The Saint Baptist: timed to 1020 years of the Baptism of Rus

Abstract

The article considers the period of the Baptism of Russia, speaks about the role of the equal to the Apostles prince Vladimir, about new Christian principles of the Russian statehood. The very fact of Baptism in 988 introduced Kievan Rus into the orbit of the European states, contributed to integration of Russian lands, consolidation of Russian ethnos, rise of the Russian culture, enriched by higher Christian spirit. As a rule historians start the story about the Baptism of Russians from the parable of the Journey to Russia made by St Andrew, the First- called Apostle. According to metropolitan Macarios (Bulgakov), we usually count up to five epochs in the "enlightening period of Russia by the Gospel" - the first epoch - is the Sermon made by St. Andrew, apostle, the second - the elucidative activity of the equal- to- apostles Cyril and Methodius, the third one is the Baptism of the first princes of Kiev Askold and Dir, the forth one is the Baptism of the Great Princess Olga, and finally the Baptism of the Great prince Vladimir. Prince Vladimir practically summed up the result for the millennial history of the early Russian Christianity. The linguistic research of academician Trubachev O.N. (INDOARICA in the North Black sea area, M., 1999) of the Azov and the Black sea Rus and his opinion, that it is namely here that the ethnonim Rus started spreading, allows us to speak with greater assuredness about the 1000 years of the early Russian, prior St. Vladimir Christianity. The image of St. Vladimir became the real symbol of integration of the Great and Little Russia in 1654, the symbol of Unity of the Russian people, especially when its three powerful branches have been shaped, namely: Little Russians, great Russians and * 6 Contents & Sum Byelorussians. It is not by chance that in the XX century after the October coup d'etat, the Russian refugees in dispersion, cherishing the revival of the Fatherland, especially marked the commemoration day of St. Prince as a Day of the Russian Glory.