None of the first Kyiv princes left such a memory as Vladimir the Great. About him and the time of his reign in Rus', when the state reached the pinnacle of its power, the people composed epics, legends and songs. He baptized Rus' and thus established a continuous connection with Byzantium, which at that time was the center of European culture and education. With him, Rus' began to be called Holy and Orthodox, and the Russian Church canonized him among its saints, calling him equal to the apostles.