The Monk Sofia of Suzdal is considered one of the most revered saints in the Russian Orthodox tradition. December 29 - the day of the death of the nun Sofia - became the official day of her memory in the church calendar. The relics and the ancient miraculous icon of St. Sophia, to this day stored in the Pokrovsky monastery of the city of Suzdal, are the main shrines of the monastery. Believers from distant corners come to worship them to receive healing from diseases and help in difficult matters.
Sofia of Suzdal and Solomonia Saburova
Few today relate these two names. Meanwhile, in secular life, St. Sophia of Suzdal (1490 - 1542) was one of the most notable women of her time. In history, she remained as Solomoniya Saburova - the wife of Vasily the Third, the last Grand Duke of Moscow.
Choosing the fifteen-year-old Solomonia at a bridesmaid arranged by her mother, Sofia Paleologus, according to the Byzantine tradition, Prince Vasily aroused the displeasure of his close ones. For the first time, the Moscow ruler married a “bump” from a boyar, not a princely, family. Nevertheless, the good and pious Solomonia gained love and respect at court.
Princely share
Alas, her further fate was tragic. All twenty years of marriage, the princess remained childless. Neither ardent prayers, nor trips to holy places, nor long services in the temples helped. The displeasure of the Grand Duke grew, the situation around the unfortunate Solomonia became increasingly tense. Craving for an heir, Vasily the Third forbade his brothers to marry, fearing that the Grand Duke's throne would go to his nephews. All this saddened the smart and kind princess, but she could not do anything.
Grand Duke's Divorce
Contrary to popular belief, it was by no means Henry the Eighth that laid the foundation for the tradition of royal divorces.
In 1525, after twenty years of childless marriage, Vasily the Third decided to divorce his wife. Evil tongues claimed that the “spell” of the young princess Elena Glinsky, with which Vasily was married, did not wait a year, was not without.
The divorce of Vasily the Third was the first and unprecedented in the history of Russia. The decision of the prince was supported by the boyars, but the clergy harshly condemned them, many of them paid for freedom to protect the princess.
Nevertheless, a decision was made. The prince acted “of his own free will” and after the divorce, Princess Solomonia was to take tonsure and retire to the monastery.
Invariably nun
How did Sofia of Suzdal perceive the news of her tonsure? The life of the saint contains two options for the adoption of monasticism. In the first, she was cut by force at the behest of her husband, in the second - not wanting strife and feuds and seeing her sterility, she asked permission to voluntarily leave for the monastery.
But modern history claims that the Monk Sophia, and then the Grand Duchess, passionately resisted the tonsure as best she could, having crushed the monastic robe with all her might. However, upon learning that shearing was the prince's desire, Solomonia submitted. However, the nun Sofia could not put up with her new status for a very long time.
According to the chronicles of that time, having adopted her new position, she found reassurance in prayer and monastic writings. One of the legends says that the nun, who was not afraid of any work, dug a well for the monastery with her own hand, when the monastery did not have enough water. To this day, the cover she sewed on the grave of St. St. Euphrosius has been preserved. Sophia of Suzdal was respected by her contemporaries as a true ascetic who, with kindness and exemplary service, won the love and respect of nun sisters and all who knew her.
The ascetic spent almost all of her subsequent life as a monk within the walls of the Pokrovsky monastery in the city of Suzdal, where she was buried in 1542.
Miracles of Sofia Suzdal
Soon after the death of the nun Sofia, miracles of healing began to occur on her grave. So, in 1598 there was the first recorded deliverance from the blindness of Princess Anna Nechteva. Four years later, in the same amazing way, another woman began to see on the grave of the saint. In subsequent years, other miraculous transformations are described. Prayer of Sofia Suzdal helped from eye diseases, deafness, paralysis and mental disorders.
Not only a healer, but also a protector was St. Sophia. Having appeared in monastic vestments and with a lit candle in her hands, the leader of the Polish army, who approached the monastery, Sofia Suzdal rescued her native monastery.
As described in this event, the “Historical Assembly on the God-Saved City of Suzdal” of the 18th-century chronicler and clergyman Anania Fedorov: a strong fear seized Commander Lisovsky from the vision of the saint and his right hand was taken away from him, while other Poles fell to the ground along with horses, struck by the disease. The enemy army retreated, and the miraculous event itself was depicted on the grave of an ascetic.
Memory after death
The official church proclaimed veneration of the nun Sophia as a saint only in 1650 - a hundred years after her repose, and the question of canonization was dealt with two centuries later. Nevertheless, shortly after death, the people began to honor her as a saint and the worshipers reached for her grave. It is noteworthy that even in the old, prepress clergy, she is called the holy righteous nun, but at the same time Princess Sophia.
During the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the long-awaited heir to Prince Vasily from his second wife, Solomonia-Sophia was commemorated by the reverend nun and worship was more likely of a local character. It is noteworthy that already at that time, Prince Andrei of Kurbsky, in a letter to the Tsar, called Sophia-Solomon the reverend martyr, innocent and holy. According to legend, Tsar Ivan the Fourth himself came to the Pokrovsky monastery in Suzdal and, according to the legends, personally covered the nun’s tomb with a blanket made in the workshop of his beloved wife Anastasia Romanovna as a gift for the saint’s grave.
Under the next tsar, Fyodor Ioanovich, veneration of St. Sophia of Suzdal increased even more. Crowded pilgrimages were made to the grave of the Monk Nun, members of the royal family more than once complained to the monastery about their visit. The embroidered cover on her tombstone with the image of the Savior, presented to the monastery by Tsarina Irina Godunova, has survived to this day. The gift inscription confirms the year and purpose of the offering.
What did Princess Solomonia look like?
Not a single lifetime portrait of Princess Solomonia Saburova has survived to this day. We do not know whether such images existed at all, since portraiture, like secular art, came to Russia only in the Petrine era, almost two centuries after the events described. Several miniatures from the annalistic vaults depicting the wedding scenes of Basil the Third and Solomonia, the princess's tonsure, and several other significant historical episodes from the life of the princely couple have been preserved. Contemporaries described Solomony Saburov as a woman of extraordinary beauty.
19th-century engraving depicts a young dark-haired woman with regular features in a tiara and expensive clothes. It was hard to say whether the real Solomonia looked like a portrait image created by an artist from the time of romanticism. Her image in monasticism is known, but, most likely, it was also written after the death of the Monk Solomonia-Sophia.
Iconography of St. Sophia
Many icons painted in the 19th and 20th centuries represent St. Sophia of Suzdal in accordance with the Byzantine iconographic canon: in the monastic hood and paraman of blue-green, almost earthy color, brown cassock and crimson or dark cherry mantle. Face and hands are painted with ocher, large rounded eyes, a thin straight nose, small lips.
The oldest image of the Monk Sofia dates from the second half of the 17th century. Of course, before us is an exaggerated canonical image of a saint and it is stupid to look for a portrait resemblance in it with descriptions and famous images of real Solomonia. The name of the master who transferred the image to the board remains unknown. Presumably, the oldest icon of St. Sophia was created by icon painters in her native monastery. It is interesting that in traditional iconography, leading to the beginning of this image, there is a mandatory attribute - a scroll held by Sofia Suzdalskaya. This icon is considered miraculous and, possibly, was intended for the saint's tomb.
Confession of the saint
In the Orthodox church calendar, the name of Sofia of Suzdal appears a year before the revolution. In 1984, it was “officially” introduced into the host of saints, but so far only locally revered Suzdal, and since 2007, Hagia Sophia has been revered already at the church level.
The Monk Sofia bequeathed to bury herself in the ground. A strange desire for that time, since traditionally people of her position were usually buried in stone tombs, crypts. For more than four centuries, from 1542 to 1990, her ashes remained undisturbed.
In 1995, her grave in the monastery was opened and the relics of Sofia Suzdal solemnly removed from the ground. Now they are exhibited in closed cancer in the Intercession Cathedral. This is the main shrine of the monastery, to which many pilgrims flock. It is striking that after lying in the ground for more than four hundred years, the relics were incorrupt. However, after opening the tomb, they decayed in a matter of minutes.
What come to the saint
With various requests and pleas they turn to the Monk Sophia. Already in our time, the list of miracles revealed by her is replenished with new evidence. Mostly they turn to her with requests for getting rid of all kinds of diseases. First of all, as a healer, the people of Sofia Suzdal are revered. What else does the saint help? As we remember, during her life, Princess Solomonia was barren. However, the fact is amazing - a prayer to St. Sophia helps to find the long-awaited child for barren couples.
There is evidence that she showed the way to the lost, protected children from harm and helped mitigate the grumpy nature of the elderly.