Briefly: The Baptism of Rus' by Prince Vladimir. The Baptism of Rus' is briefly the most important thing. About the holiday Baptism of Rus', date of the holiday, history, year of baptism, celebration, congratulations. Interesting facts about the Baptism of Rus' briefly

• The Birth of Christianity in Rus'
• Prerequisites for the general baptism of the peoples of Rus'
• Vladimir's choice of a new religion
• Baptism of the prince and residents of Kyiv
• Spread of Christianity in other Russian lands
• Consequences of accepting Christianity
• Monument and memorial date
• The Baptism of Rus' is even shorter

Addition to the article:

" One of the significant events influenced on the history of the development of the Russian people and the Russian stateth, considered the baptism of Rus'. It is important to understand that this term does not refer to a one-time an episode that occurred in a specific place and time, but to an entire eralife of the country and its population."

Pre-Christian Slavic beliefs

The Birth of Christianity in Rus'

Prerequisites for the general baptism of the peoples of Rus'

Vladimir's choice of a new religion

Baptism of the prince and residents of Kyiv

Spread of Christianity in other Russian lands

Consequences of accepting Christianity

• Despite the ongoing debate to this day regarding the transition of Rus' to the Christian faith, the influence of this event on the further development of the state and the lives of its inhabitants is obvious and indisputable.
• However, most historians agree that for the most part this influence was beneficial.

Firstly, the new religion made it possible to unite and unite previously disparate tribes and nationalities into a truly united people. In addition, internecine princely wars were significantly reduced, since the priests with their words forced the warring parties to find peaceful ways to resolve conflicts. Cities began to develop faster and population growth increased.
Secondly, after the adoption of Christianity, the inhabitants of Rus' were no longer considered barbarians and began to be perceived almost on equal terms with other European states. New opportunities opened up for the state, and dynastic marriages with representatives of the royal houses and nobility of other states became possible for Russian rulers and noble people. This, in turn, also had a beneficial effect on the international position of Rus'.
Thirdly, Christianity gave impetus to the development of culture and art. Painting, literature, and architecture began to develop at a rapid pace. The number of literate people also increased, as education became one of the primary government concerns.

• Construction also began to develop and improve. After all, it was necessary to build numerous wooden, and later stone churches, temples, cathedrals, etc. Taking Byzantine architecture and the art of interior painting and decoration of Christian buildings as a basis, Russian masters complemented them with their own ideas. Thanks to the spread of Christianity in Rus', they mastered the arts of making frescoes, mosaics, icon painting, as well as church singing.
• Handicraft products and utensils necessary for furnishing the monasteries of the clergy and believers also began to be in great demand.
• Writing became widespread and libraries appeared.
  Foreign masters and specialists could now fearlessly come and share the secrets of their crafts and sciences. They no longer had to fear for their lives (before that, many were afraid of becoming a victim in pagan rituals).
• All this helped medieval Rus' strengthen political, cultural and trade ties with other Christian countries.
• However, in fairness, it is worth mentioning the other side. Still, abandoning the beliefs of our ancestors is not an easy matter. Therefore, a number of historians believe that with the advent of Christianity in Rus', the tribes living on its territory began to lose their identity, their cultural roots. The language of the Slavs also changed; hitherto unfamiliar and unusual Greek names and names began to appear in it.

Monument and memorial date

• Considering that different chroniclers indicate different data about the time of the baptism of Rus', the memorial day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir, which is celebrated on July 28, was appointed as a memorable date for this event.
• And the monument to the baptism of the Russian land is located in Kyiv at the foot of Vladimir Hill. According to legend, it was in the spring that previously flowed at this place that the prince’s sons were baptized.
• Initially there were small chapels here (instead of the ones that were deteriorating and falling into disrepair, new ones were periodically rebuilt), in which the icons of the first saints (Olga, Vladimir, Boris and Gleb) were kept. Subsequently, a monument was erected on this site.

The Baptism of Rus' is even shorter

Until the mid-10th century, pagan faith was widespread in the Russian principalities. The mentality of the Slavs of those times implied eternity and balance between two higher principles, which can be described as “good and evil.” They perceived the world itself at the level of paired concepts. The circle was considered a protective sign, so chains, wreaths and rings were common in Rus'. The Slavic pantheon in its type was in many ways reminiscent of the pantheons of other ancient peoples (for example, the supreme deity of the thunderstorm Perun is quite comparable to Thor among the inhabitants of Scandinavia and Zeus of the ancient Greeks), but it also had its own distinctive features.

However, such a religion did not make it possible to unite all ancient Russian cities with a single idea. Having defeated his brothers in the internecine struggle, Prince Vladimir, later nicknamed the Great, realized that he needed something that would allow him to ideologically unite all the lands under his control, so the baptism of Rus' can briefly be called necessary and inevitable, given the friendly ties between the Prince of Kyiv and the Byzantine Basileus. The Tale of Bygone Years, the oldest Russian chronicle, states that the prince was impressed by the beauty of the Byzantine temples and the rituals performed in them. At the same time, Christianity had already spread sufficiently throughout Rus' thanks to merchants and warriors, so all that remained was to take the last step, which would consolidate the new faith at the state level.

The Baptism of Rus', briefly described in this section, officially took place in 988. This year, in Korsun, Vladimir accepted a new faith, and then, returning to the capital, began to introduce it throughout the state. All the prince's close associates, his warriors, boyars and merchants were baptized. Vladimir could have chosen in favor of Catholicism, but it implied the power of the church over secular life, which the Kiev ruler could not accept. The religion proposed by the Byzantines provided that the church would obey the ruler in everything.

Baptism was not a completely voluntary process; many people resisted it as best they could, because for them the thought of betraying the ancient gods was unbearable. As a result, Christianity in Rus' acquired its own, unique flavor. Many rituals have lost their religious meaning, but have been preserved in popular culture; some deities have become saints. In general, the baptism of Rus' is an event that predetermined the development of the culture of all East Slavic peoples.

...In 988, the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavich transformed the spiritual life of Rus' under his control.

At that time, Kyiv maintained friendly relations with Constantinople, which in Rus' was called Constantinople. The Russian ruler agreed on military assistance with the emperors Constantine VIII and Vasily II. In return, the prince longed to marry a representative of the imperial house, Anna, and this was promised to him. In turn, Vladimir, a pagan, announced his readiness to be baptized, for Anna could not become the wife of a non-Christian. A priest arrived to him, from whom the ruler of Rus' was baptized in Kyiv, and with him - children, wives, servants, part of the boyars and warriors. The prince’s personal baptism was not an accident or the result of a momentary impulse: it was a deliberate step by an experienced politician and assumed that over time the Christianization of the entire country would occur.

But... they were in no hurry to send the bride from Constantinople. With all the benevolence of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, he had only one option, how to get what he had under an agreement paid for with military assistance. He besieged the Byzantine city of Korsun (Chersonese). It is sad that peace between Christian rulers was concluded only after one side resorted to deception and the other achieved its goal by force...

Byzantium regained Korsun, and Vladimir received Anna as his wife. He did not immediately leave Korsun, but only after first receiving lessons in the Christian “law.” The Tale of Bygone Years included a legend according to which it was here that the Grand Duke accepted a new faith; This legend was accepted as fact by many historians. It does not correspond to reality: the baptism took place earlier, in the “capital city” of the prince. But it was the Korsun clergy who taught Vladimir Svyatoslavich as a convert.

Returning to Kyiv, the prince overthrew pagan idols, and then baptized the people of Kiev in the Pochayna River, a tributary of the Dnieper. In Rus', a church hierarchy was established, headed by a bishop with the rank of metropolitan. The archbishop went to Novgorod the Great, the bishops to other large cities. The same thing happened there as in Kyiv - the overthrow of the “idols” and the baptism of the townspeople.

A huge step in the destinies of Rus' took place with extraordinary speed. Many times, especially in Soviet times, they wrote that Rus' was baptized with “fire and sword,” overcoming fierce resistance, especially strong in Novgorod the Great. But historical reality is not like that. At first, the spread of Christianity did not cause resistance. The Novgorodians showed some dissatisfaction, but it, apparently, turned out to be insignificant. The bishop was not received in Rostov, and there the new faith spread much more slowly than anywhere else, and with great difficulty. Perhaps the reason lies in the ethnic composition of the local population: a large part of the Rostov land was occupied by Finno-Ugric tribes, who everywhere showed greater persistence in paganism than the Slavic ones.

In general, Christianity was accepted voluntarily throughout the country. It did not have to be imposed “by fire and sword” - this is a late myth that has no confirmation in ancient sources. The weakness and diversity of paganism, the confident support of the Church by the ruler, the long-standing acquaintance with Christianity in large urban centers did their job: the faith of Christ was established in Rus' quickly and almost bloodlessly. You should not be surprised - by the time the official national baptism took place, Christianity had already been privately spreading for more than a century over vast areas from Kyiv to Novgorod. In Kyiv, long before Vladimir, there were small churches. In the Varangian squads, who were in the service of the Russian princes, there were often simple warriors and noble people who accepted the faith of Christ. Vladimir's grandmother, Princess Olga, visited the capital of Byzantium three decades earlier and returned from there as a Christian. Why should there be anguish and bloodshed when people in Rus' have long ago... gotten used to Christianity?

Another thing is that the adoption of Christianity did not mean the automatic death of paganism. For several centuries, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, paganism continued to exist next to faith in Christ, next to the Church. It went away slowly, struggling and arguing, but ultimately disappeared - already during the times of Sergius of Radonezh and Cyril of Belozersky.

So let's repeat:

1. In ancient times, our ancestors were pagans. In the capital of Ancient Rus', Kyiv, there were large pagan sanctuaries. On the main one, the princely one, there were idols decorated with gold and silver. From time to time, people were sacrificed to the idols of pagan “deities.”

2. Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich decided to change his faith. Near his possessions there were large cities with beautiful temples and wonderful singing, where knowledge flourished and more and more books were created. Paganism could not give anything like this.The prince began to talk with his squad and representatives of different religions: what faith should he accept?

3. According to ancient legend, the prince sent an embassy from Kyiv to Constantinople, the capital of the powerful Byzantine Empire. Russian ambassadors visited the vaults of the huge Hagia Sophia . The priests lit candles everywhere and performed the service with such pomp and solemnity that they amazed the ambassadors. They returned to Vladimir and spoke about what they saw with praise.

4. Vladimir decided to be baptized according to the rite of the Church of Constantinople. The two emperors who then ruled Byzantium fought a difficult war. Vladimir agreed that he would send an army to help them, and they would give him their sister Anna as his wife. The Russian army set off on a campaign.

5. Vladimir was baptized by a priest in Kyiv. Most likely, this happened on the river bank. After the ruler, the children and associates of the Grand Duke entered the water. Having ceased to be a pagan, the prince could become the husband of a Byzantine “princess”.

6. Without waiting for the bride from Constantinople, Vladimir began negotiations on this topic with the ruler of Korsun-Chersonese, a rich Byzantine city in Crimea. Defiantly neglecting “Princess” Anna, he offered to give him the daughter of the Korsun “prince” as his wife.But the response to the proposal of the Kyiv ruler was a mocking refusal.

7. Then the army of the Kyiv prince came to the Crimea, under the walls of Chersonesos . The townspeople locked the gates, preparing for a siege. The prince ordered to make embankments, in order to overcome the Korsun walls with their help. But the besieged slowly dug up the embankments and carried the earth away. As a result, the embankments could not be equal to the city walls. However, Vladimir promised to stand for at least three years, but still overcome the tenacity of the defenders.

8. The long blockade of the city did its job: among the townspeople there were those who considered surrender a more acceptable outcome of the war than the painful conditions of the siege. One of them was priest Anastas. He shot an arrow with a note, where he advised to “adopt” the aqueduct - pipes leading drinking water to the city. When Korsun was left without water, the city opened the gates.

9. In the end Vladimir Svyatoslavich entered the city . Unable to contain his anger, he executed the local general and his wife, and gave his daughter as a wife to one of his supporters. However, the city was not at all intended to be destroyed and plundered. Having taken it, the prince forced Byzantium to fulfill all obligations under the treaty.

10. It is unlikely that the Prince of Kyiv knew Slavic literacy. Among the Korsun priests there were those who could speak Slavic and Varangian, for it was a large trading city. They had conversations with the ruler of a large northern country, enlightening him with living words. It was then that Vladimir mastered the beginnings of the Christian faith.

11. Princess Anna finally arrived on the Byzantine ship . She married Vladimir Svyatoslavich according to the rites of the Eastern Christian Church. Before her, the prince, guided by pagan custom, had many wives. Now he broke up with them, because a Christian cannot be married to several women at the same time. Some of Vladimir's former spouses remarried to his nobles. Others chose to hold off on getting married again.

12. INReturning from Korsun, Vladimir ordered the destruction of pagan sanctuaries in his capital.Wooden idols depicting “deities” flew to the Dnieper.

13. The people of Kiev entered the water with all the crowds of the great city. . In one day, many thousands of townspeople were baptized. The ritual was performed by priests from Anna’s retinue, as well as Anastas Korsunyanin and other representatives of the clergy from Korsun.

14. After Epiphany, the construction of several small churches began in Kyiv.Later, the majestic Church of the Tithes appeared . Our country had never known such significant stone buildings before.

15. Later, schools arose in the temples.Children were taught Slavic and Greek literacy, introduced them to books.

16. These books were first brought to Kyiv and other cities of Rus' from abroad. And then they began to be made in our country.On Rus' had its own book-writing workshops and excellent painters who skillfully decorated book wisdom with miniatures. Soon the first books telling about Russian history appeared in Kyiv. They are called chronicles. It is in the chronicles that the story of how Rus' was baptized was preserved.

BAPTISM OF Rus': FACTS OF HISTORY.

After the victory over Yaropolk, Vladimir began to reign in Kyiv. And again, as once under Oleg the Prophet, paganism triumphs over Christianity. True, not for long: its days are numbered, it has outlived its usefulness. But in the death throes, paganism is greatly activated. And not without the decisive influence of Vladimir himself, who came to power precisely as the leader of the pagan party. As the chronicler says, never before has there been such “vile idolatry” on Russian soil as at the beginning of Vladimir’s reign.

However, it must be said that Vladimir, as a man of enormous intelligence, remarkable intuition and deep religiosity, understood that paganism in its previous forms was no longer tenable. Like the Roman emperor-zealot of paganism - Julian the Apostate - he is making an attempt to reform polytheism. Having united the Russian tribes under his sovereign power, Vladimir realized the need for religious unity. Vladimir understood that it was impossible to create this unity on anything other than religion. You can, of course, try to unite everyone through violence, but such a power will only exist for a very short time. Vladimir understood this perfectly. So he tried to achieve unity in a different way.

Until now, the various tribes that inhabited Rus' worshiped their local gods. The Varangians revered some, the Slavs revered others, the Finns had others. True, they often borrowed each other’s cults. But there was no uniformity in pagan beliefs in Rus'. Vladimir ordered to gather together all the pagan gods and created a common pagan pantheon - a kind of “Russian Olympus”. As the chronicler says, in Kyiv he placed on the temple the idols of Khors, Dazh-God, Stribog, Simargl and Mokosha. All this, from now on “united”, was headed by the family of Perun, the god of thunder and fire, recognized as supreme. Moreover, it was a deity who most likely had Balto-Varangian rather than Slavic origin. The reform of paganism was carried out around 983. But very soon it turned out that this reform was absolutely untenable. These gods did not have any authority to force people to recognize some new deities along with those familiar to their tribe. In addition, this matter probably had its own mystical side: the “gods” artificially brought together could not coexist side by side - demons also hate each other.

And yet paganism desperately resists on the eve of its disappearance. Under Vladimir, human sacrifices hitherto almost unknown in Rus' were performed to the pagan gods. So, for example, after Vladimir’s victorious campaign against the Yatvingians in 983, Theodore and John, two Christian Varangians, father and son, who became the first martyrs of the faith in Rus' whose names are known to us, were killed. They wanted to sacrifice their son to the pagan gods. The father, of course, did not allow this, and as a result they were both killed. The paganism of Vladimir and his entourage was of such a ferocious nature. But the blood of martyrs, as has always been the case in the history of the Church, only brought the victory of Christianity closer. In 983, Vladimir still made human sacrifices, and five years later he accepted Christianity.

This was the deepest revolution in the prince’s soul. From the abysses of hell, he managed to rise to God. This is the holiness of the Equal-to-the-Apostles prince, who realized the abyss of lack of spirituality into which paganism plunges, and who managed to find a way out of this abyss, not only by turning to the true God, but also by bringing with him all his people. To understand the greatness of the feat of Saint Prince Vladimir, you need to appreciate what he was like before baptism. He was essentially a fratricide and performed human sacrifices. Drunken orgies are a common pastime for the prince and his squad. In addition, it is known how depraved his temper was. He did not disdain to marry the Polotsk princess Rogneda, whose father he killed before her eyes. In the same way, the wife of the murdered brother Yaropolk found herself in the harem of a depraved pagan. In a word, before his baptism Vladimir was the same cruel and terrible person as all the pagans.

We know about the pagan religion of the Slavs, in which Vladimir was raised, in particular, from the memoirs of Arab travelers who visited Rus'. One of them, Ibn Fadlan, described the funeral of a noble Russian, which he observed somewhere in the Volga region. These pagan funerals were accompanied by disgusting and vile ceremonies. Together with the deceased Russian, they put a dead horse, some objects and things into the grave. His wife was also forcibly sent to the afterlife with him. She was killed in the most savage way, after being ritually raped. Then everything was burned on the funeral ship. Moreover, Ibn Fadlan reports that such vile ceremonies took place that he, an Arab Muslim, cannot describe them. From this evidence alone it is clear that paganism is a very terrible thing and not nearly as romantic as many are trying to present today in various kinds of popular publications. A pagan cult is a terrible, inherently satanic phenomenon, even if we are talking about the much more civilized Hellenic paganism. It is no coincidence that idols have always been considered the habitat of demons, and after the baptism of the people they always tried to destroy them. The terrible reality of serving demons is always behind any paganism. And today, when some people try to revive paganism, it turns out in the most tragic way. It all starts with Kupala round dances, and ends with the most overt Satanism with ritual fornication and human sacrifices, which, alas, is already happening again today.

Prince Vladimir was exactly the same before his baptism. The future baptist of Rus', at the time of his paganism, truly learned the depths of Satan. But something happened in his soul similar to what once happened to Olga. Undoubtedly, it was a deep inner rebirth. When Vladimir saw that nothing came of his reformed paganism, this obviously became for him not only a political, but also a personal spiritual and moral problem. Of course, Vladimir’s doubts about paganism arose not only due to the fact that religious unity could not be achieved. Paganism could not satisfy the prince. The extremes of pagan immorality probably reinforced the impression of spiritual impasse. This can be felt in the words of Vladimir himself, spoken by him after baptism. They are brought by Rev. Nestor the Chronicler: “like a beast, you do a lot of evil, living in filth, like naked beasts.” It was not only and not so much political calculation that guided the prince in choosing his faith, as Marxist historians usually imagined. Personal spiritual search, of course, occupied a key place in the Kyiv prince’s rejection of paganism. He was a religious person, seeking the truth. And this was the main thing that forced Vladimir to look for a new faith for himself and his people.

The prince hardly experienced any satisfaction from the death of the Varangians Theodore and John. Perhaps this tragedy accelerated his personal religious crisis, as it happened with Olga after her bloody revenge on the Drevlyans. In addition, Vladimir also saw the life of the Christian community that existed nearby. At the same time, representatives of other religions were also nearby. Judaism still existed in the ruins of the defeated Khazaria: Jewish merchants were not uncommon in Kyiv. Muslims also lived near the borders of Rus': a Muslim Bulgarian state already existed on the Volga. Latin Christianity was already spreading nearby in the West. And therefore, the chronicle news of the dispute that took place at the court of Vladimir on the issue of choosing a faith undoubtedly has a historical basis. Although some historians for some reason tend to consider it a late legend. However, in reality, the story of the Tale of Bygone Years about the choice of faith does not look implausible at all. Similar disputes often occurred at the courts of medieval sovereigns. It is enough to recall at least the dispute at the court of the Khazar Kagan, in which St. took part. Konstantin-Kirill. Similar disputes are known at the courts of European sovereigns. Why was it not possible to arrange such a dispute at the court of the sovereign of Kievan Rus?

Ambassadors began to come to Vladimir. One of the first were the Jews. During a conversation with them, Vladimir, according to the chronicler, asked where their homeland was. They answered him: “We have no homeland. For our sins God scattered us.” It was, of course, about the dispersion of Jews from Palestine and their spread throughout the world. Vladimir answered the Jews that he did not want to accept the faith, which would then lead to the loss of the fatherland. Moreover, the prince’s answer had a double subtext: he could mean not only the fate of Israel, but also the fate of the Khazars, who lost themselves after their elite adopted Judaism. Vladimir also talked with Muslims, who apparently came from Volga Bulgaria. It is significant here that in his religious search the prince had already reached the understanding of monotheism. However, he is still childishly naive, wanting to find an easy path to God. Thus, Islam initially seduces the voluptuous prince with the possibility of polygamy and the promise of a dubious “paradise” in which the faithful supposedly enjoy abundant benefits in the society of the Gurias. However, as the chronicler says, another passion temporarily won: having learned that the Koran prohibits the consumption of wine, Vladimir utters the historical phrase: “Rus' has joy in drinking.”

Interestingly, Vladimir’s conversation with Western Christians was much shorter. Obviously, Vladimir was repelled by the already fully formed ideology of papism by that time, with the requirement of vassal submission to the Roman high priest as the earthly ruler of the Christian world. Vladimir answered the papal envoys that his ancestors did not accept the Latin faith. It would seem not a completely logical statement when it comes to choosing a new faith. However, Vladimir probably remembers how, under Olga, the Latin bishop Adalbert came to Rus' on a mission, whom the people of Kiev soon expelled with indignation. There is some information about unsuccessful negotiations with the Latins that took place under Yaropolk. For Prince Vladimir, it obviously meant a lot to the wise Olga that she abandoned Western Christianity and accepted baptism from the Orthodox Greeks.

At the same time, Vladimir was in no hurry to choose faith. The most interesting moment in the story of Rev. Nestor is a conversation between the prince and a monk-philosopher who came from Byzantium. This missionary, unknown to us by name, showed Vladimir the icon of the Last Judgment, and thereby clearly demonstrated to him Christian eschatology and the posthumous fate of sinners and righteous people. We can believe that this episode is the most vivid and truthful in the story about the choice of faith. Because the icon is a testimony to the Incarnate God, “a reflection in colors.” We have before us an interesting historical example of how an icon was used for preaching purposes. This is a purely Orthodox argument from an artistic image - an icon. In general, it is very characteristic of the Orthodox culture of Ancient Rus' that Russians perceived Orthodoxy more at the level of an artistic image. In the Middle Ages, Rus' knew few outstanding theologians, but created the greatest iconography. Prince Vladimir received a strong emotional impression from the sermon of the Greek monk and from the icon, favorable, unlike other religions. But still this was far from the final choice. The prince tried to do it thoughtfully and carefully.

Vladimir then sent ambassadors to various countries, and these ambassadors confirmed his impression. The chronicle tells us about the stunned state of Vladimir's ambassadors after the service in the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. Undoubtedly, this story is very true. Once again we have before us an amazing example of the influence of church art on the souls of Russian people who are in a spiritual search. It must be said that the Byzantines often took advantage of the beauty of worship on such occasions. And bringing Vladimir’s ambassadors to service in the Church of Hagia Sophia was not a special act on the part of the emperor. This was a common way to impress barbarians. The Tale of Bygone Years tells how the Greeks tried in a similar way to influence Oleg and his warriors, who were even shown the greatest relics - evidence of the Passion of the Lord and holy relics. But then there was no success - Oleg was not distinguished by spiritual quests.

However, even after the positive response of the ambassadors, which coincided with Vladimir’s own reaction to Orthodoxy, Vladimir is still in no hurry to be baptized. The reason for this now is most likely the complex political relationship between Rus' and Byzantium. But this is like an external outline of events, behind which there is some kind of gigantic spiritual struggle for the soul of the prince himself, for the fate of his state. Therefore, the process of Vladimir’s conversion was very difficult. The transformation of a wild barbarian who made human sacrifices into a meek lamb, a saint, of course, required special circumstances, the special Providence of God. The events that ultimately led to the baptism of Vladimir, and then of Rus', developed gradually.

The Byzantine emperors, brothers-co-rulers from the Macedonian dynasty Basil II the Bulgarian Slayer and Constantine VIII, were going through a very difficult period. A rebellion arose in the empire, forcing them to turn to Vladimir for military help. Vladimir was promised to give the emperors' sister Anna as his wife. Of course, Prince Vladimir had to be baptized at the same time. He sent the emperors an army of 6 thousand soldiers, which defeated the usurper Varda Phocas, who threatened to overthrow the legitimate emperors from the throne. Vladimir, in exchange for military services, demanded the hand of a Byzantine princess. He was refused. Perhaps the bad reputation of the pagan prince, an immoral barbarian, played a role. But the most significant thing was that Vladimir, despite all his already fully formed desire for Christianity, had not been baptized by this time.

Why did Vladimir hesitate with baptism? Obviously, the prince had his own intention. Political considerations took over. Prince Vladimir internally was already quite ready to accept Orthodoxy, but from the point of view of the Byzantine theocratic idea, this would mean that Vladimir recognized himself as a subject of the emperors, at least nominally, and introduced Rus' into the political orbit of the Roman Empire. Vladimir clearly did not want this. Marriage to Anna made him equal to the emperors and made him equal to the Porphyrogenites. But before getting married, one had to be baptized. The circle was closing.

Then Vladimir, with his delay in baptism, brings the situation to a stalemate and decides to act by force. He goes to war against the Greeks, now having a pretext for this: the emperors “deceived” him and did not give Anna as his wife. After a long siege, the prince captured the Crimean outpost of Byzantium - Chersonesos. Vladimir demands Anna as his wife in exchange for the return of Chersonesos to Byzantium. The prince was clearly carried away by the political side of his religious cause. Therefore, it was inevitable that Divine Providence would intervene so that the crisis would be resolved and political calculation would cease to dominate in the consciousness of the prince. Therefore, when Princess Anna had already arrived in Chersonesos, and Vladimir was celebrating victory, a miracle of admonition occurred: Vladimir became blind. And he received his sight only when he was baptized. He received his sight physically and spiritually. And the work of his conversion was ultimately accomplished not by human wisdom, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps that is why a completely different person came out of the font to the altar for the wedding with Anna, as we later see St. Vladimir, which retained nothing of its former pagan appearance.

St. Vladimir received the Christian name Basil at baptism, in memory of the great Archbishop of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia. This probably happened not only because he was baptized in the Vasilyevsky Church of Chersonesus, as the Tale of Bygone Years reports. In Byzantium there was a custom: in the event of the baptism of an important person, his recipients from the font were often the emperor or empress. In this case, the newly baptized person received the name of the august person. It is quite possible that despite the absence of Emperor Vasily II the Bulgarian Slayer at the baptism of St. Vladimir, it was he who was considered the official godfather of the Kyiv prince.

Nestor the Chronicler reports the following about the return of Vladimir from Chersonesos: “Volodimer, therefore, eat the queen and Nastas (that is, presbyter Anastasius of Korsun, with the help of whom the prince took possession of the city - V.P.) and the priests of Korsun, with the relics of St. Clement and Thebes, his disciple. I take church loans and icons to bless myself. Build a church in Korsun on a mountain where hail will fall in the midst of stealing sleep. The same church still stands to this day. The Medians took two temples (that is, ancient statues of pagan deities - V.P.) and four Medyan horses, which still stand behind the Holy Mother of God (meaning the Tithe Church in Kyiv - V.P.). As if I were ignorant, I exist as Marmarians. The Greek will give the vein to the queen again, Korsun. And he himself will come to Kyiv.”

It is interesting that we again see how partial St. Vladimir is to art, although now we are talking about pagan sculpture. But, probably, the prince was gifted with a very subtle artistic sense. And he, yesterday’s pagan, just baptized, is already able to abstract from the pagan basis of Hellenic art, seeing in the Korsun statues precisely artistic masterpieces, and not idols. Let us remember that the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine, having founded New Rome - Constantinople, brought masterpieces of ancient art from everywhere to this new, Christian capital of the empire, while simultaneously decorating the city with numerous Christian churches. Vladimir's cultural outlook is amazing. Hypocrisy, often shown by neophytes, is absolutely alien to him. He perceives Orthodox Greek culture as a reference for Rus', even in combination with such subtle nuances as the attitude to the ancient heritage.

The baptism of Rus' was largely the merit of the Prince of Kyiv himself, who was completely transformed after his baptism. That is why the Church canonizes Vladimir among the Equal-to-the-Apostles. At the same time, one can compare the feat of Saint Vladimir with the activities of Charlemagne, who, relatively shortly before Prince Vladimir, created at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century. in Western Europe, a huge empire. Charles also baptized many peoples and was canonized by the Catholic Church. However, although Charles lived before the schism of 1054, his veneration as a saint never took root among us. Most likely the reason for this is that he converted peoples to Christianity almost exclusively by force of arms. He waged bloody wars, not stopping at any cruelty in converting the pagans.

In the apostolic feat of Saint Vladimir we see something completely different. And when we read in the chronicle that in Novgorod the envoys of the Kyiv prince used military force during baptism, that “Putyata baptized with fire, and Dobrynya with the sword,” then it is enough to compare this episode of the Christianization of Rus' with what was happening in Western Europe in order to understand: for In Rus', violence against the Novgorodians is an exception, a completely atypical case, while for the Western Church such methods have been almost traditional for many centuries. Moreover, the reason for the Novgorodians’ resistance to baptism was political. For to the traditional confrontation between the former capital - Novgorod - and the new capital - Kyiv - was added dissatisfaction with Vladimir, who, having captured Kiev with the help of pagan Novgorodians, did not live up to their hopes, did not return Novgorod to its former significance.

How was the Russian Church created? Since the Kiev Christian community most likely suffered great damage during the years of pagan reaction, they had to start almost all over again. The first step of Saint Vladimir was the baptism of the Kievites, which took place, as most researchers believe, in 988 or 989, shortly after Vladimir’s return from the campaign against Chersonesos. This was probably not an easy task, since in order to baptize the people of Kiev, enormous preparation was needed. We do not know today exactly what the population of Kyiv was under Vladimir. But still, it was the capital of a powerful principality - that is, its population was many thousands. To carry out the baptism as quickly as possible, which was done, a lot had to be done. First of all, the people of Kiev had to be at least basicly publicized.

Vladimir's relatives, that is, ex-wives, sons and others, his closest advisers and other people close to Vladimir, were probably baptized in the Church of St. Basil. This originally wooden church was one of the first built by the Equal-to-the-Apostles prince in Kyiv. It was consecrated in the name of Saint Basil the Great, whose name Saint Vladimir took at baptism. They erected this temple on the site of the former temple of Perun, which had recently been decorated by order of the prince with a new idol. Now the idol was overthrown and shamefully, with symbolic beatings, dragged to the bank of the Dnieper and lowered downstream. Moreover, the prince ordered the pagan abomination to be escorted all the way to the rapids, pushing the idol away from the shore with poles. It is clear that in the minds of the newly baptized prince the idol was directly associated with the receptacle of demons.

The remaining thousands, or most likely tens of thousands of people, were baptized in the waters of the Dnieper, or rather its branch - the Pochayna River, which now does not exist, but merged with the main Dnieper channel. Moreover, the author of “The Life of Blessed Volodymer” reports that “people walked with joy, rejoicing and saying: if this were not good, the prince and the bolyars would not have accepted it.” When Vladimir himself was baptized, he was significantly prepared for this important step. He talked with philosophers and preachers. In addition, in Chersonesus he had to undergo an announcement. As for the people, there was hardly any serious preparation for baptism. Under the conditions of that time, this was almost impossible. However, the people had to trust the choice of the prince, who spoke on their behalf. This was quite in the spirit of the semi-patriarchal character that princely power still had in Rus'. At least in Kyiv it was perceived this way: the prince acted as the father of a large family. Hence the success of the Christian mission in the capital. There is no information about the protest of Kiev residents.

In other lands, Christianization probably did not take place as rapidly as in Kyiv. But still, it must be admitted that Rus' accepted the new faith quite calmly. Of course, the urban population was baptized first. In rural areas, paganism lasted longer, which, however, was a widespread phenomenon, both in the Christian East and in the West. It is no coincidence that the Latin term “paganus”, that is, “pagan”, is literally translated as “villager”.

It can be assumed that since Vladimir received baptism from the Greeks, with the participation of the clergy of Chersonesos, who he brought to Rus' for its baptism, the initial stage of the Christianization of Rus' was associated with the Church of Constantinople. Probably, a metropolitan or archbishop was sent from Constantinople to Rus' shortly after the events in Chersonesos. Although the diocese of “Russia” existed in the Church of Constantinople for about a century, there was most likely no bishop in Kyiv during the years of pagan reaction. Who became the bishop under whom the baptism of Rus' took place? Tradition names the name of St. Michael, the first Metropolitan of Kyiv. The list of Vladimir's Church Charter, made at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, names Michael as the metropolitan, under whom Vladimir baptized Rus'. However, it also says that Michael was sent to Rus' by St. Patriarch Photius is an obvious anachronism. The priesthood of St. Michael in Kyiv should most likely be attributed to the time of Photius's baptism of Rus'. Perhaps the erasure from the “Elementary Russian Chronicle” of the memory of the baptism of Rus' under Askold and Dir, undertaken to please the new Rurik dynasty, also erased the reliable memory of the first bishop of Rus'. At the same time, he was not completely forgotten, but was attributed to another era.

In addition, Metropolitan Leon (Leo) or Leonty is often named as the first Primate of the Russian Church. He is mentioned, in particular, in the “Chronicle of the Novgorod Lords” and the already mentioned list of the Church Charter of St. Vladimir. There are other assumptions about who led the Russian Church in the initial period of its history. Not so long ago, another hypothesis about who was the Metropolitan of Rus' under St. Vladimir, put forward by the Polish historian Andrzej Poppe. Based on a number of sources, Poppe came to the conclusion that under Vladimir, the Metropolitan of Rus' was the former Sebastian Metropolitan Theophylact, a Greek by birth. Poppe established that in Sebastia, an Armenian city located in the east of Asia Minor, almost on the eve of the Caucasus, at the end of the 10th century, under Vasily II, there was a Russian detachment, which sources note. The local bishop, Theophylact, who supported the emperor’s policies, was expelled from the city by rebels during the uprising of Bardas Phocas and fled to the west, to Constantinople. According to Poppe, Theophylact, already familiar with the Russians from Sebastia, was sent to Kyiv as metropolitan after the baptism of Rus' by St. Vladimir. True, we do not know whether he reached the capital of Rus' or whether this appointment remained a formality. Poppe's hypothesis has indirect confirmation in the mosaics and frescoes of the Church of St. Sofia in Kyiv. Here the Martyrs of Sebaste are depicted on the pillars and girth arches of the main dome of the Cathedral Church of the Metropolitans of All Rus'. That is, according to the plan of the creators of the temple, they are, as it were, the foundation of the Russian Church. In addition, in the St. Sophia Cathedral there is another image of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste on a separate fresco. Such attention to these saints is hardly accidental. And the veneration with which the Sebastian saints were always surrounded in Rus' may also testify to the special role of the Sebastian see in the history of the Russian Church. It is possible that it was Metropolitan Theophylact who helped Saint Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles, in the matter of enlightening Rus' at the very initial stage.

One might think that at the first stage the biggest problem faced by the Equal-to-the-Apostles Baptist of Rus' was the lack of clergy trained for missionary work. Already for the baptism of the Kievites alone, a huge number of clergy were required. Apparently, Vladimir brought the first priests from Chersonesos. These were probably Slavs by origin or Korsun Greeks who knew the Slavic language and actively communicated with the Slavic world. But there weren't too many of them. Kyiv, and then other cities of Rus', demanded a significant number of priests. At the same time, it was not enough to just baptize people, they had to be converted into church, explained the basics of the doctrine, the meaning of the sacraments, taught to pray, at least in the most elementary form, and explained how a Christian should live. All this was not realized in practice in full and not immediately. And, probably, it is precisely with this that in the pre-Mongol period the presence in our Church of very serious distortions in church life is connected. The people were baptized, but not everywhere on the ground after baptism did their full churching take place. This process lasted in some places for centuries.

How did you manage to overcome the problem of the lack of trained clergy? It can be assumed, following Priselkov and Kartashev, that Saint Vladimir decided to rely in his apostolic endeavor on the experience of Bulgaria, which adopted Christianity more than a century earlier than Rus'. Over the entire century that has passed since the baptism of Bulgaria under the same Saint Photius, a full-fledged Slavic Christian culture has already formed here. It was created by the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Teachers of Slovenia. From Bulgaria, Rus' could obtain ready-made translations of liturgical books and patristic works. Here one could also find Slavic clergy, firstly, who spoke the same Slavic language, which was perfectly understood in Rus', and secondly, far from the Hellenic disdain for the “barbarians” and more suitable for missionary work. In addition, one might think that acquaintance with Bulgarian Orthodoxy gave Vladimir the idea to get rid of any attempts to interpret the baptism of Rus' from the Greeks as its subordination to the Roman Empire, humiliating for the consciousness of the Russians, who had just created their powerful state. Priselkov and Kartashev believed that Vladimir, soon after the baptism of Rus', withdrew the Russian Church from the jurisdiction of Constantinople and reassigned it to the autocephalous Bulgarian Ohrid Archdiocese. It is possible that the Ohrid bishop was only formally considered the Primate of the Russian Church, which under Saint Vladimir was essentially independent of anyone.

Russian and Byzantine sources, however, are silent about this. Amazingly, Greek authors do not even mention such an epoch-making event as the baptism of Rus' under St. Vladimir. However, the Greeks had a reason for this: the diocese of “Russia” was formally opened a century earlier. However, if we accept the hypothesis of “Bulgarian jurisdiction”, then we can think that the true reason for such silence is most likely explained by the resentment of the Greeks against the Russians for their refusal to obey the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It is believed that already in those years when the jurisdiction of Constantinople over the Russian Church was restored under Yaroslav the Wise, information about this unpleasant period for the Romans was erased from our chronicles. Moreover, during this “editing” a rather strange picture emerged: the personality and activities of St. were passed over in silence. Vladimir in Rus' was impossible, but with all the praise for the holy prince in the “Elementary Chronicle” there is very little factual material about the Russian Church of his time.

In ancient times, the tribes that inhabited Rus' worshiped many gods. This belief in polytheism was called paganism. Pagan gods personified natural elements. To appease the gods, people made sacrifices to them, including human ones.

In the 10th century, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the grandson of Princess Olga, ruled in Kyiv. He united the Russian tribes under his rule. However, this was not enough - the need for religious unification arose. Vladimir tried to unite all the pagan gods, but it soon became clear that people did not want to recognize, along with the gods familiar to their tribe, any new ones.

At the same time, other religions had already spread widely around the world: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, which were united by monotheism, i.e. worship of God alone.

Prince Vladimir, realizing that the reform of paganism had failed, began to look for another religion, a more progressive one.

Vladimir met and had long conversations with ambassadors from different countries. He asked them about faith and religious rituals. He then sent his ambassadors to other states. The most powerful impression on the ambassadors was the service in the Orthodox Greek Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.

However, Vladimir was in no hurry to be baptized into Orthodoxy. And the reason for this was the complex relationship between Rus' and Byzantium.

In order to suppress the rebellion, the Byzantine emperors turned to Vladimir for military help and promised to give him his sister Anna as a wife. Vladimir sent his army of six thousand soldiers.

After the rebellion was suppressed, Vladimir demanded the hand of the Byzantine princess. But he was refused on the pretext that he was unbaptized.

The next step on the path to baptism was Vladimir’s capture of the Byzantine city of Korsun in Crimea. In general, Vladimir demanded Anna as his wife for the return of Korsun. And when Princess Anna arrived in Korsun and Vladimir was celebrating his victory, he suddenly became blind. And miraculously he regained his sight only when he was baptized. Thus, the spiritual and physical transformation of the prince took place.

The baptism of Rus' was largely the merit of the Prince of Kyiv himself, who was completely reborn after his baptism. That is why Prince Vladimir was recognized as equal to the apostles.

The first step of Saint Vladimir was the baptism of the Kievites, which supposedly took place in 988.

Thus, for more than a thousand years Rus' has been called Orthodox.

Questions

What gods did the pagans worship?

Why did Prince Vladimir try to unite all the tribal pagan gods?

How did Vladimir choose a new faith?

Under what circumstances was Vladimir himself baptized into the Orthodox faith?

How long has it been since the baptism of Rus'?

What we take for granted today was not always so. For example, we know that Russia is a country in which the majority of the population professes Orthodox Christianity. But it wasn't always like this. Initially, Ancient Rus' was a pagan country, whose inhabitants worshiped numerous Slavic idols. But thanks to the strong-willed actions of Prince Vladimir, Kievan Rus became the successor to the faith from the Byzantine clergy.

Officially, the year 988 is considered to be the time of the baptism of Rus'. However, some researchers have hypotheses that this happened in 890 or 891. The chronicles of Byzantine chroniclers say very little about the fact of the baptism of Rus' in 988, since, according to them, this event occurred a century earlier.

What date is the Baptism of Rus' celebrated?

The specific date on which the baptism of Vladimir or the population of Kyiv took place has not survived to this day. Therefore, it is customary to celebrate the baptism of Rus' on the day of memory of Prince Vladimir (i.e., on the date of his death). This happened on July 15 according to the Julian calendar. Translated into the modern calendar, this date falls on July 28, and it was officially determined by law relatively recently (May 31, 2010). Considering that today this is a memorable date and is not a public holiday, then, accordingly, a day off on this day is not provided.

The baptism of Rus' by Prince Vladimir, a brief history

Before Kievan Rus adopted Orthodoxy, the Russians were pagans. And attempts to systematize religion were unsuccessful, since it was impossible to create a structure that would unite the rituals and customs of all tribes.

It should be said that even before the official baptism in Rus', the seeds of Orthodoxy began to sprout. In archaeological excavations, pectoral crosses found date back to the mid-tenth century. We should not forget the adoption of Orthodoxy by Princess Olga in 957. From about the same time there are references to secret Christian meetings.

So, Grand Duke Vladimir set the goal of uniting all the tribes that then inhabited the territory of Ancient Rus' under one religion. But here a problem arose: which of the existing ones to choose? Then delegations of representatives of one church or another reached out to the prince with offers to accept their faith.

Thus, the Volga Bulgars spoke about the advantages of Islam, German ambassadors from the Pope
Rimsky was urged to accept Christianity from them, the Khazar Jews were inclined to decide in favor of Judaism. And even after a conversation with a representative of Byzantium, the prince did not give a final answer. After consultation with the boyars, it was decided to attend the services of the above-mentioned churches, as a result of which the Orthodox religion was unanimously chosen.

And in 988, the Grand Duke was first baptized in Chersonesos (according to some sources in Constantinople and Kyiv), and then the population of Kyiv was baptized en masse in the waters of the Dnieper.

Later, the remaining tribes and principalities gradually converted to Orthodoxy. It should be noted that this process was not peaceful everywhere. Some principalities, including Rostov, resisted, but in some cases, by word, and sometimes by force, the population was forced to accept the new faith. The process of baptism of Rus' finally ended by the 12th century.

Holiday of the Baptism of Rus' 2019

Celebrated annually on July 28th. According to tradition, bells will ring at noon in all Orthodox churches. Church services will also be held on this day (possibly with the participation of top government officials). In addition, according to tradition, a religious procession will be held.

Alexander Nevsky baptism of Rus'

After the death of Vladimir the Red Sun, internecine wars began on the territory of Kievan Rus. The Catholic Church, as well as the numerous Mongol-Tatar tribe, did not fail to take advantage of this. The Germans and Swedes attacked Rus', weakened by civil strife, from the West, and the army of the Tatar-Mongol Horde tried to conquer it from the East. And if the latter were ready to be content with financial (in the form of regular collection of tribute) and political (appointment of princes) matters, the former considered their main task to instill the Catholic faith.

In such conditions, a ruler was needed who could preserve the existence of Rus' between two occupiers. And Alexander Nevsky became such a person. Thanks to a number of his consistent political and military steps, Kievan Rus was able to repel attacks by Catholic troops and create favorable conditions for its existence during the period of the Mongol yoke. For the sake of the spiritual freedom of Rus', Alexander Nevsky had to sacrifice political freedom.

And speaking of the connection between Alexander Nevsky and the Baptism of Rus', we mean precisely the preservation of Orthodoxy on its territory with the help of military campaigns and the art of conducting political affairs. For devotion to the faith and its defense in 1547, Alexander Nevsky, like Prince Vladimir, was canonized.

Baptism of Kievan Rus

As mentioned above, the process of transition from paganism to Christianity in Kievan Rus occurred unevenly. Following the baptism of Vladimir the Red Sun and his miraculous healing, some warriors and boyars chose a new religion. Gradually, the rest of the prince's associates joined them.

The common population of Kyiv accepted Christianity, following the example of the ruler and his advisers, relatively calmly, which cannot be said about other principalities. The greatest resistance was provided by Polotsk, Murom and Rostov, but by 1100 the process of the baptism of Rus' was completed.

Baptism of Rus' video

1 baptism of Rus'

2 baptism of Rus'

Scenario of the baptism of Rus' for children

Every person needs to be instilled with faith from childhood, and the most convenient form for this is a game, during which it is easier to explain to the younger generation the basics of Christianity, as well as the moment of its emergence in Rus'. According to the following scenario, which we propose, you can stage a “sketch” for elementary school students.

Scenario of the baptism of Rus' in the library

As you know, libraries hold thematic events dedicated to an event or person. On the occasion of the celebration of the Baptism of Rus', you can organize a children's party, the script for which we offer in two acts.

Act one.

Characters: Grandmother, grandchildren (Lena, Anya, Ira, Anatoly), ambassadors, boyar and Prince Vladimir.

Scenery: in The room, decorated in Russian folk style, has a table on which there is an embroidered tablecloth and icons of Prince. Olga and Prince Vladimir. A candle burns in front of the icons.

Act two.

Decorations: a table, a carved bench, a forged chest, located on the proscenium in the form of an ancient Russian mansion.

(The sound of a church choir and music)

Scenario for the holiday of the Baptism of Rus'

Poems about the baptism of Rus', 5 options

Procession of the cross baptism of Rus', briefly the essence with photos

The procession of the cross is part of church rituals. It began at the dawn of Christianity. Later this idea was supported at the state level in Rome. According to the decree of Emperor Justinian, it was forbidden to hold a religious procession without the participation of clergy.

The procession of the cross is a procession of people, led by representatives of the clergy with icons, and then followed by the laity. There are several types of such processions:

• produced inside the temple;
• performed around the temple during the celebration of Easter and other processions associated with it;
• when consecrating water in sources;
• on major church holidays, as well as on the occasion of important events in the parish (for example, the opening of a church);
• during a funeral ceremony;
• produced in any area in order to eliminate disasters (drought, flood, etc.)

In addition to the ground procession, the religious procession these days can be carried out by air. This began in 1941, when the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God was flown around Moscow on an airplane.

It just so happened that on the occasion of the Baptism of Rus' a religious procession is also held. It was first held in 1888 on the occasion of the 900th anniversary of the adoption of Orthodoxy by Kievan Rus. Nowadays, the holiday of July 28 is often accompanied by a solemn procession with the participation of leading clergy and government officials.

Monument to the Baptism of Rus' photo

There is no separate monument dedicated to this event. However, in Nizhny Novgorod in 1862 the monument “Millennium of Russia” was erected. It depicts the main stages of the formation of Russia as an empire and is a ball with a cross (a symbol of the power) standing on a bell base. Around the power there are images of six rulers, during whose reign turning points in the fate of Russia took place, starting from Prince Rurik and ending with Peter the Great. Among others, on the pedestal there is a sculptural group dedicated to the adoption of Christianity in 988 by Prince Vladimir and 989 by Kievan Rus, depicting the Prince himself with a cross in his hands; a woman bringing a baby to him for baptism and a man overthrowing a Slavic idol.

The opening of a monument to Prince Vladimir, erected in Moscow on Borovitskaya Square, was timed to coincide with the celebration of the 1025th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity in Rus'. It consists of two parts: in the foreground on a pedestal there is a figure of a ruler with a cross in one hand. In the background there are bas-reliefs depicting the main stages of the Prince’s life: the baptism of himself, the baptism of Kievan Rus and the spread of Christianity through the word.

Congratulations on the baptism of Rus':

The holiday of the Baptism of Rus' has not yet become widespread among the citizens of our country, but you can contribute to it by congratulating your loved ones and friends via SMS messages.