Holy Rus´

This chapter discusses how texts established and perpetuated a link between the spiritual grace of Kievan and Northern Rus′ and monastic life. Hagiography, homily, and prayers, written in the monasteries and incorporated into local collections, helped disseminate core beliefs about the conversion of Vladimir in Kiev and an indelible link between the territory of Rus′—already seen as a magical place in folklore—and the Orthodox faith. The chapter charts the types of national and individual stories told in the literature. Textual production remained based in monasteries and stable as a manuscript culture, but new styles of writing altered and enhanced the rhetorical character of a wide range of forms, including, hagiography, legends, tales of miracles and holy fools, and sermons.