What year was the baptism of Rus? This event is one of the most important in Russian history. After all, it not only determined the further spiritual development of the whole nation, but also transformed the very face of the Russian state, setting the latter's vector of geopolitical development for centuries to come.
Perov appearance of Christians: in what year was it?
The baptism of Rus was not at all an instantaneous act. It was preceded by many years of penetration of Christian preachers into these lands. So, for example, the emergence of writing among the Slavs is connected with their activity. After all, Cyrillic and
the Glagolitic was developed by the Greeks specifically in order to translate for the Moravian Slavs the Holy Scripture in a language they understand. Somewhat later, this alphabet reached the Balkans and to the Russian territories, where it was very firmly established. Speaking about the year in which the baptism of Rus was held, one should also not forget that even before the reforming activities of Vladimir, there were already many local Christians in these lands. Perhaps the most famous of them was the grandmother of the reformer ruler - the famous
Princess Olga. It is precisely known that in the middle of the 10th century, even before the national adoption of Orthodoxy, the
Tithes Church appeared in Kiev
. True, it is not known exactly what year it was. The baptism of Russia, therefore, was only a logical consequence of the many years of penetration of Christian ideas and the cultural evolution of society itself.
Geopolitical background
In addition to the reasons noted, the prince had more compelling ones to carry out this reform. No doubt, a spiritual search for the prince took place. However, one should always remember that Russia by the middle of the X century turned into a fairly large-scale territorial entity, uniting considerable Slavic tribes under its authority . It should have been obvious to the ruler that the state needed invisible threads to hold it together for prosperity. Something more than just the military strength of the squad. Such threads in history often became the creation of a single bureaucratic apparatus, the introduction of uniform laws and rules, taxes throughout the country. In the case of Russia, it was necessary to impose single gods on the whole country. The first such attempt was the approval of a single pantheon of pagan gods several years before baptism. However, she crashed. And the eyes of the prince were turned to the most popular at that time monotheistic religions: Islam and Christianity. The story is widely known that it was the church service of the Orthodox Greeks that impressed him the most. The adoption of Christianity was also beneficial for geopolitical reasons: it literally gave Russia a pass into the circle of advanced Western states of that time. Thus, Vladimir ceased to be considered a dark backward barbarian for Christian rulers and became one civilizational step with them. In practical embodiment, this allowed him to marry the Byzantine princess.
So in what year did the baptism of Rus take place?
In 988, the Christianization of the Eastern Slavs became a violent affair. According to the chronicle, the population was literally forced into the Pochaina River (a tributary of the Dnieper in the Kiev region) to perform the ceremony. Of course, pagan faith for many decades and even centuries has retained its influence. Moreover,
many local gods entered the Russian Orthodox pantheon as saints, being there until today. However, a tipping point has occurred. The year of the baptism of Russia was the start of a new era for both the state and its population. The political benefits for the state and the prince himself have already been said. No less important was the further influence of Christianity on the formation of the three East Slavic peoples, which at that moment finally became isolated in a separate niche, while at the same time becoming extremely close to each other. Baptism determined the development of the civilizational appearance of Russians for all subsequent centuries. Literally in all spheres of the culture of the Russian Middle Ages - in painting, architecture, literature - the Byzantine canons are obvious.