What made Dmitry Donskoy go to Kulikovo field

The era in which Dmitry Donskoy lived and acted is often perceived unequivocally: they say that Russia began to rise, the Horde was in decline, the Russians got stronger and accumulated strength to fight the Tatars ... In fact, during this period, Russia remained fragmented, no special wealth was accumulated, and the population of all the lands of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, which we call Rus, did not exceed one and a half million people.

Forerunner

Another stereotype is related to the activities of the church. It is often referred to as the main unifying principle. Moreover, it is sometimes argued that it was not the ethnic kinship of Russians that served as the foundation for the unification of the lands of Rus', but Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy has played and is playing a huge role in the life of the country, but faith itself has never united anyone into a single state. All attempts to create a super-state on the basis of Catholicism or Islam have always failed. But in Rus' there were no such attempts.

All this is said in order to more clearly understand the role of Prince Dmitry, nicknamed Donskoy. In the history of any society and in political history in general, as nowhere else, the role of the individual is obvious. And Dmitry in our ideas often looks like a kind of extras. It seemed that he had nowhere to go, except to go to the Kulikovo field.

#comm#In this case, we do not even remotely imagine the degree of desperate determination of the prince who challenged the Horde, and we do not understand the whole picture of the life of Rus'.#/comm#

The then Rus' in the literal and figurative sense was the field of the most fierce struggle. We have too few sources to fully objectively judge what happened inside the church, but some things are obvious. Metropolitan Alexy acted in many ways like a politician. His goal was to achieve the unity of North-Eastern Rus'. The Greek hierarchs who headed the Orthodox Church placed at the forefront the religious unity of all Orthodox not only on the territory of Rus', but also those who were at that time under the rule of Poland and Lithuania. Hence the tense relations between Metropolitan Alexy and the Greeks.

It would be wrong to accuse the Greeks of wanting harm to Moscow, but there can be no talk of a single impulse of the entire church in the name of the unity of North-Eastern Rus'.

#comm#It should be added that the Orthodox Church was also subordinate to the Tatars, from whom it received many benefits. In particular, she was not taxed.#/comm#

So the unifying tendencies in Rus' in the second half of the 14th century were supported by Metropolitan Alexy, but then it did not become the policy of the whole church. For many, relations with Constantinople and the Horde were primary, and Constantinople did not really support Moscow. But it should be borne in mind that it was during this period that the spiritual life of Russians received a new impetus. The Russian Church found many people who became a kind of "centers of power", for example, Sergius of Radonezh. They served as a source of faith and hope for the entire nation.

There were also positive moments in political life. In the Horde, one bloody coup was replaced by another. The Tatar khans fiercely fought for power and exterminated each other, destroying, among other things, the descendants of Genghis Khan. In Rus', despite the fact that there was no unity and the struggle between the principalities continued, from some moment the Ruriks became inviolable. With all the bloody strife between the princes, they did not raise a hand against the Rurikovichs. It was this understanding of their consanguinity of the representatives of the ruling class of the "Russian family" that was the forerunner of the unity of all Rus'.

Anger

Prince Dmitry was born on October 12, 1350 in the family of the specific Prince Ivan Ivanovich of Zvenigorod, the son of Ivan Kalita. As happened more than once in those days, the path to the Moscow throne for Dmitry's father was cleared by the "black death" (pneumonic plague). And Ivan Ivanovich himself died when Dmitry was barely nine years old. In the same year, the Khan of the Golden Horde Birbidek died. A twenty-year struggle for power in the Horde began, which means that a relatively calm life in Rus' ended. All the unwritten rules of relations between Rus' and the Horde were crossed out. It has come, as they would say now, the time of lawlessness, when both the Tatar khans and the ordinary Horde tormented the Russian lands, regardless of whether tribute was paid or not.

When they say that Prince Dmitry received power at the age of nine, they mean that he could not govern himself, that others did it for him. It is both so and not so. You need to understand that there could not be any special discounts on the fact that the prince was still a child in those days. Of course, there were boyars around Dmitry, but at the same time, the young prince was a real ruler, and, of course, with a discount for age, bore all the burdens of power.

#comm#At the age of nine, Dmitry went to the Horde for a label to reign. But the label for the Great reign was given to the prince of Suzdal.#/comm#

... The struggle for the label began, the rivalry between Moscow and Tver continued. Moreover, not only Tver acted as an opponent of Moscow, relations with other principalities were also aggravated. Hung over Moscow and Lithuania, whose campaigns against Rus' were at times no less devastating and cruel than the raids of the Tatars.

But the more mature Dmitry became, the more successful and wiser was the policy of the Moscow principality. Moscow gradually became the leader of North-Eastern Rus'.

#comm#The dress rehearsal of the Battle of Kulikovo happened in 1375, when twenty sovereign princes of North-Eastern Rus' supported Dmitry and opposed the Tver prince.#/comm#

He was forced to submit and not only renounced the throne of Vladimir, but also recognized himself as the "young brother" of the Moscow prince, which means that he joined the military alliance on the side of Moscow.

And yet the forces and resources of Prince Dmitry were very limited. The maximum number of soldiers that the whole North-Eastern Rus' could put up did not exceed 70 thousand people. And there were hardly more of them later on the Kulikovo field. At the same time, it was not difficult for the Tatars to gather two hundred thousand soldiers.

What made Dmitry challenge the Horde?

You don't have to be particularly far-sighted to understand: the atrocities of the Tatars brought the Russians to the brink. The hatred for them turned out to be so irresistible that it overcame the caution of the Russian military class, which had not risen against the Tatars for more than a hundred years. Tatars for Russians at that time were murderers, rapists, extortionists. It was under pressure "from below" that the Russian princes and boyars acted. A contemporary very accurately reflected the mood of the people, writing about the time of the Battle of Kulikovo: "And the Russian land boiled."

Leader

So, the Rurikovichs became inviolable, but something else important happened. Military leaders appeared who were not afraid to challenge the Tatars and longed for a decisive battle. We are talking not only about famous commanders close to Prince Dmitry, such as Bobrok-Volynsky (on the image) or Prince Vladimir of Serpukhov. In North-Eastern Rus', there were several thousand professional soldiers who were looking for fights with the Tatars and, by and large, were not afraid of her.

The origin of a layer of such people in Rus' is not noted in the annals, but it is clear that no process is possible without an organizing force.

So what served as the foundation for the Battle of Kulikovo and victory in it?

#comm#This is the sizzling hatred of Russians for the Tatars, understanding not only by Rurikovich, but also by the military class of their ethnic unity, the appearance of warriors ready to challenge the Tatars. And of course, the presence of such a leader as Dmitry Donskoy. #/comm#

The Moscow princes, starting with Kalita, were prudent politicians, tuned in to leadership. And at some point, Prince Dmitry caught the mood of the Russians, realized that he himself could become a national leader only on the condition that it was Moscow that would lead the anti-Tatar movement. He, of course, was both personally a brave man and a courageous politician, which is not the same thing.

In a number of chronicles, the authors of which were guided by Prince Serpukhov, it was he who was presented as the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, and Dmitry was almost a coward. This, of course, is not true. If not for the will of Prince Dmitry, there simply would not have been any Battle of Kulikovo. I would take it and pay off once again, or simply hide in a safe place from the punitive invasion of Mamai ...

But he deliberately led the matter to a direct clash with the Tatars. And this is a man in whose soul a wild horror of them could not help but fall from childhood. But he was able to overcome this feeling and become, as they would say now, a national leader.

People

A lot has been written about the Battle of Kulikovo itself, including outright absurdities, such as the fact that it either didn’t exist at all, or that the Tatars decided among themselves who should own Russia. If this were so, if two Tatar hordes converged on the Kulikovo field, one of which was headed by Mamai, and the other under the leadership of Dmitry was brought by the same Tatars, then no Russia would ever arise under any circumstances. And the Russians in their annals would never have responded to the deadly battle of the Tatars among themselves.

The essence of what was happening was that a new strong people was entering the world arena - no longer the Slavs of the times Ancient Rus', but actually Russians. The process of the birth of the Russian people, of course, was not completed by this time, but the young people already felt their strength.

And it is not so difficult for us, the current Russians, to understand the feelings of our ancestors. All the Russians, in whom hatred was stronger than fear, went to the Kulikovo field. And the Russian warrior, who has ceased to spare himself, is terrible in battle.

Apparently, Mamai was well aware that his invasion of Rus' would not be a simple walk. By this time, the Tatar military leaders had not yet lost the ability for sober analysis. Therefore, Mamai not only gathered his horde, he considered that his own forces would not be enough and began recruiting mercenaries. There were many Genoese and people from the North Caucasus in his army.

There is no doubt that both sides mustered all the forces they could. Say, the Ryazan prince took a neutral position, but 70 Ryazan boyars died on the Kulikovo field, more than from any other principality.

#comm#The battle itself is also of interest from the point of view that the specific style of the Russians for the first time appeared in it.#/comm#

In all the decisive battles of subsequent years, the Russians were able to endure the enemy. Even Hitler cursed the "elephant patience of the Russians." On the Kulikovo field, everything, apparently, was the same.

The Russians were outnumbered by their enemy. But the main thing is that they were inferior in the number of professional soldiers. The militia, for all its readiness for self-sacrifice, as a rule, is rather weak. But, nevertheless, the Russian military leaders were so able to organize the militias that they resisted. And the Tatars were not only defeated, they were utterly defeated, they fled in panic, but they were pursued and destroyed.

#comm#According to legend, Prince Dmitry fought as an ordinary soldier in the forefront. This is very doubtful.#/comm#

In history, of course, everything happens, but the Moscow princes were distinguished by a heightened sense of duty. And the duty of the prince is to do everything to win in his place. In any case, Dmitry Donskoy became, albeit temporarily, the first political and military leader of all Russians. He managed to organize less than half of the Russian lands for the fight, but this was enough to win.

But what happened next is no longer the fault of Dmitry Ivanovich. The prince is usually accused of failing to defend Moscow in 1382, when Khan Tokhtamysh besieged and burned the city. It was a painful blow to Rus', but not a fatal one. Much worse was the fact that the union of Russian princes, thanks to which they won on the Kulikovo field, began to disintegrate.

The roots of the Russian defeat after the recent triumph lay not in the realm of politics, but in the realm of psychology. The Russians were on the road to unity, but that was still a long way off. Some of the princes were able to gather for one battle, but they have not yet learned to consider the troubles of their brothers as their own. A people becomes strong and inseparable when the realization comes that this people is a whole. But Rus' had already taken this path, and it was already impossible to stop it.

Special for the Centenary

The era in which Dmitry Donskoy lived and acted is often perceived unequivocally: they say, Russia began to rise, the Horde was in decline, the Russians got stronger and accumulated strength to fight the Tatars ... In fact, during this period, Russia remained the same fragmented, no special wealth was accumulated, and the population of all the lands of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, which we call Rus, did not exceed one and a half million people.

Forerunner

Another stereotype is related to the activities of the church. It is often referred to as the main unifying principle. Moreover, it is sometimes argued that it was not the ethnic kinship of Russians that served as the foundation for the unification of the lands of Rus', but the Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy has played and is playing a huge role in the life of the country, but faith itself has never united anyone into a single state. All attempts to create a super-state on the basis of Catholicism or Islam have always failed. But in Rus' there were no such attempts.

All this is said in order to more clearly understand the role of Prince Dmitry, nicknamed Donskoy. In the history of any society and in political history in general, as nowhere else, the role of the individual is obvious. And Dmitry in our ideas often looks like a kind of extras. It seemed that he had nowhere to go, except to go to the Kulikovo field.

In this case, we do not even remotely imagine the degree of desperate determination of the prince who challenged the Horde, and we do not understand the whole picture of the life of Rus'.

The then Rus' in the literal and figurative sense was the field of the most fierce struggle. We have too few sources to fully objectively judge what happened inside the church, but some things are obvious. Metropolitan Alexy acted in many ways like a politician. His goal was to achieve the unity of North-Eastern Rus'. The Greek hierarchs who headed the Orthodox Church placed at the forefront the religious unity of all Orthodox not only on the territory of Rus', but also those who were at that time under the rule of Poland and Lithuania. Hence the tense relations between Metropolitan Alexy and the Greeks.

It would be wrong to accuse the Greeks of wanting harm to Moscow, but there can be no talk of a single impulse of the entire church in the name of the unity of North-Eastern Rus'.

It should be added that the Orthodox Church was also subordinate to the Tatars, from whom it received many benefits. In particular, it was not taxed.

So the unifying tendencies in Rus' in the second half of the 14th century were supported by Metropolitan Alexy, but then it did not become the policy of the whole church. For many, relations with Constantinople and the Horde were primary, and Constantinople did not really support Moscow. But it should be borne in mind that it was during this period that the spiritual life of Russians received a new impetus. The Russian Church found many people who became a kind of "centers of power", for example, Sergius of Radonezh. They served as a source of faith and hope for the entire nation.

There were also positive moments in political life. In the Horde, one bloody coup was replaced by another. The Tatar khans fiercely fought for power and exterminated each other, destroying, among other things, the descendants of Genghis Khan. In Rus', despite the fact that there was no unity and the struggle between the principalities continued, from some moment the Ruriks became inviolable. With all the bloody strife between the princes, they did not raise a hand against the Rurikovichs. It was this understanding of their consanguinity of the representatives of the ruling class of the "Russian family" that was the forerunner of the unity of all Rus'.

Anger

Prince Dmitry was born on October 12, 1350 in the family of the specific Prince Ivan Ivanovich of Zvenigorod, the son of Ivan Kalita. As happened more than once in those days, the path to the Moscow throne for Dmitry's father was cleared by the "black death" (pneumonic plague). And Ivan Ivanovich himself died when Dmitry was barely nine years old. In the same year, the Khan of the Golden Horde Birbidek died. A twenty-year struggle for power in the Horde began, which means that a relatively calm life in Rus' ended. All the unwritten rules of relations between Rus' and the Horde were crossed out. It has come, as they would say now, the time of lawlessness, when both the Tatar khans and the ordinary Horde tormented the Russian lands, regardless of whether tribute was paid or not.

When they say that Prince Dmitry received power at the age of nine, they mean that he could not govern himself, that others did it for him. It is both so and not so. You need to understand that there could not be any special discounts on the fact that the prince was still a child in those days. Of course, there were boyars around Dmitry, but at the same time, the young prince was a real ruler, and, of course, with a discount for age, bore all the burdens of power.

At the age of nine, Dmitry went to the Horde for a label to reign. But the label for the Great reign was given to the Suzdal prince.

The struggle for the label began, the rivalry between Moscow and Tver continued. Moreover, not only Tver acted as an opponent of Moscow, relations with other principalities were also aggravated. Hung over Moscow and Lithuania, whose campaigns against Rus' were at times no less devastating and cruel than the raids of the Tatars.

But the more mature Dmitry became, the more successful and wiser was the policy of the Moscow principality. Moscow gradually became the leader of North-Eastern Rus'.

The dress rehearsal of the Battle of Kulikovo took place in 1375, when twenty sovereign princes of North-Eastern Rus' supported Dmitry and opposed the prince of Tver.

He was forced to submit and not only renounced the throne of Vladimir, but also recognized himself as the "young brother" of the Moscow prince, which means that he joined the military alliance on the side of Moscow.

And yet the forces and resources of Prince Dmitry were very limited. The maximum number of soldiers that the whole North-Eastern Rus' could put up did not exceed 70 thousand people. And there were hardly more of them later on the Kulikovo field. At the same time, it was not difficult for the Tatars to gather two hundred thousand soldiers.

What made Dmitry challenge the Horde?

You don't have to be particularly far-sighted to understand: the atrocities of the Tatars brought the Russians to the brink. The hatred for them turned out to be so irresistible that it overcame the caution of the Russian military class, which had not risen against the Tatars for more than a hundred years. Tatars for Russians at that time were murderers, rapists, extortionists. It was under pressure "from below" that the Russian princes and boyars acted. A contemporary very accurately reflected the mood of the people, writing about the time of the Battle of Kulikovo: "And the Russian land boiled."

Leader

So, the Rurikovichs became inviolable, but something else important happened. Military leaders appeared who were not afraid to challenge the Tatars and longed for a decisive battle. We are talking not only about well-known commanders close to Prince Dmitry, such as Bobrok-Volynsky (in the figure) or Prince Vladimir of Serpukhov. In North-Eastern Rus', there were several thousand professional soldiers who were looking for fights with the Tatars and, by and large, were not afraid of her.

The origin of a layer of such people in Rus' is not noted in the annals, but it is clear that no process is possible without an organizing force.

So what served as the foundation for the Battle of Kulikovo and victory in it?

This is the sizzling hatred of Russians for the Tatars, understanding not only by the Rurikovichs, but also by the military class of their ethnic unity, the appearance of warriors ready to challenge the Tatars. And of course, the presence of such a leader as Dmitry Donskoy.

The Moscow princes, starting with Kalita, were prudent politicians, tuned in to leadership. And at some point, Prince Dmitry caught the mood of the Russians, realized that he himself could become a national leader only on the condition that it was Moscow that would lead the anti-Tatar movement. He, of course, was both personally a brave man and a courageous politician, which is not the same thing.

In a number of chronicles, the authors of which were guided by Prince Serpukhov, it was he who was presented as the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, and Dmitry was almost a coward. This, of course, is not true. If not for the will of Prince Dmitry, there simply would not have been any Battle of Kulikovo. I would take it and pay off once again, or simply hide in a safe place from the punitive invasion of Mamai ...

But he deliberately led the matter to a direct clash with the Tatars. And this is a man in whose soul a wild horror of them could not help but fall from childhood. But he was able to overcome this feeling and become, as they would say now, a national leader.

People

A lot has been written about the Battle of Kulikovo itself, including outright absurdities, such as the fact that it either didn’t exist at all, or that the Tatars decided among themselves who should own Russia. If this were so, if two Tatar hordes converged on the Kulikovo field, one of which was headed by Mamai, and the other under the leadership of Dmitry was brought by the same Tatars, then no Russia would ever arise under any circumstances. And the Russians in their annals would never have responded to the deadly battle of the Tatars among themselves.

The essence of what was happening was that a new strong people was entering the world arena - no longer the Slavs of the times of Ancient Rus', but actually Russians. The process of the birth of the Russian people, of course, was not completed by this time, but the young people already felt their strength.

And it is not so difficult for us, the current Russians, to understand the feelings of our ancestors. All the Russians, in whom hatred was stronger than fear, went to the Kulikovo field. And the Russian warrior, who has ceased to spare himself, is terrible in battle.

Apparently, Mamai was well aware that his invasion of Rus' would not be a simple walk. By this time, the Tatar military leaders had not yet lost the ability for sober analysis. Therefore, Mamai not only gathered his horde, he considered that his own forces would not be enough and began recruiting mercenaries. There were many Genoese and people from the North Caucasus in his army.

There is no doubt that both sides mustered all the forces they could. Say, the Ryazan prince took a neutral position, but 70 Ryazan boyars died on the Kulikovo field, more than from any other principality.

The battle itself is also of interest from the point of view that for the first time the specific style of the Russians appeared in it.

In all the decisive battles of subsequent years, the Russians were able to endure the enemy. Even Hitler cursed the "elephant patience of the Russians." On the Kulikovo field, everything, apparently, was the same.

The Russians were outnumbered by their enemy. But the main thing is that they were inferior in the number of professional soldiers. The militia, for all its readiness for self-sacrifice, as a rule, is rather weak. But, nevertheless, the Russian military leaders were so able to organize the militias that they resisted. And the Tatars were not only defeated, they were utterly defeated, they fled in panic, but they were pursued and destroyed.

According to legend, Prince Dmitry fought as an ordinary soldier in the forefront. This is very doubtful.

In history, of course, everything happens, but the Moscow princes were distinguished by a heightened sense of duty. And the duty of the prince is to do everything for victory in his place. In any case, Dmitry Donskoy became, albeit temporarily, the first political and military leader of all Russians. He managed to organize less than half of the Russian lands for the fight, but this was enough to win.

But what happened next is no longer the fault of Dmitry Ivanovich. The prince is usually accused of failing to defend Moscow in 1382, when Khan Tokhtamysh besieged and burned the city. It was a painful blow to Rus', but not a fatal one. Much worse was the fact that the union of Russian princes, thanks to which they won on the Kulikovo field, began to disintegrate.

The roots of the Russian defeat after the recent triumph lay not in the realm of politics, but in the realm of psychology. The Russians were on the road to unity, but that was still a long way off. Some of the princes were able to gather for one battle, but they have not yet learned to consider the troubles of their brothers as their own. A people becomes strong and inseparable when the realization comes that this people is a whole. But Rus' had already taken this path, and it was already impossible to stop it.

http://stoletie.ru/zodchiy/061102132303.html

Dmitry I Ivanovich, nicknamed Donskoy for the victory in the Battle of Kulikovo - Prince of Moscow (from 1359) and Grand Duke of Vladimir (from 1363). Son of Prince Ivan II the Red and his second wife, Princess Alexandra Ivanovna.

During the reign of Dmitry, the Principality of Moscow became one of the main centers for the unification of Russian lands, and the Grand Duchy of Vladimir became the hereditary property of the Moscow princes, although the Tver and Smolensk principalities came out from under his influence. After a number of significant military victories over the Golden Horde during the reign of Dmitry, the Tatar raids, although they continued for about two centuries, did not dare to fight the Russians in the open field. The white-stone Moscow Kremlin was also built.The Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy, anathematized by the legitimate and glorified ROC in the face of saints by the Kiev Metropolitan Cyprian for anti-church activities, was glorified as a saint by the Local Council of the ROC in 1988 without any procedure for removing the anathema.
The Holy Church honors the memory of the winner Mamai St. blgv. Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir Dimitry Ioannovich Donskoy, who reposed in the Lord on May 19, 1389. He was born on October 12, 1350 and was the son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan II Ivanovich the Red, and was brought up under the guidance of St. Alexis of Moscow. In 1359, after the death of his father at the age of 9, he assumed the ancestral throne. Dmitry's tutor was Moscow Metropolitan St. Alexy, who actually ruled the principality in the infancy of the Grand Duke. The reign of Dmitry Ivanovich fell on a very stormy and difficult era. Gathering strength for a decisive battle with the hordes of Mamai, St. Demetrius asked for blessings from St. Sergius of Radonezh. The elder inspired the prince, sent him the monks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrei (Oslyabya) to help him. For the victory on the Kulikovo field (between the rivers Don and Nepryadva) on the day of the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, Prince Dimitri began to be called Donskoy. He arranged the Assumption Monastery on the Dubenka River and created the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos on the graves of fallen soldiers. Saint Demetrius reposed in the Lord on May 19, 1389, and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. He pursued a very active policy of collecting Russian lands. As early as 1363, the government of Dmitry succeeded in obtaining from the Nizhny Novgorod prince Dmitry Konstantinovich the rejection of the label for a great reign in favor of the Moscow prince, this agreement was secured in 1366 by the marriage of Dmitry Ivanovich to Evdokia Dmitrievna, daughter of the Nizhny Novgorod prince (after the death of St. Prince Dmitry she was tonsured with the name Euphrosyne in the Ascension Monastery founded by her in the Moscow Kremlin, where she was buried; she had the gift of healing, like her holy husband, she was glorified by the Church). After a long struggle, Dmitry Ivanovich humbled Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver, who actively fought for the great reign, Prince Mikhail in 1375 was forced to recognize himself younger brother Moscow prince. There was a long struggle with the Ryazan prince Oleg, who twice acted as an ally of the Tatars (Mamai and Tokhtamysh), finally in 1385 through the mediation of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Dmitry and Oleg made peace, sealed by the marriage of Fedor of Ryazan to the daughter of the Moscow Prince Sophia. During the period of the great reign of Dmitry, Galich Mersky, Beloozero, Uglich, as well as the Kostroma, Chukhloma, Dmitrov, Starodub principalities were finally annexed to Moscow. A rebuff was given to the great Lithuanian prince Olgerd, who was trying to capture the Moscow principality. Novgorod the Great obeyed Moscow. In 1367, by order of Dmitry, a white-stone Kremlin was erected in Moscow.

Dmitry (or Dimitri) Ivanovich Donskoy, son of Ivan II, was born (12) October 20, 1350 in Moscow. His father died early, and Dmitry became the Grand Duke of Vladimir and Moscow in the tenth year of his life, from 1359, under the guardianship of Metropolitan Alexy. During the reign of Dmitry Donskoy, Moscow established its leadership position in the Russian lands. Relying on the increased power of the Moscow principality, Dmitry Donskoy overcame the resistance of rivals in the struggle for the great reign of the Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan and Tver princes. Under him, in 1367, the first stone Kremlin was built in Moscow, in 1368 and 1370 his troops repelled attacks on Moscow Lithuanian prince Olgerd. During the war with Tver, Dmitry Donskoy in 1375 forced the prince of Tver to recognize his seniority and alliance in the fight against the Golden Horde. He was strong, tall, broad-shouldered and overweight, had a black beard and hair, and an attractive look. Life reports that Dmitry was distinguished by piety, gentleness and chastity. In 1376, the Moscow principality asserted its influence in Volga-Kama Bulgaria, in 1378 its army defeated the Ryazan prince near Skornishchev. Dmitry Donskoy was the first of the Moscow princes to lead the armed struggle of the people against the Tatars: in 1378, the Tatar army of Begich was defeated on the Vozha River, and in 1380, Dmitry Donskoy, at the head of the combined Russian forces, defeated the troops of the Tatar temnik Mamai in the Battle of Kulikovo, for which he was nicknamed Donskoy. During the reign of Dmitry Donskoy, Moscow established its leadership position in the Russian lands. Dmitry Donskoy for the first time transferred the great reign to his son Vasily I without the sanction of the Golden Horde. Dmitry died early - at the 39th year of his life, (19) May 27, 1389. Buried in the Archangel Cathedral in Moscow. Canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988, his memory is honored on June 1.

In the history of St. Prince Dmitry entered with his victory over Mamai on the Kulikovo field. The first clash occurred in 1377, it ended in the defeat of the Moscow army. However, in the following year, 1378, the Grand Duke defeated the strong Tatar army of Murza Begich on the Vozha River, which infuriated Khan Mamai, who decided to punish Moscow. For the battle with the Tatars, the Grand Duke was blessed by the abbot of the Russian land, St. Sergius of Radonezh, who predicted his victory. On September 8, 1380, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Russian troops under the command of Dmitry Ivanovich won a brilliant victory on the Kulikovo field over the huge Tatar army of Khan Mamai. The Grand Duke, dressed in armor and fought as an ordinary warrior, inspiring warriors to exploits with his example. After a bloody battle, he was found barely breathing, his shell was all broken, but there was not a single serious wound on his body.

Sergius of Radonezh blesses Dmitry Donskoy for a feat of arms (

Blessed Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy, son of Prince John the Red and Princess Alexandra, grandson of John Kalita, was brought up in love for God and the holy Church under the guidance of St. Alexis of Moscow. St. Sergius of Radonezh greatly contributed to the upbringing of the prince. WITH early years Dimitri, listening to his father's stories about glorious ancestors - Alexander Nevsky, Daniel of Moscow and other noble princes, became stronger in responsibility for his origin. As a nine-year-old boy, after the death of his father, Dimitri went to the Horde and received permission from the khan to inherit his father's reign. The Christian piety of Saint Prince Demetrius was combined with the talent of an outstanding statesman. Dimitri fortified Moscow by surrounding the Kremlin with walls of white stone to replace the oak that had burned down during the fire, and placed cannons on the walls - the latest weapons of that time. Moscow was able to withstand three sieges of a huge Lithuanian army. Dimitri devoted himself to the cause of uniting the Russian lands under the leadership of the Grand Dukes of Moscow and the liberation of Rus' from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. For all his deeds, the Grand Duke received the blessing of the Church. Gathering strength for the decisive battle with the hordes of Mamai, Saint Demetrius visited the monastery Life-Giving Trinity and told the Monk Sergius about his doubts due to the small number of his squads (in comparison with the army of Mamaev). The monk offered up prayers to God and blessed the prince, predicting the victory of his Christian army. The elder inspired the prince and his warriors, sending them two Trinity hermits, Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrei (Oslyabya), to help them. Before the battle, Saint Demetrius fervently prayed to God and turned to the soldiers, saying: “Brothers, it’s time for us to drink our cup, and let this place become our grave for the name of Christ…”. The battle took place on the Kulikovo field, between the rivers Don and Nepryadva, on the day of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin, in September 1380. Before the Russians attacked the Tatars, the relics of the holy noble prince Alexander Nevsky were discovered in Vladimir. Dimitri Ioannovich found out about this even before the battle and was strengthened by invisible help from his great ancestor. The battle began with a duel between the monk Alexander Peresvet, who accepted the challenge of the Tatar hero Chelubey. The warriors collided and fell dead. Grand Duke participated in the battle on a par with ordinary warriors. The prediction of St. Sergius came true: the Lord did not leave the Russian army. Many have seen over the Kulikovo field the Angels, the Archangel Michael, the passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, the princely patron Demetrius of Thessalonica.

The entry into the battle of an ambush Russian regiment under the command of governor Dimitry Bobrok and Prince Vladimir Andreevich the Brave decided the outcome of the battle. The Tatars fled, leaving the carts behind. For this victory, Grand Duke Dimitri became known as Donskoy. In gratitude to God and the Most Holy Theotokos, Saint Demetrius built the Dormition Monastery on the Dubenka River and created a church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos on the graves of fallen soldiers. At the same time, in the Trinity Monastery, the holy prince began a nationwide commemoration of the slain soldiers (this is how the Demetrius parental Saturday arose). Before his death, the Grand Duke made a spiritual testament, commanding his children to honor their mother, the Grand Duchess Evdokia (in monasticism Euphrosyne, canonized saints), and the boyars to live according to the commandments of God, affirming peace and love. Prince Dimitri reposed in the Lord in 1389 and was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. His canonization took place in 1988. The Russian Orthodox Church honors the memory of St. Demetrius of the Don on June 1 according to the new style. © Calend.ru

For the victory on the Kulikovo field, Dmitry Ivanovich received the nickname Donskoy. After the Battle of Kulikovo, Moscow stopped paying tribute to the Tatars. However, in 1382, the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh, raided Rus', captured and plundered Moscow, after which the payment of tribute to the Tatars was resumed.
Grand Duke Dmitry established a new (territorial) principle for the formation of military forces to replace the old serviceman, somewhat limited the "freedom" of the boyar service and the right to leave from one prince to another, during his reign the Tsar's court began to intensively take shape. Dying, he transferred the great reign to his eldest son Vasily I without agreement with the Khan of the Golden Horde.The chronicler reports that Dmitri was “a perfect husband by the mind”, his life says that he had an aversion to fun, was distinguished by piety, gentleness and chastity. Some chroniclers even called Dmitry Ivanovich "Russian Tsar".

Saint Demetrius of the Don: holder of the Russian land

In the year of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', our Church glorified nine new saints. And the first among them is the right-believing Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy. What was the basis for this canonization, and why did it take place only 600 years after the death of the saint?

DEFENDER OF FAITH AND HOMELAND

The first reason for glorifying the prince is indicated to us in the troparion to the saint:

Great find in the troubles of thee champion of the Russian land, conquering tongues. As if on the Don Mamaev you laid down pride, on this feat having received the blessing of St. Sergius, so, Prince Dimitri, pray to Christ God to grant us great mercy.

As a defender of the fatherland, we glorify Demetrius, singing his victories over the Tatars: the 1376 campaign against the Volga Bulgaria, the battles on the Vozha River in 1378, and especially on the Kulikovo field in 1380. These were the first victories over the enemy, who had tormented Rus' for about a century and a half and seemed indestructible.

The battle on the Vozha showed that the times of Batu have passed irrevocably, that the Tatars can and should be defeated. The people realized that a leader had appeared who could start a fight against the Horde.

The Battle of Kulikovo decided the fate of Russia. Indeed, in case of defeat, our country could disappear from the map of Europe. In confirmation, we cite the words of Mamai, revealing the purpose of his campaign against Rus': “I want to do the same, like Batu!” And what Batu did - we know. Rus' would not be able to recover from the second such blow. Although the victory on the Kulikovo field did not lead to the elimination of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, such a blow was dealt to the rule of the Golden Horde that it accelerated its disintegration, and then the liberation of Rus' and other peoples.

But here's what I wanted to pay attention to. Once, at a meeting of the public council, when discussing the project of a monument to Dmitry Donskoy in Kolomna, such a dispute broke out. People who are still far from Orthodoxy began to argue that this should be a monument only to the commander. And the fact that the prince is a saint is, they say, a private matter of the Church and you do not need to take this into account when creating a monument. The Orthodox participants in the discussion could not agree with such an approach.

Yes, a commander, yes, an outstanding strategist who won an unprecedented battle in the history of Rus', yes, a hero who fearlessly walked at the head of the Russian rati. But the commander is deeply religious. See how he prepared for battles, how earnestly he prayed before them, how he mourned and commemorated his fallen brothers! Not only his Fatherland and the people defended St. Demetrius. In the feat of arms, he was guided by the readiness to fight for the faith and suffer for Christ.

The Kulikovo and Vozhskaya battles are not only a confrontation between troops and weapons, it is a confrontation of faiths and worldviews. This is how our Russian ancestors understood and felt it, and their enemies too.

Here is what Mamai said before the invasion of Rus': “I will take the Russian land, and I will destroy the Christian churches, and I will transfer their faith to my own, and I will order to bow to my Makhmet; where there were churches, I’ll put up ropatis (i.e. mosques), and I’ll plant the Baskaks in all the Russian cities, and I’ll beat the Russian princes.

Hearing this, according to the chronicler, Prince Dimitry sighed from the depths of his heart and rivers: “Oh, Most Holy Lady Virgin Mother of God! Pray for your Son for me, a sinner, that I may be worthy of laying down my head and belly for the Name of Your Son and for Yours; let those who are at war with me not rejoice without truth, the filthy ones do not say: where is their god, did you put your trust in him?

Departing with an army from Moscow against the Tatars, Dimitri Ivanovich said to the princes and governors: “It’s good for us, brethren, to lay down our heads for the orthodox Christian faith, so that our cities will not be filthy, the holy churches of God will not be devastated, and we will not scatter in the face all the earth, may not our wives and children be led into captivity, may we not be tormented by the filthy all the days, if the Most Holy Mother of God prays for her Son for us. And they answered him: “Lord, the Russian Tsar! I told you to lay down your belly, serving you; and now we will shed our blood for you, and with our blood we will receive a second baptism.”

"HOLDER OF THE RUSSIAN LAND"

The historic victory in the Battle of Kulikovo and the role of the Grand Duke in it is a very important basis for his canonization. But far from the only one.

Demetrius entered the consciousness of his descendants primarily as a great commander. At the same time, his state activity the collector of the Russian land (“holder” - from the chronicler) seemed to fade into the background. Meanwhile, without solving this problem, he would not have been able to bring the all-Russian army to the Kulikovo field, which turned out to be capable of defeating the hordes of Mamai.

From the very beginning of his reign, Dimitri Ivanovich declared a decisive war not only on individual, as they now say "sovereign" princes - opponents of unity, but on the whole specific system. Having despised the khan's label for a great reign, issued to Dmitry Konstantinovich, he drove him out of Vladimir and imprisoned him with his jury in Suzdal. He expelled the princes of Starodubsky and Galitsky from their hereditary cities, obliged Konstantin of Rostov to be completely dependent on Moscow. In 1364 he concluded an agreement with his cousin Vladimir Serpukhov, placing him in a subordinate position. In 1367 he pacified the prince of Nizhny Novgorod. In this consistent strengthening of the autocracy, the Grand Duke relied on the support of St. Alexis of Moscow and St. Sergius of Radonezh.

The subjugation of Ryazan and Tver was especially difficult. Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tverskoy (not to be confused with his grandfather, St. Michael of Tver, who suffered in the Horde) declared a real war on Demetrius, united against Moscow either with Lithuania, or with the Horde, and brought so much evil to our land, shed so much blood!

Subsequently, thanks to the wise policy of St. Demetrius and the help of his spiritual mentors, both Tver and Ryazan people recognized the seniority of Moscow.

If you look at these treaty letters, then similar cases of separatism in our days involuntarily come to mind. History repeats itself, but we don't always learn from it.

And, finally, the invaluable merit of Demetrius Donskoy - the establishment of a new order of succession to the throne, when after the death of the Moscow prince, power passed to his eldest son, and not to the eldest prince in the family, as was the case before. How much bloodshed and destructive specific struggle this prevented - and it's hard to imagine!

After the Battle of Kulikovo, it became obvious: the people supported the policy of the Moscow prince for the centralization of power and the fight against specific separatism. The blood of Russian soldiers, abundantly shed on the Kulikovo field, strengthened the idea of ​​Russian unity in the minds of the natives of all lands and principalities, and contributed to the formation of the Great Russian nation.

Dimitry Donskoy spent his whole life with weapons in his hands, gave all his strength, sacrificed himself for the sake of the Fatherland.

FAITHFUL SON OF THE CHURCH

The Grand Duke showed us a personal example of a pious life in the world.

“He was brought up in piety and glory, with soulful instructions,” says the wonderful literary monument “The Tale of the Life and Repose of Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich,” “and from infancy he loved God.” Further, “The Word of Life ...” gives the following description of Demetrius the lad: “He was still young for years, but he indulged himself in spiritual affairs, did not conduct idle conversations and did not like obscene words, and avoided malicious people, but always talked with the virtuous, Divine Scripture always He listened with tenderness and had great concern for the churches of God. And this is not surprising, because the tutor and guardian of the orphaned prince at the age of 9 was the holy Metropolitan Alexy. From the very beginning of his life, he was attached to the milieu of Russian asceticism, he dwelt in the spiritual atmosphere created by St. Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples.

All his life, the prince strove to be worthy of the name of his heavenly patron, the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, very revered in Rus'. And he succeeded quite well. It is no coincidence that the troparion to Donskoy was compiled in the likeness of the troparion of the saint named after him.

For all his affairs - military, political and civil - the Grand Duke always took the blessing of the Church.

As the main personal feature of Donskoy, the ancient scribe highlights an extraordinary love for God: “He who creates everything with God and fights for Him ... Clothed with the royal dignity, he lived like an angel, fasted and again got up to pray and always remained in such goodness. Having a corruptible body, he lived the life of the incorporeal…” The chronicler notes that Saint Demetrius visited the temple every day, fasted rigorously, wore a sackcloth under princely garments, communed the Holy Mysteries every Sunday, and concludes: “With the purest soul he wanted to appear before God; truly an angel and a heavenly man appeared on earth.

Not so often Russian princes were the founders of a new church tradition. We owe Dimitry Donskoy the appearance in the church calendar of two special dates: the day of finding the relics of the blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky and Dimitri's parental Saturday. The latter was installed in memory of the soldiers who laid down their souls for their friends on the Kulikovo field. The discovery of the relics was a miracle. On the night before the performance of the Grand Duke from Moscow against the Tatars in the Vladimir Assumption Cathedral, the sexton saw how a candle suddenly lit by itself at the tomb of St. , said: "Arise Alexandra, hasten to help your great-grandson, Grand Duke Dimitri, who is overcoming the existence of foreigners." And immediately, as if alive, the glorious Prince Alexander rose from the grave, after which all three became invisible.

Many contemporaries noted the Christian generosity of the prince, great love for his people, charity, mercy to the needy, kind attitude towards subordinates. His activity was distinguished by a wise measure and high morality: he avoided resorting to those dishonorable and rude methods that were inherent in his time. The reign of the Donskoy, with rare exceptions, did not know cases of service people leaving him; on his spiritual testament is the most big number boyar signatures.

The Grand Duke also entered Russian history as an active temple builder. Many cathedrals and monasteries founded by him are monuments to the military exploits of our people and the height of their spirit.

The crown of earthly life was the worthy Christian death of the prince. Feeling the approach of death, Dimitri Ivanovich sent for Saint Sergius. The monk, who observed the entire course of the life of the prince, was not only the main witness in the preparation of the spiritual will, but also gave him all the necessary Sacraments: confessed, communed and unction.

On the day and hour of the death of the saint, the Monk Demetrius of Prilutsky, who was far from him, suddenly stood up and said to the brethren: “We, brethren, are building earthly, perishable deeds, and the faithful Grand Duke Demetrius no longer cares about a vain life ...”.

Dimitri Ivanovich passed into eternal life at the age of 39. According to contemporaries, he was majestic and handsome; had a "remarkable stature"; the hair on the head was black, thick, the eyes were bright, fiery ...

PATRON OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE

Among examples of the personal piety of Saint Demetrius, one needs to be singled out in particular. His marriage to Princess Evdokia is an example of a holy Christian family for all time.

This example turned out to be especially important for Rus', where for a long time there was no ideal of a Christian family and monasticism was considered the only example of piety. (The first Russian holy couple - Peter and Fevronia of Murom - were canonized only in mid-sixteenth century).

The author of the "Word about Life ..." emphasizes that Demetrius kept himself clean before marriage and in family life was faithful to his wife and chaste. He finds amazing words to describe the joint life of the grand ducal couple: “The wise one also said that a loving soul is in the body of a loved one. And I am not ashamed to say that two of these bear in two bodies one soul and one virtuous life for both, they look at the future glory, raising their eyes to heaven. Similarly, Demetrius had a wife, and they lived in chastity. Just as iron is heated in fire and water is tempered to make it sharp, so they were inflamed by the fire of the Divine Spirit and cleansed by tears of repentance.

It is remarkable that out of 12 children (8 sons and 4 daughters), the godfather of the two sons of Demetrius was the Monk Sergius, the rest of the heirs - another Russian saint - Demetrius of Prilutsky.

Recently, the wife of Dimitri Ivanovich is increasingly referred to by the monastic name Euphrosyne. And although both names have the right to be used, I think it’s better to call her Evdokia, for the holy princess took monastic vows less than two months before her blessed death. (Alexander Nevsky, we do not call Alexy, so named in monasticism.)

But this righteous family was born here in Kolomna. After all, the wedding took place in 1366 in the Church of the Resurrection of the Word.

WORSHIP

A special sign of the will of the Lord was the veneration of Prince Dimitri as the chosen one of God. According to numerous ancient monuments, first in Moscow, and then throughout Russia, the glorification of the prince began. Soon after his death, the "Eulogy" was written, the text of which was included in the Russian chronicles, and "The Word about life and repose ...". Experts recognize the last monument as one of the most inspired and poetic in the XIV-XV centuries.

Soon after his death, samples of the iconography of the Grand Duke began to appear.

The memory of him is always alive and is especially enhanced in the years of wars and dangers.

Let us remember that finally Tatar-Mongol yoke Rus' was thrown off under Ivan III a century after the Battle of Kulikovo. Then Khan Akhmat invaded our Fatherland with a great army. Ivan III was in great confusion. And the hierarchs of the Church persuaded him to act decisively and go out to meet the enemy (standing on the Ugra). In the famous message to Ivan III, Archbishop Vassian of Rostov turned to the image of Dimitri Ivanovich, recalling the triumphant year 1380. Vladyka Vassian speaks of Demetrius as a person who wanted to suffer “not only to the point of blood, but to the point of death” for the faith, the holy churches, and for the flock of Christ’s sheep handed over by God, as a true shepherd and leader of his people, becoming like former martyrs before.

And in the twentieth century, in the Great Patriotic War, the name of Dimitry Donskoy, along with the name of Alexander Nevsky, was invoked in patriotic messages of the patriarchal locum tenens Metropolitan Sergius, in an appeal to the people I.V. Stalin. The tank column, created at the expense of believers, was named after the prince.

GLORIFICATION

Why, then, was Dimitry Donskoy not glorified for 600 years, because the “Word of Life ...” was compiled immediately after his death, and for many contemporaries the holiness of the protector and collector of Rus' was not in doubt?

There are a number of objective and subjective reasons for this.

After the death of Donskoy, the Russian Church was headed by Metropolitan Cyprian, with whom they had a very difficult relationship. After all, Cyprian was sent to Rus' from Greece with the living Metropolitan Alexy - an educator and indisputable spiritual authority for Demetrius. At first, this Greek (or Serb) participated in the intrigues of the Lithuanian prince Olgerd against St. Alexis. In the first half of his hierarchship, Cyprian still had a poor understanding of the situation in the country and the interests of our people. And he stayed closer to Tver than to Moscow, which received a blessing to collect Russian lands from both St. Peter and St. Alexis. But the second half of Cyprian's reign passed in a completely different way: he took the side of Moscow, peace reigned in the Church, he cared a lot about the enlightenment of the people, and the glorification of Metropolitan Peter took place.

For some, it may be embarrassing that the holy prince brought closer to him and wanted to install the Kolomna priest Michael (Mitya) as metropolitan. But, according to a number of historians, for example, E. Golubinsky, “the usual ideas that exist in our church history about Michael as a very poor-quality upstart are completely unfounded. On the contrary, he was a most remarkable person, who was thinking about the fundamental reformation of our clergy, which, as far as we know, only two of the metropolitans, Theodosius and Macarius, thought about it. Michael was denigrated before posterity by Metropolitan Cyprian, who he admired had the chair of the metropolia and who must have learned the blasphemous legend about him, read in the Nikon Chronicle. After the refusal (from the pulpit - ed.) of the Monk Sergius, Saint Alexy gave Michael his blessing, as is documented.

As recent studies by historians V.N. Rudakova, M.A. Salmina in the 15th century in Rus', one of the scribes reacted negatively to the fact that in 1382, during the invasion of Tokhtamysh, Prince Dimitri left Moscow and went to Pereslavl, and then to Kostroma. But all the other chroniclers were sympathetic to this fact and, on the contrary, tried to justify Demetrius, explaining that the prince could not gather an army in Moscow to repulse the enemy. In addition, the princes assembled by Demetrius at that time did not have such unity as in 1380 (“non-unity and incredibleness” was, according to the chronicler).

I dare to suggest that when driving to Pereslavl, the prince could not by any means pass the Monk Sergius, especially since it was on the same road. And for such an act he had the blessing of a saint.

It should also be noted that there are many examples in the history of the Church when ascetics were canonized many centuries later: Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, St. Andrei Rublev - a contemporary, by the way, of Demetrius, St. Maximus the Greek, St. Macarius of Moscow and many others.

The Church glorifies the saints and calls them in prayer when the people of God especially need their help. At the end of the twentieth century, apparently, such a time has come. The collapse of our country, the constant bouts of separatism in its various parts make us remember the times of six centuries ago.

Today, more than ever, we need the help of St. Demetrius of the Don. To strengthen our country, to defend its integrity and unity, to repel all the threats of terrorists and separatists, to increase the faith and piety of our people, to strengthen families - to protect us from bodily extinction and spiritual death.

And there are already examples of the demand for the intercession of St. Demetrius: temples in his name are being built all over the country, his icons and monuments are being created. In our Kolomna, since 1991, the Orthodox brotherhood of the holy noble prince has been operating, the goals of which are Christian enlightenment, the upbringing of youth and charity.

* * *

And yet we are indebted to the holy prince: we rarely remember him in prayers, there is no akathist to the saint yet (and warriors, spouses, and young people who aspire to create a strong family - a small Church) want to pray and must, a new edition of the life is required , there is no his throne in Kolomna, his memory is not immortalized here even in the monument, although there is Dmitry Donskoy embankment. We do not have the relics of the holy prince, they are hidden in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. But part of the armor of the saint is kept in the Armory - the shell and this shrine could be made available for worship.

And no one bothers us to keep the prayerful memory of Demetrius in our hearts, especially since we have a prayer composed by his contemporary and she would like to complete this word: Thomas, and the brother of the Lord Jacob of Jerusalem, and Andrew the First-Called all Pomorie, Tsar Konstyantin the Greek land, Volodimer of Kiev with the surrounding cities; to you, Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich, all the Russian land ...

Pray, holy, for your kind and for all the people who exist in the area of ​​\u200b\u200byour kingdom, you are standing there, where the spiritual sheep pastures and eternal satiation ... Yes, with those saints, it’s alright for us to live and with those joys to enjoy, the grace and philanthropy of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen"
Archpriest Igor Bychkov, Blagovestnik

What made Dmitry Donskoy go to Kulikovo field

The era in which Dmitry Donskoy lived and acted is often perceived unequivocally: they say that Russia began to rise, the Horde was in decline, the Russians got stronger and accumulated strength to fight the Tatars ... In fact, during this period, Russia remained fragmented, no special wealth was accumulated, and the population of all the lands of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, which we call Rus, did not exceed one and a half million people.

Forerunner

Another stereotype is related to the activities of the church. It is often referred to as the main unifying principle. Moreover, it is sometimes argued that it was not the ethnic kinship of Russians that served as the foundation for the unification of the lands of Rus', but the Orthodox Church.

Orthodoxy has played and is playing a huge role in the life of the country, but faith itself has never united anyone into a single state. All attempts to create a super-state on the basis of Catholicism or Islam have always failed. But in Rus' there were no such attempts.

All this is said in order to more clearly understand the role of Prince Dmitry, nicknamed Donskoy. In the history of any society and in political history in general, as nowhere else, the role of the individual is obvious. And Dmitry in our ideas often looks like a kind of extras. It seemed that he had nowhere to go, except to go to the Kulikovo field.

In this case, we do not even remotely imagine the degree of desperate determination of the prince who challenged the Horde, and we do not understand the whole picture of the life of Rus'.

The then Rus' in the literal and figurative sense was the field of the most fierce struggle. We have too few sources to fully objectively judge what happened inside the church, but some things are obvious. Metropolitan Alexy acted in many ways like a politician. His goal was to achieve the unity of North-Eastern Rus'. The Greek hierarchs who headed the Orthodox Church placed at the forefront the religious unity of all Orthodox not only on the territory of Rus', but also those who were at that time under the rule of Poland and Lithuania. Hence the tense relations between Metropolitan Alexy and the Greeks. It would be wrong to accuse the Greeks of wanting harm to Moscow, but there can be no talk of a single impulse of the entire church in the name of the unity of North-Eastern Rus'. It should be added that the Orthodox Church was also subordinate to the Tatars, from whom it received many benefits. In particular, it was not taxed. So the unifying tendencies in Rus' in the second half of the 14th century were supported by Metropolitan Alexy, but then it did not become the policy of the whole church. For many, relations with Constantinople and the Horde were primary, and Constantinople did not really support Moscow. But it should be borne in mind that it was during this period that the spiritual life of Russians received a new impetus. The Russian Church found many people who became a kind of "centers of power", for example, Sergius of Radonezh. They served as a source of faith and hope for the entire nation.

There were also positive moments in political life. In the Horde, one bloody coup was replaced by another. The Tatar khans fiercely fought for power and exterminated each other, destroying, among other things, the descendants of Genghis Khan. In Rus', despite the fact that there was no unity and the struggle between the principalities continued, from some moment the Ruriks became inviolable. With all the bloody strife between the princes, they did not raise a hand against the Rurikovichs. It was this understanding of their consanguinity of the representatives of the ruling class of the “Russian family” that was the forerunner of the unity of all Rus'.

Anger

Prince Dmitry was born on October 12, 1350 in the family of the specific Prince Ivan Ivanovich of Zvenigorod, the son of Ivan Kalita. As happened more than once in those days, the path to the Moscow throne for Dmitry's father was cleared by the "black death" (pneumonic plague). And Ivan Ivanovich himself died when Dmitry was barely nine years old. In the same year, the Khan of the Golden Horde Birbidek died. A twenty-year struggle for power in the Horde began, which means that a relatively calm life in Rus' ended. All the unwritten rules of relations between Rus' and the Horde were crossed out. It has come, as they would say now, the time of lawlessness, when both the Tatar khans and the ordinary Horde tormented the Russian lands, regardless of whether tribute was paid or not.

When they say that Prince Dmitry received power at the age of nine, they mean that he could not govern himself, that others did it for him. It is both so and not so. You need to understand that there could not be any special discounts on the fact that the prince was still a child in those days. Of course, there were boyars around Dmitry, but at the same time, the young prince was a real ruler, and, of course, with a discount for age, bore all the burdens of power. At the age of nine, Dmitry went to the Horde for a label to reign. But the label for the Great reign was given to the Suzdal prince.

... The struggle for the label began, the rivalry between Moscow and Tver continued. Moreover, not only Tver acted as an opponent of Moscow, relations with other principalities were also aggravated. Hung over Moscow and Lithuania, whose campaigns against Rus' were at times no less devastating and cruel than the raids of the Tatars. But the more mature Dmitry became, the more successful and wiser was the policy of the Moscow principality. Moscow gradually became the leader of North-Eastern Rus'.

The dress rehearsal of the Battle of Kulikovo took place in 1375, when twenty sovereign princes of North-Eastern Rus' supported Dmitry and opposed the prince of Tver. He was forced to submit and not only renounced the throne of Vladimir, but also recognized himself as the “young brother” of the Moscow prince, which means that he joined the military alliance on the side of Moscow. And yet the forces and resources of Prince Dmitry were very limited. The maximum number of soldiers that the whole North-Eastern Rus' could put up did not exceed 70 thousand people. And there were hardly more of them later on the Kulikovo field. At the same time, it was not difficult for the Tatars to gather two hundred thousand soldiers.

What made Dmitry challenge the Horde?

You don't have to be particularly far-sighted to understand: the atrocities of the Tatars brought the Russians to the brink. The hatred for them turned out to be so irresistible that it overcame the caution of the Russian military class, which had not risen against the Tatars for more than a hundred years. Tatars for Russians at that time were murderers, rapists, extortionists. It was under pressure "from below" that the Russian princes and boyars acted. A contemporary very accurately reflected the mood of the people, writing about the time of the Battle of Kulikovo: "And the Russian land boiled."

Leader

So, the Rurikovichs became inviolable, but something else important happened. Military leaders appeared who were not afraid to challenge the Tatars and longed for a decisive battle. We are talking not only about well-known commanders close to Prince Dmitry, such as Bobrok-Volynsky or Prince Vladimir of Serpukhov. In North-Eastern Rus', there were several thousand professional soldiers who were looking for fights with the Tatars and, by and large, were not afraid of her. The origin of a layer of such people in Rus' is not noted in the annals, but it is clear that no process is possible without an organizing force.

So what served as the foundation for the Battle of Kulikovo and victory in it?

This is the sizzling hatred of Russians for the Tatars, understanding not only by the Rurikovichs, but also by the military class of their ethnic unity, the appearance of warriors ready to challenge the Tatars. And of course, the presence of such a leader as Dmitry Donskoy. The Moscow princes, starting with Kalita, were prudent politicians, tuned in to leadership. And at some point, Prince Dmitry caught the mood of the Russians, realized that he himself could become a national leader only on the condition that it was Moscow that would lead the anti-Tatar movement. He, of course, was both personally a brave man and a courageous politician, which is not the same thing.
In a number of chronicles, the authors of which were guided by Prince Serpukhov, it was he who was presented as the hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, and Dmitry was almost a coward. This, of course, is not true. If not for the will of Prince Dmitry, there simply would not have been any Battle of Kulikovo. He would have taken it and paid off once again, or simply would have taken refuge in a safe place from the punitive invasion of Mamai ... But he deliberately led the matter to a direct clash with the Tatars. And this is a man in whose soul a wild horror of them could not help but fall from childhood. But he was able to overcome this feeling and become, as they would say now, a national leader.

People

A lot has been written about the Battle of Kulikovo itself, including outright absurdities, such as the fact that it either didn’t exist at all, or that the Tatars decided among themselves who should own Russia. If this were so, if two Tatar hordes converged on the Kulikovo field, one of which was headed by Mamai, and the other under the leadership of Dmitry was brought by the same Tatars, then no Russia would ever arise under any circumstances. And the Russians in their annals would never have responded to the deadly battle of the Tatars among themselves.
The essence of what was happening was that a new strong people was entering the world arena - no longer the Slavs of the times of Ancient Rus', but actually Russians. The process of the birth of the Russian people, of course, was not completed by this time, but the young people already felt their strength. And it is not so difficult for us, the current Russians, to understand the feelings of our ancestors. All the Russians, in whom hatred was stronger than fear, went to the Kulikovo field. And the Russian warrior, who has ceased to spare himself, is terrible in battle.
Apparently, Mamai was well aware that his invasion of Rus' would not be a simple walk. By this time, the Tatar military leaders had not yet lost the ability for sober analysis. Therefore, Mamai not only gathered his horde, he considered that his own forces would not be enough and began recruiting mercenaries. There were many Genoese and people from the North Caucasus in his army. There is no doubt that both sides mustered all the forces they could. Say, the Ryazan prince took a neutral position, but 70 Ryazan boyars died on the Kulikovo field, more than from any other principality. The battle itself is also of interest from the point of view that for the first time the specific style of the Russians appeared in it.
In all the decisive battles of subsequent years, the Russians were able to endure the enemy. Even Hitler cursed the "elephant patience of the Russians." On the Kulikovo field, everything, apparently, was the same. The Russians were outnumbered by their enemy. But the main thing is that they were inferior in the number of professional soldiers. The militia, for all its readiness for self-sacrifice, as a rule, is rather weak. But, nevertheless, the Russian military leaders were so able to organize the militias that they resisted. And the Tatars were not only defeated, they were utterly defeated, they fled in panic, but they were pursued and destroyed.

According to legend, Prince Dmitry fought as an ordinary soldier in the forefront. This is very doubtful. In history, of course, everything happens, but the Moscow princes were distinguished by a heightened sense of duty. And the duty of the prince is to do everything to win in his place. In any case, Dmitry Donskoy became, albeit temporarily, the first political and military leader of all Russians. He managed to organize less than half of the Russian lands for the fight, but this was enough to win. But what happened next is no longer the fault of Dmitry Ivanovich. The prince is usually accused of failing to defend Moscow in 1382, when Khan Tokhtamysh besieged and burned the city. It was a painful blow to Rus', but not a fatal one. Much worse was the fact that the union of Russian princes, thanks to which they won on the Kulikovo field, began to disintegrate.
The roots of the Russian defeat after the recent triumph lay not in the realm of politics, but in the realm of psychology. The Russians were on the road to unity, but that was still a long way off. Some of the princes were able to gather for one battle, but they have not yet learned to consider the troubles of their brothers as their own. A people becomes strong and inseparable when the realization comes that this people is a whole. But Rus' had already taken this path, and it was already impossible to stop it.
Alexander Samovarov. Special for the Centenary

It is incomprehensible: Grand Duke Dimitri Ivanovich passed away at the age of 40. That is, when he was thinking over his spiritual will, which became a literary monument of that time, at the tombstone, he was the same age as my son. And in his thirties, when our children are still bucking in life like foolish young calves, history has already marked him with a halo of holiness ...

He was baptized as an infant under the name Demetrius. Three decades later, the Kulikovo field will give it a different name - Donskoy. With this name, he will go down in history, stronger than any stone in the Kremlin wall.He fought all his life. With the courageous Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver and the cunning Olgerd of Lithuania. He beat them and was beaten by them. And again he beat, and again he was beaten.
It seemed like a common feud. But behind this internal fight is the desire of the Grand Duke to unite the disparate principalities into a single fist.
In these internecine skirmishes, the strategy and tactics of warfare were honed, new weapons and equipment were tested.
And then, suddenly, an unheard-of impudence: Dimitri by force attached to himself the Volga Bulgarians, who had previously been subject exclusively to the Horde and paid immeasurable tribute to Mamai.This was unforgivable. And Mamai with his hordes moved to "execute the recalcitrant slaves." Once he already punished Demetrius. Then he tried all of a sudden, but was rebuffed. And having come into a rage, he decided once and for all to put an end to the masterful Muscovy.
If Demetrius fought with his neighbors for the sake of self-interest, would he be able to resist the enemy? Would other princes send their squads to help him?
The Horde was weakening, and Rus' was gaining strength. The collector of the Russian land, Metropolitan Alexy, has already shown his feat. Sergius of Radonezh has already raised the people's spirit to an unprecedented height with his quiet example, quiet deeds. The spirit and will of the nation required state registration. It was impossible to avoid a military conflict with the Horde, but it was also impossible to determine its outcome. Great responsibility fell on the young, according to our concepts, Moscow prince. That is why, before the campaign, he came for a blessing to the great old man.
Sergius served the Divine Liturgy, and at the end of it he invited the prince to the refectory. He refused - the messengers one after another brought him news of the approach of Mamai, but the elder insisted. And then, in the spirit of foresight, he said: “It is not yet ripe for you to wear the crown of this victory with eternal sleep; but to many, without number to many, martyr's crowns with eternal memory are weaved to your co-workers. And at the meal, leaning over, he whispered in his ear: “Go fearlessly, you will defeat your enemies.”
Before the campaign, Demetrius made an inspection of the troops. More than 150 thousand horsemen and footmen gathered. Russia has never seen such a formidable militia!
It is known that on the night before the battle, governor Dimitry Bobrok, skilled in warfare and fortune-telling - the same Bobrok who decided the outcome of the battle with a sudden blow from an ambush regiment, suggested that the Grand Duke show signs by which one can predict the outcome of the battle. They rode out into the field, stood between the two armies and began to listen. From the Tatar side one could hear knocking and screaming, the howling of wolves, and eagles, rooks and crows chirping over the Nepryadva River. On the side of the Russian army, there was great silence, only from the multitude of lights it seemed as if the dawn was breaking. “A good omen,” said Bobrok, and dropped his right ear to the ground. Rising, he stood silent for a long time, bowing his head. The prince began to question him, what did the earth tell him? “I heard,” answered Bobrok, “how the earth weeps bitterly and terribly: on one side, it’s as if a woman is crying and screaming in a Tatar voice about her children and sheds a river of tears; and on the other side, like a thin flute, the maiden wails in great sorrow and sorrow. Trust, prince, in the mercy of God. You will defeat the Tatars, but many of your armies will fall.”
At dawn on September 8, 1380, a great slaughter began. The battle dragged on for ten miles. The prince fought like a simple governor in the ranks of his army. When the victory was finally sounded, they could not find him for a long time. Finally, they noticed lying unconscious under a tree. His helmet and armor were cut and covered with blood, but he himself was only stunned by a blow to the head and soon came to his senses.
Of the 150 thousand horsemen and footmen, no more than 40 thousand warriors returned to Moscow. The dead were buried for a week. Some were brought home, but most were buried there.In 1821, the landowner Stepan Nechaev, who owned the Kulikovo field, testified that the peasants had been plowing bones, scraps of chain mail, weapons, silver and copper pectoral crosses here for a long time. Prominent associates of Demetrius, including the monks Peresvet and Oslyabya sent to help him by St. Sergius, were buried in the Old Simonov Monastery. In the 17th century, the monastery was abolished, and in 1928 the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which remained in its place, was also closed. The territory went to the Dynamo plant, the church was turned into a compressor room, but on the eve of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo, they changed their minds, and the temple began to be restored. On the grave of the heroes-monks, tombstones by Vyacheslav Klykov were installed. Peresvet and Oslyabya are revered in the parish as locally revered saints.
Yes, it was a victory bordering on defeat, for “the whole Russian land was completely impoverished,” says the chronicler, “the whole Russian land with governors and servants and every army, and from this there was great fear throughout the Russian land.” But it was a victory like no other.For a few more years, the Tatars plundered Rus', but even then because it was weakened physically, but not spiritually. Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy raised her from her knees. And although he himself did not happen to see how she rises like a giant, surprising other peoples, Rus' did not forget her great son. From that time to this day, every year on June 1, she glorifies his holy name in all her Orthodox churches.

Alexander Kalinin. Especially for "Century"

The article was published as part of the socially significant project “Russia and the Revolution. 1917 - 2017" with the use of state support funds allocated as a grant in accordance with the order of the President Russian Federation dated 08.12.2016 No. 96/68-3 and on the basis of a competition held by the All-Russian public organization"Russian Union of Rectors".

Chapter 1048 - One Challenge to the Horde

Despite being protected by Imperial weapons, he was almost mangled under pressure. This time, his position was exposed and he couldn't hide it anymore.

He was driven to madness. As a God Monarch from the imperial line with imperial weapons, he was confident in even challenging Godking without equal weapons. However, the younger crushed him so easily.

He held the weapon and ran away, not wanting to stop even for a second. The terrible evil of the Buddha may have far surpassed his imagination.

"Anger is the face of the Buddha, the sword that must pass through the sky." Buddhist lights blossomed from Li Qiye's body and illuminated the entire plateau. He sang and brought forth dharmas, and the monks at that place sang for him. Buddhist affinity accumulated over many generations became blessings on his body.

With this mantra, he spread it out in the palm of his hand. Another Buddhist paradise appeared thick tree.

“Ding!” The sword attacked the sky as it swept forward. The stars and galaxies were separated. This sword was very mystical and summoned gods and devils to bow their heads.

“Uhh!” Blood sprayed into the air. The head of the God Monarch rolled down far on the ground. His eyes were still wide open. Despite launching tens of thousands of miles in an instant, he still couldn't dodge the Buddhist sword.

For those who fled from the God Monarch, despite the imperial weapons, the defense will be weakened. After he was killed, the weapon did not stop it and instantly disappeared into the horizon.

The world stood still once more, while the Buddhist lotus floated silently over the lake. At this point, no one dared to cross the line at all. Li Qiye took his time walking on the Lotus and nonchalantly stood at the top.

At that moment, he again gathered the affinity of the plateau. His rhythm cradles his will. He became extremely holy while standing on a lotus. Everyone who was close to him would have the desire to prostrate himself and join the Buddhist order.

Despite Li Qiye's attempts to restrict his aura to prevent him from becoming a people, it was still very scary. Nobody dared to approach.

“One thought to become a Buddha, another to become a devil.” In the Buddhist City, the Southern Emperor watched all the events and said: “He is the Buddha, able to control the entire plateau. So many ignoramuses are running to their deaths.”

The whole world was silent when Li Qiye stood on top of the lotus, calmly. As for the Soaring Heavenly Saintess, she escaped a long time ago.

He glanced past the crowd and slowly asked, "Does anyone else want to take this Buddhist lotus?"

On this moment, most of the experts looked at each other to figure out what to do. No one dared to take half a step past this pool of thunder. Jikong Wudi, Jang Shi, and the king of the earth were silent with ugly expressions.

“Very well, O merciful Buddha. It looks like you are still unwilling, I will give you young a chance.” Li Qiye saw their cold expressions and unwillingness to leave. He smiled: "you, you, you, and you all, go together."

Li Qiye casually pointed to Wudi's Jikong group, including Bing Yuxia and Bai Ganjin.

This challenge to the astonished crowd. Jikong Wu Di, Zhang Shi, Heavenly Emperor Ling, Jewel, Pillar of the Earth King, Bing Yuxia, Bai Ganjing - all the geniuses were here.

But now, the evil Buddha wanted to fight them himself. The crowd had no choice but to turn stupid. His show was truly unbeatable.

Sample muttered, “This is really the number one among the younger generation, who can compete with him?!”

Who would dare to challenge all the other geniuses here right now? Such a person did not exist until the evil Buddha appeared.

The group of geniuses was silent. Although they were strong and confident, they are not confident at this moment. They knew it was evil, the Buddha was able to control the entire plateau and his power to suppress them all.

"We can give it a try." While Jikong Wudi's group had a sense of uncertainty, Bing Yuxia let go of the beauty in her arms and stepped out of her chariot.

Bai Ganjin also stood up from behind the shadow, readying her sword. A sharp ray flashed into her beautiful eyes, revealing her frightening intent of the sword. She completely changed at that moment, turning into a naked sword with incomparable sharpness. Someone will freeze looking at her.

The mortal king shouted, "I will go first." He was the first to approach Qiye Li. He wanted to put aside the annoyance brewing inside him after suffering two previous defeats is hard for Qiye.

The first time, he underestimated the power of dharma and was almost transformed. The second time he lost with a single finger from the Southern Emperor.

"Very brave." Li Qiye smiled upon seeing the king of the earth, being the first to face the challenge: “although you have been a thorn in your eye all this time, the Buddha will be merciful today, and you will live.”

"Don't be so self-confident!" The king of the earth shouted after Li Qiye to treat him like a fish on a chopping block. He fought experts from all over the world, so looked down on the evil ones, like this Buddha was really embarrassed!

“Buzz-” the beam of light bloomed. After his screaming, a treasure appeared above his head. He was white as jade and a lilt of sacred royal power, capable of suppressing gods and demons.

"Imperial Weapon" Although people do not recognize its background, even the most stupid understood that it was an imperial weapon.

Everyone knew that the sacred school had never produced the Immortal Emperor. However, the Stender Jewel is an Imperial weapon right now. It's really worth contemplating.

“A very clever way, refining the finger bone of the Immortal Emperor who cultivates hell suppressing physique into a lifetime treasure. He can avoid transformation and also increase the strength of his own physical body.” Li Qiye smiled when he saw the weapon. He naturally knew who it belonged to.

"Seal!" The king of the earth do not waste time speaking and shouting. Light flashed from his body in the form of strings. Damn it, suppressing the physique has suppressed the whole world. Even the void trembles and the corner has lost its brilliance.

At that moment, it turned into a giant prison, in an instant. Dark light floated around this huge cage, calling the celestials to Dim.

“Pop!” When this cage went down, into the void to smithereens. Nothing could remain untouched under his pressure. Even gods and demons can only accept going to jail for eternity.

The mortal king exerted his body to the limit. Anyone would be horrified to see this. The absolute suppression from this complexion was terrifying. Great Tao destroyed and many laws shouted.

"Amitabha". Li Qiye did not even move as he stood in front of this corpulent cage. He only repeated and formed the Buddhist mudra with both hands.

"Boom!" Thousands of Buddhist laws from the plateau soared into the sky. Each one was as majestic as a waterfall that had Buddhist images engraved on them. It was a very effective scene.

“Ding!” In the blink of an eye, the waterfalls came together to form a Buddhist mudra. Everyone here believed that the plateau was sinking. Even her vast territory, could not cope with the weight of this seal.

"Boom!" Physique cage could not because of whether Qiye suppresses. Under the beat of mudra, it is completely destroyed. The mortal king was blown to fly, blood splattered. Although damn it, suppressing the physique is extremely hard, people could still hear his breaking bones.

He was shattered by flight and disappeared on the horizon.

"The king of the earth is unlucky." Many looking at this is silent. The mortal king invoked evil three times the Buddha, and all three ended in his defeat.

The rest of the geniuses stared at Li Qiye. They don't have a strategy to deal with it, but running without a fight is not their style.

Li Qiye looked at them and chuckled, “Are you all together or one at a time?”

“I'm coming!” Bing Yuxia rushed forward and immediately turned over her delicate hands.

"Boom!" A monstrous stone that fell from the sky. They were countless runes etched into the surface. The world was sealed along with countless Daos after his arrival.

In that split second, she tore all things apart. Many laws have lost their power while the myriad Tao has lost its colors. One could even say that she severed Li Qiye's ties to the Buddhist Ritual Plateau. During this time, he could not control his power and lost his protection.

"She made it?" The crowd was ecstatic at this spectacle because the evil Buddha was also heaven-ignoring. People wanted to see a miracle, which led to his defeat.

Jikong Wudi, Lin Tiandi, and Zhang Shi were all scared of her disconnection. It was the first time they saw Bing Yuxia with this.

“Pop!” However, no one clearly saw what evil the Buddha had done immediately afterwards. His hand passed through time and space. Even a tablet capable of cutting through all the things that this hand couldn't break.

This penetrating hand instantly hit Yuusya's Bing's sweet buttocks. One slap and one squeeze, all at the mercy of his whim.