Venerable Alexander Peresvet

IMPORTANT DATE CORRECTION: the previous date "August 25" was not confirmed by any source; the correct date, verified against the exact text of the 2016 Bishops' Council decree of the ROC ("...Venerable Alexander Peresvet [d. 1380, feast September 7/20]..."), is September 7/20 — the day before the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos (September 8 O.S. — the day of the Battle of Kulikovo itself).

St. Alexander Peresvet was a warrior-monk, disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Born in the 14th century in Bryansk to a boyar military family, he took monastic vows at the Trinity Monastery under St. Sergius and was known as a skilled fighter. Before the decisive confrontation with the Golden Horde under Mamai, Grand Prince Dmitry Ivanovich (later "Donskoy") came to St. Sergius for a blessing; the elder sent two warrior-monks, Alexander Peresvet and Andrei (Rodion) Oslyabya, to accompany him, giving them the schema with crosses sewn on in place of armor.

On September 8, 1380, the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, before the Battle of Kulikovo began, Peresvet accepted a challenge to single combat from the Tatar champion Chelubey; the two warriors struck each other with lances and died simultaneously — an outcome that emboldened the Russian army. Peresvet was buried by the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos at the Old Simonov Monastery in Moscow, alongside Oslyabya.

Veneration began immediately, with both warriors recorded in the "Tale of the Massacre of Mamai" and the "Zadonshchina"; they were included in the Sobor of Radonezh Saints from 1981. Church-wide glorification was enacted by the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 2–3, 2016.