Daniel of Vladimir

Venerable Martyr Daniel of Vladimir (Daniel of the Dormition) was a hegumen, born in Vladimir in the second half of the twelfth century and died on 7 February 1238, at the capture of the city by the Mongol-⁠Tatars. He was canonized in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir in 1982. His feast is on 23 June, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir.

Researchers suppose, in different ways, that he was hegumen of the Dormition cathedral of Vladimir or hegumen and confessor of the Princess's Dormition convent in Vladimir. Hegumen Daniel, Archimandrite Pachomius and Hegumen Theodosius, as apparently the most respected spiritual figures of the city (besides Bishop Mitrophan of Vladimir), are mentioned in a variant of the chronicle account of 1238 on the capture and devastation of Vladimir by the Mongol-⁠Tatar armies, which took shape in the Vladimir chronicle compilation of 1281: there were killed Pachomius, archimandrite of the monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God, and Daniel, hegumen of the Dormition, Theodosius of the Saviour and the other hegumens, monks, nuns, priests and deacons. In the Laurentian Chronicle (1377), the hegumen of the Dormition is mentioned without a name. In the synodikon of the Dormition cathedral of Rostov, Daniel, Pachomius and Theodosius are called venerable hegumens.

On Meatfare Sunday, 7 February, soon after matins, the attack of the Tatars began. Bishop Mitrophan, together with the grand prince's family and the people, shut himself in the Dormition cathedral. Those gathered received monastic tonsure from Bishop Mitrophan, confessed, communed of the Holy Mysteries and prepared for death. The Tatars took possession of the city and, coming to the church in which Bishop Mitrophan was with the people, broke open the church doors, laid fires around the church and inside it, and lit them. Then Bishop Mitrophan asked the Lord to stretch out his unseen hand and receive in peace the souls of his servants, then blessed all for the unavoidable death. All those in the cathedral died of smoke and of the swords of the enemies.

According to Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin), Saint Daniel is buried in the Transfiguration men's monastery at the Golden Gate in Vladimir.