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Aleksandr Yaroslavich; Prince & Saint
ca. 1220 - November 14, 1263
Aleksandre Yaroslavich was born in Vladimir
and died in Gorodets. He was the prince
of Novgorod {1236-52}, of Kiev {1246-52}
and grand prince of Vladimir {1252-63}.
He was the son of Yaroslav II, grand prince
of Vladimir and a member of the Rurik
Dynasty . At age ca. sixteen, Aleksandre
was appointed prince of Novgorod. This
was little more than a military commission.
Three years later, he married the daughter
of the prince of Polotsk.
In 1240, Sweden invaded Russia, attempting
to block her access to the Baltic Sea.
Aleksandre defeated the Swedes at the juncture
of the Izhora and Neva Rivers. This
victory gained him the nickname Nevsky,
or of the Neva.
Having defended his people well, Aleksandre
took upon himself to become involved in
local affairs. Historically, the people of
Novgorod did not welcome such intervention
into their city's life from the princes.
They expelled the young prince in ca. 1241.
The Roman pontiff at the time was Gregory
IX . He insisted that the Baltic States be
"Christianized." The region of Kiev Rus
had been associated with the Byzantine
Church of Constantinople since 988. This
was due to the actions of another Rurik,
Vladimir I. In response to the pope's request,
the Tuetonic Knights invaded Russia.
Novgorod, lacking military leadership,
begged Aleksandre to return. In 1242,
Aleksandre defeated the Tuetonic Knights
in ,what is known as, the massacre on the
ice, on the channel between Peipus and
Pskov Lakes. He continued to fight the
Swedes, stopping altogether their efforts
to establish a foothold in Russia.
Map of North-western Russia
Meanwhile, the Mongols had invaded and conquered much of the politically
fragmented eastern region
of Russia. Aleksandre's father, the prince of Yaroslav,
agreed to submit to the Mongol rulers.
He was murdered in September 1246 when he
returned home from a meeting with the
Great Khan in Mongolia. This created a battle
between his sons, Aleksandre
and Andrew, the younger. By Russian protocol, the
elder, Aleksandre, should have automatically
become the Grand Prince. However, the
decision lay with the Great Khan who appointed
Andrew grand prince of Vladimir and
Aleksandre, prince of Kiev, the center of the Russian Ukraine.
Andrew wasted little time before he began
comspiring against the Mongols. This
caused extreme hardship for the Russian
people. Aleksandre reported the comspiracy
to Khan Batu who deployed an army to dispose
of Andrew, making Aleksandre the
grand prince. Aleksandre allowed the Mongols
to take a census of Russian and to tax
the people. By doing so, he was able to
rebuilt Russia's cities and churches and to
govern his people directly. When various
towns revolted against the Mongol yoke,
Aleksandre would travel to Mongolia to
plead for their deliverance from reprisal. He
succeeded in protecting his people and
achieved exemption from the Mongol desire to
draft Russian men into their army and war
with Iran.
Thanks to Aleksandre's efforts, the Russian
Orthodox Church enjoyed Mongol
protection and a tax-free status. Aleksandre
protected the Church against aggression
from the Baltic princes who, with the backing
of Rome, conspired against the
Mongols. It may seem, on the surface, that
Aleksandre sold out to the Mongols. In
reality, his actions and intervention on
behalf of his people, greatly improved the
common mans' quality of life. The alternative
would have been what happened after
Aleksandre's death in 1263. Russia basically
fell apart and turned into a collection of
feuding states and principalities with
no central power or unifying purpose. Aleksandre
managed to maintain the Russian way of
life, religious freedom and averted much
potential bloodshed. For these reasons,
the russian Orthodox Church canonized
Alesksandre Nevsky in 1547. His feast days
are November 23rd and August 30th. In
1725, the Order of Aleksandre Nevsky was
formed by Empress Catherine I , as an
award for superior military service. The
Order was re-established by the Presidium of
the USSR Supreme Soviet, in 1942, to honor
Soviet Commanders in WWII ( medal).
In the early 1700's, Peter the Great of
Russia {Tsar; 1721-1725}, established the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra {monastery} in St.
Petersburg to honor of the saint and his
1240 victory over the Swedes. This is the
home of the city's central church, the Holy
Trinity Cathedral. Such notables as Dostoevsky,
Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky are
buried in the monastery cemetary.
Another source adds:
The Holy NobleBorn Prince Alexander Nevsky was born on 30 May 1220 in
the city of Pereslavl'-Zalessk. His father
Yaroslav, in Baptism Feodor (+1246), "a prince gentle, kindly and genial",
was the younger son of Vsevolod III Large-Nest
[Bol'shoe Gnezdo]) (+1212), brother of the Holy NobleBorn Prince Yuri
Vsevolodovich (+1238, commemorated 4
February). The mother of Saint Alexander, Feodosia Igorevna, a Riazan
princess, was the third spouse of Yaroslav. Their
older son was the Holy NobleBorn Prince Feodor (+1233, commemorated
5 June), having expired to the Lord at age 15.
Saint Alexander was their second son.
His childhood was spent at Pereslavl'-Zalessk, where his father was
prince. The princely tonsure of the lad Alexander (a
ceremony of initiation to be soldier) was done in the Saviour Transfiguration
Cathedral of Pereslavl' by Sainted Simon,
Bishop of Suzdal' (+1226, commemorated 10 May), one of the compilers
of the Kievo-Pechersk Paterikon (Lives of the
Fathers). From the blessing of the starets [elder] hierarch Saint Alexander
received his first blessing for military service in
the Name of God, for defense of the Russian Church and the Russian
Land.
In 1227 Prince Yaroslav, at the request of the people of Novgorod, was
sent by his brother the GreatPrince of Vladimir Yuri,
to rule as prince in Novgorod the Great. He took with him his sons,
Saints Feodor and Alexander. Dissatisfied with the
Vladimir princes, the people of Novgorod soon invited Saint Michael
of Chernigov (+1246, commemorated 20 September),
and in February 1229 Yaroslav with his sons departed to Pereslavl'.
The matter ended peacefully: in 1230 Yaroslav with his
sons returned to Novgorod, and the daughter of Saint Michael, Feodosia,
was betrothed with Saint Feodor, the elder brother
of Saint Alexander. After the death of the bridegroom in 1233 the young
princess went to a monastery and became famous
in monastic exploits as the Sainted Nun Evphrosinia of Suzdal' (+1250,
commemorated 25 September).
From his early years Saint Alexander went along on the campaigns of
his father. In 1235 he participated in a battle at the
River Emajogi (in present-day Estonia), where the forces of Yaroslav
totally routed the Germans. In the following year 1236
Yaroslav went to Kiev, "settling" his son, Saint Alexander, to rule
independently as prince at Novgorod. In 1239 Saint
Alexander entered into marriage, taking as wife the daughter of the
Polotskian prince Briacheslav. Some histories relate, that
in the Holy Baptism of the princess it was on the name-day of her saintly-spouse
and that she was named Alexandra. His
father, Yaroslav, blessed them at betrothal with the holy wonderworking
icon of the Theodorovsk Mother of God (in Baptism
they had named the father Theodore, or Feodor). This icon was thereafter
constantly before Saint Alexander as his praying
image; and afterwards in memory of him it was taken from the Gorodetsk
Monastery, where he died, by his brother Vasilii
Yaroslavich of Kostroma (+1276), and transferred to Kostroma.
A very troublesome time had begun in Russian history: from the East
there came the Mongol Horde destroying everything in
their path; from the West enroached the Teutonic Knights military-force,
blasphemously having named itself, with the
blessing of the Roman pope, "Cross-bearers," by wearing the Cross of
the Lord. In this terrible hour the Providence of God
raised up for the salvation of Rus' holy Prince Alexander -- a great
warrior man-of-prayer, ascetic and upholder of the Land
of Russia -- "Without the command of God there would not have been
his prince." Abetted by the invasion of Batu, by the
ruin of Russian cities, by the dismay and grief of the nation, by the
destruction of its finest sons and leaders, an horde of
crusaders made incursions into the borders of the Fatherland. First
were the Swedes. "A king of Roman faith from the
Midnight land," of Sweden, in 1240 gathered up a great armed force
and sent them to the Neva on many ships under the
command of his son-in-law, Yarl (i.e., Prince) Birger. The haughty
Swede made a dispatch of his messengers to Novgorod
to Saint Alexander: "If thou wishest, resist -- for I am already here
and I take captive thy land."
Saint Alexander, then not yet 20 years old, prayed a long while in the
church of Saint Sophia, the Wisdom of God. And
having recalled the Psalm of David, he said: "Judge, O Lord, those
oppressing me and hinder those fighting with me, trample
down the weapon and shield, rise up in help for me." ArchBishop Spiridon
blessed the holy prince and his army for the battle.
Leaving from the church, Saint Alexander exhorted his troops with effective
words of faith: "Not in power is God, but in
truth. Some -- with a weapon, some -- on horses, but we in the Name
of the Lord Our God do summon you! They have
hesitated and set fire, we however are bravely risen!" With a not-large
force, trusting in the Holy Trinity, the prince hastened
towards the enemy -- to await help from his father, not knowing about
whether would be an attack of the enemy, nor
whether it was the time.
But there was a miraculous omen: standing on sea guard the warrior Pelgui,
in Holy Baptism Philip, saw at dawn on 15 July
a boat, and on it were the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb, in royal-purple
attire. And said Boris: "brother Gleb, guide the oar,
let us help our kinsman Alexander." When Pelgui reported about the
vision to the approaching prince, Saint Alexander
commanded that no one through piety should speak about the miracle,
and he emboldened, valiantly urged on the army
against the Swedes with a prayer. "And there was a great slaughter
with the Latins, and it killed their innumerable multitude,
and for their very leader it left a mark upon the face by a sharp spear."
An Angel of God invisibly helped the Orthodox army:
when morning came, on the opposite bank of the River Izhora, whither
the army of Saint Alexander was not able to proceed,
were a multitude of the killed enemy. For this victory at the River
Neva, won on 15 July 1240, the nation named the saint,
Alexander Nevsky.
The Teutonic Knights remained a dangerous enemy. In a lightning-quick
campaign in 1241 Saint Alexander recaptured the
ancient Russian fortress of Kopor'e, expelling the knights. But in
1242 the Germans succeeded capturing Pskov. The enemy
boasted of "subjecting all the Slavic nation." Saint Alexander, having
set forth in a winter campaign, liberated Pskov, that
ancient Home of the Holy Trinity, and in spring of the year 1242 gave
the Teutonic Order a decisive battle. On the ice of
Lake Chud both armies clashed on 5 April 1242. Raising his hands towards
the heavens, Saint Alexander prayed: "Judge me,
O God, and judge my strife with a boastful nation and grant help to
me, O God, as to Moses of old against Amalek, and to
my great-grandfather Yaroslav the Wise against accursed Svyatopolk."
By his prayer, by the help of God and by the military
exploit the crusaders were completely destroyed. There was terrible
slaughter, such a crashing resounded of striking spears
and swords that it seemed, as though the frozen lake were in motion
and not visibly ice, since it was covered by blood.
Having turned to flee, the enemy was pursued and hewn at by the army
of Alexander -- "as though they speeded through the
air, and nowhere was there for the enemy to flee." Afterwards they
led a multitude of captives behind the holy prince,
marching in disgrace.
Contemporaries clearly understood the universal historical significance
of the Great Battle of the Ice: they celebrated the
name of Saint Alexander through all of Holy Rus', "through all the
lands, from the AEgyptian Sea to Mount Ararat, from both
sides of the Varangian Sea to Great Rome."
The western boundaries of the Russian Land were safely secured, and
it became time to guard Rus' from the East. In 1242
Saint Alexander Nevsky together with his father, Yaroslav, journeyed
to the Horde. Metropolitan Kirill blessed them for this
new service of many hardships: it was necessary to change the Tatars
from enemies and plunderers into honourable allies,
and there was necessary "the meekness of an angel and the wisdom of
a snake."
The Lord crowned with success the holy mission of the defenders of the
Russian Land, but this required years of hardship
and sacrifice. Prince Yaroslav passed from this life. Having made an
alliance with Khan Batu, he was required, however, to
travel to faraway Mongolia, to the capital of all the nomadic empire.
The situation of Batu himself being precarious, he
sought out the support of the Russian princes, wishing to separate
with his own Golden Horde from faraway Mongolia. And
there in turn, they trusted neither Batu nor the Russians. Prince Yaroslav
was poisoned. He died in agony, having but by 10
days outlived the Holy Martyr Michael of Chernigov, with whom once
he was nearly a relative. Bequeathed by his father an
alliance with the Golden Horde -- of necessity then for the averting
of a new devastation of Rus' -- Saint Alexander Nevsky
continued to hold secure. The son of Batu, Sartak, having accepted
Christianity, was in charge of Russian affairs with the
Horde, and became his friend and like a brother. Vowing his support,
Saint Alexander gave Batu the possibility to enter into
a campaign against Mongolia, to become the chief power in all the Great
Steppes, and on the throne in Mongolia to raise up
the tatar-Christian leader, Khan Munke (the majority of his tatar-Christians
confessed Nestorianism).
Not all the Russian princes possessed the perspicacity of Saint Alexander
Nevsky. Many in the struggle against the Mongol
Yoke hoped for European help. Saint Michael of Chernigov, Prince Daniel
of Galich, and Andrei the brother of Saint
Alexander, conducted negotiations with the Roman pope. But Saint Alexander
well knew the fate of Constantinople, seized
and devastated in the year 1204 by crusaders. And his own personal
experience taught him not to trust the West. Daniel of
Galich for his alliance with the pope, giving him nothing in return,
patched together a betrayal to Orthodoxy -- an unia with
Rome. Saint Alexander did not with this to be for his native Church.
When ambassadors of the Roman pope appeared in
1248 to seduce him also, he wrote in answer about the faithfulness
of Russians to the Church of Christ and to the belief of
the Seven OEcumenical Councils: "These we know quite well, and from
you we do not accept teaching." Catholicism was
unsuitable for the Russian Church, and an unia signified a rejection
of Orthodoxy, a rejection of the source of spiritual life, a
rejection of the predestined-by-God historical future, and the dooming
of itself to spiritual death. In the year 1252 many a
Russian city rose up against the Tatar Yoke, supporting Andrei Yaroslavich.
The situation was very risky. Again there arose
a threat to the very existence of Russia. Saint Alexander had to again
journey to the Horde, in order to avert from the
Russian lands a punitive Tatar incursion. Defeated, Andrei fled to
the Swedes to seek the help of those very robbers whom
his great brother had crushed with the help of God at the Neva. Saint
Alexander became the monarchic Great Prince of All
Rus': Vladimir, Kiev and Novgorod. A great responsibility before God
and history lay upon his shoulders. In 1253 he repelled
a new German incursion against Pskov; in 1254 he made a treaty about
peace borders with Norway; in 1256 he went on a
campaign to the Finnish land. The chronicler called it "the dark campaign"
-- the Russian army went along through the polar
night, "going non-passable places, like to see neither day nor night".
Into the darkness of paganism Saint Alexander brought
the light of Gospel preaching and Orthodox culture. All the coast region
was enlightened and opened up by the Russians.
In 1256 Khan Batu died, and soon also was poisoned his son Sartak --
the one like-a-brother to Alexander Nevsky. The holy
prince journeyed a third time to Sarai, in order to confirm peaceful
relations of Rus' and the Horde with the new Khan,
Berke. Although the successor to Batu had accepted Islam, he was in
need of the alliance with Orthodox Rus'. In 1261, by
the diligent efforts of Saint Alexander and Metropolitan Kirill, there
was established a diocese of the Russian Orthodox
Church at Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde.
There ensued an epoch of great Christianisation of the pagan East, and
in this was prophetically the speculation by Saint
Alexander Nevsky of the historical vocation of Rus'. The holy prince
used any possibility for the uplifting of his native land
and the easing of its allotted cross. In 1262 by his decree in many
of the cities were stopped the tatar collectors of tribute
and the conscription of soldiers -- the "baskak"-officials. They waited
for a Tatar reprisal. But the great intercessor of the
nation again journeyed to the Horde and he wisely directed the event
into quite another channel: having been dismissed for
the uprising of the Russians, Khan Berke ceased to send tribute to
Mongolia and proclaimed the Golden Horde an
independent entity, making it a very shield for Russia from the East.
In this great uniting of the Russian and Tatar lands and
peoples was matured and strengthened the future multi-national Russian
State, containing later on within the bounds of the
Russian Church almost all the legacy of Ghenghis Khan to the coasts
of the Pacific Ocean.
This diplomatic journey of Saint Alexander Nevsky to Sarai was his fourth
and last. The future of Rus' was rescued, his duty
before God was fulfilled. But his power was wholly devoted, and his
life put to the service of the Russian Church. On the
return journey from the Horde Saint Alexander fell deathly ill. Not
having reached Vladimir, at Gorodets at a monastery the
prince-ascetic gave up his spirit to the Lord on 14 November 1263,
having finished his much-difficult earthly path with the
accepting of the monastic-schema with the name of Alexei.
Metropoltian Kirill, the spiritual father and companion in the service
of the holy prince, said in the funeral eulogy: "Know, my
child, that already the sun has set for the Suzdal' land. There will
not be a greater such prince in the Russian land." They took
his holy body to Vladimir, the journey lasted nine days, and the body
remained undecayed. On 23 November, before his
burial at the Nativity Monastery in Vladimir, there was manifest by
God "a wondrous miracle and worthy of memory." When
the body of Saint Alexander was placed in the crypt, the steward Sebastian
and Metropolitan Kirill wanted to get his hand, in
order to put in it the final-journey spiritual gramota [document].
The holy prince, as though alive, reached out his hand and
took the gramota from the hand of the metropolitan. "And it accounted
for their terror, and they barely stumbled from his
tomb. Who would not be astonished at this, since he was dead and the
body brought from far away in the winter time." Thus
did God glorify the Saint -- Soldier-Prince Alexander Nevsky. The universal
Church glorification of Saint Alexander Nevsky
was performed under Metropolitan Makarii at the Moscow Cathedral in
1547. The canon to the saint was compiled then by
the Vladimir monk Michael.
ÍÈÊÎËÀÉ ÐÅÐÈÕ
Àëåêñàíäð Íåâñêèé
ïîðàæàåò ßðëà
Áèðãåðà. 1904. Êàðòîí,
ãóàøü. 28 õ 45
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