The Holy Nobleborn Prince Dovmont (Domant) of Pskov
Commemorated on May 20
The Holy Nobleborn
Prince Dovmont (Domant) of Pskov, prince of Nal'shinaisk (Nal'shensk), was
a native of Lithuania, and at first he zealously professed paganism. In 1265,
escaping from internecine strife amongst the Lithuanian princes, he was forced
to flee Lithuania and with 300 families he arrived in Pskov. The land of Pskov
became his second native-country. Here, in the expression of the chronicler,
"the grace of God was breathed upon him", when with all his retainers
he accepted Holy Baptism with the name Timothei (Timophei) and was bestown the
great gifts of the Lord. Within a year's time, the people of Pskov chose him as
their prince for his bravery and his true Christian virtues. Over the course of
33 years he ruled the city and was the sole prince in all the history of Pskov
who died, having lived for so long in peace and in harmony with the Pskov veche
(city-council). He was just and strict in pursuing justice for others, he gave
alms generously, took in the poor and strangers, piously he observed the church
feasts, he was a patron for the churches and monasteries and he himself founded
a monastery in honour of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. After his
marriage to the daughter of GreatPrince Dimitrii, grandson of holy Prince
Alexander Nevsky (Comm. 23 November and 30 August), he became related to the
Russian great-princely lineage. Prince Dovmont, just like Saint Alexander
Nevsky, was a glorious defender of the Russian Land. The prime importance of
Prince Dovmont as a military leader and activist for the realm consists in
this, that over the course of many years he firmly defended the north-west
boundaries of the Russian realm from hostile incursions.
In 1268, Prince
Dovmont was one of the heroes of the historic battle before Rakovor, where
Russian forces gained the victory over the Danish and German armies. Before
each battle, Saint Dovmont went into church, set down his sword at the steps of
the holy altar and accepted blessing from the priest, who girded on the sword
for him.
Saint Dovmont made
the Pskov fortress impregnable. In memory of the glorious defender of the city,
a stone protective wall, raised up by the holy prince alongside the Krom at the
end of the XIII Century, was named the Dovmontov, and the territory enclosed by
the wall, to the present say is called Dovmontov town. The "House of the
Holy Trinity" of the saintly defender was yet another pious matter: in
gratitude to the Lord in Whose Name he had gained victory unharmed, holy Prince
Dovmont alongside the Pskov Kremlin erected a temple in honour of the feastday,
on which he won the victory. Other inhabitants of Pskov also build churches
there in fulfilling of vows. The not overly large territory of present day
Dovmontov town was completely covered with churches (the first temple in honour
of Saint Dovmont-Timothei was built in Dovmontov town in 1574).
The brave
warrior-prince gained his final victory on 5 March 1299 on the banks of the
River Velika, where with a small company he defeated a large German army.
Meanwhile the Livonian Knights unexpectedly invaded the suburbs of Pskov, they
seized the nigh to the city Snetnogorsk and Mirozhsk monasteries and burned
them, cruelly murdering the inhabitants. They killed the founder of the
Snetnogorsk monastery, the Monk Joasaph, together with 17 monks, and also the
Monk Vasilii, Hegumen of Murozhsk (Comm. 4 March). Holy Prince Dovmont, not
waiting to gather up a large Pskov force, went to engage the enemy with his
retainers and he expelled the sacrilegious defilers from the bounds of the
Russian Land.
Several months later,
holy Prince Dovmont-Timothei died and was buried in the Trinity cathedral of
Pskov. The chronicler relates, that "there was then great sadness in
Pleskov for the men and woman and small children on account of their good lord
noble Prince Timothei". The Pskov people remembered, how the holy prince
had concerned himself over them during peaceful times and in particular, when
the city was threatened by danger, how he led them into battle with the words:
"Good men of Pskov! Whoso of you is old, that one is my father, whoso is
young, that one is my brother. Stand fast for the Holy Trinity!"
Soon after the death
of the prince there began the veneration of him as an holy intercessor before
God, prayerfully guarding the land from enemies and misfortune. More than once
after death did the holy prince defend Pskov. Thus, in the year 1480, when more
than an hundred thousand Germans besieged the city, he appeared in a dream to a
certain citizen and said: "Take my grave garb (cover), carry it three
times around the city with a cross and fear not". The people of Pskov
fulfilled his instructions and the Germans departed from the city. A service
was established to the holy prince after this miraculous deliverance from
enemies. Alongside with the relics of the saint, there was put up his battle
sword (at the present time the sword is preserved at the Pskov
historico-artistic and architectural preservation museum), which was thereafter
handed to Pskov princes upon their elevation to the princely throne.
Holy Prince
Dovmont-Timothei and his spouse, later to be the Schema-Monastic Nun Martha (+
1300, Comm. 8 November), were granted the special honour to be depicted upon
the wonderworking Murozhsk Icon of the Mother of God (Comm. 24 September):
"Thou hast bestown blessing unto the all-pure image of Thine icon, O
Mother of God, inscribed of visage the likeness of our in battle steadfast
intercessor prince Dovmont with his pious spouse" (Sedalion of Service to
holy Prince Dovmont-Timothei). During an appearance of the Mother of God to the
starets-elder Dorothei (Dorophei) at the time of a siege of Pskov by the Polish
on 27 August 1581, holy Prince Dovmont-Timothei was among the chosen of God,
accompanying the Heavenly Protectress of Pskov (the related account about the
Pskovo-Pokrov Icon of the Mother of God is located under 1 October).
The relics of holy
Prince Dovmont-Timothei rest in the Pskov cathedral of the Life-Originating
Trinity.
The holy Princes
Vsevolod and Dovmont more than once aided Russian armies in defense of the
western borders of the Fatherland. And then the hour struck, when with their
sacred intrepidness they were dispatched by the Valiant Leader of the heavenly
Hosts to rise up in defense of the eastern frontiers.
In the year 1640 the
great national movement to the East – "the meeting of the sun" –
resulted in the appearance of Russian explorers at the mouth of the Amur River
and the Pacific Ocean. Rus' on these frontiers collided with pagan China. The
bulwark if Orthodoxy became the Russian fortress of Albazin, famed by the
wonderworking Albazinsk Icon of the Mother of God (Comm. 9 March) and the
heroic "Albazinsk defense" (1685-1686).
...Summer of the year
1679, during the Peter Lent, a company of cossacks with Gavril Florov set out
from Albazin on exploration in the Zea River valley. For three years the
cossacks did patrol duty on the Zea, they made the rounds of the surrounding
settlements, the brought under Russian rule the Tungus settlers, and they
established winter quarters and a stockade. One time, cossack riders
encountered in the hills two horsemen on white horses, arrayed in armour and
armed with bows and swords. These were Saints Vsevolod and Dovmont. Having
entered into conversation with the cossacks and learning that they were from
Albazin, the holy warrior-princes predicted soon afterwards the approach of
Chinese armies upon the Amur, with a difficult defense but ultimate triumph of
Russian arms. "And again the Chinese wilt come, and enter into a great
battle, and in these struggles we shalt aid the Russian people. And the Chinese
wilt not trouble the city".
Several times during
1684-1686 the horde of Chinese advanced towards Albazin, but did not take the
city. By the miraculous help of the Albazinsk Icon of the Mother of God and the
holy Princes Vsevolod and Dovmont of Pskov, the enemy onslaughts were rendered
powerless against the Far-Eastern Orthodox fortress.
"The Account
about the Miracles of Holy Nobleborn Princes Vsevolod and Dovmont" was
written by Gavril Florov at Yakutsk on 23 October 1689. The fealty of God's
holy retinue did not end. New generations arise to change the face of the
earth, but steadfast in sacred patrol of their fatherland stand the Russian
warrior-defenders – Saints Vsevolod and Dovmont.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
