Before the conversion
Rus rulers in the tenth century were mostly pagan. Their religion combined Slavic gods with older Scandinavian practices among the ruling warrior elite. The chronicle names deities such as Perun, associated with thunder and the prince’s retinue, and Veles, linked with cattle and wealth. Scholars know far less about these cults than about later Christian practice, since most of our written sources were composed by Christians. Comparisons with Norse mythology are sometimes used to fill the gaps, but they are only suggestive.
Christianity was not wholly new. Rus merchants and soldiers met Christians in Constantinople and elsewhere, and a Christian community existed in Kyiv. The most famous early convert was Princess Olga, who traveled to Constantinople in the middle of the tenth century and was baptized there. Her son Sviatoslav stayed pagan, reportedly refusing to convert, and his own rule was spent largely in military campaigns.
Vladimir’s choice
Vladimir, Sviatoslav’s son, won power in Kyiv after a struggle among brothers in the late 970s. Early in his reign he is described as promoting a pagan revival, setting up a group of idols on a hill near his palace. By the late 980s, though, he turned to Christianity.
The date usually given is 988, although some historians prefer a slightly later year for the baptism and the wider mass baptism. The date is traditional, not certain.
The legend of the envoys
According to the Primary Chronicle, Vladimir examined several religions. Envoys reportedly considered Islam among the Volga Bulgars, Latin Christianity among Germans, Judaism among the Khazars and Greek Christianity in Constantinople. Of the last they reported that they could not tell whether they were in heaven or on earth, after attending a service in Hagia Sophia. Most historians treat the account as a literary story written for later readers, not as a record of an actual inquiry. It still shows what later Rus writers valued about their faith: its beauty and its link to the empire’s capital.
The political deal
Realistic explanations tend to be political. The Byzantine emperor Basil II faced a serious rebellion in the late 980s and asked Vladimir for military help. According to the usual account, Vladimir agreed in return for marriage to the emperor’s sister Anna, on the condition that he accept baptism. Rus troops sent to Constantinople are often linked to the early Varangian Guard, though how exact that link is remains debated.
Such a marriage was a major honor, since imperial princesses were rarely given to foreign rulers. Vladimir is said to have captured the Byzantine city of Chersonesos in Crimea as leverage, and was baptized there or in Kyiv. The connection gave him prestige, a place in the Christian family of rulers, and a model of kingship in which the ruler was God’s representative. Byzantine diplomacy typically worked this way, drawing neighbors into the empire’s orbit through religion, titles and marriage.
Spreading the faith
Back in Kyiv, Vladimir ordered the idols thrown down, and the chronicle describes the statue of Perun being dragged to the river. The people of the city were summoned to the Dnieper for baptism. How fully the population complied is uncertain. Conversion in the countryside and in distant regions took generations, and older beliefs lingered, often blended with Christian feasts and saints.
The new church was headed by a metropolitan, at first typically appointed from Constantinople, and was subordinate to the patriarch there. Bishoprics were set up in major towns, and Vladimir is said to have supported schools and church building, including the Church of the Tithes in Kyiv. Greek and South Slavic clergy brought texts in Church Slavonic, which was readable by local people, unlike Latin or Greek. This had long-term effects: a written language for the Slavs developed alongside religion, and the liturgy could be understood.
Why Byzantium and not Rome
In the late tenth century the split between the Roman and Constantinopolitan churches was not yet final. The break is conventionally dated to 1054, well after Vladimir’s time. Rus had contacts with both, and Vladimir’s descendants intermarried widely with Western European dynasties. Nevertheless Constantinople was the nearest great Christian power, the richest trading partner and a source of art and learning, so its form of the faith was the natural choice.
Consequences
The conversion had lasting effects.
- Church and prince. The church supported princely authority and became a major landholder, while also acting as a mediator in disputes.
- Art and building. Stone churches, icons and mosaics, modeled on Byzantine work, spread across Rus towns.
- Writing. Monasteries produced chronicles, sermons and law texts, preserving what we know of the period.
- Identity. Rus became part of the Orthodox Christian world, which separated it, over time, from Catholic neighbors such as Poland and Hungary.
The conversion did not by itself unify Rus politically, and the church often stayed in step with princes who quarreled. Still, shared faith became one of the strongest ties across the principalities, even in the era after the Mongol conquests, when the church helped preserve a sense of common culture.