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III.

intreated him to send a bishop among them, which CHAP. was accordingly done. Evagrius Scholasticus1 has related this circumstance, as recorded by Procopius. But by Tanaïs is said to be intended the stream which runs out of the Motis into the Euxine; that is to say, the Cimmerian Bosphorus, or Straits of Taman. The arrival of a bishop so invited, and under such patronage, might be followed by the establishment of a church; and it is probable, from existing documents, as well as the traditions of the people, that this really happened, either on the Asiatic or the European side of those Straits, about that time. The jurisdiction of the province afterwards annexed to the crown of Russia by Svetoslaf the First, father of Vladimir the Great, included the Isle of Taman, and the Peninsula of Kertchy. In those districts, therefore, we might be allowed to place the first tabernacles of Christian worship; although, in the distant period of their introduction, the foundation of the Russian Empire had scarcely been laid. It is pleasing to bring scattered portions of history to bear upon any one point; particularly when, by so doing, the obscurity of some of them may be elucidated. The journey of Olga, wife of Igor, son of Ruric, to Constantinople,

(1) Lib. iv. c. 23.

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Olga, about

of the tenth

century.

CHAP. after avenging the death of her husband upon the Volga, occurred very early in the annals of that country. "She went," say the compilers of the Modern Universal History', "for what Baptism of reason we know not, to Constantinople." Yet when the middle it is related, that she was baptized there2; that, in consequence of her example, many of her subjects became converts to Christianity; that the Russians, to this day, rank her among their Saints, and annually commemorate her festival; the cause of her journey will hardly admit of a doubt. The result of it proves incontestably the introduction of Christianity, and the establishment of churches in Russia, at an earlier period than is generally admitted; namely, the A. D. 991. baptism of Vladimir3.

(1) Vol. XXXV. p. 182.

(2) The Emperor, John Zimisces, according to some historians, was her godfather upon this occasion. It has been related, that he became enamoured of the Scythian Princess, and proposed marriage; which was refused. The old lady, notwithstanding, was at that time in her sixty-sixth year; for she died at the age of eighty, which happened fourteen years after her baptism. Collateral annals, by discordant chronology, seem to prove that the whole story, about the Eastern Emperor's amorous propensities, is founded in error and ab. surdity. Zimisces was not crowned until Christmas-day A.D. 969. Ten years before this period, Helena (which was the name borne by Olga, after her baptism) had sent ambassadors to Otho, Emperor of the West, desiring Missionaries to instruct her people. A mission was consequently undertaken by St. Adelbert, bishop of Magdeburg, into Russia, A. D. 962.

(3) Some authors place this event four years earlier. The present chronology is that of Du Fresnoy.

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This subject is materially connected with CHAP. the history of the Fine Arts; for with Christianity, the art of painting was introduced into Russia. Some of the most chosen idols of their churches are, those curious Grecian pictures which the first Gospel Missionaries brought with them from Constantinople. The inscriptions upon them often exhibit the Greek characters of those times; and the pictures themselves afford interesting examples of the art, many centuries before it became known to the more enlightened nations of Europe. Nor was the art of painting alone introduced with Christianity into Russia. All that they knew of letters, or of any useful and liberal art, for many centuries afterwards, was derived from the same source. The inhabitants of the Islands can hardly be more savage than were the Russians, when the Gospel was first preached to them. The full accomplishment of this great event certainly did not take place till Vladimir became converted, It was a condition of his marriage with the sister of the Greek Emperor; and it is said, that no less than twenty thousand of his subjects were christened on the same day. The change effected by this measure was nothing less than a complete revolution in their manners and in their morals. Vladimir led the way, by his example. The

South-Sea

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CHAP. Pagan idols, and eight hundred concubines, were dismissed together; and the twelve sons, which his six wives had borne unto him, were baptized: churches and monasteries brought around them towns and villages; and civilization seemed to dawn upon the plains and the forests of Scythia. Indeed, a memorial of the blessed effects of Christianity, among a people who were scarce removed from the brute creation, seems to be preserved even in the Arms of the Government of Novogorod, the district where it was first established; and the ludicrous manner in which this event is typified, is consistent with the barbarism of the people. Two bears, supporters, are represented at an altar upon the ice, with crucifixes crossed before the Obraze, or BOGH, on which is placed a candelabrum with a triple lustre, as an emblem of the Trinity'.

Arms of
Novogorod,

The fortress of Novogorod is large, but of wretched appearance. It was constructed' after the plan of the Kremlin at Moscow, towards the end of the fifteenth century, and contains the cathedral. Upon the bridge, leading to this fortress from the town, is a small sanctuary, where every peasant who passes either deposits

(1) See the Vignette to the preceding Chapter.

his candle or his penny. Before this place, which is filled with old pictures of the kind already described, and which a stranger might really mistake for a picture-stall, devotees, during the whole day, may be seen bowing and crossing themselves. A Russian hardly commits any action without this previous ceremony. If he be employed to drive your carriage, his crossing occupies two minutes before he is mounted. When he descends, the same motion is repeated. If a church be in view, you see him at work with his head and hand, as if seized with St. Vitus's dance. If he make any earnest protestation, or enter a room, or go out, you are entertained with the same manual and capital exercise'. When beggars return thanks for alms, the operation lasts a longer time; and then between the crossing, by way of interlude, they generally make prostration, and touch their foreheads to the earth.

The snow increased very fast in our road from Novogorod to Tver; but afterwards we had

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(2) It was a common practice among the early Christians, towards the end of the second century. Tertullian, who flourished A.D. 192, thus mentions it: "Ad omnem progressum atque promotum, ad omnem aditum et exitum, ad vestitum, ad calceatum, ad lavacra, et mensas, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad sedilia, quæcunque nos conversatio exercet, frontem crucis signaculo terimus."

Tertullian. de Coron. Mil. cap. 3.

CHAP.

III.

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