Saint
Euphrosyne, Abbess of Polotsk, was named Predslava in the world, and was the
daughter of Prince George Vseslavich. From her childhood she was noted for her
love of prayer and book learning. After turning down a proposal of marriage,
Predslava received monastic tonsure with the name Euphrosyne. With the blessing
of Bishop Elias of Polotsk, she began to live near the Sophia cathedral, where
she occupied herself by the copying of books.
Around
the year 1128 Bishop Elias entrusted the nun with the task of organizing a
women’s monastery. Setting out for Seltso, the site of the future monastery,
the ascetic took only her holy books. At the newly constructed
Savior-Transfiguration monastery the saint taught the girls to copy books,
singing, sewing and other handicrafts.
Through
her efforts, a cathedral was built in 1161, which survives to the present day.
Saint Euphrosyne also founded a men’s monastery dedicated to the Mother of God.
Patriarch Luke of Constantinople sent a copy of the wonderworking Ephesus Icon
of the Mother of God at her request. Shortly before her death, Saint Euphrosyne
journeyed on pilgrimage to the Holy Places with her nephew David and sister
Eupraxia.
After
venerating the holy things at Constantinople, she arrived in Jerusalem, where
at the Russian monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos the Lord granted her a
peaceful end on May 24, 1173.
In 1187
the body of the saint was transferred to the Kiev Caves monastery, and the
relics were transferred to Polotsk in 1910 to the monastery she founded.
Saint
Euphrosyne of Polotsk was glorified in the Russian Church as a patroness of
women’s monasticism.
Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/05/23/101499-venerable-euphrosyne-the-abbess-of-polotsk
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