From Kiev across All Russia: The 900th Anniversary of the Christianization of Rus’ and the Making of a National Saint in the Imperial Borderlands
Heather J. Coleman
4/2018
SUMMARY:
The 1888 commemoration of the 900th anniversary of the Christianization of Rus’ in Kiev constitutes one of the great performances of Alexander III’s scenario of power. Participants gathered to celebrate St. Vladimir’s choice of Orthodox Christianity and the significance of Kiev in the Russian land. There on the empire’s periphery, they confronted the complex relationship between Kievan Rus’, Holy Rus’, the Russian nation, and the Russian Empire. The nationalizing idiom of Alexander III’s scenario of power sought to smooth out difference and forge a common, monologic myth, yet that scenario could not work without the all-Russian nation, which by definition implied difference.