Vladimir was the king who brought unity to the people of Russia. As the Prince of Novrogod, he was not expected to rule Russia. But after his brother is killed, the people make him king at the age of eighteen. After several years of pagan revelry and an assassination attempt by one of his wives with his son watching, Vladimir has a spiritual awakening. His conversion to Christianity in AD 988 was used to bring in Russian Orthodoxy and lead multitudes of Russians to embrace Christianity.
Two brothers who paved the way for Christianity in Russia
Methodius and his brother Cyril brought Christian faith to the Slavs. Both men were dedicated churchmen. Methodius, who was older, was the abbot of a Greek monastery, and Cyril was a philosophy professor in Constantinople. The brothers were called by Michael III (emperor in Constantinople) to help the ruler of the Great Moravian State, Rostislav, who was worried about the encroachment by the Franks and Germans.
When Methodius and Cyril arrived in 863, they quickly learned the native language and began translating Scripture and the liturgy into Slavonic. The thought at that time of worshiping in any language other than Latin or Greek was shocking. After the German archbishop raised a fuss about this, Pope Adrian II heard the brothers’ case for indigenous worship and authorized the Slavic liturgy.
Cyril died the next year, but Methodius returned to Moravia as a bishop. In spite of Rome’s approval, German clergy arrested and jailed Methodius for three years. But Pope John VIII intervened and ratified the Slavic church’s independence.
The Latin liturgy shortly replaced the Slavic, and the church declined. However, the brothers’ work produced a fiercely independent strain of Christian faith. And their work would eventually reemerge when the future king, Vladimir, began using the Slavonic liturgy to give his people a beautiful liturgy in their own tongue.
The early life of Vladimir
In 957, Olga, who was the widowed princess of Kiev, had been baptized. She was one of the first if Kievan Rus to have been baptized in Orthodox Christianity. She asked German King Otto I to send missionaries to her country. In spite of that, they must have had little success since her country remained mostly pagan. Olga’s grandson, Vladimir was one of those pagans.
Vladimir was born around 956. His father was Svyatoslav I, Grand Prince of Kiev, who died in 972. Vladimir spent his childhood with his grandmother Olga. Her influence on Vladimir was of great importance later, when he decided to choose a religion for Russia.
Following the death of Svyatoslav, a war broke out among his three sons over who would rule the country. Since the middle brother Oleg died in 977, the fight was between Vladimir and Yaropolk. Yaropolk, who was the eldest son, wanted to rule the whole country, so he expelled Vladimir and forced him to flee to Scandinavia. While there, Vladimir assembled an army to retake the throne from Yaropolk. In 979, Vladimir returned to Russia and declared war on Yaropolk. On the way to Kiev, he seized the town of Polotsk and married Yaropolk’s fiancée against her will.
In 980, Vladimir besieged Kiev and killed his brother by luring him out for supposed negotiations. Afterwards, Vladimir had no other rivals for the throne. He managed to consolidate the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. And he solidified the frontiers against incursions by Bulgarian, Baltic, and Eastern nomads.
The decision to choose one religion for the people
Vladimir became known for his cruelty and treachery. He built numerous pagan temples took part in idolatrous rites involving human sacrifice. He had seven wives and 800 concubines, and when he wasn’t fighting a war, Vladimir hunted and feasted. But this way of living was about to dramatically change.
To foster contentment among his people, a story is told that Vladimir thought he might do this by uniting them in one religion. So, the question would be one of choosing between Islam, Judaism, Roman Christianity and the Eastern church. He reportedly sent some men out to examine each of these major religions. Neither Islam or Judaism appealed to Vladimir due to their dietary restrictions. Therefore, the choice had to be either Roman Christianity or the Eastern church.
The men attended the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople and reported:
“We do not know whether we were in heaven or on earth, for surely there is no such splendor or beauty anywhere upon earth. We cannot describe it to you. Only know that their service surpasses the worship of all other places. We cannot forget that beauty.”
Men reporting to Vladimir on their impression of an Eastern church service
Whether this story is true or legend, it’s apparent that Vladimir was determined to remain free of external political control, particularly of the Germans.
The conversion of the king and spread of Christianity
As the story goes, Vladimir chose Orthodoxy because of that beauty. The choice was made even though Orthodoxy was also the religion of the Byzantine Empire, his closest and most powerful neighbor. The Byzantine Emperor Basil offered his sister Anna to be Vladimir’s bride, and Vladimir accepted. This further consolidated his relationship with his neighbor.
Vladimir was baptized in 988 and married Anna a year later. Yet, he never submitted to the Byzantine Empire. He made it clear that the Russian church would focus on worship. To the Russians, Christianity meant liturgy, which Methodius and Cyril had made possible for the them more than one hundred years earlier.
At first, conversions to Christianity began to grow slowly in Russia, but the people put aside the old pagan religions without too much difficulty. The new religion, however, began to make its influence felt with the help of monks.
Vladimir’s conversion is evidenced by his altered life-style. When he married Anna, he put away his former wives. He also destroyed idols, protected the poor, established schools and churches, and lived peacefully with his neighboring nations. Upon his deathbed, he gave all his possessions to the poor.
Reflections on the life of Vladimir
True conversions can produce profound changes in lifestyles
Although our works never prove the genuineness of our faith, true faith is always accompanied by good works.
Vladimir’s lifestyle was radically changed once he was converted to Christianity. He went from building pagan temples to destroying them, from having many wives and concubines to putting them away once he married Anna, and from being a fierce man of war to living peacefully with his neighboring countries.
Leaders have the power to influence the people for great good or for terrible evil.
Godly leaders can have a great religious influence over their people by the power of their example, their actions and their words. On the other hand, ungodly leaders can do great harm to their people by using their influence to lead them astray.
Before Vladimir became a Christian, he worshipped and built pagan temples, took part in human sacrifice, and lived immorally. And Russia was following the ways of its past and present rulers. But when Vladimir converted to Christianity, he persuaded his people to worship the one true God, not only by his authority, but also by the changes he made personally and the religious and education institutions he built.
True faith in Christ bears fruit for God’s kingdom
Someone who professes to be a Christian but does not produce any fruit for the Kingdom of God is an oxymoron. The Bible is clear that those who love Christ, obey His commandments. You cannot love Christ and live in just the same way you did before you came to Christ by faith. God’s will is for our sanctification. All Christians should be on the pathway to holiness. I would not have believed Vladimir was a true Christian, except for the evidence of how his life and values changed so completely once he was converted.
If you have doubts about your true spiritual condition, visit my blog, How to Begin Your Life Over Again. And click here, if you would like to view some very good YouTube presentations of the Gospel.
Sources
A. Kenneth Curtis, J. Stephen Lang, Randy Petersen, The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History. Fleming H. Revell (Baker Book House), Grand Rapids, MI. 1991. Pages 69-70.
Vladimir I: grand prince of Kyiv- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-I
Prominent Russians: Vladimir I – https://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/history-and-mythology/vladimir-i/
Cyril and Methodius – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_and_Methodius