CHAPTER II.
Introduction of Christianity into Russia.
The power and dignity of the Church in the East were doomed to dwindle and decrease with the waning glories of the lower empire. Its patriarchs were to become mere puppets of court favor, nominees and sycophants of an infidel sovereign; but brighter destinies and renewed splendor awaited it in other climes. From the dwarfed and puny shoulders of the effeminate Greek its mantle was to fall on the strong and stalwart frame of the Barbarian; enervated and lifeless in its ancient home, it was to be rejuvenated by the bracing atmosphere of the North, and spring again into fresh and youthful life in the rude, inhospitable regions of its later conquests.
But little is positively known regarding the first introduction of Christianity into Russia, although legends and traditions abound.
In popular belief, the city of Novgorod was founded by Japhet, son of Noah, and thither St. Andrew came to preach the gospel. The wild and barbarous natives ridiculed teachings so contrary to their fierce and savage habits. They found amusement in tormenting the apostle and mocking his simplicity; they plunged him, bound with cords, into a bath heated to the utmost, and the saint, distressed and suffocated by the vapor, exclaimed, "ἵδρωσα" ("I sweat"); hence, it is said, came the name of Roussa, or Russia. Moved by his patience and meekness, his rough hosts released him, listened to his words,
