Monk Sergius

Sergiy Radonezhsky (in the world Bartholomew; 1314 (or 1322) – September 25, 1392) was a spiritual leader and monastic reformer of medieval Russia and founder of several monasteries, including the Holy Trinity Monastery near Moscow (now the Trinity Sergius Lavra).

The phenomenon of the great Russian saint Sergius of Radonezh was his total victory over fear and his greatest inner freedom. In victory over any earthly fear and in incredible inner freedom from everything that worries us, does not allow us to be joyful in our ordinary earthly life. At the same time, the holy victor was by no means a fighter in the usual sense – a fighter “against the plagues of society” or at least simply against the imperfections of life. Moreover, he was not even a detractor like other holy monks, for example, the founder of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Theodosius. But the saint’s inner freedom – the result of his victory over fear – was so great, and his inner harmony and joyful perception of existence were so strong in him, that this not only conquered the modest monk’s most powerful contemporaries, but also stretched through the thick of the ages, generating a host of followers.