Lavra's sacred things: Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky Shrine

Relics of St. Alexander Nevsky

St Prince Alexander Yaroslavitch Nevsky died on the way back home from the Golden Horde on 14 November 1263 in the town of Gorodetz on the Volga river. Not long before his death he took the schema and the monastic name of Alexius. His burial that took place on 23 November 1263 in the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Savior in Vladimir was marked by a miraculous sign witnessed by Metropolitan Kirill who was performing the funeral service over his body. Since that very time the relic of Alexander Nevsky has been being revered by the Russians. Local worship of prince Alexander Nevsky as a Saint was established by the Orthodox Church in 1380 after supernatural miracles associated with the relic had happened.

In 1723-24 the relic of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky was carried from the Nativity Cathedral in Vladimir to the Alexander Nevsky monastery in St Petersburg. On 30 August 1724 in the presence of the Emperor Peter I a solemn ceremony of sanctifying the first monastery stone Church of the Annunciation and St Alexander Nevsky took place, the sarcophagus with the relic of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky being placed there originally. Later on, the relic was transferred to the Lavra's St Trinity Cathedral. Its sarcophagus was substituted for the precious new one donated by the Empress Elisabeth I, a daughter of Peter the Great (now in the Hermitage collection).

At present time when the monastery is being little by little restored to life, a special church service is performed every morning before the shrine containing the sacred relic.