#batu khan
Princess Eupraxia of Ryazan
A princess-consort of Ryazan by marriage to Prince Feodor Yurevich of Ryazan. She was venerated as a local saint in the Russian Orthodox church. She committed suicide rather than to surrender to captivity of Batu Khan during the Mongol invasion of Russia.
«In the year 6745 (1237), the blessed Prince Feodor Yurievich of Ryazan was killed by the godless Tsar Batu on the Voronezh River. And the blessed Princess Eupraxia, when she heard about the murder of her master, the blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich, immediately threw herself with her son, Prince Ivan Fedorovich, from the top of her palace and died…»
© The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Unknown edition.
«In the year 6745 (1237), the blessed Prince Feodor Yurievich of Ryazan was killed by the godless Khan Batu on the Voronezh River. And hearing this, the blessed Princess Eupraxia, the princess of her murdered master, threw herself from the top of the church together with her son Prince Ivan Feodorovich and died…»
© The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Main edition «A».
«… And Prince Feodor Yurievich with gifts met Batu Khan on the Voronezh River and begged him not to destroy the Ryazan land. Batu Khan was addicted to flattery and merciless, so he accepted his gifts and promised not to destroy the Ryazan land. He began to entertain the Ryazan guests with various amusements and asked them for their daughters and sisters to make them his concubines. And one of the Ryazan nobles, leading by the devil, told Batu Khan that the Ryazan prince has a wife of the royal family with a beautiful body and a white face. The godless Batu Khan, being crafty and merciless in his unbelief. Leading by his lust, he said to Prince Feodor Yuryevich: «Let me, Prince, see the beauty of your wife (to have a night with her)». The venerable Prince Feodor laughed and replied to him: «It’s not good for us, christians, to give our wives to you for fornication. Only by killing us you can have them». Batu Khan became enraged and upset. He ordered to kill the blessed Prince Feodor Yuryevich and give his body to animals and birds to be torn to pieces. This way he killed a lot of other Feodor’s people too.
But one of the grandees of Prince Feodor Yuryevich, named Aponitsa, found the body of his prince and buried him. After that, he visited the blessed Princess Eupraxia and told her how the wicked Batu Khan had killed the blessed Prince Fyodor Yuryevich. The blessed Princess Eupraxia, who was standing at the church and holding her dear child Ivan Feodorovich Postnik, heard these deadly words and bitterly threw herself from the top of the church with her son, and died…»
The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Main edition «B», second kind.
«… She heard these words, standing in the church of St. Nicholas, and her heart was confused. It was filled with strong fear and sadness, and then she threw herself from the top of the church together with her son Ivan, and died…»
The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Common edition.
«… After 12 years of transferring the miraculous icon to Ryazan, the godless Batu Khan came to the Russian land in the year 6745 (1237). And he killed Prince Feodor Yuryevich of Ryazan. His Princess Eupraxia, along with her son Ivan, climbed to the top of the church, where the icon of St. Nicholas was kept, and threw herself down from it, crashing to death. That ’s why the icon of St. Nicholas was called icon of Nikola Zarazsky…»
The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Church calendar edition.
«… And a certain slave of one of the courtiers of Prince Feodor Yurievich with the name Opanitsa, looked at the body of his sovereign, blessed Prince Feodor, and wept bitterly: «Oh, my dear prince, how soon did you leave this world and left your reign, your power and your princess with children by refusing to obey the godless king and disobeying his will. You have suffered for your fatherland and for all your people, like no one else.» He having wept a lot and then buried him in that place. And soon he brought the news to the blessed Princess Eupraxia, telling her how «the wicked Batu Khan killed your blessed husband, Prince Feodore Yurievich.» The blessed Princess Eupraxia, standing at the top of her church and holding her dear child Prince Ivan Feodorovich on her hand, heard these deadly words about her husband, and was filled with great sorrows and sadness. And she said to her son: «O my dear, my poor child, Prince Ivan, the punishment for our sin has come to us from God, he has sent these filthy Ishmaelites against us. They want to ruin and capture us to the end, and they killed my sovereign, my husband, your father. The godless khan also wants to take me and enslave you to convert you to the Muslim faith. And it is better for us to accept death than to be abused in the hands of the filthy». And at that hour she threw herself from the top of the church and died..»
The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan. Streltsy edition.
