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(C)Sable soft. & FEA corp. 2001(C)
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Saint Efrasinnia of Polacak
Фотография креста преподобной Ефросинии Полоцкой с разрешением 100 dpi (288 кБ).
Фотография креста преподобной Ефросинии Полоцкой с разрешением 72 dpi (188 кБ).
Евфросиния Полоцкая - икона.
Рисунок Евфросинии Полоцкой.
Памятник Евфросинии, игумении Полоцкой. Осень 2002 года.
Крест преподобной Ефросинии Полоцкой. Предоставлено Alexander Kokosha.
The Cross of St. Evfrosinya Polotskaya. Sended Alexander Kokosha.
Преподобная Евфросиния, игумения Полоцкая. Православный календарь на 2001 год.
Saint Efrasinnia of Polacak
Крест преподобной Евфросинии, игумении Полоцкой. Сегодня 825-летие ее блаженной кончины.
КРЕСТ ЕВФРОСИНИИ ПОЛОЦКОЙ
Евфросинья Полоцкая. Описание 1.
Евфросинья Полоцкая. Описание 2.
Книги о Полоцке. КРЕСТ - ХРАНИТЕЛЬ ВСЕЯ ВСЕЛЕННЫЯ. Минск &qout;Вестник Белорусского Экзархата&qout; 1996.
Saint Efrasinnia (Euphrasinne)(1110-1173) was the Granddaughter
of the famous prince of Polacak (pronounced Polatsak
or Polatsk), Usiaslau.
Young Pradslava - such
was the name of Efrasinnia before she took the veil - seems to
have inherited many traits of her grandfather's character, in
particular his strong will, energy and determination to
persevere a chosen path. This became manifest early in her life
when she refused all proposals of marriage and, without her
parents' knowledge, ran away to the convent of which her
aunt was the abbess. Later she founded a convent of her own
and was joined there by her sister, her cousin and two nieces.
This was no mean achievement, for - unlike the custom in the
West and in Byzantium - it was unusual for a young girl in
Belarus and the other East Slav lands of that time to choose
the monastic life in preference to marriage. This may partly
explain why Efrasinnia has up to the present day remained the
only East Slav virgin saint.
In addition to a
convent of nuns Saint Euphroyne founded a monastery for
monks and remained superior of both establishments - another
unusual occurrence in The East, although not unknown in the
West, Finally, towards the end of her life, she undertook a
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, were she died sometime after
1167. Her body after the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin in
1187, was carried by the monks to Kiev and deposited there
in the Monastery of the Caves. It was only in 1910 that the
relics of the saint were brought back to her native town of Polacak.
The cross of Saint Efrasinnia
Her name was immortalized by (among other things) a splendid gem-studded cross created at
Efrasinnia's behest by a local master, Lasar Bohsa. The
famous six-armed golden cross was decorated with enamels
and precious stones and presented by her to the church of the
Holy Saviour in 1161. Of exquisite beauty , the relic survived
centuries of turbulence until World War II, when it
mysteriously disappeared. In its attempts to trace the
whereabouts of this treasure, the government of the Republic
of Belarus has looked virtually everywhere, examining even
private collections in the United States.
The document "The life of Saint Efrasinnia" is a useful source on
the 12th century Polacak and its culture, made more valuable
by the fact that most other written documents regarding the
early history of that city have long since been destroyed or
lost. The Life my be regarded as an example of early
Belarusian literature.
 The Holy Saviour Church
A striking feature of the Life is the
hagiographer's insistence on the great role played by Saint
Efrasinnia in the cultural development of her native town. As a
young she was "exceedingly fond of learning". Later, as a nun
in the cathedral of the Holy Wisdom, she spent her time
copying books, and the money she thus earned she distributed
amongst the poor. Finally, when she moved to the church of
the Holy Savior, among her scanty possessions were books,
in which - according to the worlds put into her mouth by the
hagiographer - "my soul finds consolation and my heart
rejoices". It is interesting also to note that when she wanted
her father, prince Sviataslau, to give permission to her sister to
come to the convent, her argument was: "Let my sister
Hardzislava come to me so that she may learn to read and
write". It was not only in the world of learning that
the activities of Saint Efrasinnia were being felt. She also built
two churches in the monasteries founded by her. Of these
two, the church of The Holy Saviour still stands and is
considered to be the most precious monument of early
Belarusian architecture. The author of this early Belarusian
masterpiece was o local architect, Iaan, and we owe the
knowledge of his name to the Life of Saint
Euphrosyhe.
For the preparation of this Page I have used the article after
Alexander Nadson "Come, Saint Euphrosyne, and stand up for us!"
taken from the newspaper "Belarus News" 12, 1995
and the book
of Jan Zaprudnik "Belarus at the Crossroads in History".
Maintaining this page is Aliaksiej Sierka.
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