The path of St. Sergius. All surviving monasteries founded by Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples. Rev. Sergius of Radonezh. Biography Sergius of Radonezh how he founded the monastery

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Sergius of Radonezh (Bartholomew) (May 3, 1314 - September 25, 1392) - saint, reverend, the greatest ascetic of the Russian land, a reformer of monasticism in Northern Russia. Born into a boyar family in the village of Varnitsy (near Rostov) to parents Cyril and Maria. Bartholomew had an older brother Stephen and a younger Peter. Already in infancy, HE, according to legend, refused mother's milk on the fast days of Wednesday and Friday. At first, his literacy training was very unsuccessful, but then, thanks to patience and work, he managed to get acquainted with the Holy Scriptures and became addicted to the church and monastic life. In 1328, Sergius's parents, reduced to poverty, had to leave Rostov and settled in the city of Radonezh (not far from Moscow).

After the death of his parents, Bartholomew went to the Khotkovo-Pokrovsky Monastery, where his older brother Stefan monasticised. 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, in the middle of the deaf Radonezh forest, where he built (c. 1335) a small wooden church in the name of the Holy Trinity, on the site of which there is now a cathedral church also in the name of the Holy Trinity. Soon Stefan left him. Left alone, Bartholomew accepted monasticism in 1337 under the name of Sergius.

After two or three years, monks began to flock to him; a monastery was formed, which in 1345 took shape as the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and Sergius was its second abbot (the first was Mitrofan) and presbyter (since 1354), setting an example for everyone with his humility and diligence. Gradually his fame grew; everyone began to turn to the monastery, from peasants to princes; many settled in the neighborhood with her, donated their property to her. At first, enduring the extreme need of the deserts in everything necessary, she turned to a rich monastery. The glory of Sergius even reached Constantinople: the Patriarch of Constantinople Philotheus sent him a cross, a paramand, a schema and a letter with a special embassy, and with which he praised him for a virtuous life and gave advice to introduce a strict communal life to the monastery. On this advice and with the blessing of Metropolitan Alexei, Sergius introduced into the monasteries the communal charter, which was later adopted in many Russian monasteries.

Metropolitan Alexei, who deeply respected the Radonezh abbot, before his death, persuaded him to become his successor, but Sergius resolutely refused. 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, thanks to which, by the time of the Battle of Kulikovo, almost all Russian princes recognized the supremacy of Dmitry Ioannovich. Departing for this battle, the latter, accompanied by princes, boyars and governor, went to Sergius to pray with him and receive his blessing. Blessing him, Sergius predicted victory and salvation from death for him, and released two of his monks, Peresvet and Oslyabya, on the campaign.

Approaching the Don, Dimitri Ioannovich hesitated whether to cross the river or not, and only after receiving an encouraging letter from Sergius admonishing him to attack the Tatars as soon as possible, he began to take decisive action. After the Battle of Kulikovo, the Grand Duke began to treat the Abbot of Radonezh with even greater reverence and invited him in 1389 to seal a spiritual testament that legitimized the new order of succession to the throne - from father to eldest son. On September 25, 1392, Sergius died, and after 30 years his relics and clothes were found incorrupt; in 1452 he was canonized as a saint. In addition to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Sergius founded several more monasteries (Annunciation on Kirzhach, Borisoglebskaya near Rostov, Georgievskaya, Vysotskaya, Golutvinskaya, etc.), and his students - up to 40 monasteries, mainly in Northern Russia.

We have collected all (or almost all) preserved and even poorly preserved monasteries founded by Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples.

Ferapontov Monastery, Kirillovsky District, Vologda Region

Trinity Sergius Lavra. Sergiev Posad, Moscow region

Sergius founded the main Russian monastery while still a devout layman Bartholomew: with his brother monk Stefan he settled on Makovets hill in Radonezh forest, where he built the Church of the Holy Trinity with his own hands. A couple of years later, Bartholomew became a monk with the name Sergius, and then a monastic community formed around him, which by 1345 took shape in a monastery with a cenobitic charter. Sergius was honored during his lifetime, walked around Russia and reconciled the warring princes, and finally in 1380 he blessed Dmitry Donskoy for the battle with the Horde and gave him two monks-soldiers Alexander Peresvet and Rodion Oslyabya to help him.

In the Trinity Monastery in 1392, Sergius reposed, and thirty years later his relics were found, to which the people reached out. The monastery grew and became prettier together with Russia, survived in 1408 the ruin of the horde of Edigey, and in 1608-10 - the siege of the Polish-Lithuanian army of Pan Sapieha. In 1744, the monastery received the status of a lavra - the second in Russia after the Kiev-Pechersk. Now it is a grandiose architectural complex worthy of the largest Russian Kremlins - about 50 buildings behind an impregnable wall 1.5 kilometers long. The oldest churches are the Trinity Cathedral (1422-23) and the Holy Spirit Church-bell tower (1476), and it was for the first that Andrei Rublev wrote his great Trinity. Assumption Cathedral (1559-85) is one of the largest and most majestic in Russia. The bell tower (1741-77) is taller than Ivan the Great, and the largest in Russia 72-ton Tsar Bell hangs on it. Temples, residential and service chambers, educational and administrative institutions, relics and graves of historical figures, a museum with unique exhibits: Lavra is a whole city, as well as a "city-forming enterprise" of the rather large city of Sergiev Posad.

Annunciation Kirzhachsky Monastery. Kirzhach, Vladimir region

Sometimes Sergius left the Trinity Monastery for several years, but wherever he settled, a new monastery arose. So, in 1358, Sergius and his disciple Simon founded the Annunciation Monastery on the Kirzhach River, where another disciple Roman remained hegumen. Now it is a small cozy convent on a high bank - on the one hand the city of Kirzhach, on the other - endless meadows. In the center is the white-stone Annunciation Cathedral of the early 16th century and the Church of the All-Merciful Savior (1656).

Bobrenev Monastery. Kolomna, Moscow region

One of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, Dmitry Bobrok-Volynsky, came to Moscow from places now known as Western Ukraine and became close to Prince Dmitry so much that they together prepared a plan for the battle with Mamai. Bobrok was assigned a military trick: when, after 5 hours of battle, the Russians began to retreat, his ambush regiment hit the rear of the Tatar rati, thereby deciding the outcome of the battle. Returning with victory, Bobrok, with the blessing of Sergius, founded a monastery near Kolomna. Now it is a small cozy monastery in the field between Novoryazanskoye highway and the Moskva River with the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (1757-90) and other buildings of the XIX century. The best way to get to the monastery is from the Kolomna Kremlin along the most picturesque path through the Pyatnitsky Gates and the pontoon bridge.

Epiphany Staro-Golutvin Monastery. Kolomna, Moscow region

A large monastery on the outskirts of Kolomna is clearly visible from the railway, attracting attention with thin false-Gothic turrets of the fence (1778), similar to minarets. Sergius founded it in 1385 at the request of Dmitry Donskoy, and left his disciple Gregory as abbot. Until 1929, there was a spring in the monastery, according to legend, it gushed where Sergius said. In the Middle Ages, the monastery was a fortress on the road to the Steppe, but most of the current buildings, including the Cathedral of the Epiphany, date back to the 18th century.

Holy Trinity Monastery, Ryazan

One of the missions of Sergius was a kind of "diplomacy of general authority" - he walked around Russia, reconciling the warring princes and convincing them of the unity of the Russian cause. The most recalcitrant was Oleg Ryazansky: on the one hand, Ryazan competed with Moscow for leadership, on the other hand, it was open to the blows of the Horde, and therefore Oleg played a double game on the verge of betrayal. In 1382, he helped Tokhtamysh, snatched Kolomna from Dmitry ... Things were moving towards a new collapse of Russia, but in 1386 Sergius came to Ryazan and miraculously prevented the war, and as a sign of peace he founded the small Trinity Monastery. Now it is a modest city monastery with a decorative fence and churches of the 17th (Troitskaya), 18th (Sergievskaya) and 19th (the icon of the Mother of God "Signs-Kochemnaya") centuries.

Borisoglebsky Monastery. Pos. Borisoglebsky (Borisogleb), Yaroslavl region

Sergius founded a few more monasteries, as it were, "in co-authorship" - not with his students, but with the monks of his generation. For example, Borisoglebsky, 18 versts from Rostov, where Sergius was born, together with the Novgorodians Theodore and Pavel in 1365. Later, the recluse Irinakh, who lived here, blessed Kuzma Minin to defend Russia. A magnificent architectural complex was formed in the 16th-17th centuries, and from the outside, especially when looking at the gates (of which the monastery has two), towers or a three-span belfry, it resembles a slightly simplified Rostov Kremlin. Inside are several churches, including the Cathedral of Boris and Gleb from the 1520s.

Mother of God-Nativity Monastery. Rostov the Great

The monk Fyodor, a disciple of St. Sergius, founded this monastery in the homeland of the teacher, and in the fabulous landscape of Rostov, she took her place a quarter from the Kremlin. The first stone church was founded by Metropolitan Iona Sysoevich in 1670. Now it is a large, but at first glance not very spectacular (especially against the backdrop of the Rostov Kremlin!) Ensemble of churches, buildings and fences of the 17th-19th centuries. All the more worth to approach him and take a closer look.

Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Zvenigorod, Moscow region

After the death of Sergius, the new hegumen of the Trinity Monastery Nikon almost immediately went into seclusion for six years, leaving Savva, another disciple of Sergius, as rector. Immediately after Nikon's return in 1398, Savva went to Zvenigorod and, at the request of the local prince, founded a monastery on Mount Storozhka. As the name implies, the place was strategic, and in the XV-XVII centuries the monastery turned into a powerful fortress. But this monastery was especially honored by the Russian tsars, sometimes secluded in it for prayers and peace: the road here from Moscow was called the Tsar's Way, and now it is nothing more than Rublyovka. The monastery stands in an extremely picturesque place, and behind impregnable walls hides an exemplary "fairytale city" of the times of Alexei Mikhailovich - pretentious chambers, elegant belfries, kokoshniks, tents, tiles, white-red scale of the ensemble. It even has its own Royal Palace, as well as an excellent museum. And in the center is a small white Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, consecrated in 1405, during the life of Savva the Wonderworker.

Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery. Lugovoe village, Dmitrovsky district, Moscow region

One of the most beautiful monasteries of the Moscow region, founded in 1361 by Sergius's disciple Methodius, was undeservedly forgotten - since 1960, a neuropsychiatric boarding school, closed to outsiders, has lived within its walls. Inside are hidden Nikolsky Cathedral of the early 16th century, a very elegant bell tower, several more temples and chambers. The boarding school is now in the process of moving, and the temples are at the beginning of restoration.

Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery. Vologda

The Vologda region was called the Northern Thebaid for the abundance of secluded and fabulously beautiful monasteries founded during the heyday of the Russian North - the country of merchants, fishermen and monks. The Prilutsky Monastery on the outskirts of Vologda, with its powerful faceted towers, looks like a Kremlin much more than the Vologda Kremlin itself. Its founder Dmitry met Sergius in 1354, being the founder and abbot of the St. Nicholas Monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky, and not without the influence of Sergius ideas, he went to the North, hoping to find solitude somewhere in the wilderness. In 1371, he came to Vologda and built a large monastery there, the funds for which were allocated by Dmitry Donskoy himself, and for all subsequent centuries the monastery remained one of the richest in Russia. From here, Ivan the Terrible took the shrines on a campaign against Kazan; in the Time of Troubles the monastery was ravaged three times; in 1812, the relics of monasteries near Moscow were evacuated here. The main shrines - the icon of Dmitry Prilutsky with life and the Cilician Cross brought by him from Pereslavl, are now kept in the Vologda Museum. Behind the powerful walls of the 1640s are the Spassky Cathedral (1537-42), the Vvedenskaya Church with a refectory and covered galleries (1623), a number of buildings of the 17th-19th centuries, a pond, the grave of the poet Batyushkov, a wooden Assumption Church (1519), brought in 1962 from the closed Kusht Monastery - the oldest hipped temple in Russia.

Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery. Gryazovetsky district, Vologda region

The monastery in the upper reaches of the Obnora River in the Vologda region was founded in 1389 by Sergius's disciple Pavel, who had 15 years of seclusion behind him. He lived here alone for 3 years in the hollow of an old linden tree... Once upon a time, the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery was one of the largest in Russia, but it was especially unlucky under the Soviets: the Trinity Cathedral (1510-1515) with the iconostasis of Dionysius perished (4 survived icons that were sold to museums), the Assumption Church was beheaded (1535). In the surviving buildings there was an orphanage, later a pioneer camp - therefore the village where the monastery stands is called Youth. Since the 1990s, the monastery has been revived, on the site of the Trinity Cathedral a wooden chapel with the shrine of the relics of Pavel Obnorsky was built.

Resurrection Obnorsky Monastery. Lyubimovsky district, Yaroslavl region

A small monastery in the dense forests on the Obnora River, 20 kilometers from the town of Lyubim, was founded by Sergius' disciple Sylvester, who lived in this place for many years in solitude and was accidentally discovered by a lost peasant, after which the rumor about the hermit spread, and other monks reached out there. The monastery was abolished in 1764, the holy spring of Sylvester Obnorsky and the Church of the Resurrection (1825) have been preserved.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Nuromsky Monastery. Spas-Nurma, Gryazovetsky district, Vologda region

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Nurom Monastery

Another monastery on the Nurma River, 15 kilometers from Pavlo-Obnorsky, was founded in 1389 by Sergius of Nuromsky, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh. Abolished in 1764, the Savior-Sergius Church in the "northern baroque" style was built in 1795 as a parish church. Now the monastic life in this abandoned forest monastery is gradually being revived, the buildings are being restored.

In Kaluga Borovsk, of course, the Pafnutiev Monastery is most famous, but its founder came from another, now disappeared Intercession Monastery in the Vysokoye suburb, founded in 1414 by Sergius's disciple Nikita, and abolished again in 1764. Only the wooden Church of the Intercession of the 17th century remained at the monastery cemetery.

Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. Moscow

"Joint project" Sergius - Andronikov Monastery on the Yauza, now almost in the center of Moscow. It was founded in 1356 by Metropolitan Alexy in honor of the miraculous rescue from a storm on the way to Constantinople. From Sergius, he received a blessing and to help the disciple Andronicus, who became the first abbot. Today Andronikov Monastery is known for its white-stone Cathedral of the Savior (1427), the oldest surviving building in all of Moscow. In those same years, Andrei Rublev was one of the monks of the monastery, and now the Museum of Old Russian Art operates here. The second large church of Michael the Archangel is an example of the Baroque, 1690s, the ensemble also includes walls, towers, buildings and chapels of the 16th-17th centuries, and a few new buildings, more precisely, restored buildings.

Simonovsky Monastery, Moscow

Another "joint project" is the Andronikov Monastery on the Yauza, now almost in the center of Moscow. It was founded in 1356 by Metropolitan Alexy in honor of the miraculous rescue from a storm on the way to Constantinople. From Sergius, he received a blessing and to help the disciple Andronicus, who became the first abbot. Today Andronikov Monastery is known for its white-stone Cathedral of the Savior (1427), the oldest surviving building in all of Moscow. In those same years, Andrei Rublev was one of the monks of the monastery, and now the Museum of Old Russian Art operates here. The second large church of Michael the Archangel is an example of the Baroque, 1690s, the ensemble also includes walls, towers, buildings and chapels of the 16th-17th centuries, and a few new buildings, more precisely, restored buildings.

Epiphany-Anastasia Monastery. Kostroma

The brainchild of a disciple of Sergius - Elder Nikita - the Epiphany Monastery in Kostroma. Not as famous as Ipatiev, it is older and in the very center of the city, and its shrine is the Fedorov Icon of the Mother of God. The monastery survived a lot, including the devastation by Ivan the Terrible and the Poles in the Time of Troubles, but the fire of 1847 became fatal. In 1863, the temples and chambers were transferred to the Anastasia Convent. The cathedral now consists of two parts: the white-stone old temple (1559) turned into a new red-brick altar (1864-69) - this design has 27 cupolas! In place of the corner towers, there is the Smolensk Church (1825) and a hipped bell tower. If you manage to look inside, you can see the former refectory (now a seminary) of the 17th century and a very beautiful rectory building.

Trinity-Sypanov Monastery. Nerekhta, Kostroma region

The picturesque monastery on Sypanov Hill, 2 kilometers from the town of Nerekhta, was founded in 1365 by Sergius' disciple Pakhomiy - like many other students, and the teacher himself, he went into the forests to seek solitude, dug out a cell ... and soon the monastery around him took shape by itself. Now it is essentially just the Trinity Church (1675) in the fence (1780) with towers and a chapel - in 1764-1993 it was the parish church instead of the abolished monastery. And now - again a monastery, female.

Yakovo-Zheleznoborovsky Monastery. Borok village, Buysky district, Kostroma region

The village of Borok near the town of Bui, a major railway junction, was called Zhelezny Bork in the old days, as swamp ores were mined here. Founded by Sergius' disciple Jacob in 1390, the monastery played a role in two Russian Troubles: in 1442, Vasily the Dark made it his "base" in the campaign against Dmitry Shemyaka, and at the beginning of the 17th century, Grishka Otrepyev, the future False Dmitry I, was tonsured here. in the 19th century, the churches of the Nativity of the Virgin (1757) and the Nativity of John the Baptist (1765), a bell tower - a "pencil" between them, a fence and cells remained.

Avraamiev Gorodetsky Monastery. Nozhkino village, Chukhloma district, Kostroma region

One of the brightest successors of the Sergius cause was the monk Abraham, the founder of four monasteries in the remote Galician side (of course, we are not talking about Galicia, but about Galich in the Kostroma region). Only the Avraamiev Gorodetsky Monastery in the village of Nozhkino, where the saint rested, has survived. Temples are visible from Chukhloma and from the Soligalich road across the lake surface: the Intercession and Nikolskaya churches of the 17th century and the Cathedral of the Icon of the Mother of God "Tenderness" with a bell tower, built by Konstantin Ton in the style of his Moscow "masterpiece". The ruins of two churches of another Avraamiev Novoezersky monastery have been preserved opposite Galich, in the village with the affectionate name of Tenderness.

Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery. Cherepovets

It is hard to believe that the industrial giant Cherepovets was once a quiet merchant town that grew up in the 18th century near the monastery founded by Sergius' disciples Theodosius and Athanasius. The monastery was abolished in 1764, but its Resurrection Cathedral (1752-56) remains the oldest building, the historical heart of Cherepovets.

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Vologda region, Kirillovsky district

In 1397, two monks of the Simonov Monastery, Cyril and Ferapont, came to the Belozersky Principality. The first dug a cell near the Siversky Lake, the second - between the lakes of Passky and Borodavsky, and over the years the most famous monasteries of the Northern Thebaid grew out of these cells. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery is now the largest in Russia, and on an area of 12 hectares there are fifty buildings, including 10 churches, of which only two are younger than the 16th century. The monastery is so large that it is divided into "districts" - the Big Assumption and Ivanovo monasteries make up the Old Town, which adjoins the vast and almost empty New Town. All this is under the protection of the most powerful walls and impregnable towers, and once the monastery had its own citadel Ostrog, which also served as an "elite" prison. There are also many chambers - residential, educational, hospital, household, also almost entirely of the 16th-17th centuries, one of which is occupied by an icon museum. In the New Town there is a wooden mill and a very old (1485) Rizopolozhenskaya church from the village of Borodava. Add to this a glorious history and a beautiful location - and you get one of the most impressive places in Russia. The Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery gave the most "disciples of the third order": its monks were the ideologist of "non-possessiveness" Nil Sorsky, the founder of the Solovetsky Monastery Savvaty and others.

Luzhetsky Ferapontov Monastery. Mozhaisk, Moscow region

Belozersky Prince Andrei Dmitrievich owned several cities in Russia, including Mozhaisk. In 1408, he asked the monk Ferapont to found a monastery there, and the disciple of Sergius returned to the Moscow region. Now the Luzhetsky Monastery on the outskirts of Mozhaisk is a small but very integral ensemble with the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin (1520), a couple of younger churches and a hipped bell tower behind decorative but impressive walls and towers.

Dormition Borovensky Monastery. Mosalsk, Kaluga region

The southernmost monastery of the Sergius disciples was founded by the namesake of the “northern” Ferapont, the monk Ferapont of Borovensky. Kaluga land in those days was a troubled outskirts, which was attacked by either Lithuania or the Horde, and leaving here to live as a defenseless monk was already a feat. The monastery, however, survived all the wars... only to close in the 1760s. Founded in the 1740s, the Assumption Church, one of the most beautiful in the South, was already consecrated as a parish. Now it stands among the fields, abandoned, but unshakable, and inside you can see the paintings made by Ukrainian masters, including the "All-Seeing Eye" on the vaults.

Ust-Vymsky Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Monastery. Ust-Vym, Komi Republic

Ust-Vymsky Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Monastery

Stefan of Permsky was born in the merchant Veliky Ustyug in the family of a father and a baptized Zyryanka (as the Komi were called in the old days), and went down in history by single-handedly annexing a whole region to Russia - Malaya Perm, the country of the Komi-Zyryans. Having taken the tonsure and settled in Rostov, Stefan learned the sciences, and more than once talked with Sergius of Radonezh, adopting his experience, and then returned to the North and went after Vychegda. The Komi were then a warlike people, their conversation with the missionaries was short, but when they tied Stefan and began to surround him with brushwood, his calmness shocked the Zyrians so much that they not only spared him, but also listened to his sermons. So, converting village after village to the faith of Christ, Stefan reached Ust-Vymy, the capital of Little Perm, and there he met with the pama, the high priest. According to legend, the outcome was decided by the test: chained to each other, the monk and the priest had to go through the burning hut, dive into the hole on one side of the Vychegda and emerge on the other ... In fact, they were going to certain death, and the essence was in readiness for it: Pama was afraid, retreated, and thereby saved Stefan as well ... but he immediately lost the trust of his people. It was in the year of the Battle of Kulikovo. Stefan built a temple on the site of the temple, and now in the center of Ust-Vym there is a small, but very landscaped monastery of two churches of the 18th century (and a third of the 1990s) and a wooden monastic monastery, similar to a small fortress. The current Kotlas and Syktyvkar grew out of two other monasteries of Stephen.

Vysotsky Monastery. Serpukhov, Moscow region

The monastery on the outskirts of Serpukhov is one of the main attractions of the ancient city. It was founded in 1374 by the local prince Vladimir the Brave, but to choose a place and consecrate it, he called Sergius with his disciple Athanasius, who remained for the hegumen. The monastery is small, but beautiful: walls with towers of the 17th century, an elegant gate bell tower (1831), the Zachatievsky Cathedral of the times of Boris Godunov and several more churches and buildings. But most of all, the monastery is famous for the icon "Inexhaustible Chalice", which saves from alcoholism, drug addiction and other addictions.

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh - the holy land of Russia

The personality of St. Sergius of Radonezh, on the one hand, has long been studied and widely known. But, on the other hand, a number of questions are connected with it. 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, having run 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 tonsure at the age of 23 with the name Sergius, the future saint founded the monastery of the 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 were brought to him.

The Russian land at that time was suffering from the Mongol 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. On September 21, 1380, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, 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. In a moment, the Mother of God appeared, 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 also arose, in order to abide in it forever with his holy relics. 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 ditches for the foundation were being dug, the incorruptible relics of the Reverend were opened and worn out, 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 in 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 godless hard times, 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. The main temple of the Lavra - Trinity, where the relics of the Reverend are buried - was painted by outstanding icon painters Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny. For the iconostasis of the cathedral, the famous "Trinity" ** was painted.

In the sacristy 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 klobuks 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 of 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 at the place where the lad Bartholomew appeared an angel.

A prayer service was served at the cross, and from that hour the revival of the monastery, undergoing all sorts of obstacles: a lack of labor, 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 bestows courage in spiritual warfare.

The exact date of his birth is unknown. Historians have agreed to believe that the Christian ascetic was born in the village of Varnitsy - on May 3 (according to the stromal style) or May 16 (according to the new style) in 1314. His parents, the pious Rostov boyars Cyril and Maria, named their son Bartholomew.

A photo: "Evening Moscow"

From a young age, the boy fell in love with solitude, abstinence and fasting. After the death of his parents, the family at that time had already moved to the village of Radonezh, Bartholomew distributed the inheritance and went into the woods 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.

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh

During his life, the Reverend performed many miracles and healings. Once he even resurrected a dead boy. During the invasion of Mamai to Russia in 1380, Sergius of Radonezh blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo.

Saint Sergius brought up many disciples, among them are Saints Micah and Nikon of Radonezh, Roman Kirzhachsky, Andronicus of Moscow, Epiphanius the Wise.

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh

The great abbot died on September 25, 1392. Saint Sergius is revered as the protector of the Russian land, the patron of the Russian army and children who wish success in learning.

We will talk about the most famous places associated with the name of Sergius of Radonezh - about monasteries, temples, holy springs and monuments.

Reverend 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 reliquary. The most famous artistic treasure of the Trinity Cathedral is its five-tiered iconostasis, most of whose icons were painted by Andrei Rublev and masters of his circle.

Trinity Sergius Lavra

In the Trinity Cathedral, the brethren of the monastery take monastic vows. 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 the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. Since 1814, the Moscow Theological Academy has been located on the territory of the Lavra. The monastery is open for 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.

Trinity Sergius Lavra

Address: Moscow region, Sergiev Posad, Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra.

How to get there: From Yaroslavsky railway station to Sergiev Posad by train. Or by bus from the Shchelkovsky bus station (metro station "Schelkovskaya") or from the metro station "VDNKh".

Reverend 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 incorrupt relics of the saint were found. And five years later, in order to honor the memory of their fellow countryman, the Rostovites decided to found a monastery on the spot where his parents' house stood. And so it was done.

A photo: Website of the Trinity-Sergius Varnitsky 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 it was almost completely destroyed. Since 1995, the restoration of the monastery began. To date, the architectural ensemble of the monastery has been rebuilt.

Varnitsky monastery address: Yaroslavl region, Rostov the Great, pos. Varnitsy.

How to get there: You can take a train from Moscow from the Yaroslavsky railway station to Rostov (202 km, 3 hours). From the station, take a bus or walk to the city center (Kolkhoznaya Square). From there, take a bus to Varnitsa (10–15 minutes drive).

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh

The village of Radonezh and the famous monument of 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.

Monument to Sergius of Radonezh in Radonezh

In 1988, a sculpture by Vyacheslav Klykov was installed in Radonezh - it is dedicated to the famous meeting of the lad Bartholomew with the elder of Chernoriz. (This plot is well known from a painting by the 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 Yaroslavl highway (M8 road). From Moscow, exit from the highway near the village of Golygino. You can get there by bus number 388 from VDNKh.

A photo: "Evening Moscow"

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh

Waterfall Gremyachiy Klyuch

According to legend, the waterfall arose thanks to the prayer of St. Sergius, who, together with his student Roman, walked from the Trinity to Kirzhach and stopped at this place for parking.

Waterfall Gremyachiy Klyuch

Today this holy spring is a place of pilgrimage. There is a whole complex of wooden buildings here: several baths, dressing huts, verandas for relaxation. This series is completed by a wooden chapel-tower and a belfry.

How to get there: On your own: by car - 80 km from MKAD along the Yaroslavl highway, turn in front of the traffic police post to Nizhny Novgorod, onto A-108, then to the sign "Botovo, rattling key". Then right onto the asphalt road. From the turn about 5 km to the source. The easiest way to get there is with organized groups of pilgrims.

Reverend Sergius of Radonezh

Moscow places associated with Sergius of Radonezh

This is, first of all, the “Forgiveness” chapel of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery (Sergiy Radonezhsky Street, house 25). In Russia there was a custom: to set up chapels at the place of farewell to departing travelers. They were called - it's easier. According to legend, St. Sergius of Radonezh, setting off for Nizhny Novgorod in 1365, said goodbye to his disciple, the founder of the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery, St. Andronik. And a chapel was built on this site. It has been known since the 16th century.

Chapel "Forgiveness" Spaso-Andronikov Monastery

The current stone chapel was erected on the site of the old - dilapidated. During the years of Soviet power, it was given to the Union of Atheists of the Hammer and Sickle plant. The tent was demolished, the building housed a shop, a workshop. In 1995 the chapel was returned to the Church and restored. Now there are worship services.

Many temples are dedicated to the hegumen of the Russian land in Moscow. The most famous of them is the Temple of St. Sergius in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda (on Nikoloyamskaya Street, house 57-59).

Church of St. Sergius in Rogozhskaya Sloboda

It has been known since 1722. Among the shrines of the temple: a reliquary, where particles of the relics of John Chrysostom, Martyr Tryphon, St. Sergius of Radonezh, St. Seraphim of Sarov, Martyr Tatiana are kept.

How to get there: Metro: Ploshchad Ilyicha, Rimskaya.

You have to accept the person for who they are. love him and pity him

The Nikonovs, a poor peasant family, already had three children. It's hard to put everyone on their feet. And so the parents (even before the birth of the fourth child) wanted to give him to an orphanage. But shortly before the birth, the woman had a wonderful dream - a white bird with a human face and closed eyes sat on her arm. And the mother decided to leave the child in the family. The girl was born blind. Moreover, the eyes were not visible - they were closed by tightly closed eyelids ().

The Church annually celebrates the memory of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Wonderworker of All Russia, twice: July 5/18 - the remembrance of the finding of his honest relics (1422), September 25 / October 8 - his death (1392). In this anniversary year, when the 700th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian saint is celebrated, pilgrims from all over the world come and go to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra founded by him. Celebrations are also held not only in all regions of Russia, but throughout the Russian world.

Sergiev Posad has changed, it has become more comfortable - its station, streets, squares ... A detailed map for pilgrims and tourists appeared at the station. City transport, shop windows were decorated with anniversary symbols.

An envelope and a stamp with the image of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra were issued for the anniversary. They depict the architectural ensemble of the monastery of St. Sergius and its founder. The total circulation of commemorative envelopes is one million, stamps - 95 thousand.

The large-scale restoration of the monastery of St. Sergius was also completed by the anniversary. Over the course of several years, the Lavra was restored from the cross to the plinth. On the fortress wall, towers, bell tower, in the residence of the Patriarch, in the premises of the Moscow Theological Academy and the Seminary, restoration work was carried out everywhere. In terms of scale, as experts explained, they can only be compared with those that were here after the fire of 1408, when the Lavra was restored from the ashes after the raid of Khan Yedigei.

Funds for the restoration of the Lavra and for the celebrations were allocated from the federal budget. Donors also helped. Approximately so - by the whole world - the monastery was created over the centuries.

About a million pilgrims visit the Lavra every year, this year there were several times more guests.

The heart of the Lavra is the Holy Trinity Cathedral, built in 1422 on the site of the cell of St. Sergius. Here he had the apparition of the Most Holy Theotokos, here now his relics rest.

A little-known interesting fact is cited in his essay "Fields of Russia" by Russian writer Vladimir Glazkov, who lives in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy:

“... In 1442, Serbian monks who fled here (In the Lavra - N.G.) after the battle on the Kosovo field, the Trinity Cathedral was erected, which was painted by Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny ... ".

The ingenious creation of St. Andrei Rublev was the "Trinity", written in praise of St. Sergius of Radonezh. On a fairly large board, the great icon painter depicted the Old Testament Trinity - a symbol of unity.

The iconography is based on the Old Testament plot "Hospitality of Abraham", set forth in the eighteenth chapter of the biblical book of Genesis. He tells how the forefather Abraham, the ancestor of the chosen people, met three mysterious wanderers near the oak forest of Mambre (in the next chapter they were called angels).

The biblical story in the interpretation of St. Andrei Rublev has lost all those narrative features that were traditionally included in the composition of the icon for this story. There is no Abraham and Sarah, there is no scene of the slaughter of the calf, even the attributes of the meal are reduced to a minimum: the angels are presented not eating, but talking. The gestures of the angels, smooth and restrained, testify to the sublime nature of their conversation...

At the beginning of the 15th century, life in Russia seemed unbearably difficult and gloomy to people. And in the Trinity Church of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Rublev icon appeared, shining with unearthly peace.

As early as the middle of the 14th century, when founding his monastery, St. Sergius of Radonezh “built the Church of the Trinity ... so that by looking at the Holy Trinity, the fear of the hated separation of the world would be overcome.” Let us recall that both the Abbot of the Russian Land and his successors supported the unifying policy of the Moscow princes, their struggle against the Mongol-Tatar yoke. But not even half a century had passed after the Battle of Kulikovo, in which the combined Russian forces defeated the horde of Mamai, as Muscovite Russia found itself on the verge of a bloody feudal strife.

Peace, harmony, love - this is what St. Andrei Rublev called his contemporaries to, and in that era there was no call for a more important, more consonant time.

This is important even now. The miraculous Rublev icon is also directed to the future, this is a message to our descendants.

The iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra is also decorated with the icons of the well-known Trinity icon painter of the 16th century, the cellar (custodian of the monastery's supplies) Evstafy Golovkin, which have survived to this day.

When in 1422 the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh were found and they were placed in this white-stone cathedral, the first icon “The Appearance of the Mother of God to St. Sergius” was approved over them. At different times, many icons depicting this miraculous phenomenon were created in the monastery. The most famous of them is the icon of Evstafiy Golovkin.

... Once, in the dead of night, St. Sergius was reading an akathist to the Mother of God. Having made the usual rule, he sat down to rest for a while, but suddenly said to his cell-attendant, the Monk Micah:

Stay awake, child, we're going to have a wonderful visitation.

No sooner had he uttered these words than a voice was heard:

The pure one is coming!

St. Sergius was suddenly illumined by an Unearthly Light. He saw the Mother of God, accompanied by the apostles Peter and John. Unable to endure the wondrous light, the monk reverently bowed before the Mother of God.

Do not be afraid, my chosen one, - She said. - I came to visit you, your prayer for your disciples has been heard; grieve no more for your dwelling place: from now on it will have abundance in everything, and not only during your life, but also after your departure to God, I will not depart from this place and will always cover it ...

The Mother of God became invisible. And St. Sergius was in a daze for a long time. Only his glowing face spoke of the spiritual joy that the saint experienced.

The appearance of the Mother of God in the cell of St. Sergius - on the site of the current Serapion Chamber - was on one of the Fridays of the Nativity Fast in 1385. The memory of the visit of the Mother of God to the Trinity Monastery and Her promise was sacredly kept by the disciples of St. Sergius.

In 1585, under Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, the manufacture of a silver reliquary for the relics of St. Sergius was completed, and it was decided to dismantle the top cover of the wooden coffin into icons. These icons are relics and were painted by Evstafiy Golovkin: “The Appearance of the Mother of God to St. Sergius” - in 1588, and “St. Sergius of Radonezh with Life” - in 1591.

Needless to say about the special responsibility of such an enterprise. It was connected by a single plan to glorify the saint: in 1592, two hundred years from the day of his repose were celebrated. A silver reliquary and a tomb icon in a gold frame - the contribution of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich, son of Ivan the Terrible, and his wife Irina Godunova as a prayer for childbearing - were an act of state importance.

The miraculous icons painted by Evstafy Golovkin kept and protect Russia. In 1657, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1645–1676) took the Appearance of the Mother of God to St. Sergius on a Polish campaign. In 1703, this icon took part in all the campaigns of Peter I during the war with the Swedish king Charles XII.

Today, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra, an akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos is read on Fridays. A special service in honor of the Apparition of the Mother of God to the Reverend is performed at the monastery on August 24, on the second day of the observance of the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Another icon of Evstafiy Golovkin from the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral - "St. Sergius of Radonezh with Life" - also accompanied the Russian army on campaigns.

During the Patriotic War of 1812, it so happened that the Moscow people's militia did not have a banner. It set out on a campaign under the banners with the image of the Assumption of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Metropolitan of Moscow Platon (Levshin), who was at rest in the Bethany Monastery, "like Sergius, who once blessed the Grand Duke Dimitri to fight with Mamai", on July 14 sent Alexander I with the governor of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Samuil the image of St. Sergius, created by Evstafiy Golovkin. The icon was accompanied by a message in which the Metropolitan, expressing hope for victory, compared Moscow with the city of Jerusalem, Napoleon with Goliath, and Alexander with David.

On July 21, hegumen Samuil gave the message and icon to the emperor, who handed it over to the Moscow militia. After the expulsion of the French from Moscow, the fold was returned to the Lavra and put in its place in the Trinity Cathedral.

And for the people of the 21st century, St. Sergius is an attractive spiritual force.

Although the 700th anniversary of St. Sergius of Radonezh is celebrated throughout 2014, the celebrations culminated in church-wide celebrations that took place on July 16-18 at the site of the deeds of the Abbot of the Russian Land.

On the first day of celebrations, a religious procession took place from the Khotkov Monastery, where the relics of St. Cyril and Mary, the parents of St. Sergius of Radonezh, to the Annunciation Field of Sergiev Posad rest. For 17 kilometers of the way, only one stop was made.

The prayer procession, led by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, was attended by tens of thousands of people, including 60 hierarchs, more than 400 clergy, monastics, delegations from the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, Cossacks, pilgrims from different regions of Russia.

The procession from Khotkovo to Sergiev Posad ended with a Patriarchal prayer service on the Annunciation field.

“More than 30,000 people walked, despite the forty-degree heat (that was the temperature in the sun), and you should have seen their joyful faces - no fatigue,” the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church shared the next day. – There were people of different ages, but it was especially nice to see young families who even carried their children with them. This is evidence that St. Sergius is an attractive spiritual force for people of the 21st century.”

The main shrines of the procession are the icon with the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, which on the eve of the anniversary celebrations were able to bow to thousands and thousands of believers in many metropolises and dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the icon with the relics of St. Cyril and Mary.

During the procession, in the pilgrimage town and other places during the celebrations, pilgrims - primarily the elderly, the disabled, families with children - were helped by more than a thousand volunteers from different regions of Russia. They worked as guides, engaged in missionary-catechetical work, including handing out educational materials.

Pilgrims traveled to the Lavra by various means of transport, some of them went to the monastery on foot.

Among the pilgrims were participants in the Nizhny Novgorod-Sergiev Posad bike ride. They presented His Holiness the Patriarch with an icon depicting St. Sergius of Radonezh and Seraphim of Sarov, who accompanied them on their journey, as well as a bicycle.

During the celebrations, the gates of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra were open around the clock.

The Lavra could not accommodate all the pilgrims during the Patriarchal Liturgy on July 18. Thousands of people watched the broadcast of the service on Krasnogorskaya Square in front of the monastery and in the pilgrims' camp on Blagoveshchensk Field.

The celebrations were attended by representatives of all Local Orthodox Churches. During the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy, prayers were heard in different languages.

The greatest ascetic, St. Sergius of Radonezh, plays a fateful role in the history of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin said, speaking on July 18 at a gala concert dedicated to the 700th anniversary of the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

“In the history of our state, he has a truly fateful role ... His wise and firm word of a mentor was a spiritual support, support in a difficult period of foreign invasion and internal strife,” the president said.

“It was then that his prophetic words were heard - “we will be saved by love and unity”, and this call, filled with unshakable faith, served to unite the Russian lands and forever entered the soul of our people, into our historical memory,” said Vladimir Putin.

“The testaments of Sergius of Radonezh are the key to understanding Russia, to understanding the fundamental principles, its historical traditions, unity and solidarity. In this unity, in truth and justice, in our age-old values, the strength of Russia, its great past, present and future,” the head of state stressed.

Nikolay Golovkin. Especially for "Century"

Sergius of Radonezh, the most revered Russian saint, founded ten monasteries in his lifetime. Numerous disciples continued his work and founded 40 more monasteries. These disciples had their own disciples, many of whom also founded monastic communities - in the 15th century Moscow Rus became a country of monasteries, and for many centuries the Russian motto was “God with us!”. We have collected all (or almost all) preserved and even poorly preserved monasteries founded by Sergius of Radonezh and his disciples.

Ferapontov Monastery, Kirillovsky District, Vologda Region

Ferapontov Monastery

Trinity Sergius Lavra. Sergiev Posad, Moscow region

Trinity Sergius Lavra

In the Trinity Monastery in 1392, Sergius reposed, and thirty years later his relics were found, to which the people reached out. The monastery grew and became prettier together with Russia, survived in 1408 the ruin of the horde of Edigey, and in 1608-10 - the siege of the Polish-Lithuanian army of Pan Sapieha. In 1744, the monastery received the status of a lavra - the second in Russia after the Kiev-Pechersk. Now it is a grandiose architectural complex worthy of the largest Russian Kremlins - about 50 buildings behind an impregnable wall 1.5 kilometers long. The oldest churches are the Trinity Cathedral (1422-23) and the Holy Spirit Church-bell tower (1476), and it was for the first that Andrei Rublev wrote his great Trinity. Assumption Cathedral (1559-85) is one of the largest and most majestic in Russia. The bell tower (1741-77) is taller than Ivan the Great, and the largest in Russia 72-ton Tsar Bell hangs on it. Temples, residential and service chambers, educational and administrative institutions, relics and graves of historical figures, a museum with unique exhibits: Lavra is a whole city, as well as a “city-forming enterprise” of the rather large city of Sergiev Posad.

Annunciation Kirzhachsky Monastery. Kirzhach, Vladimir region

Annunciation Kirzhach Monastery

Bobrenev Monastery. Kolomna, Moscow region

Bobrenev Monastery

Epiphany Staro-Golutvin Monastery. Kolomna, Moscow region

Holy Trinity Monastery, Ryazan

Holy Trinity Monastery

One of the missions of Sergius was a kind of "diplomacy of general authority" - he walked around Russia, reconciling the warring princes and convincing them of the unity of the Russian cause. The most recalcitrant was Oleg Ryazansky: on the one hand, Ryazan competed with Moscow for leadership, on the other hand, it was open to the blows of the Horde, and therefore Oleg played a double game on the verge of betrayal. In 1382, he helped Tokhtamysh, snatched Kolomna from Dmitry ... Things were moving towards a new collapse of Russia, but in 1386 Sergius came to Ryazan and miraculously prevented the war, and as a sign of peace he founded the small Trinity Monastery. Now it is a modest city monastery with a decorative fence and churches of the 17th (Troitskaya), 18th (Sergius) and 19th (the icon of the Mother of God "Signs-Kochemnaya") centuries.

Borisoglebsky Monastery. Pos. Borisoglebsky (Borisogleb), Yaroslavl region

Boris and Gleb Monastery

Sergius founded several more monasteries, as it were, “in co-authorship” - not with his students, but with the monks of his generation. For example, Borisoglebsky, 18 versts from Rostov, where Sergius was born, together with the Novgorodians Theodore and Pavel in 1365. Later, the recluse Irinakh, who lived here, blessed Kuzma Minin to defend Russia. A magnificent architectural complex was formed in the 16th-17th centuries, and from the outside, especially when looking at the gates (of which the monastery has two), towers or a three-span belfry, it resembles a slightly simplified Rostov Kremlin. Inside are several churches, including the Cathedral of Boris and Gleb from the 1520s.

Mother of God-Nativity Monastery. Rostov the Great

Mother of God-Nativity Monastery

Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery. Zvenigorod, Moscow region

Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery

After the death of Sergius, the new hegumen of the Trinity Monastery Nikon almost immediately went into seclusion for six years, leaving Savva, another disciple of Sergius, as rector. Immediately after Nikon's return in 1398, Savva went to Zvenigorod and, at the request of the local prince, founded a monastery on Mount Storozhka. As the name implies, the place was strategic, and in the XV-XVII centuries the monastery turned into a powerful fortress. But this monastery was especially honored by the Russian tsars, sometimes secluded in it for prayers and peace: the road here from Moscow was called the Tsar's Way, and now it is nothing more than Rublyovka. The monastery stands in an extremely picturesque place, and behind impregnable walls hides an exemplary "fairytale city" of the times of Alexei Mikhailovich - artsy chambers, elegant belfries, kokoshniks, tents, tiles, white and red scale of the ensemble. It even has its own Royal Palace, as well as an excellent museum. And in the center is a small white Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, consecrated in 1405, during the life of Savva the Wonderworker.

Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery. Lugovoe village, Dmitrovsky district, Moscow region

Nikolo-Peshnoshsky Monastery

Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery. Vologda

Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery

Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery. Gryazovetsky district, Vologda region

Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery

The monastery in the upper reaches of the Obnora River in the Vologda region was founded in 1389 by Sergius's disciple Pavel, who had 15 years of seclusion behind him. Here, too, he lived alone for 3 years in the hollow of an old linden tree... Once upon a time, the Pavlo-Obnorsky Monastery was one of the largest in Russia, but it was especially unlucky under the Soviets: the Trinity Cathedral (1510-1515) with the iconostasis of Dionysius was destroyed (4 icons survived, dispersed in museums), the Assumption Church was beheaded (1535). In the surviving buildings there was an orphanage, later a pioneer camp - therefore the village where the monastery stands is called Youth. Since the 1990s, the monastery has been revived, on the site of the Trinity Cathedral a wooden chapel with the shrine of the relics of Pavel Obnorsky was built.

Resurrection Obnorsky Monastery. Lyubimovsky district, Yaroslavl region

Resurrection Obnorsky Monastery

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Nuromsky Monastery. Spas-Nurma, Gryazovetsky district, Vologda region

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Nurom Monastery

Another monastery on the Nurma River, 15 kilometers from Pavlo-Obnorsky, was founded in 1389 by Sergius of Nuromsky, a disciple of Sergius of Radonezh. Abolished in 1764, the Savior-Sergius Church in the "Northern Baroque" style was built in 1795 as a parish church. Now the monastic life in this abandoned forest monastery is gradually being revived, the buildings are being restored.

Vysoko-Pokrovsky Monastery. Borovsk, Kaluga region

Vysoko-Pokrovsky Monastery

Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. Moscow

Spaso-Andronikov Monastery

Simonovsky Monastery, Moscow

Simonovsky monastery

Another “joint project” is the Andronikov Monastery on the Yauza, now almost in the center of Moscow. It was founded in 1356 by Metropolitan Alexy in honor of the miraculous rescue from a storm on the way to Constantinople. From Sergius, he received a blessing and to help the disciple Andronicus, who became the first abbot. Today Andronikov Monastery is known for its white-stone Cathedral of the Savior (1427), the oldest surviving building in all of Moscow. In those same years, Andrei Rublev was one of the monks of the monastery, and now the Museum of Old Russian Art operates here. The second large church of Michael the Archangel is an example of the Baroque, 1690s, the ensemble also includes walls, towers, buildings and chapels of the 16th-17th centuries, and a few new buildings, more precisely, restored buildings.

Epiphany-Anastasia Monastery. Kostroma

Epiphany-Anastasinsky Monastery

The brainchild of a disciple of Sergius, Elder Nikita, is the Epiphany Monastery in Kostroma. Not as famous as Ipatiev, it is older and in the very center of the city, and its shrine is the Fedorov Icon of the Mother of God. The monastery survived a lot, including the devastation by Ivan the Terrible and the Poles in the Time of Troubles, but the fire of 1847 became fatal. In 1863, the temples and chambers were transferred to the Anastasia Convent. The cathedral now consists of two parts: the white-stone old temple (1559) turned into a new red-brick altar (1864-69) - this design has 27 cupolas! In place of the corner towers, there is the Smolensk Church (1825) and a hipped bell tower. If you manage to look inside, you can see the former refectory (now a seminary) of the 17th century and a very beautiful rectory building.

Trinity-Sypanov Monastery. Nerekhta, Kostroma region

Trinity-Sypanov Monastery

Yakovo-Zheleznoborovsky Monastery. Borok village, Buysky district, Kostroma region

Yakovo-Zheleznoborovsky Monastery

Avraamiev Gorodetsky Monastery. Nozhkino village, Chukhloma district, Kostroma region

Avraamiev Gorodetsky Monastery

One of the brightest successors of the Sergius cause was the monk Abraham, the founder of four monasteries in the remote Galician side (of course, we are not talking about Galicia, but about Galich in the Kostroma region). Only the Avraamiev Gorodetsky Monastery in the village of Nozhkino, where the saint rested, has survived. The temples are visible from Chukhloma and from the Soligalich road across the lake surface: the Intercession and Nikolskaya churches of the 17th century and the Cathedral of the Icon of the Mother of God "Tenderness" with a bell tower, built by Konstantin Ton in the style of his Moscow "masterpiece". The ruins of two churches of another Avraamiev Novoezersky monastery have been preserved opposite Galich, in the village with the affectionate name of Tenderness.

Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery. Cherepovets

Cherepovets Resurrection Monastery

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. Vologda region, Kirillovsky district

Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery

Luzhetsky Ferapontov Monastery. Mozhaisk, Moscow region

Luzhetsky Ferapontov Monastery

Dormition Borovensky Monastery. Mosalsk, Kaluga region

Dormition Borovensky Monastery

Ust-Vymsky Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Monastery. Ust-Vym, Komi Republic

Ust-Vymsky Mikhailo-Arkhangelsk Monastery

Vysotsky Monastery. Serpukhov, Moscow region

Vysotsky monastery

The monastery on the outskirts of Serpukhov is one of the main attractions of the ancient city. It was founded in 1374 by the local prince Vladimir the Brave, but to choose a place and consecrate it, he called Sergius with his disciple Athanasius, who remained for the hegumen. The monastery is small, but beautiful: walls with towers of the 17th century, an elegant gate bell tower (1831), the Zachatievsky Cathedral of the times of Boris Godunov and several more churches and buildings. But most of all, the monastery is famous for the icon of the "Inexhaustible Chalice", which saves from alcoholism, drug addiction and other addictions.

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