The personality of St. Sergius of Radonezh, on the one hand, has long been studied and widely known. But, on the other hand, it is associated whole line questions. For example, what did this saint do if he was already revered during his lifetime, and later generations awarded him the high title of “abbot of all Russia”? Is the monastic path of Sergius different from the feat of the early monks, and if so, what exactly is its uniqueness? And, finally, what influence did the venerable saint of God have on the culture of the North-East of Russia?
Since childhood, we have known the story of how the lad Bartholomew experienced difficulties in learning to read and write, and one day, running away into the field from the ridicule of his brothers and grief, he begged for help. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in the form of an old monk and gave the boy a particle of prosphora as a consolation. Having tasted it, the lad miraculously began to understand the Holy Scriptures and soon turned out to be the best student. The prediction of the elder to the parents of Bartholomew, the pious Cyril and Mary, also came true: “Your son will be great before God and people.” 
The prayer book of the Russian land was born in 1314 in the village of Varnitsy * near Rostov the Great, in the estate of the boyars Cyril and Maria. In Rostov, Bartholomew lived with his brothers until the age of 14, then the family moved to Radonezh. After the death of their parents, in a deserted place on Mount Makovets not far from Radonezh, the brothers built a cell for themselves. Having taken monastic vows at the age of 23 with the name Sergius, the future saint founded the monastery Life-Giving Trinity. This is how the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, now known to the whole world, began, which became the spiritual center of Moscow Russia. Sergius labored there, first with his brother Stefan, and then alone. Monks began to gather at the monastery, and the Reverend himself carried out heavy bodily labors and a prayerful feat. He built cells, carried water, chopped wood, sewed clothes, and prepared food for the brethren. Seeing such humility and diligence, the monks asked St. Sergius to become abbot of the monastery. 
Even during his lifetime, having received the gift of miracles, the hegumen of Radonezh resurrected the youth when the desperate father considered his son dead.
The rumor about a young ascetic living in the Radonezh forests quickly spread throughout Russia, and patients from the most remote places began to be brought to him.
Russian land at that time suffered from Mongolian yoke. Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy, having gathered an army, came to St. Sergius for a blessing for the battle. 
To help the prince, the Monk blessed the monks of the monastery: Andrei (Oslyabya) and Alexander (Peresvet), and predicted victory for the prince. September 21, 1380, on the feast of the Nativity Holy Mother of God, Russian soldiers defeated the enemy on the Kulikovo field. 
One night the saint was praying before the icon of the Most Pure One and suddenly felt that a miraculous visit awaited him. Appeared in a moment Mother of God accompanied by the Apostles Peter and John the Theologian.
From the bright light, the Monk Sergius fell on his face, but the Mother of God touched him with her hand and promised to patronize his holy monastery. Having reached a ripe old age, having foreseen his death in half a year, the Monk reposed to God on October 8, 1392, and soon began to be revered by the Trinity monks as a saint.
The relics of St. Sergius were uncovered on July 18, 1422, under St. Abbot Nikon (d. 1426).
In 1408, when Moscow and its environs were invaded by the Tatar hordes of Edigey, the Trinity Monastery was devastated and burned, the monks, led by Abbot Nikon, took refuge in the forests, preserving icons, sacred vessels, books and other shrines associated with the memory of St. Sergius. In a night vision on the eve of the Tatar raid, St. Sergius informed his disciple and successor of the coming trials and predicted as a consolation that the temptation would not last long and the holy monastery, having risen from the ashes, would flourish and grow even more. Metropolitan Filaret wrote about this in the Life of St. Sergius: “In the likeness of how it was fitting for Christ to suffer, and through the cross and death to enter into the glory of the resurrection, so everything that Christ is blessed for the length of days and glory, like to test his cross and his death." Having passed through a fiery cleansing, the monastery of the Life-Giving Trinity resurrected in the longitude of days, and St. Sergius himself rose to dwell in it with his holy relics forever. Before the start of the construction of a new temple in the name of the Life-Giving Trinity on the site of a wooden one, consecrated in September 1412, the Monk appeared to one pious layman and ordered to inform the abbot and brethren: “Why do you leave me so much time in a tomb, covered with earth, in water, oppressing my body? " And during the construction of the cathedral, when they dug ditches for the foundation, they were opened and worn out imperishable relics Reverend, and everyone saw that not only the body, but also the clothes on it were unharmed, although there really was water around the coffin. With a large confluence of pilgrims and clergy, in the presence of the son of Dmitry Donskoy, Prince Zvenigorodsky Yuri Dimitrievich (d. 1425), the holy relics were worn out of the ground and temporarily placed in the wooden Trinity Church (now the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit is located on that place). During the consecration of the stone Trinity Cathedral in 1426, they were transferred to it, where they remain to this day. 
Since then, the memory of the saint has been celebrated on July 18 and October 8.
For 620 years, Russian people have been praying to the miracle worker of Radonezh. The lampadas of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra are glowing, the precepts of the Reverend are honored, many worshipers come to pay homage to his cancer. In the old days, visiting the Trinity (in the city of Sergiev Posad) was considered a sacred duty for everyone.
In 1859, returning from Siberian exile, F.M. Dostoevsky made a detour to look at the Lavra, which he remembered from childhood. In the hard times of theomachism, in 1919, all the monastic brethren were arrested, and the Trinity Cathedral was sealed, then by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars, the "Former Lavra" was turned into a museum. A shooting gallery was set up in the refectory, a dining room and a club in the cells. After the Great Patriotic War The Trinity-Sergius Lavra was revived and for many years remained one of the eighteen monasteries operating in the USSR. main temple The laurels - Trinity, where the relics of the Reverend are buried - were painted by outstanding icon painters Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny. For the iconostasis of the cathedral, the famous "Trinity" ** was painted.
In the vestry of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra there is an image of St. Sergius embroidered with silk (XV century), which cannot be seen without emotion. This is a cover on the shrine of the Reverend, presented to the Lavra by the Grand Duke Vasily, the son of Dimitry Donskoy ... In this image is the depth of sorrow for the Russian land, tormented by the Tatars. With what love this fabric was embroidered by a Russian woman, who probably knew the Reverend!
Traditionally, the saint is written waist-deep or full-length, in monastic vestments, in the left hand of the Reverend is a scroll, with his right he blesses us. 
The image of the Abbot of the Russian land, who for his ascetic life was honored with a visit to the Mother of God, is strict and sublime. “The saint, gray-haired, cross-shaped robe, to the left monks in hoods and mantles, black robes, undersides of the vokhra, heads and roofs of gold, a white cross,” says the Reverend in the “Facial Saints” of the 17th century.
“How imperceptible and meek everything is in him!.. Oh, if only he could be seen, heard! I don't think he would have hit anything right away. Not a loud voice, quiet movements, the face of the deceased, the holy Great Russian carpenter. He is so even on the icon - an image of an invisible and charming in the sincerity of his landscape of the Russian, the Russian soul, ”said the Russian writer B.K. Zaitsev.
The earthly path and the posthumous miracles of Sergius of Radonezh, performed at his tomb, which chronicles and legends tell us about, are reflected in icons with hagiographic stamps. For centuries to this day. 
The monk is the patron saint of the Russian state.
In the homeland of the Reverend, in the village of Varnitsy, the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was founded back in the 14th century. But in the 30s of the twentieth century, it was wiped off the face of the earth by atheists, and in its place until the 90s of the last century there was a garbage dump.
And a small miraculous icon Sergius of Radonezh from the plundered monastery was saved by the inhabitants of Varnitsa, and it was passed down from generation to generation, preserved either in the cellar, wrapped in a rag, or in the well during the search of local peasants. When in 1995 the monastery took the Trinity-Sergius Lavra under its care and it began to be restored, this icon, in a form almost not amenable to restoration, was brought by some person to a memorial cross, installed by the brethren of the monastery on the spot where the lad Bartholomew appeared Angel. 
A moleben was served at the cross, and from that hour the revival of the monastery, undergoing all sorts of obstacles: a shortage of workers, building materials, food - suddenly went marvelously successful.
Now the Varnitsky Trinity-Sergius Monastery is one of the most significant in the Rostov region, in 2004 an Orthodox gymnasium-boarding school was set up here, where young men from all over Russia study in the senior classes. And again the Reverend, through his saved miraculous image, helps the children in their studies and gives courage in spiritual warfare.
Sergius of Radonezh (before becoming a monk - Bartholomew Kirillovich) Russian church and political figure.
Born in the family of a boyar not far from Rostov.
The family, suffering from Tatar exactions and princely strife, moved to the Moscow principality and received land near the city of Radonezh.
At the age of seven, Bartholomew was given to learn to read and write.
He wanted to study with all his heart, but the letter was not given to him.
According to legend, Bartholomew suffered greatly from this, and therefore he prayed to God day and night to open the door of book understanding to him. One day, looking for lost horses in the field, he saw an unfamiliar old man under an oak tree. The monk prayed. The boy approached him and told him about his grief. Having listened sympathetically to the boy, the elder began to pray for his enlightenment. Then, he took out a small piece of bread and said: “Take and eat: this is given to you as a sign of the grace of God and the understanding of the Holy Scriptures.” This grace really fell on the child: the Lord gave him memory and understanding, and he began to easily assimilate book wisdom. After this miracle, the desire to serve only God grew stronger in young Bartholomew. He wanted to retire, following the example of the ancient ascetics, but love for his parents kept him in his own family.
After the death of his parents, Bartholomew granted an inheritance to his younger brother Peter and, together with his older brother Stefan, settled 10 miles from Radonezh, in a deep forest near the Konchura River. The brothers cut wood with their own hands and built a cell and a small church.
This is how the famous monastery of St. Sergius arose.
Soon Stefan left his brother and became rector of the Epiphany Monastery in Moscow and confessor of the Grand Duke.
Bartholomew became a monk and was given a new name - Sergius.
For about two years he lived alone in the forest.
The fame of the great recluse spread throughout Russia. People flocked to the monastery.
Soon, Sergius of Radonezh, together with his elder brother Stephen (circa 1330-40), founded the Trinity Monastery (Trinity-Sergius Lavra) and became its second abbot.
Sergius introduced a communal charter in the monastery, destroying the separate residence of the monks that existed before. The adoption of the communal charter and its subsequent distribution with the support of the grand ducal authorities, the Russian metropolitan and the Patriarch of Constantinople to other monasteries of North-Eastern Russia was important church reform which contributed to the transformation of monasteries into large economic and spiritual centers.
The moral authority of Sergius, close ties with the family of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, the most prominent boyars and the highest church hierarchs allowed Sergius of Radonezh to actively influence the church and political affairs of his time.
In 1380, he helped Dmitry in the preparation of the Battle of Kulikovo, and in 1385 he settled his conflict with the Ryazan prince Oleg.
Saint Sergius died on September 25, 1392.
He was buried in the monastery he founded; canonized by the Russian Church as a saint.
Sergius of Radonezh; St. Sergius, hegumen of Radonezh, miracle worker of all Russia (in the world Bartholomew). Born 3 May 1314 or May 1322 - died 25 September 1392. Monk of the Russian Church, founder of the Trinity Monastery near Moscow (now the Trinity-Sergius Lavra), a reformer of monasticism in Northern Russia. Revered Russian Orthodox Church in the face of saints as a reverend and is considered the greatest ascetic of the Russian land.
Days of Remembrance:
September 25 (October 8) - repose (death);
July 5 (18) - finding of relics;
July 6 (19) - Cathedral of the Radonezh Saints.
The main primary source of information about St. Sergius is “the life written by his disciple Epiphanius the Wise”, which is among the “peaks of Russian hagiography” and “is the most valuable source of information about the life of Muscovite Russia in the XIV century.” One of the features of this primary source is the absence of direct indications of the year of the birth of the future saint, the other is the abundance of miracles.
“Our reverend father Sergius was born from noble and faithful parents: from a father whose name was Cyril, and a mother named Maria”- reports Epiphanius the Wise.
Epiphany's narrative does not indicate exact location the birth of the monk, it is only said that before the resettlement from the Rostov Principality, the family of the monk lived "in a village in the region that is within the boundaries of the Rostov Principality, not very close to the city of Rostov". It is generally accepted that we are talking about the village of Varnitsy near Rostov. The future saint received at baptism the name Bartholomew in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew.
The first biographer of the future saint, Epiphanius the Wise, indicated the year of his birth, using a characteristic intricate formulation: “I also want to say about the time and year when the monk was born: during the reign of the pious, glorious and sovereign Tsar Andronicus, autocrat of the Greeks, who reigned in Constantinople, under the archbishop of Constantinople Kallistos, the ecumenical patriarch; he was born in the Russian land, during the years of the reign of the Grand Duke of Tver Dmitry Mikhailovich, under Archbishop Peter, Metropolitan of All Russia, when the army of Akhmyl came".
As a result, researchers are faced with the difficult problem of interpreting these data, and the date of birth of the reverend, in contrast to the place of his birth, causes considerable controversy. There are several different dates of his birth in the literature. In particular, V. E. Rudakov in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron indicates: “Neither in the life of Sergius, nor in other sources, is there an exact indication of the year of the birth of the saint, and historians, for various reasons, fluctuate between 1313, 1314, 1318, 1319 and 1322. The most probable is 1314..
In the writings of church historians of the 19th century, the date appeared on May 3, 1319. Modern options Lives are given as his birthday on May 3, 1314. Modern secular researchers, as K. A. Averyanov notes, are also not unanimous on the issue of the date of birth of Sergius of Radonezh: “According to N.S. Borisov, this event took place on May 3, 1314, according to V. A. Kuchkin - May 3, 1322, and according to B. M. Kloss - at the end of May of the same 1322..
Considering this problem, K. A. Averyanov comes to the conclusion that "the future saint was born on May 1, 1322."
Cyril and Mary, the parents of the monk, had three sons: "the first Stephen, the second - this Bartholomew, the third Peter ..." did not progress: “Stefan and Peter quickly learned to read and write, but Bartholomew did not quickly learn to read, but somehow slowly and not diligently”.
The efforts of the teacher did not bear fruit: "The lad did not listen to him and could not learn". Bartholomew was scolded by his parents, the teacher punished, his comrades reproached him, but he “prayed to God with tears.”
The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron describes the training of Bartholomew as follows: “At first, his literacy training was very unsuccessful, but then, thanks to patience and work, he managed to get acquainted with holy scripture and became addicted to the church and monastic life".
As Epiphanius reports, even before reaching the age of twelve, Bartholomew “began to fast strict fasting and abstained from everything, on Wednesday and Friday he ate nothing, and on other days he ate bread and water; at night he often stayed awake and prayed, ”which served as a source of some disagreement between the son and the mother, who was worried about such exploits of her son.
After some time, the greatly impoverished family of Bartholomew was forced to move to the city of Radonezh. Epiphanius indicates in his life how the father of the monk lost his wealth: “Let’s also talk about how and why he became impoverished: because of frequent trips with the prince to the Horde, because of the frequent Tatar raids on Russia, because of the frequent Tatar embassies, because of the many heavy tributes and fees of the Horde, because for the frequent lack of bread ".
But the worst disaster was "the great invasion of the Tatars, led by Fedorchuk Turalik, and after it the violence continued for a year, because the great reigning went to the great prince Ivan Danilovich, and the reigning of Rostov also went to Moscow." It was hard for "the city of Rostov, and especially the princes of Rostov, since power was taken away from them, and the principality, and property, and honor, and glory, and everything else went to Moscow." The appointment and arrival in Rostov of the Moscow governor Vasily was accompanied by violence and numerous abuses of Muscovites. This prompted Cyril to move: “he gathered with his whole house, and went with all his relatives, and moved from Rostov to Radonezh.”
It remains to be added that historians (for example, Averyanov) do not question the authenticity of this story.
Opinions about when the resettlement took place varied: either around 1328, or around 1330 (according to " encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron). According to Averyanov, the resettlement took place much later, in 1341.
Even during the life of his parents, in the soul of Bartholomew, a desire arose and strengthened to devote himself to monastic life; having reached the age of twenty, he decided to take the veil as a monk. The parents did not object, but asked to wait for their death: "Brothers Stefan and Peter lived separately with their families, and Bartholomew was the only support of his parents in the years of painful old age and poverty." He did not wait long: after two or three years, he buried his father and mother, who, following the custom common at that time in Russia to accept monasticism in old age, shortly before his death, also received first monastic vows, and then the schema in the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky monastery, which was located three versts from Radonezh and was at that time both male and female.
After the death of his parents, Bartholomew himself went to the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery, where his widowed brother Stefan was already monastic. Striving for "the strictest monasticism", for desert living, he did not stay here for long and, having convinced Stefan, together with him founded the desert on the banks of the Konchura River, on the Makovets hill in the middle of the deaf Radonezh forest, where he built (about 1335) a small wooden church in the name of Holy Trinity, on the site of which there is now a cathedral church also in the name of the Holy Trinity. Unable to withstand a too harsh and ascetic lifestyle, Stefan soon left for the Moscow Epiphany Monastery, where he later became abbot. Bartholomew, left all alone, called for a certain hegumen Mitrofan and received tonsure from him under the name of Sergius, since on that day the memory of the martyrs Sergius and Bacchus was celebrated. He was 23 years old.
1342 is considered the date of formation of the monastery (later the Trinity-Sergius Lavra); Sergius was her second hegumen (the first was Mitrofan) and presbyter (since 1354). Forbidding begging, Sergius made it a rule that all monks should live from their labor, himself setting an example for them in this.
Since the beginning of the 1370s, the position of the monastery has changed: around 1374, the widow of Ivan Kalita, Princess Ulyana, died, whose inheritance included the monastery, and Radonezh went to Prince Vladimir Andreevich, becoming his "patrimony". Since that time, Prince Vladimir often visits the monastery, organizes the supply of everything necessary (previously, monks often had to go hungry).
By the period of 1364-1376, researchers attribute the introduction of a hostel in the monastery - instead of the charter of the skete (special residence). This reform is associated with the message of the Ecumenical Patriarch Philotheus, who also sent the hegumen a cross, paraman and schema. The implementation of the communal reform met with active opposition: a part of the brethren had the idea “as if you don’t want Sergius eldership”; Sergius's older brother Stefan, a supporter of a special life, presented his rights: “And who is the abbot in this place? Did I not first sit in this place?” (words spoken, according to the Life, by Stefan). As a result of the conflict, Sergius temporarily left the monastery and founded a small monastery on the Kirzhach River (now the Annunciation Monastery).
In addition to the Trinity Monastery and the Annunciation Monastery on Kirzhach, St. Sergius founded several more monasteries: Staro-Golutvin near Kolomna, Vysotsky Monastery, St.
The disciples and spiritual children of St. Sergius founded (both during his life and after his death) up to forty monasteries; from them, in turn, came the founders of about fifty more monasteries.
Highly respecting the Radonezh abbot, Metropolitan Alexei, before his death, persuaded him to be his successor, but Sergius resolutely refused.
After the death of St. Alexis, Sergius proposed to the Grand Duke Dmitry to elect Bishop Dionysius of Suzdal to the metropolitan see. But Dmitry wanted to have his spiritual father, the Spassky Archimandrite Mikhail (Mitya), as a metropolitan. By command of Prince Michael was elected in Moscow by the cathedral of bishops to become Metropolitan of Moscow. St. Dionysius boldly spoke out against the Grand Duke, pointing out to him that the appointment of the primate without the will of the Ecumenical Patriarch would be illegal. Mityai was forced to go to Constantinople. Dionysius wanted to get ahead of Mityai and go to Constantinople himself, but was detained and taken into custody by the Grand Duke. Desiring to be freed, Dionysius made a promise not to go to Constantinople and presented St. Sergius as a guarantee. But as soon as he received his freedom, at the call of the patriarch, he hurried to Greece after Mitya. By his act, he caused a lot of trouble to Sergius.
According to one contemporary, Sergius "with quiet and meek words" could act on the most hardened and hardened hearts; very often he reconciled the warring princes, persuading them to obey the Grand Duke of Moscow (for example, the prince of Rostov - in 1356, the prince of Nizhny Novgorod - in 1365, Oleg of Ryazan, etc.), due to which by the time of the Battle of Kulikovo almost all Russian princes recognized the supremacy of Dmitry Ioannovich.
According to the first biographer of St. Sergius, the battle with Mamai was preceded by the meeting of Prince Demetrius with St. Sergius: “It became known that by God’s allowance for our sins, the Horde prince Mamai gathered a great force, the entire horde of godless Tatars, and goes to the Russian land; and all the people were seized with great fear". Grand Duke Dimitry, later known as Dmitry Donskoy, “came to Saint Sergius, because he had great faith in the elder, and asked him if the saint would order him to speak out against the godless: after all, he knew that Sergius was a virtuous man and had a prophetic gift” . The Monk Sergius, according to Epiphanius, answered: “You should, sir, take care of the glorious Christian flock entrusted to you by God. Go against the godless, and if God helps you, you will win and return unharmed to your fatherland with great honor.
Having received a blessing from St. Sergius, Grand Duke"left the monastery and quickly set off on the road." We note the fact that Sergius, according to Epiphanius, in his answer (contrary to popular belief) did not predict an unconditional victory and salvation from death to the Grand Duke, since this answer contained the words “if God helps you” and for this reason was not a prophecy. Only later, when the Russian soldiers who went on a campaign, saw the “Tatar very numerous” army and “stopped in doubt”, “thinking what to do”, suddenly “a messenger appeared with a message from the saint”, which said: “Without any doubts, sir, stand boldly against their ferocity, not at all afraid - God will surely help you.
The battle with Mamai mentioned above is traditionally identified with the Battle of Kulikovo (among other sources, this is mentioned in the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron). There is also a version (which was expressed by V. A. Kuchkin), according to which the story of the “Life of Sergius of Radonezh” about the blessing of Dmitry Donskoy by Sergius of Radonezh to fight Mamai does not refer to the Battle of Kulikovo, but to the battle on the Vozha River (1378) and is associated with The Battle of Kulikovo as a larger-scale event later, in later texts (“The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev”).
According to the "Tale of the Battle of Mamaev", Sergius sent two monks of the princely family to the battle, who were well versed in the weapons of Peresvet and Oslyabya. After the Battle of Kulikovo, the Grand Duke began to treat the Radonezh abbot with even greater reverence and invited him in 1389 to seal a spiritual testament legitimizing the new order of succession to the throne from father to eldest son.
In 1382, when Tokhtamysh's army approached Moscow, Sergius left his monastery for some time "and from Takhtamysh's location he fled to Tver" under the protection of Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich of Tver.
According to Epiphanius the Wise, the life of St. Sergius was accompanied by numerous miracles.
In particular, as Epiphanius reports, one of these miracles preceded the birth of the future saint: “When the child was still in the mother’s womb, one day - it was on Sunday - his mother entered the church, as usual, during the singing of the holy liturgy,” and before reading the Gospel, “suddenly the baby began to scream in the mother’s womb.” Before the singing of “Like Cherubim,” the cry was repeated: “suddenly, the baby began to cry loudly for the second time in the womb, louder than the first time,” and for the third time the baby cried out loudly after the exclamation of the priest: “Let us hear, holy to the holy!”.
According to life Sergius of Radonezh performed many miracles. Church historian E. E. Golubinsky in his work lists the following miracles of the monk:
Publishing the source. Since “the monks found themselves forced to bring water for themselves from afar,” a murmur arose, and then the monk, “having found some rainwater in one ditch, made an earnest prayer over it,” after which a plentiful source of water was opened.
Resurrection of the lad. One local resident, having a seriously ill son, carried him to St. Sergius. But when he entered the monk's cell and asked for prayers for the sick man, his son died. Heartbroken, he left behind the coffin. “But while he was walking, the monk prayed over the deceased - and through his prayer the child came to life.”
Healing a demon-possessed nobleman.
Healing a patient with insomnia who "did not eat or sleep for twenty days."
The punishment of the covetous, who "forced one of his poor neighbors to give him a boar" and "did not want to pay money for him." Sergius turned to the offender with reproof and heard in response a promise not only “to pay for the pig taken from a poor neighbor, but to correct his whole life”, which he soon forgot, and the pig carcass was eaten by worms, “although it was winter time”.
Healing of the Greek Bishop. “Listening to many stories about St. Sergius, he did not want to believe them…” But when he met the monk, “blindness attacked him,” “and unwittingly he confessed his unbelief to the monk,” after which St. Sergius restored his sight.
As Epiphanius the Wise reports, in labors, abstinence and prayer, the monk reached a ripe old age and forewarned the brethren of the monastery about his death.
Just before his death, Sergius of Radonezh "partook of the body and blood of the Lord." His death came on September 25, 1392.
Church historian E. E. Golubinsky wrote about Sergius that “he ordered to put his body not in the church, but outside it, in the general monastery cemetery, along with all the others.” This order of his greatly upset the monastic brethren. As a result, "she turned with demand and for advice to Metropolitan Cyprian", who, "according to reasoning ... ordered to put it in the church on the right side."
The modern researcher A. G. Melnik believes that it was precisely the desire to “establish the veneration of hegumen Sergius” that was the reason for the unwillingness of “the monastic brethren to bury him outside the church” and that the burial of Sergius in the church was the beginning of his veneration.
"The Life of Sergius of Radonezh" was written in the 15th century. This work tells about the life of a man known as Sergius of Radonezh, who was later canonized as a saint.
He was born on the Tver land. His father's name was Cyril, and his mother was Maria. They were noble and pious people. When the boy was baptized, he was given the name Bartholomew. Bartholomew had two brothers, Stephen and Peter.
The life describes many miracles associated with the saint. The very first miracle happened even before his birth: when his mother Mary came to church, during the service, the unborn child shouted loudly three times. The priest said that the boy would be a servant of the Holy Trinity.
Bartholomew was not given a letter for a long time. One day the boy met an old man, told him his failures and asked him to pray for him. The elder gave the youth a piece of prosphora and said that from now on Bartholomew would know the letter well. And so it happened. The elder predicted to Cyril and Mary that their son would become great before God and people.
From a young age, the boy dreamed of consecrating himself to God. He did not play with other children, fasted, often went to church and read holy books. He asked his parents to bless him for monasticism. However, Cyril and Maria asked their son to postpone the fulfillment of their dream until their death. Bartholomew honored his parents, so he obeyed. His brother Stefan also became a monk and, at the request of Bartholomew, went with him to look for a place for the desert. The brothers found a place, built a hut and cut down a small church, which they named in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Bartholomew called the elder hegumen Mitrofan to his desert, who tonsured Bartholomew a monk and named him Sergius. Sergius was then a little over twenty years old.
The monk lived in the desert, worked and prayed. Hordes of demons tried to frighten him. Animals came to him.
Some monks settled with him. Each of the monks built his own cell. After much persuasion by the brethren, and at the behest of the bishop, Sergius agreed to become abbot and priest.
Sergius was very modest and worked hard. Through his prayer, a spring arose with healing water. Many miracles happened in the monastery. The prayer of Sergius healed the sick, and even revived an already dead child. Saint Sergius ordered his father to be silent about this miracle - a disciple of Sergius told about it.
Grand Duke Dmitry came to Sergius for a blessing before the battle with Mamai. Sergius, while in the monastery, predicted the victory of Dmitry, knew how the battle went and called the names of the fallen.
The monk foresaw his death six months in advance and entrusted the hegumenship to his beloved disciple Nikon.
Thanks to a sincere and pure faith in God, despite the hardships that he had to experience.
Historians cannot determine the exact date of birth of Sergius of Radonezh, but agree on May 3, 1314 or 1319, the dates that were mentioned by his biographer Epiphanius in his writings and other sources. The Russian Church literally and traditionally considers that his birthday is May 3, 1314. He was born in the family of Cyril and Mary, noble boyars in the service of the prince, in the village of Varnitsy near Rostov. The child was destined for God even before birth, because during the visit of the pregnant mother to the church, the baby in the womb screamed three times, and the priest announced to the parents that he would be a servant of the holy trinity.
At baptism, the child received the name Bartholomew and from the first days of his life surprised those around him, became a faster - he did not drink mother's milk on Wednesdays and Fridays, he did not eat meat throughout his life. At the age of seven, his parents sent him to study, but the letter was not given to the boy, and he was very worried about this. Once he met a wandering elder who prayed and blessed. After this incident, the study went easily and soon he overtook his peers and began to study the Bible and the holy scriptures in depth. The people around were surprised at his stamina and abstinence, unwillingness to participate in common games, passion for prayer and the church, fasting in food.
In 1328 Bartholomew's parents, greatly impoverished, were forced to move to the city of Radonezh. When Stefan, his elder brother, got married, they took tonsure and went to a monastery, where they died.
After the death of his parents, Bartholomew himself left for the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery, where his brother Stefan and his parents had already accepted monasticism. In an effort to be closer to God, he left the monastery and organized a small wooden church in the service of the Holy Trinity ten miles from him. Stefan helped him, but, unable to endure a hard life full of hardships, he soon left and became abbot in Moscow at the Epiphany Monastery. After that, hegumen Mitrofan came to Bartholomew, from whom he took the tonsure and began to be called Sergius, since on this day the memory of Sergius and Bacchus was celebrated. Monks began to flock to the church, and 12 cells were built, a tyn was cut down, a monastery of monks was formed, which in 1345 finally took place as the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.
The monks of the monastery did not ask for alms, but were fed, at the insistence of Sergius, by their own labor, in which he was the first to set an example. Sergius himself did the hardest work with his own hands, without demanding any money for it. Once he helped the elder Danilo to nail the passage to the cell behind a sieve of rotten bread. He worked tirelessly, and the brothers were supported and inspired to overcome hardship. The news of the monastery reached the Ecumenical Patriarch Philotheus in Constantinople, who sent an embassy with gifts and advice, and soon after that, Sergius adopted a communal rule, this example was followed by many churches and monasteries throughout the Russian land.
With quiet and meek words, Sergius could reconcile, according to contemporaries, even the most ardent enemies, as he reconciled the warring Russian princes among themselves, persuaded him to be subordinate to the Grand Duke of Moscow. He predicted victory and blessed the vacillating Prince Dmitry for the battle with Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo Field, and this inspired Moscow Russia, which was becoming at that time. In 1389, he was called to cement the spiritually new order of succession to the throne - from father to eldest son.
Reverend Sergius of Radonezh, his brief biography is presented in many publications, and his students subsequently founded several more monasteries and monasteries, among them the Church of the Annunciation on Kirzhach, the Vysotsky Monastery, St. 40.
Because of the way of life, purity of intentions and morals, hegumen Sergius was revered as a saint, miracles were also available to him, thanks to the grace of God, he healed people from diseases, and once resurrected a boy who died in his father's arms.
Six months before his death, the monk called his disciples to him and blessed the Monk Nikon, the most worthy of them, to be abbess. Death came on September 25, 1392. and shortly thereafter Sergius of Radonezh was canonized. This happened during the lifetime of people who knew him, a similar incident did not happen again.
After 30 years, or rather on July 5, 1422, his imperishable relics were found (not destroyed or decayed bones), as evidenced by many witnesses and contemporaries. This day is revered as the day of remembrance of the saint. Subsequently, in 1946, the relics in the form of bones, hair and fragments of coarse monastic attire were transferred from the museum to the church, where they are still kept in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.