The Christianization of Russia (988)
987 (6495): Vladimir summoned together his vassals
and the city elders, and said to them: "Behold, the
Bulgars came before me urging me to accept their religion.
Then came the Germans and praised their own faith; and
after them came the Jews. Finally the Greeks appeared,
criticising all other faiths but commanding their own,
and they spoke at length, telling the history of the
whole world from its beginning. Their words were artful,
and it was wondrous to listen and pleasant to hear them.
They preach the existence of another world. 'Whoever adopts
our religion and then dies shall arise and live forever. But
whosoever embraces another faith, shall be consumed with
fire in the next world.' What is your opinion on this subject,
and what do you answer?" The vassals and the elders replied:
"You know, O Prince, that no man condemns his own possessions,
but praises them instead. If you desire to make certain, you
have servants at your disposal. Send them to inquire about
the ritual of each and how he worships God. " Their counsel
pleased the prince and all the people, so that they chose good
and wise men to the number of ten, and directed them to go
first among the Bulgars and inspect their faith. The emissaries
went their way, and when they arrived at their destination they
beheld the disgraceful actions of the Bulgars and their worship
in the mosque; then they returned to their own country. Vladimir
then instructed them to go likewise among the Germans, and examine
their faith, and finally to visit the Greeks. They thus went into
Germany, and after viewing the German ceremonial, they proceeded
to Constantinople where they appeared before the emperor. He
inquired on what mission they had come, and they reported to him
all that had occurred.. When the emperor heard their words, he
rejoiced, and did them great honour on that very day.
On the morrow, the emperor sent a message to the patriarch to inform
him that a Russian
delegation had arrived to examine the Greek faith, and directed him
to prepare the church
and the clergy, and to array himself in his sacerdotal robes, so that
the Russians might
behold the glory of the God of the Greeks. When the patriarch received
these commands, he
bade the clergy assemble, and they performed the customary rites. They
burned incense, and
the choirs sang hymns. The emperor accompanied the Russians to the
church, and placed
them in a wide space, calling their attention to the beauty of the
edifice, the chanting, and
the offices of the archpriest and the ministry of the deacons, while
he explained to them the
worship of his God. The Russians were astonished, and in their wonder
praised the Greek
ceremonial. Then the Emperors Basil and Constantine invited the envoys
to their presence,
and said, "Go hence to your native country," and thus dismissed them
with valuable presents
and great honour. Thus they returned to their own country, and the
prince called together
his vassals and the elders. Vladimir then announced the return of the
envoys who had been
sent out, and suggested that their report be heard. He thus commanded
them to speak out
before his vassals. The envoys reported: "When we journeyed among the
Bulgars, we beheld
how they worship in their temple, called a mosque, while they stand
ungirt. The Bulgarian
bows, sits down, looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there
is no happiness
among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion
is not good. Then
we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many ceremonies
in their temples;
but we beheld no glory there. Then we went on to Greece, and the Greeks
led us to the
edifices where they worship their God, and we knew not whether we were
in heaven or on
earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and
we are at a loss how to
describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their
service is fairer than
the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty.
Every man, after tasting
something sweet, is afterward unwilling to accept that which is bitter,
and therefore we
cannot dwell longer here." Then the vassals spoke and said, "If the
Greek faith were evil, it
would not have been adopted by your grandmother Olga, who was wiser
than all other men."
Vladimir then inquired where they should all accept baptism, and they
replied that the
decision rested with him.
After a year had passed, in 988 (6496), Vladimir marched with an armed
force against
Kherson, a Greek city, and the people of Kherson barricaded themselves
therein. Vladimir
halted at the farther side of the city beside the bay, a bowshot from
the town, and the
inhabitants resisted energetically while Vladimir besieged the town.
Eventually, however,
they became exhausted, and Vladimir warned them that if they did not
surrender, he would
remain on the spot for three years. When they failed to heed this threat,
Vladimir
marshalled his troops and ordered the construction of an earthwork
in the direction of the
city. While this work was under construction, the inhabitants dug a
tunnel under the city
wall, stole the heaped-up earth, and carried it into the city, where
they piled it up in the
centre of the town. But the soldiers kept on building, and Vladimir
persisted. Then a man of
Kherson, Anastasius by name, shot into the Russian camp an arrow on
which he had
written: "There are springs behind you to the east, from which water
flows in pipes. Dig
down and cut them off." When Vladimir received this information, he
raised his eyes to
heaven and vowed that if this hope was realised, he would be baptised.
He gave orders
straightway to dig down above the pipes, and the water supply was thus
cut off. The
inhabitants were accordingly overcome by thirst, and surrendered.
Vladimir and his retinue entered the city, and he sent messages to the
Emperors Basil and
Constantine, saying: "Behold, I have captured your glorious city. I
have also heard that you
have an unwed sister. Unless you give her to me to wife, I shall deal
with your own city as I
have with Kherson." When the emperors heard this message, they were
troubled, and
replied: "It is not meet for Christians to give in marriage to pagans.
If you are baptised, you
shall have her to wife, inherit the kingdom of God, and be our companion
in the faith.
Unless you do so, however, we cannot give you our sister in marriage."
When Vladimir
learned their response, he directed the envoys of the emperors to report
to the latter that he
was willing to accept baptism, having already given some study to their
religion, and that the
Greek faith and ritual, as described by the emissaries sent to examine
it, had pleased him
well. When the emperors heard this report, they rejoiced, and persuaded
their sister Anna to
consent to the match. They then requested Vladimir to submit to baptism
before they should
send their sister to him, but Vladimir desired that the princess should
herself bring priests to
baptise him. The emperors complied with his request, and sent forth
their sister,
accompanied by some dignitaries and priests. Anna, however, departed
with reluctance. "It
is as if I were setting out into captivity," she lamented; "better
were it for me to die here."
But her brothers protested: "Through your agency God turns the Russian
land to repentance,
and you will relieve Greece from the danger of grievous war. Do you
not see how much evil
the Russians have already brought upon the Greeks? If you do not set
out, they may bring on
us the same misfortunes." It was thus that they overcame her hesitation
only with great
difficulty. The princess embarked upon a ship, and after tearfully
embracing her kinfolk, she
set forth across the sea and arrived at Kherson. The natives came forth
to greet her, and
conducted her into the city, where they settled her in the palace.
By divine agency, Vladimir was suffering at that moment from a disease
of the eyes, and
could see nothing, being in great distress. The princess declared to
him that if he desired to
be relieved of this disease, he should be baptised with all speed,
otherwise it could not be
cured. When Vladimir heard her message, he said, "If this proves true,
then of a surety is the
God of the Christians great," and gave order that he should be baptised.
The Bishop of
Kherson, together with the princess's priests, after announcing the
tidings, baptised
Vladimir, and as the bishop laid his hand upon him, he straightway
received his sight. Upon
experiencing this miraculous cure, Vladimir glorified God, saying,
"I have now perceived the
one true God." When his followers beheld this miracle, many of them
were also baptised.
Vladimir was baptised in the Church of St. Basil, which stands at Kherson
upon a square in
the centre of the city, where the Khersonians trade. The palace of
Vladimir stands beside
this church to this day, and the palace of the princess is behind the
altar. After his baptism,
Vladimir took the princess in marriage. Those who do not know the truth
say he was
baptised in Kiev, while others assert this event took place in Vasiliev,
while still others
mention other places.
Hereupon Vladimir took the princess and Anastasius and the priests of
Kherson, together
with the relics of St. Clement and of Phoebus his disciple, and selected
also sacred vessels
and images for the service. In Kherson he thus founded a church on
the mound which had
been heaped up in the midst of the city with the earth removed from
his embankment; this
church is standing at the present day. Vladimir also found and appropriated
two bronze
statues and four bronze horses, which now stand behind the Church of
the Holy Virgin, and
which the ignorant think are made of marble. As a wedding present for
the princess, he gave
Kherson over to the Greeks again, and then departed for Kiev.
When the prince arrived at his capital, he directed that the idols should
be overthrown and
that some should be cut to pieces and others burned with fire. He thus
ordered that Perun
should be bound to a horse's tail and dragged along Borichev to the
river. He appointed
twelve men to beat the idol with sticks, not because he thought the
wood was sensitive, but to
affront the demon who had deceived man in this guise, that he might
receive chastisement
at the hands of men. Great art thou, O Lord, and marvellous are thy
works! Yesterday he was
honoured of men, but today held in derision. While the idol was being
dragged along the
stream to the Dnepr, the unbelievers wept over it, for they had not
yet received holy baptism.
After they had thus dragged the idol along, they cast it into the Dnepr.
But Vladimir had
given this injunction: "If it halts anywhere, then push it out from
the bank, until it goes over
the falls. Then let it loose." His command was duly obeyed. When the
men let the idol go,
and it passed through the falls, the wind cast it out on the bank,
which since that time has
been called Perun's Shore, a name that it bears to this very day.
Thereafter Vladimir sent heralds throughout the whole city to proclaim
that if any
inhabitant, rich or poor, did not betake himself to the river, he would
risk the prince's
displeasure. Men the people heard these words, they wept for joy, and
exclaimed in their
enthusiasm, "If this were not good, the prince and his boyars would
not have accepted it."
On the morrow the prince went forth to the Dnepr with the priests of
the princess and those
from Kherson, and a countless multitude assembled. They all went into
the water: some
stood up to their necks, others to their breasts, the younger near
the bank, some of them
holding children in their arms, while the adults waded farther out.
The priests stood by and
offered prayers. There was joy in heaven and upon earth to behold so
many souls saved. But
the devil groaned, lamenting: "Woe is me! how am I driven out hence!
For I thought to have
my dwelling place here, since the apostolic teachings do not abide
in this land. Nor did this
people know God, but I rejoiced in the service they rendered unto me.
But now I am
vanquished by the ignorant, not by apostles and martyrs, and my reign
in these regions is at
an end."
When the people were baptised, they returned each to his own abode.
Vladimir, rejoicing
that he and his subjects now knew God himself, looked up to heaven
and said: "O God, who
hast created heaven and earth, look down, I beseech thee, on this thy
new people, and grant
them, O Lord, to know thee as the true God, even as the other Christian
nations have known
thee. Confirm in them the true and unalterable faith, and aid me, O
Lord, against the hostile
adversary, so that, hoping in thee and in thy might, I may overcome
his malice." Having
spoken thus, he ordained that churches should be built and established
where pagan idols
had previously stood. He thus founded the Church of St. Basil on the
hill where the idol of
Perun and the other images had been set, and where the prince and the
people had offered
their sacrifices. He began to found churches and to assign priests
throughout the cities, and
to invite the people to accept baptism in all the cities and towns.
He took the children of the
best families, and sent them to schools for instruction in book learning.
The mothers of
these children wept bitterly over them, for they were not yet strong
in faith, but mourned as
for the dead. When these children were assigned for study, there was
thus fulfilled in the
Russian land the prophecy which says, "In those days, the deaf shall
hear words of Scripture,
and the voice of the stammerers shall be made plain" (Isaiah, xxix,
18). For these persons
had not ere this heard words of Scripture, and now heard them only
by the act of God, for in
his mercy the Lord took pity upon them, even as the Prophet said, "I
will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious" (Exodus, xxxiii, 19).