Today, October 3, the Church remembers the martyrs Michael and Theodore of Chernigovtranslated

The memory of the holy martyrs - the blessed prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore - is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on October 3.

From childhood, Saint Michael of Chernigov, son of Vsevolod Olgovich Chermny (+ 1212), was distinguished by piety and meekness. In 1186, Prince Mikhail, who had poor health, was miraculously healed after receiving a wooden staff from the famous ascetic - the Venerable Nikita of Pereyaslav Stylite.

Mikhail became Prince of Chernigov in 1223, and in 1225 he was invited to reign in Novgorod, where he became famous for his justice, mercy and firmness of rule. However, after some time he returned to his native Chernigov.

During the years of the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus' (from 1238), Prince Mikhail, who already occupied the Kiev grand-ducal throne, tried to unite not only the Russian princes, but also Hungary, Poland and the German emperor to fight them. He failed to do this, so after being devastated by nomads, he lived for some time near the city, on an island, and then returned to Chernigov again.

A few years later, Prince Mikhail, like many other princes at that time, was ordered to come to the Horde to receive the khan’s label for...