, the spread of Christianity before 988 was far from wide. Two other Svjatoslav’s sons were heathens and after his accession to Kievan throne Vladimir renovated pagan cult by introducing a pantheon of several gods chosen from various tribal traditions with a supreme god Perun whose cult was supposed to become an official one[1428].
For several decades before the official Christianization in 988 there seems to be a co-existence of Christians and pagans both among the ruling clan of the Rurikides[1429]and among the Russian elite. This co-existence, however, was not as peaceful as one would gather from the sources discussed earlier.
V
Five years before the official Christianization of Rus’ in 988 the «Primary Chronicle» records a splash of confrontation between Christians and pagans in Kiev.
On his return from a successful raid Vladimir and his elders decided to make a sacrifice to pagan gods[1430]. They cast lots and the lot fell – «through the devil’s hatred» as the annalist put it – upon a young Varangian who together with his father returned from Byzantium. Both Varangians «adhered to the Christian faith». The messengers of the prince came to the house and demanded that the youth should be given to them. The father refused to do this and pronounced an invective exposing the false gods of pagans and proclaiming the mightiness of the true God. The citizens took up arms, attacked the Varangians and killed them.
In the year of 6491 (983). Vladimir marched on the Jatvjagians[1431], conquered them, and seized their territory. He returned to Kiev, and together with his people made sacrifice to the idols. The elders and the boyars then proposed that they should cast lots for a youth and a maiden, and sacrifice to the gods whomsoever the lot should fall upon.
Now there was a certain Varangian whose house was situated at the spot where now stands the Church of the Holy Virgin, which Vladimir built. This Varangian had come from Greece. He adhered to the Christian faith[1432], and he had a son, fair in face and in heart, on whom, through the devil’s hatred, the lot fell. For the devil, though he had dominion over all the rest, could not suffer this youth. He was like a thorn in the devil’s heart, and the accursed one was eager to destroy him, and even aroused the people thereto. Messengers thus came and said to the father, «Since the lot has fallen upon your son, the gods have claimed him as their own. Let us therefore make sacrifice to the gods». But the Varangian replied, «These are not gods, but only idols of wood. Today it is, and tomorrow it will rot away. These gods do not eat, or drink, or speak; they are fashioned by hand out of wood. But the God whom the Greeks serve and worship is one; it is he who has made heaven and earth, the stars, the moon, the sun, and mankind, and has granted him life upon earth. But what have these gods created? They are themselves made. I will not give up my son to devils».
So the messengers went back and reported to the people. The latter took up arms, attacked the Varangian and his son, and on braking down the stockade about his house, found him standing upon the porch. They then called upon him to surrender his son that they might offer him to the gods. But he replied, «If they be gods, they will send one of their number to take my son. What need have you of him?» They straightway raised a shout, and broke up the structure under them. Thus the people killed them, and no one knows where they are buried.
For at that time the Russes were ignorant pagans. The devil rejoiced thereat, for he did not know that his ruin was approaching.. [1433].
After Christianization of Rus’ the two Varangians became the first Russian martyrs and their vita was composed not later than 1113 when its shortened version was included in the «Primary Chronicle»[1434]. It has many common features with the narration about the Christianization of Rus’ by St. Vladimir in the «Primary Chronicle» and it is believed to belong to the same author[1435]. The chronicle narration preserves some clearly hagiographic features and is considered to render the original vita.
An expanded text about the martyrdom of the two Varangians reads also in the «Synaxaire» (Old Russian Prolog, beginning of the thirteenth century), a collection of short lives of saints arranged in calendar order, for 12 July[1436]. The «Prolog» text provides several important additions to the chronicle. First, it indicates the day of their commemoration that must be the exact date of their martyrdom– July, 12. Second, it gives the Christian name of the son – Ioann[1437] that remained unknown to the compiler of the «Primary Chronicle». These minor but important addenda suggest that the author of the «Prolog» text used not only the narration of the «Primary chronicle», probably an earlier version preceding the «Chronicle», but he also had another source – a short note about the martyrdom of the Varangians that included the date and the name of the originally supposed victim[1438].
An abridged version of the vita of the two Varangians was also incorporated into several redactions of «The Prolog Life» of St. Vladimir (for 15 July, not later than the first half of the thirteenth century). It is supposed that the legend about the Varangian martyrs was an integral part of the earliest life of St. Vladimir and served to contrast his pre-Christian godlessness, ferocity, polygamy to his saintly life after baptism[1439]. Basing on his study of the «Life» where the place of the baptism of Kievan citizens «at the place where nowadays there is the church of saint martyrs[1440]of Tur» was defined, A. Shakhmatov suggested that the secular name of the father was Porr or Þόrir[1441]. The church of Tur or Tury («Turova bozhnitsa») in Kiev is also mentioned in other sources without any connection with the Christianization[1442][1443]. This identification of the name is, however, open to doubts. First, the name of Tur in the posessive form Turova occurs only in latest manuscripts of the «Life». In earlier copies it reads either Petr's (Petrova) or of Boris and Glebu. Second, the location of this church does not coincide with the location of the Desjatinnaja church that was built, according to the «Primary Chronicle», on the site of the house of the Varangians[1444]. According to all available sources the citizens of Kiev were baptized in the Pochaina river, a tribute to the Dnieper. The Pochaina was used as a harbour and its shores beneath the Kievan hills were occupied by the Podol, a trade and artisan quarter of the city. The Desjatinnaja church was located on the hills within the fortified «princely» quarters. Thus, even if there was a church near the site where the Kievan inhabitants were baptized and it was called after a Tur or Tury (the name most probably of Old Norse derivation), it is impossible to identify this person with the Varangian martyr[1445].
The incorporation of the legend about the martyrdom of the two Varangians into several works of different character, both secular (chronicle) and clerical («Life of St. Vladimir», «Prolog») is an unusual phenomenon for Ancient Rus’. The event must have shocked the Christian community of Kiev and stories about the death for faith of the two Varangians spread rapidly and widely so that the narration of their exploit soon took shape and was used by different Christian authors writing for various purposes. A wide circulation of the legend must have been promoted also by the fact that the house of the Varangians stood at the place where Vladimir built the first church after the Christianization – the church was dedicated to Holy Virgin, it was
the earliest one to be bestowed with the tithe which gave rise to its name «the Tithe church» (Desjatinnaja tserkov’) and it enjoyed extraordinary popularity in Kiev. It is in the Desjatinnaja church that the first annals started to be written down and it is with this church that the origin of a short note on the martyrdom of the Varangians is connected. The clerics of the church were well aware and could not forget that their church rested on the remains of the martyrs or at least on the site they were martyred.
The martyrdom of the two Varangians produced an indelible impression on the inhabitants of Kiev. It became a symbolic event for the Christian community that must have existed in Kiev before the official Christianization and a milestone for the Christians after 988. In the eleventh century their cult seems to start developing[1446]. They are mentioned as the example of devoted service to God and as the first Christians to suffer for the sake of their belief. Already in the mid-eleventh century the metropolitan Hilarion referred to the martyrs: “And now we do not build heathen temples but construct Christ’s churches; and now we do not immolate each other to devils but Christ is sacrificed for our sake and