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gain a moment’s advantage, «it would be better to stay here and die». Anna apparently
sought a third alternative, and in this she appears to have been guided by a strategic grasp
of the situation which was superior to that of her brothers. For one thing, she insisted on
Volodymyr’s personal conversion to Christianity. She was also attracted to the possibility
that her efforts might bring the whole heathen nation to repentance [pokaiane], i.e., that she
might become the agent of Christianization in these northern regions beyond the coastal
city Khersonese, a vast region even more vital to the strategic position of Byzantium.
She was eventually convinced that she could avoid either of the two prospects presented
by her brothers. She could do more than serve as hostage to the pagan prince or remain
in Constantinople and die. Instead she left for Khersonese to meet her groom, with some
prospect of a vast and visionary third alternative in mind.
There is more than a suggestion here that Volodymyr sought something like the
opposite of Olga’s objectives thirty years earlier. Olga embraced Byzantine Christianity
but resisted a marriage alliance with Byzantium. Volodymyr sought a marriage alliance,
but does not appear to have had a natural inclination toward Christianity. That was before
Anna’s intervention. Anna put her foot down. Gibbon has it just about right:
of Wolodomir was determined, or hastened, by his desire of a Roman bride».
We can add much to the old Gibbon’s account, but we should probably heed Gibbon’s
Enlightenment skepticism about the causal power of divine agencies. In Khersonese – so
say the chroniclers – Anna found Prince Volodymyr stricken blind. Anna warned him that
his sight would not return if he did not immediately accept baptism. He consented, and,
as the story goes, his sight returned immediately. He was convinced beyond any doubt of
the wisdom of accepting Christianity. Anna persuaded or compelled Volodymyr to become
Christian; then she accepted him as a husband. That was step one in her ambitious plan:
personal conversion of the prince.
Step two was the conversion of all Rus’, and that was a more complex and less
documented episode. It did not happen immediately, though we sometimes conflate the
personal conversion of Kyiv with the national conversion that followed. Volodymyr’s
personal conversion might have ended the religious story right there in Khersonese for
the time being. But after returning to Kyiv, some time after the personal baptism and
wedding, Volodymyr embarked on the Christianization of all Rus’. (Ibn al-Athir says that
Anna refused the wedding alliance until and unless the Rus’ king converted to Christianity.
This story is suggested in the Russian chronicles and is corroborated in the sources
cited in William E. Watson,
in Millennium: 33–40.) What was first a family drama became a national drama when
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Volodymyr forced all of Rus’ to undergo baptism. Anna was the sixth wife of Volodymyr.
He had about a dozen children by the earlier marriages. One of Anna’s first jobs back in
Kyiv was to convert Volodymyr’s children. And she continued the effort beyond the walls
of the princely domicile, outward to all Russia. A contemporary of these events, Ditmar
von Walbeck [Thietmar, Bishop of Merseburg], stated explicitly that Anna was responsible
for the Christianization of Russia. Ditmar doesn’t grant much to Volodymyr; he had views
on the Rus Prince, labeling him nothing more than a «fornicatur immensus».
Alan Kimball, «Introduction» [on the role of women (Olga and Anna) in the
Christianisation of Rus], Crestwood NY, Saint Volodymyr’s Press. Pages 1–11, 1990.
[10] «Часто весілля Анни та Володимира описують так, наче вона була лише
рухомою власністю, яку запропонували в джентельменській угоді між візантійськими
імператорами та варварським князем Володимиром. В деяких джерелах ім’я Анни
не згадують, начебто це було просто двостороннє спілкування між імператорами та
Володимиром. Докази кажуть, що це було не так.
У хороброму воєнному просуванні князь Київської Русі Володимир відібрав
у Візантії місто Херсонес, що на березі Чорного моря. Він розпочав переговори з
візантійськими імператорами, обіцяючи покинути це стратегічне місто, якщо вони
зроблять все так, як він того хоче. Шлюб був частиною обговорення, але Анна
протистояла простому обміну… «Мене відсилають в ролі не більше ніж заручника»,
– кажуть, що це її слова.
Між рядками можна прочитати, що Володимир здивував та приголомшив імператорів.
Із Херсонеса він був справжньою загрозою для Константинополя. Володимир
досягнув швидкої та неочікуваної воєнної перемоги заради тиску на Костантинополь,
результатом якого став швидкий шлюб. В той же час Василь та Костянтин були схильні
до того, щоби прийняти умови Володимира. Анна все вагалась.
У неї, очевидно, була така позиція, що «ліпше залишитись там і померти»,