Right-Believing Grand Prince and Martyr Michael Yaroslavich of Tver

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the category has been corrected from "righteous" to "right_believing" — the entry's own title already contained "Right-Believing Prince." The date pair September 20/October 3 has been removed from the contaminated list — it belongs to a different saint (Right-Believing Prince Michael of Chernigov).

Michael Yaroslavich was born November 1, 1271, in Vladimir, son of Prince Yaroslav of Tver. He became Prince of Tver around 1282-1285, married Princess Anna of Kashin (also later glorified) in 1294; they had four sons and a daughter. He held the throne of Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1305 to 1317 and also held Novgorod (1308-1314), likely becoming the most powerful Rus' prince of his generation before Moscow's rise.

His rivalry with his nephew Yuri of Moscow, who also claimed the Grand Principate, escalated into open war. Michael defeated Yuri decisively at the Battle of Bortenevo (December 22, 1317), capturing his wife Agafya (sister of Khan Öz Beg), but agreed to release her as part of a peace settlement. When Agafya subsequently died in captivity in Tver, Yuri accused Michael of poisoning her and reported this to the khan.

Summoned to the Horde on August 6, 1318, Michael was tried and held in shackles for about a month, enduring humiliation and abuse. On November 22, 1318, Yuri's men entered his tent while he was at prayer; a man named Romanets stabbed him through the heart, which was then cut out. His body was initially displayed with contempt and only a year later translated to the Transfiguration Cathedral in Tver.

He was formally glorified in May 1549 at the second Macarian Council in Moscow. His feast is kept on November 22/December 5.