In a few days, the Ukrainian people will celebrate the 1033rd anniversary of the baptism of Rus. We can say that after the baptism of Rus-Ukraine in 988, the Kyiv Metropolis, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was finally founded, its roots and origins really go much deeper, right up to the time of the Sermon on the Ukrainian lands of St. Andrew the First-Called.
This is reported by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
"Saint Volodymyr the Great became a Godfather of Russia-Ukraine, but he was not the first to bring Christianity to Ukrainian lands. A few decades before him – or rather, in 955 – his grandmother, the Holy equal-to-the-apostles Princess Olga, was baptized. Long before the baptism of Rus, churches were built at her behest throughout the then pagan Kyivan state, and she herself, as a zealous Christian, spread the word of God among the people," the OCU said.
It is noted that Olga was not the first believer among the Kyivan rulers. A century earlier, the Holy Prince Oskold accepted the Christian faith, and suffered for it, becoming one of the first Kyiv martyrs. In the same IX century, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Enlighteners Cyril and Methodius preached in Transcarpathia, and during a trip to Chersonesos in 861, Saint Cyril personally saw the Psalter and Gospel written in "Russian writings".
"Therefore, in fact, Christianity was widespread in the Kyivan state long before 988, the baptism of Rus-Ukraine was the result of a long process of growth of the church among our ancestors and marked a new stage of its existence and development," the OCU noted.
We will add that on July 27, the OCU will hold events in Kyiv on the occasion of the 1033rd anniversary of the Baptism of Rus-Ukraine. The OCU this year, due to the coronavirus, refused to hold a religious procession, which is attended by tens of thousands of people.
Instead, the UOC-MP is set to hold such a procession on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary of the Baptism of Rus.