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An icon of Saint Alexander Nevsky in a fur-trimmed princely robe, his hand on his heart, Russian, nineteenth century

Saint Alexander Nevsky

Prince of Novgorod, named Nevsky for his victory over the Swedes on the Neva in 1240

Patron of
soldiers
Western calendar
Not kept
Orthodox calendar
23 November, his burial in 1263; the translation of his relics is kept on 30 August (6 December on the old calendar)

Alexander was Prince of Novgorod and not yet twenty when a Swedish army landed on the Neva in 1240, and he prayed long in the church of Saint Sophia before telling his men, "The power of God is not in numbers, but in truth"; from that victory the people called him Nevsky. Two years later he fought the Teutonic Knights on the ice of Lake Chud, and he travelled four times to the Horde to keep his people from new devastation. He fell ill on the last journey home and died at Gorodets on 14 November 1263, having taken the monastic schema with the name Alexis.

Sources

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It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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