Right-Believing Right-Believing Prince Theodore Rostislavich the Black, of Smolensk and Yaroslavl

MERGE: this card combines what were previously two separate entries — "Theodore of Smolensk" and "Theodore of Yaroslavl" — both, per unanimous source testimony, described the same person, invariably titled in Orthodox tradition "Theodore of Smolensk and Yaroslavl." Neither previous card had any images, so no image transfer was needed. CRITICAL: both previous cards listed a nonsensical template artifact, "IV century" (though the saint lived in the 13th century) — corrected to the accurate "c. 1237/1239-1299."

IMPORTANT DISTINCTION: two other cards in the same series — "Theodore of Rzhev" and "Theodore of Starodub" — do NOT refer to this saint. The former has been unpublished as having no real prototype; the latter has been retained separately as a genuine, but entirely different saint — Theodore Ivanovich, Prince of Starodub (d. 1330, martyred in the Horde), with no connection to Theodore the Black beyond sharing a name.

Theodore Rostislavich the Black was born c. 1237-1239 in Smolensk, the third son of Rostislav Mstislavich, Prince of Smolensk. In the division of his father's inheritance, he received only Mozhaysk as his appanage. In 1260, marrying Maria, daughter and heiress of Prince Vasily Vsevolodovich of Yaroslavl, he became Prince of Yaroslavl.

Widowed, he spent long periods at the court of the Golden Horde's Khan Mengu-Temir, where he was favored and entered a second marriage with the khan's baptized daughter Anna. In 1279-1281 he inherited the Principality of Smolensk from his brothers, but later ceded it to a nephew, returning to rule Yaroslavl. He died September 19, 1299, having received the monastic schema shortly before death. He was buried in the Transfiguration Monastery of Yaroslavl.

In 1463 his relics, and those of his sons from his second marriage — Sts. David and Constantine — were discovered incorrupt and became renowned for many miracles; they are venerated together as Theodore, David, and Constantine, Wonderworkers of Yaroslavl. He is additionally commemorated June 22 (translation of relics, 1704), May 23 (Synaxis of Rostov-Yaroslavl Saints), and July 28 (Synaxis of Smolensk Saints).