In ancient Russia, Christianity arose long beforehow it received the status of official religion. However, at that time it was spread too weakly and, of course, could not compete with paganism.
At the same time, the religion of idolatry perceived influences from other religions.
The prerequisites for the emergence of Christianity began to take shape during the development of trade with Greece. The new teaching to the Slavs was transmitted by the Varangian warriors and merchants, who more often went to Constantinople.
Очень много христиан было в дружине русского Prince Igor, his wife, Saint Olga, was also a Christian. Gradually, the new teaching began to spread. Thus, the emergence of Christianity in Russia is closely connected with the first Varangian princes.
Paganism was considered a very non-progressive form.religion in the conditions of the early Russian feudal state. In this regard, Vladimir (Russian prince) took measures to ensure some consistency between the political system and religion of the country. Thus, paganism was reformed.
However, such transformations were not enough in the conditions of the early feudal state, which required the establishment of a monotheistic religion that would be associated with the power of the Grand Duke.
At that time, in the Kiev state they knew three suchReligions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Under these conditions, Vladimir needed to choose his religion. The closest of all, of course, was Christianity. However, the difficulty was in choosing a direction. There were Eastern and Western Christianity. This question Prince Vladimir decided in conditions of sufficiently tangible diplomatic influence on the part of Constantinople and on the part of Rome.
In all respects it was more profitable to cooperate withConstantinople (Byzantium). This was due to a greater degree with the long-established political and economic relations. As is known, the interaction of Kiev and Byzantium continued for centuries, while the connection with Rome was rather weak. Thus, the emergence of Christianity as the official religion is associated with Byzantine influence.
It should, however, be noted that not allthe population of the Kiev state became Orthodox. At that time, the emergence of Christianity was associated with some violence against the population. As a result, several contradictory and heterogeneous religions were formed in the state. All these trends hindered the process of the formal Christianization of the local population in many areas of the country. Thus, the emergence of Christianity did not accelerate the elimination of paganism as a religion. On the contrary, idolatry existed for some centuries.
From the moment that Christianity became an official religion, the church began to introduce measures to strengthen and develop the organizational system.
The church head was the Kiev Metropolitan.Bishops were in charge of church affairs in major cities. They ruled large areas - the dioceses. At first there were five of these areas, then they became about fifteen.
The emergence of Christianity in the Kiev statedid not provoke political subordination to Constantinople. Byzantium did not have full power in the religious sphere either. However, until the 13th century, bishops and metropolitans were, as a rule, Greeks. But they depended completely on the prince of Kiev. Moreover, each prince within his domain sought to ensure that he had his own bishop in the capital.
At first, the church was on princely content. Subsequently, in connection with the expansion of the organizational structure, other sources of income also appeared.
Developing and relying on material wealth, the church received a great influence not only on the life of the population, but also on the political and economic life of the country.
