David Svyatoslavich

Holy Right-⁠believing David Svyatoslavich was prince of Chernigov and died in 1123. He is commemorated on 1 August, by the old calendar. He was not officially canonized.

He was the son of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich of Chernigov and the brother of Oleg and Yaroslav. In the strife over Kyiv, he and his brothers were driven out of the principality, but he later returned. He stayed close to Bishop Theoctistus of Chernigov. A preacher of the time says of him: "David Svyatoslavich had no feud with anyone. If another raised war (meaning Oleg), he stopped it by submission; he reigned in the grand principality because he was the eldest" and he kept God's commandment of quarrelling with no one all his life. He took part in the princes' congress at Uvetichi in 1100 and went with his brothers against the Cumans in 1103, 1110 and 1111.

After the death of his son Rostislav (in baptism Gleb), in 1120, he built the church of Saints Boris and Gleb. He left three sons: Svyatoslav (Nicholas Svyatosha), Vladimir and Izyaslav. The "Book of the Saints" says: "the holy right-⁠believing prince David Svyatoslavich reposed in the year 6631 (1123)". The Hagiology of the East by Archimandrite Sergius lists him among the uncanonized Russian saints.