Russian church history

Ancient tradition recorded in the Russian Chronicle, said that the beginning of Christianity in Russia is necessary in the days of the Apostles the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called: passing a sermon the Gospel Thrace, Scythian and Samarian, it reached as if to Dnepr hills, where after there was Kiev, blessed and they predicted that they shine the grace of God hath Valrico be alone and the Church, many hath God to raise up.

But after that for a long time, we see no signs of Christianity over the whole space of the future of the Russian land, excepting only the southernmost of its limits, where the ancient Greek colony and where we find very ancient traces of it can be really related to the time of St. Andrew.

In the III century in the mouths of the Danube has been a diocese or Scythian Tamatarha. In Crimea, Christians were still in the days of St. Clement of Rome, who was exiled here from Rome in '94; in the IV century, referred to herein and the Diocese of Keelson Bosporus; in the VII and VIII centuries. Sourest and Folkway.

In the IV century the diocese was among Goths, who lived between the Don and the Digesters. Of all these areas the seeds of Christianity, of course, convenient, and can be recorded in Russia, but could hardly take root here, because falling, so to speak, in the way, on the road on which constantly moved to Europe different Asian hordes.

More favorable conditions for success here came the preaching of the Gospel to an indefinite period settlement within the Russian Slavic tribes settled population. The Slavs had long been intimately familiar with Greece, where they went to rob, to trade and to serve in the imperial army.

There is some news about the results of their acquaintance with the Christian empire, cases of adoption of Christianity. This is the news the life of St. Stephen Sourest about a Slavic prince Brava line , soon after the death of the saint was attacked with a team on Suresh, he plundered it, and wanted to rob the relics of Stephen, but was struck by the miraculous power and was baptized.

In the Life of St. George Amastridskogo passed a similar story about a Russian who attacked Amstrads and who wanted to unearth the tomb of St. George; the miracle of the affected soldiers, their leader asked for prayers of Christians, freed prisoners and concluded with residents of the Union. In the first half of the IX century Bulgaria, Moravia and Pantone heard preaching the gospel of the Slavic first teacher Cyril and Methodism, who invented the Slav Letters and shifted to the Slavic speech Scriptures and liturgical books.

About the same time calling Prince Runic in Novgorod was the beginning of the Russian state, to which Providence was to use the works of Cyril and Methodism, more than any other Slavic countries; princely power began to connect disparate slavyanorusskie tribes into one nation, and thus pave the way for future nationwide baptism of Rust.

Kevin princes Asked and Dir first fell under the influence of the Orthodox Greece and prepared the way for him to Russia. In 864, they made ​​a raid on Constantinople. After diligent prayer Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photos with a procession to the shore of the Bosporus carried the miraculous Our Lady robe and plunged it into the water. A storm arose and began to stoke the Court of Russia; only a few of the barbarians returned home. Affected miracle princes requested baptism.

He sent them to the bishop made ​​a strong impression as the people of Kiev by his preaching, and especially the miracle by throwing into the fire Gospel and then lifting it out of the fire unscathed. Many of the Rust were baptized at the same time. Probably baptized and princes; at least it is known that Kiev Christians at the grave of Asked was built after the church of St. Nicholas.

On the murder of Asked and Dir prince in Kiev began to Oleg, who moved here from Novgorod. He also made ​​a campaign under Constantinople, greatly oppressed the city and managed to conclude an advantageous peace with the Greeks. When ambassadors were in Greece for the conclusion of peace, the Greeks, on the orders of the emperor, led them to the churches; they showed different shrines and give instruction in the faith.

After signing the contract Russian more often began to go to Byzantium to trade, to live there for a few months at the monastery of St. Mamma and closer acquainted with Orthodoxy; others do the service of the Emperor. In 944 successor, Oleg, Igor also signed a contract with the Greeks; this contract is divided Russia already at Baptism and anabaptized; first sworn in compliance with the agreement with the Kiev Church of St. Elijah.

Igor's widow Olga, the wisest of all men, as a chronicle of her calls, she wished to be baptized. In the year 957, already 67 years old, she went to Constantinople, being, in all probability, had previously made ​​public the evangelical doctrine of the Orthodox pastors of Kiev; one of them, named Gregory, we see even among her companions, her Baptism was made ​​patriarch Polecats; godfather was the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. With the princess in Constantinople were her nephew, many noble women, maids, ambassadors, guests, interpreters; Many of them also baptized. On his return to Russia, Olga, Elena in baptism - until the death of his pious life shone like the moon in the night among the Gentiles.

She urged the adoption of Christianity and his son Svyatoslav, but he would not listen, and the baptism. The new faith was not the nature of this warlike prince and his retinue; over those who received the baptism, the squad and the prince laughed. But, in all probability, Olga had a considerable influence on the children of Svyatoslav, who remained at the teacher during his permanent absence in Kiev.

There is news that the holy princess went from Kiev to the cities and villages of the Russian land to preach Christianity. She died in 969. Comparing it to the value of St. Vladimir, the chronicler calls it the dawn of the morning, is preceded by the sun.

After the death of Olga Sviatoslav raised persecution against Christians - a sign that the new faith drew the attention of the pagan party. When his children Yearbook and Oleg, remembered the teachings of his grandmother, the fate of the Christians again facilitated; it should be noted in this case that Yearbook and his wife was a Christian, some captive Greek nun.

In 1044 Grand Prince Yugoslav baptized bone Yearbook and Oleg; this strange fact is explained by the fact that Arousal heard on the location of his uncles to Christianity. Both the prince died in the strife.

Their younger brother, Vladimir, after they sat down in Kiev, was still a child when she died, Olga, and less other brothers fell under its influence; Then he, too, was a child, was taken away in Novgorod, where Christianity was less well known than in Kiev, and grew up there under the influence of the old faith. From this exercise they Kiev throne was at the same time a celebration of pagan party in Kiev on Christian.

New Prince Uncle Dourine initially showed great zeal for paganism, began to set and decorate the idols in Kiev. On the hill in front of his yard prince put wooden Peron with a silver head and golden mustache, Horse Dashpot, Strobe, hair, Smartly, Monkish. According to the Chronicle, never before in the Russian land it had such a vile idolatry, as at this time. In 983, after a happy march on Yatvingians, it was decided to bring the gods even human sacrifice. The lot fell upon the Christian youth of John, the son of Theodore outsider. Father did not want to give son and insulted Gentiles denouncing their madness.

A furious crowd killed them both. Judging by the few chronicles Invested, the Grand Duke has a wide kind, capable to all kinds of excesses. Epics people remember it dissipated feasts with a team. The Chronicle says his ladies' man of excessive, comparing it in this regard to Solomon. But this same latitude of nature made him able, with the assistance of the grace of God and a radical moral revolution.

Slavic-Russian paganism, despite his triumph, was not able to deal with any of those around him religions: Islam nor the Bulgarians nor the Chazzans to Judaism or Catholicism of the West, even more so with the Orthodox Greeks. And all these religions exerted a lot of pressure on him, as is clearly evident from the traditions of the parish to Vladimir ambassadors from different countries with a proposal of different faiths.

The most jealous prince to pagan faith was to lead only to more failure detection and to speed up its revolution in the beliefs of the prince and the best people. Start selecting a new faith. This option, shown in detail in the chronicle the tale of a conversation with Vladimir missionaries of various religions, leaned toward the Greek Orthodox Church. Greek missionary, this legend, strongly acted Vladimir his doctrine of atonement, and the future life, and especially an icon of the Last Judgment, which showed the prince.

On his departure, Prince, on the advice of the elders Grad ski squads and sent ten Reasonable men to different countries for testing of different faiths on the spot. Draw faith is not like it after, as the Greek. Back in Kiev, they were told that the Greek temple of Sophia in Constantinople, they did not know where stood - in heaven or on earth. In Kiev, there was another proof in favor of orthodoxy - an example of Princess Olga, who was wiser than all people.

It was decided to be baptized, were only waiting for an opportunity to do so. Posed a little more, - said the prince, in the heart of the action which has already begun calling for the grace of God.

In 988, the army laid siege to Vladimir Korus. Like other pagan leaders in similar circumstances, the prince made a vow to be baptized in the event of victory. Taking the city, he demanded that the then emperors Basil and Constantine hands of their sister Anna and at the same time promised to take their faith. The emperor agreed, and was persuaded to accept her sister. In anticipation of the bride prince eyes ached.

He arrived in Korus princess persuaded him to accelerate the baptism, if he wants to get rid of the disease. And indeed, as soon as the Korus bishop I baptized him, because he received his sight, and marveling at his healing, he exclaimed: Now I saw only true God. His squad too, was baptized. After the baptism was accomplished his marriage to Anna. In memory of all that he has created in Korus church back to the Greeks and the city returned to Kiev, and took with them the priests and Korus Tsaritsyno, the relics of St. Clement of Rome and its student Phoebe, church vessels, crosses, icons and all church utensils.

In Kiev, the prince was baptized 12 of his sons and many of the boyars; then ordered to destroy the idols; Peron tied to the horse's tail and dragged into the Diaper, on the road and beat him with sticks. The overthrow of the idols of the clergy and the prince walked through the city to preach. Many people of Kiev were baptized with joy; others did not want to listen to the sermon; others hesitated, hesitated as the first and the prince himself. Then Vladimir issued a decree that the next day all the anabaptized came to the river, and who does not appear to be the adversary to the prince. It decided to confusion those who hesitated. If the new faith was not good - they thought - the princes and boyars would not accept it, and went to be baptized; others were on the river out of fear. Thrust Gentiles fled from the wrath of the prince in the steppe and forest.

The day after the prince's command on the Diaper River was the baptism of the general people. Then, in the words of the pious chronicler, heaven and earth rejoiced, seeing a lot saved. Oh great, storey heaven and earth, - cried out in joyful delight Vladimir - look upon His new people, give them, O Lord, You overate as overall Christian countries, and strengthen their faith and right nesovratimuyu.

After the baptism of the prince, and the entire squad Christianity became the capital city in Russia faith in the true sense of the ruling. At the same time followed by the formation of a special local Russian church, whose existence had been there all the necessary conditions? She had a large congregation in Kiev, which will soon start to grow even through the spread of the true faith and the outside of Kyiv, among various Slavic tribes inorodcheskih and Russia; had its own hierarchy, consisting of metropolitan Michael, bishops and priests, arrived from Constantinople and Korus, and probably some of his old, native; immediately after the baptism of the people of the Grand Duke began to build around its holy temples of worship; gradually came to be defined and the relationship of the new church to her mother  the Church of Greece, as well as local domestic relations of the state and its public nature.

She began her fight with the old pagan superstitions and salutary rukovoditelstvo new prosperity to the people of God on the path of Christian perfection of the internal; in a word, to the historical life of the Russian Orthodox Church. This historical life of the Russian Orthodox Church and is the subject of Russian Church history.

As a science, systematically showing gradual progress of the external and internal prosperity of the Orthodox Church of Christ in the Russian land, it must tell in particular: How to distribute the Church of Christ among the Russian people and Russian land foreigners, thus defeating the various obstacles or suffering damage from enemies of Orthodox Christianity, both internal and external, it was arranged according to their own hierarchical structure, as defined by their relationship to the Russian state and people, and to adapt common universal laws and customs of his administration, the courts, and the economic system to the needs and way of local government and the people's lives and, in turn, itself influenced the changing nature of the latter, transforming them according to their own principles.

what and how she taught the people the extent to which the latter assimilate its teachings, in which especially the popular forms of this doctrine was fixed in his mind, and how their educational influence gradually smoothed these features, bringing the Christian consciousness of his flock to a universal type of orthodox doctrine.

Which features influenced people's concepts and local living conditions were found in her Orthodox worship, in terms of the people of the Christian holy places, ways of worship, the supplier of worship, rituals and so on, and what educational facilities took it from his hand to the work and the industry of Christian life in the Russian land.

Both under its influence it has gone into it enlightened people prosperity of Christian moral life. The sources from which to draw relevant here information of two kinds: one - are common to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church with Russian history in general: chronographs, chronicles, all kinds of official acts and laws, notes contemporaries, letters, memorials literary monuments real monuments household, stories of aliens and so on, others private, relating specifically or mainly to the church or the religious life of Russia.

These include monuments belonging to the church and church laws, rules, letters, messages and all the Russian bishops orders, decrees Russian cathedrals, church charters Russian princes and other legislative sites of the government with respect to the church; case files, records and acts of religious institutions  churches and monasteries, syndic, catalogs bishops, dioceses private stories of local primary sources, the lives of saints and tales of various shrines of the Russian land, biographies of church leaders; teaching, preaching and moralizing incriminating messages and other monuments of spiritual literature, in which to either side expressed religious thought and feeling of the Russian people; monuments of church life material  temples, icons, church utensils, liturgical books; Monuments immaterial  oral traditions, legends, folk beliefs, superstitions, religious customs, rites and other living remnants of the people's religious life of former times, revitalizes and clarifies scant news of her other sources, and in many cases, replacing even the best news.

Separation of Russian church history into periods corresponds closely to the usual division into periods of Russian civil history. In the course of the first centuries of its existence, the church life in Russia is developing mainly in the south, near its center of Kiev, including the specific situation of unstable civilian life, in the struggle with strong remnants of another old pagan life and under the direct supervision and gospodstvennym influence of the Greek Church.

This period lasted until the Mongol invasion, after which the civil life of Russia from the south moved to the north, beyond the Great, and here began to develop a more stable system of government; with her there, in the new environment of the Great tribe tolerated and the main center of the life of the church Russian archdiocese.

Russian church, received here too large external stability and facilitate from its original struggle against paganism, began to more clearly define their relationship to the state and people, to cultivate more and more national character and to take an active part in all modern life matters in relief Mongol yoke, to unite the country through the weakening of the specific way of life, in keeping links between the two halves of torn Russia north and south, in the weakening of its own, depending on Greece.

This period ends with the political history of the church Russian Church split into two halves, Moscow and Kiev, Lithuania, followed by a new period of life separate the two halves of her, - external and internal prosperity of the Moscow Church and the Church of the Kiev disaster among non Christian state.

For this period, the Moscow Church ends her achievement of full autonomy, and its elevation to the level of an independent Patriarchate, in Kiev the same - her accession to the Moscow Patriarchate in the overall composition of a unified Russian Church. Since the beginning of the XVIII century it is a new time for the whole of Russian life, time for a new political system and new definitions regarding public position and the external device of the Church, while the assimilation of Russian fruits of Western civilization, and at the same time, many new phenomena in the history of Russian religiosity and new relationships the Church of Russian society from now you can start a new one, the current period of Russian church history.