Church honors the memory of St. Sergius, the Wonderworker of Radonezh , on October 8 (September 25, old style), the day of his repose. The Monk Sergius of Radonezh is rightfully one of the most revered monks from the times of Ancient Russia to the present day. He is the founder of several monasteries, among which the Trinity-Sergius Lavra became the most famous. It is no coincidence that Sergius of Radonezh is often called “abbot of the Russian land.”
The exploits of St. Sergius occurred in a difficult era, when Russia was under the yoke of the foreign Mongol-Tatar yoke, but strived to gain independence and build a strong and united state. Sergius of Radonezh , a man of desert life who never took up arms, became a spiritual support in the resistance to the Mongol-Tatar yoke, inspired princes and warriors to fight for the independence of Russia. He blessed the Moscow prince Dimitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo , which took place in 1380. Also, the Radonezh abbot sent two monks, who had once been warriors, to help the prince - Peresvet and Oslyabya. Thus, it became a symbol of the unity of the Church and the people at a time of difficult trial. The victory of rising Moscow over Mamai on the Kulikovo Field significantly strengthened the young principality.
Youth of Bartholomew
The famous church writer of ancient Russia, Epiphanius the Wise (d. c. 1420), who became the de facto hagiographer of St. Sergius of Radonezh, reports that the future ascetic of the Russian land was born near the city of Rostov in the village of Varnitsa. The saint's father was the local boyar Kiril , who served with the Rostov appanage princes, and his mother was his wife Marya .
Prayer of St. Epiphanius the Wise before starting work on the Life of St. Sergius. Miniature of the Front Life of St. Sergius. Moscow. End of the 16th century Moscow, RSL
According to the text of Epiphanius, the date of birth of Bartholomew (as it was named at the baptism of Sergius) is May 1322, however, in the second quarter of the 15th century, the Life of Sergius of Radonezh was revised by the hagiographer, editor of a number of Lives, Pachomius Logothet (d. not earlier than 1484), according to the text of which the date of birth of Bartholomew - May 3 (O.S.) 1314. The Life of St. Sergius tells that during the Divine Liturgy, even before the birth of her son, his mother and the worshipers heard the baby exclamation three times: before the reading of the Gospel, during the Cherubic Song, and at the moment the priest said “Holy of Holies.” From the first days of his life, Bartholomew did not take his mother's milk on Wednesdays and Fridays. At the age of seven, the boy was sent to learn to read and write with his brothers, the elder Stefan and the younger Peter. It so happened that at first learning was not easy for Bartholomew, unlike his older brothers, who learned the alphabet and acquired the skill of reading in a matter of months. The teacher scolded him, his parents were upset. The youth Bartholomew, meanwhile, prayed to God with tears, asking for help. But his studies were still not easy for him. And then an event occurred, which is reported in all the biographies of Sergius.
One day his father asked him to keep an eye on a herd of princely horses. At some point, several horses separated from the rest of the group and entered the forest. Bartholomew immediately went in search of them. In a forest tract, he came to a hillock on which an amazingly beautiful oak tree grew. The boy suddenly saw a handsome old man under a tree, praying. After the elder finished praying, Bartholomew told him that he wanted to learn to read and write, but he was not succeeding, and asked the elder to pray to God. Having completed the prayer, the hermit took the reliquary out of his knapsack and took a piece of prosphora from it and, crossing it, ordered it to be eaten with the words:
This is given to you as a sign of God’s grace and understanding of the Holy Scripture <...> about literacy, child, do not grieve: know that from now on the Lord will grant you good knowledge of literacy, greater than that of your brothers and peers.
The elder was about to leave, but Bartholomew asked him to visit his parents' house. The parents greeted the guest with honor and set the table for him. But the elder said that first one must taste spiritual food, and ordered Bartholomew to read the Psalter. The boy began to read, pronouncing the psalms easily and clearly, which surprised his parents. When leaving, the elder said to Bartholomew’s parents:
Your son will be great before God and people. It will become the chosen abode of the Holy Spirit.
Paul
Considerably moving away from the sign with an arrow to the Holy Trinity Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery, the Vologda-Rybinsk bus stops on the highway, an hour’s drive from the town of Gryazovets.
The arrow points to the forest, but there are two turns leading there. Try to choose where to turn, if you can check your choice only after walking five kilometers. Actually, at this distance from the highway there is an ancient monastery founded by St. Paul of Obnor in 1414. Rainy chilly evening. There is no one on the highway, only girls on the side of the road. Time is running out: you need to have time to walk five kilometers, see everything in the monastery, return on foot to the highway and catch the bus in the opposite direction. Otherwise I won’t get on the Moscow train. “Girls! Can you tell me how to get to the monastery?” - I turn to them. “Oh, you’re turning the wrong way! You need to go to Kosikovo. So you’ll go straight and end up in a monastery!” - the girls shout to me over the noise of the freeway. The forest road makes a smooth bend, gets lost under the mountain and emerges from a deep ravine, revealing a slender pine forest on the opposite side and a small village with several stone buildings. These buildings are the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery, in the past one of the largest monasteries in the Russian North. In 1924, the main Trinity Church of the monastery was destroyed, and its icons, some of which were painted by Dionysius himself, were confiscated to the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and the Vologda Museum-Reserve. The Monk Paul was from Moscow. He, too, was one of the first disciples of the Abbot of Radonezh, like Abraham, and at one time even carried out obedience in his cell. For 15 years Paul lived as a hermit not far from the Trinity Monastery, but people began to flock to him, and he asked St. Sergius for a blessing to retire even further into impassable forests. According to his life, Pavel lived for three years in the Komel forests in the hollow of a huge linden tree before, “guided by God,” he set off along the Nurma River and found a deserted place on its banks for a new residence. In the 14th century, the northern forests were filled with hermits. Another disciple of St. Sergius, Sergius of Nuromsky, found Paul serenely feeding forest birds. Some of the birds easily sat on Pavel’s head. From then on, Paul and Sergius began a friendship, in whose memory a chapel was subsequently erected in the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery. Soon lovers of silence again came to Paul’s forest solitude. There is nothing to do, at first Paul did not want to let them in, but he remembered that Sergius, his teacher, instructed to love everyone and not refuse help to anyone, and decided to found a monastery in honor of the Holy Trinity. Having placed another monk at the head of the monastery, he continued to live in his cell. In January 1429, St. Paul died. The rector, abbot Amphilochius, a monk and four laborers stand on mats in front of the modest tombstone of St. Paul in a wooden chapel on the site of the church of St. Paul of Obnor and Sergius of Radonezh, which was blown up in 1930. The prayer service at the relics after the evening service does not last long, then everyone venerates the tombstone, under which the relics of the saint lie. On the way from the chapel to the refectory, the abbot untangles the straps, puts them in his pocket, and listens attentively to the story about the purpose of the late visit. “Take photos, please. And we don’t leave women to spend the night,” the abbot’s decision is harsh, but fair. Four monks do not live in the forest to give shelter to women. I leave the gates of the monastery. We need to get to the track quickly. The rain has already soaked through the jacket and envelops the forest in a dark veil. As night approaches, the likelihood of spending the night in the forest increases. The only hope is for the monk, maybe somehow everything will work out. A car comes out from behind the mountain. — Can you give me a lift to the highway? — Maybe we should take you straight to Gryazovets? Where do you want to go there, to the station or to the bus? ...Evening Gryazovets station. The train to Moscow is two hours away. I’m sitting at the station, eating delicious buns, received as a gift from kind people who picked me up on the road. I silently pray - I thank the saints for the successful completion of my extreme journey. The main thing is not to doubt and rely on our saints. They certainly won't let you down! Irina SECHINA
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Saints Pilgrimage of St. Sergius of Radonezh
Monk Sergius - founder of the Holy Trinity Monastery
Around 1328, Bartholomew's greatly impoverished family moved to another permanent place of residence - to the city of Radonezh. Epiphanius writes how Bartholomew’s father became impoverished: “Let’s also talk about how and why he became impoverished: because of frequent trips with the prince to the Horde, because of frequent Tatar raids on Rus', because of frequent Tatar embassies, because many heavy tributes and fees from the Horde, due to the frequent lack of bread.” Bartholomew's elder brother got married a few years later, and his aging parents decided to go to the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery (1308), accept monasticism there and live until their death. After the repose of their father and mother, Bartholomew and his brother Stefan went to the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery to become monks.
Ensemble of the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery. Contemporary photography
However, Bartholomew did not like life in a communal monastery. He strove for solitary asceticism, for living in the desert. He did not live long in this monastery. Having convinced Stefan to become hermits, he and he founded a hermitage on the banks of the Konchura River, on Makovets Hill, in the middle of the dense Radonezh forest. There they erected a small wooden church in the name of the Holy Trinity (consecrated in 1340), on the site of which the cathedral church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra , which can still be seen today.
Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Contemporary photography
Stefan, having experienced all the difficulties of desert life and its needs, left his brother and settled in the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow, where he met the monk Alexy (between 1292-1305 - 1378), the future Metropolitan of Moscow and All Rus'. Bartholomew, calling on Abbot Mitrofan, received monastic tonsure from him with the name Sergius. This happened on the day of the celebration of the memory of the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus.
Rumors about the exploits of the young hermit began to spread throughout Rus'. A few years later, new cells began to appear in the vicinity of the Sergius monastery. Gradually, a monastery was formed from the disciples of Sergius, which in 1345 took shape as the Trinity-Sergius Monastery (later the Trinity-Sergius Lavra). Sergius was its second abbot (the first was Abbot Mitrofan). Sergius introduced new rules for the life of the monks of his monastery. Having forbidden accepting alms, he decreed in the monastery charter that all monks should eat from their labors. He himself set an example in his daily work. Little by little the glory of the Sergius Monastery increased. Those wishing to live a monastic life came to the monastery from various classes of ancient Rus', from common peasants to princes. Some settled next to the monastery and donated their property to the needs of the holy monastery.
Over the years, the desert, which suffered extreme need for everything necessary, turned into one of the most beautiful monasteries in Rus'. The fame of the founder of the monastery even reached the walls of Constantinople. The Ecumenical Patriarch Philotheus (c. 1300-1379) sent a delegation of Greek monks to Sergius, who presented him with a cross, a paraman, a schema and a letter praising him for his virtuous life. The Patriarch also sent an exemplary monastic Charter of cinnovia (strict communal living). Having studied the Greek charter, with the blessing of the Moscow Saint Alexy, Sergius introduced communal living orders in the monastery, which later took root in other Russian monasteries. It is interesting that Metropolitan Alexy of Moscow and All Rus', shortly before his death, turned to Sergius with a request to become a candidate for the post of Moscow High Hierarch. However, seeking a humble and secluded life, Sergius refused to be a successor to the Moscow bishopric.
Disciples and interlocutors of St. Sergius in iconographic monuments
The ministry of the great abbot of the Russian Land - St. Sergius of Radonezh - is multifaceted. In our opinion, the brightest facet of this “many-light lamp of the Russian land” is the one without which we would hardly have known about others.
This is how it is said about this in the troparion to St. Sergius: your most honorable and glorious monastery, / even in the Name of the Holy Trinity, you have created many of your works, Father, / having your disciples in your flock, / filled with gladness and joy. St. Sergius was indeed a mentor to many students, and the word many here has both quantitative and qualitative meaning. This was a kind of “expanded reproduction” of the venerable ministry in our Church.
In the life of St. Sergius there is a description of a miraculous vision to the saint. One night, while performing his usual cell rule with fervent prayer for his disciples, the Radonezh abbot suddenly heard a voice calling him by name: Sergius! You pray for your spiritual children; The Lord accepted your prayer. Look around - you see what a multitude of monks you have gathered in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity! Thus the number of your disciples will increase...” Opening the window of the cell, the Monk Sergius saw in a shining, wondrous light many birds flying throughout the monastery and beyond its fence. So the saint’s disciples, it is said in his life, multiplied; some remained in their native monastery, others scattered throughout Holy Rus'.
The first years in the Radonezh thicket, the first twelve disciples unanimously asked Sergius to accept the hegumenship - and then the deputy of St. Alexius of Moscow, Bishop Athanasius of Volyn, ordained Sergius to the priesthood and appointed him to the abbot. Upon the return of Saint Alexis from a long trip to Constantinople, he and Sergius met - and until the end of their lives their communication in the love of Christ continued. It is known that St. Sergius, due to his great humility, did not become the successor of Metropolitan Alexy, but we have every reason to call the First Hierarch of Moscow the interlocutor of St. Sergius.
Living in the future monastery began not without temptations; In order to avoid strife, the Monk Sergius secretly withdrew from his monastery to his spiritual friend Stephen on the Makhra River. In later iconography, the Monk Stefan of Makhrishchi is depicted holding in his hand a scroll with the text of the psalm: Behold, he went away in flight, and settled in the desert (Ps. 54:8). With the help of Stefan Makhrishchsky, the Monk Sergius found a suitable place and settled in the desert on the banks of the Kirzhach River. Soon the students appeared; A church was built in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, but Saint Alexy blessed the monk to leave a worthy abbot in the new monastery, and Sergius himself to return to the Trinity monastery. His disciple Roman became the hegumen of the Annunciation Monastery.
Of course, such circumstances of the emergence of a new monastery were not the rule, but the exception. A whole series of new monasteries were built with the blessing of St. Sergius and in connection with the desire of the rulers of the Russian land. According to the vow of Prince Dimitri Donskoy, a monastery was built on the Dubna River by Sergius' student Savva - later a venerable and very teaching elder. Savva, at the request of the Trinity brethren, became abbot after the successor of Abba Sergius, Nikon of Radonezh, went into seclusion. Savva was the spiritual mentor of Prince Yuri of Zvenigorod (son of Demetrius Donskoy) and, after spending six years as abbot of the Trinity Monastery, he retired to Zvenigorod and founded there the “House of the Most Pure One on Storozhi” - the famous Savvin-Storozhevsky Monastery.
On the icon of the first half of the 18th century. from the Church and Archaeological Office of the MDA, the Monk Savva, with raised hands, prays to the Mother of God, depicted in the heavenly segment with the blessing of the Infant God. It should be noted that it was Savva Storozhevsky who invited the very young icon painter Andrei Rublev to paint the temples of the new monastery, who, with the blessing of the abbot, created the famous Zvenigorod tier - the Deesis tier from the Strozhevsky monastery, part of which was found in 1918-1919. in the Assumption Cathedral (now the icons are in the State Tretyakov Gallery). There is an assumption that with the blessing of the Monk Sava, the famous Rublev Trinity was written. Let us add that the Savvin-Storozhevsky Monastery was the first in the history of Rus' to receive the status of a monastery.
In the Moscow region, and throughout Central Rus', it is difficult to find a monastery that is not associated with the name of St. Sergius: either the monastery was founded by the Radonezh saint himself, or with his blessing, or by his disciples; in any case, even after two or three generations a clear line of continuity of the spiritual traditions of the great abbot of the Russian land can be traced.
The iconography of the disciples of St. Sergius - both those who remained inhabitants of the Trinity Monastery and those who went to distant places - has a number of interesting features. In the late, second half of the 19th century, the image of the Cathedral of the Holy Disciples of St. Sergius from the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra shows this especially clearly. In the center of the composition are the Venerables Sergius and Nikon; they hold the icon of the Life-Giving Trinity through a plate on which the words of the prayer are inscribed: “Trinitarian God, preserve the holy monastery until the end of centuries.” This, of course, is the famous Rublev Trinity; This is exactly what the icon looked like in the 19th century, before its restoration was revealed. It is noteworthy that literally all the saints depicted in the composition have a portrait resemblance to St. Sergius. Moreover, each of them has its own, often bright and recognizable features: for example, it is impossible to confuse the venerable Maxim the Greek and Methodius of Peshnosha. The author of the composition found that measure of the general and the individual, which makes it possible to see in each depicted the image of a mentor (cf. troparion: in singing, vigils and fasting, the image was your disciple). Their eyes are depicted in a very similar way - or rather, not eyes, but a gaze, as they prayerfully look at the icon of the Holy Trinity: you understand that, together with St. Sergius, they stand before the throne of the Holy Trinity with joyful hearts (see the 9th hymn of the canon on discovery of the relics of Sergius of Radonezh). Let us note that on the Lavra icon the circle of disciples of St. Sergius is represented most fully. On another famous icon - from the Elias Church (near the Lavra), 18th century. — only eight saints are depicted.
Among the students and followers of Sergius of Radonezh are the Venerable Savva of Storozhevsky; Abraham Galitsky (also called Gorodetsky and Chukhlomsky); Arseny Komelsky; Sylvester Obnorsky; Roman Kirzhachsky; Savva Dubensky; Grigory Golutvinsky; Methodius Peshnoshsky; Pavel Obnorsky (Komelsky); Sergiy Nuromsky; Savva and Andronik of Moscow; Afanasy Serpukhovskoy and Afanasy Vysotsky (junior); Nikita Serpukhovskaya; Leonty Stromynsky; Athanasius the Hermit; Xenophon of Tutan; Ferapont Borovensky; Saint Theodore of Rostov, founder of the Simonov Monastery (native nephew of St. Sergius); Radonezh monks: Nikon, Vasily Sukhy, Epiphanius the Wise, Elisha the deacon, Micah the cell attendant, Macarius and Onesimus the goalkeepers, Elijah the cellarer, Simon the Ecclesiarch, James the ambassador, Ignatius, Nahum, Bartholomew, Isaac the Silent, Nektarios the Messenger, Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny icon painters.
Saints Dionysius of Suzdal (Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Rus') are considered to be the interlocutors of St. Sergius; Stephen, Bishop of Great Perm; Michael, Bishop of Smolensk; Saints Stefan of Makhrishchsky, Ferapont of Beloezersky (also called Mozhaisky or Luzhetsky), Demetrius of Prilutsky, Euthymius of Suzdal, Kirill of Belozersky, Theodore and Paul of Rostov, Venerable Martyrs Gregory and Cassian of Avnezh, as well as the Blessed Grand Duke Demetrius of Donskoy and his wife - the Venerable Euphrosyne of Moscow (the Great Princess Evdokia).
A number of icons with single images of the disciples of Sergius of Radonezh have been preserved; as a rule, these are icons originating from the monasteries founded by these disciples. Of course, hagiographic icons are also interesting - such as, for example, the 18th century icon of St. Abraham of Galich kept in the Andrei Rublev Museum. Abraham - one of the early disciples and tonsures of St. Sergius; he founded four monasteries in the Kostroma region. Abraham is depicted with the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Tenderness,” which was miraculously revealed to him and indicated the exact location of the future monastery.
On the icon of the first half of the 18th century. from the TsAK MDA, the Monk Paphnutius Borovsky is depicted in prayer to the Savior seated on the throne. The monk stands on the banks of the Protva River; on the other bank is the monastery he founded with the five-domed Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin. The small lectern icon has touchingly precise details: the flowing Protva (the artist depicted ripples on the water with a few strokes), a two-tier bell tower, a wooden monastery wall (a stone one appeared only in the 16th century), even the Tatar type of face of the Monk Paphnutius.
The Monk Paphnutius was born near Borovsk into the family of a baptized Tatar Martin and his wife Photinia; in 1414 he took monastic vows at the Pokrovsky Monastery on Vysokoe, was in obedience to Archimandrite Nikita of Serpukhov for seven years, and then was abbot of the monastery for 13 years. Paphnutius himself later became a teacher and mentor for another saint, Joseph of Volotsky. In 1444, Paphnutius became seriously ill, accepted the schema, left the Vysotsky Monastery and settled on the banks of the Protva near Borovsk, founding a monastery there in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
Reverend Joseph of Volotsky represents the next generation of spiritual heirs of the great abbot of the Russian land. Joseph (in the world his name was Ioann Sanin) - the son of a rich patrimonial landowner from the Volokolamsk principality - took monastic vows at the Paphnutian Borovsky Monastery and, seeking a high and strict life, founded a new cenobitic monastery near Volokolamsk, which later received his name. The severe asceticism of the Volokolamsk abbot is clearly visible on his icon of the first half of the 16th century. (Museum named after Andrei Rublev).
The Monk Anthony of Siysk was born a year before the Monk Joseph of Volotsky founded his monastery; he can be called the spiritual great-grandson of the Radonezh abbot. The thread of continuity from St. Sergius reaches to him through Cyril of Beloezersky, Alexander of Oshevensky and Pachomius of Kensky. On the icon of the mid-17th century (from the Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve in Moscow), the Monk Anthony is depicted surrounded by hagiographical marks, illustrating the history of the creation of the Trinity Siysk Monastery, founded in 1520 by the Monk Anthony 80 versts from Kholmogory on the banks of Lake Mikhailovskoye and the river Siya. Strict communal rules were established by Anthony in the new monastery, and many episodes of its initial history resemble the history of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
More than a century before the beginning of the Siya monastery, in 1414, on the banks of the Nurma River not far from its confluence with the Obnora (now the Vologda region), a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, Pavel, settled, who by that time had considerable experience of hermit life: he lived for 15 years a hermit in the vicinity of the Trinity Monastery, and then for three years in the Komel forests, escaping from bad weather in the hollow of an old linden tree. Having the blessing of St. Sergius to create a new monastery and a visible sign of this blessing - a forged copper cross, Pavel Obnorsky received a miraculous indication from above to establish a monastery in this place: he heard the ringing of bells and saw a light brighter than the sun. Pavel - and he was 97 years old then! - went to Moscow and, telling Metropolitan Photius about his night vision, asked for a blessing to establish a monastery. At first the saint was distrustful of the elder’s story, but that same night he received God’s revelation and himself took part in the arrangement of the monastery. The Monk Paul spiritually led the monastery for another fifteen years, dedicated to the Life-Giving Trinity and which had a communal charter. Obnorsky Monastery was one of the largest monasteries in the Russian North; The first image of Pavel Obnorsky, during his lifetime, was painted by the Monk Dionysius of Glushitsky.
There is a monastery in Moscow, unfortunately, almost ruined during the years of militant atheism, which St. Sergius considered a branch of his Trinity Monastery: The Radonezh abbot not only always stayed here when coming to Moscow, but also humbly worked along with the brethren; legend says that the pond next to the monastery
The rem was dug by the Monk Sergius himself. This is the Simonov Monastery, founded
in 1370 with the blessing of St. Alexy and St. Sergius and with the support of Grand Duke Dimitri (the future Donskoy). The first abbot of the Simonov Monastery was the nephew of St. Sergius Theodore, who was later ordained to the rank of bishop and occupied the Rostov see. After the death of Saint Alexy, Prince Demetrius chose Theodore as his spiritual mentor.
The successor of Saint Theodore in the Simonov Monastery was the Venerable Kirill, who later became the founder of the Dormition Kirillo-Beloezersky Monastery. The State Russian Museum houses the hagiographic icon of St. Cyril of Beloezersk, painted at the beginning of the 16th century. Dionysius for the Assumption Cathedral of the Beloezersky Monastery. Cyril’s communication (he came from a boyar family and entered the monastery at the age of over forty) with the Monk Sergius began when the new monk was serving in the bakery, and the great abbot was visiting the Mother See of the Capital. It is noteworthy that even then, in the humble worker, the Monk Sergius saw the future saint of God: when he came to the Simonov Monastery, he first of all went to talk with Kirill. Kirill bore all the most difficult obediences with dignity; nine years later he was ordained to the priesthood, and later, in the rank of archimandrite, he was rector of the Simonov Monastery. Having received in a dream the revelation of the Most Holy Theotokos, who called him to White Lake, Cyril, accompanied by the monk Ferapont, set off on a long journey, and in 1397, in a deserted place on the shore of the lake, he built a church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God. For three decades, the Monk Kirill was the rector of the Beloezersk monastery he founded, which in those early years was called the Northern Lavra. The Kirillov Monastery was, among other things, also the largest center of book learning in Ancient Rus'.
Ferapont, a fellow faster and faithful assistant of St. Kirill of Beloezersky, was no longer young when he went with his mentor to the shores of White Lake. When regular services began in the Cyril monastery, Ferapont, with the blessing of St. Cyril, retired to a deserted place, set up a cell there and spent several years in silence, unceasing prayer and labor. Gradually the brethren also gathered, so in 1398 the first wooden church was built in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary; the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Andrei Mozhaisky, granted the new monastery an allotment of land - another monastic monastery arose in Holy Rus'. Ten years later, at the request of Prince Andrei, Ferapont went to Mozhaisk: the pious ruler planned to establish a monastic monastery there too. In 1408, on the high bank of the Moscow River, construction began on a stone cathedral in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. The first abbot of the new Mozhaisk Luzhetsky Monastery was the Monk Ferapont.
The former place of the ascetic labors of the Monk Ferapont on White Lake did not remain without the care of God: a few years later Abbot Martinian became the abbot of the monastery. The abbot's obedience to the Monk Martinian continued at the Trinity Monastery, where he was invited by his spiritual son, Grand Duke Vasily II. Eight years later, in 1455, the Monk Martinian managed to return to his beloved monastery in Belozerie and for another quarter of a century, until his death, he worked on its improvement
Among the ascetics who were imbued with the spiritual heritage of St. Sergius through the mediation of Cyril of Beloezersk were the Rev. Corniliy of Komel and his disciple Gennady Kostromskoy, the founder of the Transfiguration Monastery on the shore of Lake Surskoye, in the vicinity of the city of Lyubim, where in 1529 Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich gave him a land plot . In addition to the cathedral Church of the Transfiguration, the Monk Gennady built in his monastery a temple in honor of the Monk Sergius of Radonezh, who had recently been glorified among the saints.
Another student of the Monk Cornelius, Adrian of Poshekhonsky, studied icon painting at the Cornelius Monastery. Three years after the death of Abbot Cornelius, Adrian (who was then a hierodeacon) asked the abbot for a blessing to live in the desert and, accompanied by his friend Elder Leonid, headed to the dense Poshekhonsky forest. Tradition says that the monks were led by a certain mysterious monk, who became invisible upon their arrival at the site of their future exploits. Here the first monastery in Poshekhonye was built in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The beginning of the monastery dates back to 1543. The Monk Adrian was cruelly tortured on March 5, 1550 by robbers who attacked the monastery; His incorruptible relics were found in 1625.
However, let us return to the times of St. Sergius. The great abbot of the Russian land himself personally founded nine monasteries, and appointed his worthy disciples as abbots, who not only subsequently shone with monastic exploits, but also raised new generations of God-loving monks. A number of these monasteries, located around Moscow, were not only places of prayer, but also outposts in case of enemy attack: Horde raids on Central Rus' were constant. One of these monasteries was the Bogoroditsky Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhov, founded by St. Sergius in 1373 at the request of Prince Vladimir Andreevich of Serpukhov. Abba Sergius arrived in Serpukhov with his disciple Athanasius and on a high hill, not far from the confluence of the Nara River and the Oka, on December 2 he founded a monastery in honor of the Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Righteous Anna. Through the zealous labors of the Monk Athanasius, the new monastery “on Vysokoye”, or Vysotsky, entered into the full measure of spiritual strength. The co-workers of Abbot Afanasy Vysotsky were the Venerable Nikon (future rector of the Trinity St. Sergius Monastery) and the first monk of the new monastery, the Venerable Athanasius the Younger.
In memory of the victory on the Kulikovo field, the blessed Prince Dimitry Donskoy decided to found a monastery near Kolomna, at the confluence of the Moscow River and the Oka. He invited St. Sergius, and the Radonezh abbot not only came to Golutvin himself (that was the name of the place on the outskirts of Kolomna, designated by Prince Demetrius for the construction of a monastery), but also brought with him a disciple, Hieromonk Gregory, who became the abbot of the new monastery.
Another ascetic of the Moscow region is the Monk David of Serpukhov, who founded a monastery in honor of the Ascension of the Lord on the banks of the Lopasnya River. The beginning of the monastic path of this ascetic - and he came from the family of the princes of Vyazemsky - is connected with the Monk Paphnutius of Borovsky. His further spiritual growth took place under the leadership of St. Joseph of Volotsky. Forty years of monastic labors preceded the founding of a new monastery on the banks of Lopasnya. Shortly before his death, the Monk Joseph of Volotsky visited and blessed David’s Hermitage.
Jacob Zheleznoborovsky, a disciple and associate of St. Sergius, came from a boyar family and came to the Trinity Monastery as a young man. Having become stronger in the monastic life and having taken monastic vows from the Radonezh abbot, Jacob, with his blessing, went to his native land, to the Principality of Galicia, and in a deserted place near the village of Zhelezny Borok, with the blessing of Metropolitan Cyprian, he founded a new monastic monastery. The Monk Jacob was known for his peacemaking and widespread charity. Miraculous healings began to occur after his death at his tomb.
The Monk Demetrius of Prilutsky, “close friend and prayer partner” of Sergius of Radonezh, met Sergius in 1354 in Pereslavl-Zalessky. He was then abbot of the St. Nicholas Monastery; he was known and respected for his prayerfulness and many spiritual gifts that the Lord endowed him with. Weighed down by earthly glory, Demetrius was looking for a secluded place for his prayerful works, and in 1371 he found a convenient place on the bend of the Vologda River (“at the bow”), just three miles from the city, and here he erected a wooden church in honor of the All-Merciful Savior. Soon a large communal monastery was formed here. Until his death, Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy provided significant assistance to the Prilutsky Monastery. The Monk Demetrius of Prilutsky was abbot for more than twenty years; his earthly journey ended in 1392. The most famous image of St. Demetrius - an icon painted around 1503 by Dionysius - is located in the Vologda Museum-Reserve.
Another interlocutor of Sergius of Radonezh, the Venerable Euthymius of Suzdal, founder and archimandrite of the Spaso-Evthymius Monastery, arrived in Suzdal in 1352 to create a new monastery at the request of the Suzdal Prince Boris Konstantinovich. Already during the life of Euthymius, about three hundred monks lived in it, following the strictly communal rules established by him. The Monk Euthymius often visited the Trinity Monastery, prayed and talked with the Radonezh abbot.
A brief overview of the images of the saints of God, connected with St. Sergius of Radonezh by the bonds of spiritual sonship, his interlocutors and successors of spiritual traditions opens up the opportunity for us not only to see the effectiveness of these traditions in the difficult years of our history, but also to talk about the relevance of these traditions today.
In August 2014, the Primate’s visit to the Moscow diocese took place. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill chose the revived Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery as the place of his ministry - one of the oldest monasteries in Moscow Rus', built by the Monk Methodius of Peshnoshsky with the blessing of the Radonezh abbot. The Monk Methodius worked on building the monastery, “carrying trees on foot across the river, which received the name Peshnosha, and after it the entire monastery began to be called Peshnosha, or Nikolo-Peshnosha from the cathedral monastery church, consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.” This significant event took place in 1361.
The Monk Sergius not only blessed Methodius for new monastic exploits, but he himself worked a lot in the new monastery, visiting his disciple in his solitude. From the monastery chronicles it is known that “Reverend Sergius and Saint Methodius dug two ponds around the cell and planted an alley of elms.”
Quite recently, the Peshnoshsky monastery lay in ruins, but now it shines with splendor: the benefactors of the revived monastery fully felt the effectiveness of the prayer support of the great abbot of Holy Rus' - St. Sergius of Radonezh.
Bishop Nikolai of Balashikha
Peacemaking of Sergius of Radonezh
Another aspect of Abbot Sergius’s activity was peacemaking. With wise and meek words, he influenced the most hardened and embittered hearts, very often reconciling the warring princes, persuading them to obey the Grand Duke of Moscow (for example, the Rostov prince in 1356, the Nizhny Novgorod prince in 1365, Oleg of Ryazan, etc. ). At that time, Rus' was tormented by the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich Donskoy (1350-1389) gathered an army and came to the monastery of Sergius to ask for his blessing for the upcoming battle, which later went down in history as the Battle of Kulikovo. As assistants to the Grand Duke, Sergius blessed two monks of his monastery - schemamonks Andrei (Oslyabya) and Alexander (Peresvet) , predicting victory for Prince Dimitri. And this time the words of the abbot of the Trinity monastery were fulfilled: on September 8 (Old Art.), 1380, on the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Russian soldiers defeated the Tatar hordes on the Kulikovo field, thereby marking the beginning of the liberation of the Russian land from the Mongol-Tatar yoke. During this massacre, Sergius and the brethren of the Trinity Monastery prayed to God to grant victory to the Russian prince and his army.
Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Photochrome (color lithograph), 1890s
In 1382, when Tokhtamysh’s army approached Moscow, Sergius left his monastery and went to defend Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver (1333-1399).
After repelling the invasion of Khan Mamai, the Moscow prince began to treat the Radonezh abbot with even greater reverence and invited him in 1389 to seal a spiritual will legitimizing the new order of succession to the throne from father to eldest son.
Library of the Russian Faith Teaching in memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Great Menaion of Cheti →
Read online in original
B. M. Kloss. Monasticism in the era of the formation of a centralized state
Despite the effective support of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Russian Metropolitan, supported by convincing testimony from church authorities, the monastic communal reform progressed, however, not without difficulties. Supporters of a special life resolutely defended their privileges and did not intend to change the established order. For example, the message of Archbishop Dionysius did not achieve its goal and did not convince the Snetogorsk monks at all. The Moscow Epiphany Monastery, as it was a special place in the 14th century, remained so even in the 16th century: from the spiritual document of Prince Ivan Vasilyevich Romodanovsky in 1522, it turns out that the lay prince lived in the Epiphany Monastery with “his elders” in his own cells, and essentially - in a kind of mini-estate, which included: two upper rooms (one of them was a dining room), two entryways, a cellar, a glacier, a cookhouse, a vault, a granary, and cages with various property214.
Resistance to the communal reform in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery reached such intensity that part of the brethren had the thought “as if they did not want Sergius’ eldership.” At this moment, the elder brother of the monk Stefan, a pupil of the Moscow Epiphany Monastery and, presumably, a convinced supporter of singular living, presented his rights: “And who is the abbot in this place? Didn’t I first sit in this place?”215 (from which the assumption arises: didn’t that piece of land on which the monastery was built belong to Stephen?). Sergius did not argue, and without saying a word to anyone, he secretly left the monastery and headed to the Pereyaslavl volost of Kinelu. Arriving at the Makhrishchi Monastery, he asked Abbot Stefan for a monk-guide, with whom, having gone around “many places,” they found a “red and green place” on the banks of the Kirzhach River. Here Sergius founded a monastery in the name of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Metropolitan gave his blessing, and the princes and boyars - “enough money for the construction of the monastery.”
Although the Kirzhach Monastery stood on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir, it is not clear that Sergius addressed Grand Duke Dmitry or any private individual. But it is known that the monk sent two of his disciples to Metropolitan Alexei, asking for blessings. The metropolitan see, indeed, had possessions on Kirzhach (for example, “Romanov Metropolitan Volost on the River on Kerzhachi” and others)216. Therefore, it is quite possible that the monastery on Kirzhach arose thanks to not only the spiritual, but also the material support of Metropolitan Alexei. Its emergence should be attributed by all indications to the initial phase of the monastic reform, i.e., around 1365.
Meanwhile, the monastery on Makovets, having lost its abbot, began to thicken, part of the brethren went to Kirzhach to Sergius. Those who remained turned to Metropolitan Alexei with a plea to return Sergius back to the monastery. The Metropolitan sends two archimandrites, Gerasim and Paul217, to Sergius, asking him to return to the Trinity Monastery: “Whoever does annoyance to you, I will drive you out of the monastery, so that there will be no one who does this dirty trick.” Sergius returns to Makovets, and appoints his student Roman as builder to the Annunciation Monastery.
After 1365, the reform began to spread more actively. At the same time, the emphasis was placed not on old monasteries, which were difficult to rebuild, but on newly created ones, following the Gospel saying: “like new wine put into new wineskins, and both will be preserved; If new wine be put into old wineskins, the mixture will be spoiled, and the wine will be spilled, and both will perish” (Matthew 9:17)218. And here the special role of Sergius of Radonezh should be emphasized. Sergius himself founded several monasteries, his students and “interlocutors”, students of students created or restored, according to the calculations of Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov), about half of all that appeared in the XTV-XV centuries. monasteries219. An entire monastic region was formed in the North, which A. N. Muravyov (in the middle of the 19th century) called the “Russian Thebaid” - by analogy with the Egyptian Thebaid, the cradle of early Christian monasticism. “Reverend Sergius stands at the head of everyone,” wrote A. N. Muravyov, “on the southern edge of this wonderful region and sends his disciples and interlocutors inside it, and Saint Cyril, on its other edge, receives new newcomers and resettles monasteries around himself, throwing their deserted waters even to the White Sea and the Solovetsky Islands”220.
But that will come later. In the meantime, new monasteries encircle the capital and strengthen the borders of the Moscow Principality...
Metropolitan Alexei is planning to found a votive monastery in honor of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands (in memory of the miraculous rescue from a storm during the voyage from Constantinople to Rus', which happened on August 16). The saint asks Sergius for his favorite disciple Andronicus, together with whom he founded a monastery on the banks of the Yauza River near Moscow. The Metropolitan gave “what was needed for the establishment of the monastery, and established a common life.” Andronicus was tonsured by Sergius himself and lived under the command of the monk for 10 years221. Consequently, the monastery could not have been created before 1365. Andronik died on June 13, 1373.222 Thus, the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery arose between 1365 and 1373, and the most favorable year in this interval was 1366, since it was in this year that the temple holiday (August 16) coincided with the Sunday during the day.
In 1374, Sergius of Radonezh, now living in the “fatherland of Prince Vladimir Andreevich”223, founded in Serpukhov, at the request of the prince, a monastery “near the city on Vysokoye” in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos of Her Honorable Conception, “build a common life with great prudence” and blesses the abbess his student Athanasius, “perfect in virtues, well-proportioned and learned, and intelligent in the divine scriptures, which his writings now bear witness to.”224. We have already mentioned one “writing” of Athanasius (GIM. Syn. No. 193), but it is possible to find other autographs of his. In 1382, Athanasius left his abbess, went to Constantinople and bought himself a cell in the Studite monastery, where “he remained as one of the poor.” “And live in silence with the holy elders,” but by no means in inaction: in 1392, with his blessing, the monk Sergius rewrote a collection of teachings and lives and sent the brethren to the Vysotsky monastery225, in 1401 Athanasius himself, in the monastery of the Mother of God Periveleptus, rewrote Cyprian’s version of the Jerusalem Charter called “The Eye of the Church” and sent the manuscript to Rus'. Lists of the charter immediately spread to the monasteries of the “Brotherhood of St. Sergius”: Serpukhov Vysotsky, Spaso-Andronikovsky, Trinity-Sergius, Savvo-Storozhevsky, Kirillo-Belozersky, and Pereyaslavl-Zalessky.
A short time later, another chick flew out of Sergiev’s nest - his own nephew Fedor. Sergius begged him: “I hoped that you would give my bones to the grave and for me you would be an intercessor in this place.” However, the nephew had other ideas, and with the assistance of Grand Duke Dmitry, having received a blessing from Metropolitan Alexei, he founded the Monastery of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the banks of the Moscow River in a place “called from the ancient Simonovo.” This happened between 1375 and 1377.226 “Having established common life with great strength, as if it is nothing for anyone to tremble at all, neither to call one’s own, but to have everything in common”227. The Monk Sergius came “to see the place” and was convinced that “it was good and like a monastery.” But the restless Fedor did not think so, and in 1379 he moved the monastery to a more convenient place and founded a new church - now the Assumption of the Virgin Mary228. The second Pachomiev edition of the Life of Sergius, very attentive to the history of the Simonov Monastery, notes that Fyodor obtained from Patriarch Nile for himself the rank of archimandrite, and for the monastery - stauropegy, i.e. direct subordination to the patriarch, “and not to obey the metropolitan in any way”229 . However, Fyodor soon had to leave his monastery: seeing his “great life and green upliftment,” the “great princes” and the saint, with “great prayer,” begged Fyodor to take the table of the Rostov archbishopric230.
The Stromynsky Monastery on the Dubenka River was founded by Sergius according to the “word” of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich on the Grand Duke’s territory (Prince Dmitry bequeathed the Shernu parish to his son Peter in 1389). The Life of Sergius talks about this as follows. Having learned that “Mamai is moving the entire Horde and is going to the Russian land,” Prince Dmitry comes to Sergius for a blessing and promises: “If God helps me with your prayers, then I will build a church in the name of our Most Pure Lady Mother of God of the honorable Dormition and I will build a monastery of common life”231. Obviously, this describes the situation on the eve of the grandiose Battle of Kulikovo (specifically, around August 15, 1380)232. Having won, Dmitry Donskoy fulfills his promise and, together with Sergius, founds the Dubensky Monastery. In the chronicles, the message about the consecration of the monastery church is mistakenly placed under 1379, since December 1 (the day of consecration) was a Sunday in 1381 (in 1379 it was Thursday). Consequently, the creation of the Stromynsky Monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary should be dated December 1, 1381. According to chronicle data, Sergius appointed his disciple Leonty as abbot233. In the second quarter of the 15th century. in the Trinity Monastery, however, there was an opinion that Savva was the abbot in Stromyn. Coordinating these versions, Pachomius Logofet in his first edition omitted the name of the abbot altogether, but in subsequent editions he nevertheless wrote the name of Savva (the future abbot of Storozhevsky).
Sergius founded another monastery at the request of Grand Duke Dmitry, now on the southern borders of the Moscow principality, in Kolomna, in his “fatherland”, in a place “we call Golutvina” (at the confluence of the Moscow River with the Oka). In the monastery dedicated to the Epiphany, Sergius appointed his disciple Gregory as abbot234. The creation of the Golutvinsky monastery occurred in the last years of Sergius’s life (“with old age we are already conquering and labors with green”) and, one can assume, happened in 1385, when Sergius had to pass through Kolomna, returning from Ryazan (where, at the request of the Grand Duke negotiated with Oleg Ryazansky).
Later legends attribute to Sergius of Radonezh the creation of the Boris and Gleb Monastery on the Ustye River near Rostov and the St. George Hermitage in Gorokhovets235, but this information is too legendary and is not supported by early evidence.
Many monasteries were founded by students of Sergius of Radonezh. According to sources that are far from contemporary with the event, Sergius, before his death, appointed Nikon as his successor, but he “desired to remain in silence” (obviously, not of his own free will). The brethren called Savva, who headed the monastery on Stromyn, to become abbess236. Although the life of Savva was compiled in the middle of the 16th century, 237, but from an accidentally dropped phrase about Dmitrov’s affiliation with Prince Yuri Dmitrievich, 238 one can guess the existence of some kind of protorofa, compiled in 1432–1434. 239 This explains the presence in the life of unique information about the six-year-old abbess Savva (more precisely: “in the sixth year it happened” - which allows for a period of ^ years with a little) in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery (i.e. during 1392–1398), about the invitation of Prince Yuri Savva to Zvenigorod to establish a monastery The Nativity of the Mother of God “on Storozhi”, about the prince’s donation of “many villages and plenty of property” to the created monastery, about Savva’s blessing of Prince Yuri Dmitrievich before the campaign against the Volga Bulgars (the campaign took place in the fall of 1399)240. Thus, the foundation of the Storozhevsky Monastery dates back to 1398 or 1399. Preference should be given to 1398, since this year the temple holiday (September 8) fell on a Sunday. Savva died on December 3, 1406.
Tradition connects the founding of the Nikolo-Pesnoshsky monastery in the Dmitrov principality with the name of another Sergius disciple - Methodius. The monastery was established 15 versts from Dmitrov, beyond the Yakhroma River, and Methodius, following the example of his teacher, himself worked in the sweat of his brow, “carrying” trees on foot across the river, which was called Peshnoshi241. The date of creation of the monastery has no historical basis. According to church tradition, Methodius died on June 4, 1392.
Another branch of northeastern monasticism, connected by its roots with the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, is represented by the names of Paphnutius Borovsky and Joseph Volotsky. Paphnutius at a young age took monastic vows at the Pokrovsky Borovsky Monastery and was entrusted to the mentoring care of the blind elder Nikita, a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh. For seven years, Paphnutius studied monastic life with the famous elder, and subsequently founded his monastery in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on the Isterva River, which flows into the Protva. The disciple of Paphnutius Joseph, a famous publicist and theologian of the late 15th – early 16th centuries, founded his monastery on Volok in 1479.
At the end of the 14th century. the advance of the “hostels”, Sergius’s students and interlocutors, into the little-developed borders of the Russian North begins. Two colonization flows emerged: one spread through the Vologda forests, the other reached Beloozero. These territories also differed in ownership: Vologda and Kostroma were ruled by the Grand Duke, and Belozerye was part of the appanage of Prince Andrei Dmitrievich created in 1389.
Dimitri (Prilutsky) came from a wealthy merchant family of Pereyaslavl-Zalessky, took monastic vows at the Goritsky Monastery, then founded the cenobitic St. Nicholas Monastery “on the Swamp” near the city. He visited Sergius of Radonezh and was his “spiritual interlocutor.” In 1377, Demetrius was still in his monastery (remember the entry on Parenesis by Ephraim the Syrian). The glory of Demetrius’s ascetic life reached Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich, “who pointed out the great victory and victory beyond the Don to the filthy Tatars,” and he begged the monk to become a successor at the baptism of one of his sons. In the 80s, the Grand Duke had sons: in 1382 - Andrei (baptized by Fyodor Simonovsky), in 1385 - Peter (baptized by Sergius of Radonezh), approximately in 1386 - Ivan (not mentioned in the chronicles), in 1389 – Konstantin (baptized by Vasily Dmitrievich). This means that Demetrius could have been the recipient of baptism either in 1386 (since in 1389 Demetrius was already in the North and predicted the death of Dmitry Donskoy), or in 1385, when Sergius of Radonezh, who was close to Demetrius, participated in the baptism (it is appropriate to recall the words life that the Grand Duke revered Demetrius, “like another pillar in Rus', the Great Sergius” 242). Then Demetrius, avoiding “human glory,” retires to the “northern countries, like those near the icy sea-ocean,” and on the banks of the Velikaya River (a tributary of the Lezha) he erects the Church of the Resurrection. The envious man incites “ungrateful people” from the nearby “village,” who raise “murmur” against “his holy anointed head.” Demetrius is forced to go further north and, at the bow (bend) of the Vologda River, he founds a “common” monastery in honor of the Feast of the All-Merciful Savior (celebrated on August 1; by the way, the closest one after
2. Sunday falls in 1389). The land for construction was given by local “Christ lovers” Ilya and Isidor, nicknamed Vypryag. The monk predicted the death of Grand Duke Dmitry (May 19, 1389), but he himself reposed on February 11, 1392.
Stefan Makhrishchsky had a similar fate. According to the confused account of his life (compiled in the second half of the 16th century), Stefan was tonsured at the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, came to North-Eastern Rus' under the Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovich and Metropolitan Theognostus (?), received permission to build a monastery (in the name of St. Trinity) on Makhrishche, within the Pereyaslav Principality. But we saw above that Stefan actually lived in the mid-60s of the 14th century. and was one of the “interlocutors” of Sergius of Radonezh. The enmity of the neighboring estates of the Yurkovskys forces Stefan to leave with his student Gregory to the northern forests, where he founded the Avnezh Trinity Monastery (60 versts northeast of Vologda, near the Sukhona River). At the call of Grand Duke Dmitry, Stefan returned to Makhrishche, leaving Gregory as abbot and Cassian as cellarer in the newly created monastery. According to one version of the life, Gregory and Cassian of Avnezh were subsequently killed by “godless Tatars,” and according to another (earlier) version, by local peasants243. Stephen himself died on July 14, 1406.
A student of Sergius of Radonezh was Sergius of Nurom, who came to the Trinity Monastery from Athos. Desiring desert solitude, Sergius Nuromsky goes to the Vologda region, where he founded the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery on the Nurma River, a tributary of the Obnora. The life of the saint was compiled at the end of the 16th century in 244. Sergius of Nuromsky died on October 7, 1412.
Tradition also names Sylvester of Obnor, the founder of the Resurrection Monastery on the Obnor River, as a student of Sergius of Radonezh. Silent records about the monk have been preserved from the second half of the 17th century in 245. It is believed that Sylvester died on April 25
3. g 46
Among the disciples of Sergius of Radonezh is the famous Pavel Obnorsky, who spent 15 years in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. According to his life, the study of which is still far from complete,246 Paul, who strove for silence and solitude, asked to go to desert places. After long wanderings, he stopped in the Komel Forest, on the Gryazovitsa River, where he lived for another three years in the hollow of a linden tree. From there he crossed to the bank of the Nurma River, four miles from the Spaso-Nuromsky Monastery. Here Sergius Nuromsky found him in a very impressive situation: Pavel was feeding the birds sitting on his head and shoulders, and next door a bear, foxes, hares and other animals were sitting peacefully, waiting for their food. In 1414, Paul, with the blessing of Metropolitan Photius, founded the Trinity Monastery in the Nurma Valley according to the cenobitic charter. The monk reposed on January 10, 1429 at the age of 112.247
The monastic colonization of the Belozersky region is associated with the names of Saints Kirill and Ferapont.
The Life of Kirill248 provides biographical information about the saint: in the world, Kozma was a relative of the noble nobleman Timofey Vasilyevich Velyaminov, for whom he served as treasurer. Velyaminov objected to Kozma’s desire to become a monk, and only Stefan Makhrishchsky, who happened to be in Moscow at that time, managed to convince his adamant relative. The abbot of the Simonov Monastery, Fyodor, tonsures Kozma and names him Kirill. Cyril becomes a disciple of Elder Mikhail249 - therefore, until 1384, since in the winter of 1383/84 Mikhail was already installed as bishop of the city of Smolensk250. Then, by order of Archimandrite Fyodor, Kirill serves in the bakery, indulging in great abstinence and prayer here too. When Sergius of Radonezh happened to visit Simonovo, the saint first of all came to the “bread house” to Cyril, “to talk for many hours” about the benefits of the soul251. When Fedor was installed as Archbishop of Rostov (1387), the brethren chose Cyril as archimandrite (1388). But Kirill did not remain abbot of the troubled Simonov monastery for long - he preferred to seclude himself in a secluded cell on Old Simonov. While praying one day in front of the icon of the Mother of God, Kirill heard a voice commanding him to go to Beloe Lake. And the elder set off on a long journey together with his spiritual brother Ferapont. Arriving at the shore of Lake Siverskoye, Kirill recognized the place shown to him in a vision, and founded a church here in the name of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (1397). Ferapont soon retired to another place and, 15 versts from the Kirillov Monastery, founded a monastery in the name of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (1398)252 and established a community of residence. Kirill Belozersky died on June 9, 1427 at the age of 90.
Beloozero was the inheritance of the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Andrei Dmitrievich Mozhaisky. Obviously, the prince was interested in the development of the lands of his inheritance and the Christianization of the region, in the development of education. Through his care, the new monasteries were provided with many lands, and the monastic settlements were provided with various tax benefits, they were exempted from tribute and duties, in addition to this, the prince sent a lot of “pleased alms” to the monasteries. In 1408, Andrei Dmitrievich called the Monk Feralont to the capital of the appanage, the city of Mozhaisk, to establish a monastery of the Nativity, a mile from the city on the Luzhka River, which later received the name Luzhetsky Mozhaisk. Here Ferapont ended his earthly existence on May 27, 1426.
The students and pupils of the “school” of St. Sergius thus made an outstanding contribution to the dissemination of the principles of community life. Through the labors and exploits of the brotherhood of the monasteries they founded, the rules of monastic practice were improved, the richest written culture of medieval Rus' was created, and Christian education was spread in the newly developed lands.
Monasteries founded by Sergius of Radonezh
In addition to the Trinity Monastery , Sergius founded several more monasteries, which later became monasteries: Blagoveshchensky on Kirzhach (1358), Epiphany Staro-Golutvin (1385) near Kolomna, Vysotsky Monastery (1374), St. George's on Klyazma. The abbot of Radonezh sent his disciples to these monasteries and monasteries, who became abbots there. In total, the disciples of Sergius of Radonezh created about forty monasteries.
Epiphany Staro-Golutvin Monastery. Contemporary photography
The most famous were such famous ones as Savvo-Storozhevsky (1398) near Zvenigorod, Bogoroditse-Rozhdestvensky Ferapontov (1398), Kirillo-Belozersky (1397), Pavlo-Obnorsky (1414) and many others.
Theotokos-Nativity Ferapontov Monastery
S. Radonezh and its monasteries.
Sergius of Radonezh and his monasteries.
The revival of monasticism began only in the second half - the end of the 14th century as a result of the activities of St. Alexei Moskovsky and etc. Sergius of Radonezh, during the period of the national revival of Rus', overcoming the Horde yoke.
At the request of Grand Duke Dmitry Ioannovich Donskoy, Sergius of Radonezh founded three monasteries.
The first in 1378 was Dubensky on Stromyn with the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, thirty miles southeast of the Trinity Lavra at the Dubenka River, which flows into the Dubna River (where the village of Stromyn is now).
Stromynsky-Uspensky-Troitsky-Dubensky Monastery, that was its full name.
It existed until 1766, until it fell under Catherine’s secularization. By that time, Stromynka had long since become a secondary road, giving way to the Siberian Highway that ran just south of it. The wooden monastery church was taken to Kapotnya in 1796, which was not yet an industrial area. Currently, only a chapel and an old cemetery remain in that place.
The second - after 1380, in gratitude to God for the victory over Mamai - Dubensky on the island, also with the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, forty miles northwest of the Trinity Lavra, near another river Dubenka.
The Assumption Dubensky Monastery existed in the XIV-XVIII centuries and was abolished in 1764.
On the site, dismantled at the end of the 18th century. wooden Assumption and Annunciation churches of the abolished Dubno monastery, a wooden chapel was built. She was assigned to a church in the Trans-Kubezh region. It burned down in the middle of the twentieth century. In 2001, a large memorial cross was erected on the site of the monastery.
The third is Golutvinsky, with a temple in honor of the Epiphany of the Lord, near Kolomna in the Golutvin tract.
One of the many monasteries that arose as a result of the ascetic activity of Sergius of Radonezh. The first abbot is considered to be Sergius’s student, Grigory Golutvinsky. He was appointed abbot of the newly formed monastery by Bishop Gerasim of Kolomna. The sources contain mention of Bishop Gregory of Kolomna dating back to this time. Perhaps this bishop was the Monk Gregory Golutvinsky.
Monastic legends claim that under the leadership of St. Sergius, not only the site of the monastery was chosen, but also the first temple was founded in honor of the Epiphany. Today, in the basement of the Epiphany Church of the monastery, you can see the remains of the original foundation of the temple, called “the stones of the monk.” According to legend, when the need for a well arose, the Monk Sergius showed the brethren a place on the territory of the monastery, where a spring soon began to flow. It operated until the first half of the 20th century, when, after the closure of the monastery, the source was filled in and subsequently concreted over by the authorities. Until the monastery was closed in 1929, shrines associated with the name of the saint were kept in the monastery: his staff, pectoral cross, vestments. Transferred to the jurisdiction of the Moscow diocese in 1994, and regular services were resumed in December 1994. In 1995, the Moscow Diocesan Theological School was transferred to the monastery, which was subsequently transformed into the Kolomna Orthodox Theological Seminary.
In October 2012, the historical buildings of the eastern fraternal, western hotel building and a number of others were transferred by the Kolomna Seminary to the monastery.
The Monk Sergius himself went to all these places, according to custom, on foot, to bless and lay the foundation for the monastery, and in all three monasteries he installed his disciples as abbots. Of course, the funds for both the construction and maintenance of these monasteries were given by the Grand Duke.
History teacher MB OU Arzinskaya secondary school
Glazunova Elena Anatolyevna
Miracles of Sergius of Radonezh
As indicated in the Life, Sergius of Radonezh performed many miracles. People came to him from different villages, hamlets and cities to receive spiritual advice, and sometimes even just to see him. As the hagiographers of Sergius write, he often healed the suffering, and once he resurrected a boy who died in his father’s arms when he was carrying the child to the abbot. The fame of Sergius' miracles quickly spread throughout Rus'. Sick people from different areas began to come to him. And none of them left without good advice and healing. But human glory weighed heavily on the ascetic. One day, Bishop Stefan of Perm (about 1330-1340 - 1396) was heading from his diocese to Moscow. The road ran not far from the Sergius Monastery. The bishop decided to visit the monastery on the way back and stopped, read a prayer, bowed to Abbot Sergius with the words “Peace be with you, spiritual brother.” At this time, Sergius was at a meal with the brethren. In response to Bishop Stephen, Sergius sent a blessing. Some of the disciples were very surprised by the abbot’s act and hurried to the indicated place, where they saw Bishop Stephen.
Saint Stephen of Perm with his life. Icon. Rus. 1st half of the 17th century From the St. Nicholas Church of the Solvychegda Holy Cross Monastery, Arkhangelsk Region
Once, during the liturgy, an Angel of the Lord concelebrated with St. Sergius, but in his humility, the abbot forbade anyone to tell about this until the end of his earthly life. For his pious life, Sergius was awarded heavenly vision from the Lord. Once he prayed in front of the icon of the Mother of God and, having finished the prayer, sat down to rest. And suddenly he told his disciple Micah that a miraculous visit awaited them. A moment later, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared, accompanied by the holy apostles Peter and John the Theologian. From the unusually bright light, the abbot fell to the ground, but the Mother of God touched him with her hands and, blessing him, promised to always patronize his monastery.
CHAPTER XX. Disciples and interlocutors of the Sergievs in their monasteries
CHAPTER XX Disciples and interlocutors of the Sergievs in their monasteries
Within the Kostroma region.
On Obnor and Nurma. In Moscow and Peshnosh. On White Lake. In Serpukhov. On Dubna. Within the Vologda and Tver regions. Within Kaluga and Zvenigorod. Again in Kostroma. Interlocutors in Vologda, on Maxpe, within the Rostov, Suzdal and Perm regions. Distant echoes of legends and unclear traces. Stars of the midnight countries (1345 – XV century) Rejoice, multi-bright lamp, who led many monks to Christ.
Ik. Menaia
Rejoice, having planted many abodes by your passage through the deserts.
Akaf. 2. Ik. eleven
Up to forty monasteries were founded by the disciples and spiritual friends of St. Sergius; from them, in turn, came the founders of up to fifty monasteries, so that the spiritual descendants of the great Radonezh ascetic spread throughout northeastern Rus', everywhere igniting the grace-filled flame of spiritual life and spreading the light of Christian enlightenment. In this essay, we cannot present a complete picture of the spread of monasticism from the Sergius monastery202 and will limit ourselves here to brief information about the disciples and interlocutors of St. Sergius, who founded their monasteries and had personal relationships with him.
1. One of the first disciples and tonsures of St. Sergius was St. Abraham of Galicia
, also called in our monthly books
Gorodetsky
and
Chukhlomsky
203. Judging by the fact that, according to the testimony of his handwritten life, he died on July 20, 1375 at a very old age, we must assume that he was many years older than the Monk Sergius, who at that time was only 56 years old.
At the Radonezh monastery, Abraham worked in the bakery and cookhouse, carried firewood and water for the brethren, and then was awarded the rank of presbyterate. Desiring the highest feat, he asked the great elder for a blessing and retired to the then wild country of Galicia. Here, on a mountain near Lake Galicia, he found the miraculous icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness of Hearts” and set up a chapel and cell for himself. When his refuge became known to the Galician prince Dimitri Feodorovich, he brought, at the request of this prince, the shrine he had found to Galich, where he arrived across the lake in a fishing boat. Popular legend says that where the Saint swam, a stream is still visible, different from the others and called Abraham’s204. In Galich, there were many miracles from the holy icon, which is why the zealous prince gave money to the Reverend to build a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
, and convinced Abraham himself to be the abbot of this monastery.
The holy abbot worked hard here to convert the wild tribe of Chudsky to the faith of Christ, and the Mother of God apparently helped him in this with abundant miracles from Her holy icon. When the monastery became very crowded, the Reverend withdrew about seventy miles; The disciples found him here too, and soon another monastery was founded - the Position of the Belt of the Mother of God
(now the village of Ozerki).
Then Abraham retired to the Viga River and founded a monastery there in the name of the Cathedral of Our Lady
. Finally, he left here and twenty miles from the Viga monastery he built a fourth monastery - in honor of
the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos
, where he rested in the Lord. Thus, this lamp of humility was portable from one place to another and lit the lights of spiritual life everywhere206.
2. Rev. Pavel Obnorsky°,
or
Komelsky,
a Muscovite by birth, a monk of one of the Volga monasteries, was also one of the first students of St. Sergius.
Like Abraham, he passed through the monastery of the great elder of obedience both in the kitchen and at the meal, and was also in cell obedience with Abbot Sergius himself206. He worked like this for several years. Then he asked the elder for his blessing to live in solitude in the surrounding forests. After fifteen years of such a life, when the brethren began to visit him, he again asked St. Sergius for blessing to go to a more distant desert. The holy elder gave the zealous disciple - a lover of silence - a copper cross for blessing, and Paul, after long wanderings through deserted places, finally stopped in the Komel forest. Above the river Gryazovitsa, Paul chose for himself the hollow of an old linden tree instead of a cell and for three years he labored here, unknown to anyone. . Then he moved to the Nurma River and here he set up a cell a little more spacious than the left hollow. The Monk Sergius of Nurom, also a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh, once came to him and saw this: flocks of birds hovered around Paul, some of them sat on his head and shoulders, and he fed them from his hands; a bear stood right there, waiting for food from the hermit; foxes and hares ran around, expecting the same thing... This is the life of the innocent first man!° When lovers of silence began to come to him here and asked permission to live with him, he at first did not agree, and then, remembering the advice of his mentor, St. Sergius of Radonezh, asked Metropolitan Photios for his blessing to establish a cenobitic monastery in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity
. Out of deep humility, he did not accept holy orders. As a one hundred and twelve year old man, lying on his deathbed, on January 6, 1429, he tearfully told his brethren about the burning of Kostroma by the Tatars that day, and on January 10 he departed to the Lord. In his monastery there is still kept the cross given to him by St. Sergius° for blessing208.
3. Four miles from the deserted dwelling of St. Paul, his friend and spiritual father, St. Sergius of Nuromsky,
.
He was a Greek by birth, came to the Radonezh desert to St. Sergius from Mount Athos and lived for a long time under the leadership of the great father of monks. With his blessing, he founded the Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Lord
. Sergius and Paul often visited each other, and Paul, out of respect for Sergius, usually accompanied him two-thirds of the distance from his monastery. The place where the holy friends parted is marked by a chapel. The Monk Sergius died on October 7, 1412.
4. Twenty miles from the monastery of St. Paul was the monastery of the Resurrection of Christ, founded even earlier by Pavlova by a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh - Sylvester of Obnor
.
This saint of God labored for a long time here, on the banks of Obnora, in a deep forest, until one lost villager found him. After that, zealots of spiritual achievement began to settle near his deserted cell, and a monastery was founded. Saint Alexy blessed the construction of a temple in the name of the Resurrection of Christ
.
The Monk Sylvester often retired to a remote place in the dense forest, which is now called a reserved grove
. From there he would go out from time to time to talk with visitors to the place where the chapel is now. He died in 1379, April 25th.
5 and 6. Venerable Andronik
and
Savva
.
The Monk Andronik, “quiet, meek, humble,” according to the chronicler209, was from the same Rostov region from which his great Abba came. The holy mentor loved his holy disciple very much for his virtues and unrequited obedience and especially prayed to God for him, to protect this innocent soul from the machinations of the enemy and help him complete his course to the end. Andronik had long harbored in his soul the desire to found his own community monastery and did not hide this desire from the elder. We saw above how this holy desire was fulfilled when Saint Alexy asked St. Sergius for this disciple to build the monastery of the All-Merciful Savior
.
The place was chosen seven miles from the Kremlin, on the Yauza River, and St. Sergius himself came to bless this place. In 1361 the monastery was completed with a building. The great elder came here more than once to his beloved student and supported him in his feat with his conversations. One day, the great ascetic came here to venerate the image of the Savior (which was brought by Saint Alexy from Constantinople) before setting off on a long journey to Nizhny Novgorod (in 1365), and at parting he had a long conversation with Andronik. Subsequently, a chapel was erected at the site of their separation - this is on the way to Vladimir. Under the leadership of the Venerable Andronicus, his companion and successor in the abbess, the Venerable Savva
and the famous icon painters
Andrei Rublev
and
Daniel
, who painted the court Annunciation Cathedral and the cathedral churches in Vladimir and the Sergius Lavra, were brought up. To this day, the miraculous icon of the Most Holy One stands on the right side of the royal doors of the Trinity Cathedral Trinity, written by St. Andrew.
7. At the same time as the Andronikov Monastery (in 1361), the Peshnoshskaya
, founded by the desert-loving
Methodius
210
.
At a young age he came to St. Sergius and lived for several years under his leadership.
Then, with the elder’s blessing, he retired into the wilderness of an oak forest beyond the Yakhroma
and set up his cell on a small hill in the middle of a swamp.
When the brethren began to gather around him, St. Sergius, having visited him, advised him to build a monastery and temple in another, drier place and blessed the very place where this monastery now stands.° St. Methodius himself worked during its construction, carrying trees
across the river
on foot . That is why the monastery received the name Peshnosha
, and the river was nicknamed Peshnosha.° At times, the Monk Methodius would retire two miles from the monastery for silence, and the Monk Sergius would come to him here for spiritual conversation.
Hence this area is called Beseda,
and there is a chapel here. The “interlocutor and companion” of St. Sergius Methodius reposed eight months after the death of his great elder, on June 4, 1392. In his monastery, a wooden chalice in which he performed sacred acts, and a reliquary with part of the relics of St. Sergius are honestly kept.
8. Venerable Theodore
, in the world, John, the nephew of St. Sergius, tonsured by him in his youth, was one of his most zealous and beloved disciples212.
Honored with the rank of priesthood, he had the desire to found his own cenobitic monastery and revealed his thought to his God-wise uncle-mentor. The Monk Sergius blessed him for this work and even himself came to inspect the place he had chosen for the monastery on the high bank of the Moscow River.° This was around 1370. The fame of Theodore's holy life soon gathered many brothers around him. The Grand Duke chose Theodore as his confessor and sent him with instructions on church affairs to the Ecumenical Patriarch; Metropolitan Alexy treated him with fatherly love, and Cyprian wrote letters to him together with St. Sergius. The high position in which Theodore was placed worried his holy uncle, who “sorried about his honor and glory” and prayed “to make him progress without stumbling.” The great father of monks considered the Simonov monastery to be akin to his Radonezh monastery in Christ, and when need and benefit called him to Moscow, he came straight to the Simonov monastery, where there was even a special cell built for him. A lover of humility and work, here too, together with his brothers, he cultivated the land for vegetable gardens with his own hands, planted trees, dug ponds and treasure troves. And now the fruits of his toilful life are still visible here: not far from the monastery, on a flat, elevated sandy place, there is a vast (up to 150 fathoms in circumference) and deep (up to 6 arshins in the middle) pond, surrounded by a rampart and lined with birch trees. The general tradition of Moscow assures that this pond was excavated by the hands of the first holy ascetics on Simonovo and that St. Sergius took an active part in these works. That is why this pond is called Sergiev
. And Moscow old-timers say that many suffering people, regardless of the time of year, immersed themselves in the water of this pond with faith and prayer for healing, received what they asked for. Since ancient times, on the day of Mid-Pentecost, a procession of the cross has been held here to consecrate the water° 213.
The Monk Theodore was subsequently Archbishop in Rostov, where, despite his short-term leadership of the flock, he left behind an eternal monument with the founding of the Nativity of the Theotokos.
convent. ° He died on November 28, 1394.
Belozersky ascetics left the Simonov monastery
,
Cyril
and
Ferapont
, who both used the instructions of St. Sergius.
The first of them was brought here by Sergiev’s friend, Venerable Stefan of Makhrishchi. When St. Sergius came to Simonov, he visited Cyril first in the bakery. The perspicacious old man saw what would happen to Cyril later, and lovingly talked with him about the salvation of his soul. After Theodore, Kirill was for some time the abbot of the Simonov monastery, but then, out of love for silence, he retired to his secluded cell on Old Simonovo°, and from there, together with his friend Ferapont, he went to the Belozersk region.° There Kirill laid the foundation of the cenobitic monastery of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary °
(in 1397), and Ferapont also founded a communal monastery -
the Nativity of the Virgin Mary °
(in 1398).
In 1408, the Venerable Ferapont, at the request of Prince Andrei Dimitrievich of Mozhaisk, moved to Mozhaisk and here, a mile from the city, founded the Luzhetsky Monastery
, in which he rested in 1426, on May 27. And the Monk Cyril died in 1427°, on June 9.
11. Around 1373, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, the founder of Serpukhov, wished to establish a monastic monastery in this city as the best school of piety. He invited St. Sergius to his place and asked for his advice. The holy elder blessed the prince’s good intention and together with him inspected the site of the future monastery. This place was called High
, because it was located on the elevated bank of the Nara, near the Oka, in the forest, a mile from the city.
On December 2, 1373, St. Sergius founded the temple of the monastery in honor of the Conception of the Mother of God
by Righteous Anna.
The prince asked the elder to leave the disciple who came with him, St. Athanasius
.
Athanasius, in the world Andrei, in his youth came to the saint of God in his Radonezh desert, and the elder loved him very much for his unrequited obedience and humility. The Monk Sergius was sorry to let Athanasius go, and Blessed Athanasius did not want to part with the God-wise Sergius, but “it is so pleasing to the Lord,” said the elder, and Athanasius obeyed. With the assistance of the pious prince, the monastery was soon completed, and many brethren gathered to Athanasius. The Monk Sergius more than once visited his disciple in Serpukhov214 and sent here his future successor, the Monk Nikon, who was the first monk here, and then the presbyter. The prince built a stone church in the monastery, and Metropolitan Cyprian himself consecrated it. From that time on, the closest spiritual friendship was established between the Saint and the Vysotsk abbot; Cyprian more than once wrote the most friendly messages to Athanasius, and the sincerely devoted abbot shared the sorrows of the Saint, accompanying him to Kiev and Constantinople.° In 1387, the Venerable Athanasius bought himself a monastery cell and stayed there with several of his disciples forever. He worked a lot on translating and copying the patristic works (the statute “Eye of the Church”, written by him, is known), sent icons from Constantinople to his monastery and died there around 1401. In the Vysotsky Monastery, his successor as abbot was his student Afanasy°
, who became famous after his death for working miracles215.
Nikita°
is famous . The dyed vestments of St. Sergius216 have been preserved in this monastery.
12. A year after the founding of the Serpukhov monastery, St. Sergius laid the foundation for the monastery already known to readers on Kirzhach
.° Here the first abbot was his student - Venerable
Roman
, who died on July 29, 1392.
13 and 14. In 1378, the Stromynsky Monastery of the Assumption
of the Mother of God
on the Dubenka River was founded;
its first abbot, or builder, was the Monk Leontius
, a disciple of the Monk Sergius217.
Three years later, in 1381, after the glorious victory of Kulikovo, Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich founded another Dubensky Assumption
Monastery, “on the island”°, where the Monk
Savva
, also a disciple of St. Sergius, was abbot, depicted in the Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity Lavra with his right eye closed. ° To bless this monastery, the great elder gave, as the legend says, the “Cyprus” icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is still revered in the parish church of the village of Stromyni218.
15. Venerable Athanasius
the hermit°, “the calling
Iron Staff
” 219, labored in the place where
the Cherepovets Resurrection
Monastery was later founded and where
the Resurrection
Cathedral is now in Cherepovets.
16. Venerable Xenophon of Tutan°
founded
the Tutan Ascension
Monastery° on the banks of the Darkness River, thirty miles from Tver, where the village of Tutan is now. His memory is honored locally on January 26220.
17. Venerable Ferapont of Boroven
, founder of
the Assumption Borovensky
Monastery°, ten miles from the city of Mosalsk (Kaluga province). According to legend, St. Sergius blessed Ferapont with the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God; Ferapont came with her to the vicinity of the present churchyard of Borovensk; Weary from the journey, he lay down under the shade of one of the ancient trees, placing an image on it. But, when he woke up, he did not find him in his place; He searched for the icon for a long time and finally found it in the forest thicket, on a pine tree. The miraculous disappearance of the icon and its discovery in the same place was repeated up to three times. The monk took this event as an indication that the Most Holy Theotokos was pleased to choose this place for the monastery, and settled here. Soon lovers of hermitage gathered around him, and the monastery was founded. The year of the death of the Monk Ferapont is unknown. The holy icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God still stands in the church of the Borovensky churchyard221.
18. Rev. Savva Storozhevsky
, after the death of St. Sergius and the removal of St. Nikon into silence, he ruled the Lavra of St. Sergius for six years.
A monument to his care for the monastery of St. Sergius is the spring produced by his prayers and to this day called Savvin
(near the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kokuev).
At the request of the Zvenigorod prince Yuri Dimitrievich, in 1398 Savva founded a monastery in the name of of the Virgin Mary
, in which he rested on December 3, 1406.
19. Venerable Jacob of Zheleznoborsk°,
or
Galitsky
, originally from the Galician nobles Amosov, lived in his monastery almost until the death of St. Sergius, and then settled in a dense forest near the iron mines, thirty miles from Galich.
In 1415 he happened to be in Moscow, where he stayed in the Predtechensky Monastery near Bor.° At that time, Grand Duchess Sophia Vitovtovna, the wife of Grand Duke Vasily Dimitrievich°, suffered from childbirth; The Grand Duke sent to ask for prayers from the ascetic Jacob, and the monk predicted to the messengers that the wife of the Grand Duke would give him an heir to the throne. Sophia gave birth to a son, and the grateful Grand Duke gave Jacob the means to build a monastery in the name of the Forerunner°
on the site of his exploits. Jacob died on April 11, 1442.
20. Venerable Gregory Golutvinsky°,
the first abbot of
the Golutvinsky
monastery in Kolomna.° In this monastery, founded around 1385 in honor of
the Epiphany
, the staff of St. Sergius is kept, with which, according to legend, he met after the victory of Demetrius of Donskoy222.
The disciples of St. Sergius include:
21. Venerable Pachomius
of Nerekhta°
, founder of
the Trinity Sypanov Monastery
near Nerekhta°, Kostroma province. Died in 1384 on March 23.
22. Venerable Nikita
of Kostroma°
, founder of the Epiphany Monastery in the city of Kostroma°, and
23. St. Nicephorus
of Borovsk°
, depicted on the icon of the Trinity Cathedral223.
Contemporary devotees of piety to St. Sergius highly valued his spiritual experience and valued his wise advice and instructions. Hence - a whole host of his holy friends and “interlocutors”. And how sweet this touching name sounds to the heart! All of them more or less borrowed their monastic education from him, because “the grace of God was poured out beyond measure on this chosen one, and he, humbly trying to be lower than others, involuntarily surpassed everyone with the abundance of his spiritual gifts, which are so high and, one might say, they placed him alone above the face of the monastics of their age and those that follow” 224. Let us name here the more famous of them.
1. Venerable Demetrius of Prilutsky
, founder of the
Prilutsk
monastery, near Vologda.° The first time he met St. Sergius was probably in 1354, when St. Sergius came to Pereyaslavl to ask for an abbot for his monastery and, no matter how much he refused, was himself ordained to the rank of abbot by Bishop Athanasius .
The Monk Demetrius at that time was asceticizing in St. Nicholas
Monastery, which he founded on the shore
Pereyaslavl
.° It is very likely that he begged the Monk Sergius to stay at his monastery225.
From that time on, he often went to St. Sergius. From Pereyaslavl in 1371 he retired to the Vologda region and there founded the first monastery in that region in the name of the Savior
. Reposed on February 11, 1392.
2. Venerable Stefan of Makhrishchi
.
It has already been discussed above (Chapter XIII). Similar to what St. Sergius suffered in his monastery happened to his holy friend: neighboring residents, the Yurkovsky brothers, armed themselves against him and threatened to kill him. Giving room for anger, the meek Stefan secretly went into the Vologda forests and here, on the Avnezh
, founded the desert monastery
of the Holy Trinity
. Summoned by the Grand Duke of Moscow again to Makhra, he left two disciples there -
Gregory and Cassian
. He reposed on July 14, 1406.
3 and 4. St. Paul
and
Theodore of Rostov
.
When St. Sergius (in 1363) was in his homeland, in Veliky Rostov, these ascetics asked him to choose a place for them for a monastery and to bless the beginning of their holy work. Having delved into the then impenetrable forest jungle surrounding Rostov, the Monk Sergius chose a place on the banks of the Ustya River and said to the hermits: “God and the Most Holy Theotokos will look upon this place.” The Boris and Gleb
was founded here . Theodore also founded
St. Nicholas
Monastery on the
Kovzhe
, which flows into White Lake. He died on October 22, 1419. Soon after him, Paul also reposed.
5. Venerable Dionysius, Archbishop of Suzdal°
, tonsured Kiev, founder of
the Pechersk Ascension
Monastery on the banks of
the Volga
, 5 versts from Nizhny Novgorod. Died on October 15, 1384 in Kiev227.
6. Venerable Euthymius
, a student of Dionysius, who during his stay in Suzdal repeatedly came to St. Sergius for a spiritual conversation with him.
He founded two monasteries - Vasilyevskaya
, 5 versts from Gorokhovets, and the famous
Spaso-Evfimiev
Monastery in
Suzdal
. Reposed on April 1, 1405.
7. Saint Stephen of Perm,
founded 3 monasteries - at the mouths
of the Vym, Vychegda and Sysol
°.
8. Saint Michael of Smolensk°
, student of St. Theodore Simonovsky, or Rostov, wonderworker.
Blessed Epiphanius, having mentioned the founding of some monasteries by St. Sergius, notes: “St. Sergius did not establish just as many monasteries as were written here, but he erected many monasteries for the glory of God and the Most Pure Mother of God, and his disciples
put them in charge of those monasteries.”
From the above list of students and interlocutors of St. Sergius, it is clear that Epiphanius indeed does not mention many of them at all. But our list, of course, is far from complete. Thus, it is known, for example, that on the way back from Nizhny Novgorod in 1365, St. Sergius laid the foundation of the St. George
Hermitage in Gorokhovetsky district, on the banks of the
Klyazma
228. There is no doubt that the first ascetics in this hermitage were the disciples or interlocutors of the great father of monks, but who exactly - no information has been preserved.
It is also known that Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich Donskoy granted St. Sergius in the Kremlin itself, near his palace, a place for cells and a church in case of his stay in Moscow, and that subsequently there was the Epiphany
Monastery229, but who was the builder of this monastery is unknown. In the Ryazan Trinity Monastery, a legend has been preserved about its founding by St. Sergius at the time when he came to Ryazan to reconcile Prince Oleg with the Moscow Grand Duke, but no details about its construction have been preserved230. Probably, even legends about many monasteries have not reached us. There are, for example, villages in which gravestones are found with the names of monks buried under them, although there are no historical memories, or even legends about the existence of monasteries in these places231. But these tombstones alone testify that there were “monasteries” here, which, of course, had their beneficial effect on the surrounding residents and served as conductors of the spirit of Orthodox asceticism among the people, and this action, no matter how limited it was in terms of space, it was important already because it was constantly affecting, it became everyday... And if we take into account the above list of students and interlocutors of the Sergius, then with a high probability we can assume that both the number of spiritual pupils of St. Sergius, and the number of monasteries founded by them and their students, was incomparably more than what we know based on the evidence of historical tradition.
The ancient chosen one of God, the great father of believers, was once told: “ Look to the sky and honor the stars, if you can destroy me... so will your seed be.”
"(Gen. 15:5).
And St. Sergius, the great father of monks, was shown in a vision many birds and said: “Look around!.. So the flock of your disciples will multiply!” And this heavenly promise came true. Like birds of paradise, the Sergius chicks flew from their native Radonezh nest throughout the east and north of the Russian land and glorified the Lord with their wondrous life; Like stars in the midnight sky, they scattered across the face of their native land and burn brightly throughout the vast expanse of its northern borders. And until this wondrous radiance is obscured by the vain clouds of human wisdom, while the spirit of true asceticism blows in Russia, until then no misfortunes will be terrible for her, for the seed is holy - her standing!.. Contents
Repose of Abbot Sergius
At the end of his righteous life, Sergius, having perspicaciously learned about his impending death six months before, called the brethren to him and, after a brief council of the elders, indicated that the student Nikon (1352-1426), experienced in spiritual life and obedience, should be chosen as rector. Just before his death, the abbot of the Russian land called the brethren to his deathbed and addressed the words of his will:
Take heed, brothers. First have the fear of God, spiritual purity and unfeigned love...
St. Sergius says goodbye to the brethren of the monastery.
Miniature of the Front Life of St. Sergius. Moscow. End of the 16th century Moscow, Russian State Library On September 25 (old style), 1392, the Monk Sergius reposed. Church historian E.E. Golubinsky wrote that Sergius ordered his body to be laid not in the church, but in the general monastery cemetery. This command greatly upset the brethren. The monks turned for advice to Metropolitan Cyprian, who said to lay the body of Abbot Sergius in the church.
Abraham
In the 14th century, the disciples of Sergius of Radonezh dispersed from him on foot in order to spread throughout the Russian land the spirit of a special, Sergius monasticism, the spirit of desert living, combined with love for people, far from their teacher. Abraham of Galicia was one of the first to receive from the monk. Sergius of Radonezh monastic tonsure. According to his life, Abraham died in 1375 at a “very old age,” which means he was much older than Sergius, who at that time was about 56 years old. Having left with a blessing to seek a solitary life, the Monk Abraham came to Galich. Having walked around the large lake on which the town stood, he found a place under a high mountain, where he decided to rest and pray. For several days Abraham asked the Mother of God to indicate the place of his hermitage. And then, finally, he heard a voice calling him to the mountain. Having climbed it, Abraham saw on the tree the icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”. He began to pray even more fervently and... “the icon moved on the tree and hung on the saint’s hand, but was carried by no one.” At this place Abraham dug himself a dugout and stayed to live. Abraham did not remain in obscurity for long. Prince Dmitry Fedorovich of Galich soon found out about him and sent Abraham an invitation to his city. Naturally, with an icon. Many miracles were performed from the icon in Galich, and the prince was generous with land and money for the monastery. This first Avraamiev Monastery, in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God, was practically engaged in enlightening the local people - the Chud. When the monastery became crowded, Abraham left again, but the disciples found him again. So Abraham was forced to found a second monastery seventy kilometers from Galich, in honor of the position of the Robe of the Mother of God. Soon history repeated itself, and Abraham had to found a third monastery on the Viga River in the name of the Cathedral of Our Lady. Finally, for the last time the monk made an attempt to live in solitude, but even then his disciples came to him. Twenty kilometers from the third monastery, on the high shore of Lake Chukhloma near the town of Chukhloma, the fourth Avraamiev Monastery arose in honor of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary. He has remained to this day. Years passed over the relics of St. Abraham, resting in the basement of the Church of the Intercession, institutions changed: a monastery, an orphanage, a machine and tractor station, a school, and now again a monastery. In the twenties, the miraculous icon of Tenderness, which accompanied Abraham in his labors and travels, disappeared. Particularly revered by the modern brethren of the monastery, the waist-length icon of St. Abraham, with the miraculous icon of “Tenderness” in his hands, remains. Still preserved are the cross from the saint’s chains, the ancient embroidered cover from his shrine, and the “Kazan” icon of the Mother of God, which, according to the observations of the monks and parishioners, is renewed by itself. Her appearance is truly unusual. It was as if someone had been diligently scrubbing soot from their face, but had not yet been able to wipe it off completely. Arriving in Galich, I change to a regular bus to Chukhloma. It's a short drive, but a long one. Broken roads and abandoned temples in the forest accompany the northern landscape outside the window. Sunny spring 2012. The lake overflowed widely. Thickets of willow trees can be seen far away on the water surface. The acting rector, Archimandrite Michael, goes to the service at the Assumption Church and blesses the pilgrims along the way: “Are you looking for some water? I must warn you: the water in spring is dirty, so you can wash your face, but I don’t recommend drinking.” A special feat of the monks of the Abraham Monastery is to carry water from the saint’s well up the mountain to the monastery kitchen. The mountain is very steep. This is especially difficult in winter. In the nineties of the 20th century, this feat looked the same as under the Monk Abraham. Now there is a chapel above the well, a staircase with a bench for rest is built along the slope, but the spirit of the monastic feat has not disappeared from the monastery. Travelers are greeted strictly, but with love. Women will have to humble themselves; they will be fed in the refectory only after the men. Now there are about 30 inhabitants in the monastery. Huge yellow crosses from the five-domed Church of the Intercession, built in 1607 “by faith and promise” of Tsar Vasily Shuisky over the relics of the saint, stand in the ground behind the altar, like heroes at an outpost. “When they found them, they didn’t know where to put them, so they put them in the monastery cemetery,” says the monk-tour guide. Among those buried in the monastery are Princess Elena Dolgorukova (sister of the first wife of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich), the founder of the noble Lermontov family, George Lermont, and all his descendants. The darkness of the small, pillarless Assumption Church with narrow loophole windows. Two monks sing “My soul magnifies the Lord.” They sing in unison, in booming, stern voices. On “The most honorable cherub...” the voices suddenly, like two wings, spread out in different directions, and the song circles like a beautiful bird under the dome of the ancient temple.
Of the monasteries founded by Abraham of Galitsky, only the Intercession Monastery near the town of Chukhloma has survived. Here, in the basement of the monastery cathedral, the relics of the saint rest. In the photo: Intercession Cathedral, tombstone over the burial place of St. Abraham
Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in the Intercession Cathedral. According to the observations of monks and parishioners, the image is renewed by itself
Veneration of Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh
On July 5 (O.S.), 1422, the incorrupt relics of Sergius were found. This is how Pachomius Logothetus wrote about this event: “When the Holy Council opened the miraculous tomb... everyone saw a wonderful and touching sight: not only the saint’s honest body was preserved whole and bright, but also the clothes in which he was buried turned out to be intact, not at all touched by decay... Seeing this, everyone glorified God, because the body of the saint, which had been in the tomb for so many years, remained unharmed.” Since then, the date of the discovery of the relics, July 18 (NS) has been one of the days of remembrance of the saint.
There is no documentary evidence of when the veneration of Sergius began. Already in 1427, five years after the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius, the Trinity-Sergius Varnitsa Monastery .
Trinity-Sergius Varnitsky Monastery. Contemporary photography
As a specialist in the field of hagiology, historian E.E. Golubinsky points out, the veneration of Sergius of Radonezh obviously has an early origin. However, he indicates that official canonization was possible thanks to the persistent actions of the Moscow Metropolitan Jonah. The relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh were placed in the main cathedral of the Lavra - Trinity.
Cancer with the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Contemporary photography
The most popular source of information about Sergius of Radonezh, a famous monument of ancient Russian literature, is the famous “ Life ” of Sergius, written in 1417–1418 by his student Epiphanius the Wise. Decades later, it was revised by Pachomius Logothetes and supplemented with new facts, including the story of the discovery of the relics.
This year marks the 700th anniversary of the birth of Sergius of Radonezh. We talk about places that are associated with the name of the greatest saint of the Russian land, where you can travel.
The exact date of his birth is unknown.
Historians have agreed to believe that the Christian ascetic was born in the village of Varnitsa on May 3 (according to the Old Style) or May 16 (according to the New Style) 1314. His parents, the pious Rostov boyars Kirill and Maria, named their son Bartholomew. Photo: “Evening Moscow”
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
From a young age, the boy fell in love with solitude, abstinence and fasting. After the death of his parents, the family had already moved to the village of Radonezh at that time, Bartholomew distributed the inheritance and went into the forests to live in a hut, where he prayed to God.
At the age of 23, he took monastic vows and became Sergius. And soon he built a small church in the name of the Holy Trinity and founded a monastery.
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
During his life, the Reverend performed many miracles and healings. Once he even resurrected a dead boy. During Mamai's invasion of Rus' in 1380, Sergius of Radonezh blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo.
The Monk Sergius raised many disciples, among whom were Saints Micah and Nikon of Radonezh, Roman of Kirzhach, Andronik of Moscow, Epiphanius the Wise.
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
The great abbot died on September 25, 1392. St. Sergius is revered as the patron of the Russian land, the patron of the Russian army and children who wish success in their studies.
We will tell you about the most famous places associated with the name of Sergius of Radonezh - monasteries, temples, holy springs and monuments.
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
Trinity-Sergius Lavra
The monastery was founded by Sergius of Radonezh in 1337. Here is the Trinity Cathedral, the oldest building of the monastery. It was erected in 1422 by the Monk Nikon “in honor and praise” of the Abbot of the Russian land. In the Trinity Cathedral, the holy relics of St. Sergius, the main shrine of the monastery, rest in a silver shrine. The most famous artistic treasure of the Trinity Cathedral is its five-tiered iconostasis, most of the icons of which were painted by Andrei Rublev and masters of his circle.
Photo: ITAR-TASS
Trinity-Sergius Lavra
The brethren of the monastery take monastic vows in the Trinity Cathedral. The monastery is associated with the names of such ascetics as: Nikon of Radonezh, Maxim the Greek, Epiphanius the Wise and Pachomius Lagofet. In 1608-1610, the monastery withstood the siege of Polish-Lithuanian invaders. Since 1814, the Moscow Theological Academy has been located on the territory of the Lavra. The monastery is open to visitors from 5.00 to 21.00. On great holidays and days of memory of St. Sergius (July 5/18, September 25/October 8) - around the clock.
Photo: Wikipedia
Trinity-Sergius Lavra
Address: Moscow region, Sergiev Posad, Holy Trinity Lavra of Sergius.
How to get there: From Yaroslavsky station to Sergiev Posad by train. Or by bus from the Shchelkovo bus station (Shchelkovskaya metro station) or from the VDNH metro station.
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
Trinity-Sergius Varnitsky Monastery
It was founded in 1427 as a kind of monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. The fact is that in 1422 the incorruptible relics of the saint were found. And five years later, the Rostovites, in order to honor the memory of their fellow countryman, decided to found a monastery on the spot where his parents’ house stood. And so it was done.
Photo: Website of the Trinity-Sergius Varnitsa Monastery
Trinity-Sergius Varnitsky Monastery
Until the 18th century, all the buildings of the monastery were wooden. In the following centuries, stone buildings appeared there. In 1919 the monastery was closed and in subsequent years almost completely destroyed. Since 1995, the restoration of the monastery began. To date, the architectural ensemble of the monastery has been rebuilt.
Address of the Varnitsky Monastery: Yaroslavl region, Rostov the Great, pos. Varnitsy.
How to get there: You can take a train from Moscow from Yaroslavsky station, go to Rostov (202 km, 3 hours). From the station, take a bus or walk to the City Center (Kolkhoznaya Square). There, take the bus to Warnitz (10-15 minutes ride).
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
The village of Radonezh and the famous monument to Vyacheslav Klykov
The village of Radonezh is located in the Sergiev Posad district, 55 kilometers from Moscow. In 1328, the Rostov boyar Kirill and his family settled here, and the Reverend spent his childhood here.
Photo: Wikipedia
Monument to Sergius of Radonezh in Radonezh
In 1988, a sculpture of Vyacheslav Klykov was installed in Radonezh - it is dedicated to the famous meeting of the youth Bartholomew with the elder Monk. (This plot is well known from the painting by artist Mikhail Nesterov). The monument is made in the form of a three-meter figure of an old man with a relief image in its middle part of a boy with the image of the Trinity.
How to get there: By car from the Moscow Ring Road you need to go along the Yaroslavskoye Highway (M8 road). From Moscow, exit the highway near the village of Golygino. You can get there by bus No. 388 from VDNKh.
Photo: “Evening Moscow”
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
Gremyachiy Key waterfall
As the legend says, the waterfall arose thanks to the prayer of St. Sergius, who, together with his disciple Roman, walked from Trinity to Kirzhach and stopped at this place for a stop.
Photo: Wikipedia
Gremyachiy Key waterfall
Today this holy spring is a place of pilgrimage. There is a whole complex of wooden buildings here: several baths, changing huts, verandas for relaxation. This row is completed by a wooden chapel-tower and belfry.
How to get there: On your own: by car – 80 km from the Moscow Ring Road along the Yaroslavskoye Highway, turn before the traffic police post to Nizhny Novgorod, onto A-108, then to the sign “Botovo, Gremyachiy Klyuch”. Then turn right onto the asphalt road. From the turn it is about 5 km to the source. The easiest way to get there is with organized groups of pilgrims.
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh
Moscow places associated with Sergius of Radonezh
This is, first of all, the “Forgiveness” chapel of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery (Sergius of Radonezh Street, building 25). In Rus' there was a custom: to erect chapels at the place of farewell to departing travelers. They were called - farewell. According to legend, the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, going to Nizhny Novgorod in 1365, said goodbye to his disciple, the founder of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, the Venerable Andronik. And a chapel was built on this site. It has been known since the 16th century.
Photo: Wikipedia
Chapel "Forgiveness" of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery
The current stone chapel was erected on the site of the old, dilapidated one. During the years of Soviet power, it was given to the Union of Atheists. The tent was demolished, the building housed a store and workshop. In 1995, the chapel was returned to the Church and restored. Nowadays services are held there.
Many churches are dedicated to the abbot of the Russian land in Moscow. The most famous of them is the Church of St. Sergius in Rogozhskaya Sloboda (on Nikoloyamskaya Street, building 57-59).
Photo: Wikipedia
Church of St. Sergius in Rogozhskaya Sloboda
It has been known since 1722. Among the shrines of the temple: a relic where particles of the relics of John Chrysostom, the martyr Tryphon, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, and the martyr Tatiana are kept.
How to get there: Metro: “Ilyich Square”, “Rimskaya”.
We must accept a person as he is. Love him and feel sorry for him
The poor peasant family of the Nikonovs already had three children. It’s hard to get everyone back on their feet. And so his parents (even before the birth of their fourth child) wanted to send him to an orphanage. But shortly before giving birth, the woman had a wonderful dream - a white bird with a human face and closed eyes sat on her hand. And the mother decided to leave the child in the family. The girl was born blind. Moreover, the eyes were not visible - they were covered by tightly closed eyelids (more...).
Troparion, kontakion and canon to St. Sergius of Radonezh
Troparion, tone 4.
He who is an ascetic of virtue, as if he were truly a warrior of Christ God, labored on great passions, towards the temporal life, in singing, vigils and fasting, being the image of his disciple. This is how the Most Holy Spirit dwells in you, and is brightly adorned by its action. But since you have boldness towards the Holy Trinity, remember the flock wisely, and do not forget what you promised when visiting your children, Our Reverend Sergius.
Kontakion, tone 8.
Having been wounded by the love of Christ, the venerable one, and following that irrevocable desire, you hated all carnal pleasures, and like the sun you shone for your Fatherland. With this Christ enriched you with the gift of miracles. Remember us who honor your blessed memory, and we call you, rejoicing to Sergius, God-wise.
Library of the Russian Faith Canon to St. Sergius of Radonezh →
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Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. Icons
The oldest image of St. Sergius is an embroidered cover (1420s). Currently located in the Sacristy of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Venerable Sergius. Sewn cover. Moscow. 1420s Sacristy of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
The oldest hagiographic icon with 19 hallmarks is known, the authorship of which is attributed to the circle master Dionysius; the icon dates back to around 1480 or 1492. Early full-length images of Sergius come from the Assumption Cathedral (the turn of the 15th-16th centuries) and probably from the gateway church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra of St. Sergius (the beginning of the 16th century).
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh in his life. Moscow, 1480-90s. Museums of the Moscow Kremlin. Comes from the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh with his life. Workshop Feodosius. Moscow. 1st third of the 16th century. From the Assumption Cathedral in Dmitrov. Moscow, museum named after. Andrey Rublev
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh with his life. Yaroslavl. Mid-17th century. Yaroslavl Historical, Architectural and Art Museum Reserve
Also associated with the monk is the image “ The Abode of St. Sergius of Radonezh ,” a 19th-century copy from an unsurvived ancient icon of the 17th century, which was once located in the northeastern aisle of the Refectory of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. This icon is famous for the fact that it depicts a detailed plan of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra; it is currently located in the Intercession Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.
Iconographic image of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, created at the end of the 19th century
Venerable Sergius of Radonezh with his life in 22 hallmarks. First half or mid-17th century
Miracle Rev. Sergius about the resurrection of a dead youth. The icon was painted at the end of the 18th century in the Volga region
The image of Sergius of Radonezh in painting
In addition to the icons of St. Sergius of Radonezh, there are also paintings that depict events from the life of the Radonezh abbot. Among Soviet artists one can single out M. V. Nesterov . The following of his works are known: “The Works of Sergius of Radonezh”, “The Youth of Sergius”, “Vision to the Youth Bartholomew”. Also among the artists who turned to the image of Sergius of Radonezh were V. M. Vasnetsov (the image of St. Sergius for the temple in Abramtsevo), E. E. Lisser (“Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy before the Battle of Kulikovo”), N. K. Roerich (“St. Sergius of Radonezh”) and others.
M. V. Nesterov. Appearance to the youth Bartholomew
M. V. Nesterov. Works of Sergius of Radonezh, triptych
N.K. Roerich. "St. Sergius of Radonezh", 1932
Sculptural images of St. Sergius of Radonezh
Sculpture is one of the forms of veneration of saints in Rus'. There are many sculptural images of Sergius of Radonezh. One of them is a high relief depicting Demetrius Donskoy’s visit to Sergius of Radonezh before the massacre on the Kulikovo Field, executed by the sculptor A. V. Loganovsky. This high relief decorated the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, was dismantled before the explosion of the temple and has survived to this day. A bronze copy of this high relief is installed on the restored temple.
Dmitry Donskoy's visit to Sergius of Radonezh before the campaign against the Tatars. High relief by A. V. Loganovsky, 1847-1849.
There is a known sculptural image of St. Sergius of Radonezh as part of a multi-figure composition on the monument “1000th Anniversary of Russia” in Veliky Novgorod.
At the end of the 20th and 21st centuries, monuments to St. Sergius were erected in places associated with his life: one (sculptor V. Chukharkin, architect V. Zhuravlev) is located in Sergiev Posad “near the walls of the holy monastery he founded,” the other (sculptor V. M. Klykov and architect R.I. Semerdzhiev) - in the village of Radonezh.
Sculptural image of St. Sergius in Radonezh
In addition to these monuments, sculptures of the saint were installed in Moscow, Kolomna, Rostov-on-Don, Elista, Samara, many other cities and villages of Russia, as well as in Belarus.
Temples in Rus' in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh
St. Sergius of Radonezh has always been especially revered by the Russian people. Among the churches dedicated to him are the St. Sergius Church (1686–1692) in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra; Cathedral of Sergius in the Trinity-Sergius Varnitsky Monastery; the Cathedral of St. Sergius in the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery in Moscow (1690-1694); Church of Sergius of Radonezh in the Kirilo-Belozersky Monastery (1560-1594). Temples are dedicated to the monk in Nizhny Novgorod, Orel, Ufa, Tula and other cities.
Church of St. Sergius with a refectory chamber (the so-called Refectory Church) in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra
Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh with a refectory in the Kirilo-Belozersky Monastery
In the Tver province, more than 70 altars were consecrated in churches in the name of St. Sergius, but most of them were destroyed during the years of Soviet persecution.
Old Believer churches in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh
Before the revolution, there were two Old Believer churches in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh : a temple in the village of Dmitrovo, Pogorelsky district, Kalinin region (now Zubtsovsky district, Tver region) and a temple in the village of Matyukovo (Torzhoksky district, Tver region). Both temples were destroyed during the atheistic years. In the Old Believers, there are currently several churches in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh the Wonderworker. In the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, today is a temple holiday in the city of Sychevka, Smolensk region and in the village. Mikvarovo, Kirov region. In the name of the saint, the boundary of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos on Rogozhsky was also consecrated. In the Russian Ancient Orthodox Church, churches in the village were consecrated in the name of Sergius of Radonezh. Chaplygino, Kursk region and Orsk, Orenburg region. Also in honor of the saint, a church of the same faith was consecrated in the village of Pavlovo-on-Neva, Leningrad region.
Church in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh the Wonderworker in the city of Sychevka, Smolensk region
In the name of St. Sergius, the lower church of the famous Old Believer Assumption Church on Apukhtinka was also consecrated (now there is a dormitory in the temple building).
Assumption Cathedral on Apukhtinka (now a hostel)
The fate of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh and his monastery in the Soviet years
After the death of St. Sergius, well-known Russian ascetics were the abbots of the Trinity Monastery at various times. Of these, the most famous are Saints Nikon and Dionysius of Radonezh, Sava of Zvenigorod, Martinian of Belozersky. During the Time of Troubles, Abbot Dionysius, a native of the city of Rzhev, saved the monastery of Sergius from desecration.
In 1919, the relics of St. Sergius were opened, and then transferred as an exhibit to the Sergius Historical and Art Museum, located in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The relics of the monastery walls were abandoned before the threat of fascist occupation. In 1946, after the Great Patriotic War and the opening of the Lavra, the relics were returned. Currently, the relics of St. Sergius are in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Anti-church terror during the Soviet period also affected the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In 1920, by decree of the Council of People's Commissars, by personal order of V.I. Lenin, Trinity-Sergius Lavra was closed and transformed into a historical and art museum. The Lavra buildings housed a pedagogical institute, residential premises and other institutions.
Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Winter view
After the end of the Great Patriotic War, the revival of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra began. Today, the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius has the status of a stauropegial monastery. The Lavra has a unique library of handwritten and early printed books.
Trinity-Sergius Lavra from above
Author: Marina Voloskova
