Alexnder Nevsky: The Defender of the Russian Land - Term Paper Example

Alexander Nevsky A Saint. Alexander Nevsky was born on 30th May 1220, in Pereslavl-Zalessky now known as Russia. Alexander was the second son of Prince Yaroslavl Vsevolodovich. He would later go on to become the Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church, prince of Novgorod and Grand prince of Vladimir. Alexander rose to prominence and fame mainly on account of his military savvy, the most famous being the battle on Ice on the frozen lake Peipus. He was also famous for controversially accepting to pay tribute to the Golden Horde (Life of St. Alexander Nevsky). Thus, this paper is going to into account the life of Alexander Nevsky as the true defender of the Russian land. Young Alexander was at the tender age of three when his father, Prince Yaroslavl Vsevolodovich became the prince of Novgorod. As a young boy Alexander was frequently present during strenuous scenes and sometimes physical altercations between the citizen’s and his father’s followers. On four separate occasions’ young Alexander bared witness to his father’s departure towards his fief. However, the people of land then recalled him immediately to return since he was there leader (Eisenstein, Sergei, Vasil?ev and Petr 35). Subsequently young Alexander learned at the tender age the horrors that followed internal conflicts and the numerous individual dangers that endangered his beloved country. Amongst many things, it also taught him the numerous duties that are with countries’ ruler. This guided him to create a deep connection with spiritual life, as, since he was a young boy, he would spend countless hours studying the Old and New Testaments. Later on, at the age of nine, young Alexander and his elder brother Theodore at Novgorod were on their own since his father was very busy with the vast empire he had created. His father, having grown increasingly repulsed by his office would simply return for brief stints. During this time, both Alexander and his brother were under the guidance and guardianship of trusted nobles. During this rough time, Alexander’s older brother Theodore passed prematurely on the eve of his marriage. His father following this tragic event became the ruler due to rights of succession as Grand Prince of Kiev, which at that time meant ruler of Russia. Due to this, the city of Novgorod fell to the young Alexander (). Whilst this promoted him to a powerful position, it also brought down enormous responsibilities on the now adolescent Alexander. Soon after his ascension towards leadership of Novgorod, the Mongols invaded the north of Russia in March 1238. Even though the Mongols faced a harsh resistance before getting to the city of Novgorod by his fathers’ army, Alexander pledged to fight and reign as long as he lives. This marked another historic moment, as it was from henceforth that he dedicated his life and will towards the servitude of his nation. Whilst further deepening himself into the leadership of his nation, he did not renounce his other duties. He married the daughter of the Prince of Polotsk in 1239. This however, did not hinder his devotion to his nation; those duties always came second to none. Alexander’s first major battle was against the Swedish army, which had landed at the confluence of the rivers Izhora and Neva. The battle was between the Novgorod Republic led by Alexander, and the Swedish army on the Neva River. The Swedish were the troublemakers since they invaded to seize control over the mouth of the Neva River. They intended to take over the city of Ladoga and control the most important part of the various trade routes between the Vikings who were the Varangians and the Greeks. This city had been under Novgorod’s control for over a hundred years. The first source to make mention of the battle was the Novgorod first chronicle from the 14th century. The Swedish under their leader Yearl prince Birger sent messages to Alexander Nevsky the leader then of Novgorod asking him to go and fight them at the borders of Novgorod claiming that the land belonged to them and they were taking the land (Prokofiev, Serge, and Mikhail 23). Although Alexander was not twenty years of age when the Swedish attacked, he persistently prayed for Gods wisdom as he would constantly pray at the church of St. Sophia. In his bravery, he sang the psalms of David asking God to be the judge of those who hurt or injure him and that God would fight those who fight him is his mercy and wisdom (St. Alexander Nevsky). Alexander received blessings from the Archbishop Spyridon who blessed the army and the leader. Alexander, who was worry of his small number of army, became courageous and moved his army with word of wisdom and faith from the psalms of David such as the power of God is in truth and not in large numbers. In spite of his small army, a miracle happened on the following day, which was on 15th of July. Alexander received help from his friend and martyrs Boris and Gleb. Although Alexander received help from his counter parts, he cautioned his army never to speak of the miracle they had witnessed on that morning but instead fight hard against the Swedish. Account less number of Latin’s lost their lives on the day of the fight as most of them laid across the riverside upon which Alexander was unable to proceed. God sent his angels through Alexander’s prayer who intervened and helped the orthodox army led by Alexander. Thus, because of the victory, of the war at the River Neva the Novgorod people branded the Young Alexander the Saint, he became Saint Alexander Nevsky (St. Alexander Nevsky). The knights of Teutonic remained vicious and rebellious, but that did not deter Alexander from capturing the land and cities captured by the enemies. In 1241, Alexander captured the Russian fortress of Kopore. He expelled all the knights from his land, as he wanted all the land to remain in the possession of his people. However, for every success there must be a setback, Alexander lost the city of Pskov to the Germans who became boastful and subjected all the Slavic nations because of their victory. Alexander on one winter campaign went ahead and attacked the Germans who the fled and left the land for Alexander Nevsky to reposes. In a similar battle with the Swedish, Alexander went to a fierce battle with the Teutonic knights. In 1242 at the ice of Lake Chud, Alexander prayed the same way he prayed against the battle with the Swedish. He sang the songs of Psalms of David and asked God to judge him and his strife, and requested God to grant him help and victory against his enemies (Eisenstein and Sergei 29). In return, God answered him and granted him victory. There was a massive slain of the Teutonic army in that their there was spears, swords and blood at ice Lake Chud that made it look as though it was in motion. Alexander then captured left army of the Teutonic army and made them to match in disgrace. The people of Novgorod then realized the significance of the great battle of the Ice of Lake Chud. They celebrated St. Alexander throughout of the Russian land, Egyptian sea Mount Ararat to the great Rome in praise of their great leader. Alexander became a great leader and was able to secure all the Russian boundaries against all its’ enemies. He then shifted his focus and began to guard Russia from the enemies from the east. Russia land defenders were blessed by God, and they received many victories and success, although it was because hardships and sacrifices by the defenders. However, Alexander faced a setback when he lost his father. He took time off and later regrouped to continue defending the Russian land. 1n 1952 became violent and were against Tatar Yoke who then supported Andrew Yaraslavich. Russia became very vulnerable and required the intervention of Alexander, as that was a threat to Russia. St Alexander went to Horde again to intervene and prevent the Tatar wrath in the Russian land. Andrew realizing the defeat, he decided to leave the battle, and left for the Swedish support that his brother had beat at the great battle through Gods strength and power at Neva. Novgorod, Vladimir and kiev became a great responsibility to the great St. Alexander who became a prince to the Russian land with his great success of the battles. In addition, in his quest for peace, St. Alexander in 1254 went on to sign a peace treaty with the Norway. Furthermore, Alexander led his army to the finish land (paganism). This journey of Alexander “the dark campaign” had one purpose, which was to bring forth the word of God to the people. His Army travelled long distances into the dark as they could not differentiate between the day and night but were very determined to get to their despite the many such as loss of their fellow soldiers. Thus, St. Alexander became the founding father of Orthodox Church through preaching to the pagans in the unknown land. Most of the coastal regions became open to Gods’ word with the Russian because of their long journeys to different nations that were pagans. In 1256, his counterpart Batu died and his son Sartak took over from his father. Sartak supported Alexander with all his ideologies and wanted a strong relationship with the Russians. Sartak made his way to Sarai to ensure that the peaceful relation between the Russian and the Horde still existed under the new Khan Berk. However, Sartak accepted Islam and got in to Islamic religion but still wanted a strong relationship with the Russians Orthodox. St. Alexander through the help of Metropolitan Cyril opened a diocese of the Russian Orthodox at the Sarai the great capital of Golden Horde. In the consecutive years that followed many nations was undergoing civilization through Christianity. Alexander, forecasted on all the events happened to Russia in future. He used all possible means in his power to raise the status of land. Due to Alexander’s authority over many cities, cities such as Horde began to be rebellious to the policies of Alexander. The Tatar collectors and his soldiers were stopped from performing their tasks. Nevertheless, this did not deter Alexander his mission to spread the good news of God. Instead unified all the Russian countries and made it stronger. Alexander made his last and final diplomatic duty when he made his journey to the Sarai the Capital of Horde, which had began to be rebellious to the Russian land. This journey to unify Horde and Russia became his final mission, as his duties to God had come true. Alexander fell sick on his way back to Russia and died on his way to Vladimir on 14th of November 1263. His metropolitan Cyril spiritual friend claimed on his funeral that Russia would never find another prince of the land like St. Alexander. His body was carried to Vladirim a journey that took nine days and was finally laid to rest on 23 November. On the final day of his burial, it is believed that God manifested himself. In that, after the final procession, his spiritual friend metropolitan Cyril wanted to place the document of absolution, however the great prince St. Alexander stretched his hand as though alive and took the document by himself, a memory that has gone to books as it left the soldiers and people in attendance astonished. Many arguments then a rouse as to whether that was God manifestation or was it just a mere coincidence, nevertheless, all that came to pass as Alexander Nevsky was made a saint at the Metropolitan Macarius at the Moscow cathedral in 1547. Alexander, seen as one of Russian great prince viewed as a vicious soldier who defended his land and his ideas viciously with the power of God, since he was fighting for a good course of building Gods kingdom. Alexander was vicious but his love for war was justified by his will and loves for God. Work Cited; "Life of St. Alexander Nevsky." Life of St. Alexander Nevsky. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013. "St. Alexander Nevsky." St. Alexander Nevsky. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013. "Northern Crusades: Battle of the Ice." About.com Military History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013. "Russia's Legendary Battle on the Ice." English Pravda.ru. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2013. Eisenstein, Sergei, D Vasil?ev, Petr A. Pavlenko, E? Tisse, Sergey Prokofiev, Nikolai? K. Cherkasov, Nikolai? P. Okhlopkov, and Andrei? L. Abrikosov. Alexander Nevsky. West Long Branch, N.J.: Corinth Video, 1998. Alexander Nevsky. Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1943. Print. Eisenstein, Sergei. Alexander Nevsky. New York, NY: Crown Video, 1980. Prokofiev, Serge, and Mikhail Glinka. Alexander Nevsky. RCA Victor, 1986. Read More