HOW RUSSIA BECAME CHRISTIAN

Every year on July 15, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians commemorate the life of Prince Vladimir, ruler of the Kievan Rus (territory covered parts of present-day Russia and Ukraine). Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988 and many Russian and Ukrainian Christians trace their own spiritual heritage to this ruler's conversion.

Here is the account of Vladimir's spiritual quest taken from a 900 year-old Slavic document, the Primary Chronicle. Christian History & Biography originally published these excerpts in issue 15, The Millennium of "Russian" Christianity. Brief editorial explanations are interspersed in italics.

c. 986—Vladimir was visited by Bulgars [from the region of Bulgaria] of Mohammedan faith, who said, "Though you are a wise and prudent prince, you have no religion. Adopt our faith, and revere Mohammed." Vladimir inquired what was the nature of their religion.

They replied that they believed in God, and that Mohammed instructed them to practice circumcision, to eat no pork, to drink no wine, and after death, promised them complete fulfillment of their carnal desires. "Mohammed," they asserted, "will give each man 70 fair women. He may choose one fair one, and upon that woman will Mohammed confer the charms of them all, and she shall be his wife. Mohammed promises that one may then satisfy every desire, but whoever is poor in this world will be no different in the next." They also spoke other false things (which out of modesty may not be written down).

Vladimir listened [intently] to them, for he was fond of women and indulgence, regarding which he heard with pleasure. But circumcision and abstinence from pork and wine were disagreeable to him. "Drinking," said he, "is the joy of the Russes. We cannot exist without that pleasure."

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