"A New Light of True Faith". The Presidential Library spotlights Christianization of Rus’

The Day of Christianization of Rus’ which took place in 988 is celebrated on July 28, 2021. In the Orthodox Church calendar, this date is also the day of remembrance of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir (960-1015), the Baptist of Russia.

The Presidential Library’s collections contain a variety of materials dedicated to this significant event. Among them are electronic versions of handwritten texts, publications of different years, scientific research, video lectures and radio broadcasts telling about the spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe, about the spiritual and political choice of religion by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Prince Vladimir for himself and his people, about Christianization of Rus’. The institution’s portal features a virtual tour of the exhibition Keeping the Orthodox Faith: The History of Church Museums. Marking the 1030th Anniversary of Christianization of Rus’, which was opened in St. Petersburg in the historic building of the Synod, which today houses the Presidential Library.

The Slavs were familiar with Christianity from the time of the journey through the Russian land of the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. Professor of theology, Archimandrite Macarius (Mikhail Bulgakov) in the study History of Christianity in Russia up to the Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, as an introduction to the history of the Russian Church (1846) reports that “... the first-called Apostle extended with his preaching into the innermost interior of Russia to Kiev, Novgorod and the Baltic Sea ... <...> ... Here, along the entire path of St. Evangelist, no other peoples lived then, but our ancestors, the Slavs. <…>

However, let us not deceive ourselves and admit that if not in all the places where St. Apostle Andrew within our fatherland, the Church of Christ, at least in the countries of Kiev and Novgorod, it existed for a very short time. <...> Next, St. Apostle Andrew by no means can be considered the direct founder of the Russian Church, the Church that now exists within the boundaries of our fatherland. <...> Further continuation of the holy cause, apparently, everything depends on the great Prince Vladimir himself".

“Moved by the finger of God, Vladimir felt that...paganism had now become obsolete...And wise Vladimir condemned paganism in his spirit to death”, - wrote Archpriest John Znamensky in the publication Description of the 900th anniversary celebration in Tauride Chersonis on July 15, 1888 since Christianization of St. Prince Vladimir and the Russian people (1888).

Prince Vladimir had to make a difficult choice: ambassadors from different countries went to him and each offered his faith.

Russian publicist Ivan Nekrasov in his book Great Prince Vladimir the Holy Equal to the Apostles (1888) says: “… The Greeks send a philosopher to Vladimir. Philosopher in Greek means sage. The Greeks told Vladimir to say: “We heard that the Bulgarians came to you, teaching that you should accept their faith; but their faith is unclean. Germans also came from Rome; their faith differs a little from ours ... "<...> The philosopher replied: "If you want to listen, I will tell you everything from the beginning, why God came to earth" <...> And the philosopher told him about the creation of the world, about the flood, then about the coming of Christ the Savior to earth, about his baptism, suffering and resurrection.

And so Зrince Vladimir pondered what kind of faith he should take with the people. He could not still love paganism. <…> Longing and fear tormented the prince's heart. How much human blood was shed in Kiev in honor of Perun! At the same time, all the other Slavs are already leading a good Christian life, enlightened by Saints Cyril and Methodius".

Professor Vasily Klyuchevsky in the manuscript course of lectures Ancient Russian History (1885), an electronic copy of which is available on the Presidential Library’s portal, specifies that "...the question of adopting Christianity was decided by the prince on the advice of the boyars and elders of Gradsk".

The Byzantines viewed Orthodoxy as a spiritual treasure, which can only be shared with those who are worthy of it. Prince Vladimir forced the Byzantines to transfer the treasure of Orthodoxy to Russia, says the video lecture The Byzantine Choice of Russia (2015) by historian, associate professor Pavel Kuzenkov.

In 988, Prince Vladimir laid siege to the Greek city of Korsun (Chersonesos) and vowed to be baptized if he took possession of it; capturing the city, he accepted the rite of consecration with water and a new faith. The circumstances that preceded and contributed to this event - matchmaking to the sister of the Byzantine emperors Vasily and Constantine Anna - are detailed in The Tale of Bygone Years (1916), commented on by the philologist and historian Alexei Shakhmatov.

The author of the radio program Christianity. Christianization of Rus’ (2012) historian Sergei Tsvetkov said that Prince Vladimir, having received personal baptism from the hands of the Greeks, ordered the overthrow of the idols of the pagan gods. The statue of Perun was dragged along the ground to the banks of the Dnieper and thrown into the water. Struck by this spectacle, the Kiev veche agreed to change the faith with the whole world.

Christianization of Rus’, like many other transformations, was initially perceived with distrust. "The people, blinded by pagan ignorance, looked at book teaching as witchcraft, and Vladimir's good deed seemed to him a misfortune", - written in the book of the historian Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin About Christianization of Rus’, Vladimir the Holy, his sons and the Monastery of the Caves ( 1910). Among the people, pagan beliefs and rituals persisted for many centuries, but still Russia began to develop as an Orthodox country.

Spiritual writer, historian Nikandr Levitsky in his work The most important sources for determining the time of the baptism of Vladimir and Russia and their data... (1890) wrote: "...The more Christianity entered, so to speak, into the flesh and blood of the Russian people, the more grateful, the name of the baptist of the Russian land was remembered with great reverence. In the minds of, if not the majority of Russian people, then the best part of them, the feat accomplished by St. Vladimir, made him equal to the apostles, the great Constantine, a participant in the kingdom of heaven".

Prince Vladimir was ordained to the canon of saints in the 13^th century.

The era of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir has become a key period for the state formation of Orthodox Kievan Rus. The adoption of Christianity increased the international prestige of the country, strengthened and expanded its ties with Byzantium, contacts with the South Slavic world and the Christian countries of the West, and also contributed to national consolidation and the development of culture.