Since the second half of the 15th century, the Russian Orthodox Church has been honoring the memory of the blessed Princes Fyodor of Smolensk and his children David and Konstantin, the wonderworkers of Yaroslavl, every year on September 19, according to the old style. Who is he, Fyodor Smolensky, and what did this prince become famous for, what God-pleasing deeds did he perform?

In Russia, holiness has always been not just a theological concept, but a reflection of the moral ideal of the people. Each epoch had its own sublime images of saints who were examples of patriotism and peacemaking service to Russia and the people. Such were Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir and Pious Princess Olga, Alexander Nevsky and Mikhail Tverskoy, the martyrs Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Fyodor, and many other Orthodox saints. With Fyodor Rostislavich Smolensky, however, the situation is completely different. Preserved in the sources of his nickname Black suggests certain thoughts. Ancient Russian chroniclers, telling about certain events, gave historical characters nicknames that fairly accurately characterize their owners. Wise, Brave, Terrible, Big Nest, Terrible Eyes - these and other nicknames of the princes of Ancient Russia speak for themselves. How much did Prince Fyodor annoy his fellow tribesmen, if in their memory he remained under such a nickname?

Let's look at it in order. It has always been the prerogative of church officials to include the name of a venerated ascetic of faith and piety in the list of saints. But it, like any other public or political organization, is historically not free from political conjuncture. The inclusion of certain saints in the pantheon was largely due to the specific political situation both in the country and in individual territories.

A striking example of this is the history of declaring Prince Fyodor Rostislavich and his two sons Konstantin and David as miracle workers in Yaroslavl.

In the second half of the fifteenth century, Moscow Russia found itself at a crossroads. It was still forced to bow its head before the Horde khan, and the Moscow prince went for a label to the great reign in the Horde, but the victorious clash of swords on Kulikovo Field already made itself felt, forcing the Horde to reckon with the recalcitrant ulus.

More and more formerly independent lands were united around Moscow, recognizing its supremacy.

Nevertheless, some princes tried to resist Moscow with all their might, using not only political and military methods, but also ideological ones. It is interesting to note that it was at this time that the number of locally venerated saints increased. A similar fact of using canonization in an effort to raise the prestige of the local dynasty was demonstrated in Yaroslavl.

According to the local Prince Alexander Fyodorovich, the presence of its own saints was supposed to symbolize that Yaroslavl is a major political center capable of conducting its own policy, independent of Moscow. For this purpose, in 1463, with the help and assistance of Archimandrite Christopher of the Spaso-Yaroslavsky Monastery, a canonization act was urgently undertaken, which resulted in the creation of a local pantheon of saints. The Sofia Chronicle contains a lengthy account of the discovery in Yaroslavl of the relics of Prince Fyodor Rostislavich of Smolensk and his sons Konstantin and David, and of the miracles that take place around them. The remains of the new wonderworkers were solemnly transferred to the Spassky Cathedral in front of a large crowd of people. But, however, this attempt to resist Moscow was completely unsuccessful, and after a while the Yaroslavl Principality was purchased in the bud for the Moscow sovereign by the boyar I. V. Strigoy-Obolensky, and the Yaroslavl princes passed into the category of serving princes.

In 1473. Ivan III Vasilyevich and Metropolitan Philip commissioned Hieromonk Anthony of the Spassky Monastery to write biographies of Yaroslavl saints. Moscow, confirming its authority over Yaroslavl, included local saints in the national pantheon. However, the acquisition was not very successful. It took the hagiographer a lot of work to find at least some facts that represent the prince in a good way. This political figure of the second half of the XIII century greatly tainted himself with ties with the Tatars. A power-hungry and unscrupulous ruler, he was permanently erased from popular memory immediately after his death in 1299. Only certain political circumstances caused the image of the khan's protege to disappear. It is also characteristic that the two sons of Fyodor from his second wife, who were born in the Horde, were also canonized. At the same time, the eldest son Mikhail, who opposed the reign of Fyodor Rostislavich in Yaroslavl, was not canonized.

The main sources about the life and work of Russian saints are their Lives. But the specifics of the genre of hagiographic literature did not require strict documentation. Even V. O. Klyuchevsky, one of the first scientists to develop some principles for treating the Old Russian lives of saints as a historical source, wrote:: "Hagiography takes from individual life only that which fits the general type, that is, in which the general Christian ideal is directly reflected. A hagiography relates to a historical biography in the same way that an iconographic image relates to a portrait." The life of Fyodor Rostislavich Smolensky presents us with the image of a guardian of the Christian faith, a builder of Orthodox churches in the Horde, a defender of the weak and oppressed. But the real biography of Fyodor Rostislavich, compiled on the basis of chronicle sources, differs significantly from that placed in the Power Book.

The first chronicle record of Prince Fyodor Rostislavich of Smolensk dates back to 1276, when he was present at the funeral of Grand Duke Vasily Yaroslavich of Vladimir. According to some indirect data, it can be assumed that he was born around 1240 and belonged to a branch of the Smolensk princes, whose ancestor was the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kiev Rostislav Mstislavich.

The Smolensk Principality, which occupied the territory along the upper reaches of the Dnieper, became independent in the 30s of the XII century. But in the period we are talking about, the prosperity of the principality was replaced by decline, and it itself broke up into several destinies. So Fyodor owned a small Mozhaisk estate, which, however, was soon taken away by his older brothers. Forced to leave the Smolensk land, the prince wandered around Russia for some time, taking the form of a wandering knight and earning his living with a sword. But in the late 60s, Fyodor very profitably marries the heiress of the rich Yaroslavl principality, Princess Maria, and after the death of her father Vasily Vsevolodovich becomes Prince of Yaroslavl. True, he ruled the principality together with his mother-in-law, the Dowager Princess Xenia, a woman of authority and firm character.

In 1276, the long Golden Horde epic of the prince began, which largely determined his future fate. Visits of Russian princes to the Horde for the label of reigning were common at that time. But some princes treated this as an inevitable evil, while others saw the Tatars as a tool for solving their problems. The latter could not be too subservient to the Horde. Unfortunately, Fyodor Yaroslavsky also belonged to them.

Back in 1262, during the fourth and last trip to Sarai, Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky was able to get a promise from the Mongol-Tatar khans to free the Russian lands from military service. And they kept their promise. Russian regiments were never forcibly involved in the campaigns of Horde commanders against other cities. However, in the Russian lands there were always thrill seekers who wanted to profit at someone else's expense. In 1277, Khan Mengu-Temir organized a large campaign to the North Caucasus, whose population did not want to submit to the power of the Tatars. As part of the Horde army, there was also the squad of Fyodor Rostislavich.

The following year, Fyodor Rostislavich again participates in the punitive expedition of the Mongol - Tatar troops, now to the Balkans. The campaign of the khan's temnik Nogai to Bulgaria was organized at the request of the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, whose daughter Nogai was married to.

Only at the end of 1279 did Fyodor Rostislavich return from his long travels to Yaroslavl. But here the prince was in trouble. His wife died, and the local boyars got tired of the constant absence of supreme power in the city, and they, with the support of Princess Xenia, proclaimed the young Mikhail, Fyodor's son, as the Yaroslavl prince. Seeing the closed gate in front of him, the prince returned to the Horde without eating anything.

Here, a new twist of fate awaits him. I must say that Fyodor was a statuesque man and, as the Sedate Book writes, had " ... the holy stucco nobility of the face, like the Egyptian Joseph." This is how he seduced the wife of the powerful prison guard Nogai Efrosinia, who wanted to baptize her daughter and marry her to an Orthodox prince. Euphrosyne was a natural daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Michael XIII Palaiologos. A Christian herself, she also tried to convert her daughter to the Orthodox faith. Metropolitan Theognost of Sarai visited Constantinople with a special diplomatic mission, where he asked the Patriarch for a blessing on the marriage and baptism of the khan's daughter. Permission was granted, and Nogai's daughter, under the name of Anna, became the wife of Prince Fyodor. The family well-being of the newlyweds was supported by an abundance of expensive gifts, Khan " ... velmi honours the blessed Prince Fyodor by giving him many grads, the number 36. To this same vdade for the service of the princes and bolyars of Russia." The life goes on to say that the Yaroslavl prince enjoyed the boundless love and trust of Nogai.

After the death of his older brothers in 1280, Fyodor Rostislavich had a real opportunity to occupy the Smolensk table. Accepting support from the khan, he and his wife and sons left for Russia, where he received the Smolensk reign. A year later, his son from his first marriage, who ruled in Yaroslavl, dies. After learning about this, Fedor goes there. Residents of the city again close the gates, not wanting to receive the khan's son-in-law. But the Smolensk and Tatar regiments that followed the prince became a weighty argument, and Fyodor Rostislavich occupies the Yaroslavl table. He cedes the Smolensk Principality to his nephew.

Hieromonk Anthony also writes that Fyodor Rostislavich built churches in the Horde and helped the suffering Orthodox. But the fact that he twice participated with the Tatar troops in campaigns against Russia, the Life is silent.

And it was like this. Since 1276, the Grand Duke of Vladimir was the son of Alexander Nevsky Dmitry, who became him "in the old days", that is, as the eldest in the family. But in 1281, the next "kotor" for the grand ducal table begins. The second son of Alexander Nevsky, Andrey Gorodetsky, acting on the advice of some boyars, opposed his older brother in the fight

for Vladimir. Having cajoled the khan with flattery and gifts, having slandered Dmitry, Andrey received "a label on the grand duchy, and to him and the Tatar army led by temniki Kavgadyem and Alchedai to help. Among the princes who supported Andrey in this wrong deed and moved to the gathering place was Fyodor Yaroslavsky. This invasion was like "Batu's ruin". The Tatars scattered all over the land, plundered Murom, the environs of Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov and Tver. The Yaroslavl squad, which led by Fyodor Rostislavich participated in the siege and capture of Pereyaslavl, did not lag behind the Tatars.

Fyodor Rostislavich participated in another campaign of Mongol-Tatar troops against Russia. In 1293, a new round of struggle for the Grand ducal table began. Open hostilities were preceded by a long period of secret diplomatic negotiations to form princely coalitions. As before, the prince supported Andrey Gorodetsky. And the support of the Yaroslavl prince was worth a lot. The son-in-law and favorite of the powerful Nogai, his own man in the Horde, he persuaded the khan to provide military assistance to Andrey. In the same year, Tatar hordes led by the commander Duden (Tudan) moved to Russia. Vladimir, Suzdal, Murom, Kolomna, Moscow and others were captured, a total of 14 cities. Part of the population was enslaved, some were killed. A lot of people just died of hunger and cold. In the cities, the Tatars plundered not only princely and boyar chambers, but also churches, leaving the walls of temples completely bare. In Vladimir, for example, they even broke the copper floor of the local cathedral. After the raid, the Tatars went to the Horde, and the victors again began to divide the Russian land. Fyodor Yaroslavsky did not lose out either - he got the city of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky. But a year later, under the terms of the peace between Dmitry and Andrey Alexandrovich, Fyodor was forced to leave Pereyaslavl. Leaving the city, the Yaroslavl prince in impotent anger burned it. In 1298, Fyodor Rostislavich made a campaign to Smolensk, trying to win back the principality. But having received a rebuff from the Smolensk Prince Alexander Glebovich, he was forced to retire ingloriously.

It was for all these "exploits" that Fyodor Rostislavich received the nickname Black. In September 1299, the prince died. Before his death, he adopted the schema, trying to make up for his sins before Russia. Did he succeed? Apparently, yes, if after 170 years he was canonized, and then five and a half centuries the Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy Prince Fyodor. A year after the death of the prince, his Tatar patron Temnik Nogai also died. He was killed in one of the battles with Khan Tokhta during the struggle for power in the Horde. It is symbolic that Nogai received his death from the saber of a Russian knight who was in the Khan's army.