Anna of Kashin

Anna of Kashin
Anna of Kashin praying to the Saviour in Clouds, icon about 1910
Born	c. 1285 presumably Rostov the Great
Died	2 October 1368 (aged 82–83) borough near Kashin
Venerated in	Russian Orthodox Church
Canonized	1650 by Russian Orthodox Church
Major shrine	relics in Kashin
Feast	24 June (opening of her relics)
Patronage	Town of Kashin
Catholic cult suppressed	1677 12 June 1909 cultus reestablished

Saint Anna of Kashin (Russian: Святая благоверная великая княгиня - инокиня Анна Кашинская) (1280 – 2 October 1368) was a Russian princess from the Rurik Dynasty, who was canonized in 1650.

Anna was a daughter of Prince Dmitry Borisovich of Rostov and a great-granddaughter of Prince Vasily of Rostov. From her earliest years, Anna was brought up strictly Christian. She was taught the virtues of humility and obedience. Her teacher was Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Rostov (died 1288), who was noted for strict selflessness and pacifism. Like all royal daughters of her time, Anna learned different kinds of needlework. When the princess grew up, Princess Xenia of Tver, second wife of Grand Prince Yaroslav of Tver sent ambassadors to Rostov with a request to marry Anna to her son Mikhail. The embassy was successful, and Anna became the wife of Prince Mikhail.

Princess Anna's marriage to Prince Mikhail took place on 8 November 1294 in the Preobrazhensky cathedral of Tver. In celebration of this event, dwellers in the city of Kashin built the Saint Michael Church and the triumphal gates from the local Kremlin to the Tver road, naming the gates also "Mikhaylovsky." In the Kashin Uspensky cathedral a special Feast was established and celebrated annually on 8 November.

Anna and Mikhail had five children:

In 1294, her father died, and in 1295 a terrible fire destroyed Tver. Soon after that, Anna and Mikhail's first-born daughter, Feodora, fell severely ill and died in infancy. In 1296, another fire destroyed their palace, and the prince and princess were barely rescued. In 1317, a war began between her husband and Prince Yury of Moscow.

In 1318 the princess said goodbye to her husband forever, who was summoned to the Horde, where he was brutally tortured to death on 22 November 1318. Only in July of the following year did Anna hear about her husband's martyrdom. Learning that Mikhail's remains had been brought to Moscow, she sent an embassy there, and her husband's body was transferred into Tver and buried in Preobrazhensky cathedral.