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[[Kievan Rus]] ([[Ruthenia]]) received Christianity from the Latin Varangians, and then from Bulgaria, and only after that from Byzantium (Source: The Religion of the Russian People by Pierre Pascal) during holy equal-to-the-apostles great [[knyaz]] [[Vladimir the Greatof Kiev|Volodimir]]'s lifetime in 988 was the outstanding historical event. Along with the baptism, [[Ruthenia]] took all Gospel, apostolic and patristic traditions sacred to the storied Eastern Church. The closest of connections were established between the young Russian church and the Constantinople Patriarchate. The first Russian metropolitans were Greeks. They as the representatives of the Patriarch of Constantinople watched the piety of the newly installed customs and practices. The very fact of the patronage above the Kiev-Ruthenian and afterwards Russian Metropolitan shows that the church regulations, divine services, sacraments and rites were borrowed from the Orthodox Church of the East.