Alexander Nevsky’s Memorial Day

September 12, 2019, Russia marks the Memorial Day of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky. 295 years ago, in 1724, at the behest of Peter the Great, the relics of the defender of the Russian land were delivered to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. The Presidential Library’s portal provides access to a collection of unique materials dedicated to Alexander Nevsky.  

The book of 1884 “The Life and Deeds of the Holy Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky” highlights that the Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich died on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets. The church hierarch of that time, Metropolitan Cyril, announced of his death with the following words: "The sun of the Russian land has set".

Two fateful events, two battles that protected Russia from the expansion of the conquerors and forever entered the name of Alexander in Russian and world history - this, of course, is the Battle of the Neva and the Battle on the Ice. During the first, the Prince defeated the Swedes on July 15, 1240, not so far from the place where his relics are now rested - in the area of ​​the village of Ust-Izhora, Kolpinsky district of St. Petersburg. During the second he defeated German knights on April 5, 1242 in the territory of the present Pskov Region. The Presidential Library’s electronic collections present ancient and rare descriptions of those events.

The book “The Battle on the Ice” of 1941 reflects thoughts by V. V. Mavrodin about the actions of the prince by an old Russian chronicler.

S. Krotkov in the publication “The Battle of the Neva and the Battle on the Ice” in 1900 cites the words of the master of the Livonian knights Velven, who lost to Alexander during the Battle of Ice: “I went through many countries, I know the world, people and sovereigns, but I saw and listened to Alexander Novgorodsky with amazement” .

“Alexander Nevsky was a skilled commander. He was well aware of the techniques of the knights, and he contrasted the German “pig” with another construction of the army. He placed the Russian troops in the form of the Roman five (V). It was a bag into which the German "pig" was supposed to fall. Ahead of the five, Alexander lined up the ranks of the soldiers, disguising the location of his troops. The Germans, counting on an easy victory, on the fact that the Russian army would take flight, broke through the front lines of the Russians and were trapped. They could not go ashore: the steep rock Voronny Kamen was impregnable. There was nowhere to rush to the side. The Russians squeezed them like ticks”, - according to S. V. Glazer's essay “The Battle on the Ice” of 1941.

From the point of view of military art, the victory of Alexander Yaroslavich in the Battle of the Ice can be called unique for his time - the Russian foot army surrounded and defeated the knightly cavalry before the infantry learned to defeat the horse knights in Western Europe.

Alexander Yaroslavich (1220–1263) did not live a very long life, but it was filled with great events. From 1236 he reigned in Novgorod, from 1249 he was also the Grand Duke of Kiev, and from 1252 - Vladimir. He made a great contribution not only to strengthening the northwestern borders of Russia, but also helped to prevent the ruinous invasions of the Mongol-Tatars from the east. Several times he himself traveled to the Golden Horde, having achieved the release of the Russians from the obligation to act as an army on the side of the Tatar khans in their wars with other peoples.

In 1262, unrest broke out in Russia, during which the Khan's Baskaks (tax collectors) were destroyed. In order to appease the khan, the prince personally went to the Horde and managed to achieve this. He was forced to spend a whole year there, and died on the way back from an illness.

The veneration of Alexander Nevsky as a saint began in the 13th century. But the official general church worship dates from the Moscow Cathedral in 1547.

In addition, Catherine I established the order of his name in Russia. In 1917, it was abolished, but was again returned during the Great Patriotic War.