16c: The Way of Russia's Elders

By the time Vladimir became Grand Prince of Kiev in 980, Rurik's descendants had ruled over Rus for a century. Having killed his brother to attain his position, Vladimir cared deeply about protecting his job security. One logical means was obtaining the support of a state church. Up to now, Rus had been almost completely pagan; although Vladimir's grandmother Princess Olga had converted to Orthodox Christianity, Vladimir himself worshipped a small army of Norse and Slavic deities. But in 987, as Russian legend has it, Vladimir chose a state religion for Rus. Vladimir dismissed Islam, supposedly, because Russians would never accept a religion which forbade them to drink alcohol. Judaism was discarded because Vladimir could not believe in a Chosen People with no homeland of its own. Western, or Roman Catholic, Christianity he found unappealing because the ritual seemed cold and lifeless; moreover, he wasn't interested in taking orders from the Bishop of Rome. But when Vladimir's emissaries reached Constantinople, they were awestruck by the lavish services in the gorgeous cathedral of Saint Sophia. They reported to Vladimir that they could not tell whether they were in heaven or on earth. Thus Vladimir is said to have decided on Eastern Orthodoxy. No doubt Rus's close trade relationship to Byzantium had something to do with it too. Vladimir ordered everyone in his lands to convert at once, thereby destroying all vestiges of the former pagan religion.

The Eastern Orthodox Church was an excellent fit for Kievan Rus. With its involved and stirring ritual, it moved the peasants more deeply than the Western Christians and their focus upon preaching ever could. Because Eastern Orthodoxy traced its roots directly back to Jesus Christ and his apostles, it conferred upon the Prince of Kiev a certain sort of divine sanction. For making such a wise choice, Vladmir was later named a saint of the Orthodox Church. His sons, however, were disinclined to love their brothers. After Vladimir died in 1015, the eldest son Svyatopolk assassinated his younger brothers Boris, Gleb, and Sviatoslav. The only surviving brother, Yaroslav, was allowed to live because he was illegitimate and supposedly posed no threat. Yet Yaroslav pushed Svyatopolk out in 1019, and brought Kievan Rus to the high point of its culture. Though Yaroslav was friendly with Western Europe (three of his daughters married European kings), he covered all bases by marrying one of his sons off to a Byzantine princess. Yaroslave was the first to put a Russian in charge of the Orthodox church - not only declaring religious independence from Byzantium but establishing the state's power over the church. Yaroslav's crowning achievement was beginning the collection of laws known as the Russkaya Pravda. He even developed a complicated succession procedure in which individual Rus cities were passed not from father to son, but from older brother to the next older brother. Unfortunately, this royal game of musical chairs  made Diocletian's concept of the Tetrarchy look simple by comparison. Needless to say, it did not long survive Yaroslav's death.

Kievan Rus society at its high point contained the seeds of its decline. Officially, Yaroslav's Russkaya Pravda ensured the rule of law. and was in fact comparatively liberal in that it did not resort to the death penalty. But the justice it ensured was far from equal. The higher an individual's social status, the greater the penalty for harming him. The peasants were divided into smerds (free peasants), zakups (debt slaves), and kholops (born slaves). The free peasants lived in a community called a "mir," where they took collective responsibility for production and for paying rent to the noble landowners. The noble class was responsible for providing the grand prince with money and military manpower. The most powerful nobles (or boyars) constantly struggled to maintain their position with the grand princes. Consequently, they basically saw the peasants as cheap labor and treated them little better than serfs. As long as the mir could provide nobles with income, there was no point in bettering the peasants' lot. When the mir could not be forced to provide income, the nobles' solution was usually more force. The Russian peasant had it tough compared to his Roman counterpart. Rich or poor, a freeborn Roman male was a citizen with rights and a stakeholder in the Roman state. Not so the poor Russian peasants, who had no chance of improving their lot in life. They might fight for the Grand Prince, but none too willingly, and the sense of loyalty to the Kievan Rus state was just about absent.

The Orthodox church's ancient literary tradition inspired Kievan Rus to become literate. The grand princes and the boyars endowed churches and monasteries, and invited Byzantine architects and craftsmen to Rus. The evangelists Cyril and Methodius introduced the "Cyrillic" alphabet, used first for Old Church Slavonic and then for Russian, and which led to the compilation of chronicles. The Byzantine influence also included icon painting - an example of how Russians would rather "praise correctly" (pravoslavie) than indulge in intellectual speculation. The Russians found God more accessible through ritual than through study or learning.In Kievan Rus, Orthodox Christianity was a civilizing force. Although neither the Old nor the New Testaments were produced in Old Church Slavonic, learned men were expected to study Gospel readings and historical chronicles. Somewhat surprisingly, the Orthodox Church did not convert at sword-point. This taste for tolerance would serve Russia well. Centuries later, Ivan the Terrible conquered the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, but continued to tolerate their Muslim faith, which helped them assimilate into Russian life. Simply put, the Orthodox Church played a strong and highly positive role in Kievan Rus society.

Yaroslav's grandson Vladimir Monomakh was Kievan Rus's last great prince. A man of deep Orthodox faith, he ruled farsightedly and he left the state in good condition. He abolished debt servitude and lowered the maximum interest rate to 20%.But on the other hand, he promoted anti-Semitism by expelling all Jews from his lands. His successors can be judged by their nicknames. The "Single Combat Man" was succeeded by his son Yuri the Long-Armed (ruled 1125-1157), founder of Moscow; he earned his name by always managing to reach owhatever he felt like grabbing. Yuri's son Andrei Bogolyubski (ruled 1157-1176) was the "Lover of God," but he also sacked Kiev in 1169 and moved the capital of Rus to the city of Vladimir. Andrei's son Vsevolod (ruled 1176-1212) was known as the "Big Nest" for fathering a brood of 12 children. Two of these sons, Konstantin (1216-1218) and Yuri II (1212-1216 and 1218-1238) fought it out to be his successor. Yuri won the throne and the honor of being Grand Prince when the Mongol invasion took place. Such disputes were common in all Rus's leading cities, making Kievan Rus easy pickings for the Eastern invaders.