| |
According to legend, the first wooden
churches were built in Kiev even before the Russians officially embraced
Christianity. The Chronicle recorded that already in 945 some of Prince Igor's
warriors took the oath in Saint Ilia's church, located in Podol, part of the
city where simple people lived, while the pagan Prince with most of his men did
the same at a heathen temple on the nearby Perun's hill where the prince and
privileged people lived. There were also other wooden churches and some of them
were built by Princess Olga. The oath was taken before the last annual
expedition the prince of Kiev undertook to collect tributes from other
conquered Slavic and non-Slavic tribes. He lost his life in the battle with the
Drevliane in 945. No trace was left of any wooden churches that were built in
Kiev before 989; only their likenesses were preserved in hundreds of small
wooden churches, repeatedly built throughout Russia to replace those that age
or fire had destroyed.
|
|
