The canonization of Alexander Nevsky and the fate of his relics

The glorification of Alexander Nevsky as a saint fits into the scheme proposed by E. E. Golubinsky, who identified three main stages of this process. In the case of Alexander, the starting point was the activities of Metropolitan Cyril, who had a long political relationship with the prince. The first miracle that occurred from the relics of Alexander is associated with the First Hierarch. New stages of the glorification were the events associated with the Battle of Kulikovo and the acceptance of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible. The latter circumstance led to several canonization of Russian saints, including Alexander’s. The relics of the prince, uncovered in 1381, suffered from fires more than once, but nevertheless they survived, as evidenced, in particular, by a unique document dated 1681, located in the Leningrad Regional State Archives in Vyborg. The relics were examined in 1922 before the seizure of the relics from believers, and their examination did not reveal any data indicating that the relics of the prince were not genuine.