White Robed Monks of St. Benedict
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The Christianisation of Russia (988)
987 (6495): Vladimir summoned together his vassals and the city elders,
and said to them: "Behold, the Bulgars came before me urging me to
accept their religion. Then came the Germans and praised their own faith;
and after them came the Jews. Finally the Greeks appeared, criticising
all other faiths but commanding their own, and they spoke at length, telling
the history of the whole world from its beginning. Their words were artful,
and it was wondrous to listen and pleasant to hear them. They preach the
existence of another world. 'Whoever adopts our religion and then dies
shall arise and live forever. But whosoever embraces another faith, shall
be consumed with fire in the next world.' What is your opinion on this
subject, and what do you answer?" The vassals and the elders replied:
"You know, O Prince, that no man condemns his own possessions, but
praises them instead. If you desire to make certain, you have servants
at your disposal. Send them to inquire about the ritual of each and how
he worships God. " Their counsel pleased the prince and all the people,
so that they chose good and wise men to the number of ten, and directed
them to go first among the Bulgars and inspect their faith. The emissaries
went their way, and when they arrived at their destination they beheld
the disgraceful actions of the Bulgars and their worship in the mosque;
then they returned to their own country. Vladimir then instructed them
to go likewise among the Germans, and examine their faith, and finally
to visit the Greeks. They thus went into Germany, and after viewing the
German ceremonial, they proceeded to Constantinople where they appeared
before the emperor. He inquired on what mission they had come, and they
reported to him all that had occurred.. When the emperor heard their words,
he rejoiced, and did them great honour on that very day.
On the morrow, the emperor sent a message to the patriarch to inform
him that a Russian delegation had arrived to examine the Greek faith, and
directed him to prepare the church and the clergy, and to array himself
in his sacerdotal robes, so that the Russians might behold the glory of
the God of the Greeks. When the patriarch received these commands, he bade
the clergy assemble, and they performed the customary rites. They burned
incense, and the choirs sang hymns. The emperor accompanied the Russians
to the church, and placed them in a wide space, calling their attention
to the beauty of the edifice, the chanting, and the offices of the archpriest
and the ministry of the deacons, while he explained to them the worship
of his God. The Russians were astonished, and in their wonder praised the
Greek ceremonial. Then the Emperors Basil and Constantine invited the envoys
to their presence, and said, "Go hence to your native country,"
and thus dismissed them with valuable presents and great honour. Thus they
returned to their own country, and the prince called together his vassals
and the elders. Vladimir then announced the return of the envoys who had
been sent out, and suggested that their report be heard. He thus commanded
them to speak out before his vassals. The envoys reported: "When we
journeyed among the Bulgars, we beheld how they worship in their temple,
called a mosque, while they stand ungirt. The Bulgarian bows, sits down,
looks hither and thither like one possessed, and there is no happiness
among them, but instead only sorrow and a dreadful stench. Their religion
is not good. Then we went among the Germans, and saw them performing many
ceremonies in their temples; but we beheld no glory there. Then we went
on to Greece, and the Greeks led us to the edifices where they worship
their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on
earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how
to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their
service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget
that beauty. Every man, after tasting something sweet, is afterward unwilling
to accept that which is bitter, and therefore we cannot dwell longer here."
Then the vassals spoke and said, "If the Greek faith were evil, it
would not have been adopted by your grandmother Olga, who was wiser than
all other men." Vladimir then inquired where they should all accept
baptism, and they replied that the decision rested with him.
After a year had passed, in 988 (6496), Vladimir marched with an armed
force against Kherson, a Greek city, and the people of Kherson barricaded
themselves therein. Vladimir halted at the farther side of the city beside
the bay, a bowshot from the town, and the inhabitants resisted energetically
while Vladimir besieged the town. Eventually, however, they became exhausted,
and Vladimir warned them that if they did not surrender, he would remain
on the spot for three years. When they failed to heed this threat, Vladimir
marshalled his troops and ordered the construction of an earthwork in the
direction of the city. While this work was under construction, the inhabitants
dug a tunnel under the city wall, stole the heaped-up earth, and carried
it into the city, where they piled it up in the centre of the town. But
the soldiers kept on building, and Vladimir persisted. Then a man of Kherson,
Anastasius by name, shot into the Russian camp an arrow on which he had
written: "There are springs behind you to the east, from which water
flows in pipes. Dig down and cut them off." When Vladimir received
this information, he raised his eyes to heaven and vowed that if this hope
was realised, he would be baptised. He gave orders straightway to dig down
above the pipes, and the water supply was thus cut off. The inhabitants
were accordingly overcome by thirst, and surrendered.
Vladimir and his retinue entered the city, and he sent messages to the
Emperors Basil and Constantine, saying: "Behold, I have captured your
glorious city. I have also heard that you have an unwed sister. Unless
you give her to me to wife, I shall deal with your own city as I have with
Kherson." When the emperors heard this message, they were troubled,
and replied: "It is not meet for Christians to give in marriage to
pagans. If you are baptised, you shall have her to wife, inherit the kingdom
of God, and be our companion in the faith. Unless you do so, however, we
cannot give you our sister in marriage." When Vladimir learned their
response, he directed the envoys of the emperors to report to the latter
that he was willing to accept baptism, having already given some study
to their religion, and that the Greek faith and ritual, as described by
the emissaries sent to examine it, had pleased him well. When the emperors
heard this report, they rejoiced, and persuaded their sister Anna to consent
to the match. They then requested Vladimir to submit to baptism before
they should send their sister to him, but Vladimir desired that the princess
should herself bring priests to baptise him. The emperors complied with
his request, and sent forth their sister, accompanied by some dignitaries
and priests. Anna, however, departed with reluctance. "It is as if
I were setting out into captivity," she lamented; "better were
it for me to die here." But her brothers protested: "Through
your agency God turns the Russian land to repentance, and you will relieve
Greece from the danger of grievous war. Do you not see how much evil the
Russians have already brought upon the Greeks? If you do not set out, they
may bring on us the same misfortunes." It was thus that they overcame
her hesitation only with great difficulty. The princess embarked upon a
ship, and after tearfully embracing her kinfolk, she set forth across the
sea and arrived at Kherson. The natives came forth to greet her, and conducted
her into the city, where they settled her in the palace.
By divine agency, Vladimir was suffering at that moment from a disease
of the eyes, and could see nothing, being in great distress. The princess
declared to him that if he desired to be relieved of this disease, he should
be baptised with all speed, otherwise it could not be cured. When Vladimir
heard her message, he said, "If this proves true, then of a surety
is the God of the Christians great," and gave order that he should
be baptised. The Bishop of Kherson, together with the princess's priests,
after announcing the tidings, baptised Vladimir, and as the bishop laid
his hand upon him, he straightway received his sight. Upon experiencing
this miraculous cure, Vladimir glorified God, saying, "I have now
perceived the one true God." When his followers beheld this miracle,
many of them were also baptised.
Vladimir was baptised in the Church of St. Basil, which stands at Kherson
upon a square in the centre of the city, where the Khersonians trade. The
palace of Vladimir stands beside this church to this day, and the palace
of the princess is behind the altar. After his baptism, Vladimir took the
princess in marriage. Those who do not know the truth say he was baptised
in Kiev, while others assert this event took place in Vasiliev, while still
others mention other places.
Hereupon Vladimir took the princess and Anastasius and the priests of
Kherson, together with the relics of St. Clement and of Phoebus his disciple,
and selected also sacred vessels and images for the service. In Kherson
he thus founded a church on the mound which had been heaped up in the midst
of the city with the earth removed from his embankment; this church is
standing at the present day. Vladimir also found and appropriated two bronze
statues and four bronze horses, which now stand behind the Church of the
Holy Virgin, and which the ignorant think are made of marble. As a wedding
present for the princess, he gave Kherson over to the Greeks again, and
then departed for Kiev.
When the prince arrived at his capital, he directed that the idols should
be overthrown and that some should be cut to pieces and others burned with
fire. He thus ordered that Perun should be bound to a horse's tail and
dragged along Borichev to the river. He appointed twelve men to beat the
idol with sticks, not because he thought the wood was sensitive, but to
affront the demon who had deceived man in this guise, that he might receive
chastisement at the hands of men. Great art thou, O Lord, and marvellous
are thy works! Yesterday he was honoured of men, but today held in derision.
While the idol was being dragged along the stream to the Dnepr, the unbelievers
wept over it, for they had not yet received holy baptism. After they had
thus dragged the idol along, they cast it into the Dnepr. But Vladimir
had given this injunction: "If it halts anywhere, then push it out
from the bank, until it goes over the falls. Then let it loose." His
command was duly obeyed. When the men let the idol go, and it passed through
the falls, the wind cast it out on the bank, which since that time has
been called Perun's Shore, a name that it bears to this very day.
Thereafter Vladimir sent heralds throughout the whole city to proclaim
that if any inhabitant, rich or poor, did not betake himself to the river,
he would risk the prince's displeasure. Men the people heard these words,
they wept for joy, and exclaimed in their enthusiasm, "If this were
not good, the prince and his boyars would not have accepted it." On
the morrow the prince went forth to the Dnepr with the priests of the princess
and those from Kherson, and a countless multitude assembled. They all went
into the water: some stood up to their necks, others to their breasts,
the younger near the bank, some of them holding children in their arms,
while the adults waded farther out. The priests stood by and offered prayers.
There was joy in heaven and upon earth to behold so many souls saved. But
the devil groaned, lamenting: "Woe is me! how am I driven out hence!
For I thought to have my dwelling place here, since the apostolic teachings
do not abide in this land. Nor did this people know God, but I rejoiced
in the service they rendered unto me. But now I am vanquished by the ignorant,
not by apostles and martyrs, and my reign in these regions is at an end."
When the people were baptised, they returned each to his own abode.
Vladimir, rejoicing that he and his subjects now knew God himself, looked
up to heaven and said: "O God, who hast created heaven and earth,
look down, I beseech thee, on this thy new people, and grant them, O Lord,
to know thee as the true God, even as the other Christian nations have
known thee. Confirm in them the true and unalterable faith, and aid me,
O Lord, against the hostile adversary, so that, hoping in thee and in thy
might, I may overcome his malice." Having spoken thus, he ordained
that churches should be built and established where pagan idols had previously
stood. He thus founded the Church of St. Basil on the hill where the idol
of Perun and the other images had been set, and where the prince and the
people had offered their sacrifices. He began to found churches and to
assign priests throughout the cities, and to invite the people to accept
baptism in all the cities and towns. He took the children of the best families,
and sent them to schools for instruction in book learning. The mothers
of these children wept bitterly over them, for they were not yet strong
in faith, but mourned as for the dead. When these children were assigned
for study, there was thus fulfilled in the Russian land the prophecy which
says, "In those days, the deaf shall hear words of Scripture, and
the voice of the stammerers shall be made plain" (Isaiah, xxix, 18).
For these persons had not ere this heard words of Scripture, and now heard
them only by the act of God, for in his mercy the Lord took pity upon them,
even as the Prophet said, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious"
(Exodus, xxxiii, 19).
Source: Povest' vremennykh let (The Russian Primary Chronicle)
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