Christianization of the Rus
The Christianization of Rus ( Russian Крещение Руси , Ukrainian Хрещення Русі , Belarusian Хрышчэнне Русі , literally the baptism of Rus ) goes to the adoption of Orthodox Christianity as the state religion of Kievan Rus by Grand Duke Vladimir the Great in 988 back. This event marks the beginning of the Russian Orthodox Church . In the broadest sense, this term is understood to mean the process of enforcing Christianity against paganism , which lasted more than a hundred years.
prehistory
To what extent the beginnings of Russian Christianity were influenced by non-Byzantine missionaries, i.e. not from Constantinople, is disputed in research. Even before Vladimir there were Christians in Russia, without Christianity being the state religion. There is a broad consensus among historians that the Rus princes Askold and Dir , who briefly ruled Kiev before the Rurikids conquered , were Christians. They received Christianity from the Patriarch of Constantinople Photios I after their campaign against Byzantium in 860 . Vladimir's grandmother Olga of Kiev may also have been baptized in the name Helena in 957 during a visit to Constantinople. There is some evidence that she had already been converted by Latin-Western missionaries. What is certain is that in 959/60 she sent her own embassy to Otto I , which missionaries and probably also a bishop should request. He sent Adalbert von Trier as a mission bishop. When he arrived in Kiev, Olga had already handed over the government to her son Svyatoslav the Conqueror , for whom she had ruled while he was a minor. He and his Warsaw followers were not friendly towards Christianity.
Choice of religion by Vladimir I.
The Kiev Grand Duke Vladimir was looking for a state religion that could unite his great empire. The heterogeneous pantheon of Slavic paganism , which varied regionally, did not fulfill this function, although Vladimir tried several "pagan reforms" for this purpose. According to the Nestor Chronicle , Vladimir finally invited teachers of the faith from different countries to familiarize himself with various monotheistic religions. An embassy from the Volga Bulgarians who promoted Islam had to return empty-handed because Vladimir did not like the ban on alcohol. He also sent German missionaries who represented the Roman Pope and the Judaist Khazars away.
The Byzantine teachers of the faith were ultimately successful. Vladimir sent his representatives to Constantinople to attend a service in Hagia Sophia . When they returned, they told him that they no longer knew whether they were "still on earth or already in heaven". So Vladimir decided (according to legend) for Christianity with Byzantine influences. In fact, Vladimir's baptism was at least as much a diplomatic move: the goal was to establish a connection with the Byzantine imperial family. Emperor Basil II needed help against the Bulgarians , the common enemies of Vladimir and the Eastern Roman emperor. Vladimir sent an army of 6000 Rus to Constantinople . He also put pressure on the emperor by attacking the Byzantine Chersonesos in the Crimea . Eventually he agreed: If Vladimir were baptized, Basil II would give him his sister Anna as his wife for military support . So it happened, and Vladimir I was the first European ruler to have a purple-born wife. Vladimir traveled to the Byzantine Chersonesos in Crimea and was personally baptized there in 988.
According to the Korsun legend, Vladimir Chersonesus conquered Chersonesus in 987 during the Byzantine Civil War when the Eastern Roman emperors fought against the usurper Bardas Phokas the Younger . Basil II tried to win the Rus as allies, whereupon Vladimir demanded the hand of his sister Anna Porphyrogenneta . He agreed, but on the condition that Vladimir professes Christianity, since marrying his daughter to a pagan would be a humiliation. In this way, Vladimir was baptized in Chersonesos in 988, marking the Russian-Byzantine alliance.
baptism
In the same year 988 he had the pagan idols in Kiev thrown into the Dnieper and ordered that all city dwellers be baptized in the Dnieper. This mass baptism is considered the symbolic beginning of Russian Orthodox Christianity. A metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople was established in Kiev, and its first bishop was Michael I Vladimir, who sent representatives of his Druzhina to all corners of his empire and also had mass baptisms carried out there, whereby old idols were overthrown and beaten. Eparchies were set up in Novgorod , Chernigov , Polotsk , Pereyaslavl , Vladimir-Volynsky and other large cities.
The actions against the pagan cult did not proceed peacefully everywhere and led to the results desired by the Kiev ruler. Especially in the far north-east of the country, in the Rostov and Suzdal area , paganism remained influential for a long time; in the decades that followed, violent uprisings against the compulsory Christianization continued to take place. For a long time the northeast remained a refuge for staunch pagans who wanted to escape the power of the Kiev princes. Christianization accelerated Slavic migration into these still strongly Finno-Ugric areas. Bishop Isaiah of Rostov was finally able to strengthen Christianity in this area in the second half of the 11th century.
consequences
Greek Orthodox Christianization had an immense cultural influence on the Rus and profoundly influenced art, literature and architecture. Among other things, it led to the spread of the Cyrillic script . In the early phase, Greek missionaries and missionaries from the southern Slavic region, especially from Bulgaria and Macedonia , played an important role in the dissemination of Christian teachings .
The religious scholar Vladimir Toporov saw in the event of 988 the origin of a special Russian civilization and attributed to it a pan-European and Eurasian significance.
Christianization marked the beginning of stone building in Rus. The Desjatynna Church in Kiev became the first stone church of the empire . Under Vladimir's successors, the Kiev Cathedral of St. Sophia , the Novgorod Cathedral of St. Sophia and the Polotsk Cathedral of St. Sophia were built on the model of Constantinople . In Kiev and Vladimir , golden gates were built based on the model of Constantinople .
See also
literature
- Рапов О. М. Русская церковь в IX - первой трети XII в. Принятие христианства. - М .: Высшая школа, 1988. - 416 с.
- Фроянов И. Я. Загадка крещения Руси. - М .: Алгоритм, 2007. - 336 с. - (Древнейшая история Руси). - ISBN 978-5-9265-0409-2 .
- Володихин Д. М. Крещение Руси: как это было // Фома. - 2013. - № 7 (123).
- Кузьмин А. Г. Крещение Руси: концепции и проблемы // Вопросы религии и религиоведения. - М., 2009. - Вып. 1 Часть 2. - С. 11-48.
- Брайчевский М. Ю. Утверждение христианства на Руси. - К .: Академия наук Украинской ССР, Наукова думка, 1989. - 294 с.
Web links
- Day of Baptism of Russia (Russian)