Anna of Kashin

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Anna of Kashin. Icon from around 1910

Anna von Kashin ( Russian Анна Кашинская ; * around 1280 ; † October 2, 1368 ) was a Russian princess from the Rurikids family who was canonized in 1650 .

Life

Anna was a daughter of Prince Dmitri Borissowitsch von Rostow and a great-granddaughter of Prince Vasilko Konstantinowitsch von Rostow. Anna was raised strictly Christian from an early age. Her teacher was St. Ignatius , the Bishop of Rostov, who died in 1288. Like all noble daughters at that time, she learned different needlework techniques . When Anna grew up , Princess Xenia von Tver , the second wife of Yaroslav von Tver , Grand Duke Tver , sent envoys to Rostov to arrange a marriage between her son Mikhail and Anna. This mission was successful.

Anna's wedding with Prince Mikhail took place on November 8, 1299 in the Preobrazhensky Cathedral in Tver . To celebrate this event, the residents of the town of Kashin built the Church of St. Michael and the triumphant Mikhailovsky Gate (Michailowskije vorota) in the wall of the local Kremlin on the road towards Tver. A holiday was created in the Uspensky Cathedral , which is celebrated annually on November 8th.

Anna and Michail had five children:

  1. Feodora (died in childhood)
  2. Prince Dmitri of Tver (1299–1326)
  3. Prince Alexander of Tver (1301–1339)
  4. Prince Constantine of Tver (1306–1346)
  5. Prince Vasily of Kashin († after 1368)

Her father died in 1294, and in 1295 Tver was ravaged by fire. Shortly afterwards Anna and Mikail's first daughter Feodora died of an illness in childhood. In 1296 another fire destroyed their palace in Tver and the royal couple barely escaped. In 1317 a war began between her husband and Prince Yuri of Moscow .

In 1318 her husband was appointed to the Golden Horde , where he was tortured to death on November 22nd, which Anna did not find out until July of the following year. After his body was transported to Moscow , Anna sent messengers there to transport his body to Tver. He was buried in the Preobrazhensky Cathedral.

In 1325 their eldest son Dmitri was executed by Uzbek Khan . In 1327 her second son Alexander took part in an uprising against the Golden Horde in Tver. In retaliation, Uzbek Khan gathered a new army and destroyed Tver. Alexander had to hide in Pskov . Anna did not see her son Alexander and his son Feodor until their execution by the Horde in 1339.

After Mikhail's death, Anna took a vow in the Sophienkloster in Tver and took the name Evfrossinija or Sofjia , but later her maiden name Anna again. In 1365 her youngest son, Vasily the only surviving son, asked his mother to move to his principality.

She died on October 2, 1368 and was buried in the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin.

canonization

The name of Princess Anna fell into oblivion for several centuries. During the Lithuanian siege of Kashin in 1611, Anna Gerasim, a church servant in the Preobrazhensky Cathedral, is said to have appeared, where she prayed to Jesus and Mary to save the city from the invaders. Their relics are said to have worked miracles.

In 1649 the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church met and declared its relics worthy of the honor. The princess was declared a saint . 28 years later, the Patriarch Joachim of Moscow proposed to the Council of Moscow that her canonization should be revoked, because Anna was held in high esteem and reverence among the Orthodox .

It is believed that the Old Orthodox chose Anna as their protective image because she is represented on icons with the two-fingered sign of the cross , as the Old Orthodox practiced, and not with three fingers, as has been the official church regulation since 1656 by the decision of the Patriarch Nikon demanded. Therefore, Patriarch Joachim finally hid Anna's relics from the public.

According to a later investigation, the real reason for Anna's canonization is said to be a biography of her written by St. Ignatius of the Solovetsky Monastery . Ignatius was an Old Orthodox leader who preached for self-immolation .

On June 12, 1909, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized Anna again and approved her general veneration. In the same year a monastery parish in Grozny was dedicated to her. A year later, a church in Saint Petersburg was consecrated in her name.

literature

  • S. Archangelov: Житие и чудеса святой благоверной княгини Анны Кашинской . Saint Petersburg, 1909 (Russian).
  • T. Manuchina: Святая благоверная княгиня Анна Кашинская . Paris, 1954 (Russian).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Анна Кашинская . Orthodox encyclopedia.
personal data
SURNAME Anna of Kashin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Анна Кашинская (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Princess from the princely family of the Rurikids and saints
DATE OF BIRTH around 1280
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1368