Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)Religion

Vladimir’s choice of faith

According to the Primary Chronicle, in 986 Muslim Volga Bulgars, Germans from the pope, Khazar Jews and a Greek scholar urged their faiths on Vladimir; in 987 his envoys visited each, and the beauty of the liturgy in Hagia Sophia — “we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth” — decided the choice.

Date: 986–987year known · duration: ≈ 12 months
Place: Kyivtoday: Kyiv, Ukraine · Eastern Europe
Participants: Vladimir the Great, Kievan Rus’, Volga Bulgaria, Byzantine Empire
Threads: Eastern Europe and Rus’ before the Baptism (1st–10th c.)
Also known as: Testing of faiths; Испытание вер; Выбор веры

The chronicle turns a political decision into an edifying story: Vladimir rejects Islam because it forbids wine — “drinking is the joy of the Rus’, we cannot live without it” — Judaism because God had scattered the Jews, and the Latin rite with little discussion, while the Greek philosopher’s long account of sacred history impresses him. The boyars remind him that his grandmother Olga, “wisest of all people”, had accepted Christianity from the Greeks.

Similar “choice of faith” stories are told of the Khazars and other peoples, and the episode is a literary construction. It nonetheless reflects the real position of Kyiv at the crossroads of Islam, Judaism and Latin and Greek Christianity, and the prestige of Byzantium, which decided the matter in 987–988 amid the rebellion of Bardas Phokas.

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Connections

Causes and preconditions

Vladimir’s pagan pantheonbetween 978 and 980 · Eastern Europethe pagan reform failed, and Vladimir turned to a world religion

Consequences

Baptism of Rus’988 · Eastern Europe

Related events

Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatoliathe liturgy in Hagia Sophia decided the envoys’ choice
The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861 · Eastern EuropeKhazar Jews are among those who offer their faith to Vladimir in the chronicle
Ibn Fadlan’s embassy to the Volga Bulgars21 June 921 – 12 May 922 · Eastern Europein the chronicle the Muslim Volga Bulgars are the first to offer their faith to Vladimir

Same participants

Sviatoslav’s campaign against the Khazars964 – between 968 and 969 · Eastern Europevia Volga Bulgaria
Battle of the Gates of Trajan17 August 986 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire

Same place

Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430 · Eastern Europe
Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700 · Eastern Europe
First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867 · Eastern Europe
Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882 · Eastern Europe
Oleg takes Kyiv882 · Eastern Europe
The Pechenegs first come to the Rus’ land915 · Eastern Europe
Constantine VII describes the Rus’ route to Constantinoplebetween 948 and 952 · Eastern Europe
Pecheneg siege of Kyiv968 · Eastern Europe
Feud of the Sviatoslavichi977 – between 978 and 980 · Eastern Europe
Building of the Church of the Tithes989–996 · Eastern Europe
The first Rus’ coinsbetween 988 and 1000 – 1015 · Eastern Europe
Siege of Kyiv5 September – between 19 November and 6 December 1240 · Eastern Europe

Meanwhile in the world

Other regions, within 25 years of this event

The same period

10th century

Sources

Wikipedia (English): Christianization of Kievan Rus'
Wikipedia (English): Vladimir the Great
Wikipedia (Russian): Крещение Руси
Wikipedia (Russian): Владимир Святославич
Повесть временных лет / Подгот. текста, пер., ст. и коммент. Д. С. Лихачёва; под ред. В. П. Адриановой-Перетц. — 2-е изд. — СПб.: Наука, 1996.