The Baptism of Rus

Christianity was known in Rus before Vladimir: the baptism of Princess Olga (c. 957), a Christian community in Kiev. The Primary Chronicle tells of the “testing of faiths” — a chronicle narrative combining a historical core with literary form.

Vladimir was baptized (according to the chronicle, in Korsun/Chersonesus) and baptized the people of Kiev in the Dnieper. The Russian Church became a metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. From Byzantium and Bulgaria came worship in the Slavonic language, book culture, stone architecture and icon painting.

The Baptism determined the cultural and spiritual path of the Eastern Slavs. The year 988 is accepted as the official date; the millennium celebration in 1988 became a turning point for the revival of church life in the USSR.