Varangians and the Advance of Christianity to Rus’ in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries

Elena Melnikova

One of the main purposes of the earliest Russian annalists, monks of the Kievan Cave monastery who wrote at the end of the eleventh and at the beginning of the twelfth centuries, was to depict the advance of Christianity in Eastern Slavic world[1360]. The depiction of how East Slavic people joined the family of Christian nations allowed them to incorporate the history of their own people into the history of the world («historia mundi») and the Christian church («historia ecclesiastica»)[1361]. They had, however, rather little to tell about. Before the official adoption of the new faith in 988 (or 989) the chronicle preserved only a few mentions scattered here and there and providing information about events pertinent to the advent of Christianity.

Two of these entries were of crucial importance for the annalists’ conception of Slavic early history. The first one is devoted to the voyage of Apostle Andrew up the Dnieper, the second one concerns the earliest teachers of Slavic nations, St. Cyril and St. Methodius. The tale about St. Andrew was an elaboration of a popular in the Middle Ages apocryphic story about his voyage to the lands on the northern shore of the Black Sea[1362]. The Byzantine version of the apocryph became known in Rus’ by the end of the eleventh century and was used to proclaim the original holiness of the Rusian land predicted by St. Andrew. Having reached the Kievan hills, St. Andrew is said to announce: «So shall the favor of God shine upon them that on this spot a great city shall arise, and God shall erect many churches therein»[1363]. The story provided the «apostolic» background for Christianity in Rus’ and thus allowed the annalist to present Eastern Slavs as a chosen nation, even when pagans.

The second entry dealt with the introduction of Christianity among the Slavs by St. Cyril and St. Methodius[1364]. The information about their mission and activities in Moravia came to Rus’ from Bulgaria. Though the saints preached Christianity in Moravia, far from Eastern Europe, their reputation as the apostles of the Slavs as well as their introduction of Slavic script made the annalists represent them as successors of St. Andronicus, «one of the Seventy, a disciple of the holy Apostle Paul» and teachers of all Slavic peoples including those who habitated in Eastern Europe:

Since Paul is the teacher of the Slavic race, from which we Russians too are sprung, even so the Apostle Paul is the teacher of us Russians… But the Slavs and the Russes are one people[1365].

Both legends based on literary, Byzantine or South-Slavic sources, were crucial for the annalists’ concept of historia ecclesiastica of Rus’. They introduced Eastern Slavs into the Christian world even before the Slavs became Christians and emphasized the original belonging of the then pagan peoples to the true faith. In this perspective the Christianization at the times of Vladimir turned to be not an occasional act but the realization of inherent aspirations of the Eastern Slavs.

Contrary to the presentation of these paradigmatic concepts, the annalists’ depiction of events immediately connected with the penetration of Christian ideas into Eastern Slavic world could not have rested on written sources. Byzantine writers and church hierarchs paid little attention to confessional developments among «Northern barbarians». The annalists had to rely only on historical memory current among their contemporaries. These recollections, however, were few and vague. Oral tradition about the events of the ninth and tenth centuries consisted mostly of heroic legends about the deeds of the Russian princes and their champions. That was an «epic history» that emerged and took shape among the new warrior elite of the Old Russian state which consisted first utterly and later mostly of Scandinavians[1366].

Encounters with Christianity were not the theme of prime interest for the creators and transmitters of «heroic» historical tradition, so the recollections of Christian influences incorporated in the oral history that existed for about two centuries before it was put into writing were exceptionally scarce. In fact, the Russian annalists seem to know nothing about the spread of Christianity in Eastern Europe before the midtenth century when Kievan princess Ol’ga (< Helga) is told to have been baptized in Constantinople. This period of what one may call latent Christianity in Rus’ and the role the Varangians played in it is the subject of this article[1367].

I

The earliest information about the events connected with the penetration of Christianity in Eastern Europe in the ninth century is preserved in Byzantine and Arabic sources contemporary or a little later than the events they tell about. According to them, one of the first grave and consequential encounters of Kievan princes and their retinues with Christianity took place already in the mid-ninth century. In 860[1368] the Rhos people[1369] attempted the first attack on Constantinople and besieged the city benefiting from the absence of the emperor with the army[1370]. As Patriarch Photius wrote in his two homilies «On the attack of the Rhos» – one was pronounced during the siege (No. Ill) and anotherer immediately after the event (No. IV), it was the miracle of Virgin Mary that saved the city from a disaster[1371]. When her sacred vestment was carried round the walls and dipped in the waters of the Golden Horn, a storm began, the ships of the attackers were destroyed, and «the barbarians gave up the siege and broke camp». The siege of Constantinople by the «barbarians from the North» shocked the Christian world and caused many responses in literature and documents up to the twelfth century.

A description of presumably the same attack is preserved also in the «Primary Chronicle» s. a. 866[1372]. The narration, however, was not based on any local tradition, oral or written, but it was borrowed from the Byzantine Continuation of the Chronicle of Georgius the Monk.

Askold and Dir attacked the Greeks during the fourteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Michael[1373]. When the Emperor had set forth against the infidels and had arrived at the Black river, the eparch sent him word that the Russes were approaching Tsar'grad (Constantinople), and the Emperor turned back. Upon arriving inside the strait, the Russes made a great massacre of the Christians, and attacked Tsar’grad in two hundred boats. The Emperor succeeded with difficulty in entering the city. He straightway hastened with the Patriarch Photius at the Church of the Holy Virgin in Blachernae where they prayed all night. They also sang hymns and carried the sacred vestment of the Virgin to dip it in the sea. The weather was still, and the sea was calm, but a storm of wind came up, and when great waves straightway rose, confusing the boats of the godless Russes, it threw them upon the shore and broke them up, so that few escaped such destruction and returned to their native land[1374].

The only addition of the annalist to Gregorius’s text concerns the names of the leaders of the Rus’, Askold/Oskold (< H?skuldr) and Dir (< D?r or D?ri). These names belonged to an oral tradition of two Varangian chiefs who seized Kiev, became its rulers and made a raid on Constantinople[1375]. Whether right or not, the compiler identified the events depicted in the Byzantine chronicle with those related in a traditional tale. He did not know, however, other Byzantine writings describing the consequences of the attack.

At the end of 866 or in the first half of 867 Patriarch Photius wrote an encyclical letter inviting Eastern bishops to participate in the counsil that was to be held in Constantinople in 867. He mentioned the attack of the Rhos and consequent developments so important for the Eastern Church that Photius felt necessary to inform the bishops about them. In the first part of his letter he described the conversion of the Bolgars and the renovation of the Armenian Church. At the end of the letter he returns to the missionary activity of Constantinople and adds that not only the Bolgars changed their former impiousness for the faith in Christ but even the nation that had become the subject of multiple talks and left behind all others in their cruelity and blood-thirstiness, the so-called people of Rhos[1376] who besieged Constantinople several years earlier, became converted. They had also abandoned pagan beliefs and turned to the pure and unforged religion of the Christians. They had accepted a bishop and a preacher and they started to ardently practice Christian rituals[1377].

This passage of Photius is of cardinal importance. Not only the information it supplies but also the implications it suggests are of primary significance. First of all it states clearly that the Rhos people turned to Christianity and it was the same group of Rhos that launched the assault on Constantinople in 860 that became converted. If the identification of this group and the army of Askold and Dir is correct, it was the band of Vikings that made Kiev their stronghold and thus it was the first occasion when Christianity penetrated into the Middle Dnieper region[1378].

Secondly, Photius mentioned a bishop and a preacher who came to Rus’ and were hospitably accepted there. Photius was, however, not the only one to tell about the Byzantine mission to the Northern barbarians. In the mid-tenth century Byzantine Emperor and writer Constantine VII Porphirogenitos compiled a biography of Emperor Basileos I Macedonian (867–881) that is preserved as Book V of the so-called Theophanes Continuator[1379]. Among pious deeds of his grandfarther Constantine mentions the Christianization of the Rhos people attributing the initiative of sending the mission to the Rhos to the Emperor and Patriarch Ignatius who replaced Photius[1380]. Constantine tells that the Emperor induced the people of Rhos to make an agreement with the help of ample gifts in gold, silver and silk vestments. He concluded a peace treaty with them and made them agree to be baptized by an archbishop consecrated by Patriarch Ignatius[1381]. The mission was received benevolently by the Rhos. When the prince[1382], however, discussed the advantages of the new faith with his elders they asked the archbishop to tell them more about his religion. The latter showed the Gospel and told about some of the miracles from New and Old Testament. The Rhos got very interested in the miracles and demanded that the archbishop should work a miracle himself. They insisted that if they did not see something like the story about the three young men in the stove, they would not believe him, say nothing about the baptism. With a pray the archbishop threw the Book into the fire set by his listeners. After some time the fire stopped burning and the Book appeared unspoiled and untouched by fire. The barbarians were fascinated by the magnitude of the miracle and became baptized without further hesitations.

The story about the inflamable Gospel book belongs to the topoi of hagiographic literature[1383]. The short mentions about the peace treaty[1384] and the mission, on the contrary, reflected the realities of the situation.

The information of Photius supported by Constantine and. other Byzantine sources[1385] throws important light on the penetration of Christianity among the Rus’. Photius’s phraseology in the homilies and his direct designation of the attackers as Rhos in the encyclic letter leaves no doubt that the fleet at the walls of Constantinople was a Viking band. Its starting point could have been in most probability Kiev ruled at that time, according to the «Primary Chronicle», by Scandinavian konungs, presumably Askold and Dir. Photius does not state that the bishop was sent at the request of the Rhos leaders[1386] but he emphasizes their wish to get baptized and their willingness to accept a bishop. Constantine on the contrary stresses the difficulties the Emperor had to make the Rhos Christians. He writes that the Emperor «convinced them to join in the saving baptizm and talked them into the acception of an archbishop who had been consecrated by Patriarch Ignatius».

The discrepancies in presenting the circumstances of the Christianization of the Rhos promoted a hypothesis that there might have been two missions to the Rhos sent at the interval of about two years[1387], which is hardly probable. It is much more plausible that the two records present the situation from different viewpoints and stress or exagerate its various aspects. Photius was inspired by the success of his mission and the most important thing for him was the transformation – almost miraculous – of cruel barbarians into obedient Christians. In his turn Constantine was anxious to underline the achievements of his grandfather and his personal contribution into the matter of Christianization of barbarians. The more efforts needed the task, the more glorious was the result. In spite of possible exagerations in both cases, however, there can be no doubt that the Rus’ or at least their rulers not only had nothing against but were ready, if not willing, to adopt Christianity soon after the raid of 860.

The attitude of the Rus’ to the possible change of religion could not have taken place if the new faith was utterly unknown to them. It presupposes their knowledge, however little, of Christianity[1388]. Kievan Vikings had ample opportunities of getting acquainted with Christianity before 860, also by other ways than Byzantine missions. The raids of the Rhos on Byzantine provinces on the shores of the Black Sea started not later than in the beginning of the ninth century. The first expedition attested in Byzantine sources took place between 807 and 820. It was a sudden attack of «the barbarians of the Rhos, a people which is, as everyone knows, utterly wild and rough, devoid of any traces of humaneness» on the town of Amastris[1389]. The plunder was stopped by a miracle at the grave of the late bishop of Amastris, St. George. The robbers were paralyzed and could move only after their leader promised not to disturb Christians any more[1390].

In the first half of the ninth century there appear Scandinavian names in the pro-sopography of the Byzantine nobility: Inger (< Ingvarr, Old Russian Igor’), the pariarch of Nicea c. 825, and Inger, father of the mistress of Emperor Michael III and the wife of Emperor Basilios I who was called Eudocia Ingerina (ca. 841 – ca. 882)[1391]. In 839 (or 838) a group of Rhos people who turned to be Swedes stayed in Constantinople being sent by their chakanus whoever it might be to Emperor Theophil[1392]. Aproxi-mately at the same time three new military provinces, the Themes of Climata in the Crimea and Paphlagonia and the Ducate of Chaldia in Anatolia, were created by the Byzantine government. They all located on the coasts of the Black Sea. According to W. Treadgold, their separation from larger themes was caused by the increasing attacks of the Rhos on coastal towns[1393]. These are only a few cases that happened to be recorded, but rare as they are, they outline a broad spectrum of activities of Scandinavians in Byzantium already in the first half of the ninth century not limited only to warfare. Peaceful visits and life in Constantinople provided for the Norsemen better opportunities to become acquainted with Christian faith and rituals than occasional raids and robberies. Even the latter, however, resulted in capturing Christians and thus also contributed to the spread of Christianity among the Rus’.

The progress of the new faith among Scandinavians in Eastern Europe in the first half of the ninth century seems to be rather successful as an Arabic author writing in 840ies, an official of high standing and thus possessing vast information, Ibn Khordadbeh, wrote that the merchants of ar-Rus who traveled as far as Baghdad claimed to be Christians[1394]. The Rus’ merchants are usually suspected to only pretend to be Christians to avoid paying larger taxes, the main argument being that it was too early for Rus’, be them Slavs or Scandinavians, to adopt Christianity. The genuine faith of the Rus’ merchants in Baghdad can never be established with certainty, but it is quite enough that at that time, even if pagans, they already knew sufficiently much about Christianity to use its rituals and traditions for their own benefit. The Western Vikings did the same, though several decades later[1395].

Thus in the first half of the ninth century Christianity was succesfully penetrating into Viking bands who made Kiev their main base. Some of the Vikings could have got baptized during their stay in Constantinople and several years after the 860 attack on Constantinople the Rhos leaders (the prince or princes of Kiev) got converted together with (some of?) their warriors.

II

The memories of the events connected with the Christianization of the Rus’ in 860ies must have been, however, swept away by a new wave of the Vikings who seized Kiev at the last quarter of the ninth century[1396]. The «Primary Chronicle» tells (s. a. 882) about a «prince» Oleg (< Helgi) who moved from «Novgorod» (i. e. Ladoga-Ilmen region) to Kiev, deceived Askold and Dir pretending to be a merchant, killed them and assumed power in Kiev. The annalist stresses that it was Oleg and his retinue who got the name of the Rus’[1397].

The new warrior elite of Kiev was obviously pagan. During the whole reign of Oleg (d. in 911[1398]) and up to the mid-tenth century there exists no information about Christianity among the Rus’ either in Old Russian or foreign sources. On the contrary, the annalists do not miss a chance to stress that Oleg and his retunue were pagans devoted to heathen rituals and knowing no God. It is worth noting that Askold and Dir are never accused of being pagans.

Annalist’s invectives against Oleg’s heathenism are supported by the earliest extant Old Russian document, the treaty concluded by Oleg with Byzantium in 911 after his successful attack on Constantinople in 907. The treaty was included in the «Primary Chronicle» and it is supposed to be translated from Greek at the end of the eleventh century[1399]. One of the paragraphs stipulates that an oath shoull be sworn to confirm the treaty. The text of the oath leaves no doubt that the Rus’ of that time were pagan. Christian Greeks were to swear «in the name of the Holy Cross and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity of your one true God», whereas «we (i. e. the Rus’. – E. M.) have sworn to your Emperor… according to our own faith and the custom of our nation»[1400]. This custom was described earlier, in the preamble to the treaty of 907:

According to the religion of the Russes, the latter swore by their weapons and by their god Perun, as well as by Volos, the god of cattle[1401].

Even if the Christian community that could have appeared in Kiev in the third quarter of the ninth century still existed, as Dmitrij Obolensky maintains[1402], it had no influence on the new aristocracy and the number of Christians in Oleg’s retinue, if any, was so small that no special provisions for them were necessary.

Still even during Oleg’s reign the acquaintance of his warriors with Christianity started. The compiler of the «Primary Chronicle» adds after the text of Oleg’s treaty:

The Emperor Leo honored the Russian envoys with gifts… and placed his vassals at their disposition to show them the beauties of the churches, the golden palace, and the riches contained therein. They thus showed the Russes much gold and many palls and jewels, together with the relics of our Lord’s Passion: the crown, the nails, and the purple robe, as well as the bones of the Saints. They also instructed the Russes in their faith, and expounded to them the true belief[1403].

If the entry is not modeled after the account of Vladimir’s mission to Constantinople before adopting Christianity in 988, as Dmitrij Likhachev suspected[1404], it can be viewed as an important evidence of the proselytizing efforts of the Byzantine church. It seems not neccessary that among those “Russes” who benefited from the excursion and the instructions, should be Christians, as Henrik Birnbaum would like to think[1405]. But it can point to the fact that the Patriarchate never stopped attempts and used any chance of pressing Christian ideas on the Rus’ heathens.

Ill

It is only in the middle of the tenth century that a new rise of Christian activities begins to be attested in the sources. The next treaty with Byzantium concluded by Kievan prince Igor’ (< Yngvarr) in 944 witnesses that there appeared Christians among the Rus’ warriors and their number grew so large that two forms of oaths became required. «Those of us (i. e. the Rus’. – E. M.) who are baptized have sworn in the Cathedral, by the church of St. Elias, upon the Holy Cross set before us…». The rest of the Rus’ took oaths upon «their shields, their naked swords, their armlets, and their other weapons..»[1406].

The Rus’ that participated in the conclusion of the treaty belonged to the elite of the Old Russian state. It was a new warrior elite that emerged less than a century earlier after Oleg’s seizure of Kiev. By the 940ies the Rus’ comprised both Norsemen and Slavs – according to the names of the members of the princely family, emissaries and witnesses mentioned in the treaty – though the proportion of non-Scandinavians was still very small[1407]. The spread of Christianity among the warrior elite seems very rapid and so substantial that the Christians had to be taken special account of.

A rather wide spread of Christianity in the 940ies is further substantiated by other clauses of the treaty that make provisions for both Christians and heathens among the Rus’:

If any inhabitant of the land of Rus’ thinks to violate this amity, may such of these transgressors as have adopted the Christian faith incur condign punishment from Almighty God in the shape of damnation and destruction forevermore;

May whosoever of our compatriots, Prince or common, baptized or unbaptized, who does so violate them (the oaths. – E. M), have no succor from God, but may he be slave in this life and in the life to come, and may he perish by his own arms…;

If any of the princes or any Russian subject, whether Christian or non-Christian, violates the terms of this instrument, he shall merit death by his own weapons, and be accursed of God and of Perun because he violated his oath…[1408].

The compilers of the treaty took pains to assure accurate maintenance of the terms by both pagans and Christians. They formulated oaths and specified punishments for breaking the oaths in details. The provisions for Christians and non-Christians are well balanced with probably a somewhat slight stress on the Christian beliefs, which can be due to the Christianity of the compilers of the treaty.

The treaty also mentions the church dedicated to St. Elias where the Christian Rus’ was to take the oath. That is the earliest evidence of churches in Rus’. The church is usually supposed to have been located in Kiev in the trade and artisan quarters outside the fortified part on the Kievan hills[1409]. In Old Russian the church is defined by the term sobornaja that much later, with the establishment of the church organization, would designate a cathedral. The English translation «the Cathedral» bases on this meaning of the word. It seems, however, highly problematic if there could have been a cathedral proprio nomine in Kiev at that time which presupposes the existence of other (parish) churches subordinated to the cathedral. It is much more probable that it was the only church existing in Kiev at that moment and it was perceived as the main church, i. e. the Cathedral from the point of view of the translator of the treaties in the late eleventh century[1410]. If this was the case, its location in the commercial quarters of the city was only natural. On the one hand, merchants were most liable to accept new cultural impulses, and the first appearance of a church in a heathen country is often connected with trade centers[1411]. On the other hand, merchants played an important role in the conclusion of the treaty of 944 – twenty six of them are named in the preamble to the treaty as probable witnesses and some of them must have been Christians.

Igor’s reign (ca. 912–945) was notable for various and regular connections with Byzantium. Though attacks on Byzantine territories continued (the «Primary Chronicle» tells about two raids launched by Igor’ in 941 and 944), trade seems to become the main form of Rus’ and Byzantine relations. Its maintenance was regulated by Oleg’s treaty and new rules were introduced in the treaty concluded by Igor’. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus provides a vivid picture of the «manner of life» of the Kievan warrior elite whom he calls Rhos in the ninth chapter of his treatise «De ad-ministrando imperio». He depicts them collecting tributes on Slavic tribes in autumn and then selling collected goods, including slaves, at the markets of Constantinople in the summer time[1412]. According to Constantine, it was a stable system accounting for the enrichment of the Kievan elite and the growth of the Old Russian state. At the same time it promoted the absorbtion of new cultural ideas, including Christianity by those participating in the trade with Byzantium. Thus, in the interval between Oleg’s seizure of Kiev in 882 and Igor’s treaty of 944 the new warrior elite of the early Russian state turned to Christianity. It still consisted mostly of Scandinavians as the names of the Rus’ participants of the conclusion of the treaty show. Among 25 principles on whose behalf the treaty was contracted 18 have Old Norse personal names. The same number of persons with Norse names belonged to the group of the representatives (envoys) who totally amounted to 26. The percentage of merchants with Scandinavian names was even higher– 21 out of 26. Other names include Slavic (Svjatoslav, Predslava, and Volodislav among the principals; Sinko and Borich among the merchants) and Finnish ones (Pubskar, Kanitsar, etc.) and probably ethnic names used as bynames (envoys Libi and Jatvjag). Thus, though the ethnic content of the upper stratum of the society started to change and the Rus’ princes began to give Slavic names to their children, the nobility of the mid-tenth century still consisted mostly of Norsemen. And it was they who turned to Christianity first and foremost.

The highest nobility of the Rus’ was, however, still pagan. Neither Igor’ nor his wife Ol’ga (< Helga) was Christian at the time of the conclusion of the treaty. According to the Primary Chronicle, Igor’ ratified the treaty in Kiev in the presence of Byzantine envoys and the procedure was performed in accordance with pagan rites:

In the morning, Igor’ summoned the envoys, and went to a hill on which there was a statue of Perun. The Russes laid down their weapons, their shields, and their gold ornaments, and Igor’ and his people took oath (at least, such as were pagans), while the Christian Russes took oath in the Church of St Elias[1413].

Igor’ remained a heathen until his death that is reported to have taken place a year after the ratification of the treaty. When Igor’ was killed by the Drevljane (in the autumn of 945 according to the «Primary Chronicle» or more probably in 946) Ol’ga avenged her husband and performed pagan burial rituals[1414]:

She bade her followers pile up a great mound and when they piled it up, she also gave command that a funeral feast should be held[1415].

When the representatives of the Drevljane became drunk she odered to massacre them. The annalist interpreted the event as the third stage of Ol’ga’s revenge on Drevljane. The action, however, makes one think of funeral sacrifices still practiced by Scandinavians in the tenth century[1416]. Whatever the interpretation of the massacre of the Drevljane may be, there can be no doubt that at that moment Ol’ga adhered to pagan beliefs and practiced pagan rituals.

Thus, in the mid-tenth century the conversion to Christianity was not at all universal even among the Kievan elite. Especially important was that the princely family still abstained from the new faith thus making the conversion a personal act neither promoted nor supported by the state. The mid-tenth century looks like the time of a new advance of the Christian faith but its first steps were slow.

IV

It is only some time after Igor’s death that his widow Ol’ga showed interest in the new faith. Under the year 6463 from the Creation which corresponds to 954/5 AD the «Primary Chronicle» tells that she undertook a voyage to Constantinople where she is said to be baptized by Emperor Constantine VII who became her godfather[1417]. She received a Christian name of Helena «after the ancient Empress, mother of Constantine the Great» and, probably, after the Empress Helena Lakapina.

The narration about Ol’ga’s baptism is greatly influenced by the annalist’s unreserved admiration of her deed. He stresses that she was the first Russian ruler to adopt the true faith and thus anticipated the Christianization of the whole country by her grandson Vladimir. The annalist puts a laudation of Ol’ga into the mouth of the Patriarch:

Blessed art thou among the women of Rus’. For thou hast loved the light, and quit the darkness. The sons of Rus’ shall bless thee to the last generation of thy descendents.

The same motifs permeate the eulogy of Ol’ga following the report of her death under the year of 969. In the annalist’s representation of early Russian history Ol’ga appears a crucial, probably symbolic figure, the harbinger of the fates of the Old Russian state.

According to his conception, the annalist interpreted Ol’ga’s visit to Constantinople as a voyage in order to join to Christianity. The same interpretation is maintained by most of modern scholars who argue that the main goal of Ol’ga’s travel was a religious one.

Several minor discrepancies were, however, pointed out and raised discussions. One of them is the silence of Constantine VII about the baptism of Ol’ga during her stay in Constantinople though he described two receptions given to her at the Byzantine court in many details in his treatise «De cerimoniis»[1418]. Constantine depicts several magnificent ceremonies that where aimed at both to honor Ol’ga as a ruler of a neighbouring state important for Byzantine foreign policy and to impress the barbarian princess with the luxury and splendour of the Byzantine court. Constantine also enumerates the gifts granted to Ol’ga and her suite. In this context the absence of mentions about an event of paramount importance for Byzantium – religious incorporation of a dangerous neighbour into the Byzantine commonwealth with possible political consequences – as well as a great success of Byzantine diplomacy seems strange and unexplainable[1419].

Among other members of Ol’ga’s suite who were bestowed with gifts Constantine names a priest, Gregorius by name. The presence of a priest in Ol’ga’s nearest surroundings who must have come to Constantinople together with her from Kiev made specialists wonder if Ol’ga could have become a Christian earlier in Kiev[1420]. There is no doubt that baptism was accessible in Kiev where there were many Christians in the princely retinue and the church of St. Elias had been functioning since 945. It seems probable that Ol’ga was converted and became a Christian some time before her visit to Constantinople. Her conversion then must have been inspired by Christians among the Kievan elite that still consisted mostly of Varangians.

The assumption that Ol’ga was baptized in Kiev is further corroborated by the narration about the events after Ol’ga’s return from Constantinople:

The Greek Emperor sent a message to her saying, «inasmuch as I bestowed many gifts upon you, you promised me that on your return to Rus’ you would sent me many presents of slaves, wax, and furs, and dispatch soldiery to aid me». Ol’ga made answer to the envoys that if the Emperor would spend as long a time with her in the Pochayna [river] as she had remained on the Bosporus, she would grant his request. With these words she dismissed the envoys[1421].

The passage points to at least two things that contradict the annalist’s presentation of the aims of Ol’ga’s voyage and most probably reflect relations other than stated in the chronicle. The first point is the demand of the Byzantine Emperor to send warriors to him according to their agreement in Constantinople. The exchange of gifts and especially the rendering of military aid[1422] must have been the results of political negotiations.

The second point is Ol’ga’s negative attitude to her reception at the court of Constantine VII. According to the narrative of Ol’ga’s stay in Constantinople, she was received with great honours and the Emperor was so amazed by «her intellect» that he proposed her to become his wife. There is nothing to suspect lack of respect towards Ol’ga. Moreover if her main aim was to be baptized, the princess had no reasons to feel unsatisfied as her goal was brilliantly fulfilled; she had not only been baptized but the Emperor became her godfather.

The narration, however, presents Ol’ga unsatisfied and even irritated by her stay. She indignantly remarks that she had to wait too long a time on the Bosporus to be received by the Emperor which she took as an offence. The two parts of the story contradict each other and they seem to reflect principally different narrative strategies. The first part of the narration, though permeated with folklore motifs, is shaped in accordance with the annalist’s tendency to glorify Ol’ga as the first Christian ruler in Rus’. The second part seems to reflect a non-Christian tradition depicting Ol’ga’s voyage as a political undertaking, not necessarily very successive (from the Russian point of view) and having left unpleasant memories. It seems that the chronicle tale about Ol’ga’s visit to Constantinople developed out of a folklore motif of heroic matchmaking and included few, if any, Christian connotations. Suffice it to point out here that the exposition to the chronicle narrative presents Ol’ga very little interested in being baptized:

Ol’ga went to Greece, and arrived at Tsar’grad. The reigning Emperor was named Constantine, son of Leo. Ol’ga came before him, and when he saw that she was very fair of countenance and wise as well, the Emperor wondered of her intellect. He conversed with her and remarked that she was worthy to reign with him in his city. When Ol’ga heard his words she replied that she was still a pagan, and that if he desired to baptize her, he should perform this function himself; otherwise, she was unwilling to accept baptism. The Emperor, with the assistance of the Patriarch, accordingly baptized her[1423].

Ol’ga puts forward conditions on which she would agree to get baptized so that it is the Emperor who appears to be the initiator of her baptism and not she herself. The first «conversation» as well as the next one in the course of which the Emperor proposes her to become his wife remind of heroic competitions of the bride with the claimants with the final victory of the bride:

After her baptism, the Emperor summoned Ol’ga and made known to her that he wished her to become his wife. But she replied, «How can you marry me, after yourself baptizing me and calling me your daughter? For among Christians that is unlawful, as you yourself must know». Then the Emperor said, «Ol’ga, you have outwitted me». He gave her many gifts of gold, silver, silks, and various vases, and dismissed her, still calling her his daughter[1424].

The final remark “You have outwitted me” looks like a vestige of the verbal competition won by Ol’ga in the original tale. But no matter how this tale was complicated with folklore motifs it belonged to the historical tradition and had a relation about Ol’ga’a real visit to Constantinople as its subject. The political goals of her visit must have been reflected, even if in an obscure way, in this tale, and that determined the last part of the chronicle narration. But for the annalist who knew that Ol’ga was a Christian and that Christianity came to Rus’ from Byzantium it was only natural to reinterpret the voyage of Ol’ga to Constantinople as a quest of the true faith. Thus, Ol’ga’s dissatisfaction with her visit could belong to the historical core of the tale and point to the fact that her visit was not entirely successful.

The failure to achieve her aims or their only partial fulfilment might very well explain the events that followed Ol’ga’s visit to Constantinople if the date 957 for her voyage is accepted.

In 959 Ol’ga sent an embassy to Otto I of Germany asking for a bishop and priests, probably to introduce Christianity on a wider level. The mission of Adalbert spent about a year in Rus’ and returned to Magdeburg in 962 without success. Though the extant sources provide no information about the reasons of Ol’ga’s appeal to the German emperor, her embassy is viewed in the context of contradictions between Byzantium and Germany and is interpreted as an attempt of a Russian ruler to play on these contradictions and to gain by exploiting them[1425]. At the same time Ol’ga’s appeal to German (i. e. Roman) church could reflect rather vague, unofficial religious connections of Rus’ with Byzantium which could hardly be the case if Ol’ga were baptized in Constantinople.

Thus, Ol’ga’s baptism seems to reflect a new step in the process of penetration of Christianity into Rus’: the growth of authority of the new faith among the Russian elite and the appearance of people baptized in Kiev and not only in Byzantium.

Christianization of Ol’ga did not mean, however, a wide spread of the new faith. Nothing is known about Christians outside Kiev, the seat of the «Russian» princes. Ol’ga’s baptism looks more like a private act, and her son, a warrior prince Svjato-slav, the first prince with a Slavic name, felt no inclination to Christianity. The annalist stresses Ol’ga’s attempts to persuade him into Christianity and formulates Sv-jatoslav’s refusal with the words probably borrowed from oral tradition: «How shall I alone accept another faith? My followers will laugh at that»[1426]. In fact, far from all his followers and relatives would laugh at Svjatoslav. Even twenty years earlier, as we have seen, the number of Christians among Igor’s hird was large enough to make special provisions for their oath. But Christianity was and remained until 988 the faith not of princes but of their followers. Even if the eldest son and successor of Svjatoslav Jaropolk was baptized[1427], the spread of Christianity before 988 was far from wide. Two other Svjatoslav’s sons were heathens and after his accession to Kievan throne Vladimir renovated pagan cult by introducing a pantheon of several gods chosen from various tribal traditions with a supreme god Perun whose cult was supposed to become an official one[1428].

For several decades before the official Christianization in 988 there seems to be a co-existence of Christians and pagans both among the ruling clan of the Rurikides[1429]and among the Russian elite. This co-existence, however, was not as peaceful as one would gather from the sources discussed earlier.

V

Five years before the official Christianization of Rus’ in 988 the «Primary Chronicle» records a splash of confrontation between Christians and pagans in Kiev.

On his return from a successful raid Vladimir and his elders decided to make a sacrifice to pagan gods[1430]. They cast lots and the lot fell – «through the devil’s hatred» as the annalist put it – upon a young Varangian who together with his father returned from Byzantium. Both Varangians «adhered to the Christian faith». The messengers of the prince came to the house and demanded that the youth should be given to them. The father refused to do this and pronounced an invective exposing the false gods of pagans and proclaiming the mightiness of the true God. The citizens took up arms, attacked the Varangians and killed them.

In the year of 6491 (983). Vladimir marched on the Jatvjagians[1431], conquered them, and seized their territory. He returned to Kiev, and together with his people made sacrifice to the idols. The elders and the boyars then proposed that they should cast lots for a youth and a maiden, and sacrifice to the gods whomsoever the lot should fall upon.

Now there was a certain Varangian whose house was situated at the spot where now stands the Church of the Holy Virgin, which Vladimir built. This Varangian had come from Greece. He adhered to the Christian faith[1432], and he had a son, fair in face and in heart, on whom, through the devil’s hatred, the lot fell. For the devil, though he had dominion over all the rest, could not suffer this youth. He was like a thorn in the devil’s heart, and the accursed one was eager to destroy him, and even aroused the people thereto. Messengers thus came and said to the father, «Since the lot has fallen upon your son, the gods have claimed him as their own. Let us therefore make sacrifice to the gods». But the Varangian replied, «These are not gods, but only idols of wood. Today it is, and tomorrow it will rot away. These gods do not eat, or drink, or speak; they are fashioned by hand out of wood. But the God whom the Greeks serve and worship is one; it is he who has made heaven and earth, the stars, the moon, the sun, and mankind, and has granted him life upon earth. But what have these gods created? They are themselves made. I will not give up my son to devils».

So the messengers went back and reported to the people. The latter took up arms, attacked the Varangian and his son, and on braking down the stockade about his house, found him standing upon the porch. They then called upon him to surrender his son that they might offer him to the gods. But he replied, «If they be gods, they will send one of their number to take my son. What need have you of him?» They straightway raised a shout, and broke up the structure under them. Thus the people killed them, and no one knows where they are buried.

For at that time the Russes were ignorant pagans. The devil rejoiced thereat, for he did not know that his ruin was approaching.. [1433].

After Christianization of Rus’ the two Varangians became the first Russian martyrs and their vita was composed not later than 1113 when its shortened version was included in the «Primary Chronicle»[1434]. It has many common features with the narration about the Christianization of Rus’ by St. Vladimir in the «Primary Chronicle» and it is believed to belong to the same author[1435]. The chronicle narration preserves some clearly hagiographic features and is considered to render the original vita.

An expanded text about the martyrdom of the two Varangians reads also in the «Synaxaire» (Old Russian Prolog, beginning of the thirteenth century), a collection of short lives of saints arranged in calendar order, for 12 July[1436]. The «Prolog» text provides several important additions to the chronicle. First, it indicates the day of their commemoration that must be the exact date of their martyrdom– July, 12. Second, it gives the Christian name of the son – Ioann[1437] that remained unknown to the compiler of the «Primary Chronicle». These minor but important addenda suggest that the author of the «Prolog» text used not only the narration of the «Primary chronicle», probably an earlier version preceding the «Chronicle», but he also had another source – a short note about the martyrdom of the Varangians that included the date and the name of the originally supposed victim[1438].

An abridged version of the vita of the two Varangians was also incorporated into several redactions of «The Prolog Life» of St. Vladimir (for 15 July, not later than the first half of the thirteenth century). It is supposed that the legend about the Varangian martyrs was an integral part of the earliest life of St. Vladimir and served to contrast his pre-Christian godlessness, ferocity, polygamy to his saintly life after baptism[1439]. Basing on his study of the «Life» where the place of the baptism of Kievan citizens «at the place where nowadays there is the church of saint martyrs[1440]of Tur» was defined, A. Shakhmatov suggested that the secular name of the father was Porr or ??rir[1441]. The church of Tur or Tury («Turova bozhnitsa») in Kiev is also mentioned in other sources without any connection with the Christianization[1442] ^[1443]. This identification of the name is, however, open to doubts. First, the name of Tur in the posessive form Turova occurs only in latest manuscripts of the «Life». In earlier copies it reads either Petr's (Petrova) or of Boris and Gleb^u. Second, the location of this church does not coincide with the location of the Desjatinnaja church that was built, according to the «Primary Chronicle», on the site of the house of the Varangians[1444]. According to all available sources the citizens of Kiev were baptized in the Pochaina river, a tribute to the Dnieper. The Pochaina was used as a harbour and its shores beneath the Kievan hills were occupied by the Podol, a trade and artisan quarter of the city. The Desjatinnaja church was located on the hills within the fortified «princely» quarters. Thus, even if there was a church near the site where the Kievan inhabitants were baptized and it was called after a Tur or Tury (the name most probably of Old Norse derivation), it is impossible to identify this person with the Varangian martyr[1445].

The incorporation of the legend about the martyrdom of the two Varangians into several works of different character, both secular (chronicle) and clerical («Life of St. Vladimir», «Prolog») is an unusual phenomenon for Ancient Rus’. The event must have shocked the Christian community of Kiev and stories about the death for faith of the two Varangians spread rapidly and widely so that the narration of their exploit soon took shape and was used by different Christian authors writing for various purposes. A wide circulation of the legend must have been promoted also by the fact that the house of the Varangians stood at the place where Vladimir built the first church after the Christianization – the church was dedicated to Holy Virgin, it was

the earliest one to be bestowed with the tithe which gave rise to its name «the Tithe church» (Desjatinnaja tserkov’) and it enjoyed extraordinary popularity in Kiev. It is in the Desjatinnaja church that the first annals started to be written down and it is with this church that the origin of a short note on the martyrdom of the Varangians is connected. The clerics of the church were well aware and could not forget that their church rested on the remains of the martyrs or at least on the site they were martyred.

The martyrdom of the two Varangians produced an indelible impression on the inhabitants of Kiev. It became a symbolic event for the Christian community that must have existed in Kiev before the official Christianization and a milestone for the Christians after 988. In the eleventh century their cult seems to start developing[1446]. They are mentioned as the example of devoted service to God and as the first Christians to suffer for the sake of their belief. Already in the mid-eleventh century the metropolitan Hilarion referred to the martyrs: “And now we do not build heathen temples but construct Christ’s churches; and now we do not immolate each other to devils but Christ is sacrificed for our sake and < sacrificed> and fragmented as a sacrifice to God and Father. And now we do not perish by partaking of sacrificial blood but we are saved by receiving the Lord’s sacred blood”[1447]. In the first half of the thirteenth century bishop Simeon, one of the authors of the «Patericon» of the Kiev Cave monastery, called them the first «citizens of the Russian world crowned by Christ»[1448].

The narration of the martyr Varangians in the «Primary Chronicle» stresses not only the main road the Christianity advanced to Rus’, i. e. from Byzantium, but it also suggests the existence of a Christian commune in Kiev before the official Christianization in which Varangians played an important role.

Conclusions

The scarcity of information in Old Russian literature about the advance of Christianity to Rus’ seems to be mainly due to the sources the annalists had at their disposal. These were first and foremost heroic tales orally transmitted from the times of the historical event till the late eleventh century. Being pagans and interested in the heroic appeal of what they related, the storytellers paid no attention to matters of faith and the missionary activities could hardly supply themes for their stories.

Still the comparison of the scattered mentions in sources of different origin and from different regions of medieval world maintaining relations with Ancient Rus’ allows some conclusions.

First, the sources make it obvious that the main centre from which Christianity spread in Eastern Europe was Byzantium.

Second, Scandinavians, trading, serving to Russian princes, and settling in Rus’, were most active in transferring Christian ideas from Byzantium to Rus’. Their activities in Eastern Europe defined the main phases of the penetration of Christianity. The first wave of Vikings that reached Byzantium by the beginning of the ninth century became ready for adopting Christian faith by the 860ies when a Christian mission was sent to Rus’ from Constantinople.

The subsequent new wave of Norsemen that reached Kiev in 882 put an end to the initial process of Christianization. It is only some sixty years later that the next rise of Christian commune starts to be reflected in the Old Russian sources. It is worth noting that the earliest record of this process was preserved in a document and not in the narrative part of the «Primary Chronicle».

For the next forty years before the official Christianization took place, Christianity made a slow progress among the warrior elite of the state still consisting mainly of Scandinavians. There can be no doubt, however, that by that time a large proportion of warriors were Slavs who shared the fates of their Northern comrades-in-arms. Nevertheless the rulers of the state but for princess Ol’ga and probably Jaropolk refrained from adopting the new faith. More than that, under the first years of the reign of Vladimir a revival of paganism took place. The annalist relates about new sanctuaries to Perun constructed in Kiev and Novgorod and human sacrifices to Perun. One of the victims of this practice were two Varangians in 983 who became the first Russian martyrs. It was the baptism of prince Vladimir that opened a wide way to Christianity for Slavic population.

(Впервые опубликовано: Fran Bysans till Norden. Ostliga kyrkoinfluenser under vikingatid och tidig medeltid / H. Janson. Malmo, 2005. P. 97–138)