to settle the Christian efforts of Mr. King Stefanr, who? ur^, style Wojted Bishop of Prague; in,995. I see. that Bruno hoped to find a vast field of activity here. His expectations, however, were not justified. He stayed here for about two years, as he says, in vain. Zealously guarding his originality, Stefan did not want church dependence, and the German missionary, although he “carried the Gospel of St. Peter,” seemed to him.. suspicious. Bruno retired to Rus' in 1008 and spent a whole month with the Russian prince, as can be seen from the description, in Kyiv Vladimir. What was the goal of the Western missionary? Bruno himself tells the story in a letter to Emperor Henry C. “From Hungary, says Bruno, we directed our path to the Pechenegs, the most cruel of all pagans. convince me that I should not go to such a reasonable people, where I could not win souls, but would rather find death, even the most shameful one. Vladimir and his men entered the gates of the fence (a fortified line on the border) and stood on the guard mound; Bruno and his comrades went to the steppe, carrying a cross and singing gospel verses. Five months. He stayed with the Tsechenegrv, was exposed to many dangers, almost died, but he knew how to gain influence over the elders and baptized up to 30 people. He managed to make peace between the Pechenegs and Russia and returned to Kyiv. As soon as Vladimir learned that Christianity had found an echo among the Pechenegs, he decided to send his own son as a hostage to them in order to cement the peace and thereby facilitate the actions of the missionaries. Bruno appointed one of his companions as bishop for the Pechenegs. — This is the essence of the information reported by Bruno himself in a letter to Henry II. The purpose of his mission, apparently, was only to preach among the Pechenegs; could it serve as preparation for kokora for Bruya? “The sermon among the multi-tribal and Erin-speaking Hungarians with the Pechenegs. But it is remarkable that Bruno does not mention his preaching activities in Russia at all. Vladimir, a member of the Orthodox Eastern Church, apparently did not allow the Western preacher to reveal his missionary zeal in Rus', as he
18' ''' ' A. D. Vogopov,
Nor is the need for educators great in a country that has just adopted Christianity. If Stephen of Hungary, who converted to Christianity according to the Latin rite and had a Latin clergy under his command, was distrustful of the German missionary; then it was all the less trusting to meet Bruno with the Russian prince, who had recently seriously experienced the Latin-German principles and was decisively rejected by Catholicism. At the same time, we cannot help but notice that Bruno’s story about the mission among the Pechenegs inspires some mistrust due to his tendency to expose his missionary exploits and dangers. The mission among the Pechenegs, in all likelihood, was not such a risky, unmediated feat as Bruno imagines it to be. If the missionary restored peace between the Pechenegs and the Russian prince, then without a doubt he could only do this on the instructions of Vladimir. Therefore, the main means and condition for the possibility of this mission, and perhaps in essence the matter was only limited to the fulfillment of this political assignment. Be that as it may, nothing is known about the further fate of the Latin bishop among the Pechenegs; It is only known that the Pechenegs did not adopt Christianity.
From Kyiv Bruno went to visit the northern missions - Scandinavian and Pomeranian-Prussian. He entered into relations with the first, and took the second under his personal leadership. Its focus and main support was Polypa. Boleslav the Brave, a zealous champion of Christianity, who spent enormous amounts of money on building churches, on providing benefits to priests who came to Poland, and on maintaining missions to the pagans, was especially concerned about the conversion of the Prussians, the constant enemies of Wormwood, whom he managed to conquer. Bruno-Boniface was not destined to have success in the north between the Prussians. As his own words in the letter show. in Henry, he could not act in the pure spirit of the Gospel, in the spirit of meekness and love: for the conversion of the pagans, he demanded the Help of secular power, he demanded from the princes “so treviege igigage” - that they forcefully encourage the pagans to join the church.’ But on the other hand, he did not live yet in that century when the Western missionary led an iron system of knights in order to to convert heretics and pagans. His word was fruitless, but his hand was not yet armed. He died a year and a half after he was in Rus' and wrote from here to Henry that he was killed.