Baptism of Rus'. The influence of Orthodoxy on Russian culture.
The Baptism of Rus' is one of the most important cultural events in the history of Ancient Rus'. It marked the end of the pagan and the beginning of the Christian history of Russia. The baptism of Rus' took place at the end of the 9th century, through the efforts made by Prince Vladimir during the establishment of Christianity as state religion. The baptism of Rus' did not take place painlessly for the Russian people and was associated with significant resistance to the new Orthodox culture.
Despite the fact that, in fact, the large-scale Baptism of Rus' began only in the 9th century, the prerequisites for this event appeared a long time ago. The lands and peoples united by the name Ancient Rus' learned Christianity long before 988, when Prince Vladimir officially accepted it. There is an assumption according to which the Rus, who were under the rule of the Khazars, were first baptized by the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius during their journey to the Khazar Kaganate in 858.
Initially, the path to Christianity to the very heart of the Kyiv reign of Rus' was paved by Princess Olga, the widow of Prince Igor, killed by the Drevlyans. Around 955, she became imbued with Christianity and was baptized in Constantinople. From there she brought Greek priests to Rus'. However, Christianity did not receive widespread. Princess Olga's son Svyatoslav did not see the need for Christianity and continued to honor the old gods. The merit of establishing Orthodoxy in Rus' belongs to one of his sons, Prince Vladimir.
The adoption of Christianity by Prince Vladimir was not free from political calculations. The Byzantine Emperor Basil II (976-1025), who was looking for an ally against the pretender to the throne, military leader Bardas Phocas, turned to Vladimir of Kyiv for help, agreeing to marry his sister Anna to him. Without being baptized, Vladimir could not marry the princess, and such a union highly raised the political status of the Kyiv princes. An alliance with Byzantium was necessary to strengthen the growing authority of the ancient Russian state. For the Slavs, Byzantium was the same symbol of power, wealth and sovereign splendor as for other neighboring states that were just beginning to build and strengthen their statehood. The alliance with Byzantium opened up the necessary prospects for both further military and economic growth.
The most common version of the circumstances of the Baptism of Rus' is as follows. Vladimir sent a squad of about 6 thousand people to help Vasily II, but the Greeks were in no hurry to fulfill their promises. The prince “hurried” them by taking the city of Korsun (Chersonese), which, not without some irony, was offered to them as a bride price. The only thing left for the Empire to do was to please its vanity by the fact that it was formally acquiring a new subject. The Kiev prince received a third-rate court title, which nevertheless automatically introduced him into the hierarchical system of the empire. The “diplomatic” marriage of a Russian prince and a Byzantine princess could also secure for a long time northern borders Byzantium, and the predominance at first of Greek clergy in Rus' provided Constantinople (Constantinople) with the opportunity to influence the unpredictable Rus with the authority of the Orthodox Church.
At the end of the summer of 988, Vladimir gathered all the people of Kiev on the banks of the Dnieper and Byzantine priests baptized them in its waters. This event went down in history as the baptism of Rus', becoming the beginning of a long process of establishing Christianity in Russian lands.
Russian chronicles contain legendary information about the choice of faith by Prince Vladimir. The legends in their own way reflected the real picture of the diplomatic activity of the Kyiv grand-ducal court. In addition to Byzantium, he maintained contacts with Khazar Khaganate, Rome, Western European countries, Muslim peoples, southern Slavs. These relationships were also associated with finding a way state development, and with the definition of the political, cultural and spiritual orientation of Kyiv.
Among the reasons that determined the choice of Byzantium as a model of state building, important role played by the splendor of the Orthodox ritual. The chronicle gives impressions of the Russian embassy about the service: in the Constantinople Church, the ambassadors, according to them, did not know whether they were in heaven or on earth. The Byzantine Church amazed them with the unearthly beauty of the temples and the splendor of the service. Shortly before this, says the Tale of Bygone Years in 986, Prince Vladimir talked with ambassadors from Volga Bulgaria about Islam, with missionaries from Rome, with Khazar preachers of Judaism and with the “Greek philosopher” - Orthodox missionary. The prince especially liked the philosopher’s speech, and he began to lean towards Orthodoxy.
After baptism, which, according to legend, Vladimir received in Korsun, the stern ruler and warrior, who paved the way to the heights of power in a brutal internecine struggle, who had six wives (not counting about eight hundred concubines), who had not previously interfered with human sacrifices, sincerely accepted the teachings of the Church about sin, Christ's words about love and mercy. Baptism transformed Vladimir. He even seriously intended to introduce an innovation hitherto unheard of in human history - to abolish death penalty for robbers, fearing sin.
Vladimir's reign was marked by the emergence of Christian charity in Rus', emanating from state power. The prince contributed to the establishment of hospitals and almshouses (shelters for the elderly and disabled), and took care of the food of the poor people of Kiev. The construction and decoration of churches received state support, the first school was created, and full-scale training of the Russian clergy began.
Of course, forced Christianization and destruction of ancient pagan sanctuaries sometimes met fierce resistance from the people and priesthood. However, due to the fact that the first Russian Christian priests showed loyalty to the assimilation of pagan traditions to the Orthodox. All this led to the creation of a distinctive Orthodox tradition. And as a result, Christianity contributed to the general development of culture, the creation of monuments of writing, art and architectural architecture of Ancient Rus'.
Since the 10th century, Orthodoxy has become the state religion. In the Russian lands, this left its mark on the further history of development. Until the 11th century (until 1054) it existed as a single religion, since religion is one physical forms public consciousness, then it is a reflection of the life of society. Different areas cannot be united social conditions. Consequently, religion could not be the same; two forms arose - in the Western form - Catholicism, and in the Eastern form - Orthodoxy. Both Catholicism and Orthodoxy began to differ, although until the mid-11th century they were within the same church. Orthodoxy had its roots in ancient Greek culture. There is a man in the center. Attention was paid spiritual world person. Orthodox Church paid great attention to the soul of the believer. Meaning Orthodox faith- prepare your soul for the afterlife. Catholicism inherited from its predecessor a commitment to strength, to order, and that is why the motto of Catholicism becomes: discipline, order, power. From the point of view of an Orthodox person, if you are lucky and have accumulated wealth, then at the end of your life you are obliged to give it to a monastery or to the poor. In Russia, wealth was never encouraged. If people acquired wealth, they did not advertise it. As a rule, the most revered were the holy fools who had neither a home nor anything. This ultimately acted as a brake on the establishment and development of commodity-money relations. If you take a Protestant or Catholic, they believe that God created all people the same, but sent them to earth to test what they are capable of. The richer a person is, the better off he will be in the afterlife. In other words, the establishment of Protestantism in Europe contributed to bourgeois development. Another influence, a very strong one, was on political life countries. From the point of view of an Orthodox person, there are no saints. If you do everything right, you will go to heaven. For Catholic and Protestant, the Pope - main light faith. As for Orthodoxy, there are no holy people - the church itself is holy. The Orthodox Church does not recognize any monarch, but only the legitimate one. Therefore, in the history of Russia, the question of the legitimacy of the tsar had great importance. Orthodoxy also influenced the psychology of Russians. What Christ said is the only way to do it. Nowhere has Marxism given such roots as in Russia, because it can be explained to a Russian that now it is necessary to give up benefits, because this and that. Self-detachment and self-sacrifice are characteristic of Russians. Under Vladimir, one of the greatest events in Russian history - Rus' adopted Christianity. Before accepting Christianity, because The Slavs were farmers, they deified the earth, the sun, and rivers. Having come to power, Vladimir wanted to strengthen the pagan faith, but he failed. Force in a new way it was very difficult to believe in the old gods, and in its previous form, paganism no longer suited the princely power. “The Tale of Bygone Years” tells that in 986 representatives of third religions came to Kyiv: Christianity (Byzantium), Judaism (Khazaria), Islam (Volga Bulgaria). Each of them offered their own religion. Islam was not suitable for Vladimir, because... he was not satisfied with abstinence from wine, Judaism - because. Jews who professed it lost their state and were scattered throughout the earth. And the sermon of the representatives of the Byzantine Empire made an impression on Vladimir. However, to make sure of everything, he sends his ambassadors to see how to worship God in different countries. And when the messengers returned, they named the best Greek faith. Vladimir's decision to accept the Christian faith could also be connected with his marriage to the Byzantine princess Anna. The baptism of Rus' happened very slowly, because There was great resistance from the population; only violence and intimidation helped to force the pagans to submit. In order to somehow make it easier for the Slavs to accept Christianity, the church sanctified some pagan holidays (such as Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala...). Beliefs in mermaids, goblins, and brownies have also been preserved. The adoption of Christianity in Rus' was of great importance. Christianity forced people to eat a lot of vegetables, therefore, gardening improved. Christianity influenced the development of crafts; techniques for laying walls, erecting domes, mosaics, etc. were also adopted. Stone architecture, frescoes, and icon painting also appeared in Rus' thanks to Christianity. Many temples were built (There were about 400 temples in Kyiv, and not one of them copied another). Rus' received two alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic, which contributed to the spread of literacy. The first handwritten books began to appear. Morals in Rus' changed very noticeably, since the church categorically prohibited human sacrifices and the killing of slaves... Christianity also contributed to the strengthening of princely power. The prince was now perceived as a messenger of God. And finally, the adoption of Christianity radically changed international situation Rus'. She organically fit into European culture and diplomatic relations with other countries.
The new faith could not influence Russian history and culture. In the period of the X-XIII centuries, a complex psychological breakdown of pagan beliefs and the formation of Christian ideas took place. The process of changing spiritual and moral priorities is always difficult. In Rus' it did not take place without violence. The life-loving optimism of paganism was replaced by a faith that demanded restrictions and strict adherence to moral standards. The adoption of Christianity meant a change in the entire structure of life. Now the center public life became a church. She preached a new ideology, instilled new value guidelines, raised a new person. Christianity made man the bearer of a new morality, based on a culture of conscience, arising from the evangelical commandments. Christianity created a broad basis for the unification of ancient Russian society, the formation one people based on common spiritual and moral principles. There has been a humanization of society. Rus' was included in the European Christian world.
Christianity influenced all aspects of life in Rus'. Adoption new religion helped establish political, trade, cultural connections with countries Christendom.
Architecture
If wooden architecture goes back mainly to pagan Rus', then stone architecture is associated with already Christian Russia. Unfortunately, ancient wooden buildings have not survived to this day, but the architectural style of the people has come down to us in later wooden structures, in ancient descriptions and drawings. Russian wooden architecture was characterized by multi-tiered buildings, crowning them with turrets and towers, the presence various kinds extensions - cages, passages, vestibules. Intricate artistic wood carving was a traditional decoration of Russian wooden buildings. This tradition lives on among the people to this day.
The world of Christianity brought new construction experience and traditions to Rus': Rus' adopted the construction of its churches in the image of the cross-domed temple of the Greeks: a square, dissected by four pillars, forms its basis; rectangular cells adjacent to the dome space form an architectural cross. But the Greek masters who arrived in Rus', starting from the time of Vladimir, as well as the Russian craftsmen working with them, applied this model to the traditions of Russian wooden architecture, familiar to the Russian eye. If the first Russian churches, including the Church of the Tithes, at the end of the 10th century. were built by Greek masters in strict accordance with Byzantine traditions, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv reflected a combination of Slavic and Byzantine traditions: thirteen chapters were placed on the basis of the cross-domed temple. This step pyramid of St. Sophia Cathedral resurrected the style of Russian wooden architecture.
St. Sophia Cathedral, created at the time of the establishment and rise of Rus' under Yaroslav the Wise, showed that construction is also politics. With this temple, Rus' challenged the architecture of Byzantium. In the 11th century St. Sophia Cathedrals grew in other major centers Rus' - Novgorod, Polotsk, and each of them claimed its own prestige, independent of Kyiv, as did Chernigov, where the monumental Transfiguration Cathedral was built. Monumental multi-domed churches with thick walls and small windows were built throughout Rus', evidence of power and beauty.
Architecture reached great prosperity during the reign of Andrei Bogolyubsky in Vladimir. His name is associated with the construction of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, located on the steep bank of the Klyazma, a white-stone palace in the village of Bogolyubovo, and the “Golden Gate” in Vladimir - a powerful white-stone cube crowned with a golden-domed church. Under him, a miracle of Russian architecture was created - the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl. The prince built this church not far from his chambers after the death of his beloved son Izyaslav. This small single-domed church has become a poem made of stone, which harmoniously combines the modest beauty of nature, quiet sadness, and the enlightened contemplation of architectural lines.
Art
Old Russian art - painting, carving, music - also experienced tangible changes with the adoption of Christianity. Pagan Rus' knew all these types of art, but in a purely pagan, popular expression. Ancient woodcarvers and stone cutters created wooden and stone sculptures of pagan gods and spirits. Painters painted the walls of pagan temples, made sketches of magic masks, which were then made by artisans; musicians, playing string and woodwind instruments, entertained tribal leaders and entertained the common people.
The Christian Church introduced completely different content into these types of art. Church art is subordinated to a higher goal - to glorify the Christian God, the exploits of the apostles, saints, and church leaders. If in pagan art “flesh” triumphed over the “spirit” and affirmed everything earthly, personifying nature, then church art sang the victory of the “spirit” over the flesh, affirmed the high feats of the human soul for the sake of the moral principles of Christianity. In Byzantine art, considered at that time the most perfect in the world, this was expressed in the fact that there painting, music, and the art of sculpture were created mainly according to church canons, where everything that contradicted the highest Christian principles was cut off. Asceticism and severity in painting (icon painting, mosaic, fresco), sublimity, the “divinity” of Greek church prayers and chants, the temple itself, becoming a place of prayerful communication between people - all this was characteristic of Byzantine art. If this or that religious, theological theme was strictly established in Christianity once and for all, then its expression in art, according to the Byzantines, should have expressed this idea only once and for all in an established way; the artist became only an obedient executor of the canons dictated by the church.
And so, the art of Byzantium, canonical in content and brilliant in its execution, transferred to Russian soil, collided with a pagan worldview Eastern Slavs, with their joyful cult of nature - the sun, spring, light, with their completely earthly ideas about good and evil, about sins and virtues. From the very first years, Byzantine church art in Rus' experienced the full power of Russian folk culture and folk aesthetic ideas.
It was already discussed above that a single-domed Byzantine temple in Rus' in the 11th century. transformed into a multi-domed pyramid, the basis of which was Russian wooden architecture. The same thing happened with painting. Already in the 11th century. The strict ascetic manner of Byzantine icon painting was transformed under the brush of Russian artists into portraits close to life, although Russian icons bore all the features of a conventional icon-painting face.
Along with icon painting, fresco and mosaic painting developed. The frescoes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv show the writing style of the local Greek and Russian masters, and the commitment to human warmth, integrity and simplicity. On the walls of the cathedral we see images of saints, the family of Yaroslav the Wise, and images of Russian buffoons and animals. Beautiful icon paintings, frescoes, and mosaics filled other churches in Kyiv. Known for their great artistic power are the mosaics of St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery with their depiction of the apostles, saints who have lost their Byzantine severity; their faces became softer and rounder.
Later, the Novgorod school of painting took shape. Its characteristic features were clarity of idea, reality of image, and accessibility. From the 12th century Wonderful creations of Novgorod painters have come down to us: the icon “Golden Haired Angel,” where, despite all the Byzantine conventions of the Angel’s appearance, one feels reverent and beautiful human soul. Or the icon “Savior Not Made by Hands” (also 12th century), in which Christ, with his expressive arched eyebrows, appears as a formidable, all-understanding judge of the human race. In the icon of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, the faces of the apostles depict all the sorrow of loss. And the Novgorod land produced many such masterpieces.
The wide distribution of icon painting and fresco painting was also typical for Chernigov, Rostov, Suzdal, and later Vladimir-on-Klyazma, where wonderful frescoes depicting “ Last Judgment", decorated Dmitrievsky Cathedral.
IN early XIII V. became famous Yaroslavl school iconography. Many excellent iconographic works were written in the monasteries and churches of Yaroslavl. Especially famous among them is the so-called “Yaroslavl Oranta”, depicting the Mother of God. Its prototype was the mosaic image of the Virgin Mary in the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
Over the course of many centuries, the art of wood carving, and later stone carving, developed and improved in Rus'. Wooden carved decorations generally became a characteristic feature of the homes of townspeople and peasants, and wooden churches.
White stone carving of Vladimir-Suzdal Rus', especially from the time of Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod the Big Nest, in the decoration of palaces and cathedrals, became a remarkable feature of ancient Russian art in general.
Utensils and dishes were famous for their beautiful carvings. The Russians showed themselves most fully in the art of carvers. folk traditions, Russians’ ideas about beauty and grace. This applied not only to wood and stone carving, but also to many types of artistic crafts. Elegant jewelry and true masterpieces were created by ancient Russian jewelers - gold and silversmiths. They made bracelets, earrings, pendants, buckles, tiaras, medallions, and decorated utensils, dishes, and weapons with gold, silver, enamel, and precious stones. With special diligence and love, master craftsmen decorated icon frames, as well as books. An example would be a skillfully trimmed leather jewelry frame of the “Ostromir Gospel”, created by order of the Kyiv mayor Ostromir during the time of Yaroslav the Wise.
Like all medieval art, church painting had practical significance and, being the “Bible for the illiterate,” served primarily the purposes of religious enlightenment. Religious art was also a means of communication with God. Both the process of creation and the process of perception turned into worship. This main function of it reinforces the significance of what is depicted, and not how, and therefore, in principle, does not distinguish between a masterpiece and an ordinary icon. In the context of its era, the icon also performed quite utilitarian functions - a protector from epidemics and crop failures, an intercessor, a formidable weapon (pagan influence).
Religious ideology permeated all spheres of life, religious institutions were protected by the state. A religious canon was established - a set of Christian worldview principles and corresponding techniques, norms and main tasks of artistic and figurative creativity. The canon was developed and approved by the church as an example (template) to follow, as an ideal of holiness and beauty, as a standard for combining the elements of an image. For example, strict adherence by icon painters to the church canon was required in order to make the faces of deities, apostles or saints on all icons or frescoes dedicated to them absolutely identical. The ideal relationship between the religious and artistic sides in its art for the church is the situation in which artistic media are used only for the most complete embodiment of religious content within the framework of the accepted canon. Sample - ancient Novgorod and Pskov icons and frescoes of the 13th - 14th centuries. This religious and artistic canon, after the adoption of Christianity by Russia in 988, was borrowed from Byzantium and, in a revised form, established itself on Russian cultural soil. Thus, in accordance with the requirements of the iconographic canon, in the images of Jesus Christ and the entire pantheon, the saints on the icons emphasize their incorporeality, holiness, divinity, and detachment from earthly things. The appearance of motionless, static, flat figures of biblical characters and saints symbolizes the eternal and unchanging. Space on icons is always depicted conditionally, by combining several projections on a plane using reverse perspective. Golden backgrounds and halos, golden radiance transferred the depicted event in the viewer’s perception to something else, far from earthly world, dimension, into the sphere of spiritual entities, actually representing this sphere.
Color played a special artistic and religious symbolic role in Byzantine painting. For example, purple symbolized divine and imperial dignity; red - fiery, fire (cleansing), the blood of Christ, as a reminder of his incarnation and the future salvation of the human race. White denoted divine light, purity and holiness, detachment from the worldly, aspiration towards spiritual simplicity and sublimity. In contrast to white, black was perceived as a sign of the end, of death. Green color symbolized youth, flowering, and blue and blue - the otherworldly (transcendent) world.
For masters, the canon acted as artistic method and the style of embodying the religious-aesthetic social ideal and approaching it. For the mass of mediocre icon painters, among whom the main place was occupied by monastery monks (“bogomaz”), the canon often served only as a set of formal norms and rules that distinguished religious writing from artistic writing.
One can single out the brilliant Russian painter Andrei Rublev (c. 1370 - c. 1430), who did not always follow established iconographic traditions. Manifesting creative individuality, both in the construction of compositions and in color solutions icons, he embodied the new ideological direction of art. As research has shown, with the unique range of his creations, even with new shades of colors, Rublev seemed to expand the boundaries of the canon. For example, in contrast to the gloomy, dark-colored icons of Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev’s palette is characterized by a light range of colors; his icons and frescoes are imbued with reverent sunshine and embody a joyful attitude, admiration and tenderness for the world. Andrei Rublev's worldview happily combined the spiritual traditions of the pre-Mongol heritage, imbued with echoes of Hellenistic art associated with the Byzantine style, on the one hand, and pan-European pre-Renaissance aesthetics, on the other. Such a complete and deep understanding of the classical canon was most fully expressed in Rublev’s frescoes, in “The Trinity”. Bright joy fills the heart from meeting this priceless monument of the national spiritual and artistic culture, a great world masterpiece, filled with exceptional figurative power and humanistic pathos. Distinguished by deep psychologism, “Trinity” inspires a feeling inner peace, clear simplicity, pride and great moral strength. This is achieved primarily by the classically balanced static composition of the arrangement of the figures of the three angels, the melodiousness of the clear lines of the design, the harmony of the color scheme and the cheerfulness of the overall color background of the icon.
Serving high ideals and striving for perfection distinguished the masters of Russian religious art.
Gradually, spiritual music was formed, written specifically to accompany religious cult rituals, which evoked a whole range of experiences and moods among believers.
Applied, decorative arts and religious objects used during worship or constantly present in the interiors of churches sometimes acquired a non-ecclesiastical sound. Altars, candlesticks, crosses, cassocks, cassocks, miters, all the attire of the priests were not so much works of worship as of applied art.
4. The adoption of Christianity in Rus' and its influence on the historical fate of Russia
Acceptance of Christianity was an important step in the history of Kievan Rus. The main reason that led Vladimir to make such a bold decision as abandoning the traditional Slavic faith was the change in many aspects of the life of Rus' since the formation of the state. Pagan ideas were poorly suited to the needs of the new state and its feudal elite. The need for changes in the sphere of religious beliefs was realized by Vladimir and his associates before the question of accepting Christianity arose. First, an attempt was made to reform traditional religion: the princely warrior god Perun was placed at the head of the pantheon, and an attempt was made to create a more strict hierarchy of celestials. But the population did not support this initiative, since Perun, in his opinion, could not compete with such powerful deities as Svarog or Dazhdbog. In addition, in the prince’s squad there were many representatives of other nations, for whom any Slavic god was alien and incomprehensible. In addition, the attitude of the neighbors towards the pagan state was far from recognizing it as an equal partner, especially with regard to Byzantium. Actually, after making the decision to renounce the pagan faith, there was no question of which religion to adopt. It is clear that this had to be Byzantine-style Christianity. There were many reasons for this: Vladimir’s grandmother, Princess Olga, had already been baptized in Constantinople, there were many Christians among his warriors, there were Christian churches in Kyiv, and Orthodoxy was not a completely unfamiliar faith for the Eastern Slavs. In addition, it was Byzantium that was the state with which contacts were of the greatest value for Ancient Rus'.
The Kiev nobility willingly accepted Christianity - it helped her rule over the people. But the people in many places resisted the new faith. Christianity was often introduced by force. In Novgorod, those who introduced Christianity burned half the city for resistance. There were uprisings against the new faith in other cities. The church received from the princes large land holdings and a tenth of state revenues (“tithe”).
The adoption of Christianity in Rus' was of great importance. Christianity forced people to eat a lot of vegetables, and consequently, gardening improved. Christianity influenced the development of crafts; techniques for laying walls, erecting domes, mosaics, etc. were also adopted. Stone architecture, frescoes, and icon painting also appeared in Rus' thanks to Christianity. Many temples were built (There were about 400 temples in Kyiv, and not one of them copied another). Rus' received two alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic, which contributed to the spread of literacy. The first handwritten books began to appear. Morals in Rus' changed very noticeably, since the church categorically prohibited human sacrifices and the killing of slaves... Also, Christianity contributed to the strengthening of princely power. The prince was now perceived as a messenger of God. And finally, the adoption of Christianity radically changed the international position of Rus'. It organically fit into European culture and diplomatic relations with other countries.
This was especially noticeable under Prince Yaroslav, nicknamed the Wise (978-1054). In Kyiv, on his orders, many beautiful buildings were erected - the majestic Church of Hagia Sophia, new city walls with the Golden Gate. During his reign, many skilled artists and architects, Russian and foreign, worked. Although the influence of Byzantium was strong in famous buildings, church icons and paintings, in general, a new, unique Russian painting and architecture gradually took shape.
Ministry Agriculture
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
Saratov State Agrarian
University named after N.I. Vavilov
Russia in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries
in the discipline History of Russia
students B-Eu-11 gr.
Boldyreva Yulia
Saratov 2016
The adoption of Christianity in Rus' and its influence on the development of culture
The choice of faith is one of the constant themes of world culture. It is interesting not only the fact that Kievan Rus turned to the Byzantine version of Christianity, but also how it was motivated. Old Russian people used when choosing faith aesthetic criterion: They were first of all struck by the beauty of the Byzantine church rite, the beauty of the service, the temple, and the singing. And this connection Christian religion and beauty, felt and perceived by the Russian people, was long and carefully preserved in national culture and served as the source for the creation of many artistic masterpieces.
Christianity in Rus' was preached by the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, one of the disciples of Christ. At the beginning of our era, the Apostle Andrew, the elder brother of the Apostle Peter, went to Scythia. As the Tale of Bygone Years testifies, the Apostle Andrew rose to the middle reaches of the Dnieper, erected a cross on the Kyiv hills and predicted that Kyiv would be “the mother of Russian cities.” The way forward The apostle lay through Novgorod, where, according to the chronicler, he was amazed by the Russian bathhouse, to the Baltic and further around Europe to Rome. Stories of subsequent baptisms separate groups population of Rus' (during Askold and Dir, Cyril and Methodius, Princess Olga, etc.) show that Christianity gradually entered the life of ancient Russian society.
In 988, under Vladimir I, Christianity was adopted as the state religion. It began with the arrival in Kyiv of the embassy of the Volga Bulgars, the “Bohmich faith,” i.e. Muslims, which allegedly invited the prince to become an admirer of Muhammad. In response to temptations on the part of Muslims to legalize polygamy, Vladimir, having learned that their faith forbids eating pork and drinking wine, declared: “Rus' has joy in drinking, we cannot live without it!” But Kyiv prince Vladimir thought about the need to accept some kind of monotheistic religion, which in its essence strengthened the power of a single state. This was all the more necessary because such religions were already professed by almost all the states surrounding Rus'. Vladimir was a cautious and smart politician who sought to probe all options and choose the best one for his people. Vladimir was also looking for a religion that could reinforce state power. Byzantium was an example not only of internal stability. She was a powerful power that pursued successful policies both in the East (against the Arabs) and in the West, in the Balkans. The power of the emperor was almost unlimited, and the Greek church reinforced it. In addition, this church, unlike the Roman one, was, in fact, included in the national system and was completely dependent on the emperor.
True, relations with Byzantium since the time of Svyatoslav remained more than cool, and, according to some sources, simply hostile. However, it was precisely during these years that circumstances arose that should have improved such relations. In Asia Minor, every now and then there were uprisings of one or another rebellious military leaders. In August 987, one of these rebels, Bardas Phocas, proclaimed himself emperor, and in early 988 his troops marched on Constantinople. In this situation, the eldest of the two officially ruling brother-emperors, Vasily II, turned to Vladimir for help, and the latter responded to this call by sending a 6,000-strong detachment, with the help of which the rebels were defeated. This detachment most likely consisted of the Varangians, with the help of whom Vladimir had won a victory in the fight against Yaropolk several years earlier. In this regard, the Russian chronicle writes that Vladimir released these Varangians to Constantinople, simultaneously informing the emperor about this. The prince had a reason to get rid of the violent seekers of military adventures, and the emperor received a strong military support. By the way, apparently, from this time on, such military detachments that came from Rus' became permanent in Byzantium. They consisted not only of Varangians as such, but, obviously, also of Slavs. By the way, it was from this time that the so-called Varangian squad, also multinational in its composition, functioned in Byzantium (later, people from the countries of Western Europe).
Help for the empire from Rus' was subject to two important conditions. Firstly, the emperors undertook to give their sister Anna as a wife to the prince. Secondly, Vladimir promised to accept Christianity with his people. It was quite rare case when the proud Roman emperors agreed to hand over Byzantine princess for the “barbarian” that Vladimir was in their eyes.
Emperor Vasily II suppressed the rebellion of the commander Varda Phokas, but did not fulfill his obligation to give his daughter Anna for Vladimir. Then Vladimir besieged Korsun (Chersonese) and forced the Byzantine princess to marry in exchange for the baptism of a “barbarian” who had long been attracted to the Greek faith.
The baptism of Vladimir and his entourage took place in the city of Korsun, the center of Byzantine possessions in Crimea.
Upon returning to Kyiv, Vladimir ordered the statues of pagan gods to be overthrown and destroyed. The idol of Perun was tied to a horse's tail and dragged to the Dnieper. To the entire population of Kyiv, in to the same degree rich and poor were ordered to go to the river for baptism. Similar instructions came from his governors in Novgorod and other cities.
Pagan sanctuaries were replaced Christian churches. Most of the latter were to consist of hastily built wooden chapels, but Vladimir wasted no time in building the first majestic Kyiv stone cathedral - the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, also known as the "Church of the Tithes". Its construction began in 990 and was completed in 996.
First of all, the new religion claimed to change people’s worldview, their perception of all life, and therefore their ideas about beauty, artistic creativity, aesthetic influence.
The Russian Church initially (following the Greek model) depended on the Grand Duke, and church hierarchs were independent only in purely ecclesiastical matters. “God's servant” - the sovereign was, according to Byzantine traditions, both a fair judge in domestic affairs and a valiant defender of the borders of the state. The adoption of Christianity strengthened state power and territorial unity of Kievan Rus. It had great international significance, in that Rus', having rejected “primitive” paganism, was now becoming equal to other Christian countries. Finally, the adoption of Christianity played a role big role in the development of Russian culture, which was influenced by Byzantine and, through it, ancient culture.
Acceptance of Christianity Ancient Russia became a significant step in the development of East Slavic civilization. The church became the center of public life. She preached a new ideology, instilled new values, and raised a new person. Christianity made man the bearer of a new morality, based on a culture of conscience, arising from the evangelical commandments. Christianity created a broad basis for the unification of ancient Russian society, the formation of a single people based on common spiritual and moral principles.
The border between Russian and Slav has disappeared. Everyone was united by a common spiritual basis. There has been a humanization of society. Rus' was included in the European Christian world. From that time on, she considers herself part of this world, striving to play a prominent role in it, always comparing herself with it.
Christianity influenced all aspects of life in Rus'. The adoption of a new religion helped to establish political, trade, and cultural ties with the countries of the Christian world. It contributed to the formation of urban culture in a predominantly agricultural country. But it is necessary to take into account the specific “sloboda” character of Russian cities, where the bulk of the population continued to be engaged in agricultural production, to a small extent supplemented by crafts, and in fact urban culture concentrated in a narrow circle of secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy.
The consequence of it (as well as other factors) were significant, although multi-temporal, changes in the ethnic, socio-economic, political and cultural development of Rus'.