Eudoxia of Moscow

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Eudoxia Dmitriyevna (Russian: Евдокия Дмитриевна) (? - 1407) was a Grand Duchess of Moscow and wife of Dmitry Donskoy.

Eudoxia Dmitriyevna was a daughter of Dmitry Konstantinovich, Grand Prince of Nizhny Novgorod. In 1366, she married Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy. In 1382, she stayed in Moscow in the absence of her husband, while the army of khan Tokhtamysh was approaching the capital. After the birth of her son Andrey Dmitriyevich, she attempted to leave Moscow, but was detained by the Muscovites, who would let her go only after long negotiations.

After her husband's death, Eudoxia became known for her pious ways; the legend has it that she possessed the gift of healing. In 1393, she founded the Church of Nativity of Virgin Mary (Церковь Рождества Богородицы), the oldest surviving building in Moscow. The church was dedicated to the Virgin's Nativity, because on this feast her husband defeated the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo.

Four years later, Eudoxia established the Ascension Monastery next to the Frolovskaya (Spasskaya) Tower of the Moscow Kremlin. Later in her life, Eudoxia Dmitriyevna took the veil at the Ascension Monastery under the name of Yefrosiniya and remained there until her death in 1407. She was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

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