Today we remember Saint Alexander Nevsky. He received the sobriquet “Nevsky” for the battle on the river Neva against the Swedes, that he won in 1240.

In the early 13th century, Sweden was in quite a bit of political turmoil, which is complicated enough to deserve a separate treatment. Perhaps in order to give the restless Vikings something to do, the king asked the pope for a blessing to go on a crusade, which he received in 1237. Officially, the crusade was supposed to be against a pagan tribe in Finland. But Vikings will be Vikings, so they went Viking by attacking a much more lucrative target - the city of Novgorod, the capital of the Novgorod Republic. Notably, Novgorod was in fact the very city that had invited the Viking Rus’ led by Rurik (Hrøríkʀ) in the ninth century to settle there for protection against raids by other Vikings. The Rus’ had come from Sweden and maintained strong ties with their kinsfolk in the homeland for many generations.

The Novgorod Republic became an independent state with a sophisticated form of republican government with a separation of powers. It practiced a form of direct democracy to elect a “knyaz” (“koenig” or commander of the army) as well as a chief executive of the Republic and various other officials. In order to attack such a powerful city, the Swedes, headed by jarl Ulf Fase, enlisted the help of Norwegians and some Finnish tribes, including the one against whom they were supposed to be crusading.

The Novgorod Veche (a democratic assembly roughly equivalent to the Viking-age Althing or the Athenian Ecclesia) called on Alexander, a direct descendant of Rurik, to head the army. Karelians, another Finnish tribe, joined forces with Novgorod against the crusaders. The battle took place on July 15 near the confluence of the Neva and Izhora rivers. The forces of the Republic of Novgorod prevailed against the Vikings, and over the course of the following few centuries, this event became a prominent cultural memory instrumental in shaping the national identity of the Russian people.

Only two years later, in 1242, Alexander won another decisive victory against a Livonian heavy cavalry of the Teutonic Order led by Hermann I, the Prince-Bishop of Dorpat, who attempted to invade the Republic.

It has been almost 800 years, but the themes of the invasions by Western crusaders, or Teutons, or Livonians are still shaping the many cultural narratives relevant today - from World War II to the war in Ukraine. Saint Alexander’s political career propelled him from being the Prince of Novgorod to becoming the Grand Prince of Kiev in 1246. Perhaps, by his prayers, peace will come to the lands that he once used to rule and protect.