Christian Saints
St. Prince Alexander Nevsky (or Nevski)
St.
Prince Alexander Nevsky (1220/21 - 1263) was the Prince of Novgorod
from 1236 to 1251 and Prince of Tver from 1247 to 1252. From 1252 on he
was known as the Grand Duke of Vladimir, son of Prince Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich.
Alexander was an outstanding Russian military commander and diplomat. Through
his victories over Sweden on the Neva river (1240), after which he was
given the name of Nevsky, and over the knights of the Teutonic Order (1242)
he secured Russia's north-western borders. Thanks to his clever and skillful
diplomacy the burden of Tatar-Mongolian occupancy was eased.
Alexander Nevsky is said to have been a man of prayer, and shortly before his death on 14 November 1263 he became a monk.
He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1381. This canonization was never approved by the Papacy, probably in part because Alexander refused to take religious lessons from the Papal legates.
Alexander Nevsky is a patron saint of Russian warriors and the city of St. Petersburg, Russia.
Feast day: 23 November.
See: Mikhail Nesterov. Prince Alexander Nevsky. Death of Prince Alexander Nevsky.
Henryk Siemiradzki. Prince Alexander Nevsky Receiving Pope's Legates. Prince Alexander Nevsky in Gold Horde.
Victor Vasnetsov. Alexander Nevsky.
By Sergey Mataev and Olga Mataev
Recommended Reading:
The
Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford Paperback Reference) by
David Hugh Farmer. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Web sites:
The Hopy
Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg
St.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Howell, New Jersey
Temple
of Alexander Nevsky
