, 1876-10-28
RUSSIA's CONVERSION.

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RESSIA'S CONVERSION.
How Vladimir Hot Himself Bapt'sed. md
How Russia Nnn Made Cl,rlstiWn stutc
by the viii Of Ono Man.
.trn Tork Errntna Iotf,
:, the prospect VIC have NOW Of 4 war between
Rust!a, In lier capacity Of Christian Power, and
| Turkey Us thu leader Ut Muhatnmelanisn, gives
intHreat to tue strange story TINT history telIa
Wrestling her conversion BY force Of nrms
from the Empcrur6 Hasil and Constantine In
their capital, Coustanttnople.
III ths lattgr half u the tenth century tho
! skull trimmed with gold, inscribed with Il leg.
end and nude more useful ~ drinking c,lp
than It hal ever been as o skull, uli bis three
sons Divided Russia between them. II hap
ptned, liOWcvcr, thnt one Of the eutls VIa.ltnr,
liad ability md courage, two useful qualities
whictt Ills hrotilcrs laekcd, and, having ambition
also, he WAS not long III t!cpriyinR himself of
hrotllcrs,, anl provided l!tnsrf with united
e,np5g; whose borders he diligently labored 10
FnilinE to secure the affections of a Princess
WHOM l1e des!red to ,natry, fIadinr nlasle wnr
upon hcr faslcE, slow him With his own hand,
and, without washing oil fhc blood With which
his palm was stained, compelled the laIy IL liz.
cutne hts wife.
FlndiHir was pagan, md aftar winnng this
and other TIs in which lIp had bccn cnnuged,
lie ,plouslT resolved to give public thanks to his
gods, and csperlaliy to 1'erunc, the god of the
golden whikkers, uF,n whom lie conferred n
new md costly beAr,l for the occasnp, lie
planned 10 sacrifice Christian youth upon this
gods aiiar AHd WIS prevented nnly by the os-
htnacy 0f his c!luse. victim, whu resisted ao
Et0utty that lie was slain iu the attempt tu win
his cnsent by forCc.
Pions as lse was, however, Vladimir was not
BY my means stlsled that his religion was The
hest that euuIl I've had, or that his gods ere
HltUNHthpr Wfrtnt III lts ~ n Fj.,
listened to tllr missionaries of various faiths
who sunght to convert him, and trc,l to clIoosc
between them by Il process Of elimination.
Judaism lie rc)estc1 ~ unfit for great young
empire bceluso Its followers had been unable to
preserve their own national existence, and were
wanderers oil the face of the earth. MollouI-
ihcdAniau did not please him hccAslfe its sacred
book forbadc the use. Of wine, and Vladimir
esteemed vino one Of tho necessary things Of
life. The Roman Church recognised In its Pope
person superior to himself, and therefore he
would have nothing to to with It. Thus one
faith Itter another WIS rejected for cause. and
e. linn. He led pursued his studies Of theology
diligently sending commission Of learned nIcu
to study each faith In It's holne.
Finally lie determined to bteomc Christian
70 he baptiztd, but, here difficulty presented
ITSELF To be;baptixed he must have priest.
There were priests enough III Ills capital, Ut
course, but they wore huin6ln anil desp1sed mis-
clergy, n,.d ylalinlr positively would not b. b.
come q Christian through the agency of Il less
person thun IN Archbishop. a. there whs no
Arhbishop In Russia tic great pagan E1nncror
Empire to convert AM, baptixe him. aIl liz
knrw very we'll that the royal he2.1y Of tho
Crock Empire and Church would GLADLY senl
lin y dozen N Il score of their most exalted
urccsiaStirs In regll] state for thu prTpso: but
the young conyerk to Christianity wus not n1-
rustontcd to ask fayors OF thu byzantine Elm
pcrurs, aud he would ratllcr have rcnlaittl III
nnc4,,lvtrtcd pagan than ask for the mea1,s VI
lie had mad 9 up his mind, however, to he
ronlu Christian, md tIe determined to march
III army Into tho neghs,oripg lutto., and cap-
turo an Archbishop by force, taking tic King
dunn Of 1Ioayeu by violence, Al /. were Ills
It would rive them amrlc Opportunities for
rlundcr, aud war was Ut once declared by tbls
convert In search Of au Archbishop to baptlae
lum;
knlIa, iu the Crimcu, but tie resistance l,lo,ie
was 10 Vigorous tllai lis sicra of stx Inot,tls
threatened to end In future. When matters
were ut their worst, howsvur, tgooehrry ca.ne 10
his asd, and, learning the spurcs Of thu sitys
ssritu,atippI,, @ ip'' ~ 'u' II W ""0 '&''l's''ea
Fla,ll,ltr NOW bad Arcl.htFhnrs IN plenty, and,
the wutrr having leen restored to IL cla,ncls'
Ln. tic convert wanted another wifs and an
allia.cr rs we'll as religion a,ri he s.pt q mes.
keugcr to Coustautt1pptg tv jonanI thr i,n1rt
of Tic Princess Annr, tic slater III tLv twu En-
pcrors, woot,,g hrr with threat to satk ilIe
capital III sse Of lIrF brothers should uplnae Ills
suit. Consent wes reluctantly Clye,l nj jnkt,
and Vladimir was lapttze.l aud married OH liz
sumo ,lay 1t is perhaps worth mentioning that
lr Ind sayeral wiyus ateeady. willis tht ,SnrrI
with whi,j, In unltul lmsaff restrict al its ,m"n
bcrs than u it ,]nes now to onc,
lluytur rut hl,n,rjt converted to Cl,ristlanftr
vladimir determined that his pfunlr shnutI
also become Christlans. Ills n,ety nuI zrnI f,r
rrlivion, whlch hsl 30 rccrnliy shown them.
selves III Ills uttempt to muku iHuIun sarrI,ir.
to llls idols, were Changed only in tdclr drc,s
tim. lin wns ns rrnlnis fny rcil,tn, ,,ru ns h..
foro. hui 10 different religion, aid e Wv i.