It is fascinating to read this piece about Paganism in the Medieval era. This is an extract:
As the twelfth century wore on, fewer and fewer European pagans remained. Some persisted in remote, scattered groups of nomadic shamanic peoples such as the Sami in northern Scandinavia. Some were Asiatic intruders, such as the Kumans who threatened eastern Hungary. However, by 1200, just one region of Europe, on the southern and eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, was populated by large groups of indigenous pagans. They included Estonians and Livonians, both shamanistic Finnic peoples. And, to their south, occupying most of modern Latvia, Lithuania and northern Poland were the Balts. This is the story of how their ancient way of life finally came to an end.
Here is a map from this article, related to the Medieval time:
In 1200, the Balt peoples occupied lands bordering the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Riga. These were the same homelands their ancestors had occupied ever since the bronze age.
By the C13th, the political situation was further confused by the increasing interference of neighbouring powers with different agendas. These included the Catholic Poles whose stated desire to fend off pagan raiders masked a not so hidden agenda of territorial expansion. To the east there were the Orthodox Russians, whose animosity to paganism was exceeded only by their hatred of Catholics. In the sea to the west were Gotlanders, more concerned to curb Baltic pirates than convert pagans.
The Balts themselves were an ancient people. Various migrations and invasions gradually reduced their range. However, around the Baltic coast, they continued to maintain much the same way of life as they had since pre-Roman times. They never fell under Rome’s influence, the Huns passed them by, Slavic migration failed to dislodge them, and they had weathered the storm of Viking raids.
Note here how the Orthodox Russians aversion to paganism and Catholicism.
The History of the Russian Orthodox Church began in the late 10th century. In 988 AD, Prince Vladimir of Kiev converted to Christianity, marking the start of Orthodox Christianity in Russia. This pivotal event laid the foundation for the church’s growth and influence in the region.
By adopting Christianity, Vladimir not only changed the religious landscape but also set the stage for the integration of Orthodox traditions into Russian culture. This conversion was instrumental in shaping the spiritual and cultural identity of the Russian people.
The Byzantine Influence
The early Russian Orthodox Church was heavily influenced by Byzantine practices. The church adopted the Byzantine liturgy, ecclesiastical structure, and artistic styles. This period saw the establishment of key church institutions and the development of a distinctive Russian Orthodox identity.
During this time, Russian monks and missionaries traveled to Constantinople to study and bring back religious and cultural practices. These influences helped mold the church’s rituals, art, and architecture, creating a blend of local and Byzantine traditions.
The Russian Orthodox Church traces its origins to the time of Kievan Rus’, the first forerunner of the modern Russian state. In A.D. 988 Prince Vladimir made the Byzantine variant of Christianity the state religion of Russia. The Russian church was subordinate to the patriarch of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), seat of the Byzantine Empire. The original seat of the metropolitan, as the head of the church was known, was Kiev. As power moved from Kiev to Moscow in the fourteenth century, the seat moved as well, establishing the tradition that the metropolitan of Moscow is the head of the church. In the Middle Ages, the church placed strong emphasis on asceticism, which evolved into a widespread monastic tradition. Large numbers of monasteries were founded in obscure locations across all of the medieval state of Muscovy. Such small settlements expanded into larger population centers, making the monastic movement one of the bases of social and economic as well as spiritual life.[Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Russian Orthodox Church evolved into a semi-independent (autocephalous) branch of Eastern Christianity. In 1589 the metropolitan of Moscow received the title of patriarch. Nevertheless, the Russian church retained the Byzantine tradition of authorizing the head of state and the government bureaucracy to participate actively in the church’s administrative affairs. Separation of church and state thus would be almost unknown in Russia. *
As Western Europe was emerging from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance and the Reformation, Russia remained isolated from the West, and Russian Orthodoxy was virtually untouched by the changes in intellectual and spiritual life being felt elsewhere. In the seventeenth century, the introduction by Ukrainian clergy of Western doctrinal and liturgical reforms prompted a strong reaction among traditionalist Orthodox believers, resulting in a schism in the church.
While the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was in power, the Moscow Patriarchate illegally built a church next to the site of one of Kyiv’s earliest churches – Desyatynna, or the Tithe Church. The State Museum of History is nearby and has responsibility for the surrounding area, which is protected as a historical site.
See book, Three Years on Fire, Andrey Kurkov
The Tithe Church:
According to the chronicles, the beginning of construction of the Tithe Church dates back to 989. It was built by Russian and Greek architects for 6 years as a cathedral not far from the prince’s tower – a stone north-eastern palace building, the excavated part of which is located at a distance of 60 meters from the foundations of the Church of the Tithes. Nearby, archaeologists found the remains of a building considered to be the house of the church clergy, built at the same time as the church (the so-called Olga’s tower).
Viktor Yanukovych (born July 9, 1950, Yenakiyeve, Ukraine, U.S.S.R. [now in Ukraine]) is a Ukrainian politician who served as prime minister (2002–05, 2006–07) and president (2010–14) of Ukraine. Yanukovych’s political base disintegrated in February 2014 after Ukrainian security forces opened fire on protesters in Kyiv, killing scores and wounding hundreds. On February 22, 2014, he was impeached by Ukraine’s parliament and fled to Russia ahead of a raft of criminal charges.
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, Kyiv, Ukraine. It is the mother church and headquarters of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Kirill I (born November 20, 1946, Leningrad [now St. Petersburg], Russia) is the Russian Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia from 2009.
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Upon assuming the partriarchate, he expressed his long-standing desire for increased dialogue to end the church’s millennium-old rift with the Roman Catholic Church. In February 2016 he and Pope Francis I held the first-ever meeting between the leaders of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
St. Basil the Blessed Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow. K. Scholz/H. Armstrong Roberts
Membership of the Soviet spy agency was a requirement for any religious figure who travelled abroad, according to a paper called The Mikhailov Files: Patriarch Kirill and the KGB, by historian and human rights activist Felix Corley.
After ascending to the rank of archbishop in 1976, Kirill spent the next 20 years developing a uniquely modern, but deeply conservative style of worship.
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How Putin helped shore up Kirill’s power and wealth
Mystery surrounds the first meeting between patriarch and president, but both men ascended to the height of their powers shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Russian Orthodox Church emerged from the Soviet era with a mission to regain its status as Russia’s most powerful ideological institution and ultimate moral authority.
Those at the top set about rebuilding the congregation and their places of worship, after decades of persecution and the destruction of thousands of churches.
But some of the ways they used their new-found privileges stoked controversy.
The church was alleged to have been among the largest suppliers of foreign cigarettes in Russia at the time of the duty-free import scandal. (MF/WS via Reuters)
The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy became not only an educational institution but also a cultural symbol of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. It demonstrated a commitment to independence and integration with the European educational space, distinguishing the Ukrainian Church from the Moscow Church, which was more isolated and focused on internal consolidation.
The educational system established by Petro Mohyla and his successors laid the foundation for the distinctiveness of Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The Latin influence and adherence to high educational standards remain key factors that differentiate the Ukrainian Church from the Russian Church to this day.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
borderslynn 
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