Churches of the cherson legend

The article is devoted to one of the controversial aspects of the legend of the baptism of Prince Vladimir in the Greek Cherson - the nomenclature of the churches mentioned in it. The chronicle- hagiographic sources that have come down to us give a contradictory picture both about the churches built by Vladimir, and about the Church where the Prince was baptized. Based on the entire complex of extant written and archaeological material, the author comes to the conclusion that the discrepancy in the designation of churches was dictated by the desire of the authors and scribes of the written documents to glorify their own monasteries and churches. A special role in this process of medieval creativity was played by the Novgorod clergy, who, under the guise of Chersonese and Kievan churches, actively promoted influential Novgorodian churches in the Chronicles and Lives. The complete arbitrariness of the medieval clergy in specifying churches, the choice of which depended primarily on the corporate identity of the writer, clearly demonstrates the tendentious and ideological nature of the entire story about Prince Vladimir’s baptism in Cherson.