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The Coming of Orthodox Christianity to Kiev
By Timothy Ware
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| The Hagia Sophia |
There is a story in the Russian Primary Chronicle of how Vladimir,
Prince of Kiev, while still pagan, desired to know which was the true
religion, and therefore sent his followers to visit the various countries of
the world in turn. They went first to the Moslem Bulgars of the Volga, but
observing that these when they prayed gazed around them like men possessed,
the Russians continued on their way dissatisfied. "There is no joy among
them," they reported to Vladimir, "but mournfulness and a great smell; and
there is nothing good about their system." Travelling next to Germany and
Rome, they found the worship more satisfactory, but complained that here too
it was without beauty. Finally they journeyed to Constantinople, and here
at last, as they attended the Divine Liturgy in the great Church of the
Holy Wisdom [known in Greek as the Hagia Sophia],
they discovered what they desired. "We knew not whether we were in heaven
or on earth, for surely there is no such splendour or beauty anywhere upon
earth. We cannot describe it to you: only this we know, that God dwells
there among men, and that their service surpasses the worship of all other
places. For we cannot forget that beauty."
In this story can be seen several features characteristic of Orthodox
Christianity. There is first the emphasis upon divine beauty: we cannot
forget that beauty. It has seemed to many that the peculiar gift of
Orthodox peoples--and especially of Byzantium and Russia--is this power of
perceiving the beauty of the spiritual world, and expressing this celestial
beauty in their worship.
Ware, Timothy, The Orthodox Church. New York: Viking Penguin Inc.,
1984, pp. 269, 270. This book, written by an english convert to the
Orthodox Church and an Orthodox bishop, is probably the definitive introduction
to Orthodoxy for the layman.
The photograph of the Hagia Sophia was taken from the Explore Turkey
website at http://www.exploreturkey.com/.
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