Russia’s Christianisation and Russia’s claim on Ukraine

Ukraine was a state of Russia in the 9th century and in 988 AD changed from paganism to Russian Orthodoxy.  

The Baptism of Rus' (Klavdiy Lebedev c. 1900 AD)

Although I don’t go to church every Sunday, I believe in God, being christened Russian Orthodox.  Russia was originally a pagan country, worshiping pagan gods. Christianity was introduced into the Russian state of Kievan Rus (see map below) by Greek missionaries from Byzantium in the 9th century.

It is fascinating to compare the Russian state of Kievan Rus to the map of Ukraine today - surprisingly Ukraine today is the same land formerly known as Kievan Rus, which many would not realise.  It is of course Putin’s justification for invading Ukraine – the land always belonged to Russia. Trump and Elon Musk seem to agree to an extent. 

Ukraine today.

In 957 AD, St. Olga, the regent of Kiev (the capital of Kievan Rus) was baptized in Constantinople, (now Istanbul) the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In 978 her grandson Vladimir 1 became the pagan prince of Kiev. Swayed by his grandmother, he invited missionaries from all parts of the world to introduce their religions to him – and he chose the Christian religion of the Byzantine Empire.  Vladimir 1 was subsequently baptized in Kiev in 988 AD and Eastern Orthodoxy became the country’s religion. Today it is known as Russian Orthodox.