Spiritual birth of the Motherland

Tag cloud: Orthodox Church , Society, religion, Commentary, Russia

Mikhail Aristov

27.07.2010, 16:10

On July 28th, Russians will for the first time celebrate the recently established Rus Baptism Day. On this day the Russian Orthodox Church also commemorates Saint Prince Vladimir of Kiev who baptized Russia and made Christianity its official religion.

The new Russian holiday becomes a good reason for both thinking about our ancestors’ historic choice and considering our own life plan. This is precisely what happened more than a thousand years ago when Grand Prince Vladimir turned to studying basic religions of Europe and Western Asia. He invited wisemen from across the world to Kiev and then sent his own legates abroad to gather information on various confessions. Thus, he got a complete insight into the principal “types of world civilization”, as present-day geopolitical experts would put it.

Prince Vladimir, under whom the country became especially powerful and prosperous, was faced with a task of completing the baptism of Rus. Exploring religions and traditions of neighboring countries, he was seeking ways of spiritual development which would comply with Russian people’s aspirations. The Orthodox Byzantine Empire became an ideal pattern for him.

The Baptism of Rus determined the country’s historic fate, which contributed to this date’s becoming a national holiday not only for the faithful, but for every Russian citizen regardless his religion, according to Priest Georgy Zavershinsky, the head of communication service at the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Relations:

"The acceptance of Christianity itself became a kind of historic choice which determined the development of our country for many centuries ahead. Our existing culture and traditions are consequences of that choice, made by Prince Vladimir. Baptism is referred to as spiritual birth of a person or a nation, as well as adherence to a particular model of culture, a model for national development."

Back in the year 1988, people in Russia celebrated the first millennium of the Baptism of Rus and it seemed then that a wall finally collapsed between the nation and its past. The assigned status of a national holiday testifies to the Church’s becoming a spiritual backbone for our motherland, as it was since the reign of Grand Prince Vladimir.