Dovmont of Pskov, who received the baptismal name Timothy, was a thirteenth-century prince of Lithuanian origin who became one of the most celebrated rulers and defenders of the city of Pskov. By the accounts followed in the synaxarion he was a native of Lithuania and prince of Nalshinaisk (Nalshensk, in Lithuanian tradition the duchy of Nalsia), and was at first a pagan. In 1265, fleeing the internecine strife among the Lithuanian princes, he came to Pskov with three hundred families and accepted Holy Baptism, taking the name Timothy.
Within a year of his arrival the people of Pskov chose him as their prince, valuing his bravery and his Christian virtues. He ruled the city for thirty-three years and, according to the tradition, was the only prince in the history of Pskov to die after so long a reign lived in peace and in harmony with the Pskov veche, the city council. His government joined military skill to a reputation for justice and for the defense of the Orthodox faith of the city.
Dovmont is remembered above all as a soldier-prince who guarded Pskov against its western neighbors. The tradition relates that before each battle he would enter the church, lay his sword at the steps of the altar, and receive a blessing from the priest, who then girded the sword upon him. He died on the twentieth day of May, in the year 1299, and was buried in the cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Pskov, where his relics are venerated; he is commemorated by the Orthodox Church on May 20.
