{"id":21303,"date":"2019-09-19T05:55:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T01:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/myth\/bishop-spiridon-s-myth-of-older-brother-about-kyivan-rus\/"},"modified":"2023-02-24T18:21:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T14:21:06","slug":"bishop-spiridon-s-myth-of-older-brother-about-kyivan-rus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/en\/bishop-spiridon-s-myth-of-older-brother-about-kyivan-rus\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Spiridon\u2019s Myth of \u201cOlder Brother\u201d about \u201cKyivan Rus\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 14, 2019, Facebook page \u201cStalin\u201d released<\/a> extracts from one of the sermons of Bishop Spiridon (Abuladze) of Skhalta, where he refers to the Russians and the Ukrainians as one nation, naming \u201cKyivan Rus\u2019\u201d as their original state.<\/p>\n

Bishop Spiridon of Skhalta: <\/strong>\u201cAs far as you know, Russia began its existence from Kyiv. Initially, it was Kyivan Rus and later, after this nation got reproduced, some moved to the north, others to the northwest, creating the Grand Duchy of Moscow there; this is just where present-day Belarus was established. But this is one nation; it was \u201cKievskaya Ruska,\u201d which was then divided into parts: it is Moscow\u2019s Russia \u201cBolshaia Rossia;\u201d then \u201cBelaia Rossia,\u201d Belorussia and \u201cMalaia Rossia,\u201d which were called Kyiv districts. So, they were one nation, one people. Therefore, it is painful when certain forces, third forces, non-Orthodox insidious forces are encouraging fratricidal war there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bishop Spiridon uses the term \u201cKyivan Rus\u2019\u201d propagandistically, thus misleading the parish and trying to legitimize Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine through falsification of history.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Kyivan Russia, Kyivan Rus and Moscow\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The new state established in the 10th century was actually called<\/a> not Kyivan Russia, but Kyivan Rus (\u041a\u0438\u0435\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u0420\u0443\u0441\u044c). Kyivan Rus had relations with France, Sweden and other states of that period. They developed laws, which applied to each and every citizen and created<\/a> quite a successful state.<\/p>\n

Moscow was a minor trading outpost on the borders of Rus with indigenous Finno-Ugric tribes living there, who were significantly lagging behind Kyivan Rus in terms of development. As known, Kyiv sent priests, laborers and settlers in an attempt to civilize the people living there. In contemporary histories written by scribes, it was merely called \u201cthe Land beyond the Forests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until the early 1700s, most maps, government documents and all other records throughout the territory of present-day Russia proclaimed themselves \u201cMoskovia<\/a>\u201d (Muscovy). All the people considered themselves Moskovites (initially Moksel).<\/p>\n

\""\"
\nHerberstein map, where the territory is referred to as Moscow. 16<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> century <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the 13th<\/sup> century, the territory of Moscow was invaded by the Mongol army and later it fell under<\/a> the rule of Golden Horde. The Finno-Ugric culture and language merged with the Mongolian; so, in most of today\u2019s Russia, the names of cities and rivers hardly have Slavic<\/a> roots, but rather a mixture of Finno-Ugric and Mongolian names.<\/p>\n

\""\"
\nObedience to Mongol Khan\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A 2013 study supported by grants from the Russian Academy of Sciences (A.V. Khrunin et al.) revealed a \u201cnew pole of genetic diversity\u201d in northern Europe, reasserting that northern Russians exhibit a substantial<\/a> presence of Finno-Ugric genotypes.<\/p>\n

Myth of \u201cOlder Brother\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The territory of Moscow has never fallen under the borders of Kyivan Rus. Today, Russian leaders call themselves \u201colder brothers\u201d in respect of Ukraine. This narrative was also strong under the Soviet rule and it aimed at promoting the notion about Russia and Ukraine being \u201cbrotherly nations.\u201d But history makes it clear that Kyivan Rus was outrunning Moscow by civilization<\/a>, development and statehood.<\/p>\n

It is absolutely groundless to talk about \u201can older brother,\u201d because neither Russia, nor Russian people existed until the late 15th century, whereas Kyivan Rus emerged as far back as the 9th century. During the entire history, Russia was constantly trying to portray this fact in a propagandistic manner, labeling the Ukrainians as \u201cLittle Russians<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Dashkevych notes that \u201cthis is the way the \u2018older brother\u2019 forced the \u2018younger brother\u2019, the \u2018Little Russians\u2019, to live in the savage \u2018embraces of love\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russia has stolen the name \u201cRus\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Following Moscow, a term \u201cRussia\u201d was introduced in the 17th century. Moscow means \u201cswampy or dark waters<\/strong>\u201d in the Finno-Ugric language that may be one of the reasons for searching a new name. However, as noted, Moscow decided to create a great empire and it needed important<\/a> history for this purpose. Moscow decided to use the identity of Kyivan Rus and distort history.<\/p>\n

The first signs of propaganda and fabrication of history emerged in the letter composed by Russian monk Philotheus (Filofey) of Pskov, which took a significant place in Russia\u2019s history:<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Romes have fallen. The third Rome – Moscow stands. And there will be no fourth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The idea of Moscow, as the third Rome, was later promoted by Neo-Eurasians and it takes an important place in modern Russia\u2019s geopolitical doctrines.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that this historical attempt was also assessed by Georgian Catholicos-Patriarch Kyrion II in the 20th century<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll more or less educated people of Russia set to work, squeaking with their pens. Everyone was insistently looking for the ground to justify this great role allegedly played by Russia. Great plans were outlined even in narrow monastic cells.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the reign of Ivan IV (the Terrible) Moscow grasped not only after the inheritance of Kyivan Rus, but now also the Byzantine Empire. Their fabrications are built on the legend about the cap<\/a> of Kievan Prince Volodymyr Monomakh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\""\"
\nAccording to the legend, it is the cap handed over to Volodymyr Monomakh.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This cap was considered the symbol of the transfer of power from Byzantium to Kyivan Rus. According to the legend, Kievan Prince Volodymyr Monomakh later handed over this cap to his sixth son, Yurii Dolgorukii. The latter was the first prince of Suzdal and the conqueror of the so-called \u2018Beyond the Forests Land.\u2019 The appearance of this cap in Moscow was a \u2018proof\u2019 of the legitimacy of the Moscow rulers not only to the Kyiv Great Throne, but now also to the inheritance of the former Byzantine Empire. This was all fiction. In reality, \u201cMonomakh\u2019s Cap\u201d was a gold \u2018Bukhara tubeteika,\u2019 which Khan Uzbek presented to Ivan Kalyta (1319-1340) who maintained this cap in order to further his fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Peter I played the greatest and the most decisive role in the destruction of facts and development of alternative history. In 1701 he issued a decree to eliminate from all subjugated peoples all their recorded<\/a> national historical artifacts: ancient chronicles, chronographs, old archives, church documents, etc. This was especially directed at Kyivan Rus.\u00a0 Peter I needed more important past than Moscow\u2019s history to establish a Great European Empire.<\/p>\n

On the basis of these falsifications, on October 22, 1721, Moscow proclaimed itself the Russian Empire, and all Moskovites were now to be \u2013 Russians. In this manner, Peter I stole from the legitimate inheritors of Kyivan Rus, the Ukrainians, historical name of Rus.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Empress Catherine II intensively took on the tasks launched by Peter I. On December 4, 1783, Catherine II issued a decree, creating a \u2018Commission for the Collection and Organization of the Ancient Russian History.\u2019 The principal task before this commission was<\/a> to \u2018find\u2019 new chronicles, rewrite others, and create new collections of archives and other similar falsifications.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time when Bishop Spiridon of Skhalta promoted Kremlin\u2019s messages about Ukraine and the Ukrainian church. He said during a church service that Ukrainian Patriarch Filaret had not<\/a> been even baptized. The Myth Defector<\/a> has already focused attention on this disinformation in one of its earlier publications.<\/p>\n

\n

Prepared by Irakli Iagorashvili
\nMyth Detector Lab\u2019s Regional Network<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 14, 2019, Facebook page \u201cStalin\u201d released extracts from one of the sermons of Bishop Spiridon (Abuladze) of Skhalta, where he refers to the Russians and the Ukrainians as one nation, naming \u201cKyivan Rus\u2019\u201d as their original state. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18816],"country":[14855,15350],"violation":[14413],"topic":[15077],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97768,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21303\/revisions\/97768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21303"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=21303"},{"taxonomy":"violation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/violation?post=21303"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mythdetector.ge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=21303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}