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The Status of the Russian Church during the First Half-Century Following Vladimir's Conversion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2017

George Vernadsky*
Affiliation:
Yale University

Extract

Prince Vladimir of Kiev was baptized in A.D. 988, but it was not before fifty years later than the church of Kievan Russia assumed any definite shape. The first metropolitan of Russia, Theopemptus, a Greek by origin, was ordained by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1037, and it was in the same year that Prince Yaroslav, Vladimir's son, started building the cathedral of St Sophia at Kiev. There are discrepancies in the lists of the primates of the Russian church prior to Theopemptus's appointment. In some manuscripts Michael is mentioned as the first Russian “metropolitan,” and Leon as the second, while other manuscripts omit the name of Michael and start with Leon. Leon's successor was John, who officiated at the discovery of the relics of SS Boris and Gleb in 1026. His title was that of archbishop, not of metropolitan. There is no contemporary information about the location of the see of the primate. The Nikon Chronicle, compiled in the sixteenth century, states that prior to 1037 Pereyaslavl and not Kiev was the metropolis. As we shall see later on, this statement is subject to reservations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1941

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References

1 On St. Sophia of Kiev see Cross, S. H. and Conant, K. J., “The Earliest Mediaeval Churches of Kiev,” Speculum, XI (1936), pp. 490 ff.Google Scholar (hereafter quoted as Cross).

2 Golubinski, E., Islorija russkoi cerkvi, I, 1 (2d ed., Moscow, 1901), p. 267 Google Scholar (hereafter quoted as Golubinski).

3 Polnoe Sobranie Russkich Letopisei, IX (Nikon Chronicle, hereafter quoted as Nikon), p. 116.

4 Golubinski, p. 245.

5 P.S.R.L., I, 1 (2d ed.), col. 109 ff. (Laurentian version, hereafter quoted as Laur.);

P.S.R.L., II, 1 (3d ed.), col. 95 ff. (Hypatian version, subsequently quoted as Hyp.); on the Korsun legend see A. A. Shakhmatov, Razyskanija (St. Petersburg, 1908), Ch. v.

6 Golubinski, p. 185.

7 Priselkov, M. D., Očerki po cerkovno-političeskoi istorii Kievskoi Rusi (St Petersburg, 1913), p. 72 Google Scholar (hereafter quoted as Priselkov).

8 Priselkov, as cited in Note 7.

9 See my Political and Diplomatic History of Russia (Boston, 1936), p. 48.

10 I should like to make it clear that, in spite of the fact that Priselkov's main thesis is, in my opinion, untenable, his book is very stimulating and some parts of it which treat collateral topics remain valid.

11 Cf. Cross, p. 486.

12 See Makari, Istorija russkoj cerkvi, I (3d ed., St. Petersburg, 1889), p. 32 f.; Golubinski, p. 278.

13 Migne, Patr. Gr., CII, c. 736 f. Cf. Les Regestes des Actes du Patriarcat de Constantinople, Vol. I, Fasc. II (Istanbul, 1936), pp. 88–89 (No. 481).

14 See my forthcoming article, “The Eparchy of Gothia,” in Byzanlion (hereafter cited as “Eparchy of Gothia”).

15 The problem of the Azov-Black Sea Rus is very involved. See V. A. Moshin, “Načalo Rusi,” Byzantinoslavica, III (1931), pp. 293 ff. I am treating this problem in connection with its whole background in my History of Russia from the Ancient Times down to 1801, vol. I (in preparation).

16 Ibn-Rusta, ed. Dc Goeje (Bibl. Geogr. Arab., VII, p. 145 of the Arabic text); English translation, Macartney, C. A., The Magyars in the Ninth Century (Cambridge, 1930), p. 213 Google Scholar.

17 See my “Eparchy of Gothia.”

18 The controversial nature of the topic is well recognized, but in my opinion, “the Russian characters” must, in any case, have had some connection with the Rus. See my forthcoming History of Russia (as quoted in Note 15), vol. I, ch. VIII.

19 Golubinski, p. 47.

20 See my “Eparchy of Gothia.”

21 Theophanes continuatus, ed. Bekker, p. 342 f. Cf. Golubinski, p. 51 f.

22, 23 H. Gelzer, “Ungedruckte und ungenügend veröffentlichte texte der Notitiae Episcopatuum,” Abh. der Philos.-Philol. Classe der Kgl. Bayerischen Akademie der Wiss., XI (1901), 575 (hereafter cited as Gelzer).

24 Gelzer, p. 572.

25 For the chronology of events see G. Ostrogorsky, “Vladimir Svjatoi i Vizantija,” Vladimirski Sbornik (Belgrad, 1938) pp. 32 ff. (hereafter cited as Ostrogorsky); Priselkov, pp. 24 ff.

26 See Vasiliev, A. A., The Goths in the Crimea (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), p. 130 f.Google Scholar

27 For the list of Crimean bishoprics at various periods see Hieroclis Synecdemus et Nolitiae Graecae Episcopaiuum, ed. Parthey (Berlin, 1866), and Gelzer. Cf. my “Eparchy of Gothia.”

28 Laur., col. 109; Hyp., col. 95 f.

29 Laur., col. 50; Hyp., col. 40.

30 Laur., col. 116; Hyp., col. 101.

31 Nikon, p. 57.

32 Vasilievski, V. G., Trudy, III (1915), p. 96 Google Scholar.

33 Vladimir is referred to as Khagan by Hilarion in the latter's Eulogy. See Pamjatniki drevne-russkoi cerkovno-učitelnoi literatury, ed. Ponomarev, A., I (St. Petersburg, 1894), 70 Google Scholar.

34 Cf. Moshin, V. A., “Nikolai, Episkop Tmutorokanski,” Seminarium Kondakovianum, V (1923), 49 Google Scholar (Moshin's general conclusions are not acceptable from my point of view).

35 Ostrogorsky, p. 39, note 1.

36 Laur., cols. 117–118; Hyp., cols. 101–102.

37 Golubinski, p. 174.

38 Priselkov, pp. 52 f.

39 Laur., cols. 121–122; Hyp., col. 106.

40 Priselkov, p. 54.

41 P.S.R.L., III, 179 (Appendix to 2d Novgorodian chronicle).

42 Cross, p. 488.

43 Golubinski, p. 952.

44 Priselkov, p. 50.

45 Ibid.

46 Golubinski, pp. 264–265.

47 Golubinski, p. 264.

48 The best edition of Vladimir's Church Statute is that by V. Beneshevich, Pamjatniki drevne-russkogo kanoničeskogo prava, II, 1 (Petrograd, 1920) (being Vol. XXXVI of the Russkaja Istoričeskaja Biblioteka). For the history and criticism of the text see Juškov, S. V., Ustav kn. Vladimira (Novouzensk, 1926)Google Scholar; Cf. my review of this study in Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie, VII (1930), pp. 263–270.

49 A Kormčaja of the end of the thirteenth century, formerly in Moscow Synodal Library, No. 132, ff. 268–630; ed. Benešević, pp. 12 and 14. There is no division on sections in the original manuscript; I follow Benešević's division. Cf. also Golubinski, op. cit., I, 616–627.

50 Michael is read in some manuscripts instead of Leon.

51 Golubinski, p. 506; cf., Charlemagne's capitulary on the subject, M. G. H., LL., III, 36 (§7).

52 Iu. Gotje, Zelezny vek v Vostočnoi Europe (Moscow, 1930), p. 78.

53 Ibn-Khordadbeh, ed. de Goeje (Bibl. Geogr. Arab., VI), p. 154 (of the Arabic text); p. 115 f. (of the French translation).

54 I accept Priselkov's opinion that Tioris and Gleb were Vladimir's sons by Anna. See Priselkov, p. 72.

55 Golubinski, p. 929.

56 Laur., col. 147, Hyp., col. 133.

57 Nikon, p. 69.

58 Laur., col. 150; Hyp., col. 136. Cf. Priselkov, p. 78.

59 Golubinski, pp. 272–273.

60 Ibid., p. 360.

61 The date according to Laur., col. 150.

62 “Chive, aemula sceptri Constantinopolitani.” Adam Bremensis, Gesta Hammabutgensis ecclesiae pontificum, II, 22, ed. Schmeidler (Hannover-Leipzig, 1917), p. 80.

63 Priselkov, pp. 181–184.

64 Priselkov, p. 176.

65 Priselkov, pp. 176, 206.

66 Notitia II Parlhey, No. 122. Cf. Gelzer, H., “Ungedruckte und wenig bekannte Bistümerverzeichnisse der orientalische Kirche,” Byzantinische Zeilschrift, I (1892), 255 Google Scholar. In his article, “Zur Zeitbestimmung der griechischen Notitiae Episcopatuum,” Jahrbücher für protest. Theologie, XII (1886), 556, Gelzer dates the Notitia II Parthey as post A.D. 1084. In connection with the Russian events it might be dated A.D. 1094 or 1095.

67 Hieroclis Synecdemus … ed. Parthey, p. 136.