Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/309

Rh R.M., Jan. 1. A.R.M., for the Order of St. Basil, March 16. AA.SS., Feb. 12. Legende Dorée, Leggendario. St. Euphrosyne (6) One of nine sisters of. St. Euphrosyne (7), or, May 23, V. + 1173. One of the patrons of Polotsk and Lithuania. Predislava was the daughter or sister of George Sviatoslaf, duke of Polotsk, which seems to have been at this time an independent Christian state. In the next century it became subject to Smolensk, and thento the heathen dukedom of Lithuania. Polotsk is spelt in several different ways, and there are other places with similar names, all called in Latin Polocia. Duke George's capital was the town of Polotsk, on the junction of the Dwina and the Polota.

At twelve years old Predislava, unknown to her parents, went to a convent in Polotsk, ruled by her aunt, the widow of Prince Romanus, where she took the veil and the name of Euphrosyne. After staying there some time, with the approval of the bishop, she shut herself up in a cell adjoining the cathedral of St. Sophia. She transcribed books, and worked in different ways to earn money, at the same time denying herself the necessaries of life, in order that she might give to the poor. The prince then gave her a piece of ground outside the town, and there she built a church and monastery, of the Order of St. Basil and Slavonian rite, in honour of the transfigured Saviour. Of this she was abbess for forty years. Among the inmates of her convent were her own sister, her foster-sister, and two nieces. Another patron saint of Polotsk, {{DSW link|Pabasceve (5), was a nun in this monastery in the following century, and is commemorated with Euphrosyne.

Euphrosyne adorned her church with great splendour, and begged for it, from the Emperor Manuel, the precious gift of a picture painted by St. Luke, and popularly called Korsun. She built another monastery for her niece. After ruling her convent well for many years, she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, accompanied by her brother David and her sister Euphrasia. She died in the Russian convent at Jerusalem, about 1173. She was translated to Kief, and is worshipped by the Rutheni, who are in communion with the Church of Rome, and also by those who follow the Greek rite. Father Wiiuk Kojalowix, in his Lithuanian Miscellanies, says she was of the Greek Church. AA.SS., May 23; and in their notes to Euphrosyne the monk, Sept. 25. Stokvis, Manuel d'Histoire, de Généalogie et de Chronologie, ii. 336. Zedler, Lexicon. Bruzen de la Martinière, ''Le grand Dic. Géographique,'' vi. partie ii. 387. St. Euphrosyne (8), Febronia, princess of Wlodomir. St. Euphrosyne (9), or {{sc|Theodosia}}, Sept. 25. + c. 1250. Of Tchemigov, in Russia. Daughter of St. Michael, duke of Tehemingov, M. (Sept. 20), who was fifth in descent from Yaroslaf the Great. (See {{DSW link|Anna}}.) Her name was Theodosia; she was pious from infancy, and had a strong inclination for monastic life. She was betrothed to Menna, prince of Suzdalia, and sent to his country to be married to him; but on the journey, hearing, to her great relief, that he was dead, she took the veil in the nearest convent, changing her name to Euphrosyne, 1227. She influenced many other persons to dedicate their lives to God in the monastic state. She adorned her convent by her virtues, and by her prayers saved it from destruction by the Mongols, who invaded Suzdalia in 1238. (See {{DSW link|Agatha of Yladimir}}.) In 1246, Duke Michael, with the blessing of the priest, set out to visit Battu, or Bati, or Bat, Khan of the Mongols, to treat of the liberation of his country from the oppression of these barbarians. When he and his friend Theodore arrived at the horde, they were told they could not be admitted into the presence of Bati until they had passed through the fire and worshipped the sun and other gods of the Mongols. As they stoutly refused to do so, they were beaten by the Tartars, and beheaded by a renegade Christian. Their bodies were quartered by the Mongols, but were eventually conveyed to Tchernigov, and thence to Moscow, where they rest among the saints and heroes of their country, and are honoured as martyrs. Euphrosyne {{smallrefs}}