The translation of the relics of Prince Michael of Chernigov is celebrated on this day. Rusʹ joined the family of Christian nations quite late in history, when the faith of the Apostles and Holy Fathers had already been proclaimed at the Ecumenical Councils that took place during the first millennium. After the baptism of Rusʹ in 988 and until the sack of Kiev in 1242, Rusʹ underwent rapid cultural development. The Russian nobility intermarried with European ruling houses. The entity of various principalities in the East and West loosely known as Kievan Rusʹ clearly belonged to the family of European nations. Unfortunately, due to the so-called ladder law of succession (downward from the eldest brother), there were constant struggles for power among the princes. Even when the Mongols were invading Kievan Rusʹ, Prince Michael successfully fought for control of Kiev. When, in 1239, the cousin of Khan Batu, Möngke Khan, sent an embassy with an offer of peace, Great Prince Michael ordered the murder of the emissaries and flew to Hungary. Béla IV, king of Hungary and Croatia, refused to lend Michael troops to fight the Mongols. In this situation, he could have stayed in Europe, but he decided to return home and follow the path of St. Alexander Nevsky, who voluntary subjugated Novgorod lands to the “Master of all Peoples” (Mongolian Khan). In 1245, Prince Michael went to Sarai at the bottom of the Volga River near the Caspian Sea to obtain approval (yarlyk) for his reign. There, he refused to submit to trial by fire and bow to the effigy of Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire. Michael and his Boyar Theodore were beaten and beheaded. Clearly, this was payback for the earlier killing of the Mongol officials. A daughter of Prince Michael, Maria, advocated for the glorification of her father and Boyar Theodore. Source: A.V.Kuz’min, Mikhail Vsevolodovich, Pravoslavanaia Entsiklopedia. |
