Christianity In Russia 1000 Years

Understanding Russia's history with Christianity is important to understanding her prophetic place in future history. Her conversion to Christianity was dated and that date patterns the fall of the USSR in 1991. English readers, especially have no idea of this bit of Russian history.

Background

About the year 990 the premier of the city of Kiev baptized the citizens of the city, bringing Eastern Orthodox Christianity to that nation.

Kiev would become known as the "Jerusalem of Russia" and would be the center of the Christian religion through that part of the world. Within 20 years the temple of Russia, St. Sophia's Cathedral, would be built in Kiev. Russia settled down as a Christian country.

Of course this is at the national level, a topic not covered much in the New Testament. A condition that is some how parallel to personal salvation, but not exactly the same...

By 1991, the 1000th anniversary of Russia's first Christian conversions was happening. This was being celebrated across Russia and was a topic covered extensively in American media.

The main passage where this historic episode is recorded is in Revelation 20. The following is the relevant text:

The big event in 1990 and 1991 was the First Persian Gulf War. After Iraq invaded Kuwait, a western lead coalition attacked Iraq. Iraq had just started selling oil in a currency other than the US Dollar. That could not be tolerated because it threatened western hegemony.

There was also the Tienanmen Square massacre, which some have argued was accompanied by an attempt to overthrow the Chinese government. In any case, that event that triggered massive changes in the government of China. China is referenced symbolically with the dragon, called in scripture the serpent.

Also at this time the USSR was collapsing from within. Reagan had gone to Berlin and asked Gorbachev in a speech to 'tear down this wall.' This Soviet collapse may have been because of a military defeat-by-proxy in Kuwait, or because of a silent Soviet bankruptcy going on at the same time. This is very hard to distinguish as both reasons have been given for the fall of the USSR.

In any case, the USSR collapsed, Russia entered a time of internal turmoil and corruption, and then stopped being a serious check on western power.

Released

At first glance it would look like Russia was released at this 1000 year mark. But Russia itself went into a religious revival. They started examining their own socialist past and began a slow Orthodox Christian revival.

China, or the dragon, would turn inward and increase their pace of modernization. Fewer clues are available to western eyes to understand China. The publicly accepted change in Chinese goals was to appease an angry populace who wanted a more western life style. Alternatively they were speeding their economy in order to build the skill base for modern war. The passage above would seem agree.

But the unmentioned party, who was also released at the fall of the USSR, was what would become known as the 'Western Neocons.' These people were already pushing towards world hegemony via the US Dollar, taken off the gold standard in 1971. These people, more than any other, worship Satan as referenced in the passage above. So their attack on Iraq becomes their first act of war. Followed many more times since.

How this plays out is beyond our scope here. Returning to the story in Revelation, we find a resurrection takes place after this 1000 year period is over:

A previous article explored the promises to Judah as a tribe. As a tribe they will eventually be given the right to rule the other nations.

In this revelation passage we see another reference to this same time, perhaps another 1000 years, when Russia is the governing country. Their 70 years of communist rule having taught them to avoid Socialism and the political left at all costs.

The passage above is indicating Orthodox Christianity directly, the ashen mark is placed on the foreheads of believers each year at Ash Wednesday. This is not practiced by Orthodox Christianity, only by Western Christianity. That mark was instituted in 1091 in the west. The rule indicated in this passage is not in the west, and is in agreement with Jacob's blessing over Judah.

Finally, the last part of the Revelation account.

The headlines in 1991 where euphoric over the end of the Soviet Union. This was not what American leadership was trained to expect. They had seen the Soviet Union first hand since the end of World War II, and now they were self destructing.

Could this be? Well, in a way, yes, but will it be? Not before the end of this story.

Daniel, using the symbol for Russia of the bear, says he will get up and "eat his fill of flesh."(Dan 7:5) Ezekiel, using the same people group names we saw in Revelation adds that it will be against their will and he uses the illustration of a horse's bit(Ezek 38:4) suggesting that someone else pulls him into this adventure.