World religions. Рахимбергенова М.Х. - 31 стр.

         PA R T I
                                        CHRISTIANITY

                                    Russian Orthodox Church
              Although the Russian Orthodox Church marked the millennium of its
         foundation in 1988 this was an extended process, which began a century or
         more earlier. Byzantine sources speak of a Russian diocese established by the
         patriarchate of CONSTANTINOPLE as early as 867. So momentous a devel-
         opment, declared Patriarch PHOTIOS (circa 810 – circa 895), demonstrated
         that the warlike Russians could now be considered “subjects and friends” of the
         Byzantine Empire. By 874, these “subjects and friends” had clearly gained suf-
         ficient status to be accorded an archbishop, although the location of his seat re-


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         mains unclear.
              The evidence of early Russian Christianity is scant; all the more gratifying,
         then, to learn of Russian Christians acting as co-signatories of a Russo-
         Byzantine treaty in 944. Some may have acted as supporters for the Kievan
         princess Ol’ga when she decided to link herself, and therefore, potentially, her
         subjects, with the Byzantine world by accepting baptism in Constantinople
         circa 960. This was the first such symbolic act at her level of society, but it was
         not to meet with favour among her immediate successors. A determined pagan
         revival in the Kievan realm over the succeeding twenty-five years is reported in
         the later chronicles of KIEV and there is some archaeological evidence to sup-
         port this.
              In the event, Ol’ga’s policy prevailed. By the end of the tenth century the
         Kievan elite was driven to accept that the economic, political, cultural and spiri-
         tual welfare of the Russian state could no longer be assured unless alliances
         were made with one of its monotheistic neighbours. These adhered to Islam, to
         Judaism or to Christianity, in either its Roman or its Byzantine form. According
         to the stylized account in the Russian Primary Chronicle (probably completed
         by A.D. 1116) the ruler of the day, Vladimir or Volodimer, sent envoys to each
         of the relevant religious centres, asking for each to be assessed. Their unquali-
         fied preference was for the religion of Constantinople. “We know only that God
         abides there among them and their worship is superior to that of any other
         lands”, they reported after attending Hagia Sophia. “For we cannot forget that
         beauty”. Some might think the narrative hardly more than a literary device.
         Nevertheless it prompted some historians to read into it a predisposition of the
         Russian people to treat beauty as a path to revelation.
              Be that as it may, Vladimir duly accepted baptism (988) as part of a pack-
         age deal with the Byzantine authorities, which involved urgent military support
         for the latter. More important, it promoted Russia’s assimilation to the Byzan-

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