Sergius of Radonezh: relics, icons, temples. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

St. Sergius of Radonezh is a hieromonk of the Russian Church, the founder of monasteries, among which is the well-known Trinity-Sergius Lavra. It is not for nothing that this saint is called the defender of the Russian land, he made every effort to unite it for a decisive rebuff to the enemy conquerors. The emergence of the spiritual culture of Holy Russia is associated with his name, he became the founder of Russian eldership, with him monasticism was resumed, which was started by the great ascetics Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves. In the XV century, Sergius of Radonezh was canonized as a saint. And before answering the question that concerns many about where the relics of Sergius of Radonezh are located, let's first plunge into the life story of this great saint.

Life

The God-bearing Father was born on May 3, 1314 into a pious peasant family of Cyril and Mary (who were also canonized) in Rostov. True, his name was then Bartholomew. The Lord Himself chose him to serve people. Pregnant Mary, standing at the service in the temple, suddenly heard the cry of the baby three times from her womb, the people around her heard it, and the priest himself, who immediately realized that a true minister would soon be born. Orthodox faith.

In his young adolescence, Bartholomew was sent to study at school, but a weak memory did not give him the opportunity to study well. Once, walking through the oak forest, he saw an old monk who looked like an angel, and he blessed him for a good study. Bartholomew spent a lot of time reading the Holy Scriptures, he wanted to devote his life to God and become a monk, but while his parents were alive, he made a vow to himself.

Soon their whole family moved from Rostov to Radonezh, where after a while their parents reposed before the Lord. In 1337, Bartholomew gave away all his property and, together with his brother Stefan, who was already a monk of the Intercession Monastery, settled on a deserted hill Makovets. The brother soon could not stand the harsh life in the wilderness and returned to the brethren back.

Bartolomew was left alone, then he was 23 years old. One day Hieromonk Mitrofan came to him and blessed him for monasticism with the name Sergius.

The pious monk was very quickly found out in the district, and other monks were drawn to him. Together they began to build a small chapel in honor of the Holy Trinity. Then, with God's help, a monastery was built. Archimandrite Simon of Smolensk once specially visited them and left precious gifts for the brethren to expand the monastery and build a large church.

Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra

Since 1355, with the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople Philotheus, a cenobitic charter was adopted in the monastery of Father Sergius of Radonezh. Very soon the Holy Trinity Monastery becamethe center of the Moscow lands, supported by the princes. It was here that Sergius of Radonezh blessed Dmitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo (September 21, 1380).

St. Sergius gave his soul to the Lord on September 25, 1392. He foresaw this and gathered the brethren in advance to bless his disciple, the intelligent and experienced St. Nikon, for the abbess.

St. Sergius of Radonezh played a huge role in the unification of Russia. He did the literally impossible - he reconciled two at that time warring religions. He explained to the Vedic Russians that faith in Jesus Christ had nothing to do with Western Christianity and that Christ did not teach crusades, the destruction of Vedic idols, and the burning of heretics at the stake. He explained to everyone that now there is no time for hostility when such perverted Christianity is coming from the West. These pseudo-Christians, under the cover of the name of Christ, commit the most heinous crimes. St. Sergius of Radonezh was a real sad man of the Russian land, he always prayed for Russia, so that her vigilant enemy would not overcome her accursed.

Strong walls of the monastery

In the famous Holy Trinity Monastery, the heirs to the royal throne Vasily III and Ivan the Terrible were baptized. Soon this monastery turned into a defensive fortress, which was surrounded by stone walls with 12 towers. Ivan the Terrible personally supervised the construction. All this later came in handy when defending against the troops of False Dmitry II.

In 1608-1609, Sergiev Posad land repulsed the powerful army of thousands of Poles underled by the governor Sapieha and Lisovsky. Then the Russian governors were Prince G. B. Roscha-Dolgoruky and the nobleman Alexei Golokhvastov. They prayed unceasingly and knew that St. Sergius of Radonezh always helps them. They kept his relics like the apple of their eye. At the tomb of the holy elder, everyone kissed the cross and swore that they would never leave their monastery alive.

The icon of St. Sergius of Radonezh: what helps?

In any church you can always find the image of the Reverend Elder Sergius. His icon gives us a deep look, full of humility and wisdom. On May 3/May 16, 2014, a great date was celebrated - the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Sergius of Radonezh, whom everyone considered a saint during his lifetime. He was respected by various rulers, princes, boyars and common people.

Many are not in vain interested in the question: “The icon of St. Sergius of Radonezh helps in what?” People with sincere prayer turn to the face of a saint in order to receive protection and help in unpleasant life circumstances. And parents ask him for their children so that they study well, be well-mannered and kind and never fall under someone's bad influence.

Prayer Help

No one is left inconsolable by St. Sergius of Radonezh: his relics have the power that can heal. The monks of the monastery described a huge number of cases of miraculous healing.

He makes everyone think about their lives and feel whether they are ready to lay down their lives for the Motherlandyour own, as our ancient ancestors did with the help of a holy seer?

The real guardian of Russia from her enemies is St. Sergius of Radonezh. The relics, to which hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come, are miraculous and healing.

The holy elder peacefully departed to the Lord on September 25/October 8, 1392. After three decades, the miraculous relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh were majestically uncovered, which were always kept in the monastery as long as it was safe.

Many are interested in the question of how to properly venerate relics. As usual, everyone venerates only the silver reliquary in which the relics of the holy father Sergius are kept, where a special flap is made at the level of the head, which is sometimes opened, then it is possible to venerate the covered head of the saint.

History of relics

The theme "Sergius of Radonezh: relics" I would like to add one amazing story of the grandson of the priest Pavel Florensky. On Lazarus Saturday before Easter 1919, the relics of the saint were to be opened by the Soviet authorities. The safety of the relics was in question. Father Pavel found out about this, who arranged a secret meeting with the abbot of the monastery, Father Kronid, Count Yu. A. Olsufiev (a member of the commission for the protection of monuments), S. P. Mansurov and M. V. Shik, who then became priests. They secretly came to the Trinity Cathedral, read a prayer before the shrine with the relics of the saint, then with the help of a spear they separated the head of the saint and replaced it with the head of a formerburied in the Lavra of Prince Trubetskoy. The head of St. Sergius was temporarily left to be kept in the sacristy. Count Olsufiev then placed the head of the monk in an oak ark and began to keep it at his home (Sergiev Posad, Valovaya st.). In 1928, fearing arrest, he buried the ark in his garden.

Successful operation

In 1933, after Pavel's father was arrested, Olsufiev fled to Nizhny Novgorod, where he told this story to Pavel Alexandrovich Golubtsov (the future Bishop Sergius, Bishop of Novgorod), who soon managed to take the ark from the count's garden and move it Nikolo-Ugreshsky Monastery near Moscow. There the ark was kept until the end of the Great Patriotic War. Returning from the war, Golubtsov handed over the reliquary with the shrine to Olsufiev's adopted daughter E. P. Vasilchikova, who secretly gave the honorable head of St. Sergius to Patriarch Alexy I in 1946. And he blessed her to return it to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra when it reopened.

Conclusion

Now you can fully answer the question: "Where are the relics of Sergius of Radonezh?" They are still kept in the Holy Trinity Lavra. Almost every day, thousands of pilgrims come to pray to the holy relics. In the Lavra, near the relics, real miracles take place, which do not go unnoticed and are recorded in detail so that everyone has faith and hope for healing.

In honor of the Monk Abbot Sergius, a huge number of churches and monasteries were built in Moscow and the Moscow region, in St.regions, in the Arkhangelsk, Tula, Tyumen and other regions.