SAINT VLADIMIR AND THE BAPTISM OF RUS

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 636.

Born around the year 940, son of Prince Svyatoslav and a Slavic woman, in 980, Vladimir became, the sovereign¹ of a kingdom which stretched from the Black Sea to the Baltic.

At the beginning, a convinced² pagan, he made sacrifices³ and worshiped the idols. But under the influence of his Grandma he increasingly turned his attention towards Bulgaria where the Grand Prince saw the benefits⁴ of Christian civilization. There were three possibilities for him: to turn to Rome, to Constantinople or Ochrid (the capital of Bulgaria). But neither Rome nor Constantinople gave Russia missionaries who spoke the familiar language. Only Bulgaria offered the Prince a Slavic clergy and liturgical books in Slavonic.

The chronicler reports that Prince Vladimir sent envoys⁵ to different countries – to the Christians, the Muslims and the Jews - in order to question them on their faith. On their return from the voyage, the ambassadors⁶ affirmed that the divine service in the Saint Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople made an unforgettable impression on them: "We thought that we were in heaven and no longer on earth."

According to recent research⁷, events of baptizing of Rus unfolded in the following way: in summer of 987 the Byzantine legions at the head of Bardas Phocas⁸ were marching on Constantinople. Bardas proclaimed himself emperor, and the two basileis (emperors), Constantine and Basil, appealed to the Grand Prince Vladimir for help. He promised to lend assistance but asked for the hand of their sister Anne in exchange. They, on their part, required⁹ his conversion to Christianity.

The Grand Prince accepted, and in spring of 988 he, along with his people, was baptized in the river Dnieper by the Bulgarian priests who lived in Kiev. Prince Vladimir defeated Phocas' troops twice and laid siege¹⁰ to the richest Byzantine colony on the Black Sea, Cherson.

In 990 he returned to Kiev as a victor, accompanied by Princess Anne. He brought with him the relics of Saint Clement of Rome, which he placed in the newly-built Cathedral of the Assumption. As for Vladimir himself, his character and life style had a radical transformation. With his last wife, Anne of Byzantium, and his two younger sons, Boris and Gleb, he formed a profoundly Christian family.

St. Vladimir died in 1015 and was buried in the Ca­thedral of the Assumption in the Chapel of St. Clement in Kiev. The Orthodox church worships him as its apostle and the teacher of the Orthodox doctrine.

______________________________