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Rh rival she found Vladimir suffering from a sudden attack of blindness; but when the bishop laid hands upon him in baptism he recovered his sight and exclaimed, "Now it is that I know the true God!"

On his return to Kiev he commenced, with characteristic energy, the propagation of the new faith; his twelve sons and all the people, by his command and under penalty of his anger, were baptized; idols were overthrown, the great statue of Peroun was cast into the Dnieper, and the entire nation, with a unanimity and suddenness that have no parallel in the religious history of Europe, turned from paganism to Christianity at the bidding of its prince.

Doubtless the labors of early missionaries, in neighboring countries, had prepared the way, while the translations of the Bible and of the Liturgy into Slavonic by Cyril and Methodius assisted in the dissemination of the truth. By popularizing the holy books, they tended to impart, from the first, a religious tone to the literature of Russia, and a national spirit to its religion.

The docile and submissive nature of the people had been exemplified centuries before, when they summoned Ruric to reign over them. "Our country is vast and fertile," said they to him; "all things abound therein, but order and justice are wanting; come, therefore, govern and rule over us."

It was again illustrated by their ready compliance in matters of belief with the commands of their ruler, and explains the character, at once popular, national, and loyal, of the Russian Church. At the same time, the extraordinary power of sacred pictures, and the devotional feeling which they excite in the Russian mind, the regard for ceremonial and external rites, the rigid adherence to ancient forms, the strong tincture of Oriental-