Some historians argue that Christianity has done more harm than good to our country. Allegedly, proud freedom-loving Slavs lived in Russia, but the Greeks came and forcibly instilled in the people a "religion of slaves." In fact, the baptism of Rus became the most important event in its history and destiny. Only after entering the baptismal font, the Slavic and Finno-Ugric tribes became a single people, found a common language, culture and moral standards. The second-rate pagan country became the strongest power in the Christian world …….
Cheerful pagans
Interest in pagan cults is still widespread, especially among young people. Apparently, not everyone is sufficiently aware of what the true face of paganism is.
The developed Western powers perceived Russia as a country of barbarians. And this was largely justified. The Slavs had very distant and vague ideas about the one God-Creator. Their religion was not like the beautiful paganism of the ancient Greeks, but was a superstitious worship of natural elements. Moreover, it took cruel and savage forms.
The ancient Slavs did not differ in piety. The slave trade and blood feuds flourished here. There was not even a semblance of courts, the punishment of the guilty became the business of the relatives of the victims, and the authorities turned a blind eye to lynching, considering them the norm of life.
The inexorable cruelty of our ancestors terrified our neighbors. Mercilessly robbing the vanquished, the Slavs killed defenseless people in thousands. An illustrative example is the descriptions of Prince Svyatoslav's wars in the annals. After the battles at Dorosto-la, the Rus arranged a funeral ceremony for the dead soldiers and put many prisoners and captives to cruel death. They drowned infants in the waters of the Danube, making sacrifices to the evil gods. And having suffered defeat in the Beloberezhye, Svyatoslav accused and brutally tortured his brother Gleb for everything, while his soldiers cold-bloodedly finished off their wounded comrades.
Cruel and immoral pagan traditions left an imprint not only on war, but also on peaceful life. The Magi regularly sacrificed innocent people, and they preferred Christian prisoners. Their blood "amused" the idols and the crowd. Judging by the excavations of burials on the Dnieper, the Slavs even sacrificed babies. There was a tradition in which the mother of a large family had the right to kill her newborn daughter. Girls did not represent a value as a working unit and were regarded as an "extra mouth", so they were not treated with ceremony. And in some tribes, in turn, children were allowed to kill sick and decrepit parents who burden the family.
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It was considered normal for widowed Slavs to burn themselves at the stake along with the body of their husband. Like representatives of most pagan cults, the Slavs worshiped images of the male genital organ. And the erotic games, consecrated by the priests, were, in fact, drunken orgies and outright sin. The marriage unions of the Drevlyans, northerners and Vyatichi resembled animal cohabitation, polygamy flourished, family life was rude and poor. The forest drevlyans were distinguished by a particular baseness of morals. Every now and then they forcibly kidnapped the girls they liked and killed each other in strife and quarrels.
Only the tribe of the Polyans was noticeably distinguished by its unusual chastity for the Slavs. Historians attribute this to the direct influence of Christianity. The Apostle Andrew and his disciples preached the Gospel just in the area where the meadows lived, and the memory of this remained for many centuries.
Paganism supported the fragmentation of the ancient Russian state and contributed to the eternal civil strife. Only with the adoption of Christianity did the peoples of Russia manage to unite. Alcohol abuse was a serious problem for the ancient Slavs. Religious rituals were accompanied by feasts, which were supposed to get drunk until a pig squeal. A goblet was passed over the hands, over which the feasting were uttered not kind toasts, but curses.
But in Orthodox Russia, per capita alcohol consumption was very low. For example, at the end of the 19th century, people drank less than 2.5 liters per capita per year, which is almost ten times less than in France or in modern Russia.
From Andrey to Olga
The first Christians appeared on the territory of the future lands of Holy Russia as early as the 1st century AD. The patron saint of the Russian Church, the holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, preached in Scythia and reached the Kiev mountains, where he hoisted the cross and prophesied about the coming Christian state.
Orthodoxy came to us from Byzantium, with which the Slavs traded and sometimes fought. Many merchants and warriors who visited Constantinople (Constantinople) became Christians. Through the efforts of the Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Rus who had the beginnings of writing systems in the 9th century acquired their own Slavic alphabet. Hundreds of noble families and representatives of the common people accepted holy baptism. There were more and more Christians in the ruling class. Orthodox churches began to be built. The first of them, the temple of Sophia - the Wisdom of God, built of wood, was consecrated on May 11, 952.
After the death of Prince Igor, who overdid it in collecting tribute, his wife Olga avenged her husband's death and ruled the principality until the age of his son-heir. Having put things in order on her land, the princess went to Constantinople to look at the life there. Impressed by what she saw, from there she returned as a Christian, and the Byzantine emperor Constantine became her godfather.
Olga did not dare to carry out a universal baptism of the people, but created favorable conditions for those wishing to become Christians.
The choice of Prince Vladimir
When Prince Vladimir, Olga's grandson, ascended the throne, his main task was to unite the people. At first he walked. beaten track: installed new statues of idols, tried to reform paganism and create a single pantheon of gods. But all these attempts have failed. Russia at that time stretched from the Eastern Carpathians to the Volga and from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea. Such a vast territory could not be united by paganism.
As a Rusich, Vladimir wanted to resolve the issue once and for all, in one fell swoop. It may look rude, but it was precisely this desire that led him to the idea of monotheism.
Preachers came to Vladimir. The Mohammedans sent their lawyers to Kiev. There is a widespread myth that Russians did not convert to Islam because of the ban on drinking wine. In fact, the "drinking" reason was in last place, it was only a reason to politely reject the offer. Much more compelling reasons were the Russian people's rejection of circumcision and Islam's approval of blood feud, which needed to be eradicated.
The Khazars also came to preach Judaism. Vladimir asked: "Where is your Fatherland?" They answered that it was in Jerusalem, but God in His wrath scattered them in foreign lands. “And you, being punished by God, dare to teach others ?! - the prince was indignant. - We do not want, like you, to lose our Fatherland!
They did not touch the soul and speech of German Catholics. "Go back," Vladimir said to them, "our fathers did not accept faith from the Pope!"
Only the Greek philosopher, who spoke about the Old and New Testaments, about the holy mysteries, the most important God's commandments, about the fate of the righteous and sinners, could interest the prince.
To finally decide on the choice, Vladimir sent ambassadors to neighboring states. They had to see who worships God and how. Mohammedan temples did not make a favorable impression, the prayers of the faithful seemed to the ambassadors gloomy, and their faces were sad. The worship and rituals of Catholics lacked grandeur and beauty; Catholicism seemed arrogant and prim. In Constantinople, the ambassadors visited the temple of Hagia Sophia - the eighth wonder of the world, which amazes people even in our time. On that day, the Patriarch of Constantinople was celebrating the Liturgy. The splendor of the temple, the rich clothes of the priests, the fragrance of incense and sweet singing, the mystery of the rituals amazed the people of Kiev.
It seemed that the Most High Himself dwells in this temple and unites with people. “We did not remember where we were - on earth or in Heaven! - the messengers reported with delight. - Every person, having tasted sweet, already has an aversion to bitter; so we, having learned the faith of the Greeks, do not want another!"
Baptism in Kiev
Power and glory did not allow Vladimir to be modestly baptized in his own capital. The proud prince decided to convert to Christianity in Byzantium itself. And he did not ask, but demanded as a winner!
In 988, after capturing Korsun (Chersonesos), the Grand Duke, in an ultimatum, proposed to Tsars Vasily and Constantine to give him their sister Anna as his wife, threatening to besiege Constantinople. Those who did not want their sister to fill up the harem of a pagan polygamist, the tsars replied that for this Vladimir should be baptized and declare Anna the only legal wife.
The prince and his warriors were solemnly baptized in Chersonesos, and Vladimir (in baptism - Vasily) married the princess. Returning with his young wife to Kiev, the prince baptized his children and announced to all his previous wives that he gives them freedom and allows them to marry any vigilante. For those times, unheard of humanity. Usually, they did not stand on ceremony with unnecessary wives - they were drowned, cut, or simply thrown into prison for the rest of their lives.
In Kiev and other cities, the destruction of idols began, Vladimir ordered the people of Kiev to appear on the banks of the Dnieper, declaring: "If someone, rich or poor, beggar or slave, does not appear on the river tomorrow, he will be against me!"
The priests consecrated the river, and the first baptism of the people, unheard of in terms of mass and greatness, took place in world history. It was a cosmic spectacle and an event of universal significance!
Not confining himself to the capital, Vladimir spread the holy faith in the cities and towns of his state. In the first three years, Christianity reached the Upper Volga, Rostov and Suzdal.
Christ's faith really changes a person's personality for the better, and Vladimir himself became an example of this. A cruel, suspicious pagan was transformed into a good Christian. At first, he even refused to execute robbers and state criminals, preferring to forgive and have mercy. Then, of course, the interests of the country outweighed … But under Vladimir in Russia, for the first time there was such a concept as charity, people began to help the poor and needy.
Churches and monasteries were built in Kiev and other dioceses. The first Russian metropolitan was the Greek Theophylact, sent by Constantinople, and over time, more and more Russian church hierarchs began to appear. Subsequently, after the fall of the "second Rome" - Constantinople, the Russian Church acquired the autonomy and spiritual status of the Third Rome.
Kievan Rus became part of the world Christian society.
V. Konstantinov “Interesting newspaper. Mysteries of Civilization No. 2 2009