St Peter’s Anglican Church

St Sergius of Radonezh - September 25

Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow

Sergius of Radonezh was born at Rostov in Russia about 1314. At that time Russia was in considerable turmoil after the Mongol invasions of the previous century and the civil war in Russia that led to control of the country by the Tartars. In the turmoil, Sergius’ family was forced to leave Rostov. They took up farming at Radonezh near Moscow. The invasion and warfare had severely disrupted religious life, and many of the early monasteries had been destroyed. A revival of the monastic tradition in eastern Europe began in the early fourteenth century, influenced by the practice of contemplative prayer associated with Gregory Palamas. In Russia this led a number of people to seek quiet in the forests north of Moscow.

As a young man of twenty, Sergius joined his brother Stephen and others in a community of hermit Christians in the forests. Following a simple lifestyle they lived close to nature. Over the course of time Sergius brought his fellow hermits into an ordered communal life and founded the great monastery of the Holy Trinity near Radonezh, 70 kilometres north of Moscow, in what is now Zagorsk. This was the first religious community to be established in Russia after the Tartar invasion. Through his influence many other monasteries were founded... Read more...