---
title: "The Baptism of Rus — Church history"
description: "The adoption of Christianity by Kievan Rus under Prince Vladimir in 988."
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-baptism-of-rus"
language: "en"
---

Church history · 988

# The Baptism of Rus

The adoption of Christianity by Kievan Rus under Prince Vladimir in 988.

## Contents

1. [Background](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-baptism-of-rus#s1)
2. [988](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-baptism-of-rus#s2)
3. [Significance](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/history-baptism-of-rus#s3)

## Background

Christianity was known in Rus before Vladimir: the baptism of Princess Olga (c. 957), a Christian community in Kiev. The Primary Chronicle tells of the “testing of faiths” — a chronicle narrative combining a historical core with literary form.

## 988

Vladimir was baptized (according to the chronicle, in Korsun/Chersonesus) and baptized the people of Kiev in the Dnieper. The Russian Church became a metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. From Byzantium and Bulgaria came worship in the Slavonic language, book culture, stone architecture and icon painting.

## Significance

The Baptism determined the cultural and spiritual path of the Eastern Slavs. The year 988 is accepted as the official date; the millennium celebration in 1988 became a turning point for the revival of church life in the USSR.

[Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saints/vladimir)

## Related

- [Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saints/vladimir)
- [Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Princess Olga](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saints/olga)