Every year on July 28, citizens in Russia turn on the television news and hear extensive reports about a federal holiday known as “The Day of the Baptism of Rus.” Viewers watch as Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow stand side-by-side and repeat an ancient story about the Conversion in 988 and the sacred bonds that supposedly unite the nations of “Holy Rus”: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. But what, exactly, is the political and ecclesiastical backstory behind the staging of these yearly memory rituals? Why and when did the Day of the Baptism of Rus begin to play such a visible role in post-Soviet politics? And how has this neo-medieval propaganda campaign been exploited in the ongoing war in Ukraine?
The meeting will happen in person, but you can also join via Zoom at the following link: https://notredame.zoom.us/j/94655362136?pwd=RWlia1YxUTI3ZDJTRytUMXppSEVaZz09