This miracle is described in the chronicle story of the Battle of Kulikovo. At 9 o'clock in the afternoon, when the forces of the Russian army were running out and those Muscovites "who had not been on their troops", "having said goodbye to life, fled and fled," suddenly appeared to the aid of Russia a heavenly regiment, consisting of angels and saints, led by the heavenly commander the archangel Michael. The appearance of this regiment of heavenly warriors, who began to kill the Tatars, changed the course of the battle - the Horde fled.
The celestial chronicler calls it "tresolar", that is, illuminated by the divine "three-solar light," equal to the light of three suns. Speaking about the phenomenon of the tresolar regiment, he refers to the eyewitnesses of this event (“the faithful saw”). And as we will see later, we have no reason not to trust his words.
From the chronicle story:
“And after that, at nine o'clock in the afternoon, the Lord gazed with merciful eyes at all the Russian princes and at the courageous governors, and at all Christians who dared to stand up for Christianity and were not afraid, as befits glorious soldiers.
The faithful saw at the ninth hour, how angels, fighting, helped the Christians, and the holy martyrs regiment, and the warrior George, and the glorious Dmitry, and the great princes of the same name - Boris and Gleb. Among them was the voivode of the perfect regiment of heavenly warriors - Archangel Michael. Two governors saw the regiments of the filthy, and the three-solar regiment, and fiery arrows flying at them; godless Tatars fell, seized by the fear of God and from Christian weapons."
And God raised up the right hand of our prince to overcome foreigners. And Mamai, trembling in fear and loudly rebelled, exclaimed: “Great is the Christian God and great is his strength! Brothers Ishmaelites, lawless Hagarians, run by unprepared roads! " And he himself, turning back, quickly ran to his Horde. And hearing about this, his dark princes and rulers also fled. Seeing this, other foreigners, driven by the wrath of God and possessed by fear, young and old, fled."
The answer to the appearance of messages about a miracle
The answer to the origin of the miracle news undoubtedly lies in one feature of our source. The chronicle story does not contain news of the ambush regiment of Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky and Dmitry Bobrok Volynsky, who decided the outcome of the case at the very end of the battle.
Promotional video:
The performance of this regiment from the oak grove is another source, "The Legend of the Massacre of Mama," which mentions it at 8 o'clock in the afternoon. By the time when "the filthy began to prevail, and the Christian regiments thinned out, there are already few Christians, and all are filthy." Here we see a slight discrepancy in time - the 8th and 9th hour of the day, it should not bother us, the time during the battle could only be determined approximately, by the sun. Both of our sources point to the appearance of the rescue regiment (tresolny and ambush) at the very end of the battle.
We have already seen that the miracle described in the chronicle tale dramatically changed the course of the battle. The same is said in the Legend of the Mama Massacre, but already in relation to the ambush regiment:
“Companions, friends, jumped out of the green oak forest, like tried falcons plucked from golden stocks, rushed to the endless herds, fattened, to that great Tatar power; and their banners were directed by the firm commander Dmitry Volynts: and they were like David's youths, whose hearts were like lions, like fierce wolves attacked sheep flocks and began to whip the filthy Tatars mercilessly.
The filthy Polovtsians saw their destruction, shouted in their own language, saying: “Alas, for us, Russia has outwitted again; the younger ones fought with us, but the best all survived! " And the filthy ones turned, and showed their backs, and ran."
It is interesting that the very name of the wonderful "tresolnaya regiment" finds a parallel in the circumstances of the entry into battle of the ambush regiment. Bobrok gives the command to attack only when the south wind began to blow his soldiers in the backs:
“And then came the eighth hour of the day, when the south wind pulled us from behind, and Volynets exclaimed in a loud voice:“Prince Vladimir, our time has come and a convenient time has come!”
Imagine a steppe that is still very hot in the first half of September (sometimes over 30 degrees). 8-9 o'clock in the afternoon, that is, not yet far after noon. A painful battle has been going on for several hours. Already hewn ("like wood" or straw) foot soldiers. As "weeds" surround the "ears of wheat", the Tatars surrounded the remnants of the Russian army from all sides, whose soldiers fought already "having said goodbye to life." And from the south, that is, from the side of the Tatars and the scorching Sun, from where it was least possible to wait for help, the best warriors, almost invisible in the sunlight, dressed in armor, fly out. And they read to beat the Horde "like sheep" …
I also would not have thought that this is some kind of "ambush regiment" …:)))
I believe that the message about the appearance of the heavenly three-solar regiment is a reflection of the real impressions of the participants in the battle, for whom the appearance of the ambush regiment on the battlefield in the confusion of the battle seemed incredible, and the abrupt change in the course of the battle was incomprehensible and miraculous. The appearance of an ambush from the south side in the blinding light of the sun added to the impression and led to the emergence of rumors about the manifestation of heavenly forces.
PS Judging by the fact that not everyone knew about the ambush regiment, the operation was being prepared in deep secrecy. It is known that the ambush regiment left somewhere "up the Don" even before the regiments were organized, choosing a position so that at the decisive moment of the battle it would be behind the Tatars.