St Sergius of Radonezh

Today we celebrate one of the great saints of the Russian Orthodox Church – St Sergius of Radonezh.

St Sergius was born sometime during the second decade of the 14th century. He was the second of three brothers born to his parents Kyril and Maria. His name as a child was Batholomew. Growing up, Bartholomew had difficulty learning and being able to read. One day he came upon an elderly monk who gave Batholomew a small piece of holy bread saying: ‘Take and eat it, this is given to you as a sign of God's grace and for understanding of the Scriptures’. From that meeting on Bartholomew found that he could read easily and that the world of learning became accessible to him.

In 1334, after the death of his parents, Bartholomew moved to Khotkovo near Moscow, joining his widowed older brother Stephen. In 1337, he was tonsured a monk with the name Sergius and was soon thereafter ordained to the priesthood. Sergius and his brother Stephen longed for greater solitude in order to pray. They found such a place in the deep forest near Marovets hill and built there a small cell and a simple chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity. This was in the year 1340. The brothers lived a secluded life in the forest: working, praying, and conducting their simple services. After some time, the elder brother Stephen found the life of seclusion difficult, and he left Sergius to go live in Epiphany monastery in Moscow. With the departure of his brother, Sergius lived alone for a number of years. As he grew in holiness and closeness to God, the wild animals responded to his holy way of life - packs of wolves and bears would come to his hut but would not harm him. One bear in particular became quite tame around St Sergius and would feed from his hand. Over time, people learned of St Sergius and would seek him out for spiritual guidance. Soon, his simple cell grew to a small hermitage of twelve monks. The hermitage of the Holy Trinity continued to grow and eventually became the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra – the great monastery and spiritual center of Holy Russia.

St Sergius guided the growing brotherhood with wisdom… as the number of brothers would increase, he would find time to retreat deeper into the forest to seek that peace and quiet which were so conducive to his life of prayer. That pattern of Christians seeking solitude in the Russian forests, being perfected through asceticism and prayer, being discovered by others and having small communities start to grow around them – this pattern would be repeated many times over throughout the Russian land – and St Sergius was the prototype.

He reposed in the Lord on this day in the year 1392. He was glorified as a saint in 1452.

St Sergius life was a model of asceticism and hesychasm – which means stillness. While he was not a learned man nor a great preacher, he was a man committed to poverty and utter sincerity and simplicity. He was deeply humble and had a staunch faith in God's help. He committed to giving help to all who sought his help with loving attention. This invariably drew others to him, and he proved to be a true leader who led his monks in work and service by setting such a fine example in his own life and way of being.

St Sergius has long been venerated and appreciated as an intercessor before the Lord for all Orthodox people and is especially loved in Russia. That model of withdrawing from the distractions of the world in order to find peace and quiet with God is a powerful and important lesson for each of us. Our lives may not facilitate a literal retreat to the forest, but each of us, no matter what our outward circumstances may be, can benefit greatly from valuing and pursuing whatever moments we can find for quiet time with God. And St Sergius’ diligence in fasting and prayer is something all Orthodox Christians can and should emulate to the best of their ability.

The prayers and intercessions of St Sergius are alive and well today. His monastery thrives in our day and a number of recent saints have found their salvation within the walls of Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. Let me conclude by sharing with you a little miracle that St Sergius coordinated for some of us…

The seven members of our parish that made our pilgrimage to Russia in the summer of 2019 were blessed to visit the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra. It was one of several places in Russia that I will certainly never forget. Driving a little over an hour northwest from Moscow, one comes upon the town of Sergiev Posad and the mighty fortress which is the Holy Trinity–St Sergius Lavra. With massive walls surrounding the monastery and beautiful onion domes and bell towers gracing the skyline, it is a very impressive sight! We were blessed to visit several of the churches within the monastery and to venerate the relics of the many saints resting there. But I, and several others in our group, had our eyes on the church which housed the relics of St Sergius himself. Unfortunately, the line of pilgrims and tourists who also wished to venerate his relics wound out of the church and all the way around it and out of sight. There was little chance of our being able to get in to see St Sergius given the amount of time we had to spend there.

But, as happened so many times on our trip, God was watching out for us. We were told that we could go directly to the narthex area of the church so that we could at least get a glimpse from afar and perhaps buy some icons and souvenirs to commemorate our visit. We came into the church via this other entrance and before we knew what was happening, one of the monks saw our group and whisked us immediately into the main part of the church and to the front of the line to venerate St Sergius’ holy relics! It was truly a blessing of St Sergius for which we all were extremely grateful. The timeless beauty and sense of holiness that resided in that church and hovered around the relics of St Sergius were palpable and profound.

On this holy day of his repose, let us ask for the intercessions of St Sergius. Let us beseech him that we would be granted some small portion of those peaceful moments in the presence of God which can be life-changing and can recharge our spiritual batteries with inspiration and gratitude to the God Who so loves us!