The Presidential Library rarities featuring the Christianization of Rus’, which determined the spiritual path of the Fatherland

July 28, 2018 marks the 1030th anniversary of the Christianization of Rus’ and the 1003rd anniversary of the reign of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand prince Vladimir, whose memory is venerated by the Church and all who are devoted to Orthodoxy. The Presidential Library collections number a lot of materials devoted to this important event. Among them are electronic versions of editions of different years, research papers, video lectures and broadcasts. They illustrate the Christianization of Rus’ as a historical fact, while revealing the personality of Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, the motivation for choosing the state religion and the consequences of this decision for the strengthening and development of the state.

"Our Holy Mother Rus’ is great and rich with all kinds of wealth!" - we read in N. Freiman's book "Stories of a village teacher; The Origin of Rus’" (1894). "How many rich cities are in it, how many temples of God! .. The whole world is amazed at it, and no tsar will dare to go against the Russian Tsar, dreading his strength and power!" Whether it was about 1800 years ago? No, it was not that time! <...> In those places where the temples of God now shine with splendor ... there at that time human blood was shed and the pagan gods were famous".

However, Vladimir, who grew up in the period of paganism, was not his devoted adherent. "It is safe to say that it did not satisfy the wise prince, and he had no firm conviction in idolatry", - writes N. Markov in the historical and biographical essay "The Grand Prince Saint Vladimir" (1888), "Kiev, having in its population in that time already several Christian churches, little by little weaned from the ancient paganism". But the adoption of Christianity as the main religion was a pretty far event in the state.

Strengthening the state, however, required the adoption of a single faith, it was necessary only not to make a mistake with the choice. Thus, Vladimir begins to study the four main religions in order to choose one of them for Mother Rus’.

Meanwhile, the Slavs by that time were already familiar with Christianity. It is believed that the teaching of Christ was brought to the Russian land by the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called: "He swam down the river further to the mountains - to the place where the city of Kiev now stands ..." The Apostle got up in the morning and told his disciples: "Do you see these mountains? On these mountains the grace of God will appear: there will be a great city here. By the will of God, many churches will be established here" After these words, the Apostle ascended the mountains and blessed them. Then he put a cross on them", - we read in the book "Grand Prince Vladimir the Equal Apostle: A Story from Russian History" (1888). St. Saints Cyril and Methodius began to work as educators in the territory of Russia, the princes of Varangian-Rus Engels Askold and Dir, and later the Orthodox holy princess Olga, the grandmother of Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, took the Christian faith. K. Bestuzhev-Ryumin writes about the promotion of faith in the environment of the Slavic peoples in his work "About Christianization of Rus’, about Saint Vladimir, about His Sons and the Monastery of Pechersk" (1910).

In detail, Vladimir's choice of faith and the Christianization of Rus’ is described in “The Tale of Bygone Years”, commented on by A. A. Shakhmatov and published in 1916, in the handwritten course of lectures "Ancient Russian History" by O. V. Klyuchevsky, published in 1885, and in a number of publications from the Presidential Library electronic collections. If you believe the chronicles, the prince conquered the beauty of Byzantine churches and rituals. In addition, even before the Christianization of Rus’, many residents of Kiev have already adopted Christianity. 

In 1914 the printing house of the Holy Synod, which was housed in the building where the Presidential Library is now located, published the edition "Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir". From it we, in particular, can learn that the emissaries of Prince Vladimir did not like the services of Bulgarians and Germans, in contrast to the Orthodox: "They led us to where they serve their God, and we did not know whether we were in heaven or on land; because there is no such kind of beauty on earth. We cannot even talk about it. We only know that there God himself is with people, and that their service is better than in other countries. We will never forget this beauty. Every man, having tasted sweet, will not want after that to eat bitter. So we are no longer able to remain here (in paganism)". Thus, the spiritual path of Russia was determined.

The date of the Christianization of Kievan Rus’ is 988, when a ceremony of consecration with water and a new faith Prince Vladimir took place in Korsun. In the rare book of Ivan Nekrasov "Grand Duke Vladimir the Holy Equal of the Apostles: A Story from Russian History" (1888) tells how everything happened: "I'm baptized. I before this time experienced your law. I like your faith, people from Kiev who spoke to it about me from me and from my people told me about it".

Like many other reforms, the Christianization of Rus’ was taken with distrust. "The people, blinded by pagan ignorance, looked at the bookish doctrine as a sorcery, and Vladimir's benefaction seemed to him a misfortune", - it says in Bestuzhev-Ryumin's book "About the Christianization of Rus’, about Saint Vladimir, about His Sons and the Monastery of Pechersk" (1910). Popularly, pagan beliefs and rituals have been preserved for many centuries, but the result of Vladimir's messianic deed still produced undeniable results: Russia began to develop successfully as an Orthodox country.

The cardinal turn from paganism to Christianity has become the most important event in the life of the Slavic people. Here it is possible to quote the words of the priest V. P. Nekrasov from the speech "To the Ninth Century of the Christianization of Rus’" which he delivered in 1888 at a meeting of the Council of the Vilna Orthodox Holy Spiritual Brotherhood: "It was the spiritual birth of the country, it laid the foundation for Russia at that time, with it began the assimilation and incarnation in the life of the Russian people of those highest truths brought from heaven by the Savior and who believe in the life of each people the origins of Christian citizenship".