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The baptism of Kiev occurred in 988, when the Prince of Rus', Vladimir I, exhorted the residents of the capital city of Rus', Kiev, to the Dnipro River for baptism. This mass baptism became the iconic inaugural event in the Christianization of the state of Kievan Rus'. This baptism made Eastern Christianity, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople the state religion of Rus', and marked the beginning of the Ukrainian apostolic churches, Greek Catholic/Greek Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and eventually led to the Christianization of Belarus and Russia.