Joachim Chronicle, he had a difficult task. Such a mass of people could be baptized only in the summer in the waters of the Dnieper. At that time, the temples were not adapted for the rite of the sacrament of baptism.
The baptism took place in the Dnieper River; the river replaced the church font. There were many people who wanted to convert to Christianity, men and women of different ages. The priests divided the people into several groups, they went into the water in turn, the first group went into the water up to the neck, the second up to the chest, and all the others were in shallow water. After the prayers were said, the priests gave each baptized group Christian names; the name was common, one for all, male for men and female for women. After being baptized, people continue to live with the name given at birth. Those who did not want to accept the sacrament of baptism were expelled from the city by the decree adopted above to the «deserts and forests». For the society of that time, which existed in conditions of constant military danger, disagreements and oppositions were unacceptable.
How Novgorod was baptized. Novgorod was not prepared for a new religion, it took time and patience to prepare it, at first everything went peacefully. Metropolitan Michael the Greek arrived in the city to prepare the townspeople, it was in 990. Upon his arrival, the first Christian Church of the Transfiguration was founded. Novgorodians reacted coldly to the new religion, and after the departure of the metropolitan and bishops, most continued to honor their gods and honor their ancestors. In 992, a second attempt was made to baptize Novgorod. The monarchy applied its power, an army was sent to the city, together with Bishop Joachim Korsunyanin, led by the uncle of the Grand Duke Dobrynya and Tysyatsky Putyat.
The Novgorodians received the news that an army was coming to them to destroy their shrines. Having gathered the veche, the residents decided not to betray their gods, and to strengthen their city. The bridge was dismantled; stone-throwing guns were exposed on the shore. The Kievans did not dare to attack first, and captured several instigators of the resistance by deception. From this turn of events, the Novgorodians were enraged. The priest Bogumil, nicknamed the Nightingale, called on his people to defend the faith of their ancestors. The people did not want to weaken their position and there was a riot in the city. The rebels robbed the houses of the first Novgorod Christians, and the Church of the Transfiguration was ruined. About five thousand citizens joined the battle with Putyata’s army. Dobryna had no choice but to resort to extreme measures. Novgorod was set on fire. This event took place at night; he crossed to the Sofia side and set fire to houses on the shore. It was a terrible disaster for the wooden city. Most residents asked for peace, some rushed to extinguish their homes.
The Novgorodians were offended; they went to be baptized forcibly, with great resentment. People were driven into the water in droves. Men were baptized above, and women below the Volkhov bridge. Novgorodians did not want to be baptized. And even on the day of the great sacrament, they tried to deceive themselves by saying that they had already been baptized. Therefore, crosses were put on the neck of all those who were baptized. So in Russia there was a tradition of body crosses.
The neighbors laughed at this event for a long time, recalling to the Novgorodians «how Putyata baptized them with fire and Dobrynya with a sword.» The rude imposition of faith has been imprinted in the memory of the Slavs for a long time. Over the years, Christianity has managed to win their souls. Baptism gave rise to the so-called double faith, a bizarre interweaving of pagan and Christian traditions. Memories of paganism live to this day in the folk festivals of Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala and many other rituals.
After the baptism of Russia, paganism dominated the country for a long time, there were few pagan communities left, and they existed in some cities, and peacefully got along with Christian ones. At one end of the city, there was an Orthodox church, at the other there was a temple of a pagan god. After decades, the temples disappeared. Pagan magi and after baptism ruled the masses, especially in the villages. Many pagans for another hundred years after baptism worshipped idols and engaged in sacrifices. Christianity finally came to Russia in the 13th and 14th centuries, when there was a need to unite society in the face of the Golden Horde.
With the adoption of the Christian religion, elements of Byzantine culture began to penetrate into Russia, and this contributed to the more intensive development of art in Russia. The widespread dissemination of Cyrillic-based writing has become extremely important. The first monuments of written culture appeared, which have survived to the present day and can tell a lot about it.
I often hear that millions of people died during the baptism of Russia. What millions could Christians destroy on the territory of Russia? At that time, 35 thousand people lived in Kiev in the 12th century, 25—30 thousand in Novgorod. In ancient Russia, the average population in the city was about 1,000 people, according to scientists. These were giant cities, by medieval standards! What millions of Russians? In the era of Peter 1, the population of the whole country was 7—10 million people. There is no doubt that all these weighty arguments are quite adequate scientific data. Of course, there were conflicts between citizens and the state, the imposition of a new religion, however, as in any other country. We also note that there are still many teachings against paganism, starting from I. Zlatoust and ending with today’s speeches by Deacon Kuraev. It would be silly to talk about large-scale military operations, there is another fact – archeology does not confirm the forced baptism of Russia – it is impossible to hide millions of dead. During the archaeological excavations of ancient Russian cities, no such finds were revealed; these finds would have come in very handy in Soviet times to fight the Church.
Neo-pagans consider the weakening of Russia and the emergence of some kind of dependence on the Byzantine Empire to be a consequence of the «bloody» baptism. The roots of the prehistory of the baptism of Rus grow from a military campaign against a Greek settlement and Vladimir’s further ultimatum to the whole of Byzantium: «I have already taken your glorious city; I heard that you have a maiden sister; if you don’t give her up for me, then I will do the same to your capital as to this city.» Thus, Prince Vladimir managed to get the emperor’s daughter Anna to marry. The German emperor and the French king sought the hand of the beautiful princess. The baptism of Rus did not stop the Russian-Byzantine wars. From that moment on, European rulers began to seek kinship with Russian princes. Yaroslav the Wise married his daughters to the kings of France, Hungary and Norway, and his son married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomakh. Russian lands continued to grow geographically. Does this indicate a «weakening»?
CHAPTER 5
At the baptism of Russia, it is mentioned that Prince Vladimir dissolved his harem. Was there polygamy in Russia? A family for a pagan Slav is a whole world. His peace and procreation, well-being in the family and much more, is above the public. In those days, during the war, the last men in the family were the last to be sent into battle. There also used to be a custom that obliged the brother of a deceased husband to marry his widow. This custom was widespread in Russia until the 16th century. This custom has its roots in ancient times; the elder brother was fully responsible for the children and the spouse of the deceased. There were simply no single families, this is nonsense. At that time, there were no single mothers, orphanages, etc… The most terrible punishment for a Slav is expulsion from the family; it was considered the heaviest punishment, which was practically equivalent to the death penalty.
During the pagan period, domostroy reigned in families, children obeyed their parents implicitly. The main factor in the upbringing of children is the love of children for their parents, complete obedience in childhood and youth, as well as in pagan families there is such a moment «and taking care of them in old age.»
The main function in the pagan family was procreation. If there was no childbearing in the family, then this family was considered
