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OCU debunks myth about thousand-year-long history of ROC

25.07.2019, 16:02
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has debunked the widespread myth that Prince Volodymyr baptized “Slavic peoples” – Ukraine and Russia. It is due to this myth that the Russian Orthodox Church traditionally declares that their Church has a thousand-year-long history. This is stated on the official page of the OCU on Facebook.

The Orthodox Church of Ukraine has debunked the widespread myth that Prince Volodymyr baptized “Slavic peoples” – Ukraine and Russia. It is due to this myth that the Russian Orthodox Church traditionally declares that their Church has a thousand-year-long history. This is stated on the official page of the OCU on Facebook.

"First of all, according to various sources, Christianity appeared in the lands of Rus long before the baptism of the Holy Prince Volodymyr. Historians and chroniclers remember as the first baptism the events associated with the Holy Prince Askold, who in 880, adopting Christianity, received the baptismal name of Nicholas; and describe the Christian activities of Princess Olha (baptized as Helen) and later told about the mass baptism of Kyivites, carried out in 988 by her grandson, Prince Volodymyr (baptized as Basil). It is the names of these Baptizers of Russia that are recorded in the life of saints of the Orthodox Church.

Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv baptized the Kyivites, not Muscovites, and even more so, not Russia, because in those days it did not exist, and in place of that future entity there were dense forests and impassable swamps. Christianity gradually spread from Kyiv to the north, along with the spread of princely power. According to historians, in the modern territory of Russia paganism had persisted for a long time, as well as the activities of the magis, who opposed the faith of Christ, organized resistance and uprisings, and even killed Kyiv missionaries who carried to the north the light of Christianity, and written language and education alongside with it. Historians give numerous examples of the revolts of the magis in the lands of Rostov and Novgorod, dated 11th and 12th centuries.

Therefore, it is at least strange to hear about the baptism of Russia by Prince Volodymyr and "the thousand-year history of the ROC... And as for the baptism of Kyivites, Rus-Ukraine, the light of God's grace began to warm the souls of our ancestors long before the baptism of Volodymyr. However, it is thanks to him that the Kyivan state became Christian and thus joined other European countries in the 10th century," the OCU notes.