Saint Alexander and saint Vladimir: two riddles of Russian hagiography

The article deals with the controversial issues of the time of the creation of the Life of Alexander Nevsky and the canonization of Prince Vladimir. The erroneousness of I. I. Malyshevsky’s hypothesis about the Novgorod canonization of Vladimir after the victory of Alexander Nevsky over the Swedes in July 1240 is shown. The author supports the position of those researchers who attributed the appearance of the initial edition of the life of Alexander Nevsky to the 1280s-90s, the period of the great reign of Alexander’s son, Dmitry Pereyaslavsky. The author comes to the conclusion that the words about Saint Vladimir appeared only in the Tver edition of the Life of Alexander, compiled during the reign of the Grand Duke of Vladimir Mikhail of Tver. This allows us to assume that the canonization of Vladimir took place at the beginning of the 14th century, during the reign of Grand Duke Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver.