Saint Daniel of Moscow

Daniil Aleksandrovich (Russian: Даниил Александрович; 1261 – 5 March 1303), also known as Daniil of Moscow, was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky and forefather of all Princes of Moscow. His descendants are known as the Daniilovichi. He has been locally approved for veneration in the Russian Orthodox Church, with feast days on March 17 and September 12. Daniil was born in late 1261, at Vladimir on the Klyazma, capital of Vladimir-Suzdal. He was the fourth and youngest son of Alexander Nevsky and his second wife, Princess Vassa. He was named after Daniel the Stylite. His father Alexander died on 14 November 1263, when Daniil was only two years old. Of his father's patrimonies, he received the least valuable, Moscow, and reigned under the regency by his paternal uncle, prince Yaroslav of Tver. Yaroslav died in 1271, but Daniil does not appear to have become an independent ruler until 1282. Daniil has been credited with founding the first Moscow monasteries, namely the Epiphany Monastery and the Danilov Monastery (Saint Daniel Monastery): situated on the right bank of the Moskva River, at a distance of 5 miles from the Moscow Kremlin, as the first monastery wooden church no later than 1282. He also built the first stone church in the Moscow Kremlin in the 1280s, dedicated to the Demetrius of Thessaloniki. Daniil took part in his brothers'—Dmitri of Pereslavl (Pereslavl-Zalessky) and Andrey of Gorodets—struggle for the right to govern Vladimir-Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod, respectively. The Mongol warlords Nogai Khan and Tokhta grew in power in the late 1280s, and in 1291 they jointly conquered Sarai, capital of the Golden Horde. However, in 1293 Nogai and Tokhta got into war with each other, and were appealing to the Rus' princes (who were themselves in conflict over the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir) to join their side against the other.