Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, Grand Duke of Kiev

Mikhail Vsevolodovich Cherny, Chernigov
(+ 1245), noble prince, martyr Commemorated February 14 for the transfer of relics, September 20, in the Cathedrals of Bryansk, Moscow, Tula and Chernigov saints

The holy noble prince Mikhail of Chernigov, son of Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny (+ 1212), was distinguished by his piety and meekness from childhood. He was in very poor health, but, trusting in the mercy of God, the young prince in 1186 asked for holy prayers from the Monk Nikita of Pereyaslavl Stylite, who in those years gained fame for his prayerful intercession before the Lord. Having received a wooden staff from the holy ascetic, the prince was immediately healed.

He took Princess Feofania as his wife. The princely couple did not have children for a long time and often visited the Kiev-Pechersk monastery, where they prayed to the Lord to give them children. The Most Holy Theotokos, who appeared to them three times, informed them that their prayer had been heard and the Lord would give them a daughter. Their first-born was the Venerable Princess Theodulia, a monk named Euphrosyne. Subsequently, they also had a son, the blessed Prince Roman, and a daughter, Maria.

In 1223, the noble prince Mikhail was a participant in the congress of Russian princes in Kyiv, who decided on the issue of helping the Polovtsians against the approaching Tatar hordes. In 1223, after the death of his uncle, Mstislav of Chernigov, in the Battle of Kalka, Saint Michael became the Prince of Chernigov. In 1225 he was invited to reign by the Novgorodians. With his justice, mercy and firmness of rule, he won the love and respect of ancient Novgorod. It was especially important for the Novgorodians that the reign of Michael meant reconciliation with Novgorod of the holy, noble Grand Duke of Vladimir Georgy Vsevolodovich, whose wife, the holy princess Agathia, was the sister of Prince Michael.

But the noble Prince Mikhail did not reign in Novgorod for long. Soon he returned to his native Chernigov. To the persuasion and requests of the Novgorodians to stay, the prince replied that Chernigov and Novgorod should become kindred lands, and their inhabitants - brothers, and he would strengthen the bonds of friendship of these cities.

The noble prince zealously took up the improvement of his inheritance. But it was difficult for him at that troubled time. His activities caused concern to Prince Oleg of Kursk, and civil strife almost broke out between the princes in 1227 - they were reconciled by Metropolitan Kirill of Kiev. In the same year, the blessed Prince Mikhail peacefully resolved a dispute in Volhynia between the Kyiv Grand Duke Vladimir Rurikovich and Prince Galitsky.

Since 1235, the holy noble prince Michael occupied the Kiev grand-ducal table.

It's a difficult time. In 1238, the Tatars devastated Ryazan, Suzdal, and Vladimir. In 1239, they moved to Southern Russia, devastated the left bank of the Dnieper, the lands of Chernigov and Pereyaslavl. In the fall of 1240, the Mongols approached Kyiv. The Khan's ambassadors offered Kyiv to voluntarily submit, but the noble prince did not negotiate with them. Prince Michael urgently left for Hungary to encourage the Hungarian King Bela to organize a joint effort to repel the common enemy. Saint Michael tried to rouse both Poland and the German emperor to fight the Mongols. But the moment for a united resistance was missed: Rus' was defeated, and later it was the turn of Hungary and Poland. Having received no support, the blessed Prince Mikhail returned to the destroyed Kyiv and lived for some time near the city, on an island, and then moved to Chernigov.

The prince did not lose hope for the possible unification of Christian Europe against Asian predators. In 1245, at the Council of Lyon in France, his associate Metropolitan Peter [1], sent by Saint Michael, was present and called for a crusade against the pagan Horde. Roman Catholic Europe, in the person of its main spiritual leaders, the Pope and the German Emperor, betrayed the interests of Christianity. The pope was busy at war with the emperor, while the Germans took advantage of the Mongol invasion to rush to Rus' themselves.

Soon the khan's ambassadors came to Rus' to conduct a census of the Russian population and impose tribute on it. The princes were required to submit completely to the Tatar Khan, and to reign - his special permission - a label. The ambassadors informed Prince Mikhail that he, too, needed to go to the Horde to confirm his rights to reign as a khan's label. Seeing the plight of Rus', the noble Prince Mikhail was aware of the need to obey the khan, but as a zealous Christian, he knew that he would not give up his faith before the pagans. From his spiritual father, Bishop John, he received a blessing to go to the Horde and be there a true confessor of the Name of Christ.

Together with Saint Prince Michael, his faithful friend and associate, boyar Theodore, went to the Horde.
The Horde knew about Prince Mikhail’s attempts to organize an attack against the Tatars together with Hungary and other European powers. His enemies had long been looking for an opportunity to kill him. When in 1245 [2] the noble prince Mikhail and the boyar Theodore arrived in the Horde, they were ordered, before going to the khan, to go through a fiery fire, which supposedly was supposed to cleanse them of evil intentions, and to bow to the elements deified by the Mongols: the sun and fire. In response to the priests who ordered the pagan rite to be performed, the noble prince said: “A Christian bows only to God, the Creator of the world, and not to creatures.” Khan was informed about the disobedience of the Russian prince. Batu, through his close associate Eldega, conveyed a condition: if the demands of the priests are not fulfilled, the disobedient will die in agony. But even this was met with a decisive response from Saint Prince Michael: “I am ready to bow to the Tsar, since God entrusted to him the fate of the earthly kingdoms, but, as a Christian, I cannot worship idols.” The fate of the courageous Christians was decided. Strengthened by the words of the Lord, “whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35-38), the holy prince and his devoted boyar prepared for martyrdom and communed The Holy Mysteries, which their spiritual father prudently gave them with him. The Tatar executioners grabbed the noble prince and beat him for a long time, cruelly, until the ground was stained with blood. Finally, one of the apostates from the Christian faith, named Daman, cut off the head of the holy martyr. To the holy boyar Theodore, if he performed the pagan rite, the Tatars flatteringly began to promise the princely dignity of the tortured sufferer. But this did not shake Saint Theodore - he followed the example of his prince. After the same brutal torture, his head was cut off. The bodies of the holy passion-bearers were thrown to be devoured by dogs, but the Lord miraculously protected them for several days, until faithful Christians secretly buried them with honor. Later, the relics of the holy martyrs were transferred to Chernigov.

The confessional feat of Saint Theodore amazed even his executioners. Convinced of the unshakable preservation of the Orthodox faith by the Russian people, their readiness to die with joy for Christ, the Tatar khans did not dare to test God’s patience in the future and did not demand that the Russians in the Horde directly perform idolatrous rituals. But the struggle of the Russian people and the Russian Church against the Mongol yoke continued for a long time. The Orthodox Church was adorned in this struggle with new martyrs and confessors. Grand Duke Theodore (+ 1246) was poisoned by the Mongols. Saint Roman of Ryazan (+ 1270), Saint Michael of Tver (+ 1318), his sons Dimitri (+ 1325) and Alexander (+ 1339) were martyred. All of them were strengthened by the example and holy prayers of the Russian first martyr in the Horde - St. Michael of Chernigov.

On February 14, 1578 [3], at the request of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony, the relics of the holy martyrs were transferred to Moscow, to a temple dedicated to their name.
From there in 1770 they were transferred to the Sretensky Cathedral, and on November 21, 1774 - to the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The life and service of Saints Michael and Theodore of Chernigov were compiled in the middle of the 16th century by the famous church writer, monk Zinovy ​​​​of Otensky. The memory of the saints on September 20 was established in 1771 by Bishop Theophilus (Ignatovich) of Chernigov.

“The generation of the righteous will be blessed,” says the holy psalmist David. This was fully realized at St. Michael. He was the founder of many glorious families in Russian history. His children and grandchildren continued the holy Christian ministry of Prince Michael. The Church canonized his daughter, Venerable Euphrosyne of Suzdal, and his grandson, Saint Oleg of Bryansk.

Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov, Grand Duke of Kiev

Artist Smirnov V.S. Holy Prince Mikhail of Chernigov in the Horde in front of Batu Khan's headquarters, 1882

Mikhail Vsevolodovich (also known as Mikhail of Chernigov, 1179-1246) - Prince of Pereyaslav (1206), Novgorod (1224, 1229), Chernigov (1223-1246), Galician (1235-1239), Grand Duke of Kiev (1238-1239, 1241-1243). Son of Vsevolod Chermny and daughter of the Polish prince Casimir II. Canonized at the Council of 1547; Memorial Day - September 20 (October 3).

The first half of the life of Mikhail Chernigovsky is sparingly covered in chronicles; he did not take an active part in all-Russian affairs. It is only known that he reigned briefly in Pereyaslav. Then he married Elena, the sister of Daniil Galitsky.

The tragic events of 1223 radically changed his life. This year, Rus' for the first time encountered Mongol-Tatar darkness on the Kalka River. The Mongols sent an embassy to the Russian princes offering peace. They say that they have nothing against them, but came to punish the Polovtsians, their “grooms”. But the embassy was cut down, and Mikhail Chernigovsky was involved in such a “diplomatic” response to the Mongols. The battle on Kalka as a result of uncoordinated actions of the Russian princes ended in a terrible defeat. After the death of Mstislav of Chernigov on Kalka, Mikhail Vsevolodich, by right of seniority, occupied the Chernigov table. And from that moment on, he took an active part in the ongoing civil strife in Rus'. He is constantly at odds with his brother-in-law Daniil Galitsky and the ambitious Yaroslav Vsevolodich Pereyaslavsky, and then with the Prince of Novgorod, the father of Alexander Nevsky. He was often successful in this confrontation, but ultimately his luck failed him.

Marek Szyszko. Russian boyar on Kalka, 1223.

In the fall of 1237, the Ryazan princes turned to Michael for help against the Mongols, and Evpatiy Kolovrat arrived as ambassador. According to the chronicle, Mikhail refused to provide assistance, since the Ryazan people did not go with him to Kalka. Evpatiy Kolovrat returned to the ashes of Ryazan, then caught up with the Mongols within the land of Suzdal, inflicted significant losses on them, but he himself died along with the detachment.

Twice he reigned in Novgorod the Great, briefly occupied Galich, and became the Grand Duke of Kyiv (1238). However, having soared to such a coveted highest level of power (although Kiev had long been only formally considered the main city in Rus'), he did not stay there for long. North-Eastern Rus' had already fallen under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars, the invaders had already burned Chernigov and approached Kyiv ( 1239). And again the story of Kalki repeated itself. Mikhail Chernigovsky refused the offer to surrender the city and dealt harshly with the Mongol messengers. And the Mongols, not deciding to besiege the city, went home, but not for long.

P. Vasin. Small squad, light infantry. Rus', 1200-1250

This is the second time he has been involved in the murder of the Mongolian embassy! Even by the standards of the cruel medieval times, the murder of ambassadors was a serious crime. The events that followed - his urgent departure to Hungary - were regarded by his contemporaries as a manifestation of cowardice. In fact, he abandoned the people of Kiev to their fate, leaving them without a supreme military leader, which the prince was in wartime. He allegedly left for support, and his son Rostislav was engaged to the daughter of the Hungarian king Bela IV.

Daniil Galitsky, taking advantage of his absence, captured Kyiv. But he did not want to stay in the city, but instead left the thousand-year-old Dmitry, who in the near future became famous for the heroic defense of Kyiv from the Mongol-Tatars.

E.Yu. Emelyanov. Old Russian warriors of the 13th century.

And Yaroslav Vsevolodich did not forget his previous grievances. Gathering a large army, he rushed to ruin the Kiev principality, and captured the wife of Mikhail of Chernigov.

King Bela IV of Hungary, seeing the plight of the Chernigov prince, refused his son the hand of his daughter. Both father and son turned to their relatives in Poland, but even there they were received coldly. And I had to return to Rus'. Having reconciled with their ardent enemy Daniil of Galicia, they remained in his principality, because Kyiv had already fallen to the feet of the conquerors (1240)

And already Daniil Galitsky hurries to Hungary to marry his son Leo to the royal daughter (fortunately, the Hungarian king had enough daughters!), but he also receives a refusal and leaves for Galich. And Batu’s hordes were already ravaging the Galicia-Volyn land. Having learned about this, Prince Daniil returns to Hungary halfway. And Mikhail Chernigovsky with his inner circle fled to Poland again. In the blink of an eye, having lost all honors and benefits, one of the most influential Russian princes becomes an outcast, whom his relatives in Poland did not want to recognize. And the derogatory reception in Germany turned into robbery and murder of his young son.

The murder of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov for non-worship of an idol in the Horde. Engraving by B. Chorikov

His ardent rival Yaroslav Vsevolodich was the first of the Russian princes to visit the Golden Horde (1243); he was recognized as the oldest among the Russian princes. And he received from Khan Batu a label (letter) for ownership of the Vladimir and Kyiv principalities. Thus, with the help of the Mongol-Tatars, the long-term dispute between Yaroslav Vsevolodich and Mikhail Chernigov for primacy in the Russian land ended. And after him, Daniil Galitsky was forced to admit dependence on the Golden Horde.

Left window arch of the ledge of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On the left is boyar Fyodor Chernigovsky. On the right is Prince Mikhail of Chernigov

A different fate was in store for Mikhail Chernigovsky. His son Rostislav nevertheless married Anna of Hungary. Misfortune not only separates, but also brings people together. The Mongols, having defeated Western Rus', finally reached Hungary. King Bela IV, having suffered a severe defeat, fled to Austria, where he fully experienced all the “charms” of a fugitive life. He returned to his native land only after the departure of the Mongol-Tatars. Therefore, he no longer looked down on the young Russian prince and agreed to his marriage with his daughter.

And Mikhail Chernigovsky rushes with hope to his son, but unexpectedly meets a cold reception in Hungary. Discouraged by this attitude towards him, he returns to Chernigov with heavy feelings.

But he does not give up the fight against the enemy and sends Metropolitan Peter of Kyiv to the Catholic Council in Lyon, the agenda of which included the issue of the fight against the Mongols (1245). Calls on the Christian world to rise in unison to fight the Mongol-Tatars. Europe did not hear him.

Icon (Fragment) “Chernigov miracle workers Prince Mikhail and boyar Fedor.” Moscow. XVII century. State historical and cultural reserve "Moscow Kremlin".

The Mongols, seeing in Mikhail of Chernigov an irreconcilable Russian prince, decided to get rid of him. He knew this, and when he was “invited” to the Golden Horde, he was spiritually and physically ready for death.

And his confessor, Bishop John of Chernigov, helped him strengthen his determination and faith. It was he who, through tireless prayer, instructed the prince to strengthen his spirit so as not to disgrace his Orthodox faith before the pagans. Blessing on his last sorrowful journey, he said that his example would strengthen others. And there were many who were shaken, unstable in soul and faith in such a difficult time for Rus'.

In the Golden Horde, 67-year-old Mikhail Vsevolodich, who refused to undergo pagan rituals in order to appear before Khan Batu, was killed by a native of the Chernigov land, Putivlet Doman. A recent Christian who had fled to the pagans beat the prince, who was stretched out by the arms and legs, under the heart with his heel, and then cut off his head.

Kostylev Dmitry. Martyrdom of Prince Mikhail and boyar Fyodor of Chernigov

The same martyrdom awaited the boyar Fedor, who refused, following the example of his prince, to bow to the image of Genghis Khan, no matter how the Mongols admonished him, even promising him the principality of Mikhail of Chernigov. Amazed by the resilience of the prince and his boyar, the Mongols allowed their bodies to be taken away. The remains of the martyrs were brought along a long, roundabout route to Chernigov and buried in the Transfiguration Cathedral (1246).

The death of the prince is dedicated to the “Tale of the murder in the horde of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore.” During the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Mikhail of Chernigov and the boyar Fedor as martyrs, and the monk Zinovy ​​Otensky wrote the life of the prince and the service.

N. A. Koshelev. Martyrdom of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov in the Horde in 1246

After glorifying their relics, they were transported from Chernigov to Moscow, to a church specially built for the occasion (1572). With this symbolic act, Tsar Ivan the Terrible seemed to reconcile the two princely families that had been warring during their lifetime: the Olgovichi and the Monomashich. After all, his pedigree in the male line came from Yuri Dolgoruky, the youngest son of Vladimir Monomakh. Since the founding of Moscow, the Monomashich family took deep roots in North-Eastern Rus'. And in the difficult conditions of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, he managed not only to survive, but to revive Russian statehood.

Seidenberg (Seidenberg) S.M. The last minutes of Prince Mikhail of Tver in the horde (Niva magazine)

On the other hand, Ivan the Terrible wanted to emphasize his hereditary right to the Siversk lands. After all, both he and Mikhail Chernigovsky were Rurikovichs. The wide popularity of Mikhail Chernigovsky in the Russian state, especially after the ceremonial transfer of his relics from Chernigov, led to the fact that all the serving Verkhovsky princes, when compiling genealogies, indicated him as their ancestor. Thus, in the genealogical books a colossal “tribe of Mikhail Chernigovsky” was formed, to which, among others, the Dolgorukovs, Volkonskys, Repnins, Gorchakovs, Obolenskys, Odoevskys, Vorotynskys, Baryatinskys and all other descendants of the Olgovichs included themselves. At the same time, genetic studies of representatives of this clan, conducted in the 21st century, showed that they do not descend in the male line from the same ancestor as the Monomashichi.

Ksenia Baranova. Mikhail Chernigovsky. Feat in the Horde

Wife: Olena/Alena - married since 1188/1190, daughter of Roman Mstislavich Galitsky.

Children: Maria Mikhailovna (d. 1271) - wife of Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov Rostislav, ban Machva, Saint Euphrosyne of Suzdal, in the world Theodulia.

Estimated children (assigned in later genealogies): Roman Bryansky, Semyon Glukhovsky, Mstislav Karachevsky, Yuri Tarussky.

The holy noble prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his holy boyar Theodore in the Horde. Engraving. Artist S. Kharlamov. 1990

Holy Blessed Prince Mikhail of Chernigov. Icon. (fragment) Rus'. Beginning of the 17th century Church-Archaeological Cabinet of the Moscow Theological Academy.

Front chronicle volume 5, p. 417): “And according to Yaroslav, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, son of Vsevolod Cheremna, sat down in Kyiv for the great reign”

Lit.: Ekzemplyarsky A.V. Chernigov princes // Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes. - SPb.-M., 1896-1918. Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron in 82 volumes. and 4 additional vol. - M.: Terra, 2001. Boguslavsky V.V. Slavic Encyclopedia. Kievan Rus-Muscovy: in 2 volumes - M.: Olma-Press, 2001, volume 1, pp. 728-729 Russian biographical dictionary: in 25 volumes /A. A. Polovtsov. - M., 1896-1918. Lives of the Saints, in Russian, set out according to the guidance of the menaion of St. Demetrius of Rostov. Book three. Published by the Moscow Synodal Printing House. Moscow. 1906. - Reprint: Publication of the Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage, 1993. The legend of the murder in the Horde of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore // In: Stories and Legends of Ancient Rus'. Rep. ed. D. S. Likhachev. St. Petersburg, Dilya, 2001, 243-247. Gorsky A. A. The death of Mikhail of Chernigov in the context of the first Russian princes with the Horde // Medieval Rus', 6, 2006, 138-154. Parunin A.V. Model of death and dying in “The Tale of the Murder of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov” // https://krotov.info/libr_min/16_p/ar/unin_01.htm. Bespalov R. A. “New offspring” of Prince Mikhail of Chernigov according to sources of the 16th–17th centuries (towards the formulation of the problem) // Problems of Slavic Studies. Sat. scientific articles and materials. Bryansk: RIO BSU, 2011. Vol. 13. pp. 63-97. Used material from the site //www.gorod.cn.ua/blogs/

Prayers

Troparion, tone 4

Having completed your life as a martyr, having adorned your confessions with crowns, to the heavenly east, Michael the Wise with the noble Theodore: pray to Christ God to preserve your fatherland, the emperor and the people, according to His great mercy.

Kontakion, tone 8

Having considered the kingdom of the earth as nothing, you abandoned your glory as if it were transitory: having come to self-proclaimed feat, you preached the Trinity before the wicked tormentor, the passion-bearer Michael, with the noble Theodore. To the king of the coming forces, pray to save your fatherland without harm, and the emperor and the people, may we continually honor you.

Family and children[ | ]

Wife

:

• Olena (or Maria) Romanovna (d. after 1241) - married from 1188/1190 (or from 1210/1211 [8]), daughter of Roman Mstislavich Galitsky.

Children

:

• Maria Mikhailovna (d. 1271) - wife of Vasilko Konstantinovich of Rostov,
• Rostislav Mikhailovich, ban Machva,
• Saint Euphrosyne of Suzdal, in the world of Theodulia.

Alleged children

(attributed in later genealogies):

• Roman Bryansky,
• Semyon Glukhovsky,
• Mstislav Karachevsky,
• Yuri Tarussky.