Alexander Peresvet and Andrew Oslyabya were monks of the Holy Trinity Lavra associated with St. Sergius of Radonezh who, by tradition, were sent to accompany the army of Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy and fought at the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380. They are commemorated together on September 7. Peresvet is remembered above all for opening the battle in single combat against the champion of the Golden Horde, in which the two adversaries struck each other down.
According to the tradition preserved in Russian sources, Peresvet came from the Bryansk area and first took monastic vows at the Monastery of Saints Boris and Gleb in Rostov before joining the Trinity Lavra and becoming a disciple of St. Sergius. Oslyabya, whose secular name is given as Roman, came from a noble (boyar) background and is said to have served as a military commander before entering the monastic life; he too was affiliated with the Trinity community under St. Sergius. Both received the great schema, and both are styled Alexander and Andrew under their monastic names.
The synaxarion and chronicle tradition relate that on the eve of the campaign against Mamai, Grand Prince Dmitry sought the blessing of St. Sergius, who blessed the prince and gave him these two monks to strengthen the host. By the tradition, Sergius gave them the cross of Christ sewn upon the schema to wear in place of helmet and armor. Their participation set the deliverance of Rus' from the Tatar yoke within the framework of a sanctified, spiritual struggle.
The body of Peresvet was brought back to Moscow and buried at the church of the Nativity of the Virgin at the Simonov Monastery, where Oslyabya was also laid to rest beside him. Accounts of Oslyabya's own fate differ: some relate that he fell at Kulikovo, while others record that he survived and later took part in a mission to Constantinople before his repose. Both monks are venerated as saints in the Russian Orthodox Church.
