You're the ruler of a nascent Slavic state in the year 900 AD, and you have decided that paganism is a meme and you have to adopt a real religion. The choice is Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Islam. Which one will you choose?
>>16881578Tibetan Buddhism
you can have islam or vodka, not both
Christianity because its a much less violent religion and emphasizes divine authority of kings more than islam but since I don't want to submit to the pope probably orthodoxy
>>16881599Do you think the pope in Constantinople won't anathemize you?
Vladimir the Great had it figured out desu>if you become Jewish you can't eat pork>if you become Muslim you can't eat pork *or* drink>if you become Catholic you can't marry a Byzantine princess to legitimize your ruleOrthodoxy ez
>>16881606The orthodox have autocephalous national churches and patriarchs don't concern themselves with earthly disputes
>>16881625You joke but some people might actually believe it.
>>16881630Show me an example of the patriarch of constantinople anathemizing a king of another nation because of a war or something of the sorts
>>16881578EZ. I go Muslim and get 3 more wives.
>>16881636You just reminded me of the ottomans harem system in eu4.
>>16881634Russia Ukraine schismOrthodox churches are the most nationalistic of the Churches, if they aren't infiltrated by the KGB or what not.
>>16881652That's 1022 years after my choosing of orthodoxy and it was not the patriarch of contantinople.
>>16881578Jainism
>>16881578>the religion of the enslavers of my people who then castrate them and turn them into eunuchs. >the religions of the people where my castrated people are sold to be eunuchs. If I were a pagan ruler, I’d die fighting with my religion.
>>16881578Where do I live? If I live next to the Carolingians I would be Catholic and the biggest Carolingian superfan so I don't get obliterated. If I live more East I'd be Orthodox
>>16881724Poles did exactly this and they were gone by the 19th century.
>>16881724If you were near the Catholic carolingians, they would not convert your people and do everything in their power to deter it. They would not be able to enslave your people if you were Christian.
>>16881625topkek
>>16881737The Carolingians actively supported peoples coverting to Christianity though
>>16881750Not if you were a Slavic pagan. There was a lucrative slave trade going on and the Slavs were the source.
>>16881578>no JudaismJewish slavic empire would be tippy top kino
>>16881757Why did the Carolingians try to convert their Slavic neighbours then?
>>16881779Which ones. There’s a reason the land east of the Elbe is German and not Slavic. They failed at converting them and some didn’t want to convert them. There can also be competing parties as well. There were faithful Christians that tried to convert the Slavs but they lost out to factions that wanted to continue the slave trade and German settlement eastward.
>>16881750>>16881757>>16881779>>16881797IIRC the margraves were the ones who perpetually kept stirring up shit so they could keep raiding and enslaving heathens for a good profit (and keep their status as a march) while there were bishops and zealot preachers who genuinely tried to make them convert.
>>16881578I'm Polish. Should be Islam, it's the true religion.
>>16881797There isn't that much relation between conversions and disappearance of slavic groups east of Elbe. For instance Hobolans were turned into a footnote of history very quickly despite early submission and conversion while some of the north-western groups managed to keep their language alive until 30-years war(to completely die out in the 18th century) despite later conversion. Obviously language isn't everything but it's some sort of approximation.
>>16881719It doesn't make sense to stay pagan after you travel to Constantinople and see for yourself what it's like to have a skyjew temple in your settlement. You go for a raid and those Christians always have organized centers revolving around a church, they have extremely progressive fortifications. How do you get all this? It only makes sense to subscribe to this ideology.Vladimir the Great did it exactly for this reason. Prior to Christianity princes had to manually, on their own, walk around their entire realm and extort goods from all men. Sure, there were already proto-boyars and designated collectors appeared after Igor got shanked after demanding too much. But building a humongous white stone Christian temple was the ultimate expression of power and wealth at the time, when just a few miles away peasants were working with, I don't know, sticks and rocks. Once you witness it, you start believing in its righteousness. Once you witness the wealth and development of nearby lands that collection of tithe generates, you won't want anything else. Your lord, your Church, your God, that exotic rich Greek metropolitan that came to your land to bless it and to bless your lord. Praise be them all.
>>16881578Dumb premise, Paganism is best. You're a jew slave if you disagree.
>>16881578There are no "real" religions.My people will believe in scientific method
>>16881578islamic slav nation would be crusaded back to hell, teutonic knights already didn't have any issues fighting and killing catholics and orthodox slavs, now imagine if they were muslims
>>16881774>Jewish slavic empirethe US and Israel exist
>>16881578Catholicism, obviously. Orthodox = corrupt shitholes, Islam = hell on earth
>>16882173>It doesn't make sense to stay pagan after you travel to ConstantinopleIf I’m a Slavic pagan and I’m in Constantinople, I’m most likely there because I was sold to the royal court to be a eunuch. Why would I convert to the religion of the people that castrated me and made me a slave? Pretty buildings would mean nothing.
>>16882862Because Greeks were interested in seeing a new ally in your realm in place of Khazars, that's why they approached you for better trade cooperation.
>>16882862When it comes to the Balkan Slavs, most got their autonomy and a way to co-exist within the empire due to being too unruly to handle otherwise
>>16881757The Slavs weren't the primary source - but the most sought-after possession. The most common European quarry in Northeastern Europe were the Finns and the Chudes, whereas in Western Europe - the Irish and the Scottish. During the height of the Saqaliba phenomenon, only several thousand were present in each of the caliphates, and even then, the term itself referred to all Northern, Eastern, and Northeastern Europeans regardless of their origin.>I’m most likely there becauseBecause you're an Asia Minor military colonist, which the vast majority of Slavs in Asia Minor were.>Castrated meThe Radanites in Prague and the Romans had only castrated the most intelligent of the men, and in the Caliphates, only those who refused conversion were castrated.
