Holy Princess Anna Kashinskaya

In every saint there is a degree of Christian virtue, which everyone in himself individually educated. Anna Kashinskaya is a sacred blessed princess who became the embodiment of one of the most important Christian virtues in her life - patience. Only through him can one come to humility and meekness, which give the keys to the doors of salvation, which implies the beginning of spiritual achievement.

Patience for the salvation of the soul

The apostle and evangelist Luke wrote not in vain such wise words, in which are defined the notion that patience is saved by the souls of men. In the Holy Scripture there are still very important and prophetic texts that say that from the multiplication of iniquities, love in many people will be impoverished, or the one who has endured to the end will be saved. This shows that it is in patience that one can find maturity of a Christian character and its readiness to accept monasticism, preaching, or martyrdom for their faith. This was Saint Anna Kashinskaya. What helps the princess? To answer this question one must plunge into the history of the time in which she lived.

Trials of holiness life

The life of Anna Kashinskaya tells how many sorrows she had to endure, under the hardship of trials at the end of her life, she chose for herself a monastic service to God.

Anna Kashinskaya was the daughter of the Rostov Prince Dimitry Borisovich. She was the great-granddaughter of Saint Basil of Rostov, tortured by enemies for not betraying his Orthodox faith. At that time, Holy Russia was under the yoke of the pagan Tatar-Mongolian Horde, and therefore any believer in Jesus Christ could suffer martyrdom for the confession of his faith.

Even in her youth, Anna Kashinskaya very quickly understood all the transience and fragility of worldly goods and earthly happiness. The blows did not fall from all sides. At first her father died (in 1294). Two years later their grand duke's camp was completely burned, then her husband, Prince Mikhail Tverskoy, became seriously ill , and the newborn daughter of Theodore died.

In 1318, the husband of Anna, Prince Michael, for refusing to bow to the idols of the Horde to death tortured the Tatars. First they cut off his head, and then dismembered.

In the history of the Orthodox Church, there are examples of spouses who have suffered martyrdom, they are Andrian and Natalia, who preserved her widowhood after her husband's confession.

Widowhood

Then the time came when Anna Kashinskaya began to lose her favorite people one by one. In 1325, her eldest son Dmitry Groznyi Eyes saw in the Horde of Yuri Moskovsky, who was involved in the death of his own father, and killed him, and then himself, Dimitri, was executed by the Khan. In 1339, the Mongol-Tatar warriors and the second son of Anna Alexander and her grandson, Theodore, were severely executed. So the enemy Horde took revenge for the uprising in Tver.

As a result, all these tragic events lead princess Anna to the fact that she decides to go in a monastic way and takes tonsure with the name Efrosinya.

First she lived in the Tver Cathedral of St. Sophia, but then the younger son built a special monastery for her. The main thing in her life was a zealous prayer to the Lord Jesus for the untimely death of her relatives and for a peaceful life in Russia.

Oblivion and Miracles

In 1368, on October 2, her soul settled down. Before her death, Princess Anna accepted the schema. She was buried in the Assumption Church of the monastery of the city of Kashino (Tver region), where she lived. Her tomb was first treated in an inappropriately manner, and her name was simply forgotten over the ages. But in 1611 miracles occurred at her grave. During the siege of the city of Kashin with Lithuanian waxes, she appeared to a pious sacristan, cured him and said that she was praying for the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that they would save the city from the invaders. And then the inhabitants of the city awoke a reverent attitude to their heavenly defender, who even more than once saved the city from ruin.

Then, in honor of the holy Anna, the newborn children began to be called, her closed coffin was adorned.

Holy relics

The rumor of her miraculous relics reached the Holy Patriarch Nikon and to Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich. The Moscow Cathedral, held on this occasion, it was decided to open the coffin with its relics. This event occurred in 1649 on June 21.

The body of the servant Anna Anna was almost imperishable, with the examination of small traces of decay were only on the soles of the feet and on the face. It was also noticed that her right hand is on her breast, she seemed to bless with the ancient double-fingered embroidery.

Holy Anna Kashinskaya (in the monasticism of Euphrosyne) occupies a special place among the Russian saints , and many events that have affected the split of the Orthodox Church in Russia are connected with it, this will now be the subject of conversation.

The split between the Old Believers and the New Believers

And here comes the most dramatic denouement. In 1677, the pious princess Anna Kashinskaya became a symbol of the schismatic fermentation of the unreasonable zealots of the Orthodox faith.

Disputes between the New Believers and the Old Believers lasted long enough. At the Moscow Cathedral in 1656, the Old Believers, who were baptized with two fingers, were anathema, called imitators of Armenians and heretics.

The Old Believers, in turn, began to point to the fact of an open and universal survey of the relics of the holy princess Anna, whose fingers were folded in two fingers, not three-fingers, as the new believers made them do. And so people went to the cathedral of the city of Kashin, where there were relics, and saw her fingers. This served as a serious and convincing argument in favor of dvoeperstiya.

King

In 1677 Tsar Feodor Alekseevich wanted to go to Kashin to bow to the holy relics of the holy skhimonahini of Anna, but at the last moment he refused this trip, following the example of his father Alexei Mikhailovich. Instead, a meeting was held, dated February 12-21 of the same year, by order of Patriarch Joachim, a commission was created from Metropolitan Joseph, Archbishop Simeon, Hegumen Varsonofy, Protopop John Lazarev, who, having examined the relics of the saint, revealed their "disagreements" and concluded , That the right hand of Princess Anna is folded in two.

And then her bright memory again suffered, the canonization of the holy name was abolished. This was the only such very unusual case in Russia in the Orthodox Church.

Icon: Anna Kashinskaya

However, the people remained faithful to their saint, although this "debunking" of Saint Anna lasted about 230 years. All the same, Orthodox people began to pray to her coffin and seek consolation. She helped them in various troubles and temptations. She was asked to bless her for marriage, for a good deed, and even for accepting monasticism.

In 1908 the veneration of the saint was restored. And in 1910 in St. Petersburg was consecrated the first church of Anna Kashinskaya. And on June 12 it was accepted her holy veneration in the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the years of wars and revolutions, the image of the holy princess became even closer for people. She endured on the earth and therefore was awarded a reward from the Lord. She has the boldness to be a great prayer-book of thousands of sufferers and asking for the intercession of the souls of men.

Saint Anna Kashinskaya still remains a faithful assistant to orphans and widows. And any grieving Christian heart in its appeals should address it specifically.