Kiev. “Kiev Russia” is born in the Dnieper River basin. In 988, the Slavic lands were Christianized and evangelized by the brothers Cyril and Methodius, and Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev was baptized. The reference point was Byzantium, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Eastern Roman Empire, and the fusion of temporal and religious power was inherited. In 1520, the monk Pskov wrote: “Two Romes have fallen, but the third, Moscow, rises to the heavens, and there will be no fourth. All Orthodox countries are united under a single scepter, ours is the sole prince of Christians.”
