Dedicated to the 1020th anniversary of Christianity in Rus’
And Vladimir, who knew God, was glad, and his
people.
Ancient record
Since you have
many a dispute on the topic, allow me to say my weighty princely word.
I, Vladimir,
called the Great, will tell you how the Christian faith was accepted in
It was not
new faith for our land during my reign. It was practiced mainly by the noble, educated,
of princely or seigniorial birth, but they were quiet and kept it to themselves.
They took it from visiting Greek or German philosophers. The whole world knows that
my grandmother Olga is a great princess, that is spoken of as “the wisest of
all people”, believed in Christ the Savior.
She received
baptism from German preachers of the Good News, i.e. future Catholics, but you
don’t have firm assurance of it. A certain annals writer monk wrote that in 957
she achieved this rite over herself, having cheated Caesar Constantine the
Porphyry and forced him baptize her in the
Yet this is
not the case, for her faith didn’t become nation-wide but personal. Why? Here is what I think in this respect.
For you, generally non-believing
intellectual people, what’s important is not that the person received the gospel
of salvation, but at what church, under which ministers or Caesars and what
changed in domestic and foreign politics of the state. And “the most just judgment
in history” hid some things from you. Because they are not important to you, and
for us they are private life of our forefathers. Not everything can be
considered on scales of history. Don’t you agree? The biggest battles take place
in person’s heart, but they don’t belong to historical knowledge.
I don’t consider
myself dutiful to prove anything, but see: why only scattered information is
left of Christianity which radically changes the life of whole states and
personalities? Here is some information from the beginning of the 9th
century. From S. Surozsky, we learn about prince Bravlin who was baptized under
the influence of a miracle. In the same manner, certain anonymous leader of
“Russian barbarians.” It should be quite reliable for you that it was Ascold, and
no one else, who was the prince that attacked the
For prince
Ascold received Christ through Byzantine Christian (in future, Orthodox) and Olga,
through Roman (Catholic) ones. Orthodox believers already had their church in
Though, Olga
didn’t always act godly. With all respect for her grandson, I cannot omit that
there is revenge for the Derevlyans for her husband’s murder, which she
conducted like an inveterate pagan. (Yet of me you say that I combine two natures:
pagan and Christian. – Truly so!)
Seeing this
and other things, my father Svyatoslav was more under the influence of those
opportunities that were opening up by military carrier and was interested with
mother’s faith: “If I pass a new law, my army would laugh at me.”… His foreign varyag
blood took over. What a pity. He didn’t acquire as much as he lost. And what
But I
should at some point begin talking about myself. If it hadn’t been for God’s grace
that enlightened me, I would have remained a terrible savage, which I was from
birth. My mother was Princess Olga’s servant, the key-keeper. Now that God humbled
my arrogance, I can speak calmly about it. But before I would chop to pieces
anyone who would give a mere hint. I was the youngest of my father’s sons and
once used to dream of becoming a warrior like him, a “leopard.” Alas, as a child
I seldom saw him and hence felt lonely and unprotected. I remember when the Pechenegs
nearly rushed into
All in all,
I became a good warrior. And when it came to defending my legacy, I not only
defended it but also acquired brother’s land. Now I regret beginning my rule
with fratricide… I would find what to say in my defense, but what for do I need
your condemnation or justifications – aren’t I the last brother murder in
This is why
I love Christ and why I became Christian, this is under whose influence I
changed so drastically. It is under His personal influence! You are surprised that
He can influence person’s life? In the same manner, when you exclaim, “Christ is
Risen!” to each other every year, you confess Him as the living one. It is so. He is alive. Now tell me, dear descendents that speak so much
of the introduction of Christianity to
This is simple
to you:
When
traveling in
I sent them
both, mother and son, farther away from myself. Terrible emptiness took over my
heart. I felt disgust for everything. I wanted to start all over, in a better
dignified way. And where was my beginning? Brother murderer. Stop! Back then, I
couldn’t have acted otherwise. Couldn’t? But why brothers in the
Now I
started thinking strongly about the princess. And here came the opportunity: there
suddenly came envoys from Byzantine – for help, because their grandee Foka
rebelled. What an opportunity! I promised help, but in return asking for the
princes’ sister’s hand. At first they puffed up, and for a reason: they refused
German king, and here, a mediocrity – a barbarian striving for such an honor. But
Foka worked for me and didn’t give them time to procrastinate. Thus I got
permission to marry the emperors’ sister.
Of course,
permission was granted only following my baptism.
I am aware
of the stories spread in your midst, that I opposed baptism till the last
moment and only the miracle of enlightenment assured me of baptism. If you want,
you may believe these tales, but I was baptized according to my will, consciously,
with great joy and without publicity. This was something intimate between me
and God… Also, I was joyfully getting acquainted with the gospel and was truly
enlightened. I understood that I would never return to the past, renounced my
shameful deeds and strove to start new life. Unfortunately, my grandmother
didn’t see it. As to where it happened and exactly when, let it be my secret. Believe
me, it is not really important for history.
However, it
wasn’t without misunderstanding. I had to assure Greek emperors that my intentions
concerning their sister were serious, и осадить их место-крепость Khersones
(Коrsun), when
they decided to turn their backs on me. I already saw the princess as my dear bride,
so why had I succumb the Byzantines, for on my side I fulfilled all promises. The
further course of events is very well familiar to you, I will not stop here. To
put it short, I returned from Crimea to
This was
the year of 988 from the Birth of Christ.
{mosimage}Then, as I
had to, I cleansed the
Following
that, there began the development of the Christian state of the Kiev Russia. Many churches were being built.
Due to the lack of ministers, I
had to ask for help from
In
I am proud
to say that the country had been waiting for such a change, majority had a
positive response to Christianity. Giving answers to many a pressing question of
the man about God, origin of humanity, spirituality, life after death, having a
developed system and carrying agreement,
it tied together and united different lands and peoples into one state unity. Before
that, there hadn’t been such unifier. All lands became dependent on the princely
power and had had unified government. The influence of varyags was done away
with. The highest power was in the hands of such people as Dobrynya and Putyata,
who were of local origin.
Personally
I “liked the words books,” readily listened to the reading, especially the Holy
Scripture, taught my children sciences and tried to encourage my people to
studies. A lot of effort was put to the development of education. Proud of the epoch
of the true enlightenment that came into the country (don’t mistake it with historical
epoch of “Enlightenment,” when
I started beating
my coin: on one side, the image of Christ, on the other, my figure with the
signature “
With
neighbors, I maintained peace and consent, except for
I didn’t conduct
my own condemnation, but listened attentively to the citizens’ voice, I thought
over state affairs with boyars and elders, with
the wise of the land, for it is written: “Only by pride comes argument, but with those who take advice is wisdom.” (Proverbs 13:10). I was generous and merciful to the army.
During celebrations, I would set up big banquets where everyone would
receive plenty of meat, vegetables, honey. Food and drinks were delivered even
to the weak ones. Common folk called me “Vladimir the Bright Sun.”
Apart from Anna’s death in 1011, my horizon
was darkened at the end of my life because of the my sons Svyatopolk and
Yaroslav, who, to their own shame, arose
against the parents’ authority. Only Boris was my consolation, but I had to
send him to meet Pechenegs. We didn’t see each other on this earth anymore, а but we soon did in heaven, for
some defended the land and some awaited a brother in an ambush…
My sons, my
sons, why don’t you live in peace and accord? For God sees everything. Don’t put His parental heart! Receive my lesson: the state’s flourishing comes
from your sincere address to Christ. Don’t think that you are wiser than your
parents and wiser than God’s Word! Thus says the Lord: “So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask
for the old paths where the good way is,
and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will
not walk in it.”(Jeremiah 6:16). And this is the way
I witnessed to you just now.
Translated by Anna Sedova.
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