Vasilko Konstantinovich

In 1216, Konstantin, after the Lipitsky victory over his younger brothers and approval in Vladimir, left his seven-year-old son in Rostov under the care of Bishop Pachomius , known for his education. Already in 1217, Konstantin transferred the defeated Yuri from Gorodets to Suzdal and made peace with him, as a result of which the children of Konstantin were able to inherit his vast possessions (Rostov, Yaroslavl , Uglich , Beloozero , Ustyug ) and transfer them to their descendants, without claiming to be the capital, transmitted by Konstantin at his death (1218) to Yuri. Only, according to the Tver Chronicle, part of the Rostov nobility after the death of Konstantin went to the service of his father-in-law in Kiev, Mstislav Romanovich , fearing revenge on the part of Yuri, and took a direct part in the battle on Kalka (1223).

In 1220, Yuri organized a campaign against the Volga Bulgars in response to the ruin of Ustyug in 1217. Vasilko sent regiments that went down the Kama and connected within the Volga Bulgaria with the main forces under the command of Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich . In the following years, Vasilko took a personal part in Vladimir campaigns:

• in the winter of 1221, together with Yuri on the Bulgar. Peace was concluded in Gorodets as under the father and uncle Yuri ;
• in 1223 against the Mongols . The army reached Chernigov , but, having learned of the defeat of the Russians on the Kalka River, it returned;
• In 1224 against the Novgorodians . Torzhok was busy and peace was made;
• in 1226 with Yuri and brother Vsevolod to help Mikhail Vsevolodovich against Oleg Kursky . Michael croaked in Chernigov;
• in 1228 with Vladimir governor Yeremey Glebovich to Mordovians . The campaign was interrupted due to rains;
• in the winter of 1229 with Yuri, Yaroslav, brother Vsevolod and Yuri of Murom again against the Mordovians. The campaign as a whole was successful, but there was a particular defeat of the warriors Yaroslav and Konstantinovich, who moved far from the main forces;
• in 1231 with Yaroslav Vsevolodovich against Mikhail of Chernigov. Mikhail refused claims to Novgorod, and Yaroslav finally established himself there.

In 1229, an incident occurred when Yaroslav, who was fighting with Mikhail for the Novgorod prince, and the Konstantinovich suspected Yuri (husband of Mikhail’s sister) in alliance with him, but at the Suzdal Congress that year bowed to Yury all, property to himself and his father .

Prince Vasilk was completed in Rostov Assumption Church , the construction of which was begun by his father, Konstantin Vsevolodovich. In 1230, he attended the consecration of the temple and at the same time asked Uncle Yuri and Bishop of Vladimir Mitrofan to appoint Archimandrite Kirill , hegumen of the Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery of Rostov as bishop, to which he received consent, and the next year sent Archimandrite Kirill to Kiev for consecration to bishop.

At the beginning of 1238, during the movement of the Tatars to Vladimir, Prince Vasilko, along with Yuri Vsevolodovich, left the Volga . On March 4, after the battle on the City river between the Mongol-Tatars and the Russians, the captured Vasilko refused to take the oath of khan and was killed in the Shernsky forest : "he was much tormented by the death of Predash, toppling him in the Shernsky forest." After some time, the corpse was found, according to legend, by some woman who told about her find to the priest Adrian, and he hid the body; then it was transported to Rostov and buried there in the Cathedral Assumption Church. Describing the burial of Prince Vasilk, the chronicler characterized him as follows: “Many Orthodox people wept, visibly departing their father and foster parents with a great, sad consolation, great, overshadowed by a luminiferous star that entered. For the whole church order, God opened his hearty eyes, and to all the people of the church, and to the poor and sad, it was like a beloved father ... He washed his sins with his brothers with the blood of martyrdom ”..

According to the Nikon Chronicle , Vasilko was very beloved by the inhabitants of Rostov, and especially by his retinue, smart and cunning, “his face is beautiful, he is bright and threatening with his eyes, and even more so than brave, his heart is light, and who served him, he ate his bread and a bowl drank it, the one for his love ”could no longer serve with another prince.

The Russian Orthodox Church ranked Vasilko Konstantinovich as a saint , revered him as a martyr (the time of canonization is unknown). The memory takes place (according to the Julian calendar ) on March 4 and May 23 ( Cathedral of the Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints ).

The poem of Dmitry Kedrin “Prince Vasilko of Rostov” (1942) is dedicated to Vasilko Konstantinovich.

February 10, 1227 Vasilko married (in Moscow "in the Church of the Annunciation") to the Chernigov Princess Maria Mikhailovna , and on February 12 he arrived with his wife in Rostov.

He had sons: Boris and Gleb , who after the death of his father divided among themselves the Principality of Rostov; the first took the Rostov inheritance itself, and the second - Belozersky . Wife Vasilka, Princess Maria Mikhailovna, founded in memory of her husband, a kilometer from Rostov Spassky on Sands Knyaginin Convent ^[2] , in which she herself was buried in 1271, and in 1278 her son Gleb.

• Vinogradov. A. Rostov and Belozersky specific princes // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Vasilko Konstantinovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Iconography of Rostov saints. Exhibition catalog / comp. A.G. Miller . - Rostov, 1998 .-- 80 s.
• Instance A.V. Rostov sovereign princes . Yaroslavl Printing house of the provincial government. 1888.
• Holy Prince Prince Vasily (Vasilko) of Rostov on the site Orthodoxy.Ru