Korsun legend. The story of the baptism of Vladimir (Korsun legend) "Broad Russian nature"

Sergey Amroyan

The premiere was a success on the stage of the Glas Theatre. The new performance "Korsun Legend (Praise to Vladimir)" is based on ancient literary monuments: "The Tale of Bygone Years" by Nestor the Chronicler and "The Tale of Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion.

The uniqueness of this production is that the book of Metropolitan Hilarion comes to life on the theater stage for the first time. This work was written much earlier than The Tale of Igor's Campaign and The Tale of Bygone Years. Scenes and chants are heard in the "Korsun Legend" in the Old Russian language, and this is also the first time on the stage of the national theater.

“The idea of ​​this production is not mine,” says Nikita Astakhov, artistic director of the Glas Theatre. – The Patriarchate asked us to prepare a musical and dramatic program on the stage of the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior for the 1000th anniversary of the repose of Grand Duke Vladimir. The performance turned out to be large-scale with large eight-meter scenery. The Russian Railways Orchestra, the Gzhel Dance Theater, the Festive Patriarchal Men's Choir of the Moscow Danilov Monastery, the Kalinushka folklore group from Bryansk participated in it ... His Holiness the Patriarch highly appreciated the production, after which I decided to make a purely theatrical version on our small stage. And work began on the play with other forms and means of expression. The scenery had to be reduced to three meters; they thought about how to connect the past with the present day, what musical numbers to choose.

The Korsun Legend is conditionally divided into two parts. In the first story about Princess Olga, and in the second about her grandson Prince Vladimir. The chronicler Nestor (Nikita Astakhov) begins the story even before the curtain opens. Throughout the performance, the viewer hears the voice of the actor, and will see him only in the finale.

On the back of the stage there is a screen on which paintings on gospel stories, landscapes, Old Slavonic texts appear. The wings are framed with ornamental painting reflecting antiquity, and in the foreground on the left and right are icon-painting portraits of Princess Olga and Prince Vladimir.

“I thought,” the director continues, “since we are touching the image of a holy man, we need to show different aspects of his life. We have five actresses playing Princess Olga - each personifies only one of the facets of Olga's personality: the fullness of love, rigidity, love of children, fortitude, wisdom ... Here is Olga young - she met Prince Igor, got married, buried her husband, converted to Christianity, carried a cross on Russia began to grow up and strengthen in faith, then grew old, and after death, as is customary in the Orthodox Church, the image of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga arises.

The scene of Olga's weeping for her husband, Prince Igor, who was killed by the Drevlyans, is impressive. From the unusual polyphony, just chills go down the skin. “Mother, my mother” by mother Lyudmila Kononova (a famous singer and composer in the Orthodox world) sounds amazing. Olga’s conversation with her son Svyatoslav does not leave anyone indifferent in the hall: “You are a child, listen to me, accept the true faith and be baptized, and you will be saved.” But Svyatoslav does not hear his mother's prayer.

The culmination of Olga's line is the farewell scene. Princess Olga (Honored Artist of Russia Tatyana Belevich) asks her son Svyatoslav: “Where are you going, wanting someone else? And to whom do you entrust your land? .. The time of my death is already approaching, I will go to the desired Christ, in whom I believe.

Faith in Christ is accepted by the grandson of Princess Olga Vladimir, who was popularly called the Red Sun. His path to Orthodoxy will be long: he will reject the Latin faith, Judaism, Mohammedanism ... Only the words of a philosopher from Byzantium will touch his soul: “The prophets predicted that God would be born, that he would be crucified and buried, but on the third day he would rise and ascend to Heaven.” The prince decides to be baptized in the church of St. Basil, which is in the city of Korsun - now again in our native Sevastopol.

- I am often asked the question: who is Prince Vladimir by nationality - Russian? - says the director of the production. - In Soviet times, I was often asked: “Nikita, why do you believe in God? He is a Jew, and you are Russian!” God has no nationality, and a holy person perceives someone else's pain of any nationality. We know from history how Prince Vladimir changed after Baptism.

The most difficult, according to Nikita Astakhov, were the scenes in the play in Old Church Slavonic:

- Actors at first did not believe that it would be interesting. It seems that Old Church Slavonic is close to us ... But they started working and realized that, it turns out, it is more difficult to learn their native language than a foreign one. But everything began to work out, as soon as the actors began to pray in Church Slavonic, the roles became in tune with their inner state. All this took almost six months. And then we felt that the viewer in the hall felt gratitude for understanding their native language. Begins to empathize with what is happening on stage. We staged the performance not in order to show the story in Church Slavonic for the first time on the stage of the theater, but in order for one grandmother out of hundreds of spectators to say: “Lord, let me try to teach my grandson my native language!” If this happens, then the spiritual function of the theater is fulfilled.

The one and a half hour performance is watched in one breath. It is impossible not to note the strong choreography of musical numbers and the beauty of the costumes of that Ancient Russia, which is discussed in the performance.

At the end of the Korsun Legend, Patriarch Kirill appears on the screen, and then President Vladimir Putin emotionally talks about the sacred role of Crimea, Korsun, Chersonesos, Sevastopol ... And on the stage, under the song “Sevastopol Waltz”, beloved by millions of Russians, happy people begin to dance couples.

The performance is called "The Korsun Legend (Praise to Vladimir)". And already in the name itself, one can trace a parallel with today's day.

“I share the position of my President, I feel his concern, his Orthodoxy, I believe in him,” says Nikita Astakhov.

The hagiographic story about the baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir has become so firmly established in our church culture that today few people think about the difficult questions that arise when reading it carefully.

Meanwhile, the circumstances of Vladimir's baptism to this day cause heated debate among historians. Back in the 19th century, when a special scientific study of the early history of Christianity in Russia began, it became obvious that the later version of the life of St. Vladimir, which has already become a textbook, is rather difficult to reconcile with the data of both ancient Greek and Russian written sources.

Without going into all the details of the scientific discussion that has been going on for more than a century and a half, we will nevertheless pay attention to some aspects of the life of the holy prince that are important for the church consciousness. Undoubtedly, the central moment of the life path of St. Vladimir was his fundamental rejection of paganism and his ideological choice in favor of Christianity. And just in the description of this choice, understanding its nature and the factors that caused it, we encounter noticeable disagreements in the sources. As a result, in the scientific literature, the adoption of Christianity by Russia is explained by various reasons. Moreover, different researchers have different approaches to assessing their significance.

What do the oldest written sources tell us about the motives that prompted Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Kyiv to be baptized?

"Test of Faith"

The classic story about the baptism of St. Vladimir is placed in The Tale of Bygone Years, a chronicle compiled in Kyiv at the beginning of the 12th century. It is here, under the year 986, that a lengthy narrative is placed about Muslim, Latin, Jewish and Greek missionaries who came to Vladimir and forced him to accept their faith. The prince carefully listens to each of the missionaries and asks them questions about their religion. This whole plot is presented as a completely rational reasoning of the prince about the advantages of one or another faith. For example, according to the chronicler, Islam was rejected by Vladimir only because he was repulsed by the prospect of circumcision and refusal to eat pork. And about the refusal of wine, the prince utters the famous phrase, which is included in the aphorism: "Russia is fun drinking, we cannot be without it." Also, the preaching of the Latins (the chronicler calls them "Germans" who came from the Pope) the prince rejects for completely rational reasons. After listening to the preachers, he unexpectedly says: “Go again, as our fathers did not accept the essence of this” (“Go away, for our fathers did not accept this”).

In the sermon of the Greek missionary St. Vladimir, the icon of the Last Judgment is most striking. Nevertheless, to the preacher's direct offer to be baptized immediately, the prince replies: "I'll wait a little longer." The chronicler adds that the prince gave this answer, wishing to more carefully "test" all the faiths.

Under the year 987, another well-known story is placed in the Tale of Bygone Years. Prince Vladimir sends an embassy to the Volga Bulgars (professing Islam), the "Germans" and the Greeks, instructing the ambassadors to watch services in all these lands. Returning, the ambassadors unequivocally recognized the Greek worship as the most magnificent. Being present at the solemn service in the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, they did not know where they were: in heaven or on earth. After that, Vladimir asks the ambassadors a question: “So where will we be baptized?” They answer quite evasively: "Where you wish." So even such a thorough test of faith did not lead the prince to a final decision.

"Korsun legend"

According to the chronicler, the prince had to go through a series of trials before he nevertheless decided to be baptized. Under the year 988, the Tale of Bygone Years contains a story about the campaign of St. Vladimir against Korsun. This chronicle story, conventionally called the "Korsun legend", points to several motives that prompted the prince to be baptized. First, besieging Korsun, Vladimir makes a vow that if he can take the city, he will be baptized. But soon another motive arises. As a result of the capture of Korsun, the prince forces the Byzantine emperors-co-rulers Constantine VIII and Basil II to marry their sister Anna to him. At the same time, the emperors, as a condition for marriage, put forward the need for Vladimir to accept Christianity, to which he gives his consent. But that's not all. The subsequent narrative speaks of the prince's unexpected illness, as a result of which he loses his sight. And only after, at the insistence of Princess Anna, who, apparently, had already arrived in Korsun, the prince is baptized, his sight returns to him.

Thus, in the "Korsun legend" we meet a whole heap of motives that prompted Vladimir to enter the font. Moreover, the chronicler clearly does not care about somehow coordinating them both with each other and with the previous story about the "test of faith." As a result, Vladimir's baptism turns out to be conditioned by previous communication with various preachers, and a vow given during the siege of Korsun, and an agreement with the Byzantine emperors, and a simple desire to be healed of blindness.

As we can see, The Tale of Bygone Years presents the conversion of Prince Vladimir to Christianity as a rather lengthy process, associated with a variety of circumstances. The prince's path to Christianity lasts at least two years, during which he tests his faith, fights with the Greeks, then concludes a dynastic treaty with them, loses his sight, and finally begins to see clearly in the baptismal font. This complex and confusing chronicle story led to an obvious confusion in the later lives of St. Vladimir. Therefore, even today, the reconstruction of the events associated with the baptism of Prince Vladimir is a serious and hardly solvable historical problem.

“Where did the fragrance of the Holy Spirit come from?”

However, The Tale of Bygone Years is not the only, and most importantly, not the oldest of the sources that tell about Vladimir's baptism. At least two monuments have come down to us, which record a different legend about the circumstances of the adoption of Christianity by the holy prince. These are the “Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion of Kyiv and “Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Vladimir” by monk Jacob.

Researchers date the “Sermon on Law and Grace” to the 40s of the 11th century. In any case, it was uttered no later than 1050, when the Kievan princess Irina died, whom the Lay refers to as living. This work is no more than sixty years from the moment of the baptism of St. Vladimir. It is quite obvious that Metropolitan Hilarion was able to communicate with eyewitnesses to the Baptism of Russia, and therefore, most likely, he recorded in his “Lay” a local tradition dating back directly to the time of the life of St. Vladimir.

In the "Sermon on Law and Grace" a separate part is devoted to Vladimir, which the researchers conditionally call "Praise to Prince Vladimir". And here's what's interesting. Metropolitan Hilarion, speaking about the circumstances of the baptism of the prince, does not say a word about the arrival of preachers in Kyiv, about the embassy to different countries and about the campaign against Korsun. Although he mentions that the prince heard about the Christian faith of the Greeks (“ He would always hear about the good faith of the land of Grechsk, Christ-loving and strong in faith, how they honor and bow to the one God in the Trinity, how powers and miracles and signs work in them, how churches people fulfilled"). However, Metropolitan Hilarion considers the main reason for baptism to be a special inner illumination. Here is how it is said in the “Word” (here we will give a Russian translation): “ The Almighty visited him (St. Vladimir - V.B.) with His visit, the all-merciful eye of the most good God looked upon him. And shone in his heart<свет>knowledge, in order to know for him the vanity of idol temptation and to seek the one God who created all things visible and invisible».

Moreover, Metropolitan Hilarion considers this special inner illumination of the prince an incomprehensible mystery that cannot be explained rationally. Here it is impossible not to quote the famous words of St. Hilarion addressed to Prince Vladimir:

“How did you believe? How did you become inflamed with love for Christ? How did an understanding higher than earthly wisdom dwell in you, in order to love the invisible and aspire to the heavenly? How did you seek Christ, how did you surrender to him? Tell us, your servants, tell us, our teacher! Where did the fragrance of the Holy Spirit come from? Where<возымел>drink from the sweet cup of remembrance of the future life? Where<восприял>taste and see "how good the Lord is"?

You did not see Christ, did not follow him. How did you become his student? Others, seeing him, did not believe; but you, not seeing, believed. Truly, blessedness rested on you, about which the Lord Jesus Thomas spoke: “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.” Therefore, with boldness and without doubt, we cry out to you: O blessed one! - for the Savior himself called you so. Blessed are you, for you have believed in him and have not been offended by him, according to his true word: “And blessed is he who is not offended by me!” For those who knew the law and the prophets crucified him; but you, who did not read the law or the prophets, bowed to the Crucified One!

How did your heart break? How did the fear of God enter you? How did you partake of his love? You did not see the apostle who came to your land and with his poverty and nakedness, with hunger and thirst inclines your heart to humility. You have not seen how demons are cast out in the name of Christ, the sick are healed, the dumb speak, heat is turned into cold, the dead rise. Not seeing all this, how did you believe?

O wondrous miracle! Other kings and rulers, seeing all this done by holy men,<не только>they did not believe, but they also betrayed those to torment and suffering. But you, O blessed one, without all this flowed to Christ, only by good thinking and a sharp mind comprehending that there is one God, the creator<всего>visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly, and what he sent into the world, for the sake of salvation<его>his beloved Son. And thinking this, he entered the holy font. And what seems to be a different kind of foolishness, was imputed to you by the power of God.

These words are evidence of extreme importance. It can be seen from the text of the "Sermon on Law and Grace" that it was pronounced during the divine service in the presence of Grand Duke Yaroslav the Wise and his wife Irina. Thus, this monument recorded precisely that understanding of the events of the end of the 10th century, which was generally accepted at the court of Yaroslav. But Metropolitan Hilarion directly says that Saint Vladimir came to Christ not as a result of a sermon he heard or miracles he saw performed in the name of Christ. He managed without all this“with good thinking and a sharp mind” to come to the knowledge of Christ.

The above passage from the "Sermon on Law and Grace" clearly indicates that its author was not familiar with the tradition of the "test of faith." Metropolitan Hilarion depicts the appeal of Prince Vladimir not as the result of a long rational comparison of various religious systems with the subsequent choice of one of them, but as a "breath of the Holy Spirit" coming from nowhere. Therefore, he directly calls Vladimir's baptism a wondrous miracle. Such a perception of the events of the end of the 10th century clearly contrasts with the lengthy chronicle story, which later served as the basis for compiling various versions of the life of the holy prince. At the same time, we recall that the “Sermon on Law and Grace” is older than the “Tale of Bygone Years” by at least half a century.

And his heart was kindled with the Holy Spirit

It is also important that the "Sermon on Law and Grace" is not the only "alternative" source in relation to the "Tale of Bygone Years". The second source to which attention should be paid is the "Memory and Praise to the Russian Prince Vladimir" by the monk Jacob. As for the author, the time of writing and the original composition of this work, these questions still remain unclear in science. However, the most common point of view is that the monument is based on the text of the second half of the 11th century. In all likelihood, the author of "Memory and Praise" used an annalistic code that has not come down to us, more ancient than the "Tale of Bygone Years". Therefore, the sequence of events presented by the monk Jacob differs significantly from the Korsun legend. Some of the information reported in "Memory and Praise" is unique and has no parallels in later chronicle sources.

It is important for us to note that in the work of the monk Jacob we do not find textbook stories related to the "test of faith." Here are completely different motives that prompted the prince to be baptized. First of all, the monk Jacob points out that Saint Vladimir " found out about his grandmother Olga", who was baptized in Constantinople," and began to imitate her in life". However, further on we come across evidence that clearly brings the “Memory and Praise” closer to the “Sermon on Law and Grace”: “ And his heart (Prince Vladimir - V.B.) flared up with the Holy Spirit, desiring holy baptism. Seeing the desire of his heart, God, knowing about his kindness, descended from heaven on Prince Vladimir with his mercy and generosity. And God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, glorious, "penetrating into the heart and being" Righteous God, foreseeing everything, enlightened the heart of the prince of the Russian land Vladimir, so that he would receive holy baptism».

We see the same motif again: baptism was the fruit of a special visitation from above. God mysteriously enlightens the heart of the Kyiv prince and he is baptized. " And the gift of God overshadowed him, and the grace of the Holy Spirit illuminated his heart, and he learned to act according to the commandment of God, and live virtuously in God's way, and he kept faith firmly and unshakably».

Also, the chronology of events presented in "Memory and Praise" is fundamentally different from the chronology of "The Tale of Bygone Years". The baptism of Vladimir, the monk Jacob, refers to the year 986. Moreover, according to this version, the prince was baptized not in Korsun, but in Kyiv. And the campaign against Korsun took place only in the third year after that (in 988), when Vladimir was already a Christian. Therefore, the campaign against Korsun in "Memory and Praise" is presented not as a prehistory of baptism, but rather as its result. Monk Jacob says that, going to Korsun, Prince Vladimir turned to God with a prayer, “ and God heard his prayer, and he took the city of Korsun, and the vessels of the church, and icons, and the relics of the Hieromartyr Clement and other saints". Also, the marriage to a Greek princess in "Memory and Praise" is in no way connected with either the history of baptism or the campaign against Korsun. The author speaks of the prince's marriage as a separate story.

"Broad Russian nature"

Thus, the sources closest to the time of Vladimir's baptism convey to us a consistent testimony: Prince Vladimir's rejection of paganism and his coming to Christ was the result of a mysterious "illumination from above." Neither the political upheavals in relations with Byzantium, nor the study of various faiths, nor the desire to intermarry with the emperors were perceived by the contemporaries of Prince Vladimir as the decisive reasons for his baptism.

It is not surprising that some historians of the 19th-20th centuries also looked for the key to the revolution that took place in the soul of Vladimir, not in external circumstances, but in the internal logic of his life. For example, St. Philaret (Gumilevsky), Archbishop of Chernigov, in his History of the Russian Church, wrote that Prince Vladimir's conversion to Christ was the result of his previous dissolute life in paganism: could not burden the conscience even of a pagan… The soul was looking for light and peace.” It was the impossibility of finding satisfaction in sin that led the prince to renounce sin. And another well-known historian - Anton Vladimirovich Kartashev - emphasized that "Vladimir was the bearer of a" broad Russian nature ", which later became typical of the Russian temperament, rushing from one extreme to another."

However, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to get an unambiguous answer to the question: what actually happened in the soul of the holy prince? This inner upheaval will forever remain a mystery. After all, the conversion of any person to God is a mysterious and incomprehensible process for an external observer. However, it is impossible not to pay attention to those important testimonies left to us by the Russian scribes closest to the time of Vladimir's baptism. In their works, the striving for historical accuracy is surprisingly combined with reverence for the mystery of the conversion of the holy prince. Perhaps we should learn from the ancient Russian writers this ability to consistently combine historical truth and spiritual truth.

Korsun campaign

The crown of every human life is memory

about her, - the highest that they promise a person over his

coffin, this is an eternal memory. And there is no soul

who would not secretly languish in the dream of this crown.

The origin of Christianity in Russia is shrouded in many mysteries, and one of them is the mystery of the Chersonese campaign of Prince Vladimir.

It has long become a legend to go to the northern limits of St. Andrew the First-Called, other missionaries took over the baton, but paganism still dominated the Slavic world, collecting bloody sacrifices for the glory of the bloodthirsty Perun. Christianization proceeded with great difficulty, because even the almighty Princess Olga was never able to convert her son Svyatoslav and grandson Vladimir to the new faith. But she, like no one else, understood what it meant to deprive the people closest to her of eternal life and salvation. It is known how long Vladimir himself went to Christianity. But the moment came when the great Russian prince nevertheless felt cramped within the framework of tribal-clan paganism with its wooden idols-idols. According to the chronicle, Vladimir chose his faith during the famous “dispute about faith”, when, after listening to representatives of the Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and Orthodox churches, he chose the latter.

Grand Duke Vladimir Svyatoslavich. Titular. 17th century

However, not much is known about the dispute itself. Simplifying the essence of what happened, Nestor in his "Tale of Bygone Years" all boils down to the fact that Catholicism seemed gloomy to Vladimir, while in Judaism and Islam, the Russian prince did not like the alleged fact that these faiths forbade drinking wine and eating pork. Even his exclamation on this occasion is cited: “The joy of Russia is drinking, it cannot be without it!”

The prince of Kyiv unequivocally leaned towards Greek Orthodoxy. He made no secret of this, and soon Vladimir's plans become known in Constantinople. Alas, contrary to the expectations of the Russian prince, Byzantium did not express enthusiasm for his intentions. Why this happened is not exactly known. Most likely, this was the result of some regular zigzag of political intrigues. After all, such a line ran counter to the policy pursued by Patriarch Photius for many years. Perhaps, according to Constantinople, the aspirations of Vladimir violated the then equilibrium in the world, or perhaps the Byzantine emperors simply did not believe in the sincerity of the Russian prince. Be that as it may, Constantinople reacted to the intentions of Vladimir more than cool.

And then the proud Russian prince, "gathering his own howling in the battlefield," moved the squad to the walls of Chersonesus. The composition of Vladimir's army, quite possibly, is simply borrowed from the annalistic story about Vladimir's campaign in Polotsk and his courtship with Rogneda. The attention of researchers was attracted by the mysterious mention of "Bulgarians with black people." Some researchers see here a distorted name "black Bulgarians" (this people of Turkic origin lived somewhere in the Northern Black Sea region); others are a corrupted stencil of a later time: "boyars with black people". Or maybe that was the name of those very Chersonesites who once went to Russia to Svyatoslav with Kalokir?

It is known that Russian sources explained the reasons for the Korsun campaign in different ways. “I thought of going to the Greek city of Korsun,” we read, for example, from Jacob Mnich, “and so Prince Vladimir began to pray to God:“ Lord God, Lord of all, I ask you: give me the city to take, so that I can bring Christian people and priests to their own land, so that they teach the people the Christian law.

However, there are several versions about the reasons for Vladimir's campaign against Korsun.

Version one. During the reign of Emperor Basil II (the second half of the 80s of the 10th century), a fierce struggle for the throne flared up in Byzantium between him and the pretenders Varda Skliros and Varda Foka. With the beginning of the turmoil, the emperor, not confident in the stamina of his own army, concludes an agreement with Prince Vladimir that he sends a six thousandth selective corps to Byzantium. In exchange for this service, Vasily gives his sister to the Russian prince. Then, allegedly when the Russian troops helped the emperor to keep the throne, he refused his promise. It was then that Vladimir went on a campaign against Korsun-Chersonesos in order to force Vasily, who had deceived him, to fulfill his promise. It is known that Russian princes often met at the Dnieper rapids brides who came to them from afar. This place was considered especially dangerous because of the possible attack of the Pechenegs (later the Cumans); in addition, when traveling to the extreme borders of his country, the prince showed special honor to the guest and those accompanying her.

So, perhaps, Vladimir went to the doorsteps to meet the Byzantine princess Anna, who, according to an agreement with Emperor Basil, was supposed to arrive in Russia. However, the prince did not wait for Anna. If we believe the message of the Byzantine historian Asohik that another woman was sent to the “King of the Bulkharovs” (Vladimir?) instead of the princess, then here, on the Dnieper, he met with the “False Anna”. Whether the prince immediately recognized the forgery, or later, in Kyiv, it makes no sense to guess. However, if this happened, it can be unmistakably assumed that Vladimir was angry. The prince could wash away such an insult only with blood.

Let us recall the well-known epic about the matchmaking of the “affectionate prince” Vladimir, which reflects the real facts of the biography of the Kyiv prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, including his matchmaking in Polotsk and Constantinople, as well as the Korsun capture - a continuation of the Constantinople matchmaking. The hero of this epic "Dunayushka Ivanovich", offended by the refusal of the "Lithuanian king" to marry his daughter to Vladimir, kills "Tatars to the last, he will not leave the Tatars for seeds."

Most likely, we have before us one of the variants of the folklore story about the matchmaking of Prince Vladimir, in turn, based on real events - Vladimir's matchmaking with Rogneda and his matchmaking with Anna. But - who knows - maybe a later source contains some hints about the mediating role of Chersonesos in the negotiations between Vladimir and Emperor Basil (as it was twenty years earlier, during the negotiations between Emperor Nikephoros Phocas and Prince Svyatoslav)? Maybe the "prince" (ruler) of Chersonesus, as well as his daughter, were somehow involved in the scam with the substitution of the bride? Of course, all these questions remain unanswered to this day. And it would be so tempting to explain the choice of Korsun as a victim of Vladimir and the exceptional (even by the standards of Vladimir) persistence of the Russians in capturing the city precisely by these circumstances. Let us turn to Professor Sergei Alekseevich Belyaev, a generally recognized specialist in the history of medieval Chersonese and the formation of Christianity in Russia, for a commentary on this version. Here is the opinion of S. A. Belyaev: “Regarding such a construction, largely artificial, you can see that the events mentioned are really interconnected, the main source of information about them - Yahya of Antioch - really writes about an agreement on military assistance and the marriage of Anna for Prince Vladimir. Judging by the context of Yahya's story, the sacraments of baptism and marriage were first performed, and only after becoming a Christian and receiving Anna did Vladimir send military assistance to the emperor. The perception of the campaign against Korsun as an attempt by Prince Vladimir to force Emperor Basil to fulfill his part of the contract after the victories won is the conclusion of modern researchers and is not based on these sources. In addition, dear reader, imagine how an Orthodox emperor could promise to marry his sister to a pagan prince, who, according to chronicles, had a harem of three hundred wives. After such an anti-Christian act, he would have definitely lost the throne. It is a completely different matter if Vladimir was already a Christian before his marriage! And finally, here is the original source itself - the chronicle of Yahya of Antioch: “And his work became dangerous, and Tsar Basil was concerned about him because of the strength of his troops and his victory over him. And his wealth was depleted and his need prompted him to send the Russians to the king - and they are his enemies - to ask them to help him in his present position. And he agreed to it. And they concluded an agreement among themselves on the property and the tsar of the Rus married the sister of Tsar Vasily, after he set him the condition that he and all the people of his country be baptized, and they are a great people. And then the Russians did not reckon themselves to any law, and did not recognize any faith. And later Tsar Vasily sent metropolitans and bishops to him, and they christened the tsar and all those who embraced his lands, and sent his sister to him, and she built many churches in the country of the Rus. And when the matter of marriage was decided between them, the troops of the Rus also arrived and united with the troops of the Greeks, who were with Tsar Basil, and went all together to fight Varda Foka by sea and land, to Christopol. And they defeated Phocas, and Tsar Basil took possession of the coastal region and captured all the ships that were in the hands of Phocas.

The second version of the appearance of the Russians at the walls of Chersonesus is that Chersonesus-Korsun, due to supposedly traditional opposition to the central government, turned out to be on the side of the rebels, and the campaign of Prince Vladimir against Korsun in this context is part of the agreement between the Byzantine emperor and the Kyiv Grand Duke - Prince was supposed to punish the rebels and bring them into submission to the legitimate emperor. And again, let us turn to the opinion of S. A. Belyaev: “... Such an explanation of the reasons for the campaign is even less based on these sources than the first. Among the proofs of this version, such an argument as the allegedly strong destruction of the city, carried out by Prince Vladimir during its siege, is also used. The groundlessness of this statement, which first appeared in Soviet archaeological literature in the 1940s and 1950s and has recently been used quite often in Western historical literature, can be considered proven. The thing is that there were no destructions of Chersonesos, moreover, after the capture of the city there were no robberies either, which in general should be considered an exceptional phenomenon even for later times. So, why did Vladimir go to Chersonese? I think it's time to get acquainted with the point of view on this issue and the author of The Tale of Bygone Years.

“The next (988) year,” the chronicler narrates, “Vladimir gathered an army and undertook a campaign against Kherson. For a long time he could not take the fortified city, despite all his efforts. In vain he threatened the Khersonians to keep them under siege for three whole years if they did not surrender - the besieged did not agree. Finally, a certain Korsun man named Anastas shot a Russian arrow from the city into the camp with the inscription: “Behind you, to the east, there are wells, from where the Kherson people receive water through pipes; dig up the plumbing." Hearing about this, Vladimir looked up to heaven and exclaimed: “If this comes true, I will certainly be baptized.” Indeed, this remedy proved to be quite successful. Vladimir took possession of Kherson and, having entered it with a retinue, sent a message to the Greek emperors Basil and Constantine: “I have taken your glorious city; I will do the same with your capital, if you do not give me your sister, still unmarried, who, as you hear, you have. The emperors, for their part, demanded that he be baptized, agreeing only under this condition to fulfill his desire. “Tell your kings,” Vladimir replied to the Greek ambassadors, “that I am being baptized, that I had already tested your law through my deliberate husbands and fell in love with your faith and your worship.” The emperors rejoiced and began to beg their sister Anna to go to the Russian prince. She did not agree and said: “It would be better for me to die than to go into this captivity.” But the brothers represented to her that in this way she would become the culprit of the conversion to Christ of the whole Russian people and save her fatherland Greece from the terrible weapons of the Rus. And the woeful princess, accompanied by many dignitaries and presbyters, set off on a ship to Kherson, where she was met by the overjoyed inhabitants with all signs of honor and zeal. In the meantime, according to God's dispensation, Vladimir fell ill with his eyes, so that he could not see anything, and was greatly distressed by this. “If you want to be healed of your illness,” Anna told him to tell him, “be baptized quickly, otherwise you will not receive healing.” Vladimir agreed. Then the Korsun primate with the presbyters who arrived from Constantinople, having announced the Grand Duke, performed the holy sacrament over him, and at that moment, as soon as he laid his hand on the baptized, Vladimir instantly received his sight and exclaimed, leaving the holy font: “Now, for the first time, I saw True God!“. Many of the squad, seeing the miracle happened, immediately followed the example of their prince. Baptism took place in the Church of St. Basil, which stood in the middle of Kherson on the city square. The archpastor who baptized Vladimir gave him the most detailed Creed as an image of the healthy... Soon after, Vladimir's marriage to the Greek princess followed. In memory of all this, he created a church in Kherson and, having returned the conquered city to the Greek kings as a vein by the hand of their sister Anna, he went to his capital.

Shortly before Vladimir's campaign against Chersonese, the Byzantine Empire was struck by an unusual celestial phenomenon: a tailed star appeared in the sky - "something divine, unprecedented and beyond human understanding." “Appearing in the northeast, the comet rose in the form of a giant cypress to a great height, then gradually decreased in size and leaned towards the south, blazing with great fire and spreading dazzling bright rays. People looked at her, filled with fear and horror. This sign continued for a very long time - 80 days - until mid-October.

The comet observed by Leo the Deacon, already known to us, and which anticipated a devastating earthquake, was nothing more than the famous comet of Halley, which actually passed near the Earth in the summer of 989, according to the calculations of modern astronomy.

Literally immediately after the comet, a strong earthquake occurred in Constantinople, during which the main shrine of the Byzantine Empire, the Church of Hagia Sophia, was destroyed.

Both Halley's comet and the earthquake were, according to the Byzantines, only an omen of something terrible that was about to happen in the political life of the country. And this happened - Chersonese fell. Of course, it is quite difficult to look for some connection between the comet and the capture of Chersonese by the Russian army. And yet, let us remember once again both the constellation Virgo and the cosmic “pillar” on Chersonesos land…

It is interesting that Russian poets and writers at all times were especially interested in the Korsun campaign of Vladimir. Moreover, if the Decembrist Kondraty Ryleev wrote sublimely about this:

Baptize me, O marvelous one! -

The wise prince exclaimed in fiery delight...

The next morning the sound of the trumpet is calling -

And Vladimir's army rushed to Kherson ... -

then Count Alexei Tolstoy described this event in a somewhat ironic manner characteristic of him:

Planes are ready, sails are raised,

The Varangians are sailing to Chersonese,

Pomorie, where southern flowers bloom,

The scarlet soon covered the shields

And banners with Russian crows.

And the prince tells the Korsun people: “I am here!

Give up, I beg you humbly

Not that, do not seek, I will bring down your arrogance,

I want to be baptized!”

The Greeks saw in the bay of judgment,

At the walls, the squad is already crowding.

Went to interpret here and there -

The trouble has come, as it is, for Christians,

Vladimir came to be baptized!

There is also an epic in the Russian epic about Prince Gleb Volodyevich and the capture of Korsun-grad (in this epic, as researchers believe, the legends about the Korsun campaign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich were also reflected) - the prince calls on his squad with these words:

Go to the city to Korsun,

And you jump over the city wall,

Already you hit the city old and small,

Don't leave a single one for seed.

Bylinny Gleb Volodyevich took revenge on a certain ruler of Korsun-city, an evil atheist and heretic "Marinka Kaydalovna's daughter." Although, it is quite possible that we are faced with some unknown episode from the time of the ancient Russian Orsa-Korsun and the mention of the same goddess Virgo.

Here is an approximate sequence of a campaign against Korsun and the siege itself, proposed by historians.

So, the Russians went down the Dnieper and, probably, at the very end of summer or at the beginning of autumn of the same 988, they appeared near Chersonesus. Vladimir's army numbered several thousand people (no more than five to six thousand on 150-200 boats, according to the calculations of military engineer and archaeologist Alexander Lvovich Berthier-Delagard, who devoted a thorough study of Vladimir's Korsun campaign). The Chersonites, of course, knew in advance about the approach of the Russian fleet (because their patrol ships and ordinary fishing boats constantly cruised near the mouth of the Dnieper) and managed to prepare for the siege: they “shut themselves in the city,” as the chronicler put it.

Russ were strong onslaught, pressure in the first battle. Skillful siege of fortresses was not among their virtues. Vladimir's army had neither wall-beating machines, nor stone throwers or flamethrowers capable of throwing Molotov pots and heavy stones into the besieged city. Unable to lure the enemy out of the fortress and take the city with a direct frontal blow, the Rus were forced to begin the siege, hoping for time and, as it seemed, inevitable famine. But the siege dragged on and laid a heavy burden not only on the besieged, but also on the besiegers. According to medieval Russian sources (various editions of the Life of Prince Vladimir), the Russians stood near the city from six to nine months, that is, autumn, winter and part of spring.

Chersonese was well fortified and was considered almost impregnable. The city was located on a peninsula connected to the mainland only by a narrow isthmus in the west. From the north, it was washed by the waves of the Black Sea, from the east, a bay ran deep into the coast line - the current Quarantine Bay of Sevastopol. In ancient times, a deep and narrow beam stretched to it, protecting the fortress from the south. The western part of the city was limited to the current Streletskaya Bay - not very deep, but vast bay. The stone walls of the city reached 15 meters in height and three (and in some places - even six - ten) meters in thickness. In the most dangerous areas, the fortress was surrounded by a second, additional battle wall.

Two stories about the siege of Korsun by Prince Vladimir have come down to us. One of them is read in the annals and, with various additions, in the main editions of the Life of Prince Vladimir. The second - in the above-mentioned "Life of Vladimir of a special composition." Both stories are filled with real details, vividly depicting the events taking place. First of all, this refers to the chronicle narrative, the author of which, perhaps, was himself a Korsunian. He reveals an exceptional knowledge of the area and, apparently, uses the local Korsun legends and memories of Vladimir's stay in the city. The siege of Korsun is described not so much through the eyes of the attacking Rus, but through the eyes of the Korsunians themselves. The connection of the author of the chronicle story with Korsun should not be surprising: it is known that after the capture of the city, Prince Vladimir took many of its inhabitants to Kyiv, primarily priests. Of these, in particular, the clergy of the main Kyiv church of the time of Vladimir - the Most Holy Theotokos, - known as the Church of the Tithes, was formed. Korsunian Anastas, one of the main characters of the chronicle legend, later became the closest associate of Prince Vladimir; The tithe church is one of the centers of the original Russian chronicle writing. Probably, in the 70-80s of the XI century, the chronicle story was revised again; then he received the form in which it is now read in The Tale of Bygone Years. The editor of the chronicle text also knew Korsun well and also belonged to the clergy of the Church of the Tithes. He made some additions to the text, devoted mainly to the topography of contemporary Korsun - these additions are also the most valuable source on the history of the Korsun campaign.

The troops of Prince Vladimir besiege Korsun. Radzivilov Chronicle. 15th century

The chronicler accurately names the parking lot of the Russian troops: “Vladimir stood up about half the city, in the estuary, then there was one shooting range beyond the city.” "The arrow is one" - this is the distance of the arrow flight. “About it is half a city, in an estuary” - it means, in an estuary (bay), “on the other side of the city.” This could be said about one of the two bays near Chersonesos - either about the current Karantinnaya Bay, or about Streletskaya. Both of these options are possible. Some researchers, based mainly on the characteristics of the area (the convenience of Karantinnaya Bay as the main harbor of Chersonesos, the availability of fresh water, etc.), believed that Vladimir’s boats entered Karantinnaya Bay, passed the city and stopped in the very depths of the bay, on the other side from the city. But the term “in the shooting range” does not quite fit this supposed parking place: it was separated from the city by a high hill, and the arrows fired from the bow could not reach the city directly. Other researchers believed that Vladimir stopped near Streletskaya Bay. It was less convenient for Byzantine ships, but it was quite suitable for light canoes of the Rus. It was her, most likely, that the Korsunians called not the “city” bay (“estuary”), but located “about half a city”. Archaeologists drew attention to the surviving traces of hostilities in the western part of the city, adjacent to the Streletskaya Bay, which also seems to indicate the location of the Rus' camp near it. However, no traces of Vladimir's site were found, so the question of its location remains open.

The siege of the city was exhausting. The Korsunians, according to the chronicle, desperately defended themselves (“I fight hard from the city”). “Vladimir surrounded the city. The people in the city were exhausted, and Vladimir said to the townspeople: “If you don’t give up, I will stand for three years.” They didn't listen to it."

Twenty years before the Korsun War, Emperor Nicephorus Foka wrote a treatise known under the title "On Collisions with the Enemy." In it, the emperor-commander pointed out that in every city that was even threatened by a siege, each inhabitant should stock up on food for at least four months. The requirement of Nicephorus, apparently, was fulfilled - especially in Chersonese, a border fortress that withstood many sieges over its long history. In addition, Vladimir could hardly ensure a complete blockade of the city both from the sea and from land. According to the later “Life of Prince Vladimir of a special composition,” a well-wisher of the Russian prince from Chersonesites, a Varangian named Zhedbern (in other words, Zhbern, or Izhbern), conveyed to Vladimir from the besieged city: “If you stand with strength under the city for a year or two, or three, you won't take Korsun. The shipbuilders come by the earthen way with drink and food to the city. This news could be considered a later speculation, if it did not find unexpected confirmation in the archaeological research of medieval Chersonese. It turns out that a certain "earthen way", familiar to the Byzantine "shipmen", but completely unknown to the Russians, really existed. To the south of one of the gates of the Chersonese fortress, in a swampy lowland adjacent to the beam mentioned above, archaeologists discovered an ancient road, secretly laid along a special embankment. In winter and spring, when the water level in the gully rose, the road completely went under water; it was possible to use it, but only to a person who knew the area well. It is known that Vladimir, at the prompt of Zhedburn, led to "dig up" the "earth way". Whether this was done in reality, or whether the narrator connected the legend about the "earthly path" with another news - about the Chersonesos water pipe "dug" by Vladimir, is difficult to say.

The news of the "earthly path" leading to Korsun-grad was also included in the well-known epic about Prince Gleb Volodyevich. This epic, according to researchers, reflected various events in Russian history - in particular, the campaign of princes Gleb Svyatoslavich and Vladimir Monomakh against Korsun in 1077 and the siege of Korsun by Vladimir Svyatoslavich. The siege of the city by Russian troops is described here in full accordance with the "Life of Prince Vladimir of a Special Composition":

They stand under the city for a year,

Standing under the city of another time...

There are underground passages

After all, there are grain reserves there.

Another confirmation of the folklore origin of the Life of a special composition, which nevertheless reflected the historical realities of the Korsun campaign of Vladimir.

Vladimir's army, of course, was not idle during the long months of the siege. Based on indirect evidence from later Russian sources, it can be assumed that by the time the siege ended, Vladimir controlled the entire south of the Crimean peninsula - from Chersonesos at its western tip to Kerch at its eastern one. Probably, these lands were supposed to provide food for the numerous Russian army.

Later Russian sources (in particular, the Nikon Chronicle) tell about Vladimir's active foreign policy activities during his stay in the Crimea. In addition to the ambassadors "from the Greeks," Vladimir received in Korsun (or near Korsun?) an embassy "from Rome, from the pope." “Then the Pecheneg prince Metigai came to Vladimir and, believing, was baptized into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” An alliance with any of the Pecheneg tribes during the Korsun siege was highly desirable for Vladimir. However, we do not know how reliable these reports of the chronicler of the 16th century are.

Prologue Life of Prince Vladimir in a manuscript of the 1st half of the 14th century.

Probably, during his stay near Korsun, Vladimir did not interrupt his ties with Kyiv and Russia as a whole for a minute. Let me remind you that at least two territories that had a permanent Russian population and established ties with Kyiv were in the neighborhood of the Crimea: Beloberezhye (somewhere near the mouth of the Dnieper) and Tmutarakan on Taman.

The main goal of Vladimir, of course, remained Chersonese. But the military actions taken by the Russians have not yet yielded any results.

“Vladimir dressed up his soldiers,” we read in the annals, “and led them to fall asleep to the hail. The same ones poured, and the Korsunians, having dug up the city wall, stole the earth being poured and carried it to their city, pouring it in the middle of the city. Warriors sprinkled even more, and Vladimir stood.

The meaning of Vladimir's action was clarified by A.L. Berthier-Delagard. Vladimir, in his opinion, ordered to make the so-called powder - that is, to sprinkle earth on the city walls in order to then climb it onto the wall itself and thus break into the city. This technique is known in military history, but in the practice of Russians it was rare (if met at all): it is no coincidence that all the scribes of the annalistic text could not understand what exactly Vladimir was up to, and replaced the incomprehensible to them ““sprinkle” with the usual “proceed” to the hail ". The Korsunians assessed the danger in time. According to the chronicle, they undermined the wall, and, most likely, made a hole in the lower part of the city wall - and through it they brought the poured earth into the city.

Archaeologists seem to have found the remains of this mound. In the western part of Chersonese, in the free space, a layer of bulk earth about a meter thick was found; the time of its formation is dated very approximately - IX-X centuries, which seems to make it possible to explain its occurrence by the military actions of Prince Vladimir. Later, near the hill filled by the Korsunians, Vladimir will erect a church - a monument to his victory.

Undoubtedly, Vladimir experienced heavy feelings during the months-long siege of Korsun. Time passed - and he remained in place, unable to return to Kyiv with a victory. The insult inflicted on him remained unwashed. Hopes that Chersonese would be starved out, of course, could still be justified. But it was necessary to somehow speed things up. Again, as ten years ago during the siege of Kyiv, Vladimir decided to stake on a split in the hostile camp, on the search for an ally in the besieged city itself. Once again, his attempt was successful.

It would seem that now everything is clear with the Chersonesus campaign of Vladimir, but it only seems that Chersonesos has not yet discovered all the secrets of 988! To try to answer them, let's go back a little. So, having surrounded the city, the Russian warriors began to lay siege to it. Because of the high walls and strong garrison, an immediate assault was impossible. As you know, Vladimir pulled his boats onto the sandbank of the current Pesochnaya Bay, not far from the city walls. Whether the prince managed to securely block the city from the sea is unknown. It is likely that the most frequent clashes between the besiegers and the besieged broke out precisely at sea, when the Byzantines tried to supply reinforcements and supplies to Chersonesus. However, the siege dragged on. How it would all end - it is not known if the notorious arrow with a note. Who was the man who decided to betray his fellow citizens and his city? It may seem incredible, but he was not a Viking mercenary at all, but ... a priest! But how could the Orthodox priest Anastassy hand over his flock into the hands of the pagans, despite the fact that the outcome of the struggle was still far from clear. After all, in its long history, Chersonesos has withstood not such attacks. In addition, in the event of the capture of the city, Anastasius, as a priest, was also not particularly threatened. But that's not all! Already after the capture of Chersonesus by Vladimir, Anastassy was not at all desecrated by the inhabitants of the city, and we, who live now, should remember with gratitude this brave and courageous man, the one who, many times before others, managed to understand and realize the whole necessity of his act, and, realizing, decided to bring it to life. And one more fact. The bishop in Chersonese at that time was the future famous saint of Russia, Joachim of Korsun - a personality of world significance. Quite a bit of time will pass, and Joachim will become a friend and colleague of Prince Vladimir.

It is quite obvious that Anastassy's act could not be immediately correctly understood by all contemporaries. Perhaps that is why in a number of sources his name was simply hushed up. Still would! How could an Orthodox priest simply hand over his flock into the hands of despicable pagans! Well, in the Life of Vladimir, Anastassy was completely replaced by a certain Zhedburn. The text of the “Life” reads: “And there was a husband in this city, a Varangian, named Zhedburn, and once he shot an arrow in the direction where the Varangian regiment was, and shouted:“ Take this arrow to Prince Vladimir! ". On the arrow it is written: “Prince Vladimir, your friend Zhedbern swears allegiance to you and this is what I tell you: you stand with your army under the city for at least a year, or two, or three, you will not conquer the city of Korsun with hunger, for boats to the city with drink and eating they pass by an underground stream, and the beginning of that path is to the east of your army.

Prince Vladimir, having learned about this from the Varangian, ordered to find this path and immediately dig it. And the people in the city were exhausted from thirst and hunger, and after three months they surrendered. And Vladimir entered the city, his squad also entered, took the prince of Korsun together with the princess captive, and their daughter - to his tent, tied the prince and princess to a stake at the tent and committed lawlessness with their daughter before them. Three days later, he ordered the prince and princess to be put to death, and gave their daughter for the said Zhedburn with many property, placing him governor of the city of Korsun ... "

Even a cursory analysis of the "Life" shows that its author has absolutely no idea of ​​the subject of his presentation. Most likely, the "Life" simply embodied all the abundance of rumors and speculation that went at a later time in Russia about the Korsun campaign. First of all, where did the underground channels in Chersonese come from, through which boats float freely? After all, anyone who has ever visited Sevastopol will understand the complete absurdity of such a statement. To cut down many miles of underground tunnels in solid rocky soil - it looks fantastic even today, with the current development of technology. Could it be possible for twenty thousand citizens of Chersonesos to do this? In addition, no one has ever heard of such structures in these parts. Even more absurd is the assertion that the canals approached Chersonese from the east. Was it not from the Crimean mountains that mysterious boats sailed to Chersonesos? After all, it is well known that in Anastasy's note it was only about the most ordinary tiled water supply.

Secondly, all the tortures of the family of the Korsun "prince" also look very, very far-fetched. Indeed, after such wild antics, it would be very difficult for Vladimir to negotiate with the Byzantine emperors, especially to ask for the hand of their beloved sister. Why should he, moreover, appoint a Varangian traitor as the ruler of Chersonesus, when from the very beginning of the campaign it was absolutely clear to everyone that Vladimir was not at all going to annex the city to his state. As the living is mentioned in the text of the "Life" and long dead by this time, Patriarch Photius. The list of such nonsense could go on and on.

So, until recently, science was dominated by the opinion that Chersonese was completely destroyed by Prince Vladimir; it seemed that this was evidenced by the data of the archaeological excavations of the city - traces of fires, devastation, a thick layer of garbage that covered individual city blocks.

Archaeologists find traces of hostilities elsewhere. So, treasures of coins were unearthed in the city, buried by the inhabitants at the end of the 10th century (obviously, shortly before the capture of the city by the Rus). There was, perhaps, no one to dig up hidden treasures.

In the western part of the city, near the so-called basilica on the hill, a whole cemetery was discovered and explored, including a complex of mass graves with mass graves (about ten graves of 30-40 people each). The researcher of this burial complex, S. A. Belyaev, believes that those who died during military operations were buried in the graves, probably the victims of the siege of Korsun by Vladimir in the 80s of the 10th century. Note the detail: one of the excavated graves is filled mainly with skulls. If the assumption of archaeologists about the connection of this necropolis with the Korsun campaign of Vladimir is correct, then we have traces of a brutal massacre perpetrated by the soldiers of Vladimir on the inhabitants of the city: the pagan Rus dumped the heads of the executed Chersonesites into the grave.

Archaeologists identify another group of graves in the same complex of burials. These are graves with burials that differ sharply from others common in the Crimea: those buried in them lie on their backs with their hands folded on their shoulders. This type of burial is close to the so-called Varangian burials in Kyiv, in the necropolis under the Church of the Tithes. Presumably, Varangians who were in the service of Prince Vladimir and died during the siege of Korsun are buried here.

It would seem that even here everything is clear - Vladimir still managed to rob the Chersonesites and even partially destroy the city. But not everything is so simple! Recent studies in Chersonese have proved that there were no destructions in the city in the 10th century, and what was previously “attributed” to Vladimir belongs to the 11th century and even later times. So, then, the occupation of Chersonesus was still peaceful?

The chronicle story about the dug-up water pipeline has recently received full confirmation during archaeological excavations carried out in Chersonese in the last century. Archaeologists discovered a water pipe, which the Chersonesites used for several centuries. During the time of Vladimir, ceramic pipes led along gutters to a source located south of the city. In the city itself, pipes approached a cistern that could hold about 4-5 thousand buckets of water. After the water supply to the city was cut off, the cistern could only last a few days.

As for Zhedburn, his name, however, is mentioned in the annals, but only as Vladimir's envoy to Constantinople. Why would it be for a Russian prince to entrust such an important and delicate matter to an ordinary traitor mercenary. Apparently, Zhedburn was still one of the commanders of the same Varangian regiment, and his name was used only to replace the "uncomfortable" Anastasius.

So what actually happened in Chersonese on the eve of its fall? Most likely, Joachim of Korsun understood the situation of Vladimir's arrival to the walls of Chersonesos better than the brothers-emperors. Both Joachim and Anastasius were well aware of the famous "dispute about faith" and the sincerity of Vladimir's desire to accept the Greek faith. They also understood how important it was for Byzantium to acquire such a powerful ally as Kievan Rus. It was then, apparently, that Joachim and Anastasius made the decision to let the Russian squad into the city and thereby put the intractable Constantinople in front of a fait accompli, while simultaneously shaking hands with the Russians in their desire to gain Orthodoxy. The presence of former Christian Chersonesites in the ranks of Vladimir’s squad could well be a guarantee of the loyal attitude of Russian soldiers towards the townspeople. Among other things, the “Russian Chersonisites” at some stage could also act as intermediaries in secret negotiations between Vladimir and representatives of the Chersonesos diocese, if such preceded the actions of Anastasius. In addition, it is quite possible that Joachim and Anastasius had a connection with the Chersonesites in the army of Vladimir. This could facilitate both the determination of the priests for their feat and its fulfillment.

And one more phenomenal fact, for some reason betrayed today to complete oblivion. The fact is that as soon as Vladimir took possession of Chersonesos, as the envoys of the Pope arrived there. This was a throw of despair of the Western Church in its last attempt to reverse the course of events that had already been determined and, at any cost, to try to persuade Russia to the pope. The emissaries of the pope hoped that Constantinople, having already agreed on the whole to the Christianization of Russia, still did not express a desire to make any concessions in the matter of its autonomy. This, of course, irritated Vladimir, who, as a winner, did not expect such obstacles. We will never know how the negotiations with the papal legates went, what promises the Roman Church promised to the Russian prince...

Be that as it may, but it was on the shores of the Sevastopol Bay that the final chord of the famous dispute about faith sounded. And the moment was quite critical: suddenly, offended by Byzantine intractability, the prince would take it to the evil of everyone and take the side of the pope! Fortunately, this did not happen. Vladimir once again demonstrated to everyone his firmness in the choice made once and for all and his enviable political foresight. All the promises of the Roman hierarch were resolutely rejected, and his nuncios had to get out of Chersonesos with nothing. And how could Vladimir give up the main thing of his life, having already entered the sacred land of ancient Ors!

Then, as you know, there were long negotiations between the Russian prince and the Byzantine brother-emperors. But the situation has since changed significantly. Now Vladimir spoke no longer as a poor petitioner, but as a conqueror of one of the richest cities in the empire, and therefore the conversation from now on was already on an equal footing. While the negotiations were going on, the Russian prince accepts Orthodoxy, and he accepts it from the hands of the vanquished as the winner who “let himself be persuaded”.

Baptism of the squad of Prince Vladimir in Korsun. Radziwill chronicle. 15th century

Professor S. A. Belyaev, already familiar to us, who had been excavating Chersonese for many years, also established the approximate place of this, no doubt, a great event. Here is what he writes: “Thanks to the extensive excavations carried out in Chersonese in the second half of the 19th century, it became possible to concretize the chronicle description of the baptism of Prince Vladimir. By the 30s of the 19th century, only three Byzantine churches had been excavated in Chersonese. Based on the chronicle report that the temple in which Vladimir was baptized was located “in the middle of the city”, one of the three temples known at that time, located more or less in the center of the ancient city, and was recognized as the temple in which he received holy baptism prince Vladimir. At the same time, in memory of this event, a large new two-story cathedral was built over it, where the service was performed on the second floor, and in the first there was an ancient temple. Later, in Chersonese, a baptistery (baptistery) was excavated at the city's cathedral church - the Church of the Holy Apostles. After the opening of the baptismal, taking into account the peculiarities of the liturgical life of the 10th century, in particular, the peculiarities of the celebration of the sacrament of baptism, we can rightfully assert that Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir could receive the sacrament of holy baptism only in this baptismal - the only one in the whole city - and only through the bishop in full accordance with the testimony of the annals.

Historian A. Karpov, who studied in detail the question: where could Vladimir still be baptized, sets out the essence of his reasoning as follows: “He was baptized (Vladimir. - V. Sh.) in the church of St. Basil, and that church stands in Korsuni , in a place in the middle of the city, where the Korsun people make bargaining; Vladimirov’s chamber stands on the edge of the church to this day, and the tsarina’s (?) chamber is behind the altar.”

Vladimir's baptism was followed by his marriage to Anna. The text of the Laurentian Chronicle (or, in other words, the Laurentian list of the Tale of Bygone Years) is quoted above. Surprisingly, other chronicles, including those very close to Lavrentiev's, in this part of the Tale of Bygone Years sharply diverge from it and from each other in the name of the Korsun church in which Prince Vladimir was baptized. So, according to the Radzivilovskaya and Academic Chronicles, Vladimir was baptized in the Church of the Holy Mother of God; according to Ipatiev - Hagia Sophia; according to the Novgorod First junior edition - in the church of St. Basilisk. And this despite the fact that the rest of the text of these chronicles in the description of this event almost does not differ: the church, for example, is equally said to be “in the middle of the city, where the Korsunians are bargaining,” and so on. Other sources further increase the disparity. The usual "Life of Vladimir" calls the church in which the prince was baptized the Church of St. James (without indicating its location in the city); from the "Life" this name fell into some annals, in particular, into the "Sofia First", "Novgorod Fourth", "Tverskaya". Separate lists of the chronicle legend offer two more options for the name of the Korsun church - St. Spas and St. Clement. “The Life of Vladimir of a Special Composition” generally reports that Vladimir was baptized (or baptized his squad?) “in the river”. According to researchers, this is a distortion of the original "in the church", without specifying the name.

So at least seven different versions. But in this church, so differently named, a most important event for the fate of Russia took place!

The words of the chronicler “in the middle of the city” do not at all mean a certain central point of ancient Chersonesos, but only indicate that the church was located inside the city walls. Its name is again given in different ways by various written sources. Of the chronicles containing the oldest text of The Tale of Bygone Years, only Ipatievskaya names the church - St. John the Baptist. "The Life of Vladimir" calls the church the church of St. Basil. Perhaps this name was also reflected in the "Laurentian Chronicle" - in the name of another Korsun church, also standing "in the middle of the city", the one in which the prince or his squad were baptized.

Anna sails from Constantinople to Korsun. Radzivilov Chronicle. 15th century

Archaeologists, it seems, managed to find the remains of this temple, identifying Vladimirov's "church on the mountain" with the "basilica on the hill" discovered in the 19th century in the western part of the city. As it turned out, this basilica - simple in form and not very large in size - was put on the site of a previously destroyed temple. By whom and when this last one was destroyed is unknown. Perhaps the soldiers of Vladimir himself after the capture of the city. In any case, the new basilica was built from the ruins of the former temple, which the builders had at hand. The connection of the newly built temple with military operations is evidenced by the finds among its ruins of triangular stone battlements that once towered over the walls of the city; they were apparently also used in construction. Throwing battlements from the wall after the end of hostilities had a symbolic meaning - it marked the fall of the city in the literal sense of the word.

In historiography, the opinion was established that in the original version of the Korsun legend, the church in which Vladimir was baptized was not named by name, but was denoted by the Greek word "vasilika": it was this that turned under the scribe's pen into the Church of St. Basilisk, and then Basil . I don't think so. The fact is that the researchers did not conduct a detailed textual analysis of the annalistic story, taking into account various (including non-annalistic) texts containing the Korsun legend. But such an analysis leads to a completely different conclusion.

We have already talked about an extra-chronicle monument containing a text close to the annals - the so-called "Word about how Vladimir was baptized, having taken Korsun." It presents an earlier version of the "Korsun Tale" than those that have been preserved in the annalistic vaults - in particular, there are no obvious inserts in the annalistic text that break a coherent narrative. Some of these inserts are contained in the chronicle fragment in which the church of interest to us is mentioned. For clarity, let's compare the text of the "Laurentian Chronicle" and "Words about the baptism of Vladimir." (As an exception, we will have to compare the Old Russian text; however, its translation into modern Russian has just been given, so the reader should not have any special difficulties.)

“Laurentian Chronicle”: “Seeing her, Volodimer was in vain healing and glorified God, rivers:“ For the first time I saw the true God! ”Behold, seeing his squad, many were baptized. Be baptized in the church of St. Basil, and there are churches that stand in Korsun city and in a place in the middle of the city, where the Korsun people are bargaining. Volodymyr's coat stands from the edge of the church to this day, and the queen's coat is behind the altar. After baptism, bring the queen to the marriage ... "