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ARTICLES

THE CULT OF ST. DANIEL THE STYLITE AMONG

THE RUSSIAN PRINCES OF THE RURIK DYNASTY

Alexander V. Maiorov, St. Petersburg State University

The personal baptismal name Daniel (Danylo) is not found in the name list of
the Rurikovichi until the early 13th century. The first and possibly the only
case in the pre-Mongol period is the name of the Galician-Volhynian prince
Daniel Romanovich (1201–1264), son of Roman Mstislavovich (1152–1205),
recorded in a number of sources.
Contemporary historians of the period rarely address the question why and
how the baptismal name Daniel and others, unusual for the Rurikovichi, came
to be given repeatedly to children of the family of the Galician-Volhynian
princes at the same time. In addition to Daniel, they include Heraclius, Leo,
Simeon and others. N. F. Kotliar even concluded that this phenomenon “at
present cannot be explained” (Galitsko-Volynskaia letopis', 187; henceforth:
Gal-Vol). Anna F. Litvina and Fedor B. Uspenskii agree: “Naming the boys
in this family [of Roman Mstislavich] was peculiar. It was not based on the
general name list of the dynasty” (Vybor imeni 573). As for the name of
Roman’s eldest son Daniel, the authors only state that it is impossible to de-
termine the origin of this atypical name: “We do not have the data to identify
the saint in whose honor he was baptized” (ibid. 533).
Indeed, sources (especially written ones) do not have any direct references
to the Christian saint in whose honor Daniel Romanovich was named. This
does not mean that this question cannot be answered, but it will be necessary
to turn to indirect data and comparative materials in order to do so.

Archeological traces of the veneration of Daniel the Stylite and of the

patronage of the cult of Stylites by the Princes of Galician-Volhynian Rus'
One clue to finding the answer to the mystery is offered by archeology.
Traces have been found of structures from the time of the reign of Daniel
Romanovich of Galicia in both Galicia and Volhynia that testify to the wor-

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ship of Daniel the Stylite and the spread of Stylitism as a form of Christian
asceticism.
Nor is it an accident that two new cities—named Stolpie and Danilov—
were founded in Galician-Volhynian Rus' during the reign of Daniel Ro-
manovich. Stolpie was first mentioned under the Chronicle year 1204.1 In
1217 it was listed among the cities of West-Volhynian “Ukraine” which
Daniel had seized from the Poles. Danilov is mentioned under the year 1240
in an account describing the unsuccessful attempt of Batu Khan’s troops to
take the town (Ipat'evskaia letopis' 721, 732, 786; henceforth: Ipat; most
other chronicles will be referred to by name and the letter l. for letopis',
chronicle). Remnants of its ancient city fortifications are located on mount
Troitsa near the settlement of Danilovka, Kremenets district, Ternopil region
(Rappoport, “Danilov” 82–86). Daniel Romanovich of Galicia also built a
cloister dedicated to St. Daniel the Stylite in Ugrovsk, Western Volhynia. It
was apparently the first monastery in Old Rus' dedicated to that saint.2 It is
mentioned under the year 1268 (Gal-Vol) in connection with the Lithuanian
prince Vaišvilkas who had converted to Orthodoxy. The chronicle tells us:
“Vaišvilkas went to Ugrovsk, to the monastery of St. Daniel and took the
vows and began to live in the monastery” (Ipat 867). It was mentioned even
earlier under the year 1264. In that year Daniel Romanovich of Galicia sent
an embassy to Rome to continue negotiations on the state of the Church
Union. It was led by a hegumen Grigory who was named the “abbot from the
Mount of St. Daniel” in a letter by Pope Innocent IV (then residing in Lyons)
to the Archbishop of Mainz written on September 13, 1247 (Potthast nr.
12689). Contemporary scholars opine that the Pope’s chancellery used the
name “Mount of St. Daniel” to refer to the monastery of St. Daniel the Stylite
in Ugrovsk (Abraham 122).
By the time the hegumen Grigory went to Rome, Ugrovsk could boast
many other structures. The Chronicle reports that in 1259 a large-scale con-
struction in Ugrovsk initiated by Daniel Romanovich had been completed.
“Daniel reigned in Vladimir, created the town of Ugrovsk and placed a bishop
there,” the chronicle tells us (Ipat 842). As Ugrovsk was mentioned many
times before in the chronicle starting from the year 1204, this information is
not about the foundation of the city, but rather about the construction of new
city fortifications or a bishop’s fortified residence. The existence of a bishop
in Ugrovsk, as well as the fact that the hegumen of the local monastery of St.
Daniel represented the prince in the Union negotiations with the Pope, testify

1. The information applying to the year 1204 occurs in both the Ipat'ev and Galician-
Volhynian Chronicles. I remind my readers that the Ipat'ev Chronicle (Hypatian Codex) is a
compendium that includes the Galician-Volhynian one.
2. Daniel of Moscow (1261–1303), son of Aleksandr Nevsky, was to follow suit a few
decades later by building the Danilov monastery near his capital in the late 13th century in
honor of the same saint.
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 347

to the high religious and political significance of this town during the reign of
Daniel.3 It is possible that the prince even had plans to make it his new capi-
tal, but later chose Kholm (renamed Chelm when it became part of the King-
dom of Poland in the 14th century) for that purpose. In any case, during the
reign of Daniel, Ugrovsk undoubtedly played the role of the administrative
center of the Rus' Zabuzhye region (Panishko, ”Ugrovs'ke” 58–65).
For a long time the Ugrovsk mentioned in the chronicles could not be lo-
cated with certainty (Panishko, “Do problemi” 168–177). Only in the late
1990s was persuasive archeological evidence obtained that proved the exis-
tence of an ancient settlement on the right bank of the Western Bug some 2.5
kilometers to the west from today’s village of Novougruzskoe (Nowouh-
ruskie), Luboml district, Volyn region (Western Ukraine). It is highly prob-
able that this settlement is the ancient Ugrovsk (Mazurik and Ostap'iuk
45–60).
The search for the ancient city included looking for the remains of the St.
Daniel monastery built by Daniel Romanovich. The local historical literature
from the 19th and 20th centuries provides several oral legends about an an-
cient tower built in Ugrovsk by Daniel of Galicia. This tower named Stolp (pil-
lar) became the main reference point in the search for traces of St. Daniel’s
monastery (Gerbachevskij 134; Rappoport, “Volynskie bashni” 220).
There were other finds. In the northern part of the Old Rus' settlement near
the village Novougruzskoe and almost on the very bank of the Western Bug,
archeologists found a fortified cape-shaped area of about 2 hectares. In the
middle of the cape there is a landmark that has the characteristic name Stolp
or Stolpovo. In 1997 the foundations of a rectangular stone tower were found
in that location. The Stolp landmark is a mound 2.5 meters high and 40 me-
ters in diameter. The perimeter of the tower in the center is 7.4 ⫻ 9.3 meters,
and the width of the walls is 1.5–1.7 meters. In addition to the foundations,
the remains of brick walls survived. Their height reaches 1.3 meters. A num-
ber of characteristic features allow us to date the brick wall remnants to the
second half of the 13th century (Mazurik and Ostap'iuk 54–60).
These findings make it clear that the St. Daniel’s monastery built by Daniel
Romanovich in Ugrovsk was dedicated to the saint whom the Galician-
Volhynian prince revered as his patron saint. The recent find of the remains
of the stone pillar-tower, erected on the mound in the center of the landmark
that is still called Stolp, also allows one to reach the same conclusion
(Kuchinko 64–65). To sum up the discussion so far: Prince Daniel revered St.
Daniel the Stylite as his heavenly patron and erected several sacral buildings
in the “pillar-style” in his honor.

3. In the Chronicle for 1204–1268 (Gal-Vol 1207), Ugrovsk is mentioned seven times, sug-
gesting that the city played an important role in the thirteenth century (see Ipat 721, 732, 754,
758, 842, 867).
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348 Slavic and East European Journal

This discovery of the Stylite Tower described above located within the
monastery grounds is not unique. Some time ago scholars noticed a surpris-
ing phenomenon in the architecture of Galician-Volhynian Rus' of the 13th
and early 14th centuries that is practically unknown in other parts of Rus'. A
considerable number of freestanding stone pillars, or rather their foundations,
were found in Western Volhynia and the Galician Carpathian region. Some of
them used to be part of a monastery; others were located within the city
boundaries. In some cases whole towers have survived, allowing us to study
their architectural and structural features and to determine their function
(Rappoport, “Volynskie bashni” 202–223; Rozhko 86–97; Antipov, “Oboro-
nitel'nye bashni” 193–197).
Initially scholars believed that these Western-Volhynian pillars were the
donjons (fortification towers) of military defense structures that had been
built in imitation of western European feudal castles. The latest architectural
and archeological investigations of monuments in a good state of preserva-
tion, in particular of the Stolpie tower near Chelm (originally Kholm), show
however that these structures might have had an entirely different purpose.
For example, the remains of a chapel were found on the top (fifth) tier of the
Stolpie tower and this chapel was undoubtedly created simultaneously with
the pillar. This discovery shows that the tower was originally intended for the
exercise of particular religious practices related to Christian asceticism of the
Stylite type, practices that were widespread in the Christian East and Byzan-
tium from the early Middle Ages onward. They were based on a solitary life
of fasting and praying, as a rule, on top of a pillar-tower (for the specifics of
Stylitism, see Buko).
The Stolpie tower appears to have retained its original purpose for cen-
turies after it was built. We know, for example, that in the mid-15th century a
hermit hieromonk called Vavila lived there. He enjoyed the protection of
Isidor (1385–1463), the pro-Union metropolitan of Kiev and legate to the
Pope at the Council of Ferrara-Florence convoked by Martin V. In the letter
to the Elders of Chelm dated July 27, 1440, Isidor explained that the “priest
Vavila from the Holy Savior in the Stolp” should not suffer any wrong from
the locals who were encroaching on the garden adjacent to the tower, since,
as Isidor put it, Vavila who was living in this tower-church was “pray[ing] to
God for the entire Christianity” (Arkhiv I/vi: 5, nr. 2).
Pillar-towers in Western Volhynia were concentrated mainly in the town of
Kholm built by Daniel Romanovich as the new capital of Galician-Volhynian
Rus'. In the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle account of the construction of
Chelm “a high vezha (tower)” is mentioned that Prince Daniel erected in the
center of the town (Ipat 844). The foundations of this structure were exca-
vated by archeologist cum architect Peter P. Pokryshkin in 1910–1912 on the
hill Vysokaya Gorka in Chelm. The tower was built in the 1230s–1240s. It
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 349

was square (4.7 ⫻ 4.9 meters) with a circular room inside (of about 2 meters
in diameter). The walls were 1.2–1.4 meters thick. On the southwest a rectan-
gular elongated structure was adjacent to the tower. It was allegedly the
princely palace of Daniel Romanovich of Galicia, which was rebuilt in the
late 13th–early 14th centuries. In the course of further excavations of the
prince’s palace the foundations of another dwelling tower were found. This
tower was built in the mid-14th century by Prince Daniel’s descendants. (An-
tipov, Drevnerusskaia arkhitektura 107–108, 133–135, nr. IV.3, nr. IV.16).
Before World War II the remains of the walls of yet another stone tower had
existed some 2 kilometers to the north of Chelm, near the village Belavino.
This tower had been constructed on a small mound in the middle of a barely
passable swamp. In the 19th century the natives called this tower Stolp and
the area around it—Zastolpie (Khrustsevich 46–61; Batiushkov). In 1909 this
tower was examined by the aforementioned Pokryshkin. In 1910–1911 it was
repaired. Those foundations that survived WWII were repeatedly investigated
from the 1970s through the 1990s. The external dimensions of the tower were
found to have been 11.8 × 12.4 meters wide and about 18 meters high; the
walls would have been about 1.7 meters thick. The assumed religious purpose
of the structure is evident from the size and the shape of the windows of the
top tier. These windows were considerably larger than gun slots. They were
wide (up to 1.7 meters) apertures with a semi-circular top decorated with
white and green cut stone. The internal walls at the level of the upper tier bear
the traces of stucco and colored wall paintings. One more tier was probably
arranged above the dome of the upper tier of the tower as an open area (An-
tipov, Drevnerusskaia arkhitektura 138–141, nr. IV.18).
According to local legends recorded in the mid-17th century by the Bishop
of Chelm Jacob Susha, there were several other ancient stone pillars around
Chelm, for example, in the villages Spas and Czerniejewo. Scholars of vari-
ous disciplines have been comparing the descriptions of the pillars mentioned
in these local records with the actual stolp ruins that have been found, but so
far they have not been able to reach clear-cut conclusions in regard to their
functions—whether they were religious or military (Khrustsevich 50; Rap-
poport, “Volynskie bashni” 219–220).
Another stone pillar found in Lublin, close to Chelm, is clearly connected
with Daniel Romanovich’s activities, however. According to Polish sources,
in 1243 or 1244 Lublin was seized for a period of time by the Galician-
Volhynian prince, who immediately added a new stone tower to the Lublin
castle. Annales S. Crucis (Rocznik Świętokrzyski Nowy) tells us: “the Rus-
sians in a number of attacks devastated and set fire to Lublin and its entire ter-
ritory; and they began to build a castle for themselves and erected a stone
tower” (39). Jan Długosz gives additional details in his History and specifies
that Daniel built the tower within the territory of the Middle Castle. The tower
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350 Slavic and East European Journal

was round in shape. “He [Daniel Romanovich—A. M.], having come to

Lublin, seized both the castle and the town, and appropriated and took the en-
tire land of Lublin and built in the Middle Castle a round tower from the burnt
bricks” (Jana Długosza Roczniki 7:57).
This tower is mentioned (Gal-Vol 910) under the year 1287 in the account
of how Konrad Zemovitovich, the prince of Czersk, tried to seize Lublin.
While negotiating with the townspeople, Konrad saw enemy troops ap-
proaching and fled. He hid in a stone tower where monks were living. It is
thus evident that the tower built by Daniel in Lublin had not so much military
significance as sacral functions. The tower named Stolp was the dwelling
place of monks who probably practiced Stylitism (stolpnichestvo).
Not only Daniel Romanovich, but also other members of the family of the
Galician-Volhynian princes patronized Stylitism and supported the cult of St.
Daniel the Stylite. Among the direct descendants of Daniel Romanovich of
Galicia his grandson and his great-grandson were named Daniel. These were
respectively the Galician prince Daniel Mstislavich, mentioned in the chron-
icle under the year 1280 (Ipat 881) and the prince of Ostroh and Chelm,
Daniel Vasilkovich, a great-grandson of Daniel of Galicia (Daniel Vasilko-
vich died circa 1370). He and his father, Vasilko Romanovich, Prince of
Slonim, were ancestors of the princes of Ostroh and Zaslav (Voitovich 509–
510, 512). Daniel’s brother Vladimir Vasilkovich was known as a lover of
learning (knizhnik), patron of sciences and philosopher whose death—for
want of others’ support for continued record-keeping—put an end to the writ-
ing of the Galician-Volhynian chronicle; he was also involved in the worship
of St. Daniel the Stylite and Stylitism in general.
In the obituary of this same Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich, the name of
Daniel the Stylite appears for the first time in an Old Rus' chronicle. Prince
Vladimir passed away on the very day when the memory of this saint was cel-
ebrated, as the chronicle tells us. Vladimir, after his body “ha[d] [been]
washed” and “put into a coffin in the month of December on the 11th day, the
memory day of St. Daniel the Stylite, on Saturday” (Ipat 919). In the Old Rus-
sian menologions (Orthodox service books) of the 11th–14th centuries sev-
eral Christian saints are commemorated on December 11, but St. Daniel was
chosen for mention in the obituary. This testifies to the fact that the saint was
in some way spiritually linked to the deceased prince even though he did not
bear his name (Loseva, Russkie mesiatseslovy 221–222).
This link is also attested to by Vladimir Vasilkovich’s construction of two
stone pillars in Volhynia and Galicia. They are the largest among the now
known structures of a similar type. Their size surprised even the Prince’s chron-
icler. The posthumous panegyric to Vladimir Vasilkovich in the Galician-
Volhynian Chronicle under the year 1289 praises the prince for the construction
of the new town of Kamenets (now in Belarus) where a stone pillar of unprece-
dented size had been erected. “[Vladimir Vasilkovich—A. M.] built a stone pil-
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 351

lar [in the town Kamenets—A. M.]—it was seventeen sazhen4 high and amazed
everybody who looked at it” (Ipat 925).
This extraordinary pillar survives almost intact in Kamenets today and has
been repeatedly examined. The tower is located on the high bank of the river
Lesna (a tributary to the Western Bug) in the middle of a mound. The diam-
eter of the circular structure is 13.5 meters, the height of the surviving walls
is about 30 meters, and their width is about 2 meters. Inside, the tower was
divided into five tiers by wooden floors. In the outer wall, at the level of the
fourth tier, traces of the doorway and the external extension have survived;
apparently, they once led to and supported a balcony (Batiushkov 39, nr. 28;
Rappoport, “Volynskie bashni” 205–211; Tkachev 6–10; Antipov, Drevne-
russkaia arkhitektura 115–118, nr. IV.7).
In Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich’s obituary another stone pillar erected by
him is mentioned. Equal in height to the one in Kamenets, his second pillar
was constructed not far from the first one—in the town of Berestie (modern-
day Brest): “in Berestie [he] made a stone pillar that in height is like the one
in Kamenets” (Ipat 927).
Without enumerating all the structures that were erected in honor of St.
Daniel by various Galician princes, let us just mention one more: the magnifi-
cent stone pillar-tower that was constructed by the son of Daniel Romanovich
of Galicia, Mstislav Danilovich, ruler of Volhynia. Keen to commemorate his
ancestors, he built a burial church dedicated to Sts. Joachim and Anna over
the grave of his grandmother, the Byzantine Grand Princess Euphrosyne (Ipat
937–938), discussed further below. He also gave the name Daniel to one of
his sons (Ipat 881). Under the year 1291 the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle re-
ports the construction of a new pillar in Chortoryisk by Mstislav Danilovich.
In the 13th–early 14th centuries not only princes closely related to Daniel of
Galicia were attracted to Stylitism, but so were all members of the Ro-
manovichi family who ruled both Volhynia and Galicia. This is evident from
the large-scale construction in different parts of Galician-Volhynian Rus' of
pillar-towers, the so-called “towers of the Volhynian type” that share many ar-
chitectural features. There can be no doubt that archeology gives us rich ma-
terial data testifying to the impact of Stylitism in the region and to the vener-
ation of St. Daniel the Stylite.

The veneration of Daniel the Stylite in the family of the grand princes of
Moscow and their family relations with the Galician-Volhynian princes
Galicia-Volhynia was not the only region where Daniel the Stylite was ven-
erated. Alexander Nevsky’s fourth and youngest son, for example—he was
the founder of the dynasty of the princes of Moscow—was baptized Daniel.

4. A sazhen is approximately 160–170 centimeters.

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Later almost all princes of Moscow of the 14th–early 15th centuries had sons
with this name. Here is a list:
Daniel Ivanovich, the son of Grand Prince Ivan Kalita, born in 1319 or 1320; he probably died
young (Nikonovskaia l.187; Simeonovskaia l. 89);
Daniel Simeonovich, the son of Grand Prince Simeon the Proud, born in 1347; he probably died
as a child (Novgorodskaia Chetvertaia l. 279; Voskresenskaia l. 214; Nikonovskaia l. 219);
Daniel Dmitrievich, the elder son of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy; he died in his father’s life-
time (Novgorodskaia Chetvertaia l. 360, 488; Voskresenskaia l. 58; Simeonovskaia l. 24;
Moskovskii letopisnyi svod 218);
Daniel Vasilievich, the son of the Grand Prince Vasily I Dmitrievich; the child died as a baby
(Troitskaia l. 455).

This list makes it clear which Christian saint it is in whose honor the
Moscow princes were named, beginning with the founder of the dynasty,
Daniel Aleksandrovich. The longish list of princes christened Daniel directly
points to the patron saint and the holy ancestor of Moscow princes: St. Daniel
the Stylite (Litvina and Uspenskii 531–532).
Further evidence for the veneration of St. Daniel the Stylite by Moscow
princes includes seals and medallions with images of him and appropriate in-
scriptions. There is such an image of Daniel the Stylite on seals believed to
have belonged to Daniel Aleksandrovich (Ianin and Gaidukov, Aktovye
pechati vol. iii 67, 166). This prince who was to be canonized by the Russian
Church and who built a monastery dedicated to Daniel the Stylite (Voskresen-
skaia l. 202; Nikonovskaia l. 204; Rogozhskii letopisets 46) has even been
portrayed with a medallion on which the image of the Stylite saint is found;
on the fresco of the northwestern pillar in the Cathedral of the Archangel in
the Moscow Kremlin Daniel Aleksandrovich is depicted wearing a medallion
with the image of St. Daniel (Samoilova 142, 146).
The stavropegic (subordinated to the Patriarch) Danilov monastery in
Moscow (located on the right bank of the Moskva river—on Danilovsky val
22—still exists and it has retained its old dedication to Daniel the Stylite. This
cloister, where the synodal residence of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus-
sia is now located, is considered the oldest monastery in Moscow. Its history
goes back to the monastery built by Prince Daniel Aleksandrovich who was
to become St. Daniel of Moscow after his relics were declared to be miracle-
working in the 17th century (Beliaev and Mashtafarov 135–149).
The first cloister dedicated to Daniel the Stylite was built in Moscow at the
turn of the 13th–14th centuries. At the same time the first archimandritia (the
largest and the most significant monastery) of the Moscow principality was
established in the city. After it was transferred to the Kremlin Monastery of
the Transfiguration of Christ (St. Savior on the Bor) in 1330, the Danilov
monastery fell into neglect and was renovated only in 1560 at the decree of
Ivan the Terrible (Kuchkin, “O date osnovaniia” 164–166; Aver'ianov 20–48).
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 353

Not only Daniel Aleksandrovich, the founder of the Moscow Rurik dy-
nasty, but also other Moscow princes of the same name, acknowledged hav-
ing received it in honor of the same saint—Daniel the Stylite. This is true in
regard to almost all known Moscow princes of the 14th–early 15th century
named Daniel (Litvina and Uspenskii 532–534). The prestige of the bearers
of the name was further enhanced by fortuitous birth dates. Thus Prince
Daniel Ivanovich—the son of Ivan Kalita and the grandson of Prince Daniel
of Moscow—was born on 11 December 1319, i.e., on the very same day that
commemorated Daniel the Stylite (Simeonovskaia l. 89). This birthdate was
also noted in another chronicle (Troitskaia l. 356).5 Other Moscow princes
born around that date received the name Daniel as well. For example, the son
of Grand Prince Vasily Dmitrievich, Daniel Vasilievich, was born on 6 De-
cember 1401 and the son of Grand Prince Simeon the Proud, Daniel Sime-
onovich, was born on 15 December 1347 (ibid. 455; Novgorodskaia Chetver-
taia l. 279; Voskresenskaia l. 214; Nikonovskaia l. 219). This practice makes
it likely that Prince Daniel Aleksandrovich, named after the Daniel the
Stylite, was born in early winter, shortly before December 11.
The frequency of the practice of naming princely sons Daniel is beyond
doubt then, but the most important question has not yet been answered or
even asked, i.e., the question why the Moscow grand princes began to wor-
ship St. Daniel the Stylite and name their sons in his honor for a number of
subsequent generations.
To some extent this uncertainty can be explained by the absence/lack of
references to the cult of Daniel the Stylite in the surviving sources found in
Moscow from the 14th century. Clearly the worship of this saint in the
Moscow dynasty of grand princes was linked to the memory of its founder,
prince Daniel of Moscow, later to become St. Daniel of Moscow, but why he
was given this name and why he venerated the Stylite saint has remained in
the realm of conjecture. Unexplained is also the reason why this name was
given to him, the youngest son of Aleksander Nevsky.
The exact year of birth for Daniel Aleksandrovich has not been recorded.
According to most historians, the prince must have been born in 1261
(Tikhomirov 21). By this time certain prerequisites had to have entered the
dynasty’s history that determined the subsequent worship of St. Daniel the
Stylite.
Evidently, these prerequisites were based on ties of kinship that had been
formed in the previous generation of the grand princes of Vladimir-Suzdal.
One of Aleksandr Nevsky’s brothers—their father was the son of Yaroslav
Vsevolodovich, the grand prince of Vladimir—was named Daniel. He is the
first known prince with that name among the princes of Vladimir-Suzdal in
Rus'. He is mentioned in the sources twice: first among those of Yaroslav

5. Nikolai M. Karamzin included this information in his History of the Russian State.
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Vsevolodovich’s sons who survived the invasion of Batu Khan (Lavrent'ev-

skaia l. 521; henceforth Lav l.), and then in 1256 in the report of his death
(Novgorodskaia Chetvertaia l. 232).
Thus it would seem that both the grand princes of Moscow in the 14th–
early 15th centuries and the Galician-Volhynian princes before them revered
St. Daniel the Stylite as their family saint. The evidence is found both in the
frequently given name Daniel and the building activities of its bearers.
The two princely dynasties had close family ties. This relationship was
strengthened in the early to mid-13th century by marriage alliances made be-
tween their most important members. In 1250 Daniel of Galicia’s daughter
Ustinya married Andrey Yaroslavich, Grand Prince of Vladimir and the
brother of Aleksandr Nevsky (Lav l. 472; for more details, see Dąbrowski
147–153). The couple was married in Vladimir by Prince Daniel’s close as-
sociate Metropolitan Kirill, who visited Aleksandr Nevsky in Novgorod after
the nuptials (Lav l. 472–474, 476).
Another brother of Aleksandr Nevsky, Fyodor Yaroslavich, was betrothed to
Theodoulia, Daniel’s niece, the daughter of the prince of Chernigov, Mikhail
Vsevolodovich. After her fiancé died unexpectedly, Theodoulia took monastic
vows and the Greek name Euphrosyne (apparently in honor of her grand-
mother, the daughter of Byzantine emperor Isaak II and often only referred to
by her husband’s name as “Roman’s Grand Princess,” although her “Russian”
name most likely was Maria, or possibly Anna. (For the complicated story of
her names, see Maiorov “The Daughter.”) Theodoulia-Euphrosyne became fa-
mous for many charitable deeds under the name of St. Euphrosyne of Suzdal
(Baumgarten, “Vtoraia vetv'” 12 sq; Baumgarten, Généalogies 54–55; Grala
125; Dąbrowski 52–53). This Byzantine link—via Euphrosyne-Maria/Anna—
marks an important factor in the cult of St. Daniel the Stylite whose origins are
found in the Byzantine court (see the discussion below for more details on the
origins of the Russian Stylite cult in Byzantium).
In short, the family connections with Daniel Romanovich of Galicia, one
of the most powerful Russian princes of the mid-13th century, furthered the
veneration of the Stylite saint among the grand princes of Vladimir. This ven-
eration apparently began to spread at the very beginning of the 13th century
and was furthered by the matrimonial policy pursued by Daniel’s mother, the
Greek Grand Princess Euphrosyne, second wife of Roman Mstislavovich and
mother of Daniel Romanovich.
In 1217 the Galician-Volhynian princess Euphrosyne, wife of Roman Msti-
slavovich, married her eldest son Daniel Romanovich to Anna, the daughter of
the Novgorodian prince Mstislav Mstislavich the Bold (Ipat 732. For the tim-
ing of this marriage, see Dąbrowski 67–71).The latter was famed for his mili-
tary victories and was soon involved in the struggle for the Galician throne. He
did become the new Galician Grand Prince (about the reign of Mstislav the
Bold in Galicia, see Maiorov, Galitsko-Volynskaia Rus' 437–39).
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 355

When young Daniel Romanovich married Anna Mstislavovna, he became a

relative of the future grand prince of Vladimir, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the
father of Aleksandr Nevsky and the grandfather of Daniel of Moscow. In 1214,
three years before Daniel and Anna’s marriage, Anna’s elder sister Rostislava
Mstislavovna became the second wife of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich (Letopisets
Pereiaslavlia Suzdal'skogo 131). Five future grand princes of Vladimir were
born to this marriage: Mikhail, Andrey, Alexander, Yaroslav and Vasily Yaro-
slavichi (Kuchkin, “K biografii” 71–80).
Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and Rostislava Mstislavovna’s numerous off-
spring included a son named Daniel, who died in 1256 (Lav l. 521; Novgorod-
skaia Chetvertaia l. 232). This prince was the first to be named Daniel among
the princes of Vladimir-Suzdal, as far as we know. This name was repeatedly
given in subsequent generations.
Presumably, Rostislava Mstislavovna, the mother of a big family, named
one of her younger sons in honor of the saint to please her brother-in-law, her
sister’s husband, Daniel Romanovich. By the mid-1230s (the supposed time
of the birth of Daniel Yaroslavich) he was one of the most influential princes
of South-Western Rus', as well as active in the promotion of St. Daniel the
Stylite. This path of familial alliances maps out how the name Daniel entered
the name lists of the grand princes of Vladimir and Moscow.
The future Moscow prince Daniel Aleksandrovich was Daniel of Galicia’s
matrilineal grandnephew and was born during his granduncle’s lifetime. He
could have been named Daniel not only in honor of his uncle, who had died
early in life, but also in honor of his more famous and still living Galician-
Volhynian relative, Daniel Romanovich.
Further evidence of the impact of the veneration of Daniel the Stylite is a
number of princely lead seals with the image of St. Daniel the Stylite. They
are all attributed to one owner—the Prince of Moscow Daniel Aleksan-
drovich, whose baptismal name, as we know for certain, was connected to
Daniel the Stylite, but in view of the diversity of the seals in regard to the de-
piction of Christ, as well as the regions in which they were found, it is not
likely that the seals all had the same owner.6
Moreover, in 2002, during archeological excavations in the village of
Medzhybizh, Letychiv district, Khmelnytskyi region, which is identified as

6. Valentin L. Ianin and Peter G. Gaidukov have classified some types of these seals found in
Novgorod:
1) seals with the image of a holy horseman on one side and Daniel the Stylite on the reverse
(Ianin and Gaidukov. 401 в; and Aktovye pechati iii 67, 166, nr. 401 в-4,5,6,7; and “Drev-
nerusskie vislye pechati” 2007 nr. 401 в-8);
2) the seal with the image of Daniel the Stylite on one side and Christ the Almighty on the
reverse (Ianin and Gaidukov: 401 а, б; “Drevnerusskie vislye pechati” 1997 nr. 401 б-3).
One image (Daniel the Stylite) on the described seals is the same on all the seals, while
the other (of Christ) is completely different.
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356 Slavic and East European Journal

the Old Rus' Mezhybozhie, another seal with the image of St. Daniel was
found. This seal has not yet been attributed to any princely owner. Its obverse
has the image of St. Daniel on a pillar and a columnar inscription in Greek
ΑΓΙΩС ∆ΑΝΙΛ[Ο]С (St. Daniel). On the reverse there is a full-length image
of an archangel with a scepter in his right hand and the globe in his left hand
(Ianin and Gaidukov, “Drevnerusskie vislye pechati” 2002 nr. 233 Аа).
There is no evidence allowing us to attribute the newly found seal to the
prince of Moscow Daniel Aleksandrovich. Its appearance and iconography
are essentially different from the seals that have been found in Novgorod,
Aleksandr Nevsky’s princedom. Besides, while there are grounds to ascertain
the connection of the Moscow prince with Novgorod via Aleksandr Nevsky
(Ianin and Gaidukov, Aktovye pechati iii 67), it is impossible to prove his con-
nection with the Mezhybozhie that was located at the border of the Kievan,
Galician and Volhynian lands. By the time of the reign of Daniel of Moscow
Mezhybozhie had lost its prior political significance. This town, together with
other towns of the Bolokhov lands, was under the power of the Golden
Horde. The chronicler called its dwellers “Tatar people” (Dashkevich Bolo-
hovskaia zemlia; Rappoport, “Goroda” 52–59).
On the other hand it is easy to trace a close relationship between the
Bolokhov land and its princes and the Galician-Volhynian prince Daniel Ro-
manovich. During several decades the princes of the Bolokhov region refused
to recognize Daniel Romanovich’s power and supported his main rivals in the
struggle for the Galician throne: the Hungarian Prince Andrew the Younger,
and the prince of Chernigov, Rostislav Mikhailovich. Under the year 1241 the
Galician-Volhynian chronicle reported that Daniel of Galicia had devastated
the Bolokhov land in revenge for the hostile activities of the local princes
(Ipat 791–792). This conquest made contacts between Daniel Romanovich
and the Mezhybozhie princes possible.
Under the year 1227 the Galician-Volhynian chronicle reported that Daniel
and Vasilko Romanovichi had been reconciled with the former prince of
Lutsk, Yaroslav Ingvarevich, and that they had given him an appanage. This
appanage was Mezhybozhie, which by then had been under the rule of the
Romanovichi for a time. Under the year 1257 the same source reported that
after Khan Kuremsa invaded the Galician-Volhynian lands, Daniel “began a
war against the Tatars” and seized Mezhybozhie (Ipat 753, 838).
The most likely owner of the bulla (amulet) with the image of Daniel the
Stylite that was found in 2002 in the Old Rus' settlement in the village of
Medzhybizh is therefore Prince Daniel Romanovich. In sum, this amulet of-
fers another piece of evidence that St. Daniel the Stylite was Daniel Ro-
manovich’s patron saint.
Even before the construction of the Danilov monastery in Ugrovsk and nu-
merous pillar-towers in Kholm and its environs, the Galician-Volhynian
chronicle cited important evidence illustrating the special sacral connection
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 357

of Daniel of Galicia with the Stylite cult. In early 1233, while preparing for
the decisive battle for Halych against the Hungarian king Andrew Junior,
Daniel Romanovich asked God and St. Simeon for help: “and [he] bowed to
God and St. Simeon and armed his troops” (Ipat 767).
It was St. Simeon the Stylite, a famous Syrian ascetic, who founded the
Stylite cult as a special form of Christian asceticism. He was a spiritual men-
tor of St. Daniel and blessed him to lead the life of a Stylite.

The Byzantine Emperor Isaak II’s interest in the cult of the Stylites
We are now ready to raise the still unanswered question: how could the cult
of St. Daniel the Stylite appear in the family of the Galician-Volhynian
princes and from there pass on to the family of the Grand Princes of Moscow
(via Suzdal-Vladmir), leading to many Rurikids being named after the saint?
As we have seen, the activities of many Galician-Volhynian princes testify to
their veneration of Daniel the Stylite and their special interest in Stylitism.
These princes belonged to both of the main branches of Roman Mstislavich’s
descendants—the Danilovichi and the Vasilkovichi. Therefore, it is likely that
Galician-Volhynian Stylitism originated directly from the founders of the dy-
nasty: the Galician-Volhynian prince Roman Mstislavich and his second wife,
the Byzantine “Roman’s Grand Princess” whose name, as has been shown,
was Euphrosyne and, in Russia, probably Maria, or possibly Anna (see
Maiorov “The Daughter”).
Family veneration of Daniel the Stylite and the external attributes of
Stylitism among the princes of Old Rus' seem especially connected with
Roman’s second wife and Daniel of Galicia’s mother, the Greek princess
Euphrosyne-Maria/Anna. She received a monastic education in her homeland
and her Byzantine parental family cultivated a religious tradition linked to
Stylitism (Maiorov, “Daughter” 188–233; on the marriage of Princess Eu-
phrosyne with Prince Roman Mstislavich see Maiorov, “The Alliance”
272–303).
According to Niketas Choniates, the Byzantine emperor Isaak II Angelos
(1185–1195, 1203–1204), Euphrosyne’s father, showed an extraordinary, not
to say an unprecedented, interest in Stylitism. This aroused perplexity and
even condemnation among those around him. Swept away by his intense re-
ligiosity, at the height of the war with the rebel Alexios Branás, Isaak “lost
heart” (Nicetae Choniatae Historia 383). The tsar avoided any involvement
in the war, instead praying together with numerous monks and Stylites who
lodged in his palace. “Having gathered a crowd of monks, who walked bare-
foot and slept on the bare ground [...] the tsar asked God to subdue with the
help of their prayers the internecine war that had begun and not to allow the
tsar’s power to be taken away from him and passed on to another. He did not
care about the things relating to war, having set all his hopes on spiritual
armor” (Nicetae Choniatae Historia 383).
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358 Slavic and East European Journal

The unusual liking that Isaak II acquired for Stylitism can be seen in the
large-scale construction activities he undertook with such zeal that he, as
Choniates put it, “disregarded all his other duties.” When he decided to build
yet another tower in the palace at Blachernae, partly, as he said, to protect and
defend the palace, and partly for his own accommodation, he destroyed a
number of the churches on the sea coast from olden times: “[He] turned into
ruins numerous excellent houses in the capital [...]. And [he] completely lev-
eled to the ground the magnificent building of the state treasury built of burnt
brick” (Nicetae Choniatae Historia 580–581; see also Millingen 143).
Western European sources confirm the expansion of Stylitism in the
Byzantine capital at the turn of the 12th–13th century. According to Robert de
Clari, the crusaders who seized Constantinople in spring 1204 were most im-
pressed by the pillars decorating the city and the hermits living on top of
them. “And there was a great wonder in a different place of the city where
there were two pillars, each must have been three arms spans wide and a good
50 toises7 high. On each of these pillars, on top, a hermit lived in a small shel-
ter. Inside each pillar a staircase was made, which they climbed up. On the
outside of the pillars all the events and all the conquests that had occurred in
Constantinople or that were to occur in the future” were drawn and “prophet-
ically recorded” (Robert de Clari 114).
Apparently, at the turn of the 12th–13th centuries, there arose a notion that
there was a specific sacral connection between the Basileus (Emperor) and
the Stylites, and that the pillars on which the hermits performed their sacred
duties were of crucial significance for the emperor’s rule. It was no accident
that the crusaders decided to execute the dethroned Emperor Alexios V
Mourtzouphlos by throwing him down from the top of a pillar on which a
hermit had dwelled. The Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo, who suggested this
way of execution, found it most suited for the Byzantine emperor (Robert de
Clari 125).
In the Byzantium of the late 12th century there was a growing interest in
the founders of Stylitism, especially St. Daniel who had promoted this move-
ment in Greece. We can infer that from one of the oldest known images of
Daniel the Stylite in a Christian church—the fresco of the katholikon (cathe-
dral) in the monastery of Panagia Mavriotissa in Kastoria (Skawran 47, 180;
see also Sarab'ianov Spaso-Preobrazhenskii sobor)—which is dated to the
late 12th century. The Russian pilgrim Dobrynya Yadreikovich, who visited
Constantinople in 1200, mentioned the monastery of Daniel the Stylite among
the most important sacred places in the Byzantine capital. According to Do-
brynya, he even saw the imperishable relics of the saint in the St. Daniel
Monastery: “St. Daniel the Stylite’s body lies on an elevation, he reported”

7. A toise equals 6.395 feet.

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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 359

for all to see («святый Данилъ столпникъ на горе въ теле лежитъ»)

(Puteshestvie 177).
Stylitism was born among Syrian ascetic hermits in the 4th century. It
reached the capital of the Byzantine Empire and was officially recognized by
the Patriarch and the Emperor of Constantinople. To a large extent this was
due to the deeds of St. Daniel the Stylite, who was one of the most well-
known Christian ascetics of the 5th century. On the order of his spiritual men-
tor St. Simeon the Stylite, he settled near Constantinople where he soon at-
tracted the attention of the metropolitans who were not used to severe forms
of Christian asceticism. According to Daniel’s Life he had a miraculous gift
for healing and helped all those in need. Not only common people turned to
him. The high and mighty, including Emperor Leo I (457–474), asked for his
help. In gratitude for curing his wife Verina of infertility, Leo I ordered a new
pillar to be built for the saint. He also had a monastery and a chapel con-
structed near this pillar where, at Daniel’s request, the relics of his teacher St.
Simeon were taken (Delehaye Les Saints Stylites; Festugière Les moines
d’Orient).
Daniel the Stylite’s authority reached far beyond the spiritual sphere. By
the end of his earthly life the saint had also gained great political influence.
During the revolt of 475–476 both the future Emperor Zeno (474–475), the
father and co-ruler of the early deceased Emperor Leo II, and Zeno’s rival and
empress Verina’s brother Basiliscus (475–476), sought Daniel’s support.
Daniel the Stylite condemned Basiliscus for the heresy of Monophysitism and
became the head of the Orthodox opposition to this movement which denied
the double nature of Christ. Together with Patriarch Acacius they forced
Basiliscus to give up the heresy. At the Patriarch’s request Daniel descended
from the pillar to give spiritual instruction to Emperor Basiliscus at the royal
palace.
Daniel the Stylite had close relations with Emperor Leo I, who revered the
saint as his spiritual father and also as his adviser and assistant in managing
the empire. According to Daniel’s Life, Leo regularly visited the saint. He
went to his pillar on foot, told him his most hidden secrets, and even asked
him to become an intermediary in the difficult negotiations with Georgian
King Gubazes I of Lazica. When Leo faltered in his faith and became friendly
with heretics, Daniel came down from his pillar admonishing the emperor to
remain steadfast in his faith. Leo repented and asked the saint for forgiveness.
According to the emperor’s wish, Patriarch Gennadius ordained Daniel the
Stylite a presbyter (priest, elder). After that, the patriarch went up the pillar
and took communion together with the saint (for details, see Fox 175–225).
The ancient Stylite saints aroused the interest of and inspired respect in the
princes of Rus' by their extraordinary spiritual deeds and the enormous influ-
ence they wielded over the Byzantine emperors. In the 13th and 14th cen-
turies the name not only of St. Daniel the Stylite but also that of his no less
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360 Slavic and East European Journal

renowned teacher St. Simeon the Stylite was included in the name list of the
Rurikid. He had been the spiritual mentor of Emperor Theodosius II the
Younger (408–450), his widow Eudocia, and the new emperor Marcian (450–
457). St. Simeon dissuaded Eudocia and Marcian from the heresy of Mono-
physitism (see Lent The Life of Saint Simeon Stylites).
In the early 14th century the name Simeon appeared in the name list of the
princes of Moscow. On September 7, 1317, Grand Prince Simeon the Proud
was born (Troitskaia l.355). It is most likely that he was baptized in honor of
St. Simeon the Stylite (commemorated on September 1; see Loseva, “Patro-
nal'nye sviatye” 127–130). In the 14th century, princes named Simeon, the di-
rect descendants of Roman Mstislavich, are known among the princes of Vol-
hynia. For example, the commemoration book of the Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra
mentions Simeon (d. 1376), the son of the prince of Chelm Yuri Danilovich
and the great-great-great-grandson of Daniel of Galicia (Voitovich 513).
Daniel the Stylite’s spiritual son, Emperor Leo I, was also canonized by the
Greek Church. The Byzantine synaxarions (lives of saints) of the 12th–13th
centuries list him as St. Leo the Great Tsar under January 20. He is also listed
in the menologion of the Sinai Greek Gospel of the 9th–10th centuries under
January 16 (Sergii (Spasskii) 18).
Byzantine hagiography described the relationship between St. Daniel and
St. Leo the Tsar as that of a spiritual father and a son who revered him deeply.
Such a relationship had to be reflected in the Orthodox name list as a pair of
corresponding baptismal names.
Presumably that was the case in the family of the Galician-Volhynian
prince Daniel Romanovich who named his son Leo. This was an exception-
ally rare name among the Rurikid. Along with Leo Danilovich, another mem-
ber of the family of the Galician-Volhynian princes had this name. This was
the prince of Lutsk, Lev Yurievich (Leo II of Galicia) (1308–1323), the great-
grandson of Daniel of Galicia (Voitovich 511).
Naturally, “Roman’s Grand Princess,” Leo Danilovich’s grandmother and
Daniel’s mother, could have participated in choosing their baptismal names.
This has already been suggested by researchers who argued in favor of the
Byzantine origin of the princess (Dąbrowski 101–102). Otherwise it is hard
to explain why, in the early 13th century, the Galician-Volhynian princes
began to use several male names that had been borrowed from the Greek
name list and that had never been used among the princes of Rus' before.
Like her father, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov, and like her uncle, Daniel of
Galicia, the Galician-Volhynian princess Theodoulia (Euphrosyne in her
monastic life) apparently shared a personal involvement in Stylitism. After
taking vows she moved to a monastery in Stolpie that had been built especially
for her. A five-tiered stone pillar-tower was erected there, which still survives
(see the discussion above).
Scholars have pointed out the likely connection between the tower in
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The Cult of St. Daniel the Stylite among the Russian Princes 361

Stolpie and the similar structures in central Greece of the late Byzantine pe-
riod. On the island of Euboea and in Thessaly more than a hundred multi-
tiered stone towers have been found. They are dated mostly to the period from
the late 12th to the 15th centuries (Langdon 498).
Originally, these towers were believed to have been built under the influ-
ence of Western European architectural traditions during the era of the Cru-
sades and the crusaders’ rule in Byzantium. Hence the name “Frankish
towers,” used until recently for these structures. Since the 1980s the study
of the Byzantine architectural monuments in central Greece has become
regular and systematic. Much new material has been collected and, as a re-
sult, many previous assumptions have been revised (An essay on Byzantine
fortification).
In particular, it has been established that there are a number of features
characteristic for the Greek towers of the late Byzantine period. First of all,
the towers were erected by, and belonged to, the prominent aristocratic
landowners or monasteries. To the local elite they marked high social status
and prestige (Langdon 498).
In addition, a number of features allow us to classify these monuments as
sacral structures rather than military fortifications. More than 80% of the tow-
ers were located in the immediate proximity (no further than a distance of
3 kilometers) to active churches. Sometimes the towers themselves func-
tioned as churches. Although the investigation of upper tiers is problematic
because many structures and reconstructions were destroyed, there is suffi-
cient evidence to conclude that some of the towers were crowned by chapels
(ibid. 499).
Andrzej Buko therefore convincingly argued that the architectural and
structural characteristics of the late Byzantine towers surviving in central
Greece, as well as the materials and methods used in their construction, are
very similar to those of the Old Rus' tower in Stolpie and other towers “of the
Volhynian type” built in Western Rus' in the 13th–early 14th centuries (Ze-
spół 326–329).
Buko specifically noted that both the tower in Stolpie and the Byzantine
towers in central Greece bore traces of small narrow windows made in the
thick walls of the lower tier or near the base of the tower. These windows had
often been assumed to be gun slots for fighting at close combat. Recent data
show that this is a non-typical feature for a defensive tower, however, and that
the windows rather served as openings for delivering water from an under-
ground spring that was believed to be sacred and healing to those living in-
side the pillar. Such springs have survived until today at the foot of the tower
in Stolpie and several other monuments (ibid. 328).
It must be concluded that the evidence for the Byzantine-Rus' link and its
role in the appearance of originally non-Rurikid names is overwhelmingly
likely.
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Тезисы
Александр В. Майоров
Культ святого Даниила столпника среди Рюриковичей

Влиянием великой княгини Евфросинии (второй жены князя Романа

Мстиславича) объясняется появление среди князей Галицко-Волынской Руси
необычных и уникальных для Рюриковичей христианских имен. Это, прежде
всего, имя Даниил, которое впоследствии вошло также в именослов московских
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князей. Появление такого имени в княжеской среде связано с распространением

культа Святого Даниила Столпника и растущим интересом к атрибутам сто-
лпничества. Подтверждение этому можно видеть в сфрагистике и многочи-
сленных архитектурных памятниках Галицко-Волынской Руси XIII—начале XIV
веков. Благодаря семейным связям между галицко-волынскими и владимиро-
суздальскими князьями этот культ распространился в Северо-Восточной Руси, а
позже в Москве.
Тот факт, что Евфросиния Галицкая была дочерью византийского императора
Исаака II Ангела, объясняет неожиданный рост интереса к столпничеству среди
князей Древней Руси и их окружения. Согласно Никите Хониату, император
Исаак II испытывал особый интерес к столпникам и другим христианским
подвижникам и всячески покровительствовал им. Подобное отношение пора-
жало его современников, поскольку столпники уже давно потеряли влияние на
императоров, которым они пользовались ранее, до эпохи иконоборчества.
Византийская агиографическая традиция относительно Святых Даниила
Столпника и Льва Великого Царя объясняет связь между именами Даниил и Лев
среди потомков Романа Мстиславича. Даниил Столпник был духовным отцом и
главным советником императора Льва I. По-видимому, эта связь была отражена
в именах отца и сына, галицко-волынских князей Даниила Романовича и Льва
Даниловича.