the ruler, a huge temple was erected in the city, in which there were six statues depicting the main Slavic idols - Perun, Stribog, Mokosha, Semargl, Dazhdbog and Khors. In addition, there is information that in those days human sacrifices and pagan rituals were widely practiced.
There were legends that the previous Kiev prince Yaropolk sympathized with Christianity. And Vladimir contrasted him with paganism. There was a kind of struggle between the city and the remnants of Christianity. Thus, archaeologists found the remains of fresco painting in a dilapidated building (probably former church, built under Yaropolk) on the site of the pantheon erected by Vladimir. It was during the time of Christian persecution in Kyiv that the first martyrs for the faith in Rus', the Varangians John and Fedor, died.
Image of a pagan
According to the ancient chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", during his pagan reign, Prince Vladimir the Red Sun was a cruel, domineering and selfish ruler. He had several wives and a huge harem in almost every big city. He brought to himself married women and molested minors.
He was present at pagan rituals where people were sacrificed. And besides lust, he was only interested in war. In those years, he made successful campaigns against Poland (he recaptured the Cherven cities), the Volga Bulgars, the Yatvingians, as well as the Vyatichi and Radimichi.
Unusual baptism
As the chronicles say, Christianity appeared in Rus' as a result of a conscious “choice of faiths.” Thus, preachers of such religions as Islam, Judaism, and Western “Latin” Christianity arrived at Vladimir’s court. Everything happened until, after a conversation with a philosopher from Greece, the prince gave preference to Christianity of the Byzantine rite. It is impossible to say for sure whether this is true or fiction. However, Vladimir’s legends that the German ambassadors should leave because “Rus did not accept their religion” reflect the events of 960, when the German emperor sent his bishop along with priests to Princess Olga. According to Western sources, “they barely survived.” Thus, we can conclude that Prince Vladimir the Red Sun held some negotiations in Rus' with Western Christians regarding the future religion.
In 987, at the council of boyars, the Kiev prince announced his decision to “baptize Rus' according to Greek law.” That same year, Vladimir stormed the Byzantine city of Chersonesus and, threatening to capture Constantinople, demanded the sister of the rulers of the Byzantine Empire, Princess Anna, as his wife. Konstantin and Vasily agreed to their sister’s marriage to Vladimir only on the condition that he accept their faith. The prince gave the go-ahead. According to legend, while the princess was getting to Chersonesos, Vladimir suddenly went blind. Anna decided that this was heavenly punishment and advised her betrothed to be baptized as soon as possible. And during the ceremony, the prince suddenly shouted “I have seen the True God!” opened his eyes. The amazed boyars immediately rushed to follow him to be baptized.
At baptism, Vladimir was given a new name - Vasily - in honor of the holy apostle. That same year, the wedding ceremony of a Russian prince and a Byzantine princess took place in Chersonesos. As a sign of his favor and recognition, Prince Vladimir the Red Sun returned Chersonese back to its rightful owners. However, he asked to build a great temple in the city in honor of St. John the Baptist.
Baptism of Rus'
Prince Vladimir the Red Sun (photo above) returned to his homeland not only with his new princess, but also brought Constantinople clergy who began to spread Christianity throughout the area. The prince took icons, books, church utensils, as well as the holy remains of the Roman bishop, Thebes and Clement from Byzantium. Vladimir tried in every possible way to strengthen interstate ties between Byzantium and Russia.
Twelve sons of the prince, his entire household, as well as many boyars converted to Christianity. And then Prince Vladimir the Red Sun began to completely eradicate paganism. He ordered the destruction of idols and the burning of infidels. And if in Kyiv the spread of Christianity passed peacefully and calmly, then in Novgorod, where Dobrynya was the governor of the prince, the people rebelled and had to be suppressed by force. Vladimir ordered that Orthodox churches begin to be built in places where stone idols of pagans had previously stood.
Change in appearance
According to the chroniclers, after accepting Christianity, Vladimir changed. After returning from Byzantium, he immediately freed his former wives from their marital debt. Orthodox sources claim that even Rogneda, who once tried to kill him, was offered by the prince to choose her future husband herself. But the woman refused and went to the monastery.
The prince's character also changed. He became kind, soft, merciful. He began to show concern and generosity towards the poor and disadvantaged. He became interested in book writing and church teaching.
The Russian prince Vladimir the Red Sun, in the person of Byzantium, found a faithful and reliable ally who helped him in strengthening the state. Throughout his entire life, the ruler took care of his people and fought for their safety and unity. Vladimir made many more campaigns and conquered vast territories in the North Caucasus, along the banks of the Volga and the Caspian Sea. The prince in many ways surpassed even his great father Svyatoslav Igorevich.
Family and personal life
As mentioned earlier, Vladimir before his baptism was known as the “great libertine.” He had more than a hundred concubines and several official wives. So, the first was Rogneda, from whom he had a son, Izyaslav. There were also wives “Czech”, with whom he had a son, Vysheslav, and “Bulgarian”.
One of the concubines was ex-wife his brother Yaropolk, who bore him a son, Svyatopolk the Accursed.
After accepting Christianity, Vladimir had two wives. The first is the Byzantine princess Anna, who died in 1011. After her death, the prince took another wife, whose name, unfortunately, we do not know.
In total, the prince had twelve sons; history is silent about how many daughters he had. All the children of Prince Vladimir Red Sun, following their father, adopted Christianity.
Where does this nickname come from?
So, among the people the prince was called the Baptist, the Saint, and the Great. Everything is more or less clear here. But why “Prince Vladimir the Red Sun”?
There are two variations on this. According to the first version, he was so nicknamed because he opened a new era in the history of all Eastern Slavs, he laid a new foundation for the clergy for the peoples (Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians).
According to the second version, Vladimir decided to throw a feast, to which ordinary people from nearby cities were invited. The beggars and poor came to the prince's chambers and took food. Thus, the prince won the love and favor of the people, who nicknamed him “sunshine.”
From legends to cinema
The people revered and loved their prince. Songs and legends were written about him. The songs also talk about his uncle Dobrynya Nikitich, and other heroes and warriors of the prince. The most famous epic is Prince Vladimir the Red Sun and three heroes fighting against the Serpent Gorynych. Probably everyone knows her. In folklore, the prince is called “affectionate,” “bright,” and “glorious.”
In 2012, the film “Prince Vladimir the Red Sun” was shot. The picture tells about the Russian ruler, about the period of his maturity and formation, about the baptism of Rus', about the death of Boris and Gleb and much more. The film “Prince Vladimir the Red Sun” is a documentary film that will allow the viewer to see with his own eyes the famous frescoes, icons and paintings of that period.
New world. 1988. No. 6. pp. 249-258.
There is no Soviet historical science dedicated to Ancient Rus', a more significant and at the same time least explored question than the question of the spread of Christianity in the first centuries of baptism.
At the beginning of the 20th century, several extremely important works, who posed and resolved the question of accepting Christianity in different ways. These are the works of E. E. Golubinsky, academician A. A. Shakhmatov, M. D. Priselkov, V. A. Parkhomenko, V. I. Lamansky, N. K. Nikolsky, P. A. Lavrov, N. D. Polonskaya and many others. However, after 1913 this topic ceased to seem significant. It simply disappeared from the pages of the scientific press.
The purpose of my article, therefore, is not to complete, but to begin posing some problems associated with the adoption of Christianity, to disagree with, and perhaps contradict, conventional views, especially since established points of view often do not have a solid basis, but are a consequence of certain, unspoken and largely mythical “attitudes”.
One of these misconceptions stuck in general courses on the history of the USSR and other semi-official publications is the idea that Orthodoxy was always the same, did not change, and always played a reactionary role. There were even claims that paganism was better (“folk religion”!), more fun and “more materialistic”...
But the fact is that the defenders of Christianity often succumbed to certain prejudices and their judgments were to a large extent “prejudices.”
In our article we will dwell on only one problem - the national significance of the adoption of Christianity. I do not dare present my views as precisely established, especially since the most basic, initial data for the emergence of any reliable concept are generally unclear.
First of all, you should understand what paganism was as a “state religion.” Paganism was not a religion in the modern sense - like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism. It was a rather chaotic collection of various beliefs, cults, but not a teaching. This is a combination of religious rituals and a whole heap of objects of religious veneration. Therefore, the unification of people of different tribes, which the Eastern Slavs so needed in the 10th-12th centuries, could not be achieved by paganism. And in paganism itself there were relatively few specific national features characteristic of only one people. At best, individual tribes and the population of individual localities were united on the basis of a common cult. Meanwhile, the desire to escape from the oppressive influence of loneliness among sparsely populated forests, swamps and steppes, the fear of abandonment, the fear of formidable natural phenomena forced people to seek unification. There were “Germans” all around, that is, people who did not speak an understandable language, enemies who came to Rus' “out of the blue,” and the steppe strip bordering Russia was an “unknown country”...
The desire to overcome space is noticeable in folk art. People erected their buildings on the high banks of rivers and lakes in order to be visible from afar, held noisy festivals, and performed religious prayers. Folk songs were designed to be performed in wide spaces. Bright colors were required to be noticed from afar. People sought to be hospitable and treated merchant guests with respect, for they were messengers about a distant world, storytellers, witnesses to the existence of other lands. Hence the delight in rapid movements in space. Hence the monumental nature of art.
People built mounds to remember the dead, but graves and grave markers did not yet indicate a sense of history as a process extended over time. The past was, as it were, one, antiquity in general, not divided into eras and not ordered chronologically. Time was a repeating annual cycle, with which it was necessary to conform in one’s economic work. Time as history did not yet exist.
Time and events required knowledge of the world and history on a large scale. It is worthy of special attention that this craving for a broader understanding of the world than that given by paganism was felt primarily along the trade and military roads of Rus', primarily where the first state formations grew. The desire for statehood was not, of course, brought from outside, from Greece or Scandinavia, otherwise it would not have had such phenomenal success in Rus', which marked the 10th century of Russian history.
Baptism of Rus'. New Empire Creator
The true creator of the huge empire of Rus' - Prince Vladimir I Svyatoslavich in 980 makes the first attempt to unify paganism throughout the entire territory from the eastern slopes of the Carpathians to the Oka and Volga, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, which included East Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic tribes. The chronicle reports: “And Volodimer began his reign as one in Kiev, and placed idols on a hill outside the courtyard of the tower”: Perun (Finno-Ugric Perkun), Khorsa (god of the Turkic tribes), Dazhbog, Stribog (Slavic gods), Simargl, Mokosh (goddess Mokosh tribe).
The seriousness of Vladimir’s intentions is evidenced by the fact that after the creation of the pantheon of gods in Kiev, he sent his uncle Dobrynya to Novgorod and he “placed an idol over the Volkhov River, and the priest would honor his people like a god.” As always in Russian history, Vladimir gave preference to a foreign tribe - the Finno-Ugric tribe. This main idol in Novgorod, which Dobrynya set, was the idol of the Finnish Perkun, although, apparently, the most widespread cult in Novgorod was Slavic god Belesa, or otherwise Hair.
However, the interests of the country called Rus' to a more developed and more universal religion. This call was clearly heard where people of different tribes and nations communicated most with each other. This call had a long history behind it; it echoed throughout Russian history.
The great European trade route, known from Russian chronicles as the route from the Varangians to the Greeks, that is, from Scandinavia to Byzantium and back, was the most important in Europe until the 12th century, when European trade between south and north moved to the west. This route not only connected Scandinavia with Byzantium, but also had branches, the most significant of which was the route to the Caspian Sea along the Volga. The main part of all these roads ran through the lands of the Eastern Slavs and was used by them primarily, but also through the lands of the Finno-Ugric peoples who took part in trade, in the processes of state formation, in military campaigns against Byzantium (it is not for nothing that Kiev is one of the most famous places there was a Chudin yard, that is, a farmstead of merchants of the Chud tribe - the ancestors of today's Estonians).
Numerous data indicate that Christianity began to spread in Rus' even before the official baptism of Rus' under Vladimir I Svyatoslavich in 988 (there are, however, other supposed dates of baptism, the consideration of which is beyond the scope of this article). And all this evidence speaks of the emergence of Christianity primarily in centers of communication between people of different nationalities, even if this communication was far from peaceful. This again and again indicates that people needed a universal, world religion. The latter was supposed to serve as a kind of introduction of Rus' to world culture. And it is no coincidence that this entry onto the world stage was organically connected with the emergence in Rus' of a highly organized literary language, which would consolidate this inclusion in texts, primarily translated ones. Writing made it possible to communicate not only with modern Russian cultures, but also with past cultures. She made it possible to write her own history, a philosophical generalization of her national experience, and literature.
Already the first legend of the Primary Russian Chronicle about Christianity in Rus' tells about the journey of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called from Sinopia and Korsun (Chersonese) along the great path “from the Greeks to the Varangians” - along the Dnieper, Lovat and Volkhov to the Baltic Sea, and then around Europe to Rome.
Christianity already in this legend acts as a principle that unites countries, including Rus' as part of Europe. Of course, this journey of the Apostle Andrew is a pure legend, if only because in the 1st century the Eastern Slavs did not yet exist - they did not form into a single people. However, the appearance of Christianity on the northern shores of the Black Sea was very early time recorded by non-Russian sources. The Apostle Andrew preached on his way through the Caucasus to the Bosporus (Kerch), Feodosia and Chersonesus. In particular, Eusebius of Caesarea (died around 340) speaks about the spread of Christianity by the Apostle Andrew in Scythia. The Life of Clement, Pope of Rome, tells about Clement's stay in Chersonesus, where he died under Emperor Trajan (98-117). Under the same emperor Trajan, Patriarch Hermon of Jerusalem sent several bishops one after another to Chersonesus, where they suffered martyrdom. The last bishop sent by Hermon died at the mouth of the Dnieper. Under Emperor Constantine the Great, Bishop Kapiton appeared in Chersonesus, and also died a martyr. Christianity in Crimea, which needed a bishop, was reliably recorded already in the 3rd century.
On the first ecumenical council in Nicaea (325) representatives from Bosporus, Chersonesus and Metropolitan Gottfil were present. located outside the Crimea, to which, however, the Tauride bishopric was subordinated. The presence of these representatives is established on the basis of their signatures under the council resolutions. The church fathers - Tertullian, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Blessed Jerome - also speak about the Christianity of some of the Scythians.
The Christian Goths who lived in Crimea formed a strong state that had a serious influence not only on the Slavs, but on the Lithuanians and Finns - at least on their languages.
Connections with the Northern Black Sea region were then complicated by the great migration of nomadic peoples in the second half of the 4th century. However, trade routes still continued to exist, and the influence of Christianity from the south to the north undoubtedly took place. Christianity continued to spread under Emperor Justinian the Great, covering the Crimea, the North Caucasus, as well as the eastern shore of the Sea of Azov among the Trapezite Goths, who, according to Procopius, “revered the Christian faith with simplicity and great calmness” (VI century).
With the spread of the Turko-Khazar horde from the Urals and the Caspian Sea to the Carpathians and the Crimean coast, a special cultural situation arose. Not only Islam and Judaism, but also Christianity were widespread in the Khazar state, especially due to the fact that the Roman emperors Justinian II and Constantine V were married to Khazar princesses, and Greek builders erected fortresses in Khazaria. In addition, Christians from Georgia, fleeing from Muslims, fled to the north, that is, to Khazaria. In the Crimea and the North Caucasus within Khazaria, the number of Christian bishops naturally grew, especially in the middle of the 8th century. At this time, there were eight bishops in Khazaria. It is possible that with the spread of Christianity in Khazaria and the establishment of friendly Byzantine-Khazar relations, a favorable environment is created for religious disputes between the three dominant religions in Khazaria: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Each of these religions sought spiritual dominance, as evidenced by Jewish-Khazar and Arab sources. In particular, in the middle of the 9th century, as evidenced by the “Pannonian Life” of Cyril-Constantine and Methodius, the enlighteners of the Slavs, the Khazars invited theologians from Byzantium for religious disputes with Jews and Muslims. This confirms the possibility of Vladimir’s choice of faith described by the Russian chronicler - through surveys and disputes.
Baptism of Rus'. Age of Christianity
It seems natural that Christianity in Rus' also appeared as a result of the awareness of the situation that developed in the 10th century, when the presence of states with a Christian population as the main neighbors of Russia was especially obvious: here were the Northern Black Sea region, and Byzantium, and the movement of Christians across the main trade routes that crossed Rus' from south to north and from west to east.
A special role here belonged to Byzantium and Bulgaria.
Let's start with Byzantium. Rus' besieged Constantinople three times - in 866, 907 and 941. These were not ordinary predatory raids; they ended with the conclusion of peace treaties that established new trade and state relations between Russia and Byzantium.
And if in the treaty of 912 only pagans participated on the Russian side, then in the treaty of 945 Christians came first. In a short period of time the number of Christians has clearly increased. This is also evidenced by the adoption of Christianity by the Kyiv princess Olga herself, whose magnificent reception in Constantinople in 955 is described by both Russian and Byzantine sources.
We will not go into consideration the most difficult question about where and when Olga’s grandson Vladimir was baptized. The 11th century chronicler himself refers to the existence of different versions. Let me just say that one fact seems obvious; Vladimir was baptized after his matchmaking with the sister of the Byzantine emperor Anna, for it is unlikely that the most powerful emperor of the Romans, Vasily II, would have agreed to become related to a barbarian, and Vladimir could not but understand this.
The fact is that the predecessor of Vasily II, Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in his well-known work “On the Administration of the Empire,” written for his son, the future Emperor Roman II (father of Emperor Vasily II), forbade his descendants to marry representatives of barbarian peoples, referring to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine I the Great, who ordered the inscription of St. Sophia of Constantinople prohibits Romans from becoming related to strangers - especially to the unbaptized.
It should also be taken into account that from the second half of the 10th century the power of the Byzantine Empire reached its greatest strength. By this time, the Empire had repelled the Arab threat and overcome the cultural crisis associated with the existence of iconoclasm, which led to a significant decline in the fine arts. And it is noteworthy that Vladimir I Svyatoslavich played a significant role in this flowering of Byzantine power.
In the summer of 988, a selected six-thousand-strong detachment of the Varangian-Russian squad, sent by Vladimir I Svyatoslavich, saved the Byzantine Emperor Vasily II, completely defeating the army that tried to take the imperial throne of Bardas Phocas. Vladimir himself accompanied his squad, which was going to help Vasily II, to the Dnieper rapids. Having fulfilled their duty, the squad remained to serve in Byzantium (later the guard of the emperors was the squad of the Anglo-Varangians).
Along with the consciousness of equality, the consciousness of general history of all humanity. Most of all, in the first half of the 11th century, Metropolitan Hilarion of Kiev, a Rusyn by origin, showed himself in the formation of national consciousness in his famous “Sermon on Law and Grace,” where he depicted the general future role of Rus' in the Christian world. However, back in the 10th century, the “Philosopher’s Speech” was written, which is an exposition world history, into which Russian history was supposed to merge. The teachings of Christianity gave, first of all, awareness of the common history of mankind and the participation of all peoples in this history.
How was Christianity adopted in Rus'? We know that in many European countries Christianity was imposed by force. Baptism in Rus' was not without violence, but in general the spread of Christianity in Rus' was quite peaceful, especially if we remember other examples. Clovis forcibly baptized his squads. Charlemagne forcibly baptized the Saxons. Stephen I, King of Hungary, forcibly baptized his people. He forcibly forced those who managed to accept it according to Byzantine custom to abandon Eastern Christianity. But we do not have reliable information about mass violence on the part of Vladimir I Svyatoslavich. The overthrow of the idols of Perun in the south and north was not accompanied by repressions. The idols were lowered down the river, just as dilapidated shrines were later lowered - old icons, for example. The people cried for their defeated god, but did not rebel. The revolt of the Magi in 1071, which the Initial Chronicle tells about, was caused by famine in the Belozersk region, and not by the desire to return to paganism. Moreover, Vladimir understood Christianity in his own way and even refused to execute the robbers, declaring: “... I’m afraid of sin.”
Christianity was conquered from Byzantium under the walls of Chersonesos, but it did not turn into an act of conquest against its people.
One of the happiest moments of the adoption of Christianity in Rus' was that the spread of Christianity proceeded without special requirements and teachings directed against paganism. And if Leskov in the story “At the End of the World” puts into the mouth of Metropolitan Plato the idea that “Vladimir hastened, but the Greeks were deceitful - they baptized the ignorant and unlearned,” then it was precisely this circumstance that contributed to the peaceful entry of Christianity into people’s life and did not allow the church to occupy sharply hostile positions in relation to pagan rituals and beliefs, but on the contrary, gradually introduce Christian ideas into paganism, and in Christianity see a peaceful transformation of people's life.
So, double faith? No, and not dual faith! There cannot be dual faith at all: either there is only one faith, or there is none. The latter could not have happened in the first centuries of Christianity in Rus', because no one was yet able to take away from people the ability to see the unusual in the ordinary, to believe in the afterlife and in the existence of the divine principle. To understand what happened, let us return again to the specifics of ancient Russian paganism, to its chaotic and non-dogmatic character.
Every religion, including the chaotic paganism of Rus', has, in addition to all kinds of cults and idols, also moral principles. These moral foundations, whatever they may be, organize people's life. Old Russian paganism permeated all layers of the society of Ancient Rus' that began to feudalize. From the records of the chronicles it is clear that Rus' already possessed the ideal of military behavior. This ideal is clearly visible in the stories of the Primary Chronicle about Prince Svyatoslav.
Here is his famous speech addressed to his soldiers: “We no longer have children, willingly or unwillingly, we are against it; let us not disgrace the Russian lands, but let us lie down with bones, for the dead have no shame in the imam. If we run away, it’s a disgrace to the imam. The imam will not run away, but we will stand strong, and I will go before you: if my head falls, then provide for yourself.”
Once upon a time, students of Russian secondary schools learned this speech by heart, perceiving both its chivalrous meaning and the beauty of Russian speech, as, incidentally, they also learned other speeches of Svyatoslav or the famous description given to him by the chronicler: “...walking easily, like a pardus (cheetah), You create many wars. Walking, he did not carry a cart, nor cooked a cauldron, nor cooked meat, but he cut up horse meat, whether animal or beef on coals, baked meat, nor a tent, but laid the lining and the saddle in the heads; The same goes for his other warriors. And he sent to the countries saying: “I want to go to you.”
I purposely cite all these quotes without translating them into modern Russian, so that the reader can appreciate the beauty, accuracy and laconicism of ancient Russian literary speech, which enriched the Russian literary language for a thousand years.
This ideal of princely behavior: selfless devotion to one’s country, contempt for death in battle, democracy and the Spartan way of life, directness in dealing even with the enemy - all this remained even after the adoption of Christianity and left a special imprint on the stories about Christian ascetics. In the Izbornik of 1076 - a book specially written for the prince, who could take it with him on campaigns for moral reading (I write about this in a special work) - there are the following lines: “... beauty is a weapon for a warrior and sails for a ship, This is also the righteous man’s book veneration.” The righteous is compared to a warrior! Regardless of where and when this text was written, it also characterizes high Russian military morale.
In the “Teaching” of Vladimir Monomakh, most likely written at the end of the 11th century, and possibly at the beginning of the 12th century (the exact time of writing does not play a significant role), the fusion of the pagan ideal of the prince’s behavior with Christian instructions is clearly visible. Monomakh boasts of the number and speed of his campaigns (the “ideal prince” is visible - Svyatoslav), his courage in battles and hunting (two main princely deeds): “And I will tell you, my children, my work, I have worked better than myself, the ways of my deeds.” (going on hikes) and fishing (hunting) from the age of 13.” And having described his life, he notes: “And from Shchernigov to Kiev, I went to see my father several times (more than a hundred times), during the day I moved until Vespers. And all the paths are 80 and 3 great, but I can’t remember the lesser ones.”
Monomakh did not hide his crimes: how many people he beat and burned Russian cities. And after this, as an example of truly noble, Christian behavior, he cites his letter to Oleg, the content of which, amazing in its moral height, I had to write about more than once. In the name of the principle proclaimed by Monomakh at the Lyubech Congress of Princes: “Let everyone keep his homeland” - Monomakh forgives the defeated enemy Oleg Svyatoslavich (“Gorislavich”), in the battle with whom his son Izyaslav fell, and invites him to return to his homeland - Chernigov: “ What are we, sinful and evil people? “live today, and die in the morning, today in glory and honor (in honor), and tomorrow in the grave and without memory (no one will remember us), or divide our meeting.” The reasoning is completely Christian and, let’s say in passing, extremely important for its time during the transition to a new order of ownership of the Russian land by princes at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries.
Education after the baptism of Rus'
Education was also an important Christian virtue under Vladimir. After the baptism of Rus', Vladimir, as evidenced by the Initial Chronicle,... These lines gave rise to various guesses about where this “book teaching” was carried out, whether it was schools and what type, but one thing is clear: “book teaching” became a subject of state concern.
Finally, another Christian virtue, from Vladimir’s point of view, was the mercy of the rich towards the poor and wretched. Having been baptized, Vladimir began to primarily care for the sick and poor. According to the chronicle, Vladimir “commanded every beggar and wretched person to come to the prince’s courtyard and collect all their needs, drink and food, and from the women in kunami (money).” And for those who could not come, the weak and sick, deliver supplies to their yards. If this concern of his was to some extent limited to Kiev or even part of Kiev, then even then the chronicler’s story is extremely important, because it shows what exactly the chronicler considered the most important in Christianity, and with him the majority of his readers and rewrites of the text - mercy, kindness. Ordinary generosity became mercy. These are different acts, for the act of good deed was transferred from the person giving to those to whom it was given, and this was Christian charity.
In the future, we will return to another moment in the Christian religion, which turned out to be extremely attractive when choosing faiths and for a long time determined the nature of East Slavic religiosity. Now let us turn to that lower layer of the population, which before the baptism of Rus' was called smerds, and after, contrary to all the usual ideas of scientists of modern times, the most Christian layer of the population, which is why it got its name - the peasantry.
Paganism here was represented not so much by the highest gods, but by a layer of beliefs that regulated labor activity according to the seasonal annual cycle: spring, summer, autumn and winter. These beliefs turned work into a holiday and instilled love and respect for the land, which was so necessary in agricultural work. Here Christianity quickly came to terms with paganism, or rather, with its ethics, the moral foundations of peasant labor.
Paganism was not united. This idea, which we repeated above, should also be understood in the sense that in paganism there was a “higher” mythology associated with the main gods, which Vladimir wanted to unite even before the adoption of Christianity, organizing his pantheon “outside the courtyard of the tower,” and mythology “lower”, which consisted mainly in connection with beliefs of an agricultural nature and cultivated in people a moral attitude towards the land and towards each other.
The first circle of beliefs was decisively rejected by Vladimir, and the idols were overthrown and lowered into the rivers - both in Kyiv and Novgorod. However, the second circle of beliefs began to become Christianized and acquire shades of Christian morality.
Research in recent years (mainly the wonderful work of M. M. Gromyko “Traditional norms of behavior and forms of communication of Russian peasants of the 19th century.” M. 1986) provides a number of examples of this.
The moral role of the baptism of Rus'
In particular, there remained in different parts of our country peasant pomochi, or cleanup, - common labor performed by the entire peasant community. In the pagan, pre-feudal village, pomochi were performed as a custom of general rural work. In a Christian (peasant) village, pomochi became a form of collective assistance to poor families - families that have lost their head, the disabled, orphans, etc. The moral meaning contained in pomochi intensified in the Christianized rural community. It is remarkable that pomochi was celebrated as a holiday, had a cheerful character, was accompanied by jokes, witticisms, sometimes competitions, and general feasts. Thus, all the offensive character was removed from peasant assistance to low-income families: on the part of neighbors, assistance was performed not as alms and sacrifice, which humiliated those who were helped, but as a cheerful custom that brought joy to all participants. To help, people, realizing the importance of what was being done, came out in festive clothes, the horses were “put away in the best harness.”
“Although the work done by clearing is hard and not particularly pleasant, nevertheless clearing is a pure holiday for all participants, especially for children and young people,” reported a witness to a clearing (or helping) in the Pskov province.
The pagan custom acquired an ethical Christian overtones. Christianity softened and absorbed other pagan customs. For example, the initial Russian chronicle talks about the pagan kidnapping of brides near the water. This custom was associated with the cult of springs, wells, and water in general. But with the introduction of Christianity, beliefs in water weakened, but the custom of meeting a girl when she walked with buckets on the water remained. Preliminary agreements between the girl and the guy took place near the water. Most, perhaps, important example preserving and even enhancing the moral principles of paganism is the cult of the earth. Peasants (and not only peasants, as V.L. Komarovich showed in his work “The Cult of Family and Land in the Princely Environment of the 11th-13th Centuries”) treated the land as a shrine. Before starting agricultural work, they asked the land for forgiveness for “ripping open its chest” with a plow. They asked the earth for forgiveness for all their offenses against morality. Even in the 19th century, Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” first of all publicly asks for forgiveness for the murder from the ground right in the square.
There are many examples that can be given. The adoption of Christianity did not abolish the lower layer of paganism, just as higher mathematics did not abolish elementary mathematics. There are no two sciences in mathematics, and there was no dual faith among the peasantry. There was a gradual Christianization (along with the dying out) of pagan customs and rituals.
Now let's turn to one extremely important point V .
The initial Russian chronicle conveys a beautiful legend about the test of faith by Vladimir. The ambassadors sent by Vladimir were from the Mohammedans, then from the Germans, who served their service according to Western custom, and finally came to Constantinople to the Greeks. The last story of the ambassadors is extremely significant, for it was the most important reason for Vladimir to choose Christianity from Byzantium. I will give it in full, translated into modern Russian. Vladimir's ambassadors came to Constantinople and came to the king. “The king asked them - why did they come? They told him everything. Hearing their story, the king rejoiced and did them great honor that same day. The next day he sent to the patriarch, saying to him: “The Russians have come to test our faith. Prepare the church and clergy and dress yourself in the saint’s vestments, so that they can see the glory of our God.” Hearing about this, the patriarch ordered to convene the clergy, performed a festive service according to custom, and lit the censer, and organized singing and choirs. And he went with the Russians to church, and they put them on best place, showing them the beauty of the church, the singing and the bishop's service, the presence of the deacons and telling them about serving their God. They (that is, the ambassadors) were in admiration, marveled and praised their service. And kings Vasily and Constantine called them, and said to them: “Go to your land,” and sent them away with great gifts and honor. They returned to their land. And Prince Vladimir called his boyars and elders and said to them: “The men we sent have come, let’s listen to everything that happened to them.” I turned to the ambassadors: “Speak before the squad.”
I omit what the ambassadors said about other faiths, but here’s what they said about the service in Constantinople: “and we came to the Greek land, and led us to where they serve their god, and did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth : for there is no such spectacle and such beauty on earth and we don’t know how to tell about it. We only know that God is with the people there, and their service is better than in all other countries. We cannot forget that beauty, for every person, if he tastes the sweet, will not then taste the bitter; So we can no longer remain in paganism here.”
Architecture
Let us remember that the test of faith did not mean which faith is more beautiful, but which faith is true. And the main argument for the truth of the faith, Russian ambassadors declare its beauty. And this is no coincidence! It is precisely because of this idea of the primacy of the artistic principle in church and state life that the first Russian Christian princes built up their cities with such zeal and erected central churches in them. Together with church vessels and icons, Vladimir brings from Korsun (Chersonese) two copper idols (that is, two statues, not idols) and four copper horses, “about which the ignorant think that they are marble,” and places them behind the Tithe Church, on the most solemn place in the city.
The churches erected in the 11th century are to this day the architectural centers of the old cities of the Eastern Slavs: Sofia in Kiev, Sofia in Novgorod, Spas in Chernigov, the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, etc. No subsequent temples and buildings have overshadowed what was built in the 11th century.
None of the countries bordering Russia in the 11th century could compare with it in the grandeur of its architecture and in the art of painting, mosaics, applied art and in the intensity of historical thought expressed in chronicles and work on translated chronicles.
The only country with high architecture, complex both in technique and in beauty, which, besides Byzantium, can be considered the predecessor of Rus' in art, is Bulgaria with its monumental buildings in Pliska and Preslav. Large stone temples were built in Northern Italy in Lombardy, northern Spain, England and the Rhine region, but this is far away.
It is not entirely clear why in the countries adjacent to Rus', mainly rotunda churches were widespread in the 11th century: either this was done in imitation of the rotunda built by Charlemagne in Aachen, or in honor of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, or it was believed that the rotunda was most suitable for performing the baptismal ceremony.
In any case, churches of the basilica type are replacing rotunda churches, and it can be considered that in the 12th century the adjacent countries were already carrying out extensive construction and were catching up with Rus', which nevertheless continued to maintain primacy until the Tatar-Mongol conquest.
Returning to the heights of the art of pre-Mongol Rus', I cannot help but quote from the notes of Pavel Aleppo, who traveled around Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and saw the ruins of the Church of Sophia in Kiev: “The human mind is not able to embrace it (the Church of Sophia) due to the variety of colors of its marbles and their combinations, symmetrical arrangement of parts of its structure, large number and the height of its columns, the loftiness of its domes, its vastness, the numerousness of its porticos and vestibules.” Not everything in this description is accurate, but you can believe it general impression, which the Temple of Sophia produced for a foreigner who had seen the temples of both Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. One might think that the artistic moment was not accidental in the Christianity of Rus'.
The aesthetic moment played a particularly important role in the Byzantine revival of the 9th-11th centuries, that is, just at the time when Rus' was baptized. Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in the 9th century, in an address to the Bulgarian prince Boris, persistently expressed the idea that beauty, harmonious unity and harmony as a whole distinguish the Christian faith, which is precisely what distinguishes it from heresy. In the perfection of the human face nothing can be added or subtracted - and so it is in the Christian faith. In the eyes of the Greeks of the 9th-11th centuries, inattention to the artistic side of worship was an insult to divine dignity.
Russian culture was obviously prepared to perceive this aesthetic moment, for it stayed with it for a long time and became its defining element. Let us remember that for many centuries Russian philosophy was closely connected with literature and poetry. Therefore, it must be studied in connection with Lomonosov and Derzhavin, Tyutchev and Vladimir Solovyov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chernyshevsky... Russian icon painting was speculation in colors, expressing, first of all, a worldview. Russian music was also a philosophy. Mussorgsky is the greatest and still far from being discovered thinker, in particular a historical thinker.
It is not worth listing all the cases of the moral influence of the church on Russian princes. They are generally known to everyone who, in one way or another, to a greater or lesser extent, is impartially and unbiasedly interested in Russian history. Let me say briefly that the adoption of Christianity by Vladimir from Byzantium tore Rus' away from Mohammedan and pagan Asia, bringing it closer to Christian Europe. Whether this is good or bad - let the readers judge. But one thing is indisputable: the perfectly organized Bulgarian written language immediately allowed Rus' not to start literature, but to continue it and create works in the very first century of Christianity that we have the right to be proud of.
Culture itself does not know the starting date, just as the peoples, tribes, and settlements themselves do not know the exact starting date. All anniversary starting dates of this kind are usually conventional. But if we talk about the conventional date for the beginning of Russian culture, then, in my opinion, I would consider the year 988 to be the most reasonable. Is it necessary to delay anniversary dates into the depths of time? Do we need a date of two thousand years or one and a half thousand years? With our world achievements in the field of all types of arts, it is unlikely that such a date will in any way elevate Russian culture. The main thing that the Eastern Slavs have done for world culture has been done over the last millennium. The rest is just assumed values.
Rus' appeared on the world stage with its Kiev, the rival of Constantinople, exactly a thousand years ago. A thousand years ago we had both high painting and high applied arts- precisely those areas in which there was no lag in East Slavic culture. We also know that Rus' was a highly literate country, otherwise how would it have developed such a high literature at the dawn of the 11th century? The first and most amazing work in form and thought was the work of the “Russian” author, Metropolitan Hilarion (“The Word of Law and Grace” - a work the likes of which no country had in his time - ecclesiastical in form and historical and political in content.
Attempts to substantiate the idea that they accepted Christianity according to Latin custom are devoid of any scientific documentation and are clearly tendentious in nature. Only one thing is unclear: what significance this could have if the entire Christian culture was adopted by us from Byzantium and as a result of relations between Rus' and Byzantium. From the very fact that baptism was accepted in Rus' before the formal division of the Christian churches into Byzantine-Eastern and Catholic-Western in 1054, nothing can be deduced. Just as nothing decisive can be deduced from the fact that Vladimir, before this division, received Latin missionaries in Kyiv “with love and honor” (what reason did he have to accept otherwise?). Nothing can be deduced from the fact that Vladimir and Yaroslav married their daughters to kings who belonged to the Western Christian world. Didn’t Russian tsars in the 19th century marry German and Danish princesses and marry off their daughters to Western royalty?
It is not worth listing all the weak arguments that Catholic historians of the Russian Church usually give; Ivan the Terrible rightly explained to Possevino: “Our faith is not Greek, but Christian.”
But it should be taken into account that Russia did not agree to the union.
No matter how we view the refusal of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily Vasilyevich to accept the Union of Florence of 1439 with the Roman Catholic Church, for its time it was an act of the greatest political significance. For this not only helped preserve their own culture, but also contributed to the reunification of the three East Slavic peoples, and at the beginning of the 17th century, during the era of Polish intervention, helped preserve Russian statehood. This thought, as always with him, was clearly expressed by S.M. Soloviev: the refusal of the Florentine Union by Vasily II “is one of those great decisions that determine the fate of peoples for many centuries to come...”. Loyalty to ancient piety, proclaimed by Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, supported the independence of north-eastern Rus' in 1612, made it impossible for the Polish prince to ascend the Moscow throne, and led to a struggle for the faith in the Polish possessions.
The Uniate Council of 1596 in the ominous Brest-Litovsk could not blur the line between the national Ukrainian and Belarusian cultures.
The Westernizing reforms of Peter I could not blur the line of originality, although they were necessary for Russia. 
The hasty and frivolously conceived church reforms of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and Patriarch Nikon led to a split in Russian culture, the unity of which was sacrificed for the sake of the church, purely ritual unity of Russia with Ukraine and Belarus.
Pushkin said this about Christianity in his review of N. Polevoy’s “History of the Russian People”: “Modern history is the history of Christianity.” And if we understand that by history Pushkin meant, first of all, the history of culture, then Pushkin’s position is, in a certain sense, correct for Russia. The role and significance of Christianity in Rus' were very changeable, just as Orthodoxy itself was changeable in Rus'. However, given that painting, music, to a large extent architecture and almost all literature in Ancient Rus' were in the orbit of Christian thought, Christian debate and Christian themes, it is quite clear that Pushkin was right, if his thought is broadly understood.
In 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church will widely celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the repose of Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir.
Adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir and subsequent distribution Orthodox faith among the people forever changed not only the spiritual and moral image of the prince himself and his fellow tribesmen, it largely determined the historical fate of Rus', creating from a conglomerate of tribal unions united and strong state, from the cruel and unbridled pagans - a people seeking God and His truth.
This event is a turning point in the history of East Slavic ethnic groups!
His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill
Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich
Few names on the tablets of history can compare in significance with the name of Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, the baptizer of Rus', who predetermined the spiritual destinies of the entire Russian people for centuries to come.
Vladimir was the grandson of a saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga, son of Svyatoslav Igorevich († 972). His mother, Malusha († 1001) (who became a Christian together with Grand Duchess Olga in Constantinople) was the daughter of the prince of the Drevlyans, the same tribe on which Grand Duchess Olga cruelly took revenge for the murder of her husband, Prince Igor, of Vladimir. The angry Olga, considering it impossible for her “keykeeper”, captive, slave, to marry her son Svyatoslav, heir to the great reign of Kiev, sent Malusha to her homeland, not far from Vybut. There, around 960, a boy was born, named by the Russian pagan name Volodimir - who owns the world, who has a special gift of peace. Soon Vladimir was returned to Kyiv, where he was raised at the court of his grandmother, Princess Olga.
In 970, Svyatoslav, setting off on a campaign from which he was never destined to return, divided the Russian Land between three sons (from different wives). Yaropolk reigned in Kyiv, Oleg reigned in Ovruch, the center of the Drevlyansky land, and Vladimir reigned in Novgorod. In the internecine war that Oleg and Yaropolk unleashed, Vladimir won, seizing the Kiev throne in 978.
Having become the sovereign prince of Rus', Vladimir carried out several successful military campaigns: he conquered Galicia (Chervonnaya Rus), humbled the Vyatichi and Radimichi, defeated the Kama Bulgarians, successfully fought with the Pechenegs and, thus, extended the boundaries of his power from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Bug River on south. He “grazed his land with truth, courage and reason,” like a kind and zealous owner, if necessary, he expanded and defended its borders by force of arms, and returning from a campaign, he arranged generous and cheerful feasts for the squad and for all of Kiev.
According to the chronicler, “defeated by lust,” passionate, strong, loving wars and campaigns, unrestrained in feasts and fun, Vladimir was the son of his father Svyatoslav - a pagan not so much by conviction as by way of life. During the pagan period, Vladimir had several wives and many concubines in different cities. He installed idols in the capital of Rus', in front of which sacrifices were made, including human ones. As the chronicle writes, “and they made sacrifices to them, calling them gods, and brought their sons and daughters to them, and these sacrifices went to demons... And the Russian land and that hill were defiled with blood.”
Religion of Prince Vladimir. Search for Truth
During his reign they adopted martyrdom for Christ the Varangians Theodore and his son John, who refused to worship idols. This event prompted the Grand Duke to wonder whether the pagan faith was true.
Religious life in Rus' was closely followed by those who were in one way or another connected with Russia and therefore interested in its spiritual development: Orthodox Greeks in the south, the Roman Church in the west, Muslims of Volga Bulgaria, Judaists of Khazaria in the east. Prince Vladimir summoned representatives of these faiths to Kyiv, the mother of Russian cities, wanting to learn as much as possible about each of them.
In 986, according to the chronicle, “Bulgars of the Mohammedan faith came... then foreigners came from Rome... Khazar Jews came... then the Greeks sent to Vladimir...” And everyone preached their own. Prince Vladimir listened carefully to everyone and asked questions. After listening to the Orthodox philosopher’s story about the Incarnation, the prince asked the following question: “Why was He born of a Woman, crucified on a tree and baptized with water?” These questions are extremely valuable: they reflect what most interested the Russian people of that time in Sacred history and the teachings of Christianity.
“Through his wife,” the philosopher answered the first question, “there was the initial victory of the devil, since through his wife Adam was expelled from paradise; Having become incarnate through the Woman, God commanded the faithful to enter paradise.” The answer to the second question is: “And he was crucified on the tree because Adam ate of the tree and because of it he was expelled from paradise, and by the tree of life the righteous will be saved.” In connection with the third question, it was said that “renewal by water” took place, on the one hand, because God “drowned people with water” under Noah. “That is why God said: “I destroyed people with water for their sins, now again with water I will cleanse people from their sins - with the water of renewal.” For water was created first; After all, it is said: “The Spirit of God was carried on top of the water,” which is why they are now baptized with water and the Spirit.”
“When the apostles taught the whole world to believe in God, we, the Greeks, accepted their teaching, and the universe believes their teaching.” From the philosopher the prince learned about Last Judgment: “God has established one day, on which, having descended from heaven, he will judge the living and the dead and will reward everyone according to his deeds: to the righteous - the Kingdom of Heaven, beauty indescribable, joy without end and immortality eternal; for sinners - fiery torment, a never-ending worm and torment without end. Such will be the torment of those who do not believe our God Jesus Christ; those who are not baptized will be tormented in fire.” And having said this, the philosopher showed Vladimir the curtain on which the judgment seat of the Lord was depicted, pointed him to the right to the righteous going to heaven in joy, and to the left - sinners going to torment. Vladimir, sighing, said: “It’s good for those on the right, woe to those on the left.” The philosopher said: “If you want to stand on the right side of the righteous, then be baptized.” This thought fell on Vladimir’s heart, and he said: “I’ll wait a little longer,” wanting to find out about all the faiths.
Having released the Greek ambassador with gifts, Prince Vladimir gathered his elders and boyars for advice. At this highest state council of Rus', the squad, boyars and elders, led by Prince Vladimir, before the final choice of faith (and therefore the entire future spiritual path of the Russian land), considered as decisive the issue of the image of worship of Islam, Western Christianity and Orthodoxy. And it was decided to send ambassadors and test each faith on the spot, and for this they chose ten men, “kind and intelligent.”
And these ambassadors observed in Bulgaria how Muslims pray in the mosque: “Standing there without a belt, making a bow, (the person) sits and looks here and there like a madman, and there is no joy in them, only sadness and a great stench. Their law is not good." The Germans “saw various services in churches, but did not see any beauty.” In Byzantium, in the Constantinople Church in the name of Sophia the Wisdom of God, they contemplated the festive patriarchal service in the full light of the chandelier, with the singing of cathedral choirs. “They placed them in the best place, showing them the beauty of the church, the singing and the bishop’s service, the presence of the deacons, and telling them about serving their God,” that is, explaining the general meaning of the liturgical symbolism. “We didn’t know whether we were in heaven or on earth,” the ambassadors said upon returning to Kiev, “for there is no such spectacle and such beauty on earth, and we don’t know how to tell about it, we only know that God is there with people, and Their service is better than in all other countries. We cannot forget that beauty, for every person, if he tastes the sweet, will not then take the bitter, so we can no longer remain here in paganism.” After listening to them, the boyars said to Prince Vladimir: “If the Greek law had been bad, then your grandmother Olga would not have accepted it, and she was the wisest of all people.” And Vladimir asked: “Where will we be baptized?” They said: “Where you like.”
This is how the historic state decision was made to baptize Rus'.
Baptism of Prince Vladimir. Marriage to the Byzantine princess Anna
In August 986, when the Byzantine army was defeated by the Bulgarians, the position of the Greek co-emperors Basil II and Constantine was very difficult. At the beginning of 987, the rebellious commander Varda Sklir and the Arabs entered the empire. Another military leader, Varda Foka, was sent to fight him, but he, in turn, rebelled, proclaimed himself emperor and took possession of Asia Minor. In 987, Bardas Phocas besieged Vaidos and Chrysopolis, intending to create a blockade of Constantinople. And it was here that Emperor Vasily turned to the powerful Prince Vladimir with a request to remember the Greco-Russian treaty of 954 between Prince Igor and Byzantium, where there was a clause on mutual assistance.
The prince, after a long meeting, decided to help the Greeks, but as a reward he demanded the hand of Princess Anna, the sister of the emperors. This was unheard of audacity for the Byzantines! For the Greeks always had the firm intention not to become related to the barbarian peoples. But now Constantinople was forced to agree, but only on the condition that Vladimir became a Christian. The prince accepted the condition.
An agreement was concluded according to which in 987 or early 988 a Russian army of six thousand arrived in Constantinople. But the emperors were in no hurry to fulfill the terms of the agreement. Then Prince Vladimir, outraged by the Greek cunning, moved troops to Korsun, the ancient Greek city of Chersonesus, and captured it.
From the captured city of Chersonesos a formidable ultimatum was sent to Constantinople: “If you do not give her (Anna) for me, then I will do to your capital the same as to this city.” And in Constantinople they were forced to accept him. And Anna herself cried at the thought of marrying the prince of a barbarian country, preferring death to such a marriage. The decisive argument for Princess Anna in favor of marriage with the Russian prince were the words put by the chroniclers into the mouths of her brothers Vasily and Konstantin: “Perhaps by you God will turn the Russian land to repentance, and you will save the Greek land from a terrible war. The will of the Lord be done.” And they sent her by sea in a ship with Bishop (Metropolitan) Michael, with priests, and clergy, and many holy relics and other shrines.
But sad news awaited Princess Anna in Chersonesos. Her fiancé, Prince Vladimir, “by God’s arrangement... his eyes hurt and he couldn’t see anything, and he grieved greatly, and didn’t know what to do. And the queen sent to him (that’s what the chronicle calls Anna) to tell him to be baptized quickly” (“if you don’t get baptized, you won’t escape your illness”).
What is the strength of the queen’s faith! Hearing this, Vladimir said: “If this really comes true, then the Christian God is truly great.” And he ordered himself to be baptized. The Bishop of Korsun with the Tsarina’s priests, having announced, baptized Vladimir, “he called his name Vasily. There was a miracle in his baptism, similar to the one in Damascus on Saul, who persecuted the Church of God, when Vladimir was blinded from his eyes, he went into the holy font, and the bishop laid his hand on him according to the rite of baptism, and blindness like scales fell from his eyes. , and received his sight, and glorified God, for bringing him to the true faith.”
“Now I have recognized the true God,” the Grand Duke exclaimed in joy and joy, feeling his healing. Seeing the miracle, his entire squad was baptized.
Baptism of Kievan Rus
Accompanied by his squad, boyars, and clergy, Prince Vladimir moved towards Kyiv. Ahead of the grand ducal train, crosses, icons, and holy relics were carried with frequent prayer services and incessant sacred chants. It seemed as if the Holy Ecumenical Church itself had moved into the vastness of the Russian land, and Holy Rus', renewed in the baptismal font, was opening up to meet Christ and His Church.
Upon returning to Kyiv, Prince Vladimir gathered his twelve sons and, having prepared them to accept the holy faith of Christ, baptized them in the spring, which forever received the name Khreshchatyk. Together with them, his entire household was baptized, as well as some boyars, probably from those who had not been to Chersonesus. At the same time, the prince ordered that idols be destroyed everywhere: some were burned, others were chopped up. And the main idol of Perun with a silver head and golden mustache was ordered to be tied to the tail of a horse, dragged to the Dnieper, beaten with sticks for public desecration, and then escorted to the rapids so that no one could pull it out and take it. There they tied a stone around the idol’s neck and drowned it. Russian paganism sank into the water... Those who had not yet seen the spiritual light of the new faith saw it off with tears and groans.
Immediately after the destruction of the idols, the people of Kiev were announced with the gospel sermon. The clergy, as well as previously baptized princes and boyars, walked around the squares and houses of the people of Kiev and instructed them in the truths of the Gospel, denouncing the vanity and futility of idolatry. Many willingly accepted Christianity, some were hesitant, and some persisted. This prompted Prince Vladimir to set a day for the general baptism of Kiev residents (according to some sources, August 1, 988). A decree was announced throughout the city: “If anyone is not found on the river in the morning, whether rich, or poor, or poor, or hard-working, let him be disgusting to me!” “Hearing this,” says the chronicler, “people went with joy, rejoicing and saying: “If it were not for goodness (that is, baptism and faith), then our prince and boyars would not have accepted.” Only the most inveterate pagans opposed this command of the Grand Duke and fled from Kyiv.
In the clean waters of Kyiv, as in the “bath of rebirth,” a mysterious transformation of the Russian spiritual element took place, the spiritual birth of a people called by God to feats of Christian service to humanity unprecedented in history. “Then the idolatrous darkness began to depart from us, and the dawn of Orthodoxy appeared, and the sun of the Gospel shone on our land.”
From the first centuries of Christianity, the custom began to erect temples on the ruins of pagan sanctuaries or on the blood of holy martyrs. Following this rule, Saint Vladimir built the temple of Saint Basil the Great on the hill where the altar of Perun was located, and laid the stone temple of the Assumption Holy Mother of God(Tithe) at the site of the martyrdom of the holy Varangian martyrs (July 12).
Throughout Holy Rus', from ancient cities to distant churchyards, Saint Vladimir commanded to overthrow pagan temples, cut out idols, and in their place, cut down churches along the hills, consecrate thrones for Bloodless Sacrifice. Temples of God grew across the face of the earth, on elevated places, at river bends, on the ancient route “from the Varangians to the Greeks” - like guiding signs, lights of national holiness.
Works of Grand Duke Vladimir and the first Kyiv Metropolitans Mikhail and Leonty, his faithful companions, gave wonderful results. Several years passed, and by the end of the 10th century, Rus' already had its own bishops, priests and deacons, and the number of literate people of all ages and ranks increased significantly.
Grand Duke Vladimir - a wise strategist and ruler
Saint Vladimir held back enemies on the borders with a firm hand, built cities and fortresses. He built the first “zasechnaya line” in Russian history - a line of defensive points against nomads. “Volodimer began to build cities along the Desna, along Vystra, along Trubezh, along Sula, along Stugna. And he populated them with Novgorodians, Smolnyans, Chudya and Vyatichi. And he fought with the Pechenegs and defeated them.” The effective weapon was often peaceful Christian preaching among the steppe pagans.
The apostolic zeal of Grand Duke Vladimir, the enlightener of Rus', extended so far that he sent Christian preachers to the banks of the Dvina and Kama.
Vladimir also strengthened the western borders of his state. In 992, he made a campaign into the lands of the East Slavic tribe of Croats and subjugated them to the power of the Kyiv prince. The chronicle tells about the peace treaties he concluded with the rulers of neighboring states - Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. However, the peace with Poland did not last long. In 1013, the Polish prince Boleslav attacked Rus' in alliance with the Pechenegs; this time Vladimir managed to cope with the enemies. It is believed that the result of the peace concluded then was the marriage of Vladimir Svyatopolk’s stepson to the daughter of Boleslav of Poland.
The last years of the life of Prince Vladimir, servant of God Vasily
IN last years Throughout his life, Vladimir experienced a lot of worries about his sons. So, soon after marrying Boleslavna, Svyatopolk plotted against his adoptive father. According to foreign sources, the organizer of the conspiracy was the Polish prince Boleslav, as well as Bishop Rainburn, the confessor of Svyatopolk’s wife. The plot was discovered; Svyatopolk, his wife and Rainburn were arrested. The Polish bishop died in captivity, and Svyatopolk and his wife remained in custody until Vladimir’s death. In 1014, another son of Vladimir, Yaroslav of Novgorod (the future Yaroslav the Wise), rebelled. He refused to pay the annual tribute of 2 thousand hryvnia to Kyiv. This aroused Vladimir's fierce anger, and he announced a campaign against Novgorod.
However, God did not allow war between father and son. At that time, Vladimir was already old, and illnesses came with old age. One of them did not allow Vladimir to go on a campaign against Yaroslav. Thinking about who to transfer the throne to, Vladimir called his beloved son, Boris, to Kyiv. At this time, the Pechenegs again attacked the Russian land. Vladimir was in great sadness because he could not go against them; he handed over his warriors to Boris. Boris went against the Pechenegs, but did not find them: the nomads, hearing about the approach of the army, went back to the steppes. But Vladimir was no longer destined to learn about the outcome of the last Pecheneg war in his life. On July 15, 1015, he died in the village of Berestovoy near Kyiv. In the absence of Boris, power in Kyiv was seized by Svyatopolk, who was released from custody. He tried to keep his father’s death a secret: “Vladimir died on Berestov, and they hid his death because Svyatopolk was then in Kyiv,” says the chronicler. However, the death of the Grand Duke, who had done so much for his country and so glorified his city, of course, could not pass unnoticed. Vladimir was buried in Kyiv, in the Church of the Tithes, built by him, in front of a huge crowd of people, mourned by all the people of Kiev - both the boyars and the poor, small and great. “And the boyars cried for him as the protector of the land, and the poor as for their protector and breadwinner...”
Russian people began to honor the memory of their Baptist already in the 11th century.
The significance of Prince Vladimir in the history of Russia
The era of Saint Vladimir was a key period for the state formation of Orthodox Rus'. The unification of the Slavic lands and the formalization of the state borders of the Rurik power took place in a tense spiritual and political struggle with neighboring tribes and states. The baptism of Rus' from Orthodox Byzantium was the most important step in its state self-determination.
Under the holy prince Vladimir, Kievan Rus flourished and its influence spread far beyond its borders.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia about Prince Vladimir
Someone, discussing the Providence of God, may ask in bewilderment: why did the Lord choose as the baptist, who spiritually reborn the Russian people, precisely such a person who, at the beginning of his life, seemed to surpass all his pagan ancestors and contemporaries in evil? It’s as if He who converted Saul into Paul, into the Apostle of the Faith of Christ, when choosing such an inveterate pagan for the most important mission, did not know what Vladimir was like. Indeed, it is not easy to consider all the threads in the finest fabric of Divine Providence, but this thread is not difficult to trace.
It was necessary to show all subsequent Russian generations a repentant sinner, to put him at the origins new Russia an enlightened pagan, so that he would stand like a copper serpent and instruct, strengthen and heal those who had stumbled and had little faith, all Russian Christians in all future times. The best evidence of the effectiveness of any medicine is a healed patient. It was necessary to show the healed Prince of Kyiv to those who were still sick, so that they would happily accept the same medicine. Of all the miracles that the faith of Christ works, the most soul-helping is the conversion of a sinner into a righteous man. And as evidence of such a miracle - personal transformation - Saint Vladimir stands at the gates of Christian Rus' and seems to call out to every Russian: “I was night and turned into day! Who were you? What have you become?
How did his grateful descendants speak of Prince Vladimir?
An excerpt from the “Sermon on Law and Grace,” spoken by Metropolitan Hilarion several decades after the death of Prince Vladimir, in the Holy Baptism of Basil, during the reign of his son Yaroslav the Wise, in the Holy Baptism of George.
How we will praise you, O most honorable and glorious among earthly rulers, most courageous Vasily! How we will marvel at the greatness, strength and power (of yours), what gratitude we will give you for the fact that through you we have come to know the Lord and the lies of idols have come to an end, that by your command Christ is glorified throughout your whole land! What should we call you, lover of Christ? Friend of truth, receptacle of reason, nest of mercy! How did you believe? How did you become inflamed with the love of Christ? How did a mind above the mind of earthly sages take possession of you - so that you could love the Invisible and strive for the heavenly?!
How did you seek Christ, how did you surrender to Him? Tell us, your servants. Tell us, our teacher, where did the fragrance of the Holy Spirit come from? Where I drank from the sweet cup of memory of Future Life? Where did you taste and see how good the Lord is? You have not seen Christ, you have not followed Him - how did you become His disciple? Others did not believe when they saw Him. You believed without seeing. Truly, the blessing of the Lord Jesus, spoken to Thomas, has come true on you: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
Therefore, we boldly and without doubt call on you, O blessed one! The Savior Himself called you blessed, for you believed in Him and were not offended by Him, according to His unfaithful word: and blessed is he who is not offended by Me. For those who knew the Law and the Prophets crucified Him. But you. He who revered neither the Law nor the prophets bowed to the Crucified One.
How did your heart open, how did the fear of God enter into you, how did you become filled with love for Him? I have not seen the apostle who came to your land and with his poverty, nakedness, hunger and thirst inclined your heart to humility. I haven’t seen (how) a demon is cast out in the name of Jesus Christ, how the sick are healed, the dumb speak, fire is turned into cold, the dead rise - having not seen all this, how did you believe? Wonderful miracle! Other kings and rulers, seeing how all this was accomplished by holy men, did not believe, but, moreover, betrayed them to torment and suffering. But you, O blessed one, without all this, came to Christ, only through good reflection and wit did you understand that there is One God. The Creator of the invisible and visible, heavenly and earthly, and what (He) sent into the world for (our) salvation, for the sake of His beloved Son. And having thought about this, he entered the holy font. What others see as ugliness. became for you by the power of God. Moreover, who will tell about your many nighttime mercies and daytime bounties that you did to the poor, the orphaned, the sick, debtors, widows and everyone asking for mercy. For you have heard the word spoken by Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar: “May my advice be pleasing to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: cleanse your sins with mercies, and cleanse your iniquities with generosity to the poor.” What you heard, O most honorable one. He did not leave it for hearing, but he fulfilled what was said in deed: he gave to those who asked. He clothed the naked, fed the thirsty and hungry, sent every consolation to the sick, ransomed debtors, gave freedom to slaves. After all, your generosity and mercies are still remembered among people, especially before God and His angels. Because of it, the mercy favored by God, you have much boldness before Him as a constant servant of Christ. The one who said the words helps me: mercy exalts itself over judgment and a person’s alms are like a seal with Him. Or rather, the Lord Himself says: Blessed are the merciful, for they have received mercy. We will cite another clear and true testimony about you from the Holy Scriptures, spoken by the Apostle James, that he who converts a sinner from his false path will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. If one person received such retribution from the Good God, then what kind of salvation have you found, O Vasily?! What burden of sin did you scatter, converting not just one person from the delusion of idolatry lies, not ten, not a city, but this whole land?! The Savior Christ Himself shows us and confirms what glory and honor He has vouchsafed for you in heaven, saying: Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father in Heaven. And if Christ intercedes before God the Father for one who confesses Him only before people, then how much praise will you be from Him, not only having confessed that Christ is the Son of God, but having confessed and confirmed your faith in Him, not in one council, but by throughout this land, and having established churches of Christ, and bringing His servants? Similar to the Great Constantine, equal to him in mind, equally Christ-loving, equally honoring His servants! He, with the holy fathers of the Council of Nicea, laid down the Law for people (all), but you, with our new fathers, the bishops, gathered often and consulted with great humility how to establish the Law among this people, who had newly come to know the Lord. He conquered the kingdom of the Hellenes and Romans to God, but you - Rus'. Now not only among them, but also among us, Christ is called King. He and his mother Elena brought the Cross from Jerusalem and, having sent it throughout the world, confirmed the faith. You and your grandmother Olga brought the Cross from New Jerusalem, the City of Constantine, and, placing it on your entire land, confirmed the faith. For you are like him. According to your good faith, which you had in your life, the Lord(s) made you in Heaven the same, one (with Him) glory and honor, a participant. A good mentor in your good faith, O blessed one, is the Holy Church of the Most Holy Theotokos Mary, which (you) created on a faithful basis and where your courageous body now lies, awaiting the trumpet of the Archangel.
A good and faithful witness is your son George, whom the Lord created as a successor to your rule: not violating your statutes, but affirming; not detracting from the storehouses of your good faith, but increasing them; not in words, but (in deeds) bringing to the end what is unfinished by you, like Solomon (the works of) David. He created the House of God, the great, holy Wisdom (His) for the holiness and sanctification of your city and decorated it with all beauty: gold and silver, and expensive stones, and sacred vessels - such a wondrous and glorious church among all neighboring nations that another (such ) will not be found in the entire midnight of the earth, from east to west. And your glorious city of Kyiv surrounded you with greatness, like a crown, and entrusted your people and the city to the aid of Christians to the All-Glorious Holy Mother of God. She also created the church on the Great Gate in the name of the first Lord's holiday, the Holy Annunciation. And if the archangel sends greetings to the Virgin, (then) there will be a greeting for this city. Like Her: Rejoice, O joyful one. The Lord is with you! - so to him: Rejoice, blessed city. The Lord is with you! Rise, O honorable head, from your grave! Get up, shake off your sleep, for you are not dead, but you are sleeping until the general uprising! Arise, you are not dead, for one who believes in Christ, the Life of the whole world, should not die! Shake off the sleep. lift up your eyes and see what honor the Lord vouchsafed to you there, and on earth did not leave you unmemorable in your son. Arise, look at your child, George, look at your family, look at your dear one, look (at the one) whom the Lord brought forth from your loins, look at him who adorns the throne of your land - and rejoice and be glad! Moreover, look at your faithful daughter-in-law Irina, look at your grandchildren and great-grandchildren: how they live, how they are protected by the Lord, how they keep their faith according to your covenant, how they often go to holy churches, how they glorify Christ, how they worship His Name. Look at the city, shining with majesty! Look at the prosperous churches, look at the growing Christianity, look at the city, sanctified and shining with icons of saints, and fragrant with incense, and with praises, and divine (names), and resounding with the hymns of saints.
And seeing all this, rejoice, and rejoice, and praise the Good God, the organizer of everything. You have already seen, if not in body, then in spirit: the Lord is showing you all this. Rejoice and be glad that the seeds of your faith were not dried up by the heat of unbelief, but with the rain of God's haste they bore abundant fruit.
Rejoice, Apostle among rulers, who did not raise the dead with their bodies, but raised us with the soul of the dead, who died from the disease of idolatry. For by your will they came to life and came to know the life of Christ. They were twisted by demonic lies, but by your will they straightened up and entered the path of life. They were blind from demonic lies, but by your will (will) they stretched out the eyes of their hearts; blinded (were) by ignorance, but by your (will) they saw the light of the Trisolar Deity. They were dumb, but by your will they spoke. And now, small and great, we glorify the Consubstantial Trinity. Rejoice, our teacher and mentor of good faith! You were clothed with righteousness, girded with strength, shod with truth, crowned with intelligence, and flaunted with mercy, like a coin and golden utensils.
O honest head, you were a naked robe, you were a hungry feeder, you were a thirsty womb for cooling, you were a helper to widows, you were a resting place for strangers, you were a shelter for the homeless, you were an offended protector, an enrichment for the poor. For these and other good deeds, having received reward in heaven - (those) good things that God has prepared for [you] who love Him - and satiated with the vision of His sweet face, pray for your land and the people over whom you have faithfully ruled, that He may preserve them ( Lord) in peace and good faith, betrayed by you, and may orthodoxy be glorified in it, and may all heresy be cursed; and may the Lord God preserve them from all hostility and captivity, from famine, and from all sorrow and sorrow. Especially pray for your son, our blessed prince George, so that he may swim across the abyss of life in peace and health and land unharmed in the haven of heavenly shelter; so that the spiritual ship and faith are preserved and, with a wealth of good deeds, without temptation. Having ruled the people given to him by God, stand with you shamelessly before the Throne of the Almighty God and for the work of shepherding his people, accept from Him the crown of incorruptible glory, with all the righteous who worked for Him.
Many people did not really like history during their school years. Therefore, they are happy to make up for lost time at a more mature age. After all, it is then that the understanding comes that our country has a great history that every resident should be proud of. And since you can’t be proud of what you don’t know, many people sit down to textbooks to enrich their intellectual knowledge. In this article we will help you learn a little better about the history of Vladimir the Red Sun. Why was he called that, and also Interesting Facts from the life of the prince read below.
Childhood
The exact date of birth of Vladimir is unknown. The official year of his birth is considered to be 960, but this may not be true. He could have been born in 945, it’s just that in 960 the future one was first mentioned in the chronicle. His father was Svyatoslav, and his mother was Olga’s housekeeper. Out of sight, the grandmother sent the unnecessary child to the village of Budutino. It was there that Vladimir the Red Sun was brought up. We will find out further why it was called that.
It is unknown how long the boy lived with his mother, but, according to the chronicle, he returned to Kyiv in 969. The fate of his mother is further unknown. According to some sources, she lived her life happily in the village; other sources say that the generous son, after ascending the throne, took his mother to his palace. One way or another, you can believe in any version, because there is simply no reliable information.
Youth
Vladimir's move to his grandmother is mentioned in the chronicle in connection with the siege of Kyiv. The defense of the city was successful, but the future ruler was not destined to remain in the southern capital of the principality. At the end of the year, Svyatoslav receives a notice from Novgorod that the ruler has died and they urgently need a new one. The prince's choice fell on Vladimir the Red Sun. We’ll find out why they called him that, but for now we’ll tell you about the young man’s first independent steps.
Moving to Novgorod was the first important event in a boy's life. Since he was too young to become a full-fledged ruler, they gave him the governor Dobrynya to help him. He was supposed to oversee the education of the young prince, and also help make important government decisions. In Novgorod, Vladimir makes friends, mostly Scandinavian neighbors. And also the young ruler will build Perun’s chapel. Thanks to this act, which was most likely prompted by Dobrynya, Vladimir was able to quickly win the favor of the residents of Novgorod.
Family and Children
Why was it called the Red Sun? Briefly about this we can say this: Vladimir became the first saint in Rus' and laid the foundation for the emergence of Christianity on Russian soil. What kind of personal life did the prince have? Vladimir was distinguished by his great love. The pagan faith encouraged this: “the more wives, concubines and children the ruler has, the stronger the state will be,” so the legend said. But whoever put forward this theory was very mistaken. Peace can only exist in monogamy. Towards the end of his life, Vladimir also came to this idea. But he could no longer change his actions. Officially he had 5 wives. He found the first - Olofi - in Scandinavia, the second - Rogneda - he took by force from Polotsk, the third - Adele - was from the Czech Republic, Manfreda - from Bulgaria. Julia, the wife of Vladimir's brother, was taken as a concubine while she was already pregnant.
Anna was the first wife of the Russian prince after baptism, and his second wife was the granddaughter of Otto I, the German ruler. In addition to official connections, Vladimir had many mistresses. The ruler had more than 20 recognized children, 11 of them were boys, and therefore heirs to the throne.
Baptism of Rus'
The year 988 is officially considered the year of the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. But, as with all distant events, it cannot be said for sure that this is reliable information. In 988, the wedding of Anna and Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko took place. Why was he called that? Precisely for the reason that the ruler introduced an official monotheistic religion. How was the baptism? Of course, it was impossible to baptize the entire state. People who believed in pagan gods all their lives could not change their beliefs overnight. Paganism lived in Rus' for at least another 50 years after its baptism. But still, the adoption of Christianity was a big step towards the unification of the country and the establishment of a new institution of power in it. Some historians believe that Christian religion His grandmother, Princess Olga, could have imposed it on Vladimir. But this theory is unlikely, since the prince’s communication with this woman was too limited. Most likely, Vladimir the Great Red Sun took such a serious step due to foreign policy factors.
Nickname
Why was Prince Vladimir called the Red Sun? Of course, it was not the people who gave this nickname to the saint. After all, the figure of the prince did not inspire approval among his contemporaries. Many subjects did not support the transition to Christianity. And a dissolute lifestyle says little about a person’s holiness. But you still have to believe that people change. And one fateful event or, as in the case of Vladimir, a person can change them. After all, there is a version according to which the prince received baptism precisely thanks to one of his wives, namely Saint Anna. It is difficult to describe what a huge contribution Vladimir made to the development of Rus'. Yes, because our homeland has never seen as much light and peace as our fatherland received a century later.
Changes in the country
What did Vladimir significantly change in the way of life of the state? Well, of course, this is the baptism of Rus' and the expulsion of paganism. The unification of our country in the hands of one ruler is also great achievement. Of course, then the prince made a big mistake by dividing his possessions between his sons, but we must give him his due, he did not really want to do this. Vladimir intended to hand over the reins of power to his beloved son Boris, but one can imagine how other children reacted to such an idea.
last years of life
The reign of Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko lasted 46 years. At the end of his life, the prince ruled in Kyiv and was very afraid for his life. And this is not surprising. After all, he wanted to write a will, according to which only one of his sons would become the heir. Of course, the children did not like this situation, and in 1014 Svyatopolk went to war with his father. By that time, he had managed to marry the daughter of a Polish prince, so his military detachment was assembled in a fairly quick time. In addition, many of Vladimir’s subjects supported Svyatopolk. After all, he was not the prince’s own son, but an adopted one. His real father was Yaroslav, whom Vladimir, sitting on the Kiev throne, killed in cold blood. But the military campaign was not successful. The army was defeated, and Svyatopolk was imprisoned.
In 1015, the second son, Yaroslav, opposed his father. But he didn’t go to war, he just wanted independence and stopped paying tribute. Vladimir did not like this situation, and he sent an army to resolve this issue. But the Kyiv prince did not manage to live to see the end of this war; on July 15 he died. Vladimir was buried in Kyiv in the Tithe Church next to his Christian wife Anna.
Mark on history
Prince Vladimir lived a very eventful life, and, of course, epics and legends could not ignore such a colorful figure. The Kiev ruler appears in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; Feofan Prokopovich dedicated his works to him. It is no wonder that the image of Vladimir was reflected in epics, for example, he appears as main character tales of three heroes. Even today, filmmakers make their films about the Baptist of Rus'. One of the latest was released in 2016 and is called “Viking”.
But, of course, every schoolchild knows Vladimir the Red Sun precisely because the prince baptized Rus'. Our state was very backward compared even to its neighbors, not to mention European countries. That is why Christianity not only helped the people become more united, but also became an impetus for the development of literacy.
Vladimir the Red Sun, whose reign was 969-1015, was able to significantly influence the course of history. Here are the most interesting facts about the prince:
- Vladimir was canonized as a saint only in 1888. This event was timed to coincide with the 900th anniversary of Christianity in Russia.
- In 978, Vladimir killed his brother Yaropolk and thus seized the Kiev throne.
- The prince introduced the first coins in Rus'. They were called gold coins and silver coins. Despite the fact that Byzantine gold was in use, minting their own money made it possible to boost the state economy.
- Thanks to the adoption of Christianity, literacy began to spread in Rus'. It was precisely because it was necessary to read at least the Bible that enlightenment primarily affected the church and monks.
- Vladimir had 11 officially recognized sons.
Dua for Sadness Anxiety and Depression
Buddhism: the basics of religion, how many Buddhists are there in the world
Obligatory prayers: features and order of performance by men
Druid horoscope by date of birth: interpretation and features
What is oregano: all about the amazingly healthy seasoning!