In the turbulent mid-12th century, the Kievan Rus was plagued by dynastic conflicts between the Olegovichi and the Mstislavichi—two princely factions descended from Yaroslav the Wise. Among the Olegovichi was Prince Igor Olegovich, son of Oleg Gorislavich, and cousin to Saint Nicholas Sviatosha. While Nicholas chose the peaceful path of monastic life, Prince Igor was unwillingly drawn into the violent power struggle over the Kiev principality. After the death of his brother Vsevolod in 1146, Igor was briefly accepted as Grand Prince of Kiev, but betrayal by the local nobles led to his defeat, capture, and imprisonment. Ill and near death, he was forcibly tonsured a monk in the Theodorov Monastery, where he lived in prayer and repentance.

The political conflict continued, and in 1147, a frenzied mob, incited by hatred toward the Olegovichi, stormed the monastery during liturgy and brutally murdered the now-monastic Prince Igor despite desperate efforts to protect him. His martyrdom was marked by miraculous signs, and his relics were later transferred to Chernigov in 1150 by his brother Sviatoslav. Venerated as a holy martyr, Saint Igor's death came to symbolize the tragic cost of fraternal strife and the sanctity found even in unjust suffering. His legacy endures in the Church, particularly through the Igorov icon of the Mother of God, which he prayed before on the day of his death.