Alexander Peresvet

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A Single Combat of Russian bogatyr Peresvet against Tatar bogatyr Chelubei before the Battle of Kulikovo, a World War II painting by Mikhail Avilov.
A Single Combat of Russian bogatyr Peresvet against Tatar bogatyr Chelubei before the Battle of Kulikovo, a World War II painting by Mikhail Avilov.

Alexander Peresvet, also spelled Peresviet (Russian: Александр Пересвет), was a Russian Orthodox Christian monk who fought in a single combat with the Tatar champion Chelubei at the opening of the Battle of Kulikovo (8 September 1380), where they killed each other.

He is believed to have hailed from the Bryansk area and took the monastic habit at the Rostov Monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb. Later he moved to the Monastery of Pereslavl-Zalessky under the service of Dmitri Donskoi. He later moved to the Trinity Abbey where he became a follower of Sergius of Radonezh. Alexander and his friend Rodion Oslyabya joined Russian troups approaching to fight against Mamai invasion.

The battle of Kulikovo was opened by single combat between the two champions. The Russian champion was Alexander Peresvet. The Horde champion was Temir-murza (known in most Russian sources as Chelubey or Cheli-bey). The champions killed each other in the first run, though according to a Russian legend, Peresvet did not fall from the saddle, while Temir-murza did.

Peresvet's body, together with that of his brother-in-arms Oslyabya, were brought to Moscow, where they lie buried at the 15th-century Theotokos Church in Simonovo.

[edit] Commemoration

MV Alexander Peresvet carrying the holy relics of Venerable Macarius stops in Kstovo, on its way from Nizhny Novgorod to Makaryev Monastery
MV Alexander Peresvet carrying the holy relics of Venerable Macarius stops in Kstovo, on its way from Nizhny Novgorod to Makaryev Monastery

[edit] References

In Russian Language

  • Титов А. А. Предание о ростовских князьях. М., 1885
  • Описание Свято-Димитриевского монастыря в г. Скопине. Издательство Свято-Димитриевского монастыря , 2000.
  • Рязанские епархиальные ведомости. 1891, № 2, 3.
  • Лошиц Ю. М. Дмитрий Донской., М., 1996
  • Розанов Н. П. История церкви Рождества Пресвятые Богородицы на Старом Симонове в Москве. К её пятисотолетию (1370—1870). М., 1870
  • Благословение преподобного Сергия. Под редакцией В.Силовьева. Изд.совет РПЦ, 2005 ISBN 5-94625-127-9
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