Русь, Византия и Западная Европа: Из истории внешнеполитических и культурных связей XII—XIII вв.

Diminishing of the role played by the prince of Galich and Volyn Roman Mstislavich in the political life of South Rus' and his uniting the Russian princes for the campaigns against the Polovtsy is typical for the North-Eastern Chronicle tradition first of all because of the political views of chronicler Simon, who arrived from Kiev to Vladimir Suzdalsky in the beginning of the 13th c. and afterwards became the bishop. Tightly connected to the family of the Kievan prince Rurik Rostislavich, the main enemy of Roman in his struggle for Kiev, Simon having arrived to Vladimir became serving the interests of king Vsevolod the Big Nestle who perceived Roman as a dangerous competitor in the influencing the South Russian lands.

Prince Vsevolod was also alien to the foreign policy of Roman who supported the Byzantine authorities in the fight with the rebellious Bulgarians and the Danube Polovtsy which backed them. The prince of Vladimir Suzdalsky had the immediate contacts with the head of the Bulgarian uprising and avoided military assistance of Byzantium of purpose.

Military aid by Roman was guaranteed with the matrimony of the prince of Galich and Volyn and Alexios' niece, the elder daughter of the overthrown emperor Isaac II. On coming the second wife of the prince of Galich and Volyn she continued playing the key role in the political life of South Rus' for years. The chronicle preserved not the name of the princess who is called by the husbands name only: «the great Roman's princess». But we can fill this white space. The junior sister of the princess of Galich and Volyn, Irene, who had come the consort of German king Philip, had her sister's name put down to the necrology of the Speier cathedral. Among the other Greek relatives of queen Irene the name of her elder sister Euphrosine is mentioned.

They were aware of the fate of German relatives of «the great Roman's princess» in Galich as well. The distinct information about the death of king Philip the Schwab at summer of 1208, which was soon followed with that of his queen, can be found in the Chronicle of Galich and Volyn. The detailed story of the circumstances of the murder of Philip was put down and the persons implicated in it were mentioned here. There is no such information in the other Russian chronicles. The details of such distinct events could be of some interest only for the relatives of the perished. And princess Euphrosine with her children were such persons.

Near by the Polish town of Chelm (Old Russian Holm) the ancient stone tower five levels (stories) high, the remnants of chapel on the top of it, is still preserved. This tower rises at the spot where the Old Russian town of Stolpie (Towers) existed sometimes. According to the last investigations the tower of Stolpie is the replica of the edifices widely spread in the North of Greece and appeared to be the cult buildings belonging to the monasteries and the secular lords. The literary sources say that most probably the tower of Stolpie was built in 1220–1240s for «the great Roman's princess» who had become the nun again.

The activity of Euphrosine, the princess of Galich, is seen in the old Russian seals. Several seals from old Novgorod have the image of St. Euphrosine of Alexandria on avers and the image of Transfigutation of Our Lord on the mount of Favor on reverse. There are no grounds to identify the owner of this seals with St. Euphrosine of Polotsk, since she had nothing to do with the foundation of the Transfiguration church or monastery in Polotsk. The Savior's nunnery and the church founded by St. Euphrosine were dedicated to the ancient fest of the Savior Misericors. There is no evidence of any relationship of St. Euphrosine with Novgorod.

But there were tight links between Euphrosine of Galich and Novgorod. She, without doubt, corresponded with prince of Novgorod Mstislav the Brave whose daughter Ann married Daniel, the elder son of widowed princess of Galich. Mstislav himself influenced with the news coming from the South-Western Rus', abdicated from Novgorod throne and resolutely interfered in the struggle for Galich with Hungarian prince Koloman and became the new prince of Galich soon.

There is a great reason to connect the wide spreading of cult of Transfiguration in Galich and Volyn with Euphrosine of Galich. The numerous monasteries and churches of Transfiguration mentioned in the literary sources date back to the 13th c. The numerous former altar icons of Transfiguration of the West Ukrainian lands came from the 13–14th cc. up to our time.