3. The Baptism of Russia, Rus 2 Russia
The results of the campaign of 964-965 cannot fail to raise the prestige of Rus' in the eyes of the Byzantine ally, who did all they could to involve Svyatoslav in solving the empire's foreign policy
Svyatoslav and Kalokir
The Byzantine government needed a man to negotiate with Svyatoslav. Kalokir, a Byzantine diplomat, the son of the strategist of the Chersonesus fema (province), was chosen. Kalokir was a man as energetic as he was ambitious. The language of the Slavs and their manners he knew well, for he met them in Chersonese, and as the Byzantium officer, shoulder to shoulder with the Slavic-Russes fought in Syria against the Muslims.
In Kiev Kalokir concluded a treaty that was advantageous to Byzantium, by which the Russians undertook to force the Bulgarian kingdom into submission. But the ambitious envoy secretly dreamed of his imperial crown. He had decided to rely on an army Russ and, having overthrown old emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, to grasp authority in Constantinople.
Carrying out the contract, Russ has landed in a mouth of Danube, has broken the Bulgarian tsar Peter, and has seized Bulgaria. Peter soon died, and the captured tsareviches were sent to Byzantium where they have been locked up, preliminary one having disfigured (the person disfigured thus lost the right to a throne). Kalokir's plans began to come true: the Slavic-Russian prince Svyatoslav became his friend; in a short passage from Constantinople stood the Russian troops; his allies, the Pechenegs, also approached him.
А. I. Ivanov. The feat of a young Kievan at the siege of Kiev by the Pechenegs in the year 968
And in Constantinople itself there was a situation favorable to Kalokir. The late Nicephoros II Phocas, an excellent military leader and administrator, was extremely unpopular in his own capital. Phocas supported the monks of Mount Athos and stood up for the poor clergy against the rich monasteries and bishops. The emperor severely curtailed the income of the church. Thus, he acquired funds for military expenditures and ... the enmity of church hierarchs. In addition, the vassileus (the title of the emperor of Byzantium) increased taxes on artisans and fishermen, and with the taxes the prices rose. The city population grumbled. Phocas was supported only by the frontier warriors - Acrites, but they were too far from the capital at a decisive moment. On top of his troubles, Phocas was old and ugly. His wife, Empress Theophano, gave her heart to the handsome John Tzimiskes. A conspiracy ensued. The conspirators, with the help of the empress, infiltrated the palace and ruthlessly murdered the old emperor (969). However, when he became emperor, Tzimiskes exiled Theophano and the immediate murderers, making an exception for himself, to the islands of the Aegean Sea.
To the misfortune of Kalokir, whose plan had already been revealed under Phocas, Tzimiskes proved to be an able and active commander. The new emperor threw at Svyatoslav and Kalokir the excellent army created by his predecessor. In addition, Phokas managed to order that the Byzantine allies - the left bank Pechenegs - attack Kiev. Therefore, Svyatoslav had to leave Bulgaria and rush to Russia to save his own capital, his old mother and children. But when he came to Kiev, the war had already ended before it had begun. Came from the north armies of voivode Pretich stopped Pechenegians. Their Khan exchanged weapons with Pretich and, having made peace, went to the Dnieper steppes.
Svyatoslav, who had left everything in Bulgaria, discovered that in Kiev he was out of place. The Christian community was strengthening there, and the pagan prince was not satisfied with it. Svyatoslav himself did not like the Christians, and in general, he was "not fond of sitting in Kiev. It must be said that the idea of Svyatoslav to arrange a new capital on the outskirts of his land was not so ridiculous. Peter the Great did the same, creating St. Petersburg, which concentrated the noisy life of the new society. And just as the Swedes did not want Peter's capital near them, the Greeks did not want close proximity to the warlike Svyatoslav.
The fortifications of Constantinople in the 10th century.
Olga asked her son not to leave her. But the old princess soon died and Svyatoslav hurried back to Bulgaria, where the situation also changed not in his favor.
The Byzantines entered the plains of Northern Bulgaria and captured the town of Preslav (Pre-slav). Bulgarians have quickly passed on the party of Greeks: Russ has already disappointed them with violence and cruelty. The group of Russ together with Kalokir, which has managed to leave Preslava has left on Danube to the city of Pereyaslavec. The further destiny Kalokir we do not know. Badjanaks also have left Svyatoslav. Forsaken by the allies, he and his little squadron now confronted both the Byzantine armies and the rebellious Bulgaria.
Svyatoslav and Tzimiskes.
In the spring of 971 Tzimiskes, having interrupted pretended negotiations with Svyatoslav, approached Pereyaslavec with the best troops of the empire. Simultaneously the Greek squadron from 300 ships has entered Danube. Pereyaslavec fell after a three-day storm the final act of the tragedy came. The Russians could not fight "in the open field" for lack of cavalry and locked themselves in the town of Dorostol. The Greeks encircled this small fortress from all sides. Russ took the fight, they fought heroically: in the foot ranks attacked the Byzantines, and only the blow of the armored cavalry saved Tzimiskes from defeat. All night after this fight when in Russian team there was not a single soldier uninjured, in a fortress burned fires. Russ on the bank of Danube sacrificed human babies and roosters, praying to their gods (Perun) for a victory.
Great losses on both sides and hunger in the Russian camp prompted the opponents to talk. In the middle of the Danube, the luxury boat of the Roman emperor and a simple boat in which one of the rowers was Prince Svyatoslav met. The Russian leader in a white shirt to the knees did not differ in any way from the simple soldier. The shaved head, a long forelock, downgraded whiskers and earring in an ear made his look absolutely east.
Greeks did not need lives of Svyatoslav and his team. They have agreed to allow Russ to leave. Svyatoslav for this has promised to recede from Bulgaria. Russian rooks missed by the Greek squadron sailed down the Danube into the Black Sea and reached the island of Berezan (anciently - the island of Buyan) in the Dniester estuary.
Further events seem rather strange. Svyatoslav did not go to the capital; he just put his armies on Berezan' exhausted with wounds, privations and crossing. Soon the lack of food was discovered. It seemed necessary to move along the river valleys to Kiev. So Sveneld, one of the voivods of the prince, did. He left Svyatoslav, went up the Southern Bug with a part of his warriors and came out to Kiev. What made Svyatoslav stay on the island Berezan' and spend there a painful, hungry winter of 971/972? It is unlikely it was fear of collision with Pechenegian. After all, Sveneld passed, and most importantly - Pechenegian were the only ones, who sold provisions to Rus, therefore Svyatoslav had some relations with the nomads.
Scheme of the Battle of Arcadiopolis in 970.
К. V. Lebedev. Date of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav with the Byzantine emperor Tzimiskes
Rather, the matter was that on Berezan' in the army Svyatoslav there was a split. Russ - pagans have accused in the defeat the Russ-Christians, entering in the team. Pagans explained the failure of the campaign by the anger of their gods - Perun and Volos, and the island saw terrible scenes. All the Christian warriors were tortured and killed, and among the dead was Svyatoslav's relative Uleb. Kiev could not have been unaware of the bloody events at Berezan'. The Kiev Christians, who were a large and influential community, realized what awaited them when Svyatoslav and his fierce retinue entered their own capital.
So how did events unfold next? All annals inform, that in the spring of 972 Russ from Berezan moved to Kiev. For some reason for the return path they have chosen not the narrow and quiet Southern Bug, but thorny Dnepr where at the ill-fated Dnepr, the thresholds Russ expected from the left bank Pechenegian. In a short battle Svyatoslav's cohort was completely annihilated, and the Pecheneid Khan Kurya got the cup made of the skull of the prince.
The question arises: who warned the nomads that Svyatoslav, with a tired and sickly army, was marching down the Dnieper? It could have been done by the Pechenegs of Svyatoslav, who maintained contact with Berezan', knew the conditions of life on the island, and most importantly, did not want this squad to come to Kiev.
Historians of the past century thought that the Byzantines sent the Pechenegs to Svyatoslav, but for this purpose they had to sail through the whole Black Sea, to notify the synclite (council) of the emperor, to reach the left bank of the Dnieper River through the Black Sea again, to find the Pechenegs in the vast steppe and, having presented the gifts appropriate for such an occasion, to convince the steppe-people.
We can suppose that Tzimiskes miraculously had enough time to get information about Svyatoslav's team and then contact the Pechenegs. But if Basilevs wanted to exterminate Russ, it could make it simpler - to burn by "Greek fire" defenseless Russ ships, still on the Danube. Who was really interested in the destruction of the prince and his army? It was the Kiev Christians, at the head of which stood the eldest son of Svyatoslav, Yaropolk? He knew what was going on at Berezan' and could have conspired with the Pechenegs. Remember: back in 969, the year voivode Pretich fraternized with Pechenezh Khan. Hence, we can conclude that the guilt for the death of Svyatoslav and the destruction of his cohorts lay not with the Christians of Constantinople, but with the Christians of Kiev.
Pecheneg
Farewell to the Russians
So, with the death of the pagan prince, Kievan Rus was transformed into a calm and quiet power, where the Christian teaching was getting more and more supporters.
Let us think: was it to the detriment or for the benefit of Russia? If Svyatoslav had triumphed, he would have turned Kiev into a base for predatory raids, something like the Baltic Island of Ruga (modern Rügen). Slavic pirates were nesting there, praying to the god Svyatovit, and terrorizing German and Danish merchants. The pirates fought with everyone around and were eventually destroyed. The same fate awaited the power of Svyatoslav, who would ally, with the tribes levied with high tribute, and with the Christians usually executed by him. As a result, the prince of Kiev would have no friends left.
With the death of Svyatoslav, the military-pagan party in Kiev weakened. Power and influence began to shift to the Christians, and that caused some Russians to emigrate from the Kiev power. It was not very difficult for them to leave the Eastern Europe, because already in IX century mobile and aggressive Russ operated outside its borders. Already in 844 the Russ - "may Allah curse them," as the Arab author wrote - landed in Andalusia and tried to break through to Seville.
Muslim troops repulsed the blow and threw the enemies into the sea. Clearly, the Russians knew their way to the West. This is where they went as soon as the situation compelled them; their route was to "Rum and Andalus". "Rum" - that is, Byzantium - was in great need of warriors to fight the Muslims. The mercenary Russians were to fight the Caliphate on the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire.
Those who went to "Andalus" - Spain - were well acquainted with Berber sabers and arrows and chose to attack Christian Galicia (an area in Spain). Their first "exploits" were to ravage the coast, burn monasteries and kill priests. For three years they raged in this land. The region fell into disrepair. Finally, Duke Gonzalo Sanchez was able to gather an army and defeat the invaders. The Russians boarded their ships, sailed away, and ... nothing more is known of them.
Since we know the geography better than people in the 10th century, we can guess where Russ went. A campaign to the south is unlikely, for Muslim lords were able to repel attacks, and Russ knew about it very well. Northwards the way lay across the Bay of Biscay, (between Spain and France), one of the stormiest areas of the Atlantic, where it is dangerous to navigate even today. The most likely route is therefore west, apparently the same route by which the Vikings reached America. But we know of no traces of Russ on that continent. It is most likely that the remains of this exuberant tribe rest on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. With the demise of this band of Russians the page of history, which narrated the relations of the ancient Slavs with the Russians, was definitively turned.
Kievan tracts: Shchekovitsa
Recall that in the ninth and tenth centuries the two peoples sometimes feuded with each other, and sometimes came into close contact. The contact between the Slavs and Russ was most typical for Kiev, where the "Russ-Slavs" dominated. It was there that the Slavic-Russian community began. The convergence of Russ and Slavs was so close that Russ passed us both their name and their princes.
The land of the Polans began to be called Russia. But the ancient conflict between the Slavs and the Russians was replaced by another, no less bloody and difficult one.
Brother on brother
Svyatoslavich, who headed Kiev and Kiev's Christian community after Princess Olga's death, was bound by treaties with Constantinople and the Pechenegs. To the north, in Novgorod, Christianity was opposed by the Baltic-Scandinavian cult of Perun (Lithuanian for Perkunas), the god of a renewed pagan religion. Although Kiev remained a pagan city, the cult of Perun, brought from the Baltic Sea, was not at all sympathetic to Kievans. Akademik B. A. Rybakov rightly believed that Perun was not an original Slavic deity. The Slavs believed in Khors - the Sun (Persian Khurshid), worshipped the female deity Mokosh, the heavenly Dajjbog, the cattle god Volos. Like all self-respecting gods, the Slavics also demanded veneration, but not human sacrifice.
The cult of Perun, the god of war and thunderer, whose arrival stained the earth with the blood of victims, was quite different. The hatred of the Kievers for the cult and worshippers of Perun worsened. The incidents of human sacrifice only pushed many to baptism - no one wanted to be sacrificed, and that threatened everyone. The priests chose a sacrifice and killed it, while the survivors had to rejoice.
In such an acute situation, a clash of opposing worldviews was inevitable. Yaropolk's long and persistent struggle with the supporters of Perun, led by Yaropolk's half-brother Vladimir, son of Svyatoslav's concubine, Malusha, began.
The chronicler describes all subsequent events as deeds of princes. But we know that in reality the princes were very young. Vladimir and Sviatoslav's third son Oleg were about 15 years old, and Yaropolk was a little older. These young men could hardly pursue a policy of their own. Behind them were experienced and influential men, relying on the population of certain lands. That is why the subsequent political struggle is so interesting and significant for our topic.
So, the victory of Pechenegs over Svyatoslav, which brought Yaropolk power, united Ancient Russia for some period. Almost all the Slavo-Russian lands along the Dnieper and Novgorod in the north submitted to Yaropolk. A short raid on Ovruch got rid of his younger brother Oleg, the prince of Drevlyans (977), and subjugated his lands to Kiev. Vladimir with his uncle Dobrynja was sent to rule Novgorod, still by Svyatoslav. After Oleg's death, being afraid of the elder brother, Vladimir Svjatoslavich fled to Sweden. It seemed that the desired unity of the country was achieved. But it turned out to be fragile, because the Slavic-Russian passionaries of that time were full of aspirations to fight for the worldview and desired goals close to them.
Vladimir returned to Novgorod as an adherent of the "evil" Baltic gods (Perun). Leading an army of Vikings and Novgorodians, he first attacked Polotsk, killed its prince Rogvolod, and annexed the land of Polotsk to Novgorod. Then followed the capture of Smolensk. And so, in 980 by the great way "from the Varangians to the Greeks" Vladimir came to Kiev.
В. M. Vasnetsov. Boyan
Prince Yaropolk. Engraving of 1805.
Yaropolk's entourage included traitors. Apparently, he did not please everyone. Voevoda Blood’s false advice put the prince in a very difficult situation: Vladimir (brother) blocked him in the fortress of Rodne. A famine began among the besieged. The same Blood advised Yaropolk to leave the fortress and negotiate peace with his brother. The meeting decided to be in a tent between the fortress moat and the tents of the besiegers. When Yaropolk entered the tent, two Vikings, hiding there, pierced him with swords. Thus, the pagan party gained a complete victory. However, Vladimir, a man of intellect, although cruel and unprincipled, saw that the cult of Perun was unpopular in the south. The passionate (the most energetic) part of Kiev had already been baptized. Vladimir naturally followed the public sentiments in the capital, because he could not ignore them, especially after he parted with his Varangian retinue, not wanting to pay the Vikings the money they had earned during the campaign.
Not without the help of the Kievers, the Vikings were gathered together on the banks of the Dnepr, ostensibly to pay their wages. Then they put them into the boats without oars, pushed them away from the shore and said: "Float down the river, to Tsargrad, where you will earn a lot of money, and do not come back to us. But at the same time Vladimir sent messengers to Constantinople. They warned the Greeks not to trust the Vikings, because their god Perun is not only "evil", but also deceitful. Vladimir advised the Greeks to accept the Vikings, but to divide them and to send several men to different garrisons, so that the Vikings would be safely surrounded by local warriors.
Consequences of lies
Vladimir's foreign policy in the 80s of the X century combined successes and failures.
In the northeast of Russia neighbored the strong Bulgarian empire, accepted one of world religions - in Islam. The Volga Bulgaria directly bordered on two city-princedoms: Murom and Suzdal. The incessant border conflicts resulted in the Bulgars taking over Murom and the Slavs taking over the Bulgars' strongholds. As a result of the constant fighting on the borders, the population of Volga Bulgaria (which is one of the ancestors of the modern Kazan Tatars) was mixed. Bulgars attacking Russian villages killed men and captured women and children. Muslims sold children into slavery, and women were made their concubines. From mixed marriages were born Murads and Fatmas. But then on Bulgarian settlements attacked Suzdal and Muromian. The captured children they made into the workers, and captured Bulgarian women have taken as wives. All-slaves and Lyubavas were born.
Thus, the difference between the two ethnic groups was not anthropological, nor racial, nor even economic, as the economic systems in Volga Bulgaria and northeastern Russia were very similar. The differences were religious. But Muslim religious fanaticism had not yet prevailed in Volga Bulgaria, and faith served only as an indicator of the differences between the Volga Bulgars and the Slavs.
Kiev's attempt to annex the Great Bulgars, who stood on the bank of the Volga (not far from present-day Kazan), was unsuccessful. Noting the unsuccessful campaign of Vladimir and Dobryn' (985), the chronicler stingily remarked that one would not receive tribute from those who wear boots, but would have to seek out the boot-wearers. Thus, in this direction Vladimir's activity was not successful.
On the other hand, he succeeded in another operation. Only in the composition of John Mnich there is a mention of the capture of Tmutarakan, where the remnants of the Judeo-Khazars were still located. But even in this composition only one phrase speaks about a campaign during which Russian armies absolutely freely passed from Kiev through Northern Caucasus along the Terek up to Caspian Sea (986). Tmutarakan became one of the Russian cities and went to Vladimir's son Mstislav.
Mstislav was put on the princely throne of Tmutarakan' at six years old. Thus, here, as in the case of Yaropolk, Vladimir and Oleg, the name of the prince was used by the chroniclers, not as the name of a real decider, but only as a signboard, a symbol that denoted the existence of a grouping of political forces.
View of Constantinople. Miniature. XV c.
The encirclement of Korsun by the armies of Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle
Curiously, the French historian Augustin Thierry notes the same about the Frankish kings in his Essays on the Early Middle Ages. When the western part of Charlemagne's crumbling empire (what is now France) went out to fight for Charlemagne the Bald, the French had no idea who he was. But they fought, and very bravely, for the principles that were formulated under the general slogan of serving Charlemagne. Similarly, the Germans, fighting for their own interests, thought they were fighting for Louis the German. But back to Vladimir, namely his Korsun operation, which had serious consequences.
At the end of the 10th century Bulgaria, half captured by Byzantium, was experiencing a mighty intellectual boom. While officially unchanged from their 865 Orthodox Christianity, the Bulgarians differed greatly in outlook from Byzantium. A priest, Bogumil, was found who expounded the Sacred History as follows. At the same time as God, there was a fallen angel, Satanael. He was caste to the ocean of the world and wept bitterly. The Creator took pity on him and created, at Satanael's wish, the dry land. Satanael made men, but could not spiritualize them. He again came to God and, promising total obedience, asked that his creatures be brought to life. God then breathed a soul into the human beings. But Satanil deceived God, because he created Cain, set up the first murder, and began to spite the Almighty in every way. He made a fierce use of people who had been inspired by God, but whom Satanil had led astray. God sent angels against Satanil, who twisted him and took from his name the suffix "il", (the one), which contained the mystical power. Deprived of his power, already Satan, not Satanael, the angels drove him beneath the earth.
All spiritual things were regarded by Bogumil as divine and good, while all material things were Satanic and evil. It was necessary to serve God by denying all that was evil, that is, all material. And that meant in practice - to deny cities, temples, paintings (icons), to deny the whole Christian ritual. After all, Christianity believes that the world is created by God and therefore is good. (Bogumil is anti-life and therefore anti-system, a destroyer of all things).
The Bogumils were not unique in their worldview, which it is wrong to call religious. There were many such teachings in the ninth through twelfth centuries; they were extremely diverse and spread from Tibet in the East to Aquitaine in the West. What these teachings had in common, however, was that they regarded the material world as evil and were therefore hostile to it. (The birth of the anti-system). Since there is no real life, there is no lie, no truth, and no pity for anyone (kill as you wish) - because suffering is phantom. People who entered the world of fantasy representations and spells were genuinely convinced that they were masters of this ghostly world. We shall call these systems of worldview hostile to the material world “negative”. To the negative worldview people pushed terrible conditions of reality, and simply philistine decay of life, burdensome for an energetic (passionate) man. But regardless of the origins of the doctrine or the ways in which the real world was condemned, negative worldview systems logically justified any murder and atrocities.
The doctrine of the Bohumiles, named after its founder, was a typical negative system, as were the teachings of the French Albigensians, Patarenes, the Macedonian Manicheans, Mazdakites, the Byzantine Pavlikians, the Peacchians, Carmats, Coptics, Cathars, and the Ishmaelites of the Muslim world. As we can see, negative systems swept over Catholic Europe, the Muslim world, and Byzantium. Thus, only Greeks have managed to cope with supporters of metaphysical evil. After the defeat of the Pavlikian stronghold, the fortress of Tefrika, the Byzantines began to control the Manicheans of Macedonia in the ninth century. But in the 10th century the Bulgarian Bohumilians drew a rather unexpected practical conclusion from their teaching: "Beat the Byzantines!" They used all means to achieve their goal. Thus, under the guise of Orthodox priests the Bohumls marched into Russia, which was gravitating toward Christianity. Apparently, not without their influence Vladimir undertook a completely ridiculous campaign to Korsun.
Ancient civil and military costumes of the Slavs
Korsun (Chersonesos in Greek, on the Azov Sea), not far from modern Sevastopol, had great fortifications that saved many Christians during the Pesach campaign. Vladimir's capture of this city was aided by the treachery of the Korsun priest Anastas (according to other sources - Viking Zhydbern). The traitor sent a note on an arrow to Rus' camp. The message stated the location of the pipes carrying drinking water to the besieged city. Vladimir destroyed the water pipes and the thirst forced the Korsunians to surrender. But Vladimir did not manage to stay in Crimea. He married a Greek princess, returned Korsun to the Byzantines and retreated.
The New Way
So, Vladimir sullied himself with the murder of Rogvolod and his sons, who were not guilty of anything and didn't even fight with him. He raped Rogvolod's daughter Rogneda. She even wanted to kill Vladimir, taking revenge for the death of her father and brothers. Vladimir treacherously murdered his own brother. He also betrayed his Varangian comrades-in-arms. This prince, as the chronicles attest, had plenty of sins. The adventure of Korsun weighed heavily on his reputation as a warrior. So, can the bright memory of him, preserved by descendants to this day, can be called undeserved?
No! Historical memory connects Vladimir's image not with his (lack of) personal qualities and lack of political successes, but with a more significant act - the choice of faith, which spiritualized the life of the people. Indeed, having extended his power to almost all the Slavic-Russian lands, Vladimir inevitably had to adhere to some, as we would say today, "national" political program, which, according to the conditions of the time, was expressed in religious form.
Religions (theistic systems of the worldview) that had a significant influence on the situation in Eastern Europe in the 10th century included Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Islam. Russian "faith seekers" must have been aware of, the differences between these major religions. The latter is not surprising: Kievan merchants and warriors were constantly in Constantinople, fought on Crete and in Asia Minor, traded with the Egyptians and Syrians, and traveled to Volga Bulgaria and Khorezm. The acceptance of a particular faith automatically led to an orientation towards certain groups in the country. So, the "choice of faith" that was before Prince Vladimir was not an easy one. However, this problem also had an international aspect, due to the constant super-ethnic contacts.
Russian weapons
Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Titularnik, 1672.
In the time preceding the baptism of Rus' there were growing menacing signs of a coming schism in the hitherto united Christian world. Here, too, ideological disputes were based on natural, objective processes of ethnogenesis. The Western European super-ethnic unity, in the phase of its passionate rise, felt its difference from other super-ethnoses very keenly, and clothed it in the garb of ecclesiastical superiority, calling itself "the only Christian world". The struggle between Orthodoxy and Catholicism was beginning to move from the realm of theological disagreement to the realm of politics.
The German Emperor Otto II at the imperial Diet of Verona in 983 made the decision to go to war against "Greeks and Saracens". This equating of the Orthodox Christians with Muslims made it impossible to speak of the unity of the Church of Christ, and made the threat of a Catholic onslaught on the East, including Rus', quite real. Russians understood this all too well, because before the Seim in Verona, the Polish Catholic king Mieszko I fought the prince of Kiev over Rus' (Galicia), and the already mentioned Otto II fought the Western Slavs on the Elbe (Labe) River.
The circumstances of Vladimir's "choice of faith" are widely known and are described in the "Tale of Bygone Years". In the Nestorian version, the prince, wishing to understand the different uses of beliefs, he sent his envoys to neighboring lands and then received representatives of all the teachings of the time. We do not care how real these details are, for of far greater importance is the motivation given by Vladimir for his decision to be baptized according to the Greek rite.
A Greek philosopher shows a curtain with the image of Jesus Christ to Vladimir Sviatoslavich. Miniature from the Radziwill Chronicle
Speaking of motives, consider that in addition to dogmas, every religion has customs that are traditionally handed down from generation to generation. Such customs sometimes mean more to new converts than sacred books, especially if these books are written in an incomprehensible language. For example, the main book of Islam, the Koran, is written in Arabic, a language that is not understood by the Slavs. Muslims' customs, for example not to drink wine and not to eat pork, are simple, but for the Slavs they were unacceptable. Here is why. According to Russian custom, the prince and his retinue used to share a meal. This obligatory ritual sealed the friendship between the prince and his troops, and what could be more important to the prince?
Another circumstance was less important, but quite significant. The Slavs and Russes were used to alcoholic beverages because wine and beer relieved the fatigue of the campaigns, but the strict ritual of the feasts did not allow "rampage in the hop". Of course, the Arabs, too, having accepted Islam, did not stop drinking wine, but did it in a narrow circle of relatives and friends, being sober in public places. They had no feast rituals and no corresponding stereotypes of behavior. As a result, to Muslim mullahs Vladimir has refused with the well-known words: "To Russia there is fun to drink...".
Vladimir's reasons for refusing the German-Catholics are more complicated. His words are unclear: "Go where you came from, for our fathers also did not accept it.” Let us try to understand what exactly "our fathers did not accept”. In the middle of the 10th century, Bishop Adalbert arrived in Russia with a mission to baptize Princess Olga and the Kievan people. Adalbert failed, but "not because of his carelessness”.
It is known that in the middle of the century very sinful popes sometimes ascended the holy throne. In 955 a young man of sixteen named Pope John XII ascended the papal throne. The Vatican court became a den of corrupt women. If the pope had been only a hunter, a gambler, a dragster and a drunkard, that would have been half the trouble. But the Roman high priest gave feasts with libations in honor of the ancient pagan gods and drank to Satan's health. Of course, news of such "exploits" reached Russia. The chronological coincidence of the outrages and Rome and Adalbert's expulsion from Kiev cannot be coincidental. Therefore, the tradition of rejecting the Latin faith and consciously choosing the Greek one really dates back to Vladimir's ancestors on the princely throne: Princess Olga and her grandson Yaropolk.
But the story of the arrival of the Khazar Jews to Vladimir is an example of Nestor's obvious literary creativity. The Jews allegedly confesses to Vladimir: "Our land has been betrayed by Krestyan". In fact, in the 10th century Palestine was in Muslim hands. The chronicler shifted the dates. It is noteworthy that, according to the chronicle, Vladimir did not turn to the Jews, but only took them to drive them out. Consequently, Nestor's chronicle records the last attempt of the Khazar Jews to get their hands on the prince of Kiev. It was made when the Khazar Kaganate no longer existed. The outcome of the attempt is known: Vladimir was shrewd.
The military and political consequences of the choice of faith were very great. The choice made not only gave Vladimir a strong ally, Byzantium, but also reconciled him with the population of his own capital. At first, Novgorod and Chernigov offered some resistance to baptism, preferring paganism. But the pagans of Novgorod were crushed by military force, and after a while Chernigov, together with Smolensk, also adopted Christianity. (It took decades.) Now the prince of Kiev was left with only foreign policy problems.
В. P. Vereshchagin. The Baptism of St. Vladimir
Pechenegs reigned in the steppes between Rus' and the Black Sea. It was the Pechenegs, who grew rich by trading with Korsun and Byzantium, who came out against prince Vladimir. We only know the result of the clash, which, presumably, resulted in a major war; Vladimir had to fence off his lands with palisades, put up "watchmen", and give up his hegemony in the Southern Russian steppes and his access to the Black Sea.
The enemies of the Russians and Byzantium - the Pechenegs - were pagans in the 10th century. In the 11th century this tribe converted to Islam. The conversion to Mohammedanism was accompanied by intestine warfare. A part of the nomads was baptized, but the majority, having converted to Islam, became enemies with the Greeks. The conversion to Islam, wars with Byzantium, and internal unrest constrained the forces of the nomads and by the end of the first third of the 11th century it saved Russia from the Pechenezh threat.
В. P. Vereshchagin. The establishment of Christianity in Kiev
What was going on in Russia? We see how the Orthodox Church gradually spread its beneficial influence, built temples and monasteries, and taught people to read and write. Only in Rostov (in the land of Merjan) were duel urban communities preserved for a long time: a Christian community and a pagan one. In one end of the city there was an Orthodox church, and in the other end there was a temple of Keremet, the god of the Merians. Nonetheless, Christians and pagans coexisted quite peacefully, and after the Merians killed two particularly annoying missionaries, they were left alone.
So, Vladimir followed the path outlined by the "wisest of people", Princess Olga, who chose Orthodoxy. The power of the preaching of Orthodoxy was in the political moderation of the Byzantine Empire, in the sincerity of the patriarchs of Constantinople, and in the charm of Greek liturgy (church services).
Byzantium wanted friendship from Russia and an end to the senseless raids on the Black Sea coast. Greek theologians did not sugar-coat their preaching of Orthodoxy with deceitful political intricacies. Also important was the fact that Orthodoxy did not preach the idea of predestination. That is why the responsibility for sins committed of one's own free will fell on the sinner. This was understandable and acceptable to the pagans. Acceptance of Christian morality was not psychologically violent for new converts who were used to the elementary opposition between Good and Evil.
The goodness and wisdom of Christianity in 988 fought against Perun (Scandinavians) and the pursuit of profit, which was the actual god of the Rahdonites (Khazar Jews). Baptism gave our ancestors the supreme freedom - the freedom to choose between Good and Evil, and the victory of Orthodoxy gave Russia a thousand years of history.
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