The Year of Grace 988 Anno Dominie, (by the calendar of the Christians)
Tsar Vladimir I had decided to get rid of paganism from Russia. To that end, he had sent groups of scholars in various directions, to question holy men about the merits of the different religions. His scholars had gone to Germany, to meet with Catholic priests; they had met with Jewish rabbis; and they had met with Moslems; they travelled to Constantinople, crossroads of the east, to talk with the priests of the Greek Orthodox Church; and because they had met a group of travelling traders in the great marketplace of Contantinople, they had even gone so far as to visit India and China to enquire about Hinduism, Bhuddism, Taoism and Confucianism. Each group of travelling scholars had returned and given their reports and recommendations. Now Tsar Vladimir I, lord of a pagan land, sat thinking.
At long last, he made his decision. He called for a scribe to write down a proclamation, to be declared across the countryside, in every town and village where his writ ran.
That was how the people of Russia gradually found out, over the next few weeks and months, that their Tsar had decided to adopt the faith of Islam...
Tsar Vladimir I had decided to get rid of paganism from Russia. To that end, he had sent groups of scholars in various directions, to question holy men about the merits of the different religions. His scholars had gone to Germany, to meet with Catholic priests; they had met with Jewish rabbis; and they had met with Moslems; they travelled to Constantinople, crossroads of the east, to talk with the priests of the Greek Orthodox Church; and because they had met a group of travelling traders in the great marketplace of Contantinople, they had even gone so far as to visit India and China to enquire about Hinduism, Bhuddism, Taoism and Confucianism. Each group of travelling scholars had returned and given their reports and recommendations. Now Tsar Vladimir I, lord of a pagan land, sat thinking.
At long last, he made his decision. He called for a scribe to write down a proclamation, to be declared across the countryside, in every town and village where his writ ran.
That was how the people of Russia gradually found out, over the next few weeks and months, that their Tsar had decided to adopt the faith of Islam...