and Christianity—and to have at last settled on Christianity in its Byzantine form.[1] The fact has deeply affected all Russian history. The daughter-Church of Constantinople has always looked toward that city as her ideal, has shared the Byzantine schism, and Russia is an Eastern European Power, whereas Poland, who got her faith from Rome, is to be counted among the Western nations. St. Vladimir, the Apostle of Russia, was baptized with great crowds of his subjects in 988. A hierarchy was set up under the Metropolitan of Kiev, and was added to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The first Russian-born metropolitan was Hilarion (1051–1072); but all Russia used the Byzantine Liturgy. That liturgy, still read in Old Russian (Church Slavonic), is the only one used in this Church. After the schism of Cerularius, Russia remained in communion with Rome for about a century;[2] eventually, however, she took the side of her Patriarch. After the Mongol invasion (1222–1480)[3] the centre of gravity shifted from Kiev to Moscow, and Moscow had a metropolitan, the rival of him of Kiev. Feodor Ivanovitch the Czar (1581–1598) in 1589 bribed Jeremias II of Constantinople (1572–1579, 1580–1584, 1586–1595) to acknowledge the Metropolitan of Moscow as a Patriarch and the Russian Church as no longer subject to Constantinople. A synod of the other Orthodox Patriarchs
- ↑ When Vladimir had settled that he would be a Christian he marched against the Empire at Constantinople. Since this religion was a desirable thing, there was of course only one way in which a Norman and a gentleman could acquire it—by conquest. So he seized the Chersonesos and then sent a message to the Emperor (Basil II), saying that what he wanted was: (1) Priests to baptize him and his people; (2) relics of Saints for churches; (3) Basil's sister Anne to marry him. If his wishes were not attended to at once he would come and destroy Constantinople. The Emperor promptly sent the priests, the relics, and the lady. Rambaud: Hist. de la Russie, p. 57.
- ↑ For Russian acknowledgements of the Roman Primacy, see Gondal: L'Église Russe, p. 24, seq., and Nilles: Kalendarium, i. p. 100, seq.
- ↑ The Mongols (Tatars) under Jenghis Khan ("the great Lord") came to the Russian frontier from Central Asia in 1222. At the battle of Kalka (1223) they annihilated the Russian armies and formed a sort of over-lordship over the Russians which was not finally shaken off till the battle of Oka in 1480, in which Ivan III (1462–1505) defeated them. But they did not really much interfere with the internal affairs of the country nor much influence its development. A very like case is that of the Moors in Spain.
