By: adminmyr

adminmyr — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 01:50:57 +0000

Hi Peter, and thanks for the question. Christianity came not to Ukraine (which didn’t exist yet) but to medieval Rus (Vladimir’s kingdom) which covered what are now parts of Ukraine, Russia and Belorus. So all three peoples claim their origins in that first baptism in Kiev. It is incorrect of the Russian Orthodox Church, however, to subsume the separate history of the Ukrainian Church within its own: Moscow didn’t become an important centre until the 14th century after the devastation of Kiev by the Mongols in the 13th century. (However, at this point Moscow did call itself the Third Rome, after Rome and Constantinople, a name that still stands.) As for the Kievan-Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it was handed over to Moscow in 1686 and disappeared as a distinct church. The Ukrainain Orthodox Church of Canada was built from the ground up here in western Canada when the first immigrants realized they could restore their spiritual inheritance. Whew. For more clarification, let me know when you want to meet for lunch.

By: Peter Field

Peter Field — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 15:56:44 +0000

That’s so interesting. I never knew how Christianity came to the Ukraine. Excuse my ignorance but did the Russian Orthodox Church grow from that or was it a different group of missionary’s from Constantinople?

By: Helen

Helen — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 05:42:59 +0000

How I love the exuberance of your prose, Myrna! Glad I’ll be getting email notifications of new posts!

Comments on: Byzantium Made Me Do It

By: adminmyr

By: Peter Field

By: Helen