For which they declared a saint, and then decanonized Princess Anna of Kashinskaya

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Numbered among the saints as a noble princess, then recognized as an ordinary person, and two and a half centuries later canonized again - this is how the posthumous fate of the Rostov princess and the Tver princess Anna Kashinskaya, who had to endure tragic losses during her lifetime.

Life in the world and death in the schema

Anna Kashinskaya was revered primarily because she embodied an example of "femininity in the Old Russian style", lived according to the canons established for wives and mothers of that time. The whole life of the princess is the embodiment of that Christian humility - or, at least, patience, obedience to fate, which has long been especially appreciated in Orthodox culture, and since the 18th century it has become less and less popular, when not only women's fashion, but also the position of women changed rapidly in society.

Anna, later nicknamed Kashinskaya, was born in about 1280. The daughter of the Rostov prince Dmitry Borisovich, she was married to a representative of another noble family - Prince Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy. Very little information has been preserved about Anna's life in the status of a princess - in fact, her role was reduced precisely to performing the functions of a mother and being a wife to her husband. Another thing is that her days fell on difficult times: Russia was already under the Tatar yoke, among other things suffering from civil strife and enmity of appanage princes. The victims of all this were first Anna's husband, then her two sons and grandson.

Conflicts of the Tver princes with their neighbors, primarily with the Moscow rulers, were resolved through an appeal to the Horde, and such intrigues often cost the participants their lives. Mikhail Yaroslavich was killed by the Tatar Khan Uzbek in 1318, eight years later his son, Prince Dmitry the Terrible Ochi, went to the Horde. He dealt with the Moscow prince Yuri Danilovich, whom he believed to be the culprit of his father's death, and himself, in turn, was executed by Uzbek Khan. The same fate befell his younger brother Alexander Mikhailovich, together with his son Fyodor.

Princess Anna took her hair as a nun under the name Sophia. The date of the tonsure is unknown, apparently, it happened shortly after the death of her husband - this would correspond to the customs of that time, this is how pious widowhood would look like.

Shortly before her death, in 1367, Princess Anna left after her youngest son Vasily to Kashin, also involved in internecine disputes. Kashin, one of the oldest cities in the Tver principality, is now famous for its many temples. Anna retired to a monastery, and in 1368 she died. Before her death, the princess accepted the schema, completely renounced the world, indulging in strict asceticism. At the same time, the name Anna was given to her.

How Anna Kashinskaya became a saint for three decades

Anna Kashinskaya was buried in the wooden Assumption Cathedral of the monastery, but her grave eventually turned out to be abandoned. The remains of the princess were rediscovered in another difficult period for the Russian lands - in 1611. In troubled times, in years when the need for intercession from above seemed especially acute, Anna's relics received the glory of miraculous ones, according to legend, she was sick and weak and healed them.

And since the princess's earthly life was also righteous, marked by piety, acceptance of her fate, meekness, then some time later, in 1649, the Local Council of the Russian Church decided to rank Anna Kashinskaya among the saints. She was revered as a faithful - that is, not a martyr, but a righteous representative of the ruling clan. The same face of holiness received after death and her husband - despite the martyr's end. St. Anna was especially revered by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who made a pilgrimage to Kashin with his wife and sisters to worship the miraculous relics. They were opened and declared incorruptible, the right hand rested on the chest, and the fingers were folded in the form of two fingers.

This way of making the sign of the sign of the cross has become widespread since about the 8th century. The touching thumb, ring fingers and little finger symbolized the three hypostases of God, and the index and slightly bent middle - the two natures of Christ, divine and human. During the next trip of the royal family to Kashin in 1650, Anna's relics were solemnly transferred to the newly built stone Resurrection Cathedral, especially magnificent festivities were organized, the tsarina and princesses embroidered the veil on the relics. The memory of the saint was venerated twice a year - on the day of her repose on October 2 and on the day of the uncovering of the relics on July 21.

How the long-dead princess prevented the church authorities

But the church reforms of the 17th century also affected the veneration of St. Anna. Two fingers was declared heretical, only three fingers were recognized. For some time, the Kashin saint represented a serious argument of the Old Believers against innovations, but the clergy dealt with her image quite decisively. A special commission from Patriarch Nikon went to Kashin, which studied in detail the life of Anna and the relics themselves. As a result of the commission's work, the assembled Local Council recognized the saint as not a saint, excluded her name from the calendar, and forbade her to worship the relics.

Nevertheless, the common people continued to honor Anna as a saint, to believe in her intercession and help. The return of the status of a saint to the princess took place already in the 20th century, after unanimity was established, which recognized the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Recordings of miraculous healings resumed. In 1909, celebrations were held in Kashin to mark the restoration of the veneration of Anna, and then a church in St. Petersburg and a church in Moscow were consecrated in honor of the Orthodox saint. Her relics were placed in the Ascension Church in the city of Kashin.

Read also: How saints are dressed up in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.