Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky was born in 1338 and received the name Jacob in Holy Baptism. Prince Oleg's three-times great-grandfather was the holy and blessed Prince Roman of Ryazan, a passion-bearer.

In 1350, when Oleg was 12 years old, he inherited the Ryazan princely table. While he was young, boyar-advisers led by the thousand helped govern the principality. The young prince’s entourage protected him, nurtured in him the beneficial shoots of the Orthodox Faith and feelings of Christian love for the Motherland, and raised him in readiness to “protect” his native land from enemies.

The Lord has prepared great trials for Oleg Ryazansky. The time of his reign was complex and controversial. The Ryazan principality was a Russian border land between the Wild Field and other Russian principalities, so it was the first to take the blows of the steppe inhabitants. With the book Oleg had twelve Tatar raids. There was no peace among the Russian princes: civil strife continued. Under 1353, when Prince Oleg was only 15 years old, the chronicles contain a message about his conquest of Lopasnya from Moscow.

In 1365, the Tatars led by Tagai suddenly attacked the Ryazan lands. They burned Pereyaslavl in Ryazan and, having robbed the nearest volosts, returned to the Mordovians. Prince Oleg, having gathered troops, faithful to the Orthodox duty of defending the Fatherland, hastily marched behind Tagai, repeating the feat of Evpatiy Kolovrat. “Under the Shishevsky forest on Voin” they “beat the princes of Ryazan Tatars” and returned to Pereyaslavl as winners. This was the first major victory of the Russians over the Horde.

In connection with the “Lithuanian war,” the chronicles note that in 1370, “Prince Volodymer Dmitrievich Pronsky, and with him the Ryazan army,” came to the aid of those besieged in Moscow. The Nikon and Simeonov chronicles specify that with the Pronsky prince was “the army of Grand Duke Olga Ivanovich of Ryazan.”

After this, Prince Oleg had some kind of litigation with his son-in-law, Prince Vladimir of Pron. The Prince of Pron turned to Moscow for help, and the Moscow army was sent to Ryazan. On December 14, 1371, Oleg Ryazansky was defeated at Skornishchev near Pereyaslavl (now Kanishchevo, one of the microdistricts of Ryazan). But already in the summer of 1372 St. Dimitri considered Oleg Ryazansky and Vladimir Pronsky as allied princes. Together they signed a truce with the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. For eight years, friendly relations based on mutual assistance and trust were not broken between the princes. This is confirmed by the Treaty of 1375 between St. Dimitri Ivanovich and St. Mikhail Tversky. She recognizes Grand Duke Oleg Ryazansky as an arbitrator in controversial cases between Moscow and Tver. The Grand Dukes placed such trust in Oleg Ivanovich, paying tribute to his moral virtues and divinely revealed wisdom.

The interstate union of Oleg Ryazansky and St. Demetrius of Moscow in their relations with the Tatars. The Nikon Chronicle narrates that in “1373 the Tatars came from the Horde from Mamai to the Ryazan prince Oleg Ivanovich, burned his city, beat many people and returned to their homes with great abundance.” St. Demetrius Ivanovich of Moscow and his brother Vladimir Andreevich of Serpukhov gathered “all the strength of the great reign” and hurried to help the people of Ryazan, but were too late. The anti-Horde orientation is heard in many treaty documents of the Russian princes. So in the treaty of 1375. from St. Mikhail Tverskoy, where Oleg Ryazansky is named among Moscow’s allies, one of the main points read: “And the Tatars will come against us or you, we and you will fight with one and all of them. Or we will go against them, and you and us will go against them alone.”

In the fall of 1377, the hordes of Arapsha (Arab Shah) burst into the boundaries of the Ryazan principality, destroying its capital - Pereyaslavl. Taken by surprise by this sudden attack and captured, Prince Oleg, however, did not lose his composure and, according to the Sofia Chronicle, “was shot from the hands of the escapee.”

The next summer, Khan Mamai sent Murza Begich with a large army to Rus'. Begich. Having walked far into the Ryazan land, he stopped at the Vozha River. right tributary of the Oka. The people of Ryazan promptly warned St. Dimitri about all of Begich’s movements. St. blgv. Prince Dimitri had very little time left to gather the militia, but Oleg Ryazansky and his son-in-law - Prince Pronsky - appeared at the first call of the Moscow Prince and stood on the Vozhzhe River. The battle took place on August 11, 1378 on the banks of this Ryazan river, 15 versts from Pereyaslavl in Ryazan. Begich was completely defeated by the Moscow-Ryazan militia. The battle won by the Allies was a harbinger of the Kulikovo victory.

Mamai, having gathered the remnants of the defeated troops, moved his regiments to Moscow. But on his way - on the Oka - stood the warriors of St. Demetrius, and with them the squads of the Ryazan and Pronsky princes. Defending Moscow and crossings across the Oka, Prince Oleg Ryazansky thereby left his land defenseless. Then Mamai took revenge on Prince Oleg of Ryazan: in the fall of 1378, the wicked burned Pereyaslavl, Dubok and other Ryazan cities, many villages, took a large full, “the whole earth was empty and burned with fire.”

Mamai set out to remind Rus' of the invasion of Batu Khan, gathering enormous forces from everywhere, sending squads of Armenians, Genoese, Circassians, Yasses and other peoples to neighboring countries to hire. And the Lithuanian prince Jagiello, as noted by the medieval writer A. Kranz, tried to treacherously take advantage of the situation.

Holy book Demetrius began preparations for a decisive battle with the Tatars. Squads from the principalities adjacent to Moscow flocked to him.

In the summer of 1380, the Horde crossed to the right bank of the Volga and migrated to the mouth of the Voronezh River, and then to the Ryazan region. Russian armies came out to meet them. Army of St. blgv. book Demetrius passed unhindered through the Ryazan land and reached the banks of the Don.

The strategy and tactics of the great Ryazan prince, striving to achieve the best results with the least losses for the principality, were deeply thought out. During negotiations with Mamai and Jagiello about joint actions, he learned their plans, and, as B.A. writes. Rybakov, reported them to the blgv. book Dimitrimu. Academician B.A. Rybakov in the article “Battle of Kulikovo” noted: “The important news, which the steppe Russian intelligence could not convey, was conveyed to Dmitry by the Ryazan prince Oleg Ivanovich... his letter to Dmitry contained important and truthful information that determined the entire strategic calculation of the Moscow commanders. It turned out that Moscow has not one obvious enemy, which border patrols report, but two enemies. The second - Jagiello - is making his way through his lands from the west and is about to pour his troops into the hordes of Mamai,”

The squads led by Vladimir Serpukhovsky moved towards the battlefield, slowly, they covered the right flank of the troops of St. blgv. Prince Dimitri from Jogaila, moving parallel to his movement. The troops were not covered from the left flank, since there was no need to guard them. On this side stood the prince's troops. Oleg Ryazansky.

L.N. Gumilyov noted that, without downplaying the heroism of the Russians on the Kulikovo field, an important factor in the victory was the absence of the 80,000-strong Lithuanian army of Jogaila in the battle, who was late by only one day's march - and not by chance. According to the agreement, he was obliged to enter the battle only if he united with the troops of Oleg Ivanovich. But Oleg did not move his troops. He “... came to the Lithuanian border, and there he became and spoke to his boyars: “I want to wait here for news of how the great prince will pass through my land and come to his homeland, and then I will return to my home.” He blocked the left flank of the Moscow army and stood in the way of Jogaila to Moscow.

Of particular importance for us is the news of the chronicler about Jogaila’s repentance that he trusted Oleg)’ and allowed himself to be deceived: “Never before did Lithuania learn from Ryazan... but now I almost fell into madness,” the Nikon Chronicle quotes Jogaila’s words. Jagiello understood everything correctly, he saw that he had been deceived, and, according to the Nikon Chronicle, “having run back, we are chasing no one.”

The medieval author A. Kranz wrote about attacks on the returning Moscow troops by Lithuanians. Prince Jagiello's warriors attacked the Russian convoys and slaughtered the wounded. The Lithuanian prince Keistut, outraged by this massacre, removed Jagiello from the throne.

In addition to chronicle records, a monument close in time to the events is “Trans-Don” by Zephanius Ryazan. In it, in the list of killed boyars of different cities, 70 Ryazan boyars are indicated (and each of them was with his own detachment!) - much more than from any other city.

The result of allied relations in the era of the Battle of Kulikovo was the “Treaty Letter (1381) of the Grand Duke of Ryazan Oleg Ivanovich with the Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich and his brother Prince Volodymer Andreevich: about their existence in friendship and harmony; about the management of everyone's lands, according to old charters and boundaries; about not making peace with anyone, and especially with Lithuania and the Tatars, without general consent; about mutual assistance against their common enemies...”

In 1382, Khan Tokhtamysh came to Rus'. After the devastation of Moscow, he “burnt” the Ryazan land with fire. The chronicles tell: “that same autumn (i.e. in 1382) the Great Prince Dmitry Ivanovich sent his army to Prince Olga of Ryazan. Prince Oleg of Ryazan did not flee into a multitude of squads, but took all the land and took it to the last, and burned it with fire and created a wasteland, so that the Tatar army became stronger for him.” The struggle was waged between Ryazan and Moscow from 1382 to 1385, and Moscow suffered one defeat after another. Under 1385, chronicles speak of the capture by Grand Duke Oleg of Kolomna, a Ryazan city that passed to Moscow after 1301.

Discord between St. Demetrius of Moscow and Oleg of Ryazan, which ended in the defeat of St. blgv. book Demetrius, forced Moscow to ask for peace. Oleg Ivanovich did not agree at first and demanded greater concessions. Then St. Dimitri Donskoy decided to send an embassy to Oleg Ivanovich with a plea for peace, headed by St. Sergius of Radonezh. The Monk Sergius talked for a long time with the prince about the benefits of the soul, about peace and love, and “with meek words and quiet speeches and kind verbs” softened Oleg Ivanovich. Touched by his soul, Oleg Ryazansky “took eternal peace with the prince (Dimitri). And from then on, the princes had “great love” among themselves. In 1386, this world was sealed by the marriage of Vel's son. book Oleg of Ryazan Theodore with Sophia, daughter of St. book Dimitry Donskoy. As Russian historian D.I. writes. Ilovaisky: “This world is especially remarkable in that it actually justified its name “eternal”: since that time there has not been a single war, not only between Oleg and Demetrius, but also between their descendants.”

Oleg Ivanovich, a caring family man, raised and raised two sons and four daughters. His first wife, according to legend, was a Tatar princess. After her death, Euphrosyne Olgerdovna of Lithuania became the prince’s wife. Historians, relying on documentary evidence, unanimously note Oleg Ryazansky’s love for his wife Euphrosyne, with whom he walked hand in hand throughout his entire earthly journey, and for his children. The Grand Duke of Ryazan was generous to his sons-in-law, among whom the chronicles indicate Prince Vasily Drutsky, Prince Ivan Titovich of Kozel, Yuri Svyatoslavich of Smolensk, Vladimir Dmitrievich of Pronsky.

The visit to St. Sergius had a profound influence on the entire subsequent life of Oleg Ryazansky. He fell in love with staying in monasteries and monastic life. One day, Prince Oleg Ivanovich and his wife Efrosinia, in a remote, secluded place in the vicinity of the Solotcha River, beyond the Oka, met two monks who lived there - the hermits Vasily and Evfimy Solotchinsky, who amazed the prince with their spiritual height. Perhaps, in memory of this meeting, Prince Oleg founded a monastery on this site. The monastery was founded in 1390. At the same time, Bishop Feognost of Ryazan and Murom tonsured Oleg Ivanovich into monasticism with the name Jonah.

Monk Jonah often stayed in the Solotchinsk monastery and worked as a simple novice, diligently striving for his salvation and pleasing God, adorning himself with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The chains that the ascetic prince voluntarily placed upon himself were his chain mail, which he constantly wore under his monastic vestments.

The letters of grant of Prince Oleg Ryazansky testify to the construction of many churches and monasteries by him on Ryazan land.

Oleg Ryazansky, having become a monk, did not leave his secular, princely rank, continuing to bear the cross of a warrior prince, and had ardent concern for the interests of the land and people given to him by the Lord. In the treaty documents of the late 14th century, the names of many Ryazan cities are given for the first time, which indicates the active creative activity of the prince. Extensive construction, of course, was carried out, first of all, in Pereyaslavl Ryazan, which became the capital of the principality under Prince Oleg.

In the nineties of the XIV century. The great Ryazan prince Oleg Ivanovich became equal in strength to the most powerful princes of Rus'. He expanded and strengthened the borders of the principality, returned the lands seized by the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, and in 1400 he conquered Smolensk from the Lithuanians, where he placed his son-in-law Yuri Svyatoslavich on the princely table.

The Grand Duke of Ryazan Oleg Ivanovich died on June 5, 1402 at the age of 65. Before his death, he accepted the schema with the name Joachim and bequeathed to be buried in the Solotchinsky Monastery. After the closure of the monastery, in 1923, the honest remains of Prince Oleg Ryazansky were confiscated and transferred to the Ryazan Provincial Museum. On July 13, 1990, the honest remains of Oleg Ivanovich were transferred to the St. John the Theologian Monastery. On June 22, 2001, they were transferred to the Solotchinsky monastery. From that day on, myrrh flow and fragrance were observed from the honest head of Prince Oleg Ryazansky.

On the Ryazan land, the blessed Prince Oleg was revered as a saint for many centuries. Many sufferers flocked to the relics of Prince Oleg of Ryazan. It was believed that most of all, the petition of the blessed Prince Oleg before the Throne of God helps with drunkenness and “epileptic illness” (i.e. epilepsy).

S.D. Yakhontov in his report dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince. Oleg Ivanovich, emphasized that “Ryazan owes its strength and significance in contemporary Russian life; he did the most for its improvement; in the most troubled times in Rus', he knew how to protect and defend his people... The Ryazan principality, neither before nor after him, achieved such strength and greatness.”

Ryazan residents keep the dear name of the prince in their hearts. Oleg Ivanovich. After 1626, the figure of a warrior prince appeared for the first time on the emblem of the Ryazan land. The popular consciousness immediately connected this image with the name of Oleg Ryazansky.

based on materials from the book: Hegumen Seraphim (St. Petersburg), nun Meletia (Pankova) “Grand Duke Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky”

Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky (baptized Jacob, schema Joachim) (d. 1402) - Grand Duke of Ryazan from 1350. Inherited the reign upon the death of Vasily Alexandrovich. According to one version, the son of Prince Ivan Alexandrovich (and nephew of Vasily Alexandrovich), according to another version, the son of Prince Ivan Korotopol.

Oleg Ivanovich is a prominent representative of the dynasty of Ryazan princes. The chronicles pass over the period of his father's reign in silence (if, of course, we consider him to be the father of Ivan Alexandrovich), so it is difficult to say under what conditions his character was formed. Oleg was no more than 15 years old when he took the Ryazan grand-ducal table. However, he had smart and devoted advisers who made it possible not only to maintain silence in the Ryazan principality, but also to expand his possessions. In 1353, when the Black Death devastated North-Eastern Rus', anarchy began there for some time. Prince Semyon the Proud died suddenly, and his heirs hastened to the Horde to claim their inheritance. Taking advantage of the moment (the Ryazan region was not affected by the epidemic), the Ryazan regiments captured Lopasnya, capturing the local governor, Mikhail Alexandrovich. The peace-loving Ivan the Red, returning from the Horde, did not start a war because of Lopasnya and left the Ryazans alone. Ivan Ivanovich made up for the loss by seizing other Ryazan lands, and paid a rich ransom for the governor.

In subsequent years, the Ryazan principality began to recover from a series of Tatar raids and internal turmoil. Even the Tatar raid of 1358 and the reappearance of the plague in 1364 could not prevent this process. The next year, Pereyaslavl was attacked by the Horde Tagai, who burned the city and plundered the nearest volosts, but Oleg with Vladimir Pronsky and Titus Kozelsky caught up with him near the Shishevsky forest and recaptured all the loot.

In 1371, the long peace between Moscow and Ryazan was broken. For an unknown reason, Dmitry Donskoy moved regiments under the command of Dmitry Mikhailovich Bobrok-Volynsky to Ryazan. In the battle of Skornishchev, not far from Pereyaslavl, the Ryazan people were defeated, and Oleg and his small squad barely escaped. Apparently, by that time the agreement between the Ryazan and Pron princes had also been violated. The Ryazan table was immediately occupied by the Pron prince Vladimir Yaroslavich (perhaps he was the initiator of Dmitry Donskoy’s campaign), but his triumph was short-lived. The next year, Oleg brought the squad of the Tatar Murza Salakhmir and expelled Vladimir from his principality. Dmitry Donskoy did not interfere this time. Perhaps he decided that Oleg Ryazansky would be more useful to him as an ally to protect the southeastern borders of the Moscow state. And indeed, over the next seven years, the Moscow and Ryazan Grand Dukes lived in peace.

In 1377, Mamai’s Tatars ravaged the Ryazan region - Dmitry did not have time to come to the aid of his neighbor. In 1375, Tsarevich Arapsha captured Pereyaslavl. Oleg, taken by surprise, barely managed to escape, all wounded by Tatar arrows. The next year, Mamai sent Murza Begich to Moscow. On August 11, 1378, the famous battle took place on the Vozha River, not far from Pereyaslavl, when Moscow regiments defeated the Tatars. However, Oleg did not take part in the battle. The enraged Mamai unleashed his anger on Ryazan. Oleg was not ready for defense and fled to the left bank of the Oka, allowing the Tatars to ravage their possessions. Finally, in the summer of 1380, the Horde, joined by many other peoples, crossed the Volga and migrated to the mouth of Voronezh. Dmitry Donskoy, having learned about the danger, began collecting shelves.

Oleg offered Mamai his help. Chroniclers of North-Eastern Rus', and after them historians, traditionally branded Oleg as a traitor. However, Ryazan, located on the outskirts of Rus', on the border with the steppe, always suffered more than others from Tatar raids, especially in recent years. If Oleg had now openly sided with Dmitry, then the Ryazan principality would probably have had a hard time again. When making a difficult decision, Oleg was guided primarily by the interests of his principality. However, the Ryazan prince was not completely devoid of all-Russian patriotism, and therefore made a difficult decision that required cunning and diplomatic dexterity from him.

Oleg secretly started negotiations with Mamai, promising to pay him the traditional way out and give troops, and also entered into an alliance with Jogaila, but at the same time sent to Moscow to warn about the approach of the Tatars. Dmitry learned about Oleg’s betrayal while on the way. He changed the route of his army to bypass the Ryazan principality, but he forbade his guard regiment left near Lopasny to inflict violence on the local residents, that is, he did not provoke Oleg into aggression. Oleg, meanwhile, was weaving intrigues, promising help to both Mamaia and Yagaila. But in the end, the Ryazan regiments did not come either to the Kulikovo field, where Mamai was waiting for them, or to Odoev, where Jagiello was waiting for them.

The outcome of the Battle of Kulikovo is known: the Tatars were defeated. But for us, the result achieved by Oleg for his principality is more interesting: the Ryazan lands are not touched, the squad is intact, and the powerful neighbor is defeated. After the Battle of Kulikovo, however, there was one unpleasant episode when the Ryazan people attacked a convoy of troops returning to Moscow, which contained the wounded, and plundered it. Dmitry seemed to be going to take revenge, but the Ryazan people sent their boyars to him, reporting that Oleg had fled to the Lithuanian border, and begged him to leave them alone. Dmitry agreed, sending his governors to Ryazan. However, Oleg soon returned and in 1381 concluded with Dmitry a treaty humiliating for Ryazan, according to which he recognized the Moscow prince as senior over himself, ceded Talitsa, Vypolzov and Takasov to Moscow, renounced the kiss of the cross with Jogaila, and generally pledged to act in concert with the Moscow prince as against Lithuanians and against the Tatars.

In 1382, the Tatars launched another campaign against Rus' under the leadership of Tokhtamysh, and Oleg again found himself between two fires. He again offered his help to the Tatars and pointed out the fords to Oka, but this did not save him. On the way back, the Tatars ravaged the Ryazan region, and then Dmitry Donskoy punished the traitor. Offended Oleg attacked Kolomna in 1385. Dmitry again sent an army to Ryazan, but this time the Moscow army was defeated. Not wanting to spend money on fighting his southern neighbor, Dmitry asked for peace, but Oleg did not agree to his terms. Only in 1386, thanks to the efforts of Sergius of Radonezh, peace was concluded, and the next year it was sealed by family ties: the Ryazan prince Fyodor Olgovich married the Moscow princess Sofya Dmitrievna. Since then, there have been no more quarrels between the Moscow and Ryazan princes.

The Tatars continued to harass Ryazan. Oleg sent his son Rodoslav as a hostage to the Horde, but he fled from there in 1387; the consequence of this flight was the Tatar invasion of Ryazan and Lyubutsk, during which Oleg himself was almost captured. The Tatars made three successful raids in 1388 - 1390, and in 1394 and 1400. Oleg gave them a fitting rebuff. The last time the Tatars disturbed Oleg was in 1402, but then the elderly prince no longer offered resistance to them.

After the Battle of Kulikovo, Oleg’s relations with Lithuania became openly hostile. In 1396, Oleg received his son-in-law Yuri Svyatoslavich, expelled from Smolensk by the Lithuanians. Oleg twice attacked the Lithuanian city of Lyubutsk, and Vitovt, in response, twice ravaged the Ryazan land. In 1401, heeding the requests of Yuri, Oleg prepared a campaign against Smolensk. Yuri's supporters among the Smolensk residents gained the upper hand. They killed the Lithuanian governor and let in their former prince. On the way back, Oleg again fought the Lithuanian border lands and returned with a rich load.

In relations with other, smaller neighboring princes - Pronsky, Muromsky, Yeletsky, Kozelsky - Oleg Ivanovich acted as the eldest. The chronicles contain many references to how neighboring princes acted as his henchmen.

Oleg did a lot as an organizer and defender of Ryazan, thanks to which he won the love and respect of the Ryazan people. It is not for nothing that the residents of Ryazan believe that the prince depicted on the city’s coat of arms is none other than Oleg Ivanovich.

Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky died on July 5, 1402, having adopted the schema under the name Joachim before his death, and was buried in the Solotchinsky monastery he founded near Pereyaslavl.

Performance evaluation

Prince Oleg had a difficult and controversial fate and a posthumous bad reputation, which was created by Moscow chroniclers and has survived to this day. A traitor who nevertheless became a saint. The prince, who was dubbed the “second Svyatopolk” in Moscow, but whom the people of Ryazan loved and were faithful to him both in victories and after defeats, who is a bright and significant figure in the life of Rus' in the 14th century. A noteworthy fact is that in the final letter of 1375 between Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy and Mikhail Alexandrovich Tverskoy - the main competitors for dominance and the great reign of Vladimir, Prince Oleg Ryazansky is indicated as an arbitrator in controversial cases. This indicates that Oleg was at that time the only authoritative figure, the Grand Duke, who stood neither on the side of Tver nor on the side of Moscow. It was almost impossible to find a more suitable candidate for the role of arbitrator.

Coat of arms of Ryazan

“In a golden field stands a prince holding a sword in his right hand and a scabbard in his left; he is wearing a scarlet cap, and a green dress and hat, lined with sables” (Winkler, p. 131). According to Ryazan legends, the coat of arms depicts the Grand Duke Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky himself.

June 18 is the day of memory of Prince Oleg Ryazansky. In 2017, this date coincided with the celebration of the Week of All Saints who shone in the Russian land. At the Solotchinsky Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery, the festive liturgy was performed by Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailovsky, co-served by Bishop Dionysius of Kasimov and Sasovo and the clergy of the metropolis.

Why does Prince Oleg remain one of the most famous rulers of the Ryazan principality? What kind of person was he and why is he revered by generations of Ryazan residents? Bishop Dionysius spoke about this after the service at the Solotchinsky Monastery.

Dear brothers and sisters! I think you know who we are praying to and praising today. However, I believe that not everyone knows why the name of Prince Oleg remained for centuries in the memory of the inhabitants of the Ryazan land.

This is truly a unique case when the name of the prince who ruled this land in the 14th century was preserved even in Soviet times. Few Ryazan residents have not heard the name of Oleg Ryazansky. What was the reason for such a memory of him among the people, in the Church? Why even unbelievers and atheists, although at one time they condemned him for betraying all-Russian interests, were still forced to remember him?

The Lord preserves the memory of the saints. And, of course, the reason for this memory is not that Prince Oleg was a brilliant ruler of his land... There were many of them at that time. The princes took care of the people, after the next Tatar raids they tried to restore people's life. In this regard, Oleg Ryazansky was one of many. So it is not for his state activities that Ryazan residents remember him.

Since childhood, he was forced to pick up a sword. After all, Ryazan was open to Tatar raids, there was a wild field nearby, from which a horde suddenly appeared and mercilessly turned into ashes all the fruits of the labors that the people living on Ryazan soil bore. That is why in the Ryazan region there are practically no stone churches older than the 17th or late 16th century. It was simply impossible to build anything out of stone here, because literally every five years everything was destroyed at the hands of foreigners.

Prince Oleg has witnessed these constant tragedies since his youth. Of course, after another devastating raid, everything was put in order again. But this constant dependence on the horde, the constant fear that the Russian people experienced, could not but leave its mark on the character of the future ruler of the Ryazan principality.

They say that he was a stern man, very silent, sometimes cruel, and even proud and arrogant. Of course, he behaved like an independent ruler, especially since the family of the Ryazan princes came from a very distant branch of the Rurikovichs (although all the princes at that time were, in general, relatives). The rest of the Russian princes perceived the Ryazan princes almost as strangers. Prince Oleg Ivanovich almost did not communicate with anyone, concluding only military alliances or truces. And, of course, his main opponent was Moscow, which at that time was rapidly developing and becoming the center of gathering Russian lands.

Although it must be said that this process in all its depth was seen only by the eyes of the saints: St. Alexis of Moscow, St. Sergius of Radonezh. In the eyes of others, the desire of the Moscow princes to unite the lands around themselves was just evidence of their greed. The Moscow princes were considered upstarts and asked the question: why should not Tver, Novgorod, or Ryazan become the center of the Russian land?

Prince Oleg thought so too. And so, when the terrible time came, when, after a long break, the Tatar temnik Mamai, having become khan, decided to punish the freedom-loving Russian principalities and went on a raid, the goal of which was Moscow, Prince Oleg did not come to the Kulikovo field, but, on the contrary, as they say, allegedly concluded alliance with Mamai and the Lithuanian prince Jagiello. This will later be blamed on him by Soviet historians.

But what really happened? But in fact, we see from the very behavior of Prince Dimitri that this union did not exist. Prince Oleg, although he perceived Prince Dimitri as an enemy, knew that the Horde and Lithuanians were even more terrible enemies. And when Prince Dimitri, together with his army, passed through the Ryazan lands on the Kulikovo field, he gave the order - not to touch a single Ryazan village, not to harm a single Ryazan resident. The Moscow prince did not leave a special squad in his rear. Because he knew: Prince Oleg would not stab him in the back.

Mamai did not meet with Prince Jagiello, because Prince Oleg Ivanovich arranged it that way, and the Tatars were left alone in front of the united Russian army. The Kulikovo field witnessed the great moral victory of our people over the invaders! But after this, the hostility between Moscow and Ryazan did not stop. Prince Dimitri was very worried about this. And first of all, he worried about this proud, withdrawn, unsociable person, whom he apparently understood with his heart. But he understood at the same time that no words from his mouth or the lips of the most skilled Moscow diplomats would help here. Therefore, he turned to St. Sergius. He came from his monastery to Ryazan on foot. He stopped at the border of Pereyaslavl, where a monastery in honor of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity would later be founded. And the next morning the monk went to the Kremlin, where he talked with Prince Oleg.

The chronicle conveys only the main points of this conversation. But in reality, no one except God and the two of them knows what the already accomplished saint and the future saint were talking about. We only know that after this conversation, Prince Oleg not only changed his policy towards Moscow, but changed himself. He concluded eternal peace with Moscow. Then the eternal peace usually lasted a year or a year and a half. This same eternal world turned out to be truly eternal. Never again did the Ryazan princes raise their sword against Moscow. Prince Oleg blessed the marriage of his son Fyodor with the daughter of Prince Dimitri. And this was also a difficult matter, because, as we have already said, the family of the Ryazan princes was very far from the Rurikovichs. Now he entered the family of Russian princes for real.

But the most important change occurred in his heart. People began to notice that the prince, previously proud, cruel, and able to say very impartial and rude things to his face, became softer, was more silent, and learned to forgive. And he punished only when there was no other way out.

And then, somehow hunting, he passed through these places (where the Solotchinsky Monastery is located) and met two ascetics, Vasily and Efimy, with whom he decided to found a holy monastery here, dedicating it to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We now do not understand why Prince Oleg chose this particular holiday. And then, ten years after the Battle of Kulikovo, people understood this very clearly. The fact is that the victory on the Kulikovo field was won on the very day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And thus Prince Oleg immortalized this day both for himself and for the people. What he thought about, what he prayed about, what he repented of, only God knows. But he often began to visit the monastery he founded and stayed there for a long time. The people around saw that the prince practically did not take off his chain mail, sometimes even sleeping in it. At the same time, he gradually transferred the reins of government of the principality to his son Fyodor, doing it in a fatherly manner, without resentment or envy towards the young prince.

And no one knew that already at that time Prince Oleg was wearing a monastic paraman under his chain mail. He had already secretly been tonsured into a mantle with the name Jonah. This was revealed only when death began to approach him. In the Solotchinsky monastery, he opened his tonsure and was tonsured into the great schema with the name Joachim. Here he was buried, and here, by the grace of God, his fragrant, honest head remains even now.

So why do the Russian people love Prince Oleg, why do the people of Ryazan remember him - for his state feat, for his political gesture towards Moscow? Of course not! For his moral feat, for his spiritual efforts that he made on himself. He stepped on his pride, he humbled himself, he deeply understood that in order to stop the bloody civil strife in Rus', you do not need to collect the greatest wealth and the largest army, but you need to show humility and pray to God for the unity of the country.

And the most noticeable was his main spiritual feat - the transformation from a proud, arrogant and domineering person into a meek, kind, humble, but very strong ruler of his destiny, his fatherland. This is why his people love him. Because each of us wants such a transformation to happen to us. So that we can be clothed with the power of God and be able to step on our passions, feel the joy and relief that a person feels when he is freed from his passions. After he was buried, people began to worship his chain mail, which he did not take off for the rest of his life, actually wearing it like chains. The chain mail was placed on the sick and these suffering, suffering people received healing. Thus the Lord glorified his saint.

And we, the inhabitants of the Ryazan land, are happy that we have such an intercessor before God!

Oleg Ryazansky, noble prince. A Word about His Life and Relics

Oleg Ivanovich Ryazansky was born in 1338 and received the name Jacob in Holy Baptism. Three times great-grandfather Prince. Oleg was St. blgv. book Roman Ryazansky, passion-bearer.

In 1350, when Oleg was 12 years old, he inherited the Ryazan princely table. While he was young, boyar-advisers led by the thousand helped govern the principality. The young prince’s entourage protected him, nurtured in him the beneficial shoots of the Orthodox Faith and feelings of Christian love for the Motherland, and raised him in readiness to “protect” his native land from enemies.

The Lord has prepared great trials for Oleg Ryazansky. The time of his reign was complex and controversial. The Ryazan principality was a Russian border land between the Wild Field and other Russian principalities, so it was the first to take the blows of the steppe inhabitants. With the book Oleg had twelve Tatar raids. There was no peace among the Russian princes: civil strife continued. Under 1353, when Prince Oleg was only 15 years old, the chronicles contain a message about his conquest of Lopasnya from Moscow.

In 1365, the Tatars led by Tagai suddenly attacked the Ryazan lands. They burned Pereyaslavl in Ryazan and, having robbed the nearest volosts, returned to the Mordovians. Prince Oleg, having gathered troops, faithful to the Orthodox duty of defending the Fatherland, hastily marched behind Tagai, repeating the feat of Evpatiy Kolovrat. “Under the Shishevsky forest on Voin” they “beat the princes of Ryazan Tatars” and returned to Pereyaslavl as winners. This was the first major victory of the Russians over the Horde.

In connection with the “Lithuanian war,” the chronicles note that in 1370, “Prince Volodymer Dmitrievich Pronsky, and with him the Ryazan army,” came to the aid of those besieged in Moscow. The Nikon and Simeonov chronicles specify that with the Pronsky prince was “the army of Grand Duke Oleg Ivanovich of Ryazan.”

After this, Prince Oleg had some kind of litigation with his son-in-law, Prince Vladimir of Pron. The Prince of Pron turned to Moscow for help, and the Moscow army was sent to Ryazan. On December 14, 1371, Oleg Ryazansky was defeated at Skornishchev near Pereyaslavl (now Kanishchevo, one of the microdistricts of Ryazan). But already in the summer of 1372 St. Dimitri considered Oleg Ryazansky and Vladimir Pronsky as allied princes. Together they signed a truce with the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. For eight years, friendly relations based on mutual assistance and trust were not broken between the princes. This is confirmed by the Treaty of 1375 between St. Dimitri Ivanovich and St. Mikhail Tversky. She recognizes Grand Duke Oleg Ryazansky as an arbitrator in controversial cases between Moscow and Tver. The Grand Dukes placed such trust in Oleg Ivanovich, paying tribute to his moral virtues and divinely revealed wisdom.

Oleg Ivanovich, a caring family man, raised and raised two sons and four daughters. His first wife, according to legend, was a Tatar princess. After her death, Euphrosyne Olgerdovna of Lithuania became the prince’s wife. Historians, relying on documentary evidence, unanimously note Oleg Ryazansky’s love for his wife Euphrosyne, with whom he walked hand in hand throughout his entire earthly journey, and for his children. The Grand Duke of Ryazan was generous to his sons-in-law, among whom the chronicles indicate Prince Vasily Drutsky, Prince Ivan Titovich of Kozel, Yuri Svyatoslavich of Smolensk, Vladimir Dmitrievich of Pronsky.

The visit to St. Sergius had a profound influence on the entire subsequent life of Oleg Ryazansky. He fell in love with staying in monasteries and monastic life. One day, Prince Oleg Ivanovich and his wife Efrosinia, in a remote, secluded place in the vicinity of the Solotcha River, beyond the Oka, met two monks who lived there - the hermits Vasily and Evfimy Solotchinsky, who amazed the prince with their spiritual height. Perhaps, in memory of this meeting, Prince Oleg founded a monastery on this site. The monastery was founded in 1390. At the same time, Bishop Feognost of Ryazan and Murom tonsured Oleg Ivanovich into monasticism with the name Jonah.

Oleg Ryazansky, having become a monk, did not leave his secular, princely rank, continuing to bear the cross of a warrior prince, and had ardent concern for the interests of the land and people given to him by the Lord. In the treaty documents of the late 14th century, the names of many Ryazan cities are given for the first time, which indicates the active creative activity of the prince. Extensive construction, of course, was carried out, first of all, in Pereyaslavl Ryazan, which became the capital of the principality under Prince Oleg.

In the nineties of the XIV century. The great Ryazan prince Oleg Ivanovich became equal in strength to the most powerful princes of Rus'. He expanded and strengthened the borders of the principality, returned the lands seized by the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, and in 1400 he conquered Smolensk from the Lithuanians, where he placed his son-in-law Yuri Svyatoslavich on the princely table.

The Grand Duke of Ryazan Oleg Ivanovich died on June 5, 1402 at the age of 65. Before his death, he accepted the schema with the name Joachim and bequeathed to be buried in the Solotchinsky Monastery. After the closure of the monastery, in 1923, the honest remains of Prince Oleg Ryazansky were confiscated and transferred to the Ryazan Provincial Museum. On July 13, 1990, the honest remains of Oleg Ivanovich were transferred to the St. John the Theologian Monastery. On June 22, 2001, they were transferred to the Solotchinsky monastery. From that day on, myrrh flow and fragrance were observed from the honest head of Prince Oleg Ryazansky.

On the Ryazan land, the blessed Prince Oleg was revered as a saint for many centuries. Many sufferers flocked to the relics of Prince Oleg of Ryazan. It was believed that most of all, the petition of the blessed Prince Oleg before the Throne of God helps with drunkenness and “epileptic illness” (i.e. epilepsy).

Ryazan residents keep the dear name of the prince in their hearts. Oleg Ivanovich. After 1626, the figure of a warrior prince appeared for the first time on the emblem of the Ryazan land. The popular consciousness immediately connected this image with the name of Oleg Ryazansky.

(Hegumen Seraphim (St. Petersburg), nun Meletia (Pankova))

Thanks to the diplomatic skill of Oleg Ivanovich, the Ryazan principality was able not only to survive, but also to maintain its independence. A variety of people came to his service. These were the serving Moscow boyars, the Horde, and the remnants of the Polovtsians. Some descendants of the Polovtsian khans became the founders of noble families, for example, the Kobyakovs.

The young prince inherited a difficult inheritance. For more than a hundred years, Rus' was under the Mongol-Tatar yoke. From the eastern side, Tatars swept across its lands from time to time, ravaging cities and villages and taking a huge number of people captive. However, in the middle of the 14th century, during the period of feudal fragmentation of the Golden Horde, its position, including in relations with Russia, began to weaken.

The Principality of Moscow, which gained strength during the reign of Dmitry Ivanovich (1359-1389), begins to lay claim to the role of a center for the unification of Russian lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, formed at a time when Russian princes defended their land from the Mongols, also claimed the same role. Prince Mindovg, having united the Lithuanian lands by the 1340s, began expansion to the south and southeast, where the Slavic population lived. Lithuania's resources were small, but the territory of Rus', in conditions of feudal fragmentation, was an attractive and accessible goal for it.

Gediminas (1316-1341), who became the head of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the beginning of the 14th century, subjugated the western and southern Russian lands: Polotsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Minsk, Turovo-Pinsk land, Volyn. As a result, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania begins to acquire the features of a Lithuanian-Russian state rather than a Lithuanian one. Under Gediminas' son Olgerd (1345 -1377), the Principality of Lithuania included the Kiev, Pereyaslav, Chernigovo-Seversk and part of the Smolensk lands.

Olgerd's policy differed significantly from the policy of his father. If Gediminas was more “Russian” than “Lithuanian” prince, then Olgerd was more “Lithuanian”, and his claims to own Russian lands implied privileges for the Lithuanian nobility itself. The Horde took advantage of the contradictions between the peoples inhabiting Lithuania, in particular, demanding tribute only from traditionally Russian territories, thus placing them, as it were, on the lower level within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

In Lithuania, by the time of Olgerd’s reign, Orthodoxy had been established, since it mainly consisted of Orthodox Russian residents, and the Russian language became the state language of the Lithuanian principality. Olgerd himself remained a pagan until the end of his days, but his sons, who actively participated in the political life of both Lithuania and Rus', were mostly Orthodox Christians.

In the 14th century, Lithuania was believed to be the only legitimate heir to Kievan Rus. This position was clearly expressed by Prince Olgerd, who in 1358 declared: “All Rus' must belong to Lithuania.” And the Moscow princes, being direct descendants of the Kyiv princes, believed that the western and southwestern lands of the former Old Russian state belonged to them.

As a result, the confrontation between the two centers of gathering Russian lands - Moscow and Lithuania - began to grow. This resulted in increased pressure on the Ryazan principality, including from the Golden Horde. The Ryazan principality seemed to find itself between a rock and a hard place. Oleg Ivanovich, counteracting triple pressure, sought to strengthen the Ryazan principality by subjugating the principalities bordering Ryazan - Murom, Pronsky, Kozelsky. He pursued a fairly flexible policy that combined firmness with a willingness to compromise, the desire to avoid a direct clash with the enemy in conditions unfavorable for Ryazan . But this was not always possible.

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, taking advantage of the weakening of Rus' by the Mongol-Tatar invasion, increased pressure on it. At the same time, the Lithuanian princes often acted in alliance with the Horde. The difficult relationship between Rus', the Horde and Lithuania was further complicated by the policy of Constantinople, which continued to establish metropolitans in Rus', and the Russian metropolitanate continued to remain part of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Patriarchate of Constantinople, dissatisfied with Moscow's claims, supported non-Orthodox structures. This is how the unadvertised block “Constantinople - Vilna - Mamaia Horde” is formed.

Countering the pressure of the Moscow principality, the Ryazan principality resisted it. Thus, the squad of the Ryazan prince Oleg captured the city of Lopasnya (near the modern city of Chekhov, Moscow region) and captured the Moscow governor. At the same time, the Ryazan principality repeatedly acted on the side of Moscow, helping the Moscow princes repel the raids of the Lithuanians. In particular, the Ryazan and Pron army provided such assistance to Moscow in 1370, when it was besieged by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd. As a result, Olgerd was forced to abandon his plans and, after concluding a truce, withdrew his troops from Moscow.

The joint struggle brought the Moscow and Ryazan principalities closer together, but the rivalry between them still continued. In 1371, when a struggle broke out between Oleg Ivanovich and the Pronsky appanage prince Vladimir Dmitrievich, the Moscow prince intervened in this feud, speaking on the side of the Pronsky prince. He sent a detachment led by the future hero of the Battle of Kulikovo, Dmitry Bobrok, to help the appanage prince of Pron. In December 1371, a battle took place in the town of Skornishchevo (modern Kanishchevo). Oleg Ivanovich was defeated and was forced to flee the city.

The winners seated Vladimir Dmitrievich Pronsky on the Ryazan table. Oleg Ivanovich turned to the Horde for help. A Tatar detachment under the command of Murza Salakhmir came to his aid, who helped Oleg Ivanovich return the Ryazan table. Soon after this, Salakhmir entered the service of the Grand Duke of Ryazan, converted to Orthodoxy with the name Ivan Miroslavich, married Oleg Ivanovich's sister and became an influential Ryazan boyar.

A peace treaty was concluded between Moscow and Ryazan, according to which the parties pledged to help each other in case of danger and peacefully resolve differences. This agreement caused discontent among the Tatars, and in 1373, attacking the Ryazan lands, they thoroughly ruined them. And in 1377, the attack was carried out by Prince Arapsha (Arab Shah), who plundered and burned Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. Both during the first and second attacks of the Tatars, Moscow, in violation of the treaty, did not provide assistance to Ryazan. All this was a consequence of feudal fragmentation, when everyone was for himself.

Gradually, a desire is being formed in the Russian lands to join forces and end the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Since 1373, Moscow Prince Dmitry Ivanovich stopped carrying out the decrees of the khan and stopped paying tribute. Many Russian princes assessed this positively.

While Rus' was rising from its knees, the Horde was weakening. Torn by civil strife, it split into two warring parts, the border between which was the Volga. But if in the left bank part the strife did not stop, then in the right bank it was possible to restore a certain order thanks to the emerging figure of Temnik Mamai. However, Mamai failed to fully gain power, since he was not a Genghisid, and according to tradition, only a descendant of Genghis Khan could take the khan’s throne. Therefore, he had to show who was boss in the Horde, and he decided to start by restoring the Horde’s dominance over Russia. The reason for this was the refusal of the Moscow principality to carry out the khan's decrees and pay tribute to the Horde. In the summer of 1378, Mamai sent the army of Temnik Begich to Moscow.

Murza Begich knew about the difficult relations between Moscow and Ryazan and hoped that Ryazan would take at least a neutral position, so the joining of the Ryazan army to the Moscow one came as a complete surprise to him.

The combined Moscow-Ryazan army met the enemy on the banks of the Vozha, a tributary of the Oka, 103 kilometers long. The name of the river comes from the Finno-Ugric word “vozh”, which means “influx” or “source”.

The battle took place on August 11 on the site of the ancient Russian city of Glebova, named after Prince Gleb (currently the village of Glebovo Gorodishche). When the Tatar cavalry crossed the Vozha and rushed at the Russians, Dmitry Ivanovich with his regiment moved straight towards the enemy, and the regiments of the Moscow governor Timofey and the Pronsky prince Daniel struck from the flanks. Attacks from the flanks and frontally confused the formation of the Horde cavalry. Her disorderly retreat began. While fleeing, many of Begich’s warriors drowned in the river. In the battle on Vozha, five Horde princes died, which testified both to the significant size of Begich’s army and to the scale of the defeat inflicted on him. The decisive role in the defeat of Begich was played by the Ryazan people led by Daniil Pronsky, who commanded the right flank of the joint Moscow-Ryazan army.

The victory at Vozha was of historical significance. This was the first battle in history won by the Russians against the Horde. It strengthened the Russians' faith in their strength and hope for speedy liberation from the Mongol-Tatar yoke.

Taking revenge for helping Moscow, Khan Mamai, gathering new forces, attacked the Ryazan lands in the fall of 1378. Oleg Ivanovich was not ready to fight back and fled beyond the Oka. The Tatars captured Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, plundered it and set it on fire. Having devastated the volosts and villages, capturing many prisoners, they retreated to their own borders, thus taking revenge on the Ryazan people for their help to Moscow during the Battle of Vozha.

But Mamai decided to punish not only the Ryazan people, but also all Russians and seriously prepared for a new campaign against Rus'. Having concluded an agreement with the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagiello, he gathered large forces, adding mercenary detachments of Ossetians, Circassians, as well as Italians living in colonies along the shores of the Azov and Black Seas, and in the summer of 1380 he moved to Rus'. In the twentieth of September, Mamai intended to unite with Jagiello and go with him to Moscow. He tried to attract the Ryazan prince to his side. Oleg Ryazansky, shocked by the Tatar attack in 1378 and bound by an agreement with Jagiello, did not want to violate good relations with Dmitry, so he took a wait-and-see position, not providing assistance to either Mamai or Dmitry, but informing the Moscow prince about the plans of the Horde and Lithuania.

Having received this news, the Moscow prince concentrated a large army in Moscow by mid-August, and then led it to meet Mamai. His strategy was based on delivering a pre-emptive strike against the Horde army even before it approached the Russian borders. It is generally accepted that he was blessed for the battle by the abbot of the Trinity Monastery, Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the monastic community in Rus'. The actual transfer of the metropolitan see from Kyiv to Vladimir, and then to Moscow, at the beginning of the 14th century, significantly increased the authority of church hierarchs in resolving secular issues.

As noted earlier, the Russian Orthodox Church was exempt from paying tribute to the Horde. But the newly installed hierarchs had to be confirmed in the Horde, which required a lot of money. This made the top of the Russian Orthodox Church submissive in relation to the Horde. Therefore, when Dmitry Ivanovich of Moscow decided to speak out against Mongol-Tatar oppression, Metropolitan Cyprian, expressing the mood of the church leaders, advised the Moscow prince not to take risks and refused him a blessing. The lower ranks of the church were determined to fight the Horde. Blessing the prince, Sergius of Radonezh acted as a spokesman for the sentiments of the lower ranks of the church.

Blessing Dmitry Ivanovich for battle and victory, Sergius of Radonezh told him (as reported in his Life): “Go against the godless, and those who help God will defeat you...” The fact that the abbot of the Trinity Monastery blessed the prince, not fearing the wrath of the metropolitan, had important moral significance and elevated it both in the eyes of his contemporaries and in the memory of his descendants.

It is traditionally believed that Sergius not only blessed Dmitry, but also released two monks from his monastery - Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabya - on the campaign, allowing them, in violation of church canons, to take up arms and fight.

Dmitry appointed a gathering for the regiments in Kolomna, and from Kolomna he led his army, imbued with a religious-national mood, through the Ryazan principality to the Don. Not everyone believed in the possibility of Dmitry’s victory, and therefore some tried to avoid participating in the campaign, as did the Tver, Nizhny Novgorod and Ryazan princes.

Referring to the absence of the Ryazan prince in the army led by Dmitry, and to the fact that before and during the Battle of Kulikovo Oleg Ivanovich maintained relations with Mamai and Lithuania, some consider him a traitor to all-Russian interests. But if we compare the facts and circumstances in which the Ryazan prince found himself, then his position can be understood.

Mamai’s campaign against Russian lands put Oleg Ivanovich in a difficult position. According to the agreement signed with Moscow, Oleg Ryazansky was supposed to act on the side of Moscow. In this case, the Tatars would have subjected the Ryazan lands to destruction. But they had not yet recovered from the previous Horde pogrom, and its repetition would be a tragedy for the Ryazan principality. And if Ryazan had not supported Moscow, then Moscow would have punished the Ryazan prince for failure to fulfill the agreement.

All this forced Oleg Ivanovich to play a double game. Promising help to Mamai, Prince Oleg at the same time secretly warns Dmitry Ivanovich about the upcoming campaign of Mamai, and with the Lithuanian prince Jagiello conducts secret negotiations on joint actions against Moscow on the side of the Horde. On September 1, 1380, Oleg Ivanovich and Jagiello were supposed to unite near the city of Odoev and, together with the approaching Mamai, go to Moscow. But Jagiello, without waiting for the Ryazan prince and wasting time, did not have time to come to the aid of Mamai. Perhaps all this was discussed in advance, since Oleg Ivanovich was in a close relationship with Jagiello, being married to his sister. In addition, at that time Jagiello was an Orthodox Christian. Be that as it may, Mamai, camping on the Meche River, the right tributary of the Don, near the Lithuanian possessions, waited in vain for them until September 6, which ultimately led to his defeat.

Oleg Ivanovich did not want to risk his people in a fight whose outcome was not clear and took a position of neutrality. But it was positive neutrality towards Moscow. He did not take personal part in the battle on the Kulikovo Field, but did not interfere with those who had such a desire.

As is commonly believed, in the army of the Moscow prince there were two monks sent by Sergius of Radonezh - Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabya. According to legend, moving towards the future site of the battle, the monks stopped for the night in a place (now the village of Voslebovo) named after Andrei Oslyabi. After spending the night, Oslyabya went straight to the Kulikovo field, and Peresvet visited the chapel and monastery located on Dmitrovskaya Mountain. When he left, he left his staff there.

On the morning of September 8, 1380, the battle began. In the “Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev,” compiled within the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, a legend has been preserved: the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo were the warrior-monks Alexander Peresvet and Andrei Oslyabya, who were blessed by Sergius of Radonezh to fight the Tatars. Alexander Peresvet began the battle with a duel with the Pecheneg hero, in which both died. During the bloody battle, the Russian army won.

The victory on the Kulikovo Field, although it did not destroy the Mongol-Tatar yoke, dealt a blow to the Horde, consolidated the importance of Moscow as a national and political center for the unification of Russian lands into a single state and accelerated the process of the disintegration of the Horde. The overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke was only a matter of time.

In all Russian lands, the people rejoiced at the victory. It caused a national upsurge and was glorified in many literary monuments, the most famous of which are “Zadonshchina” and “The Tale of the Massacre of Mamayev.” The poetic story “Zadonshchina” belongs to Ryazan resident Safoniy. It expresses the main idea about the unity of the Russian land, about Moscow as the center of its unification. The author glorifies the heroism of the Russian people. Among the warriors who laid down their lives on the Kulikovo field, the story names 70 Ryazan boyars, more than from other principalities.

There are contradictions in the chronicles regarding relations between Moscow and Ryazan after the Battle of Kulikovo. During the battle and before returning (through Ryazan land) to Moscow, there were no complaints against the Ryazan prince. And then they appeared. A.G. Kuzmin believes that these were later insertions that reflected someone’s interest in “correcting” history in a different “modernity.”

There is a legend that, returning from the battle on the evidence field, Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich stopped near Dmitrovskaya Mountain. There he met with a hermit who told the prince about Peresvet’s visit and showed him the staff he had left behind. In honor of the victory on the Kulikovo Field, the Grand Duke ordered the foundation of a church on Dmitrovskaya Mountain, above the Verda River. The staff was supposed to become one of the shrines of the future temple, and that is why it was left. Later, the Dmitrov Monastery was founded on this site, where the staff of Peresvet was kept until the closure of the monastery in 1924. Then the staff was transferred to the Ryazan Museum of Local Lore. The wooden staff, 142 centimeters high and weighing about two kilograms, is currently on display in the permanent exhibition “From Rus' to Russia.” An examination was carried out at the request of the Ryazan Regional Museum-Reserve. She showed that the staff was made much later than the events told here.

After the Battle of Kulikovo, Moscow tried to subjugate the Ryazan principality. In 1381, Dmitry Ivanovich forced Oleg Ivanovich to sign an agreement under which the Ryazan people renounced their possessions in the upper reaches of the Oka and the city of Tula in favor of the Moscow principality. The defeated Mamai, meanwhile, was preparing for a new campaign against Rus', but was defeated in 1381 by Tokhtamysh on Kalka and died in 1382 in the Crimea, abandoned by his allies who had defected to Tokhtamysh. Tokhtamysh, a descendant of Khan Jochi, in 1376 became the khan of the “Ak-Orda”, that is, the “White Horde” (our chronicles mistakenly call it the “Blue Horde”). With the support of Tamerlane, taking advantage of the circumstances, he subjugated the Dzhuchiev ulus.

Wanting to raise his authority among the Tatars and force Rus' to pay tribute again, Tokhtamysh regarded the campaign against Russian lands as the most important means of “restoring order.” It was not possible to gather Russian troops to repel the Tatar-Mongols, and it was more difficult to do this than in 1380. Then the struggle was against Mamai, a powerful temnik. Now it was necessary to fight with Genghisid, the legitimate khan.

The Russian princes took him a vassal oath, which they were obliged to observe both according to the legal and moral standards of those times.

Having made a quick maneuver, Tokhtamysh captured and plundered Moscow on August 26, and on the way back his troops marched through Ryazan land, devastating everything in their path. After the defeat, Moscow and Ryazan resumed paying tribute to the Golden Horde. The results of the victory at Kulikovo, gained at great cost, were nullified. Neither Moscow nor Ryazan were able to repel Tokhtamysh. “Rus has become depleted of military men,” the chronicler reported.

Before the Ryazan people had time to come to their senses from Tokhtamysh’s invasion, Dmitry Ivanovich decided to punish them for non-compliance with the treaty and in 1382 sent troops to the Ryazan principality, who committed a pogrom there “more than... the Tatar armies.” The “Tale of the Invasion of Tokhtamysh” speaks of “help” to the khan from the Ryazan prince Oleg. But this statement is refuted by the fact of the destruction of Ryazan by Tokhtamysh’s army after the burning of Moscow. A.G. Kuzmin suggests that the reason for Dmitry Ivanovich’s attack on the Ryazan principality was the struggle for lands along the Oka River, and not at all revenge on Oleg for supporting Tokhtamysh. There was no support!

In March 1385, the Ryazan people, in response to the attack of Dmitry Ivanovich, captured Kolomna, capturing the governor of Moscow along with a large number of boyars. And although Kolomna was soon returned to Moscow, Dmitry Ivanovich sent a powerful army to Ryazan to avenge the raid on Moscow lands.

So Moscow and Ryazan would have fought, but common sense prevailed. Through mutual grievances, they nevertheless began to take steps towards each other. Sergius of Radonezh, who enjoyed indisputable authority, helped them in this. Dmitry Ivanovich asked him to persuade the Ryazan prince to “eternal peace” for the benefit of all.

In 1386, the abbot, accompanied by several Moscow boyars, arrived in Pereyaslavl-Ryazan. During the negotiations, Oleg Ivanovich recognized himself as the “younger brother” of Dmitry of Moscow and agreed to eternal peace with Moscow. The following year, the agreement was sealed by the marriage of Fyodor, Oleg's son, with Sophia, daughter of Dmitry Donskoy. Apparently, in this regard, the exchange of Kolomna for Tula took place.

In 1389, Dmitry Donskoy died. His son, Vasily Dmitrievich, who married the daughter of the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, became the Grand Duke. In any conflict between Lithuania and Ryazan, he took the side of his father-in-law. They began back in 1386 because of Smolensk. Smolensk Prince Yuri Svyatoslavich was the son-in-law of Oleg Ivanovich, so the latter supported him in the fight against Lithuania, which wanted to take this city into its own hands. In 1395, Smolensk was taken by the Lithuanian prince Vitovt, who in 1397 attacked the Ryazan land. But Vasily Dmitrievich did not even condemn him for such actions.

Having accumulated strength, Oleg Ivanovich took Smolensk in 1400, to which the rightful prince, Oleg Ivanovich’s son-in-law, returned. Vitovt's attempts to return Smolensk ended in failure. But in 1402, Oleg Ivanovich’s son fails in the fight against Lithuania and is captured by the Lithuanians. In the same year, Oleg Ryazansky dies, not having time to complete his plans and say goodbye to his son.

Nevertheless, Oleg Ivanovich managed to unite a vast territory under his rule. By the 14th century, the Chernigov principality had crumbled into small fiefs. Its northeastern part became part of the Ryazan Principality. Many appanage rulers of the Chernigov land recognized the supreme power of the Ryazan prince over themselves. Princes of Yelets. Kozel, Novosilsk and Tarusa went on campaigns as junior allies of Oleg Ivanovich. Thus, in the western and southwestern directions, the power of the Ryazan prince extended to all lands along the Oka River up to its sources (in our time, these lands are part of the Tula, Oryol and Lipetsk regions).

In the south, the Ryazan border stepped far into the steppe and reached the left bank of the Don River, on the one hand, and the right bank of its tributaries - the Khopra and Velikaya Vorona - on the other (now this is the territory of the Lipetsk and Voronezh regions). In the east, the princes of Meshchera, the rulers of small estates along the banks of the Moksha and Tsna, submitted to Oleg Ivanovich. The Murom princes also recognized his power.

The growth of the power of the Ryazan principality was reflected in the change in the title of its ruler. Since the reign of Oleg Ivanovich, the Ryazan princes began to be officially called “great”. Neither before nor after Oleg did the Ryazan principality stand so high. One gets the impression that he wanted to create a third center for the unification of Russian lands in the southeast of Rus'. But, realizing that Moscow had become the generally recognized center of unification of Russian lands, he managed to rise to the national level of thinking and signed a treaty document, recognizing himself as the “younger brother” of the Moscow prince and agreeing to eternal peace with Moscow. Thus, he subordinated the interests of the principality to the interests of the all-Russian cause, which were expressed by Moscow.

For a long time, researchers have been interested in the question: why did Moscow become the center of formation of a unified Russian state? Following V.O. Klyuchevsky usually points to the convenient geographical location of the Moscow Principality, protection from Horde raids by the lands of the Ryazan Principality, and connections along the Moscow River with the main trade routes. But the Tver Principality had all these advantages to an even greater extent. And we must agree with P.N. Gumilyov, who pointed out the insufficiency of such arguments: “Moscow occupied a geographical position much less advantageous than Tver, Uglich or Nizhny Novgorod, past which the easiest and safest trade route along the Volga passed. And Moscow has not accumulated such combat skills as Smolensk or Ryazan. And it didn’t have as much wealth as in Novgorod, or such cultural traditions as in Rostov and Suzdal,” he wrote.

He himself explains this by the fact that the most passionate, indomitable people found themselves in Moscow. And the passionary Sergius of Radonezh led the “new outbreak of ethnogenesis.”

A teacher at Moscow State University, N.S. Borisov, who specially studied the reasons for the rise of Moscow, attaches decisive importance to the skill of the political activities of the Moscow princes.

A.G. Kuzmin believes that in understanding the reasons for the rise of Moscow, another tendency is emerging - to give Moscow almost mystical functions and to link the entire process of centralization only with the fate of the Moscow principality. He recalls that some researchers had previously pointed out that the movement towards consolidation took place in all principalities, especially those that received the right to the title “great” in the 14th century, and suggests taking into account the position and role of the Russian Orthodox Church. In his opinion, the church, although it was freed from the Horde exit, nevertheless remained the most important outpost of the rise of ethnic self-awareness.

Oleg Ivanovich was buried in the Church of the Intercession of the Solotchinsky Monastery, which was built by his order. Not far from the Solotchinsky Monastery, the wife of Prince Efrosinya founded the Conception Convent, which ceased to exist in the 18th century. After her death in 1405, Euphrosyne was buried next to her husband. For a long time, Oleg’s chain mail was kept in the Solotchinsky Monastery, which after the October Socialist Revolution was transferred to the Ryazan Museum of Local Lore.