Life
Euphrosyne was born into the Rurik noble family, members of which were the dukes of the principality of Polotsk, in what is modern day Belarus. There appears to be some confusion as to whether Vseslav of Polotsk or his son, Svyatoslav, was her father; however, dating seems to suggest Svyatoslav as the father.
She refused all proposals of marriage and, without her parents' knowledge, ran away to the convent of which her aunt was the abbess and became a nun. Later she founded her own convent at Seltse. She spent her time copying books, and the money she thus earned she distributed amongst the poor. She also built two churches, and one, the church of The Holy Saviour, still stands today and is considered to be the most precious monument of early Belarusian architecture.
Towards the end of her life, she undertook a pilgrimage to Constantinople and the Holy Land. Patriarch Michael II of Constantinople gave her an icon of the Theotokos, which is now called the Virgin of Korsun. The Crusader king, Amalric I of Jerusalem, also received her in the Holy Land. There she died about 1173. Her body, after the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, was carried by the monks to Kiev and deposited there in the Monastery of the Caves. It was only in 1910 that the relics of the saint were brought back to her native town of Polatsk. Her feast day is celebrated on May 23. Euphrosyne is the only virgin saint of East Slav origin.
Read more about this topic: Euphrosyne Of Polatsk
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