Alexander Nevsky is this man a saint? On the history of the veneration of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky. Why is the story called “The Life of Alexander Nevsky”

On September 20, the relics of Prince Alexander Nevsky will be brought to Moscow from the St. Petersburg Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The bringing of the relics is organized by the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation with the blessing of Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy II.

Where will the shrine be?

From September 20 to 27, the relics will be in Moscow: September 20-22 and 24 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, September 23 - in the Holy Cross Jerusalem Stavropegial Convent in Domodedovo, September 25-27 - in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ on Semenovskaya.

From September 27 to 29, the relics will be available to those interested in Kaliningrad, from September 29 to October 3 - in Riga, from October 3 to 5 - in Pskov, from October 5 to 7 - in Veliky Novgorod, from October 7 to 10 - in Yaroslavl, from October 10 to 13 - in Vladimir, from October 13 to 16 - in Nizhny Novgorod, from October 16 to 20 - in Yekaterinburg. After which the shrine will return to St. Petersburg.

What is Alexander Nevsky famous for?

Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky was born in Pereslavl-Zalessky. Historians cannot establish the exact date of birth. Most likely, this is 1220-1221. He came from the family of the Vladimir-Suzdal Grand Dukes, was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and the great-grandson of the most famous among Russian princes, Vladimir Monomakh.

From an early age, Alexander accompanied his father, Prince Yaroslav, on campaigns. His first battle took place in 1235 on the Emajõgi River - in present-day Estonia, where Russian squads defeated the Germans. In 1236, young Alexander became a prince in Novgorod and glorified his name in the fight against the Swedes, Germans and Lithuanians, who sought to take possession of Pskov and Novgorod at a time when the rest of Rus' was subjected to a Mongol pogrom.

In 1240, under the leadership of Alexander, ours defeated the Swedish knights at the confluence of the Izhora River with the Neva. After this battle, Alexander began to be called Nevsky. This battle prevented Russia from losing the shores of the Gulf of Finland, stopping Swedish aggression on the Novgorod-Pskov lands.

Returning to Novgorod, Alexander wanted to rule as powerfully as his father and grandfather, but this led to aggravation of relations with the Novgorod boyars. The “city fathers” feared the strengthening of the prince and the growth of his popularity among the people. Having quarreled with the Novgorodians, Alexander went to reign in Pereslavl-Zalessky. But soon, at the request of the townspeople, he returned.

The people of Novgorod and Pskov were threatened by the German Order of the Sword, which united with the Teutonic Order. In 1240, the Germans captured Izborsk, a city on the western border of the Novgorod land. In 1241, thanks to the betrayal of the “Western” boyars, they occupied Pskov. And they began to conquer the Novgorod volost. Soon German troops began to rob Russian merchants already 30 versts from Novgorod. That's when the Novgorodians again called on Prince Alexander.

In 1242, the prince liberated Pskov, after which he moved to Livonia. Here, on the ice of Lake Peipsi, in 1242, under his leadership, the German army was destroyed along with its European and Baltic allies. The battle on the ice stopped the notorious German “onslaught on the East” for 800 years.

In 1242 and 1245, Prince Alexander won a number of victories over the Lithuanians, thereby showing that it was no longer possible to raid Russian lands with impunity.

What was the main feat of Alexander Nevsky?

However, Alexander Nevsky is revered not only and not so much for military valor, but for his diplomacy. He chose a completely different policy towards the Golden Horde than towards the Germans and Swedes. The prince was the first among his compatriots to understand how to turn the rule of the Mongols to the benefit of Rus'.

Firstly, the eastern conquerors forcibly united the country, torn apart by feudal strife. In fact, they unwittingly ensured the national and territorial unity of the future Russia. Secondly, they did not set up their garrisons everywhere, and even those soon left Russian cities - nomads are uncomfortable living among forests. They appointed Russian princes as rulers. And thirdly, the Mongols turned out to be very tolerant - they were not interested in who prayed to whom, as long as their power was recognized and tribute was accurately received.

The Germans and other bearers of “Western civilization” sought to either forcibly Catholicize the Russian population or destroy it. If for the Mongols the war with Russia was a cavalry raid for the sake of booty, after which they returned to the steppes, then the knights went on a crusade to settle forever on our lands and deprive Rus' of its Orthodox faith.

Therefore, Prince Alexander did his best to restrain his subjects from senseless anti-Mongol protests until the state became unified and gained strength. He repeatedly traveled to the Horde, fraternized with the son of Khan Batu Sartak, achieved the liberation of Russians from participation in the Horde’s campaigns of conquest, and prevented the khans’ invasion of Rus'.

Alexander reigned in Kyiv, and then throughout North-Eastern Rus'. He strengthened the grand-ducal power, he worked hard on the restoration and organization of the Russian land after the Mongol pogrom. Moreover, thanks to Alexander’s wise policy, the Mongol cavalry now defended “their” Russian possessions from Western predators.

Was there an alternative to such a policy? Some contemporaries of Alexander Nevsky thought so. Many princes in the fight against the Horde yoke hoped for help from Europe. Prince Daniil of Galicia changed Orthodoxy and entered into a union with Rome, concluding an alliance with the Pope. This union gave him nothing. No real support was provided to Galitsky from Rome; he had to defend himself from the Horde on his own, and after several years of fighting the Mongols, he was forced to submit to them. And Western Rus' turned out to be so weakened that it was subsequently divided by several powers at once - Poland, Hungary and Lithuania.

Therefore, when in 1251 Pope Innocent IV sent an embassy to Alexander Nevsky with a proposal to accept Catholicism, supposedly in exchange for his help in the joint fight against the Mongols, the prince rejected this proposal in the most categorical form. This is how the Orthodox faith was preserved in Rus', which spiritually united the country. In essence, preserving the faith meant for the Russian people what today we call the national idea.

Why was Alexander Nevsky canonized?

Returning from his fourth trip to the Horde, Prince Alexander fell ill and died in 1263 in the city of Gorodets. He was buried in the Vladimir Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin. According to contemporaries, when the body was placed in the shrine, the housekeeper Sebastian and Metropolitan Kirill wanted to open his hand in order to enclose a parting spiritual letter. But the prince, as if alive, stretched out his hand and took the letter from the hands of the metropolitan. “And horror seized them, and they barely retreated from his tomb. Who would not be surprised if he was dead and the body was brought from afar in winter.”

In the 1280s, the veneration of the prince as a saint began in Vladimir. In 1547, Alexander Nevsky was included in the number of saints whose memory was celebrated in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church. All-Russian canonization took place at the Council of 1547.

Why is the holy prince especially revered in Russia?

His name became a symbol of military valor. It encouraged compatriots on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380 and during the terrible raid of the Crimean Tatars in 1571. It is believed that Alexander Nevsky helped Ivan the Terrible to take Kazan and Peter the Great to victoriously end the Northern War.

Alexander Nevsky was especially often remembered when there was a war with the Swedes or Germans. In 1710, it was decided to perpetuate the memory of Alexander Nevsky in St. Petersburg by building a monastery. His relics, by order of Peter I, were transferred in 1724 from Vladimir to St. Petersburg to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where they are still located.

In 1725, Catherine I established the Order of Alexander Nevsky, one of the highest awards of the Russian Empire that existed until 1917. The Order of Alexander Nevsky was second in importance after the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. During the Great Patriotic War, in 1942, the Order of Alexander Nevsky was established again and was awarded to Soviet military leaders.

Under the Bolsheviks in 1920, the silver shrine containing the relics was opened. The cancer was given to the Hermitage, and the relics to the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, opened at that time in the Kazan Cathedral. In 1988, the relics were transferred to the Moscow Patriarchate and in 1989 transferred to the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

What are they asking him for?

There are many cases of healings from a variety of ailments, when the sick, having sincerely prayed and repented of their sins, asked Alexander Nevsky for help and received it. Blind people gained insight, paralyzed people got back on their feet, epileptics got rid of seizures.

Most often, we come to the relics of saints with prayers for health and well-being for ourselves, our family and friends,” said Metropolitan Vladimir of Tashkent and Central Asia. - In the event of the bringing of the relics of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky, we have the opportunity to turn to him as the defender and patron of our Fatherland and all of us. Therefore, when you come to bow and venerate the shrine, pray for Russia.

What are relics?

The word “relics” in the Slavic language translates the Greek word “lipsana” and the Latin “relic,” which literally means “remains” in Russian. This word refers to all the remains of the deceased, everything that remains of the human body after his death. However, in Church Slavonic, this is not the name given to the bodies of the dead, but only to their bones. It was believed that the strength and strength of the human body lies precisely in the bones. Hence the origin of the word “power” from the root “power” - strength.

The relics are placed in a reliquary - a coffin for veneration, which can be accessible. People approach the relics as if they were an icon: they cross themselves and touch them.

After one of my articles on the history of the 13th century, dedicated to debunking the myth of Alexander Nevsky as a national hero of Russia, I received from one of the regular readers of my blog ein_arzt legitimate question: “Why, contrary to obvious facts, are they making Alexander a hero and a national shrine?”
By the way, I constantly hear this question from my students.
I promised to devote a separate post to this topic, and now I’m finally keeping my promise.

So, why is Alexander Nevsky a saint, moreover, highly revered on Russian soil, and why was his historical figure, quite controversial from the point of view of patriotism, so heroized?

One often hears the point of view according to which the recognition of Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich as a saint was due to Christian humility with which he accepted Horde power, following the apostolic: "He who resists authority resists God's ordinance" (Rom 13:2).

However, it is fair to say my teacher I. N. Danilevsky , “fierce resistance to some conquerors while servile submission to others is hardly the result of recognition of divinity any authorities." If this were so, we would have to admit that the Western "brothers in Christ", unlike the Horde, acted outside of God's will, or He knew nothing about their activities. However, both assumptions, from the point of view from the point of view of the Christian consciousness, are simply blasphemous.

In general, any performance of power functions is hardly compatible with Christian humility; that’s why it’s government, that is, violence (it’s not for nothing that the word "right" cognate with ancient Indian prabhus - "outstanding in strength" and Anglo-Saxon fram - "strong"). For example, I know only two humble ancient Russian princes: Boris and Gleb Vladimirovich. But in order to demonstrate this quality and become saints thanks to it, they had to voluntarily renounce power and accept martyrdom. But Alexander Yaroslavich did not try to do either one or the other. And the veneration of him by such personalities as Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and I.V. Stalin speaks volumes, but not about the humility allegedly inherent in this saint.

In addition, it should be noted that the holiness of Alexander Nevsky doesn't justify all his actions. It is one thing not to resist the plunder of the Horde, and quite another to be an active accomplice. Canonization is only redeems sins committed by the prince. In any case, I hope that the holiness of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vadamir does not interfere with condemning the corruption of minors, which, as is known, this prince sinned before accepting Christianity?

So "humility" There is clearly nothing to do with Alexander Nevsky as the reason for his canonization.

So why was Alexander Nevsky still canonized?

To answer this question, we will have to at least briefly consider what happened in the Christian world in those times that befell this ancient Russian prince.

In 1204, Constantinople fell to the attacks of the crusaders, which ultimately not only forced Emperor Michael VIII to seek help in the West, but also ultimately led to the complete religious capitulation of the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Pope (Union of Lyons 1274).
It is not without reason that, concluding his sad story about the conquest of Constantinople by the “fryags” in 1204, the ancient Russian scribe, an eyewitness to this event, concludes: “And so the kingdom of God-protected Constantinegrad and the land of Grch perished in the wedding of the crown princes, which Fryazi possessed.” .

On the other side, Daniil Romanovich Galitsky , heroically resisting the Mongols, was forced to periodically seek refuge with his Catholic neighbors in Hungary, and even accepted the royal crown from the Pope, which happened in 1254.
Against this background, the behavior stands out sharply Alexander Yaroslavich .
He not only does not turn to powerful Catholic rulers and hierarchs for help, but also in a rather harsh form refuses any cooperation with "Latins" when they offer it:

“Once upon a time, ambassadors from the Pope from great Rome came to him, crying: “Our Pope says this: I hear you are an honest and wondrous prince, and your land is great. For this reason, two khithresh - Agaldad and Gemont - have sent to you from the twelfth century, so that you may listen to their teachings about the law of God."
Prince Alexander, having thought with his wise men, wrote to him and said: “... we do not accept teachings from you.” They returned home."

It turns out that in the conditions of the terrible trials that befell the Orthodox lands in the 13th century, perceived by contemporaries as harbingers of the coming Apocalypse, the Great Prince of Vladimir Alexander Yaroslavich found himself almost the only one of the secular rulers who did not doubt their spiritual righteousness, did not waver in their faith and did not renounce their - Orthodox God. Having refused joint actions with Catholics against the Horde, he became the last powerful stronghold of Orthodoxy at that time, the last defender of the Orthodox world (and the Horde khans, following the behests of Genghis Khan, did not persecute Orthodoxy in Rus' and did not try to convert the people they conquered to their faith, first pagan, and from the second quarter of the 14th century Muslim. Moreover, the Horde were distinguished by significant religious tolerance and did not interfere with the spread of Christianity, in including Orthodoxy even on the territory of the Horde; in the capital of the Horde, Sarai, there were several Orthodox churches that peacefully coexisted with mosques, headed by an Orthodox bishop).

Could the Orthodox Church not recognize such a ruler as a saint? And obviously, precisely for the above reasons, Alexander Nevsky was not canonized as "righteous" (there was not a penny of righteousness in his policy, as Russian chronicles clearly indicate), but how "blessed" prince.

I hope I was able to answer the question: why is Alexander Nevsky revered? as a saint .
Now I propose to move on to considering the reasons for the glorification of this prince as military intercessor for the Russian land.

Until the end of the 17th century, the image of Alexander Nevsky corresponded to the original one - "holy noble prince" .
This image begins to transform at the very beginning of the 18th century, when Peter I began a war with Sweden for access for Russia to the coast of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, which is so necessary for the development of foreign economic relations with Western Europe. To substantiate claims to lands that belonged to Sweden at that time, Tsar Peter Alekseevich needed to find evidence that they were ancestral territory of the Russian state . Moreover, the further in history such evidence is found, the more justified these claims will be.
The Livonian War of Ivan the Terrible was not very suitable here, if only because it was not so long ago, from the point of view of the beginning of the 18th century, and besides, it was ultimately lost. Another was needed - a more ancient and victorious example.
This is where the image of the “blessed” Prince Alexander Nevsky surfaced, who, firstly, defeated no one, namely Peter’s enemies, the Swedes, in the Battle of Neva, and secondly, was already a saint.

Peter I takes a lot of actions, which we would now call propaganda, to glorify Alexander Nevsky.

In 1724, by order of the first Russian emperor and with his direct participation, the remains of the holy prince were solemnly transferred from Vladimir-on-Klyazma to the new capital of Russia - St. Petersburg.
Peter I establishes a day to celebrate the memory of Alexander (by the way, August 30, i.e., the day the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded with Sweden).

Subsequently, the image of Alexander as a defender of the Russian land was consolidated in the mass consciousness by a number of official events.

So, in 1725 Catherine I established the highest military order named after him .

Empress Elizabeth in 1753 she built for the relics of Alexander silver shrine:

At the same time, an annual religious procession was established from the St. Petersburg Kazan Cathedral to Alexander Nevsky Lavra (one of the four largest monasteries in Russia). By the way, this religious procession took place along Nevsky Prospekt, which is not called that along the Neva River, as many still think.

The tradition of venerating Alexander Nevsky has been preserved during the Soviet period.

On the eve of the war, in 1938 S. M. Eisenstein withdrew his apologetic film "Alexander Nevsky" . The script of this film received a sharply negative assessment from historians. The film was banned from showing, but the reason for this was not discrepancies with historical truth, but foreign policy considerations, in particular the reluctance to spoil relations with Germany, with which it was planned to conclude a military-political alliance.

The film by S. M. Eisenstein was released in 1941 , since the foreign policy situation has completely changed, and the image of the “great commander” Alexander Nevsky, burning the German invaders on the ice of Lake Peipus to the cheerful music, has again become more than relevant.

After the official release of the film on the screens of the country, its creators were awarded the Stalin Prize. From that moment on, a new rise in the popularity of the ancient Russian prince began.

July 29 1942 was established Soviet military order of Alexander Nevsky , which depicts none other than actor Nikolai Cherkasov, who played the role of the prince in S. Eisenstein’s film:

During the Great Patriotic War An aviation squadron named after Alexander Nevsky was built using monetary donations made by believers.
And in the post-war period, several monuments were erected to Prince Alexander, including in Vladimir - the capital of the great reign thanks to Nevryuev's army of 1252 .

However, the installation of monuments to this prince continues in modern times:

At the same time, Alexander’s military merits (victories in 1240 on the Neva over the landing of Swedish knights and in 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipsi over the German knights) were exaggerated in every possible way, and his close cooperation with the Mongol conquerors (suppression of anti-Mongol uprisings in Russian cities, surrender of Pskov and Novgorod to the Mongols, the use of Mongol troops in the struggle for personal power) were hushed up.

It is in this guise that Alexander Nevsky remains today as a cult figure in the mass consciousness.

If you ask again: "Why?" , then the answer will be simple: from the point of view of modern official Russian ideology (does anyone else believe that, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, no ideology can be mandatory?) the image of Alexander Nevsky as a national hero is a “spiritual bond” (to be honest, this clumsy neologism just pisses me off). But it is not me who selects the “spiritual bonds,” and it is not me who writes history textbooks for schools and universities, in which, as before, the traitor to Russian national interests is extolled as “the defender of the Russian Land.”

I think that I have now answered all the questions about the personality of Alexander Nevsky. If you, my dear readers, have any other questions, I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

Sergey Vorobiev.
Thank you for attention.

NOTES

1. Danilevsky I. N. Russian lands through the eyes of contemporaries and descendants (XII - XIV centuries): A course of lectures. M., 2001. P. 221.
2. Osipova K. A. The restored Byzantine Empire: Internal and foreign policy of the first Palaiologos // History of Byzantium: In 3 volumes. M., 1967. Vol. 3. P. 83.
3. Novgorod first chronicle of the older and younger editions. // PSRL. M., 2000. T. 3. P. 49.
4. Stories about the life and courage of the blessed and Grand Duke Alexander // Monuments of literature of Ancient Rus': XIII century. M., 1981. P. 436.
5. See, for example: Tikhomirov M. N. Mockery of history // Marxist historian. 1938. No. 3. P. 92.

Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in the ranks of the faithful under Metropolitan Macarius at the Moscow Council in 1547. Commemorated on December 6 and September 12 according to the new style (transfer of the relics from Vladimir-on-Klyazma to St. Petersburg, to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (from 1797 - Lavra) on August 30, 1724).

– Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich was born in 1220 (according to another version - in 1221) and died in 1263. At different years of his life, Prince Alexander had the titles of Prince of Novgorod, Kyiv, and later Grand Duke of Vladimir.

– Prince Alexander won his main military victories in his youth. During the Battle of the Neva (1240) he was at most 20 years old, during the Battle of the Ice - 22 years old.

Subsequently, he became famous more as a politician and diplomat, but he also periodically acted as a military leader. In his entire life, Prince Alexander did not lose a single battle.

– Alexander Nevsky canonized as a noble prince.

This rank of saints includes lay people who have become famous for their sincere deep faith and good deeds, as well as Orthodox rulers who managed to remain faithful to Christ in their public service and in various political conflicts. Like any Orthodox saint, the noble prince is not at all an ideal sinless person, but he is, first of all, a ruler, guided in his life primarily by the highest Christian virtues, including mercy and philanthropy, and not by the thirst for power and not by self-interest.

– Contrary to popular belief that the Church canonized almost all the rulers of the Middle Ages, only a few of them were glorified. Thus, among the Russian saints of princely origin, the majority were glorified as saints for their martyrdom for the sake of their neighbors and for the sake of preserving the Christian faith.

–Through the efforts of Alexander Nevsky, the preaching of Christianity spread to the northern lands of the Pomors.

He also managed to promote the creation of an Orthodox diocese in the Golden Horde.

– The modern idea of ​​Alexander Nevsky was influenced by Soviet propaganda, which spoke exclusively about his military merits. As a diplomat building relations with the Horde, and even more so as a monk and saint, he was completely inappropriate for the Soviet government. That’s why Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece “Alexander Nevsky” does not tell about the prince’s entire life, but only about the battle on Lake Peipsi. This gave rise to a common stereotype that Prince Alexander was canonized for his military services, and holiness itself became something of a “reward” from the Church.

– The veneration of Prince Alexander as a saint began immediately after his death, and at the same time a fairly detailed “Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky” was compiled.

The official canonization of the prince took place in 1547.

The Life of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky

Portal “Word”.

Prince Alexander Nevsky is one of those great people in the history of our Fatherland, whose activities not only influenced the destinies of the country and people, but largely changed them and predetermined the course of Russian history for many centuries to come. It fell to him to rule Russia at the most difficult, turning point that followed the ruinous Mongol conquest, when the question was about the very existence of Rus', about whether it would be able to survive, maintain its statehood, its ethnic independence, or disappear from the map, like many other peoples of Eastern Europe , who were invaded at the same time as her.

He was born in 1220 (1), in the city of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, and was the second son of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, at that time the Prince of Pereyaslavl. His mother Feodosia, apparently, was the daughter of the famous Toropets prince Mstislav Mstislavich Udatny, or Udaly (2).

Very early, Alexander became involved in the turbulent political events that unfolded around the reign of Veliky Novgorod - one of the largest cities of medieval Rus'. It is with Novgorod that most of his biography will be connected. Alexander came to this city for the first time as a baby - in the winter of 1223, when his father was invited to reign in Novgorod. However, the reign turned out to be short-lived: at the end of the same year, having quarreled with the Novgorodians, Yaroslav and his family returned to Pereyaslavl. So Yaroslav will either make peace or quarrel with Novgorod, and then the same thing will happen again in the fate of Alexander.

This was explained simply: the Novgorodians needed a strong prince from North-Eastern Rus' close to them so that he could protect the city from external enemies. However, such a prince ruled Novgorod too harshly, and the townspeople usually quickly quarreled with him and invited some South Russian prince to reign, who did not annoy them too much; and everything would be fine, but he, alas, could not protect them in case of danger, and he cared more about his southern possessions - so the Novgorodians had to again turn to the Vladimir or Pereyaslavl princes for help, and everything was repeated all over again.

Prince Yaroslav was again invited to Novgorod in 1226. Two years later, the prince again left the city, but this time he left his sons - nine-year-old Fyodor (his eldest son) and eight-year-old Alexander - as princes. Together with the children, the boyars of Yaroslav remained - Fyodor Danilovich and the princely tiun Yakim. They, however, were unable to cope with the Novgorod “freemen” and in February 1229 they had to flee with the princes to Pereyaslavl.

For a short time, Prince Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, a future martyr for the faith and a revered saint, established himself in Novgorod. But the southern Russian prince, who ruled remote Chernigov, could not protect the city from outside threats; In addition, severe famine and pestilence began in Novgorod. In December 1230, the Novgorodians invited Yaroslav for the third time. He hurriedly came to Novgorod, concluded an agreement with the Novgorodians, but stayed in the city for only two weeks and returned to Pereyaslavl. His sons Fyodor and Alexander again remained to reign in Novgorod.

Novgorod reign of Alexander

So, in January 1231, Alexander formally became the Prince of Novgorod. Until 1233 he ruled together with his older brother. But this year Fyodor died (his sudden death happened just before the wedding, when everything was ready for the wedding feast). Real power remained entirely in the hands of his father. Alexander probably took part in his father’s campaigns (for example, in 1234 near Yuryev, against the Livonian Germans, and in the same year against the Lithuanians). In 1236, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich took the vacant Kiev throne. From this time on, sixteen-year-old Alexander became the independent ruler of Novgorod.

The beginning of his reign came at a terrible time in the history of Rus' - the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. The hordes of Batu, who attacked Rus' in the winter of 1237/38, did not reach Novgorod. But most of North-Eastern Rus', its largest cities - Vladimir, Suzdal, Ryazan and others - were destroyed. Many princes died, including Alexander’s uncle, Grand Duke of Vladimir Yuri Vsevolodovich and all his sons. Alexander's father Yaroslav received the Grand Duke's throne (1239). The catastrophe that occurred turned the entire course of Russian history upside down and left an indelible imprint on the fate of the Russian people, including, of course, Alexander. Although in the first years of his reign he did not have to directly confront the conquerors.

The main threat in those years came to Novgorod from the west. From the very beginning of the 13th century, the Novgorod princes had to hold back the onslaught of the growing Lithuanian state. In 1239, Alexander built fortifications along the Sheloni River, protecting the southwestern borders of his principality from Lithuanian raids. In the same year, an important event occurred in his life - Alexander married the daughter of the Polotsk prince Bryachislav, his ally in the fight against Lithuania. (Later sources name the princess - Alexandra (3).) The wedding was held in Toropets, an important city on the Russian-Lithuanian border, and a second wedding feast was held in Novgorod.

An even greater danger for Novgorod was the advance from the west of the German crusading knights from the Livonian Order of the Swordsmen (united in 1237 with the Teutonic Order), and from the north - from Sweden, which in the first half of the 13th century intensified its attack on the lands of the Finnish tribe Em (Tavasts), traditionally included in the sphere of influence of the Novgorod princes. One might think that the news of Batu’s terrible defeat of Rus' prompted the rulers of Sweden to transfer military operations to the territory of the Novgorod land itself.

The Swedish army invaded the Novgorod borders in the summer of 1240. Their ships entered the Neva and stopped at the mouth of its tributary Izhora. Later Russian sources report that the Swedish army was led by the future famous Jarl Birger, the son-in-law of the Swedish king Erik Erikson and the long-time ruler of Sweden, but researchers are doubtful about this news. According to the chronicle, the Swedes intended to “capture Ladoga, or, simply put, Novgorod, and the entire Novgorod region.”

Battle with the Swedes on the Neva

This was the first truly serious test for the young Novgorod prince. And Alexander withstood it with honor, showing the qualities of not only a born commander, but also a statesman. It was then, upon receiving news of the invasion, that his now famous words were spoken: “ God is not in power, but in righteousness!”

Having gathered a small squad, Alexander did not wait for help from his father and set out on a campaign. Along the way, he united with the Ladoga residents and on July 15, he suddenly attacked the Swedish camp. The battle ended in complete victory for the Russians. The Novgorod Chronicle reports huge losses on the part of the enemy: “And many of them fell; they filled two ships with the bodies of the best men and sent them ahead of them on the sea, and for the others they dug a hole and threw them there without number.”

The Russians, according to the same chronicle, lost only 20 people. It is possible that the losses of the Swedes are exaggerated (it is significant that there is no mention of this battle in Swedish sources), and the Russians are underestimated. The synodikon of the Novgorod Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Plotniki, compiled in the 15th century, has been preserved with the mention of “princely governors, and Novgorod governors, and all our beaten brethren” who fell “on the Neva from the Germans under the Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich”; their memory was honored in Novgorod in the 15th and 16th centuries and later. Nevertheless, the significance of the Battle of the Neva is obvious: the Swedish onslaught in the direction of North-Western Rus' was stopped, and Rus' showed that, despite the Mongol conquest, it was able to defend its borders.

The life of Alexander especially highlights the feat of six “brave men” from Alexander’s regiment: Gavrila Oleksich, Sbyslav Yakunovich, Polotsk resident Yakov, Novgorodian Misha, warrior Sava from the junior squad (who cut down the golden-domed royal tent) and Ratmir, who died in the battle. The Life also tells about a miracle that occurred during the battle: on the opposite side of Izhora, where there were no Novgorodians at all, many corpses of fallen enemies were subsequently found, who were struck by the angel of the Lord.

This victory brought great fame to the twenty-year-old prince. It was in her honor that he received the honorary nickname - Nevsky.

Soon after his victorious return, Alexander quarreled with the Novgorodians. In the winter of 1240/41, the prince, together with his mother, wife and “his court” (that is, the army and the princely administration), left Novgorod for Vladimir, to his father, and from there “to reign” in Pereyaslavl. The reasons for his conflict with the Novgorodians are unclear. It can be assumed that Alexander sought to rule Novgorod with authority, following the example of his father, and this caused resistance from the Novgorod boyars. However, having lost a strong prince, Novgorod was unable to stop the advance of another enemy - the crusaders.

In the year of the Neva Victory, the knights, in alliance with the “chud” (Estonians), captured the city of Izborsk, and then Pskov, the most important outpost on the western borders of Rus'. The next year, the Germans invaded the Novgorod lands, took the city of Tesov on the Luga River and established the Koporye fortress. The Novgorodians turned to Yaroslav for help, asking him to send his son. Yaroslav first sent his son Andrei, Nevsky’s younger brother, to them, but after a repeated request from the Novgorodians he agreed to release Alexander again. In 1241, Alexander Nevsky returned to Novgorod and was enthusiastically received by the residents.

Battle on the Ice

And again he acted decisively and without any delay. In the same year, Alexander took the Koporye fortress. Some of the Germans were captured and some were sent home, while the traitors of the Estonians and leaders were hanged. The next year, with the Novgorodians and the Suzdal squad of his brother Andrei, Alexander moved to Pskov. The city was taken without much difficulty; the Germans who were in the city were killed or sent as booty to Novgorod. Building on their success, Russian troops entered Estonia. However, in the first clash with the knights, Alexander's guard detachment was defeated.

One of the governors, Domash Tverdislavich, was killed, many were taken prisoner, and the survivors fled to the prince’s regiment. The Russians had to retreat. On April 5, 1242, a battle took place on the ice of Lake Peipsi (“on Uzmen, at the Raven Stone”), which went down in history as the Battle of the Ice. The Germans and Estonians, moving in a wedge (in Russian, “pig”), penetrated the leading Russian regiment, but were then surrounded and completely defeated. “And they chased them, beating them, seven miles across the ice,” the chronicler testifies.

Russian and Western sources differ in their assessment of the losses of the German side. According to the Novgorod Chronicle, countless “chuds” and 400 (another list says 500) German knights died, and 50 knights were captured.

“And Prince Alexander returned with a glorious victory,” says the Life of the saint, “and there were many captives in his army, and they led barefoot next to the horses of those who call themselves “God’s knights.” There is also a story about this battle in the so-called Livonian Rhymed Chronicle of the late 13th century, but it reports only 20 dead and 6 captured German knights, which is apparently a strong understatement.

However, the differences with Russian sources can partly be explained by the fact that the Russians counted all killed and wounded Germans, and the author of the “Rhymed Chronicle” only counted “brother knights,” that is, actual members of the Order.

The Battle of the Ice was of great importance for the fate of not only Novgorod, but all of Russia. The crusader aggression was stopped on the ice of Lake Peipsi. Rus' received peace and stability on its northwestern borders.

In the same year, a peace treaty was concluded between Novgorod and the Order, according to which an exchange of prisoners took place, and all Russian territories captured by the Germans were returned. The chronicle conveys the words of the German ambassadors addressed to Alexander: “What we took by force without the prince, Vod, Luga, Pskov, Latygola - we are retreating from all of that. And if your husbands were captured, we are ready to exchange them: we will release yours, and you will release ours.”

Battle with Lithuanians

Success accompanied Alexander in battles with the Lithuanians. In 1245, he inflicted a severe defeat on them in a series of battles: at Toropets, near Zizhich and near Usvyat (not far from Vitebsk). Many Lithuanian princes were killed, and others were captured. “His servants, mocking, tied them to the tails of their horses,” says the author of the Life. “And from that time on they began to fear his name.” So the Lithuanian raids on Rus' were stopped for a while.

Another, later one is known Alexander's campaign against the Swedes - in 1256. It was undertaken in response to a new attempt by the Swedes to invade Rus' and establish a fortress on the eastern, Russian, bank of the Narova River. By that time, the fame of Alexander’s victories had already spread far beyond the borders of Rus'. Having learned not even about the performance of the Russian army from Novgorod, but only about preparations for the performance, the invaders “fled overseas.” This time Alexander sent his troops to Northern Finland, which had recently been annexed to the Swedish crown. Despite the hardships of the winter march through the snowy desert area, the campaign ended successfully: “And they all fought Pomerania: they killed some, and took others as captives, and returned back to their land with many captives.”

But Alexander not only fought with the West. Around 1251, an agreement was concluded between Novgorod and Norway on the settlement of border disputes and differentiation in the collection of tribute from the vast territory in which Karelians and Sami lived. At the same time, Alexander negotiated the marriage of his son Vasily to the daughter of the Norwegian king Hakon Hakonarson. True, these negotiations were not successful due to the invasion of Rus' by the Tatars - the so-called “Nevryu Army”.

In the last years of his life, between 1259 and 1262, Alexander, on his own behalf and on behalf of his son Dmitry (proclaimed Prince of Novgorod in 1259), “with all the Novgorodians,” concluded an agreement on trade with the “Gothic Coast” (Gotland), Lubeck and the German cities; this agreement played an important role in the history of Russian-German relations and turned out to be very durable (it was referred to even in 1420).

In the wars with Western opponents - the Germans, Swedes and Lithuanians - the military leadership talent of Alexander Nevsky clearly manifested itself. But his relationship with the Horde was completely different.

Relations with the Horde

After the death of Alexander's father, Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich of Vladimir, in 1246, who was poisoned in distant Karakorum, the grand-ducal throne passed to Alexander's uncle, Prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich. However, a year later, Alexander’s brother Andrei, a warlike, energetic and decisive prince, overthrew him. Subsequent events are not entirely clear. It is known that in 1247 Andrei, and after him Alexander, made a trip to the Horde, to Batu. He sent them even further, to Karakorum, the capital of the huge Mongol Empire (“to the Kanoviches,” as they said in Rus').

The brothers returned to Rus' only in December 1249. Andrei received from the Tatars a label for the grand-ducal throne in Vladimir, while Alexander received Kyiv and “the entire Russian land” (that is, Southern Rus'). Formally, Alexander’s status was higher, because Kyiv was still considered the main capital city of Rus'. But devastated by the Tatars and depopulated, it completely lost its significance, and therefore Alexander could hardly be satisfied with the decision made. Without even visiting Kyiv, he immediately went to Novgorod.

Negotiations with the Papal throne

His negotiations with the papal throne date back to the time of Alexander’s trip to the Horde. Two bulls of Pope Innocent IV, addressed to Prince Alexander and dated 1248, have survived. In them, the head of the Roman Church offered the Russian prince an alliance to fight against the Tatars - but on the condition that he accepted the church union and came under the protection of the Roman throne.

The papal legates did not find Alexander in Novgorod. However, one can think that even before his departure (and before receiving the first papal message), the prince held some negotiations with representatives of Rome. In anticipation of the upcoming trip “to the Kanoviches,” Alexander gave an evasive answer to the pope’s proposals, designed to continue the negotiations. In particular, he agreed to build a Latin church in Pskov - a church, which was quite common for ancient Rus' (such a Catholic church - the “Varangian goddess” - existed, for example, in Novgorod since the 11th century). The pope regarded the prince's consent as a willingness to agree to union. But such an assessment was deeply erroneous.

The prince probably received both papal messages upon his return from Mongolia. By this time he had made a choice - and not in favor of the West. According to researchers, what he saw on the way from Vladimir to Karakorum and back made a strong impression on Alexander: he became convinced of the indestructible power of the Mongol Empire and the impossibility of ruined and weakened Rus' to resist the power of the Tatar “kings”.

This is how the Life of the Prince conveys it famous response to papal envoys:

“Once upon a time, ambassadors from the Pope from great Rome came to him with the following words: “Our Pope says this: We heard that you are a worthy and glorious prince and your land is great. That’s why they sent to you two of the most skilled of the twelve cardinals... so that you could listen to their teaching about the law of God.”

Prince Alexander, having thought with his sages, wrote to him, saying: “From Adam to the flood, from the flood to the division of languages, from the confusion of languages ​​to the beginning of Abraham, from Abraham to the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, from the exodus of the children of Israel to death King David, from the beginning of the kingdom of Solomon to Augustus the King, from the beginning of Augustus to the Nativity of Christ, from the Nativity of Christ to the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord, from His Resurrection to the Ascension to Heaven, from the Ascension to Heaven to the Kingdom of Constantine, from the beginning of the Kingdom of Constantine until the first council, from the first council to the seventh - all that We know well, but we don’t accept teachings from you“. They returned home.”

In this answer of the prince, in his reluctance to even enter into debates with the Latin ambassadors, it was by no means some kind of religious limitation that was revealed, as it might seem at first glance. It was a choice both religious and political. Alexander was aware that the West would not be able to help Rus' liberate itself from the Horde yoke; the fight against the Horde, to which the papal throne called, could be disastrous for the country. Alexander was not ready to agree to a union with Rome (namely, this was an indispensable condition for the proposed union).

Acceptance of the union - even with the formal consent of Rome to preserve all Orthodox rites in worship - in practice could only mean simple submission to the Latins, both political and spiritual. The history of the dominance of the Latins in the Baltic states or in Galich (where they briefly established themselves in the 10s of the 13th century) clearly proved this.

So Prince Alexander chose a different path for himself - the path of refusal of all cooperation with the West and at the same time the path of forced submission to the Horde, acceptance of all its conditions. It was in this that he saw the only salvation both for his power over Russia - albeit limited by the recognition of Horde sovereignty - and for Rus' itself.

The period of the short-lived great reign of Andrei Yaroslavich is very poorly covered in Russian chronicles. However, it is obvious that a conflict was brewing between the brothers. Andrei - unlike Alexander - showed himself to be an opponent of the Tatars. In the winter of 1250/51, he married the daughter of the Galician prince Daniil Romanovich, a supporter of decisive resistance to the Horde. The threat of uniting the forces of North-Eastern and South-Western Rus' could not help but alarm the Horde.

The denouement came in the summer of 1252. Again, we don’t know exactly what happened then. According to the chronicles, Alexander again went to the Horde. During his stay there (and perhaps after his return to Rus'), a punitive expedition under the command of Nevruy was sent from the Horde against Andrei. In the battle of Pereyaslavl, the squad of Andrei and his brother Yaroslav, who supported him, was defeated. Andrei fled to Sweden. The northeastern lands of Rus' were plundered and devastated, many people were killed or taken prisoner.

In the Horde

The sources at our disposal are silent about any connection between Alexander’s trip to the Horde and the actions of the Tatars (4). However, one can guess that Alexander’s trip to the Horde was connected with changes on the khan’s throne in Karakorum, where in the summer of 1251 Mengu, an ally of Batu, was proclaimed great khan.

According to sources, “all the labels and seals that were indiscriminately issued to princes and nobles during the previous reign,” the new khan ordered to be taken away. This means that those decisions in accordance with which Alexander’s brother Andrei received the label for the great reign of Vladimir also lost force.

Unlike his brother, Alexander was extremely interested in revising these decisions and getting his hands on the great reign of Vladimir, to which he, as the eldest of the Yaroslavichs, had more rights than his younger brother.

One way or another, in the last open military clash between the Russian princes and the Tatars in the history of the turning point of the 13th century, Prince Alexander found himself - perhaps through no fault of his own - in the Tatar camp. It was from this time that we can definitely talk about the special “Tatar policy” of Alexander Nevsky - the policy of pacifying the Tatars and unquestioning obedience to them.

His subsequent frequent trips to the Horde (1257, 1258, 1262) were aimed at preventing new invasions of Rus'. The prince strove to regularly pay a huge tribute to the conquerors and to prevent protests against them in Rus' itself. Historians have different assessments of Alexander's Horde policies. Some see in it simple servility to a ruthless and invincible enemy, a desire to retain power over Russia by any means; others, on the contrary, consider the prince’s most important merit.

“The two feats of Alexander Nevsky - the feat of warfare in the West and the feat of humility in the East,” wrote the greatest historian of the Russian Abroad G.V. Vernadsky, “had one goal: the preservation of Orthodoxy as the moral and political force of the Russian people. This goal was achieved: the growth of the Russian Orthodox kingdom took place on the soil prepared by Alexander.”

The Soviet researcher of medieval Russia V. T. Pashuto also gave a close assessment of the policies of Alexander Nevsky: “With his careful, prudent policy, he saved Rus' from final ruin by the armies of nomads. Through armed struggle, trade policy, and selective diplomacy, he avoided new wars in the North and West, a possible but disastrous alliance with the papacy for Rus', and a rapprochement between the Curia and the Crusaders and the Horde. He gained time, allowing Rus' to grow stronger and recover from the terrible ruin.”

Be that as it may, it is indisputable that Alexander’s policy for a long time determined the relationship between Russia and the Horde, and largely determined Rus'’s choice between East and West. Subsequently, this policy of pacifying the Horde (or, if you prefer, currying favor with the Horde) will be continued by the Moscow princes - the grandchildren and great-grandsons of Alexander Nevsky. But the historical paradox - or rather, the historical pattern - is that it is they, the heirs of the Horde policy of Alexander Nevsky, who will be able to revive the power of Rus' and ultimately throw off the hated Horde yoke.

The prince erected churches, rebuilt cities

...In the same 1252, Alexander returned from the Horde to Vladimir with a label for the great reign and was solemnly placed on the grand prince's throne. After the terrible devastation of Nevryuev, he first of all had to take care of the restoration of the destroyed Vladimir and other Russian cities. The prince “erected churches, rebuilt cities, gathered dispersed people into their homes,” testifies the author of the prince’s Life. The prince showed special concern for the Church, decorating churches with books and utensils, bestowing them with rich gifts and land.

Novgorod unrest

Novgorod gave Alexander a lot of trouble. In 1255, the Novgorodians expelled Alexander's son Vasily and put Prince Yaroslav Yaroslavich, Nevsky's brother, in reign. Alexander approached the city with his squad. However, bloodshed was avoided: as a result of negotiations, a compromise was reached, and the Novgorodians submitted.

A new unrest in Novgorod occurred in 1257. It was caused by the appearance in Rus' of Tatar “chislenniks” - census takers who were sent from the Horde to more accurately tax the population with tribute. Russian people of that time treated the census with mystical horror, seeing in it a sign of the Antichrist - a harbinger of the last times and the Last Judgment. In the winter of 1257, the Tatar “numerals” “numbered the entire land of Suzdal, and Ryazan, and Murom, and appointed foremen, and thousanders, and temniks,” the chronicler wrote. From the “numbers,” that is, from tribute, only the clergy were exempted - “church people” (the Mongols invariably exempted the servants of God from tribute in all the countries they conquered, regardless of religion, so that they could freely turn to various gods with words of prayer for their conquerors).

In Novgorod, which was not directly affected by either Batu’s invasion or the “Nevryuev’s army,” the news of the census was greeted with particular bitterness. The unrest in the city continued for a whole year. Even Alexander’s son, Prince Vasily, was on the side of the townspeople. When his father appeared, accompanying the Tatars, he fled to Pskov. This time the Novgorodians avoided the census, limiting themselves to paying a rich tribute to the Tatars. But their refusal to fulfill the Horde’s will aroused the wrath of the Grand Duke.

Vasily was exiled to Suzdal, the instigators of the riots were severely punished: some, on the orders of Alexander, were executed, others had their noses “cut,” and others were blinded. Only in the winter of 1259 did the Novgorodians finally agree to “give a number.” Nevertheless, the appearance of Tatar officials caused a new rebellion in the city. Only with the personal participation of Alexander and under the protection of the princely squad was the census carried out. “And the accursed began to travel through the streets, copying Christian houses,” reports the Novgorod chronicler. After the end of the census and the departure of the Tatars, Alexander left Novgorod, leaving his young son Dmitry as prince.

In 1262, Alexander made peace with the Lithuanian prince Mindaugas. In the same year, he sent a large army under the nominal command of his son Dmitry against the Livonian Order. This campaign was attended by the squads of Alexander Nevsky’s younger brother Yaroslav (with whom he managed to reconcile), as well as his new ally, the Lithuanian prince Tovtivil, who settled in Polotsk. The campaign ended in a major victory - the city of Yuryev (Tartu) was taken.

At the end of the same 1262, Alexander went to the Horde for the fourth (and last) time. “In those days there was great violence from non-believers,” says the Prince’s Life; “they persecuted Christians, forcing them to fight on their side. The great prince Alexander went to the king (Horde Khan Berke - A.K.) to pray his people away from this misfortune.” Probably, the prince also sought to rid Rus' of the new punitive expedition of the Tatars: in the same year, 1262, a popular uprising broke out in a number of Russian cities (Rostov, Suzdal, Yaroslavl) against the excesses of Tatar tribute collectors.

The last days of Alexander

Alexander obviously managed to achieve his goals. However, Khan Berke detained him for almost a year. Only in the fall of 1263, already ill, Alexander returned to Rus'. Having reached Nizhny Novgorod, the prince became completely ill. In Gorodets on the Volga, already feeling the approach of death, Alexander took monastic vows (according to later sources, with the name Alexei) and died on November 14. His body was transported to Vladimir and on November 23 buried in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary of the Vladimir Nativity Monastery in front of a huge crowd of people. The words with which Metropolitan Kirill announced to the people about the death of the Grand Duke are known: “My children, know that the sun of the land of Suzdal has already set!” The Novgorod chronicler put it differently - and perhaps more accurately: Prince Alexander “worked for Novgorod and for the entire Russian land.”

Church veneration

Church veneration of the holy prince began, apparently, immediately after his death. The life tells of a miracle that happened during the burial itself: when the prince’s body was laid in the tomb and Metropolitan Kirill, according to custom, wanted to place a spiritual letter in his hand, people saw how the prince, “as if alive, stretched out his hand and accepted the letter from his hand.” Metropolitan... Thus God glorified his saint.”

Several decades after the death of the prince, his Life was compiled, which was subsequently repeatedly subjected to various alterations, revisions and additions (in total there are up to twenty editions of the Life, dating from the 13th-19th centuries). The official canonization of the prince by the Russian Church took place in 1547, at a church council convened by Metropolitan Macarius and Tsar Ivan the Terrible, when many new Russian wonderworkers, previously revered only locally, were canonized. The Church equally glorifies the prince’s military prowess, “never defeated in battle, but always victorious,” and his feat of meekness, patience “more than courage” and “invincible humility” (in the seemingly paradoxical expression of the Akathist).

If we turn to the subsequent centuries of Russian history, then we will see a kind of second, posthumous biography of the prince, whose invisible presence is clearly felt in many events - and above all in the turning points, the most dramatic moments in the life of the country. The first discovery of his relics took place in the year of the great Kulikovo victory, won by the great-grandson of Alexander Nevsky, the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy in 1380. In miraculous visions, Prince Alexander Yaroslavich appears as a direct participant in both the Battle of Kulikovo itself and the Battle of Molodi in 1572, when the troops of Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Vorotynsky defeated the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey just 45 kilometers from Moscow.

The image of Alexander Nevsky is seen above Vladimir in 1491, a year after the final overthrow of the Horde yoke. In 1552, during the campaign against Kazan, which led to the conquest of the Kazan Khanate, Tsar Ivan the Terrible performed a prayer service at the tomb of Alexander Nevsky, and during this prayer service a miracle occurred, regarded by everyone as a sign of the coming victory. The relics of the holy prince, which remained in the Vladimir Nativity Monastery until 1723, exuded numerous miracles, information about which was carefully recorded by the monastic authorities.

A new page in the veneration of the holy and blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky began in the 18th century, under the emperor Peter the Great. The conqueror of the Swedes and the founder of St. Petersburg, which became for Russia a “window to Europe,” Peter saw in Prince Alexander his immediate predecessor in the fight against Swedish domination on the Baltic Sea and hastened to transfer the city he founded on the banks of the Neva under his heavenly protection. Back in 1710, Peter ordered that the name of St. Alexander Nevsky be included in the dismissals during divine services as a prayer representative for the “Neva Country.” In the same year, he personally chose the place to build a monastery in the name of the Holy Trinity and St. Alexander Nevsky - the future Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Peter wanted to transfer the relics of the holy prince here from Vladimir.

Wars with the Swedes and Turks slowed down the fulfillment of this desire, and only in 1723 did they begin to fulfill it. On August 11, with all due solemnity, the holy relics were taken out of the Nativity Monastery; the procession headed towards Moscow and then towards St. Petersburg; Everywhere she was accompanied by prayer services and crowds of believers. According to Peter's plan, the holy relics were supposed to be brought into the new capital of Russia on August 30 - the day of the conclusion of the Treaty of Nystadt with the Swedes (1721). However, the distance of the journey did not allow this plan to be implemented, and the relics arrived in Shlisselburg only on October 1. By order of the emperor, they were left in the Shlisselburg Church of the Annunciation, and their transfer to St. Petersburg was postponed until next year.

The meeting of the shrine in St. Petersburg on August 30, 1724 was distinguished by special solemnity. According to legend, on the last leg of the journey (from the mouth of Izhora to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery), Peter personally ruled the galley with a precious cargo, and at the oars were his closest associates, the first dignitaries of the state. At the same time, an annual celebration of the memory of the holy prince was established on the day of the transfer of the relics on August 30.

Nowadays the Church celebrates the memory of the holy and blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky twice a year: November 23 (December 6, new style) and August 30 (September 12).

Days of celebration of St. Alexander Nevsky:

• May 23 (June 5, new art.) - Cathedral of Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints
• August 30 (September 12 according to the new art.) - the day of transfer of the relics to St. Petersburg (1724) - the main one
• November 14 (November 27 according to the new art.) - day of death in Gorodets (1263) - canceled
• November 23 (December 6, New Art.) - day of burial in Vladimir, in the schema of Alexy (1263)

Myths about Alexander Nevsky

1. The battles for which Prince Alexander became famous were so insignificant that they are not even mentioned in Western chronicles.

Not true! This idea was born out of pure ignorance. The Battle of Lake Peipsi is reflected in German sources, in particular in the “Elder Livonian Rhymed Chronicle”. Based on it, some historians talk about the insignificant scale of the battle, because the Chronicle reports the death of only twenty knights. But here it is important to understand that we are talking specifically about “brother knights” who performed the role of senior commanders. Nothing is said about the death of their warriors and representatives of the Baltic tribes recruited into the army, who formed the backbone of the army.

As for the Battle of the Neva, it was not reflected in any way in the Swedish chronicles. But, according to the largest Russian specialist on the history of the Baltic region in the Middle Ages, Igor Shaskolsky, “... this should not be surprising. In medieval Sweden, until the beginning of the 14th century, no major narrative works on the history of the country, such as Russian chronicles and large Western European chronicles, were created.” In other words, the Swedes have nowhere to look for traces of the Battle of the Neva.

2. The West did not pose a threat to Russia at that time, unlike the Horde, which Prince Alexander used exclusively to strengthen his personal power.

Not like that again! It is hardly possible to talk about a “united West” in the 13th century. Perhaps it would be more correct to talk about the world of Catholicism, but it, as a whole, was very colorful, heterogeneous and fragmented. Rus' was really threatened not by the “West”, but by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders, as well as the Swedish conquerors. And for some reason they were defeated on Russian territory, and not at home in Germany or Sweden, and, therefore, the threat posed by them was quite real.
As for the Horde, there is a source (Ustyug Chronicle) that makes it possible to assume the organizing role of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich in the anti-Horde uprising.

3. Prince Alexander did not defend Rus' and the Orthodox faith, he simply fought for power and used the Horde to physically eliminate his own brother.

This is just speculation. Prince Alexander Yaroslavich first of all defended what he inherited from his father and grandfather. In other words, with great skill he performed the task of a guardian, a guardian. As for the death of his brother, it is necessary, before such verdicts, to study the question of how he, in his recklessness and youth, put down the Russian army without benefit and in what way he acquired power in general. This will show: it was not so much Prince Alexander Yaroslavich who was his destroyer, but rather he himself laid claim to the role of the quick destroyer of Rus'...

4. By turning to the east, and not to the west, Prince Alexander laid the foundations for the future rampant despotism in the country. His contacts with the Mongols made Rus' an Asian power.

This is completely groundless journalism. All Russian princes were in contact with the Horde at that time. After 1240, they had a choice: to die themselves and subject Rus' to new devastation, or to survive and prepare the country for new battles and ultimately for liberation. Someone rushed headlong into battle, but 90 percent of our princes of the second half of the 13th century chose a different path. And here Alexander Nevsky is no different from our other sovereigns of that period.

As for the “Asian power”, there are indeed different points of view here today. But as a historian, I believe that Rus' never became one. It was not and is not part of Europe or Asia or some kind of mixture where the European and Asian take on different proportions depending on the circumstances. Rus' represents a cultural and political essence that is sharply different from both Europe and Asia. Just as Orthodoxy is neither Catholicism, nor Islam, nor Buddhism, nor any other confession.

Metropolitan Kirill about Alexander Nevsky - the name of Russia

On October 5, 2008, in a television program dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, Metropolitan Kirill gave a fiery 10-minute speech in which he tried to reveal this image so that it would become accessible to a wide audience. The Metropolitan began with questions: Why can a noble prince from the distant past, from the 13th century, become the name of Russia? What do we know about him? Answering these questions, the Metropolitan compares Alexander Nevsky with the other twelve contenders: “You need to know history very well and you need to feel history in order to understand the modernity of this man...

I looked carefully at everyone's names. Each of the candidates is a representative of his workshop: politician, scientist, writer, poet, economist... Alexander Nevsky was not a representative of the workshop, because he was at the same time the greatest strategist... a person who sensed not political, but civilizational dangers for Russia. He did not fight against specific enemies, not against the East or the West. He fought for national identity, for national self-understanding. Without him there would be no Russia, no Russians, no our civilizational code.”

According to Metropolitan Kirill, Alexander Nevsky was a politician who defended Russia with “very subtle and courageous diplomacy.” He understood that it was impossible at that moment to defeat the Horde, which “ironed Russia twice,” captured Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, reached the Adriatic Sea, and invaded China. “Why doesn’t he start a fight against the Horde? – asks the Metropolitan. – Yes, the Horde captured Rus'. But the Tatar-Mongols did not need our soul and did not need our brains. The Tatar-Mongols needed our pockets, and they turned these pockets out, but did not encroach on our national identity. They were not able to overcome our civilizational code.

But when danger arose from the West, when the armored Teutonic knights went to Rus', there was no compromise. When the Pope writes a letter to Alexander, trying to win him over to his side... Alexander answers “no”. He sees a civilizational danger, he meets these armored knights on Lake Peipsi and defeats them, just as he, by a miracle of God, defeated the Swedish warriors who entered the Neva with a small squad.”

Alexander Nevsky, according to the Metropolitan, gives away “superstructural values”, allowing the Mongols to collect tribute from Russia: “He understands that this is not scary. Mighty Russia will return all this money. We must preserve the soul, national self-awareness, national will, and we must give the opportunity to what our wonderful historiosopher Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov called “ethnogenesis.” Everything is destroyed, we need to accumulate strength. And if they had not accumulated forces, if they had not pacified the Horde, if they had not stopped the Livonian invasion, where would Russia be? She wouldn't exist."

As Metropolitan Kirill asserts, following Gumilyov, Alexander Nevsky was the creator of that multinational and multi-confessional “Russian world” that exists to this day. It was he who “teared the Golden Horde away from the Great Steppe”*.

With his cunning political move, he “persuaded Batu not to pay tribute to the Mongols. And the Great Steppe, this center of aggression against the whole world, found itself isolated from Rus' by the Golden Horde, which began to be drawn into the area of ​​Russian civilization. These are the first vaccinations of our union with the Tatar people, with the Mongol tribes. These are the first inoculations of our multinationality and multireligion. This is where it all started. He laid the foundation for the world-being of our people, which determined the further development of Rus' as Russia, as a great state.”

Alexander Nevsky, according to Metropolitan Kirill, is a collective image: he is a ruler, thinker, philosopher, strategist, warrior, hero. Personal courage is combined in him with deep religiosity: “At a critical moment, when the power and strength of the commander should be shown, he enters into single combat and hits Birger in the face with a spear... And where did it all start? He prayed at Hagia Sophia in Novgorod. A nightmare, hordes many times larger. What resistance? He comes out and addresses his people. With what words? God is not in power, but in truth... Can you imagine what words? What power!”

Metropolitan Kirill calls Alexander Nevsky an “epic hero”: “He was 20 years old when he defeated the Swedes, 22 years old when he drowned the Livonians on Lake Peipsi... A young, handsome guy!.. Brave... strong.” Even his appearance is the “face of Russia.” But the most important thing is that, being a politician, strategist, commander, Alexander Nevsky became a saint. “Oh my God! – Metropolitan Kirill exclaims. – If Russia had had holy rulers after Alexander Nevsky, what would our history be like! This is a collective image as much as a collective image can be... This is our hope, because even today we need what Alexander Nevsky did... Let us give our not only our voices, but also our hearts to the holy noble Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky - the savior and organizer of Russia !”

(From the book of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) “Patriarch Kirill: life and worldview”)

Vladyka Metropolitan Kirill’s answers to questions from viewers of the “Name of Russia” project about Alexander Nevsky

Wikipedia calls Alexander Nevsky “the favorite prince of the clergy.” Do you share this assessment and, if so, what is the reason for it? Semyon Borzenko

Dear Semyon, it’s difficult for me to say what exactly guided the authors of the free encyclopedia “Wikipedia” when they named St. Alexander Nevsky. Perhaps because the prince was canonized and is revered in the Orthodox Church, solemn services are held in his honor. However, the Church also reveres other holy princes, for example, Dimitri Donskoy and Daniil of Moscow, and it would be wrong to single out a “beloved” from among them. I believe that such a name could also have been adopted by the prince because during his lifetime he favored the Church and patronized it.

Unfortunately, the pace of my life and the amount of work I do allow me to use the Internet exclusively for business purposes. I regularly visit, say, informational sites, but I have absolutely no time left to view those sites that would be personally interesting to me. Therefore, I was not able to take part in the voting on the “Name of Russia” website, but I supported Alexander Nevsky by voting by telephone.

He defeated Rurik's descendants (1241), fought for power in civil wars, betrayed his own brother to the pagans (1252), and scratched out the eyes of the Novgorodians with his own hands (1257). Is the Russian Orthodox Church really ready to canonize Satan to maintain a split in churches? Ivan Nezabudko

When talking about certain acts of Alexander Nevsky, it is necessary to take into account many different factors. This is also the historical era in which St. lived. Alexander - then many actions that seem strange to us today were completely commonplace. This is the political situation in the state - remember that at that time the country was experiencing a serious threat from the Tatar-Mongols, and St. Alexander did everything possible to reduce this threat to a minimum. As for the facts you cite from the life of St. Alexander Nevsky, then historians still cannot confirm or refute many of them, much less give them an unambiguous assessment.

For example, there are many ambiguities in the relationship between Alexander Nevsky and his brother Prince Andrei. There is a point of view according to which Alexander complained to the khan about his brother and asked to send an armed detachment to deal with him. However, this fact is not mentioned in any ancient source. The first time this was reported was only by V.N. Tatishchev in his “Russian History”, and there is every reason to believe that the author here got carried away with historical reconstruction - he “thought out” something that actually did not happen. N.M. Karamzin, in particular, thought so: “According to Tatishchev’s invention, Alexander informed Khan that his younger brother Andrei, having appropriated the Great Reign, was deceiving the Mughals, giving them only part of the tribute, etc.” (Karamzin N.M. History of the Russian State. M., 1992. T.4. P. 201. Note 88).

Many historians today tend to adhere to a different point of view than Tatishchev. Andrei, as is known, pursued a policy independent of Batu, while relying on the khan’s rivals. As soon as Batu took power into his own hands, he immediately dealt with his opponents, sending detachments not only against Andrei Yaroslavich, but also against Daniil Romanovich.

I am not aware of a single fact that could at least indirectly indicate that the veneration of St. Alexander Nevsky is a reason for a church schism. In 1547, the noble prince was canonized, and his memory is sacredly revered not only in the Russian, but also in many other Local Orthodox Churches.

Finally, let us not forget that when deciding on the canonization of a person, the Church takes into account such factors as the prayerful veneration of the people and the miracles performed through these prayers. Both of these took place and are happening in large numbers in connection with Alexander Nevsky. As for the mistakes such a person makes in life, or even his sins, we must remember that “there is no man who will live and not sin.” Sins are expiated by repentance and sorrow. Both of these, and especially the other, were present in the life of the noble prince, as they were in the lives of such sinners who became saints as Mary of Egypt, Moses Murin and many others.

I am sure that if you carefully and thoughtfully read the life of St. Alexander Nevsky, you will understand why he was canonized.

How does the Russian Orthodox Church feel about the fact that Prince Alexander Nevsky handed over his brother Andrei to the Tatars and threatened his son Vasily with war? Or is this as canonical as the blessing of warheads? Alexey Karakovsky

Alexey, in the first part, your question echoes the question of Ivan Nezabudko. As for the “blessing of warheads,” I am not aware of a single similar case. The Church has always blessed its children for the defense of the Fatherland, guided by the commandment of the Savior. It is for these reasons that the rite of blessing weapons has existed since ancient times. At every Liturgy we pray for the army of our country, realizing how heavy a responsibility lies on the people who stand guard with arms in their hands to guard the security of the Fatherland.

Is it not so, Vladyka, that when choosing Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich we are choosing a myth, a film image, a legend?

I'm sure not. Alexander Nevsky is a very specific historical figure, a man who did a lot for our Fatherland and laid the foundations for the very existence of Russia for a long time. Historical sources allow us to learn quite definitely about his life and activities. Of course, in the time that has passed since the death of the saint, human rumor has introduced a certain element of legend into his image, which once again testifies to the deep veneration that the Russian people have always given to the prince, but I am convinced that this shade of legend cannot serve as an obstacle to that so that today we perceive Saint Alexander as a real historical character.

Dear Lord. What qualities, in your opinion, of the Russian hero, Saint Alexander Nevsky, could the current Russian government pay attention to, and, if possible, adopt? What principles of government are still relevant today? Victor Zorin

Victor, Saint Alexander Nevsky belongs not only to his time. His image is relevant for Russia today, in the 21st century. The most important quality, which, it seems to me, should be inherent in power at all times, is boundless love for the Fatherland and one’s people. The entire political activity of Alexander Nevsky was determined by this strong and sublime feeling.

Dear Vladyka, answer whether Alexander Nevsky is close to the souls of the people of today’s modern Russia, and not just of Ancient Rus'. Especially nations professing Islam and not Orthodoxy? Sergey Krainov

Sergey, I am sure that the image of St. Alexander Nevsky is close to Russia at all times. Despite the fact that the prince lived several centuries ago, his life and his activities are still relevant for us today. Do such qualities as love for the Motherland, for God, for one’s neighbor, or the willingness to lay down one’s life for the sake of the peace and well-being of the Fatherland, have a statute of limitations? Can they be inherent only to the Orthodox and be alien to Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, who have long lived peacefully, side by side, in multinational and multi-confessional Russia - a country that has never known wars on religious grounds?

As for Muslims themselves, I will give you just one example that speaks for itself - in the program “The Name of Russia,” shown on November 9, there was an interview with a Muslim leader who came out in support of Alexander Nevsky because it was the holy prince who laid the foundations for dialogue East and West, Christianity and Islam. The name of Alexander Nevsky is equally dear to all people living in our country, regardless of their nationality or religious affiliation.

Why did you decide to take part in the “Name of Russia” project and act as Alexander Nevsky’s “lawyer”? In your opinion, why do most people today choose not a politician, scientist or cultural figure, but a saint, to name Russia? Vika Ostroverkhova

Vika, several circumstances prompted me to participate in the project as a “defender” of Alexander Nevsky.

Firstly, I am convinced that it is Saint Alexander Nevsky who should become the name of Russia. In my speeches, I repeatedly argued my position. Who, if not a saint, can and should be named “in the name of Russia”? Holiness is a concept that has no temporal boundaries, extending into eternity. If our people choose a saint as their national hero, this indicates a spiritual revival taking place in the minds of people. This is especially important today.

Secondly, this saint is very close to me. My childhood and youth were spent in St. Petersburg, where the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky rest. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to often resort to this shrine, to pray to the holy prince at his resting place. While studying at the Leningrad theological schools, which are located in close proximity to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, all of us, then students, clearly felt the gracious help that Alexander Nevsky provided to those who called on him with faith and hope in their prayers. At the relics of the holy prince I received ordination to all degrees of the priesthood. Therefore, I have deeply personal experiences associated with the name of Alexander Nevsky.

Dear Master! The project is called “Name of Russia”. For the first time the word Russia was heard almost 300 years after the prince’s dormition! Under Ivan the Terrible. And Alexander Yaroslavich just reigned in one of the fragments of Kievan Rus - an upgraded version of Great Scythia. So what does St. Alexander Nevsky have to do with Russia?

The most direct thing. In your question you touch on a fundamentally important topic. Who do we consider ourselves to be today? Heirs of what culture? Bearers of what civilization? From what point in history should we count our existence? Is it really only since the reign of Ivan the Terrible? A lot depends on the answer to these questions. We have no right to be Ivans who do not remember our kinship. The history of Russia begins long before Ivan the Terrible, and it is enough to open a school history textbook to be convinced of this.

Please tell us about the posthumous miracles of Alexander Nevsky from the moment of his death to the present day. Anisina Natalya

Natalya, there are a great many such miracles. You can read about them in detail in the life of the saint, as well as in many books dedicated to Alexander Nevsky. Moreover, I am sure that every person who sincerely, with deep faith called upon the holy prince in his prayers, had his own small miracle in his life.

Dear Lord! Is the Russian Orthodox Church considering the issue of canonizing other Princes, such as Ivan IV the Terrible and I.V. Stalin? After all, they were autocrats who increased the power of the state. Alexey Pechkin

Alexey, many princes besides Alexander Nevsky have been canonized. When deciding on the canonization of a person, the Church takes into account many factors, and achievements in the political field do not play a decisive role here. The Russian Orthodox Church does not consider the issue of canonization of Ivan the Terrible or Stalin, who, although they did a lot for the state, did not show qualities in their lives that could indicate their holiness.

Prayer to the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky

(to schemamonastic Alexy)

Quick helper to all those who diligently come running to you, and our warm representative before the Lord, holy and blessed Grand Duke Alexandra! look mercifully upon us, unworthy, who have created for ourselves by many iniquities, who now flow to the race of your relics and cry out from the depths of your soul: in your life you were a zealot and defender of the Orthodox faith, and you have unshakably established us in it with your warm prayers to God. You carefully carried out the great service entrusted to you, and with your help, instruct us to abide in what we were called to do. You, having defeated the regiments of adversaries, drove away from the borders of Russia, and brought down all visible and invisible enemies against us. You, having left the corruptible crown of the earthly kingdom, you chose a silent life, and now, righteously crowned with an incorruptible crown, reigning in heaven, you intercede for us too, we humbly pray to you, a quiet and serene life, and arrange for us a steady march towards the eternal Kingdom of God. Standing before the throne of God with all the saints, pray for all Orthodox Christians, may the Lord God preserve them with His grace in peace, health, long life and all prosperity in the coming years, may we ever glorify and bless God, in the Trinity of the Holy Saints, the Father and the Son and The Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Troparion, Tone 4:
Know your brethren, Russian Joseph, not in Egypt, but reigning in heaven, faithful Prince Alexander, and accept their prayers, multiplying the lives of people with the fruitfulness of your land, protecting the cities of your dominion with prayer, helping Orthodox people to resist.

Troparion, Voice of the same:
As you were at the root of a pious and most honorable branch, blessed Alexandra, for Christ manifests you as a kind of Divine treasure of the Russian land, a new miracle worker, glorious and God-pleasing. And today, having come together in your memory with faith and love, in psalms and singing we joyfully glorify the Lord, who gave you the grace of healing. Pray to him to save this city, and for our country to be pleasing to God, and for our sons of Russia to be saved.

Kontakion, Tone 8:
As we honor your bright star, which shone from the east and came to the west, enriching this entire country with miracles and kindness, and enlightening with faith those who honor your memory, blessed Alexandra. For this reason, today we celebrate your dormition, your existing people, pray to save your Fatherland, and all your relics flowing to the race, and truly crying out to you: Rejoice, strengthening of our city.

In Kontakion, Tone 4:
Just like your relatives, Boris and Gleb, appeared from Heaven to help you, struggling against Weilger Sveisk and his warriors: so you too now, blessed Alexandra, come to the aid of your relatives, and overcome those who fight us.

Icons of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky

176.3

In the conditions of terrible trials that befell the Russian lands, Alexander Nevsky managed to find the strength to resist the Western conquerors, gaining fame as a great Russian commander, and also laid the foundations for relations with the Golden Horde.

Already in the 1280s, the veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began in Vladimir, and he was later officially canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Alexander Nevsky was the only Orthodox secular ruler not only in Rus', but throughout Europe, who did not compromise with the Catholic Church in order to maintain power. With the participation of his son Dmitry Alexandrovich and Metropolitan Kirill, a hagiographical story was written, which became widespread and later became widely known (15 editions have survived).

In 1724, Peter I founded a monastery in St. Petersburg in honor of his great compatriot (now the Alexander Nevsky Lavra) and ordered the remains of the prince to be transported there. He also decided to celebrate the memory of Alexander Nevsky on August 30, the day of the conclusion of the victorious Peace of Nystadt with Sweden. In 1725, Empress Catherine I established the Order of Alexander Nevsky, one of the highest awards in Russia that existed until 1917.

During the Great Patriotic War in 1942, the Soviet Order of Alexander Nevsky was established, which was awarded to commanders from platoons to divisions inclusive, who showed personal courage and ensured the successful actions of their units.

Article by T. Sukharev “Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky” from the “New Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron” (1911 -1916). The article is presented preserving the original spelling and punctuation

Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky , Saint, second son of Grand Duke Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Born May 30, 1220, died November 14, 1263. In 1228, together with his older brother Fedor, he was left by his father in Novgorod, but due to unrest, the princes were forced to go to their father that same year. From 1230, Grand Duke Yaroslav managed to leave Novgorod again behind Feodor and A. The former died in 1233, and Yaroslav in 1236 went to reign in Kyiv. From this time on, the independence of A. began. This coincided with the appearance of the Tatars in Rus'. Due to lakes and swamps, the Tatars did not reach Novgorod, but it was impossible to guarantee its freedom in the future. Another closer and more serious danger arose before the young prince from the Swedes, Livonians and Lithuania. The struggle with the Livonians and the Swedes was, at the same time, a struggle between the Orthodox East and the Catholic West. In 1237, the disparate forces of the Livonians - the Teutonic Order and the Swordsmen - united against the Russians. A., having celebrated his wedding in 1239 with Alexandra, daughter of Bryachislav of Polotsk, began to strengthen the western border of his region along the Sheloni River. The following year, the Germans attacked the Pskov region, and the Swedes, encouraged by the pope, moved to Novgorod under the leadership of the ruler of the country himself, the royal son-in-law Birger. Confident of victory, Birger sent A. a declaration of war, proud and arrogant: “If you can, resist, know that I am already here and will take your land captive.” Novgorod was left to its own devices. Rus', defeated by the Tatars, could not provide him with any support. With a relatively small squad of Novgorodians and Ladoga residents, A., on the night of July 15, surprised the Swedes when they stopped at a rest camp at the mouth of Izhora, on the Neva, and inflicted complete defeat on them. Fighting himself in the front ranks, A. “put a seal on the forehead of the unfaithful thief (Birger) with the tip of a sword.” This victory gave him the nickname Nevsky and immediately placed him on a pedestal of great glory in the eyes of his contemporaries. The impression of the victory was all the stronger because it occurred during a difficult time of adversity in the rest of Rus'. In the eyes of the people on A. and Novgorod land, the special grace of God was manifested. The author of the chronicle about the life and exploits of A. notes that in this battle “I found a lot of beaten (enemies) from the angel of the Lord.” A legend appeared about the appearance of the martyred princes Boris and Gleb to Pelgusius, who were going to the aid of their “relative Alexander.” Tall, slender and handsome, with a loud voice, the young hero became charming. However, the Novgorodians, always jealous of their liberties, managed to quarrel with A. in the same year. , and he retired to his father, who gave him Pereyaslavl Zalessky. Meanwhile, the Livonian Germans, Chud and Lithuania were advancing on Novgorod. They fought and imposed tribute on the leaders, built a fortress in Koporye, took the city of Tesov, plundered the lands along the river. Luga and began to rob Novgorod merchants 30 versts from Novgorod. The Novgorodians turned to Yaroslav for a prince; he gave them his second son, Andrei. This did not satisfy them. They sent a second embassy to ask A. In 1241, A. came to Novgorod and cleared his region of enemies, and the next year, together with Andrei, he moved to the aid of Pskov, where the German governors were sitting. Pskov was liberated, and A. headed to the Peipus land, into the possessions of the order. The decisive battle took place on Lake Peipsi on April 5, 1242. This battle is known as the Battle of the Ice. The Russians drove the Germans across the ice for 7 miles; 400 -- 500 knights fell and up to 50 were captured. The master of the order was afraid of A.'s campaign against Riga and turned to the Danish king for help. But A. still needed to put an end to the Lithuanian raids. With a series of victories in 1242 and 1245, according to the chronicler, he instilled such fear in the Lithuanians that they began to “fear his name.” The six-year victorious defense of A. northern Rus' led to the fact that the Germans, according to a peace treaty, abandoned all recent conquests and ceded A. part of Letgolia. There is news that Pope Innocent IV in 1251 sent two cardinals to A. with a bull written in 1248. The pope, promising help to the Livonians in the fight against the Tatars, convinced A. to follow the example of his father, who allegedly agreed to submit to the Roman throne. According to the chronicler's story, A., after consulting with wise people, outlined the entire sacred history and in conclusion said: “We have learned everything that is good, but we do not accept teachings from you.” In 1256, the Swedes tried to take the Finnish coast away from Novgorod by starting to build a fortress on the river. Narova, but at the mere rumor of A.’s approach, they ran back with the Suzdal and Novgorod regiments. To frighten them even more, A., despite the extreme difficulties of the winter campaign, penetrated Finland and fought along the coast. A. turned out to be completely different in relation to the Tatars: given the small number and fragmentation of the Russian population in the eastern lands at that time, it was impossible to even think about liberation from their power. All that remained was to rely on the generosity of the winners. The Tatars, who mercilessly exterminated everything that resisted, were lenient and generous towards the submissive. A. understood this and decided to get along with them, no matter what. Having buried his father (1246), he, at the request of Batu, went for the first time to bow to the khan (1247). Batu sent him, along with his brother Andrei, who had previously arrived in the Horde, to the Great Khan in Mongolia. It took them two years to complete this journey. In their absence, their brother, Mikhail Khoroborit of Moscow, took the great reign of Vladimir from his uncle Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich (1248), but died in the same year in a campaign against Lithuania. After the removal of Svyatoslav, Alexander and Andrey became the oldest in the family, except for Vladimir of Uglitsky, who died in 1249. Being stronger than Vladimir, the Yaroslavichs could only compete with each other. And the chronicler notes that they had “a direct message about the great reign.” The Khan granted Andrei the principality of Vladimir, and A. gave Kyiv and Novgorod (1249). After the Tatar devastation, Kyiv lost all significance; therefore A. settled in Novgorod. He realized that submission to the conqueror could bring benefits to the princes that they had never had before. It was easier and more convenient for the Tatars to deal with obedient princes than with the numerous and fickle veche. It was in their interests to strengthen the princely power, especially the power of the Grand Duke. And this was necessary to strengthen Rus', torn apart by strife. Andrei, by his nature, was not capable of such a role (see Andrei Yaroslavich). In 1252, Tatar hordes led by Tsarevich Nevryuy were moved against Andrei. Andrei, in alliance with his brother, Yaroslav Tversky, fought with the Tatars, but was defeated and fled to Sweden through Novgorod. This was the first attempt to openly oppose the Tatars in northern Rus' and the first Tatar militia brought to Russian soil for the personal reasons of the Russian prince. There is news that the invasion of Nevryuy was the work of A., who went to the Horde in 1252 and allegedly said there that Andrei “does not pay for exits and tamgas in full” (Belyaev blames Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich for this, who went to the Horde in 1250). After Andrei's flight, the great reign of Vladimir, by the will of the khan, passed to A. Feeling his unchallenged eldership and strength, having support in the Horde, A. proved himself to be an autocratic and cruel prince. In 1255, the Novgorodians expelled his son Vasily and summoned Yaroslav of Tver. A. by force forced them to again accept Vasily and replace the mayor Anania, a champion of Novgorod freedom, who was disliked by him, with the obliging Mikhalka Stepanovich. In 1257, unrest occurred in Novgorod as a result of the khan’s demand for a universal census and tribute from the Novgorod land that he had not conquered, as from the conquered lands of Suzdal, Murom and Ryazan. The big people, with the mayor Mikhalka, persuaded the Novgorodians to submit to the will of the khan, but the smaller ones did not want to hear about it. Mikhalko was killed. Prince Vasily, sharing the feelings of the younger ones, but not wanting to quarrel with his father, went to Pskov. A. himself came to Novgorod with Tatar ambassadors, drove his son to Suzdal land, seized and punished the boyars who stood at the same time with the smaller ones - he cut off the noses of others, gouged out the eyes of others, etc., and put his second son Dmitry as prince among them. In 1258, he went to the Horde to “honor” the Khan’s governor Ulavchiy, and in 1259, threatening a Tatar pogrom, he obtained consent from the Novgorodians to a census of the population for a total tribute. By his submission, A. saved the Russian land from defeat even when in 1262 Tatar tribute farmers were killed in Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, Pereyaslavl, Yaroslavl and other cities. The Tatar regiments were already ready to move to Rus', but A. came to the khan, averted trouble and even achieved benefits for the Russians in the delivery of military detachments for the Tatars. Having lived in the Horde during this last, fourth trip, winter and summer, he fell ill and fell ill on the way back. Having adopted the schema under the name Alexy, he died on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets Volzhsky. Metropolitan Kirill announced to the people in Vladimir about his death with the words: “My dear children, understand that the sun of the Russian land has set,” and everyone cried out with tears: “We are already perishing.” Remembering A.'s merits, the people forgot his grievances and injustices in some cases. “The preservation of the Russian land,” says Solovyov, “from trouble in the east, famous exploits for faith and land in the west brought A. a glorious memory in Rus' and made him the most prominent historical figure in ancient history from Monomakh to Donskoy.” A. became the favorite prince of the clergy. In the chronicle tale that has reached us about his exploits it is said that he was “born of God.” Victorious everywhere, he was not defeated by anyone. The knight, who came from the west to see A., said that he had passed through many countries and peoples, but nowhere had he seen such a thing “neither in the kings of the king, nor in the princes of the prince.” The Tatar Khan himself allegedly gave the same review about him, and Tatar women frightened children with his name. The Church canonized him as a saint. In 1380, his relics were discovered in Vladimir, which in 1724, by order of Peter the Great, were transferred to St. Petersburg to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where they now rest in the Lavrov Cathedral, in a silver shrine donated by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. -- See Kostomarov, “Russian history in biographies,” vol. I; Belyaev, “Vremennik of the Moscow Society of History.” Antiquities", book. 4.

Why Alexander NotHas he been canonized?

Memory December 6 n.st. - November 23 Art. Art. (+1263)
Transfer of relics on September 12 n.st. - Aug 30atone hundred st.st.

Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky died according to the old style on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets and was buried on November 23 in Vladimir in the Nativity Monastery. Almost immediately, veneration of him began in Vladimir-Suzdal Rus'.

Alexander Nevsky played an important role in Russian history. In the 13th century, Great Rus' was attacked from three sides - the Mongol-Tatars, the Catholic West and Lithuania. Prince Nevsky, who had never lost a single battle in his entire life, showed great talent as a diplomat and commander, and made peace with a stronger enemy - the Golden Horde. Having secured the support of the Horde, he repelled the attack of the Germans, while at the same time protecting Orthodoxy from Catholic expansion.

Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky was the only secular Orthodox ruler not only in Rus', but throughout Europe, who did not compromise with the Catholic Church in order to maintain power.

With the active participation of Dmitry Alexandrovich, his son, and Metropolitan Kirill, a hagiographical story was written. For his feat of endurance and patience, Alexander Nevsky was canonized as a saint in 1547. In 1710, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was founded in his honor.

He became revered as a saint immediately after his death. He died on the way from the Horde to Vladimir, and his body remained incorrupt for 9 days. When he was buried in the Nativity Monastery of Vladimir, they tried to unclench his fingers in order to insert a spiritual letter. And then he himself extended his hand and took this letter.

The great-grandson of Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, had an icon of Alexander Nevsky. Before the Battle of Kulikovo, he knew that in the church where Alexander Nevsky was buried, candles lit themselves, two elders came out of the altar and called on Alexander to help Rus'. On the same day, the Battle of Kulikovo took place, where victory was won.

After some time, the tomb of Alexander Nevsky was opened, where incorrupt relics were discovered. People began to turn to these relics with requests for healing.

Another miracle occurred during Ivan the Terrible’s campaign against Kazan. One of the tsar’s close associates, after praying at the relics of Alexander Nevsky, had his hands completely healed from ulcers. Ivan the Terrible considered this a good omen, and Kazan was taken.

In memory of the holy prince, a monastery was built in St. Petersburg, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where, by order of Peter the Great, in 1724, on the day of celebrating the conclusion of a victorious peace with Sweden (August 30), the relics of Alexander Nevsky were transferred.