Vladimir was in no hurry to make a final decision in choosing one or another religion for his state. These searches are called in history “the choice of faith.” The prince had a very rich choice. It was possible to join Judaism, Islam from Volga Bulgaria, Roman Christianity and its Byzantine version were studied. If we rely on the “Tale of Bygone Years”, then in the process of analyzing the features of beliefs, Vladimir sent trusted persons to study the structure of worship services in each of these religions.

The Grand Knyaz drew attention to powerful neighbors – Europe and Byzantium – states that were well developed from an economic, cultural and political point of view. Russia at that time was in some isolation, the neighbors looked down on the state. But Vladimir thought that if Russia took an example from its neighbors, it could favorably affect the development of crafts and trade, and then lead to the economic growth of the state. According to one version, ambassadors sent to different countries helped make the choice: each of them told Vladimir what each of the religions could offer, but it was Christianity that struck the knyaz with the beauty of the divine service.

In the “Ipatiev Chronicle”4 there is a particularly valuable episode relating to the years 984—986. It describes the embassy of representatives of different countries to Vladimir Svyatoslavich and the choice of a new religion by the Kiev ruler.

After telling about one of the successful military campaigns, the chronicler says that in 986 Bulgarians came to the knyaz, who persuaded him to convert to Islam. Their example was followed by Roman Catholics and Khazar Jews. Finally, the Greek philosopher arrived. He told Prince Vladimir about the Orthodox confession of Christ.

Interestingly, the author of the narrative does not consider it necessary to explain the reasons for the arrival of such an embassy, the description of which contrasts so much with the prince’s previous activities and the story of his turbulent life. Meanwhile, it is through the atypical construction of the narrative that the chronicler makes it possible to understand how meaningful the path of the Kiev prince to the adoption of Orthodoxy was.

The tale of bygone years tells that Vladimir chose religion based on practical considerations. Islam, Latin Christianity and Judaism did not suit Vladimir due to historical reasons and the customs of the Slavs: Muslims banned alcohol, Jews lost the state, and Latins obeyed the pope.

Christian commandments and basic provisions most fully met the needs of a young, not yet strengthened state. This is, for example, love for one’s neighbor, the prohibition of murder and theft, respect for elders.

After adopting Christianity, Knyaz Vladimir returned to Kiev and brought with him Orthodox priests from overseas lands. They were the first to baptize the sons of Vladimir Svyatoslavich into the new faith, then the boyars.

The Grand Knyaz began to fight paganism. By his order, idols were cut down, which he himself had recently installed in the capital of Rus.

At the initiative of the Christian Knyaz, the clergy (духовенство) told the people about Christ and the Gospel. The result of the sermon was the order of Vladimir Svyatoslavich to all citizens to come to Kiev, to the bank of (на берег) the Dnieper, to receive holy baptism. This event was the first in a series of mass Orthodoxy in Russia.

Then Novgorod was baptized. Paganism was firmly held in Novgorod, although Christians already existed there. Not everyone wanted to voluntarily get baptized, some were persuaded. And those citizens who did not want to go voluntarily, Dobrynya’s bogatyrs dragged by force.

There were those who tried to evade baptism, saying that they had already been baptized. It was then that the bishop began to put crosses on baptized people in order to know who was baptized and who was not.

Rostov, Suzdal, Murom, Polotsk, Vladimir Volynsky, Smolensk, Pskov, Lutsk and other cities. The adoption of a new, unified faith was a serious impetus to the unification of the Russian lands. And that was the most important step to unite all the Russian lands.

The baptism of Rus took place, so to speak, forcibly. People did not want to accept the new faith, which was significantly different from the pagan one. After all, the knyaz tried to get into the most intimate that a person can have – their faith. It came to riots. Pagans who did not want to be baptized fled to the forests and killed priests. And there were many pagan uprisings. However, although the state’s policy was violent, it was not brutal. A wait-and-see tactic was chosen so that the transition would subsequently occur smoothly.

The new religion was not sustainable. It hasn’t caught on yet. The following fact can serve as proof of this. In the second half of the eleventh century, crop failure and famine came to Rus. And Christianity could not correct this situation, because it did not possess the forces of nature.

Nevertheless, peoples (народ) adopted Orthodoxy, yet kept in heart the then religion. They managed to interweave it into Christianity and worship new God with old ones, celebrate new holidays with old ones.

Christianity could not completely destroy paganism. The latter was simply subordinated, placed in other conditions. Vladimir adopted Christianity for his people from Byzantium. But in the end it lost its original, “conceived” features. It assimilated with paganism in Rus. And this led to the formation of a unique phenomenon – double-belief. And so far, all aspects of our life are saturated with the remnants (остатки) of paganism. It’s been more than a thousand years! That’s, my dear readers, how persistent, it turns out, religion can be.

As a result, we can say that paganism and Christianity in Ancient Russia, which existed in a kind of union, together formed a natural religious stage of double-belief. It is impossible to give him a categorical assessment: good or bad. We simply accept this fact, which emphasizes the originality and uniqueness of Russian culture.

“We are Rus, and we remember our glorious deeds and sing songs of our fathers. We will never forget that we are the sons of our fathers and may we have love for their memory, and we will say about them that they were our strength, and the strength comes from them who pray for us.”

5After the death of Vladimir the Saint, a war for power broke out between his sons. The situation was complicated by the fact that Knyaz Vladimir had many sons-heirs, most of them appeared before the baptism. The heirs were born from different mothers, because before his marriage with Anna, Vladimir was a polygamist (due to pagan customs).

Svyatopolk the Accursed (Окаянный) took the Kiev throne immediately after the death of his father. Then he sent assassins to Rostov Knyaz Boris, who was at that moment with a squad on a campaign against the Pechenegs. Boris was killed. In the same way, Svyatopolk got rid of another brother, Knyaz Gleb of Murom (987—1015). It is believed that Boris and Gleb accepted death in a Christian way, did not resist and were ready to voluntarily submit to the will of the elder brother Svyatopolk. Russian Church began to venerate Boris and Gleb as the first Russian saints for their feat of Christian humility.

Knyaz Yaroslav the Wise of Novgorod

Yaroslav launched a war against Svyatopolk the Accursed. In 1016, he defeated his brother and occupied Kiev.

Yaroslav the Wise began to rule almost the entire territory of the Old Russian state. In the chronicle Yaroslav the Wise is called the “autocratic”. This means that his power has become very great, he independently made the most important decisions, issued laws, was the chief judge and defender of his land.

Yaroslav sought to unite and strengthen his state. He built a number of fortress cities where there was a threat to order and security. Thus, the city of Yaroslavl was built on the Upper Volga (Yaroslavkaya oblast).

Yaroslav the Wise gave the largest cities to his sons to manage. The children had to learn to lead their own squad (дружины) and ordinary people.

Grand Knyaz Yaroslav went down in history both as a tireless builder and as a knyaz who strengthened Russian Christian culture. The chronicler wrote about him, “The Christian faith has begun to multiply and expand.” The wise ruler not only engaged (воевал) in conflict with Byzantium, but also invited skilled craftsmen from there. It was they who created new temples in Russia, the most famous of which was the majestic Hagia Sophia in Kiev. Yaroslav founded monasteries and did much for the organization of the church and the consolidation of the Christian faith in the Russian lands.

Education. It was under his rule that the second largest school was opened in Novgorod, and a library was created in St. Sophia Cathedral. The knyazes of ancient Russia were educated people. Svyatoslav, the son of Yaroslav, filled all the storerooms with books, Vladimir Monomakh’s father Vsevolod spoke five languages, and Vladimir Monomakh remains known to us as a writer.

The Russian Truth of Yaroslav the Wise (Русская Правда Ярослава Мудрого)

The document contained 18 articles and was written in 1016. It was Yaroslav’s obligation to the Novgorodians. The reason was minor skirmishes (мелкие стычки) between the Varangians (варягами = викингами), who arrived to fight with Svyatopolk the Accursed (Святополк Окаянный), and the locals. It was mainly devoted to the concept of blood feud, as well as beatings (избиениями), theft, etc.

The reasons for creating Yaroslav’s Truth were:

the need to strengthen the knyaz’s power and to “complete” the creation of the state with its own collection of laws;

the need to eliminate (избавиться) subjective and often unfair trials and make it lawful;

the need to replace the custom of blood feud with something more “civilized” and “Christian,” such as fines.

In the 11th-12th centuries, the cultural development of Kievan Rus flourished (расцвело). The cultural centers were large cities, many of which acquired the significance of European centers: Novgorod and Kiev.

The excavations carried out by archaeologists allow us to speak about the high culture of the townspeople, many of whom were literate. This is evidenced by (свидетельствует) the preserved promissory notes, petitions, orders on economic affairs, arrival notices, and letters that were written on birch bark, as well as inscriptions on things and walls of churches preserved in different cities. Schools were organized in cities to teach literacy.

The renowned (известный) scribe of the 11th century was Nestor, commonly known as the “chronicler” (летописец). However, there are several (ряд) contradictions between the oldest chronicles and writings bearing (несущих) the name of Nestor, so modern scholarship (современная наука) treats Nestor’s participation in the chronicles with caution.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt about Nestor’s contribution to ancient Russian hagiography (житие), that is, to the writing of the lives of saints.

Nestor’s first accomplishment (достижением) in the field of hagiography was authoring (написал) a “Reading about the Life and Death of the Blessed Passion-Bearers Boris and Gleb,

Not all the works of ancient Russian literature from the 11th—13th centuries have survived (дошли) to the present day. Books were composed, copied, read, and stored primarily in cities, and cities were mainly constructed (построены) of wood, frequently (часто) burned, and libraries perished (погибали) in the flames of these fires. Furthermore (кроме того), large cities and wealthy (богатые) monasteries were an attractive target for invaders – that is why the Horde invasion in the mid-13th century was a severe (сильный) blow to literature. It is known for certain that even before the adoption of Christianity, Ancient Russia was familiar with writing – Novgorodians left evidence (свидетельства).

Most of the extant (сохранившихся) books relating to this period of time have religious content. Thus, out of 130 surviving books, 80 contain the basics of Christian doctrine and morality. However, at that time, there was also secular (светская) literature for reading. A well-preserved collection of stories about real and legendary animals and trees is an example of this.

Knowledge of foreign languages, particularly Greek, was not uncommon in Russia at the time of Baptism. As a result, ancient Russian literature could draw upon (опираться на) the achievements of Byzantine literature, which, in turn, combined ancient rhetoric with imagery from the Bible.

The literature of Ancient Russia originated in the 11th century and developed for seven centuries before the era of Peter the Great. Ancient Russian literature is a unified whole with all the variety of genres, themes, and images.

Years later…

Kiev continued to retain its importance. It was considered honorable (почётным) to reign in it. However, the regional knyazes (князья) no longer heeded (слушали) the Kiev knyaz and acted independently in all matters. Disputes and grievances (обиды) between the Russian heirs led to another war. Knyaz Andrew (from the city of Vladimir) subjugated (подчинил) Kiev both inherently and economically. Therefore, in the same year, 1169, he received the title of Grand Knyaz. He did not wish to remain in Kiev and preferred to govern (править) the entire Rus from the city of Vladimir. From that moment on, Vladimir began to emerge as the new center of specific Russia, as the capital of the main Principality.

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