THE EAST SLAVIC CHURCH

With the baptism of Vladimir the Great, prince of Kiev, in 988, the eastern Slavs are said to have officially accepted Christianity. With the primary see of Kiev, the churches of Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine claim their apostolic descent from this common source. Many of the traditions themselves have been drawn from, and remain a element within, the broader Byzantine cultural commonwealth. The eastern Slavic traditions draws its ecclesiastical roots from the mother church in Constantinople, and remains within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical patriarch to this day.