The Humble Beginnings Of The Rus ' Lands

The Russian Church arose after Christianity was introduced in the 9th century. Christianity was introduced in Kievan Rus, an East Slavic State, and was only accepted after the prince of Kiev was baptized. In the 17th century the church was known to be autocephalous after the bishops decided to elect their own patriarch. One of the chosen patriarchs, Nikon, managed to get involved in a very violent conflict with the Russian Tsar Alexis. The origin of the church led to all the bloodshed found in the history of this church.

Fr. Justin Havens gave a lecture about the history, principles and practices of the Orthodox church and emphasized that Christ should be the focus of our education, and our every thought and action. He described how religion is primarily about making ourselves better and orthodox focuses on becoming like the best human, nonetheless divine being in existence, Jesus Christ. His attributes, perfections, motivations, teachings, lifestyle and everything about Him is the epitome of goodness. Thus the succession in church leadership, from Jesus, to Peter, throughout the generations to various bishops is described as one of the key reasons why orthodox Christianity is perceived as God’s ordained church on the earth as well as the amazing durability of the religion as approximately 160,000 Orthodox followers were slaughtered, significantly reducing the religion’s population. However, as Fr. Havens

The first of these tsars, Ivan III, also known as “Ivan the Great”, defied Mongol control and declared the autonomy of Moscow. Ivan III was soon followed by Ivan IV, also known as “Ivan the Terrible”, who declared his power by pushing aside his advisors, crowning himself tsar and crushing boyars, who were Russian nobles. At first, Ivan’s reign was successful as he added vast new territories to the Russian empire. Later, after his wife’s death, Ivan’s power and prosperity declined because he started persecuting those whom he believed opposed him. This resulted in the execution of many nobles and their families, friends, servants and peasants, in which he replaced with a new service nobility, whose loyalty was “guaranteed by their dependent on the state for land and titles.” [1] Ivan the Terrible nor Ivan III were never absolute rulers- their ways of ruling just helped lay the foundation for Russian absolutism. After Ivan IV and his successor died, Russia entered a “Time of Troubles”, which lasted from 1598-1613, in which the peasant warrior bands known as Cossacks, rebelled against their nobles who fought back and defeated the Cossacks. Ivan’s grand-nephew, Michael Romanov, was soon elected by the Zensky Sober- a body of nobles, and placed efforts toward state-building. He was succeeded by “Peter the Great”, the Russian king that truly consolidated Russian

The development of christianity under the empire undoubtedly changed the relation between the political and spiritual spheres in following centuries. In fact, this transpires in how often emperors and empresses played dominant roles in the Eastern church after Constantine I's reign. In many

Russia emerged as a significant power during the 1500s through war. It fought its neighbors and expanded its territory aimlessly. Ivan the Terrible’s expansion brought him into contact with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Aiming to gain a port and outlet to the Baltic,

Before the reign of Peter the Great, the ruler of Russia had no control over the religion of its people, but after Peter the Great created the Holy Synod, the Russian tsar could control the Russian Orthodox Church. The Holy Synod served as a secular, non-religious body which controls the rules and regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church. Moreover, Peter’s creation of the the Holy Synod allowed the Russian ruler to create a religiously uniformed society and to completely control religious matters as well as political issues. In addition, Peter the Great expanded Russia’s territory to the Baltic Sea due to the necessity of a warm water port. During Peter’s reign as tsar during the 1720’s, Russia needed a warm water port in order to successfully trade with other European nations. Peter the Great wanted to make Russia a European power, and in order to do that he needed to conquer a warm water port to increase Russian wealth. For this reason, Peter the Great declared war on Sweden in order to control a port in the Baltic Sea and expand Russia east in the Great Northern War. Also, in order to increase his power over the Russian nobility, Peter the Great created the Table of Ranks to control which aristocrats become nobles. The Table of Ranks system involved aristocrats working in military service and civil service to rise up in the “ranks”

He added vast new territories to the realm by successfully defeating Mongol power. He layed the foundation for a huge, ethnic Russian empire. After Anastasia, his beloved wifes death, he threatened to jail and execute anyone who tried to oppose him. Lots of boyar familes were executed and also their familes, friends, servants and peasants. The rest of what was left of the broken up estates were given to the service nobility. These people got this name from serving in tsar's army. All commoners who were trying to be forced to be servants fled to the conquered territories to the east and south. After their arrival they joined all the free people and outlaw armies living there. They were known as Cossacks. Russia entered yet another chaotic period following the death of Ivan IV. This period was known as the "Time of Troubles." During this time the Cossacks and peasants rebelled against all nobles and officials. This explosion brought the nobility together and they elected ivans grandnephew as the new hereditary tsar. Social and religious uprisings continued after his election. After a long war, Russia was able to gain a large amount of the ukraine because of wesk and decentralized Poland in

Vladimir chose Greek Orthodox to become the religion of Russia, creating a stronger cultural bond to the Byzantine Empire. His successor, Yaroslav the Wise, unsuccessfully tried to break away from the Byzantine influence. After his death Russia split into three cultural groups: the Great Russians, the White Russians, and the little Russians. The Mongols then invaded Russia throwing away all of their customs making Russian cities dependent and Islam becoming the main religion.

Ivan IV was a complicated man, with a complicated past, in a complicated country, in a complicated time; his story is not an easy one. Ivan the terrible, the man, could never be completely understood in a few words, nor in a few pages, and only perhaps in a few volumes. A man of incredible range his dreadfulness could only be matched by his magnificence, his love by his hatred.

The unification of Russia came as a positive aspect under the period of Mongol control. Before the Mongols, the Russian population was separated and organized into small self governing regions, but in order for the Russian people to defeat the Mongol empire, they had to unite.

The leader that started the Rise of Moscow, was Ivan III, he “who subdued most of the Great Russian lands by conquest or by the voluntary allegiance of princes, rewon parts of Ukraine from Poland–Lithuania, and repudiated the old subservience to the Mongol-derived Tatars.”(Fennell) During his rule, he reconquered Russian lands lost in the past, then stopped paying tribute to the Khan of the Golden Mongol Horde that Muscovite's once submitted to. To later legitimize his claim of Byzantine inheritance, he married the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor. Later, Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible, later named himself “Tsar”, which came from the word “caesar” as the Muscovite's saw themselves as the caesars

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

This oneness with each other and with nature created strong communal bonds within Russia. In 988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev was baptized and he decreed that the Kievan land would adopt Eastern Christianity.(Massie, 23) Although the Russians people changed religions they carried on their core beliefs they went from viewing the Mother Earth as the source of life to venerating Mary as the Virgin of Motherhood. The reason Vladimir decided to convert to Christianity was because of the immense beauty his men saw when they visited the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, This desire for beauty was translated into beautiful Russian art and music. The Orthodox liturgy continually inspired poetry, music and art, for, unlike the Catholic liturgy in the West, it was from the beginning the possession of the whole Christian people, who worshiped together in their native Slavic tongue. (Massie, 28) An example of this is the Icon of the Virgin of Vladimir from the early 12th century, and icon that depicts Mary holding Jesus as a baby.(Massie 43)

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

Describing the tug of war necessitates full understanding of the parties involved, the first being the state, in all of