“Paralipomenon” by Joannes Zonaras and the First Baptism of Rus

Abstract

There are different opinions about when and under which circumstances the baptism of Rus took place. Opinions were differing already in the sixteenth century, when a version extracted from the Chronicle by Joannes Zonaras has been added to the assumptions that existed on this point. According to Zonaras’ version, during the reign of Emperor Vasily the Macedonian a bishop has been sent to Rus in order to convert the pagans. The pagans started to express doubts about the Christian faith, and the bishop, at their request, had to throw the Gospel into the fire. The book miraculously remained unharmed, and the barbarians adopted the Christianity. This story penetrated into the Moscow literary corpus through two channels — with a selection from the Chronicle’s Serbian translation, this selection being called “Paralipomenon”, and with the translation of excerpts from the Chronicle that were made by Maxim the Greek. The learned abba suggested to start the history of Russian Christianity from the Gospel’s Miracle, and not with the capture of Korsun, the event about which Greek sources say nothing. The shocking proposal of Maxim the Greek was not accepted. Still, the Miracle with the Gospel entered into the series of incidents, that were considered to constitute the long history of Rus baptism. The episode was regularly reproduced first in Muscovy historical compilations, and then in West Russian anti-Catholic polemical writings. The multi-steps (up to six stages) Christianization, stretched for two centuries and overwhelmed with different legends troubles the mind of historians who operate with the categories of modernism. From their point of view stretching of the kind is identical to a devaluation of the baptism sacrament. On the contrary, in the Middle Ages this situation was perceived as a sign of the inexhaustible mercy from the side of the Providence toward beloved nation.