Mitrophanes

Holy Hieromartyr Mitrophanes was Bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir and received the crown of martyrdom on 7 February 1238, when the Mongol-⁠Tatars took Vladimir. The Church honours him in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir.

The Laurentian Chronicle records that in 1226 the igumen Mitrophanes was appointed bishop of Suzdal and Vladimir. In February 1238 the Mongols laid waste the north-⁠east of Russia and reached Vladimir on 3 February, a week before the start of Lent's eve. Grand Prince George (Yuri) Vsevolodovich had gone with his army to the river Sit; his sons Vsevolod and Mstislav remained in the city, with the voivode Peter Osledyukovich. Seeing that they could not be saved, the people of Vladimir confessed and received the Holy Mysteries, and many took monastic vows.

On 7 February, when the bishop saw that the city was about to fall, he entered the Dormition cathedral and tonsured all those present into the angelic habit. The bishop, Grand Princess Agaphia, her daughter Theodora, her daughters-⁠in-⁠law Maria and Christina, her grandchildren and many other families shut themselves in the choir loft of the cathedral. The Tatars learned of the secret door, could not enter, and tried to persuade them by flattery and threats; strengthened by the saint's prayer, those inside resolved to suffer death. The Tatars piled brushwood around the church and inside it, and set it on fire, and Bishop Mitrophanes, the grand princess, her daughter and daughters-⁠in-⁠law gave their souls to God with prayer on their lips. At the hour of death the bishop is said to have prayed: "Lord God of hosts... receive in peace the souls of Your servants."

After the Tatars left, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the grand prince's brother, had the bodies of the Christians buried with weeping.

He is commemorated on 7 February, the day of his martyrdom, and in the Synaxis of the Saints of Vladimir, on 23 June (old style).