Right-Believing

Right-Believing Right-Believing Prince Oleg Romanovich of Bryansk, in Monasticism Basil

ок. 1240-х – 1307 (по др. данным 1285)

Also known as: в крещении Леонтий

Right-Believing Prince Oleg of Bryansk, in monasticism Basil — grandson of Martyr Michael of Chernigov, who voluntarily renounced his princely throne to become a monk, founder of the Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery in Bryansk.

CRITICAL: a previously missing feast date has been filled in — September 20/October 3 (established by the official 1903 menology); the template artifact in the life-years field, "I-XV century," has been corrected to "c. 1240s – 1307" (sources vary, some give 1285).

Oleg Romanovich was a grandson of Hieromartyr Michael of Chernigov and son of Prince Roman Mikhailovich, the first appanage prince of Bryansk. He ruled Bryansk and, from 1288, also held the title Grand Prince of Chernigov. In 1274 he took part alongside his father in a military campaign against Lithuania.

Some time after this campaign, Oleg voluntarily renounced his princely throne — an unusual act of humility for a Rurikid prince — and used his own means to found (or richly endow) the Sts. Peter and Paul Monastery in Bryansk, where he received monastic tonsure with the name Basil. He spent his remaining years there in strict ascetic labor until his death, and was buried in the monastery church. His veneration as a local Bryansk saint dates to deep antiquity, formally fixed in the 1903 menology. During the Soviet period his relics were hidden by Bishop Daniel to protect them from desecration; they were rediscovered in 1995 and now rest in a gilded reliquary in the monastery's Sts. Peter and Paul church.

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