ON returning to Kiev, Vladimir’s emissaries reported that Islam in Volga Bulgaria had been noisy and unhappy, and that Christian worship in Germany had left them cold. But in Agia Sophia, the cathedral of Constantinople, they were transported to another world. “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth” they sighed. “We cannot forget that beauty.”

The heathen Prince’s first reply was to beseige Chersonesus in the Crimea in 988, and send messages to Constantinople demanding Emperor Basil’s sister Anna in marriage. A trembling Basil refused, for Anna recoiled from so heathen a husband; but suddenly Vladimir sent another message, politely asking her to bring priests to baptise him.

There at Chersonesus the Prince was baptised, and Anna married him; after which Vladimir was a changed man. He smashed his blood-soaked idols, established schools, gave generously to the poor, and founded bustling towns around Greek-style churches — all filled with the spellbinding Gospel and unforgettable beauty that had tamed the wild Prince of Kiev.*