Gradislava Svyatoslavna of Polotsk (c1110-c1180)

Gradislava Svyatoslavna (monastic name: Evdokiya, c1110-c1180) was a medieval educator, the daughter of Prince of Vitebsk prince Svyatoslav Vseslavich. She was the younger sister of Predslava Svyatoslavna (monastic name: Euphrosyne), one of her closest assistants.

Biography
About the early life of Gordislava nothing is known. Choosing her for herself, Efrosinia Polotskaya, perhaps guided by the fact that Gordislava was quite receptive, obedient and had the ability to learn, and the behavior of her older sister was always for her a model of high spirituality and selfless service to God. Having founded Spassky monastery near Polotsk ( 1125 ), Efrosinya asked her father to send her sister Gordislav to teach her literacy, and after secretly tonsured her in a nun. The father, learning about this, came to them in great despair, wept bitterly and did not want to give the second daughter to the nun. The tonsil Gordislava was held no later than 1129.

As reported in the Life of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the abbess "diligently taught her the salvation of the soul, and she zealously perceived how fertile the field, softening her heart and saying thus:" Lord God will guide me to the salvation of the soul with your holy prayers. " Soon there was a secret vowing of Gordislava in a nun and she was named Evdokia. After a while, she was entrusted with the management of all economic affairs of the monastery, and for many years it was her main duty. When at the end of her life Efrosinia Polotskaya decided to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she, according to "Life ...", instructed "to rule and arrange for the sister of his Evdokia both monasteries." This was evidence that Gordislava took on her shoulders not only a female but also a male monastery, also founded by Euphrosyne. After the death of Euphrosyne, probably Gordislava also led the annals.

Gordislava-Evdokia not only preserved everything that was done by the efforts of Euphrosyne, but also developed and enriched her undertakings. It is believed that Cyril of Turovsky was the adviser of the new hegumen in many matters, who became bishop in Turov earlier than Evdokia the abbess in Polotsk. And since there was a constant correspondence between such major centers of culture as the Turov diocese and the Polotsk monasteries at that time, it is most likely that Kirill Turovsky led it not with Euphrosyne, as is commonly believed, but with Evdokia. There are reasons to assert that Gordislava-Yevdokiya was one of the first who began to seek the canonization of Euphrosyne of Polotsk.