On July 28, the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, and a memorial date — Rus Baptism Day has been timed to coincide with this holiday in Russia.
The baptism of Russia occurred in 988. This key historical event is associated with the name of St. Prince Vladimir. Historians call Vladimir the Great, the church — holy equapostolic, the people called it Vladimir Krasnaya Solnyshko.
The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir Krasnoye Solnyoshko ( 960 — 1015 ) was the son of the Kiev Prince Svyatoslav and the grandson of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duchess Olga. Shortly before his death, Prince Svyatoslav divided the Russian land between the three sons: the eldest son, Yaropolk, received Kiev, the middle, Oleg, — the land of Drevlyanskaya, and the youngest, Vladimir, — Novgorod. Soon after the death of Svyatoslav, strife began between the brothers, as a result of which Vladimir became the autocratic prince of Russia.
In 983, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich made a successful trip to the Yatvyag. In 987, he captured the city of Khersones, which at that time belonged to the Byzantine Empire and, threatening to go to Constantinople, demanded the hands of Princess Anna, the sister of the Byzantine emperor-co-rulers Vasily and Konstantin. The last condition of the marriage was the acceptance by Vladimir of the faith of Christ. When the princess Anna arrived with the clergy in Khersones, Prince Vladimir was suddenly blind.
Tsarevna invited him to immediately be baptized, in the hope of healing. During baptism, the prince received his sight. In spiritual delight, he exclaimed: « Now I have seen the True God! ». Some of the prince's friends, struck by this miracle, were also baptized. In the Holy Baptism, Prince Vladimir was named after St. Basil the Great. Then, in Chersonesos, his marriage with Princess Anna took place. As a ransom for his wife, the prince returned Chersonesos of Byzantium, building a temple in him in the name of St. John the Baptist and the Baptist of the Lord.
Prince Vladimir returned to Kiev with Princess Anna, the Constantinople and Kherson clergy, taking with him liturgical books, icons, church utensils, as well as the holy relics of Clement, the bishop of Rome, and his student Fiva. Thus, the dynastic and interstate ties between Russia and Byzantium have been strengthened.
Upon his return to Kiev, Prince Vladimir baptized 12 of his sons. His whole house and many boyars were baptized. Then Prince Vladimir began to eradicate paganism in Russia and exterminate pagan idols. The clergy, as well as the previously baptized princes and the boyar, went around the squares and houses of the Kiev and instructed them in the truths of the Gospel, denounced the vanity and vanity.
After the adoption of Christianity, Prince Vladimir ordered the erection of Christian temples in those places where idols used to be.