Древняя Русь и Скандинавия: Избранные труды

The martyrdom of the two Varangians produced an indelible impression on the inhabitants of Kiev. It became a symbolic event for the Christian community that must have existed in Kiev before the official Christianization and a milestone for the Christians after 988. In the eleventh century their cult seems to start developing[1446]. They are mentioned as the example of devoted service to God and as the first Christians to suffer for the sake of their belief. Already in the mid-eleventh century the metropolitan Hilarion referred to the martyrs: “And now we do not build heathen temples but construct Christ’s churches; and now we do not immolate each other to devils but Christ is sacrificed for our sake and < sacrificed> and fragmented as a sacrifice to God and Father. And now we do not perish by partaking of sacrificial blood but we are saved by receiving the Lord’s sacred blood”[1447]. In the first half of the thirteenth century bishop Simeon, one of the authors of the «Patericon» of the Kiev Cave monastery, called them the first «citizens of the Russian world crowned by Christ»[1448].

The narration of the martyr Varangians in the «Primary Chronicle» stresses not only the main road the Christianity advanced to Rus’, i. e. from Byzantium, but it also suggests the existence of a Christian commune in Kiev before the official Christianization in which Varangians played an important role.

Conclusions

The scarcity of information in Old Russian literature about the advance of Christianity to Rus’ seems to be mainly due to the sources the annalists had at their disposal. These were first and foremost heroic tales orally transmitted from the times of the historical event till the late eleventh century. Being pagans and interested in the heroic appeal of what they related, the storytellers paid no attention to matters of faith and the missionary activities could hardly supply themes for their stories.

Still the comparison of the scattered mentions in sources of different origin and from different regions of medieval world maintaining relations with Ancient Rus’ allows some conclusions.

First, the sources make it obvious that the main centre from which Christianity spread in Eastern Europe was Byzantium.

Second, Scandinavians, trading, serving to Russian princes, and settling in Rus’, were most active in transferring Christian ideas from Byzantium to Rus’. Their activities in Eastern Europe defined the main phases of the penetration of Christianity. The first wave of Vikings that reached Byzantium by the beginning of the ninth century became ready for adopting Christian faith by the 860ies when a Christian mission was sent to Rus’ from Constantinople.

The subsequent new wave of Norsemen that reached Kiev in 882 put an end to the initial process of Christianization. It is only some sixty years later that the next rise of Christian commune starts to be reflected in the Old Russian sources. It is worth noting that the earliest record of this process was preserved in a document and not in the narrative part of the «Primary Chronicle».

For the next forty years before the official Christianization took place, Christianity made a slow progress among the warrior elite of the state still consisting mainly of Scandinavians. There can be no doubt, however, that by that time a large proportion of warriors were Slavs who shared the fates of their Northern comrades-in-arms. Nevertheless the rulers of the state but for princess Ol’ga and probably Jaropolk refrained from adopting the new faith. More than that, under the first years of the reign of Vladimir a revival of paganism took place. The annalist relates about new sanctuaries to Perun constructed in Kiev and Novgorod and human sacrifices to Perun. One of the victims of this practice were two Varangians in 983 who became the first Russian martyrs. It was the baptism of prince Vladimir that opened a wide way to Christianity for Slavic population.

(Впервые опубликовано: Fran Bysans till Norden. Ostliga kyrkoinfluenser under vikingatid och tidig medeltid / H. Janson. Malmo, 2005. P. 97–138)

Часть IV ДРевняя Русm на международных путях

Балтийская система коммуникаций в I тысячелетии н. э

Е. А. Мельникова

Западная Балтика – Ютландский полуостров и Датские острова – играла структурообразующую роль в экономической и политической жизни Скандинавских стран и всего балтийского региона второй половины первого тысячелетия до и. э. – первого тысячелетия и. э. Поэтому в ментальной картине мира древних скандинавов обнаруживается отчетливый «даноцентризм», восходящий, возможно, к значительно более раннему времени.