Threatened by an uprising of his treacherous generals, the Christian Emperor Basil II, based in the glorious city of Byzantium, reached out to his enemies, the pagans over in the land of the Rus. Basil II was a clever deal maker. If Vladimir of the Rus would help him put down the revolt, he would give him the hand of his sister in marriage. This was a status changer for Vladimir: the marriage of a pagan to an imperial princess was unprecedented. But first Vladimir would have to convert to Christianity.
Returning to Kyev in triumph, Vladimir proceeded to summon the whole city to the banks of the river Dnieper for a mass baptism. The year is 988. This is the founding, iconic act of Russian Orthodox Christianity. It was from here that Christianity would spread out and merge with the Russian love of the motherland, to create a powerful brew of nationalism and spirituality. In the mythology of 988, it was as if the whole of the Russian people had been baptised. Vladimir was declared a […]
Maybe. The tradition of ‘spiritual’ whoredom started with Byzantine Caesaropapism if not earlier. The Russian Orthodox Church’s leadership has always been a whore for whoever is in power in Moscow. They even accommodated themselves to the Communists. When corruption exists at such enormous levels on both sides, talk of religious belief seems rather pointless.
A superficial article at best. I suspect we could obtain more nuance, and historical detail from someone within the Orthodox community.