ABSTRACT
The christianization of Rus' and the relationship of its ruling family to the Byzantine court brought Rus' into the family of European peoples on a completely equal basis. One of the happier aspects of the acceptance of Christianity in Rus' was that it spread without special demands and sermons directed against paganism. The Primary Russian Chronicle presents a beautiful legend about Vladimir's testing of the faiths. Vladimir first sent ambassadors to the Moslems and then to the Germans, who conducted their service according to the western custom, and finally they came to Tsargrad, to the Greeks. The only country with architecture of comparable complexity, technique and beauty which can rival Byzantium, the precursor of Rus', is Bulgaria with its monumental buildings in Pliska and Preslav. The Christian Goths who lived in the Crimea formed a strong state and strongly influenced not only the Slavs but also the Lithuanians and Finns--at least their languages.
