The Holy Trinity St.Sergius Lavra. View from the South-East

St. Paraskeve Pyatnitsa Well Chapel 

 St. Paraskeve Pyatnitsa Church

Fragment

St. Paraskeve Pyatnitsa Tower

The Holy Gate 

The Holy Gate

The Dormition Cathedral

The Church of Holy Spirit. The Canopy over the Cross.

The Bell-Tower

St. Varvara Church

The St. Ilya Church

St. Trinity Sergy Laura is the cloister of the Saint Sergy of Radonezh, the wonderful and unique monastery. As the foreign traveler Paul of Aleppo noted in the 17^th Century �this monastery does not have equal not only in Moscow country, but in the whole world as well�. It�s not only majesty and beauty of monastery buildings, though Trinity Laura is one of the most magnificent architectural complexes of Russia. Within the walls of the Laura is absolutely specific sense of time. They�re the six centuries of its history inseparable of that of the country as if becoming alive. Within the walls of the Laura is fully special spiritual atmosphere, which harmoniously combines greatness and splendor with simplicity and asceticism of ancient Russian monasticism and centuries-old traditions with the living spirit of monastic creativity with undying ordinances of Sergy.

 Father Paul Florensky wrote: �In order to understand Russia one should understand the Laura and in order to thoroughly investigate Laura one should intently look on its founder�. We shouldn�t give detail description of the life of the Saint, his monastic exploit. It should be reminded that the boy Bartholomew (secular name of St.Sergy) round 1330 moved with his parents from Rostov to Radonezh. After the death of his parents with his brother Stephen he retired to �hermitage� in forests having stayed for some time at Khotkov monastery. Sergy together with his brother built the wooden church on the Makovets hill at the place where forestspring flows into the Konchura River. The Metropolitan Theognost in the name of the St. Trinity blessed this construction. Historians assume that it was the first in Russia unique church of the Trinity built by Sergy �in order by constant looking at it to fight the fear of hated separateness of the world�. This impertinent design was the first ordinance of the Saint. This ordinance is observed in our time in the Trinity St. Sergius Laura.

The foundation of Trinity monastery happened in the 1340�s. In recent time historians are inclined to date it the year of 1345. In those times the monastery constituted a small hermitage: the church surrounded by wooden cells. For some time Sergy led monastic life alone (Stephen had gone to Moscow), but disciples started gathering. Originally the community consisted of 12 persons. While living along life the zealot Bartholomew was visited by a certain hegumen Mitrophan and he took monastic vows with the name of Sergy. Gradually the fame of acts of the monk of Radonezh spread throughout the Orthodox world. The Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople sent him the cross and schema as a blessing. In ten years after foundation of the monastery Sergy introduced the coinobial statute, i.e. all the property was common.

 The life of the Saint was an example of Orthodox ascetism, denial of vanity and passions of the world for the sake of supreme moral values. Having learned, for instance, that part of the community did not wish to have him as the hegumen, Sergy left for some time the founded monastery for Kirzhach. The Metropolitan Alexy wanted to name Sergy his successor, but he refused: �Forgive me, the Holy master. It�s above my measure. Since my youth I was poor and wish to remain the same in my old age�. Sergy and his close disciples had founded nearly 70 monasteries in Russia. The Saint died in 1392 (according to some sources, in 1397) and in 1422 he was canonized and his imperishable relics were found. His successor Nicon of Radonezh invited icon painters Andrew Rublyov and Daniel Chyorny to paint and decorate with icons the new stone Trinity Cathedral over the burial place of Sergy. The famed ancient Russian writers Epiphanius the Wise and Pakhomy Logofet who lived in Trinity monastery wrote the biography of the Saint. In the 17^th century the new version of the biography with addition of stories about multiple miracles committed at the holy relics was compiled by the monk Simon Azaryin. Even the Empress Catherine II wrote in the 18^th century the biography of St. Sergy.  

Peter the Great never gave up the icon of the Saint. The history of the Laura is that of Russia proper. Time after time in the crucial moments of Russian history the Laura demonstrated examples of spiritual determination, moral as well as martial. In 1380 Sergy of Radonezh blessed Dimitry Donskoi before the battle of Kulikovo. In 1408 Russia suffered from terrible invasion of Yedigey. Trinity monastery was burnt down, but was speedily built up. And in 1480 the hegumen of the monastery Vassian Rylo applied to the vacillating Grand Prince John II with his �Message to Ugra� and the prince strengthened his spirit and this helped to put an end to the Tartar yoke. The Time of Troubles began and Laura endured the unexampled siege of 30 000 Polish-Lithuanian army from September 1608 to January 1610. The second raid (1618) of the army of king�s son Vladislav ended for Polish infamously. The doors of the Trinity Cathedral bear the trace of Polish ball. During the Patriotic War of 1812 Laura made a donation for the needs of Russian Army amounted to 70 000 rubles in assignats, 25 000 rubles in silver coins and over 5 poods (81,9 kg) of silver.

The history of Laura is many-sided and rich with diverse pictures that appear before the eyes of a person behind the walls of monastery. There�s the icon portraying the Saint Savva of Storozha (the 14^th century), kneeling in a wooden church. There the scene from the Russian feudal war of the 15^th century: the year of 1446 the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily was seized in the Trinity Cathedral and then blinded. Since that time he was called Tyomny (Dark)� Maxim the Greek (the 16^th century) inclined over the book in the cell. The associate of the Patriarch Nikon Arseny Sukhanov (the 17^th century) accumulated knowledge. Under the vaults of the Trinity Cathedral the cry of baby rang out. Vasily III (1489), John the Terrible (1530) and then his sons were baptized there. The feather of John the Terrible who suspected the discontent of the community in oprichnina wrote the following caustic lines: �At the Trinity in Sergy monastery the piety ran low and the monastery grew scarce and none to take the vows and nobody gave anything�. But then John the Terrible issued the ukase concerning the erection of huge Dormition Cathedral there. Afterwards he cried and prayed in Holy Spirit Church for repose of the soul of his son Ivan, who was killed. The procession of Boris Godunov entered the monastery as usual with rich gifts (Godunov liked and favored the Laura, though traditionally all Russian princes, tsars and emperors made pilgrimages leaving rich donations and eternal candles at the grave of the Saint Sergy�). And the other mournful procession. In 1606 the remains of Boris and his family were buried in the Laura. In the end of the 17^th century twice in 1682 and 1689 the young Peter the Great sought for protection behind the walls of monastery against plotters.

In the 18^th century the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna greatly favored the monastery and often made pilgrimages there. In 1744 she conferred to Trinity St. Sergius monastery a title of Laura (the highest monastery rank). In the Russian Empire there were only four lavras and in present Russian Federation they are two (the second is that of St. Alexander Nevsky, located in St. Petersburg). The Laura became the biggest center of religious education: in 1742 the theological seminary was opened there and in 1814 Moscow Theological Academy moved to the Laura.

Russian emperors perfectly understood the significance of Trinity St. Sergy Laura and after the transference of the capital to Petersburg there was an idea to move the St. Sergy cloister. Since 1726 in Strelnya near Petersburg they even erected buildings for that purpose, but luckily everything was limited to foundation of the small Trinity St. Sergius Hermitage there and Laura remained on its place. Sovereigns still did not forget it: for instance, in Korbukh, in the country house of Laura Catherine II and Paul I liked to live.

Laura gradually became the wonderful small town decorated with magnificent buildings. In the 14^th century it was small wooden monastery and in the 15^th century the wooden walls surrounded three stone buildings. In the 16^th century the stone walls and the magnificent Dormition Cathedral were built. In the next century the monastery walls and towers were built on and inside the luxurious Refectory (the biggest vaulted hall of the ancient Russian architecture) and Tsars Hall were erected. In the 18^th century in spite of 1746 fire Laura architectural company is topped by the one of the most beautiful Russian Bell towers. The famous architects like V. Yermolin (the 15^th century), I. Michurin and O. Bove (the 19^th century) worked in the monastery. In 1782 the monastery slobodas received the status of town St. Sergy Posad. In the time of Metropolitan Plato who was the archimandrite of Laura from 1766 to 1812 the foundation of Bethany Hermitage of Our Savior began the �Laura constellation� the chain of small monasteries around Sergiev Posad. In the 19^th century the Laura monks had founded the sketes of Chernigov icon of Gethsemane, of the Paraklete, the coinobial Bogolyubsky monastery and revived Smolensk Zosima Hermitage. Chernigov skete with its cave church became the center of Moscow elders; pilgrims from all Russia came there to spiritual directors. It�s known that among the visitors of the Laura were Mikhail Yu. Lermontov and Leo N. Tolstoy. Simply it�s not possible to name all our noted compatriots who visited the Laura and impressed its image in literature and painting.

Prior to the secularization of 1764 the Laura was richest of Russian monasteries: there were nearly 150 monks and the cloister possessed 106 501 peasants. The Laura possessions were located in 15 provinces; it had 150 houses in 45 towns (Moscow Kremlin included) and 13 attached monasteries. In 1764 the Laura lost huge wealth that partially was compensated by further donations of sovereigns. In the beginning of the 20^th century the Laura still had vast economy: horse and cattle yards, icon painting school and workshops, printing house and lithography.

Laura objects of worship and rarities were numerous. In the Trinity Cathedral there were imperishable relics of Sts. Sergy and Nikon, the miraculous icon of the Saint Trinity painted by Rublyov. Behind the altar in Dormition Cathedral there was the cross over the double-headed eagle carved by Peter the Great. In Smolenskaya church there was a miraculous Smolensk icon of the Mother of God. In St. Micah church there were the relics of the Saint Micah, a discriple of Sergy and a witness to miraculous appearing of the Virgin to him. The relics of the Saint Serapion of Novgorod, the Metropolitan Josef, the archimandrite Dionisy and remains of Maxim the Greek lay in the Laura along with the hand of the Saint Stephen and the stone from the Holy Sepulchre.

The library of the Laura contained 823 manuscripts and 10 000 ancient printed volumes. Forty bells were cast on donations from Russian sovereigns hanged on the bell tower. The golden cross sent to Sergy by the Patriarch Philotheus; the holy vessels of Sergy and Nikon, their chasubles of ordinary cotton fabric; the gifts of Russian and foreign sovereigns were kept in the wealthy vestry of Laura. (Most of the objects of worship and rarities of Laura after 1917 appeared in museums.) Annually 26 processions and solemn services took place in the Laura.

The necropolis of the Laura was vast. Besides the abovenamed zealots of the monastery and the Godunov family there lay Epiphanius the Wise and Pakhomy Logofet; distinguished Moscow boyars; defender of Smolensk from Polish the voivode M.B. Shein; the leaders of irregulars in the Time of Troubles Prokopy Lyapunov and Ivan Rzevsky, Eudokia Kutuzova (died in 1572), the ancestor of the field-marshal.

In the beginning of the 20^th century there were 13 churches in the Laura. The canteen, hospital, almshouse, poor people homes, asylums, college, Theological Academy, two inns for countless pilgrims operated at the Laura. The Holy Archimandrite of Laura was considered the Metropolitan of Moscow. In the monastery the deputy archimandrite substituted him.

The Laura with its �constellation� was an absolutely special world. In the beginning of the 20^th century Father Paul Florensky wrote the following about it: �Here the pulse of Russian, history is felt more then anywhere else. Here collected more nervous, feeling and moving ends, here Russia is sensed as one whole�The Laura is the artistic portrait of Russia in its wholeness� Laura is the feeling of manifestation of the Russian idea�. But in November 1917 Laura survived several burglaries. The soldiers sent by Revvoensoviet inspected and distrained the objects of worship and property of the monastery. On April 11, 1919 the authorities despite the multiple protests of believers of the whole country disclosed the relics of Saint Sergy. In the same year the Theological Academy was closed. And in November 1919 Laura was closed too. The monastery was surrounded by the Red Army men, who sealed up the churches and arrested all the members of the community (except eight persons). A few Laura inhabitants were able to continue services in Chernigov Skete. In 1920 the Patriarch Tikhon several times applied to Lenin with requests to open the churches of the Laura. These requests were supported by countless petitions of believers and he asked for audience, but �the leader of world proletariat� on April 20, 1920 signed the Decree of the Soviet of People�s Commissars concerning conversion of the Laura into the museum. It would be surprising if monks were not blamed for counterrevolution activity. They even wrote that the Laura �was nearly used as the national center�. In 1921 the part of territory was occupied by the museum and the other by the electrotechnical academy, courses-school and Public Education Institute. The churches were used for housing of clubs, shooting gallery and canteens. The cells of the Laura were used as living quarters and institutions.

The symbol of the end (as it then seemed) of the centuries-old history of the Laura was the hurricane of 1923 which tore off the cross from the central dome of the Dormition Cathedral� Chernigov Skete was not long in existing. In May 1928 over one hundred �church people� of St. Sergy Posad were arrested and exiled. And in 1930 the name of Sergy disappeared from the map, the town was renamed into Zagorsk. In January of that same year 19 ancient bells were thrown off Laura towers and sent for smelting (including the biggest one in provincial Russia weighting 67 tons). These events were reflected in memories of the famous Russian writer M. Prishvin.

The restoration of architectural monuments of the Laura took place during 1919-1920, in 19251926 and since 1937 it practically did not stop. In 1940 by resolution of the Soviet of People�s Commissars the Laura was declared �the museum-reserve of republican significance�. In 1941 the monuments of the Laura were camouflaged to avoid bombing. In the course of �warming� of relations between the church and the state during the Great Patriotic War the one of immediate needs of the church was admitted revival of monastery in the Laura that happened soon after the end of war. The monastery existed in the vicinity of museum.

In the end of 80�s there were over 120 monks and lay brothers in the Laura. Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary operated in it. According to the words of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Alexy II �as in the days of the Saint Sergy the monastery today generously share its spiritual wealth with everyone coming to it with the faith and hope on inexhaustible help of our Lord visually manifesting itself through monks, the other worldly persons�. The �constellation of the Laura� is revived too. In the beginning of the 90�s services resumed in Chernigov Skete and Smolensk Zosimas Hermitage is opened again. Services are performed in the churches of the former St. Paraskeve monastery at the walls of Laura.

The architectural monuments: the Trinity Cathedral of 14221423 with Nikon side altar of 1548; Holy Spirit church of 1476; the Dormition Cathedral of 1559-1585; the �over the well� chapel of the end of 17^th century; the church of Sts. Zosima and Savvaty at the Hospital wards of 1635-1638; the church of St. Sergy of Radonezh and Refectory of 1686-1692; St. Micah church of 1734; the cells and outbuildings of the 17-19-th centuries; the Tsar Halls of the end of the 17^th century; the gate church of John the Baptist of 1693-1699; the Metropolitan chambers of the 16-18-th centuries; Smolensk icon church of 1745-1748; the bell tower of 1740-1770 (architects I. Michurin and D. Ukhtomsky); the fortress walls and towers of the 16-18-th centuries and other buildings of the 17-20-th centuries.

The churches and blocks of the 16-19-th centuries are also remained in St. Paraskeve, Chernigov, Gethsemane and Parakete monasteries, Bogolyubsky, Bethany hermitages in the environs of St. Sergy Posad, to which was returned its old name.

Text for this web page was taken from book:

Russian Monasteries. Central part of Russia. Moscow. 1995. 399 p.