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 VOCATION

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VOCATION

war against his brother towards the south, took the city of Polotzk, slew its prince, Ragvald, and married his daughter Ragnilda, the affianced bride of Yaro- polk. Then he pressed on and besieged IviefT. Yaro- polk fled to Rodno, but could not hold out there, and was finally slain upon his surrender to the victorious Vladimir; the latter thereupon made himself ruler of Kieff and all Russia in 9S0. As a heathen prince Vladimir had four wives besides Ragnilda, and by them had ten sons and two daughters. Since the days of St. Olga, Christianity, which was originally established among the eastern Slavs by Sts. Cyril and Methodius, had been making secret progress through- out the land of Russ (now eastern Austria and Russia) and had begun to considerably alter the heathen ideas. It was a period similar to the era of the conversion of Constantine.

Notwithstanding this undercurrent of Christian ideas, Vladimir erected in Kieff many statues and shrines (trebishcha) to the Slavic heathen gods. Rerun, Dazhdbog, Simorgl, Mokosh, Stribog, and others. In 981 he subdued the Chervensk cities (now Gahcia), in 983 he overcame the wild Yatviags on the shores of the Baltic Sea, in 98-5 he fought with the Bulgarians on the lower Volga, and in 987 he planned a campaign against the Greco-Roman Empire, in the course of which he became interested in Christianity. The Chronicle of Nestor relates that he sent envoys to the neighbouring countries for information concerning their religions. The envoys reported adversely regarding the Bulgarians who followed Bokhmit (Mohammed), the Jews of Khazar, and the Germans with their plain missionary Latin churches, but they were delighted with the solemn Greek ritual of the Great Church (St. Sophia) of Constantinople, and reminded Vladimir that his grandmother Olga had embraced that Faith. The next year (988) he be- sieged Kherson in the Crimea, a city within the bor- ders of the eastern Roman Empire, and finally took it by cutting off its water supply. He then sent envoys to Emperor Basil II at Constantinople to ask for his sister Anna in marriage, adding a threat to march on Constantinople in case of refusal. The emperor replied that a Christian might not marry a heathen, but if Vladimir were a Christian prince he would sanction the alliance. To this Vladimir replied that he had already examined the doctrines of the Chris- tians, was inclined towards them, and was ready to be baptized. Basil II sent his sister with a retinue of officials and clergy to Kherson, and there Vladimir was baptized, in the same year, by the Metropohtan Michael and took also the baptismal name of Basil. A current legend relates that Vladimir had been stricken with bhndness before the arrival of Anna and her retinue and had recovered his sight upon being baptized. He then married Princess Anna, and there- after put away his pagan wives. He surrendered the city of Kherson to the Greeks and returned to Kieff in state with his bride. The Russian historian Karamsin (Vol. I, p. 215) .suggests that Vladimir could have been baptized long before at Kieff, since Chris- tians and their priests were already there; but such an act would have humbled the proud chieftain in the eyes of his people, for he would have accepted in a lowly manner an inconspicuous rite at the hands of a secret and despised sect. Hence he preferred to have it come from the envoys of tlic Roman Emperor of Constantinople, as a means of impressing his people.

When Vladimir returned to Kieff he took upon himself the conversion of his subjects. He ordered the statues of the g(»ls to be thrown down, chojiped to pieces, and .some of (hem burned; tlii> i-liief Koii, Perun, was dragged through tlie nuid and thrown into the River Dnieper. Tliese acts impressed the people with the helplessness of their gods, and when they were told that they should follow Vladimir's example

and become Christians they were wiUingly baptized, even wading into the river that they might the sooner be reached by the priest for baptism. Zubrycki thinks this readiness shows that the doctrines of Christianity had already been secretly spread in Kieff and that the people only waited for an oppor- tunity to pubhcly acknowledge them. Vladimir urged all his subjects to become Christians, established churches and monasteries not only at Kieff, but at Pereyaslav, Chernigoff, Bielegorod, Vladimir in Volhynia, and many other cities. In 989 he erected the large Church of St. Mary ever Virgin (usually called Desiatinny Sobor, the Cathedral of the Tithes), and in 996 the Church of the Transfiguration, both in the city of Kieff. He gave up his warlike career and devoted himself principally to the government of his people; he estabhshed schools, introduced ecclesias- tical courts, and became known for his mildness and for his zeal in spreading the Christian faith. His wife died in 1011, having borne him two sons, Boris and Ghb (also known as Sts. Roman and David, from their baptismal names). After this his hfe became troubled by the conduct of his elder children. Follow- ing the custom of his ancestors, he had parcelled out his kingdom amongst his children, giving the city of Novgorod in fief to his eldest son Yaroslav; the latter rebelled against him and refused to render either service or tribute. In 1014 Vladimir prepared to march north to Novgorod and take it away from his disobedient son, while Yaroslav invoked the help of the Varangians against his father. Vladimir fell ill and died on the way. His feast is celebrated on 15 July in the Russian Orthodox and Ruthenian Greek Cathohc calendars, and he has received the name of Ravnoaposlol (equal to the Apostles) in the title of the feast and the troparion of the hturgy. The Rus- sians have added in their service books words refer- ring his conversion and intercession to the present Russian Empire (rossiiskaya zemlya), but the Ruthe- nians have never permitted these interpolations.

Pelesz, Gesch. der Union, I (Vienna, 1878), 79-127; Nilles, Kaleiidarium Manuate, I (Innsbruck, 1896), 212; Ada SS.. IV, July. p. 4; Bogoslovskaya Enciclopedia, III (St. Petersburg, 1902), 564-67; Golubinski, Istoria Russkoi Tserkvi, I (Moscow, 1901), pt. I, 105-87; Maltzew, Die Nachtwache (Berlin. 1892), 724-27; Adeney, The Greek and Eastern Churches (New York, 1908), 358-65; Mouravieff, Hist, of the Russian Church (Oxford, 1842). 10-18; ZtiBRYcKl, Gesch, des FUrstenthums Galicz (Lemberg, 1852).

Andrew J. Shipman.

Vocation, Ecclesiastical and Religious. — An ecclesiastical or religious vocation is the special gift of those who, in the Church of God, follow with a pure intention the ecclesiastical profession or the evangeU- cal counsels. The elements of this vocation are all the interior and exterior helps, the efficacious graces which have led to the taking of the resolution, and all the graces which produce meritorious perseverance. Ordinarily this vocation is revealed as the result of deliberation according to the principles of reason and faith; in extraordinary cases, by supernatural light so abundantly shed upon the soul as to render deliberation unnecessary. There are two signs of vocation: the one negative, the absence of impedi- ment ; the other positive, a firm resolution by the help of God to serve Him in the ecclesiastical or religious state. If God leaves a free choice to the person called, he leaves none to those whose duty it is to advise; those spiritual directors or confessors who treat lightly a matter of such importance, or do not answer accord- ing to (he spirit of Christ and the Church, incur a grave responsibility. It is their duty also to discover the germ of a vocation, and develoj) it by forming the character and encouraging the generosity of the will. These rules are sufficient for a decision to follow tlie evangelical counsels, a.s they may be practised even in the world. Hut the nature of the ecclesiastical state and the positive constitution of the religious