Kiev Missal?

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

Peter,

Leaving aside the nature and date of the "Kiev Missal,"  it is worth  
recalling that during the reign of Igor' (Ihor)  there already was a  
Christian community in Kyiv,  and Christianity had penetrated the  
upper strata of Rus' society. His widow, Ol'ga (Ol'ha)  [Helga in  
Norse; Helen after baptism], the Archontissa of Rus', supported  
further Christianization.  She sent an embassy to King Otto I,  
requesting a bishop and priests. In 959 Otto sent Libutius, a monk of  
St. Alban's monastery in Mainz, who was consecrated as bishop to the  
people of Rus' ("genti Rugorum") by the archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen.  
He died before getting to Kyiv.  Subsequently,  in his place,  
Adalbert, a monk from Trier who served in Otto's chancery, was  
ordained as the first missionary bishop of Rus'.

The Rus' had contacts with various political centers.  Thus, it  
should not surprise us to find a Roman-rite missal in Kyiv in this   
period.
Another question to consider is whether differences in rite would  
have been a problem before 1054.  Well into the late eleventh- 
century, Rus'
princes maintained good contacts with Western and Northern Europe  
through matrimonial unions.

Here are some articles that might be helpful:

Dimitri Obolensky,
"Ol'ga's Conversion: The Evidence Reconsidered,"
Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Vol. XII/XIII 1988.1989
(Proceedings of the International Congress Commemorating the  
Millennium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine,
pp. 145-158

Andrzej Poppe, "Once Again concerning the Baptism of Olga,  
Archontissa of Rus' ,"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 46, Homo Byzantinus: Papers in Honor of  
Alexander Kazhdan (1992), pp. 271-277

Andrzej Poppe,
"The Christianization and Ecclesiatical Structure of Kyivan Rus' to  
1300,"
Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Vol. XXI, 3/4; Dec 1997; pp. 311-392.

Regards,
Natalia Pylypiuk

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Dr. Natalia Pylypiuk
University of Alberta  http://www.mlcs.ca
Canadian Association of Slavists  http://www.ualberta.ca/~csp/cas

> Anyone know why the Kiev Missal is Roman rite?

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