Celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia

Abstract

The report is dedicated to the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus'. Initiated by the Slavic Benevolent Society, the celebration of the anniversary date of Baptism was taken under the organizational control of the Holy Synod, and after the May Decree of Emperor Alexander III in 1888, preparations for the celebration took on a national character. Debates on the dating of the Baptism of Russia (988-989, 990), which broke out in the scientific community (ecclesiastical academies, Kiev University, etc.), did not yield a certain result: the scientists did not come to a consensus about the time and place of the Baptism of Rus'. Hierarch Procurator K. P. Pobedonostsev proposed to settle on the date 988; he also headed the organization and conduct of the anniversary celebrations in Kiev. Large-scale festivities dedicated to the epochal event (the programme of the festivities included: Divine Liturgies, prayers, processions, military parades, and solemn receptions) were held throughout the empire, with St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev becoming the centres of the festivities. Numerous guests arrived for the celebrations from abroad, especially from the brotherly Slavonic countries (clergy and laymen from Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria). The participation of all strata of Russian society, from the Imperial family to peasants, in the celebration of the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia showed the particular importance of Orthodoxy in the life of the Russian people, their commitment to the centuries-long spiritual and cultural traditions and their loyalty to Christian values. A holiday of this scale helped to strengthen national self-consciousness and popular piety.