History of Christianity

===Russia===
{{Main|Christianization of Kievan Rus'}}
[[File:Lebedev baptism.jpg|thumb|''The Baptism of Kievans'', a painting by [[Klavdiy Lebedev]]|alt=Russian painting by Lebedev depicting first mass baptisms of Kievan Rus]]
[[File:Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png|thumb|[[Christianization of Kievan Rus']], the first unified federation of Slavic tribes|alt=map of spread of Christianity among the Kievan Rus]]
[[File:80-391-0151 Kyiv St.Sophia's Cathedral RB 18 2 (cropped).jpg|thumb|80-391-0151 Kyiv St.Sophia's Cathedral RB 18 2 (cropped)|alt=St.Sophia's cathedral]]
The event associated with the conversion of the Rus' has traditionally been the baptism of [[Vladimir the Great|Vladimir of Kiev]] in 989. However, aristocrats had been making attempts to unify since the mid-ninth century, and contacts with Christian countries had led the ruling class to conclude that Christianity would aid in this process.{{sfn|Poppe|1991|pp=5-7}} From the 950s up to the 980s, polytheism declined and many social and economic changes fostered the spread of the new religious ideology.{{sfn|Poppe|1991|p=25}} 

The Rus' dukes maintained control of the church which was financially dependent upon them.{{sfn|Štefan|2022|p=111}} The prince appointed the clergy to positions in government service, satisfied their material needs, determined who would fill the higher ecclesiastical positions, and directed the synods of bishops in the Kievan metropolitanate.{{sfn|Poppe|1991|p=15}} This new Christian religious structure was imposed upon the socio-political and economic fabric of the land by the authority of the state's rulers.{{sfn|Poppe|1991|p=12}} While monasticism was the dominant form of piety, Christianity permeated daily life for both peasants and elites  who identified themselves accordingly, while keeping pre-Christian practices as part of their religion.{{sfn|Kenworthy|2008|pp=173-174}}

In a defining moment in 1380, a coalition of Russian polities headed by the [[Dmitry Donskoy|Grand Prince Dmitrii of Moscow]] faced the army of the [[Golden Horde]] on Kulikovo Field near the Don River, there defeating the Mongols. This began a period of transformation fusing state power and religious mission, transforming the Kievan Rus into the [[Tsardom of Russia|Russian state]].{{sfn|Angold|2006|p=253}} 

[[Ivan III of Russia|Ivan III of Muscovy]] adopted the style of the ancient Byzantine imperial court a generation after Constantinople fell to the Turks.{{sfn|Shepard|2006|pp=8-9}} This gained Ivan support among the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century Rus elite who saw themselves as the New Israel and Moscow as the new Jerusalem.{{sfn|Shepard|2006|p=9}} [[Jeremias II of Constantinople|Jeremias II]] (1536 - 1595) was the first Eastern patriarch to visit north-eastern Europe. His visit culminated in Moscow with the founding of the new Orthodox patriarchate of Russia.{{sfn|Zachariadou|2006|p=185}}{{sfn|Kenworthy|2008|p=175}}