ABSTRACT
By the 9th century, people from Scandinavia known as Varangians or Rus’ built up more permanent ties with the local Slav population and established themselves as princes. One of the first Rus’ princes was Riurik, the founder of the Riurikid dynasty that stayed in office until 1598. In the year 988, Orthodox Christianity was introduced as a religion and led to the ‘baptism of Rus’’. Later on, forced mass baptisms of the local population followed and continued for some time because paganism remained strong outside the centers. In the February Revolution, freedom of belief was made possible and the office of chief procurator, who until then had guided and controlled the Church, was abolished. The relations between politics and religion were not reoriented until Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. Due to the purges in previous years, the Red Army had lost many of its talented leaders and was thoroughly demoralized.
