Saint Dmitry Vasilyevich

Dmitry Vasilyevich, nicknamed Menshoy, was a canonized appanage Prince of Zaozerye who lived between 1380 and 1440. Primary information about Dmitry Vasilyevich is preserved in the Typografskaya and Yermolinskaya chronicles, as well as in the hagiographies of Saints Dionysius of Glushitsa, Alexander of Kushta, and Joasaph of Kamen. He was the fourth son of the sovereign Prince Vasily Vasilyevich of Yaroslavl and the 17th generation descendant of Rurik. After his father’s death (between 1380 and 1410), he inherited Zaozerye, a region located beyond the Beloye, Kubenskoye, Vozhe, and Lacha lakes along the Kubena River. The Principality of Zaozerye consisted of a collection of villages and hamlets and lacked any settlement that could be considered a city in the economic and administrative sense of the time. According to the hagiography of Joasaph of Kamen, Prince Dmitry’s court was located in the village of Ustye on the Kubena River, at its confluence with Lake Kubenskoye from the southeast. Nearby stood a church dedicated to Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki, likely built by the prince in honor of his patron saint. Adjacent to the princely court was the village of Chirkova, which, along with the court, served as the parish for this church. In 1400, Dmitry Vasilyevich granted Saint Dionysius permission to establish the Glushitsky Monastery on Lake Kubenskoye and provided men to assist in its construction. He, and especially his wife Maria, together with his brother Semyon, Prince of Novlen, helped Saint Alexander found the Dormition Monastery on the Kushta River between 1418 and 1425 by providing necessary supplies and food. Both monasteries received endowments from the prince, including villages, land, books (notably an Aprakos Gospel), and icons. Later, when Princess Maria fell gravely ill, she asked Saint Alexander to pray for her recovery, but he replied that her illness was fatal and advised her to prepare for death in a Christian manner.