St. Sergius of Radonezh Temple
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Sergius of Radonezh

Born Barfolomei Kirillovich in 1314, St. Sergius of Radonezh came from a once-wealthy family and lived with his parents until their deaths in 1334. He was tonsured a monk three years later and was ordained a priest. In 1340, he established the monastery of the Holy Trinity, one of forty which he founded. He created several monastery schools and taught farmers better methods of farming. He refused the patriarchate of Moscow in 1378. Two years later, he urged Prince/St. Dimitri Donskoi to fight the Tatars, whom Donskoi defeated at Kulikovo. Sergius died in 1392.

Saint Sergius of Radonezh

Of all Russian saints, Saint Sergius is perhaps the most inaccessible and mysterious. His life was so simple, so transparent that one can only observe it: he loved God from his childhood with simple and undivided love and throughout his life he was simple with an ever growing simplicity. This is true to such an extent that in the ultimate analysis the more one brings one's eyes to bear upon him the less one feels that there is anything one can say about him. More than any other Russian saint, he seems the most distant and developed in the most profound contemplative silence. Yet, he is surprisingly close to us. He is close to us because, standing before God as he does with his heart and his soul whole and undivided, he prays for all of us, and from time to time we feel the full force of God's grace coming to us in return for his prayers.

Let us offer our prayers with constancy and with absolute simplicity, with all the purity of heart which is accessible to us, to the meek, simple and, at the same time, inexorably whole and pure saint of the Russian land. Let us pray for ourselves, so that through his prayers we also can find the way of simplicity and integrity. Let us pray for the whole world, let us pray also and particularly for that country which he loved so profoundly, so intensely and so selflessly so that it can know again, as it did in his time after the terrible Tartar yoke, that blessed thaw, peace, love and concord among men built on the faith in God, in man, in the fact that the Lord is the Lord of this world's history and that, in the ultimate analysis, every event in this life is a part of the mystery of the salvation of the world.

But in order for us to be able to pray we must wholly believe that God is truly among us, that it is truly He who mysteriously rules all events of this world, however terrible these events may be at times. But we must believe not only in words, not only with our minds; we must surrender our lives and ourselves into the hands of God; we must seek the meaning of the word of God and, without mercy for ourselves or others, be the creators, not just listeners, of the word of God, the word of the Holy Spirit. And, if we enter into the mystery of silence and prayerful contemplation by our very lives, by the way we listen to the words of God and fulfill his will, then through us also, as through Saint Sergius, in however insignificant a measure, God's grace will descend upon those who are around us, near or far, upon all those whom God so loved that He sent His Only Begotten Son to crucifixion and death, so that men can believe in love both human and Divine, believe and start living according to this belief. Amen.

Parish Life

October, 1986

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE MOTHER CELESTIAL

THE time has come to set forth the most Meaningful-the vision of glory of the Mother Celestial. Can it be that the great predestined vision was a silent one? Can it not be that the trembling of the spirit and the hoary head resulted from this great proclamation? The Mother Celestial said, "My Time shall come, when My Heavenly Star shall speed earthward. Then shalt thou come to fulfil the ordinance of the dates. "And the despised ones shall be the saviors. And the vanquished one shall lead the victors. And three roots cleft by a curse shall be knitted with love. And they shall be led by a Messenger not of their strain.

"Until then shall the Tartar and Jew be cursed, and they shall curse the Russian soil. And when thy bones shall be scattered, the date of the three curses shall be fulfilled. "And invisibly visible, thou shalt be enthroned, adorned in thy Crown and a Signet-ring. And there where thou shalt set Thy Seal, there shall My Hand be. And Those of the Lords."

SAYINGS OF SERGIUS

"IF one hear the voice of his spirit, he shall be borne above the precipice." Thus spoke Sergius. "And he who departs unto the forest cannot hear the speech of humans. And he who falls asleep shall not hear the birds, heralds of the sun. "And he who is silent before a manifested miracle shall pay penalty with his sight. And he who forbears to aid his brother shall not draw the thorn from his foot." Thus spoke Sergius.

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To Sergius came Saint Alexis, questioning, "What is there to do?" Sergius answered, "Help the Russian Soil !" When the peasants asked Sergius, "What shall we do?" He answered, "Help the Russian Soil!" When Minin addressed Sergius, came the answer: "Help the Russian Soil!"

THE TRAVAIL OF SERGIUS

GRAY is his beard. The Flaming Spirit attends Him in service. And the mighty Prince has already bowed before Him. But should the bread-cart delay, the beloved brethren cannot sustain their faith for a single hour. Should his purse be momentarily depleted, then the worthy and chosen brethren are ready to barter the wondrous Bliss for a stranger's penny. They even add, "Your guardian saints have become poverty-stricken!" And by day and by night, they await-not enlightenment, but the well-being of body." Of Sergius it was said that during the dark night often he made his rounds through the cells and finding all deep in sleep he went further, nor roused them. It may be that he hoped to find one among them vigilant!

FORESIGHT OF SERGIUS

SERGlUS sometimes also spoke of the White Mountain but never indicated its locality. And when somebody unexpectedly knocked, the brothers said, "Is it not the Abbott?" Said Sergius, "Upon the White Mountain live diverse beings. When they have need they are two-headed and five-legged, not like ourselves. Their sleighs go without horses and in the need of haste they can fly."

• THE LIFE, ACTS, AND MIRACLES OF OUR REVERED AND HOLY FATHER ABBOT SERGIUS
• The Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Sergiev Posad and links
• Encyclopædia Britannica: Sergius of Radonezh, Saint (Russ. monk)
• St. Sergius and Russian Spirituality.  Pierre Kovalevsky
• Contemplating the Mystery; St. Sergius and Rublev

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