Sergius of Radonezh
Russian monk who founded the monastery of the Holy Trinity in the forest near Radonezh, introduced the common life there and was sought out by princes and bishops. He died in 1392 and was canonized in 1452.
His Life, written by his disciple Epiphanius the Wise, says that he was the second of three sons of Cyril and was baptized Bartholomew. It places his birth at the coming of the host of Akhmyl, which the editors date to 1322 (Life of Sergius of Radonezh ch. 2); it also says he was seventy-eight when he died, which would put it in 1314 (Life of Sergius of Radonezh ch. 32). With his brother Stephen he built a church of the Holy Trinity in the forest, and he was tonsured there at twenty-three with the name Sergius (Life of Sergius of Radonezh chs. 5–6).
The Life tells that on the advice of Patriarch Philotheos of Constantinople he gave his monks a common rule, under which no one owned anything (Life of Sergius of Radonezh chs. 15–16). It dates his death to 25 September 1392 (Life of Sergius of Radonezh ch. 32). Its editors give 1452 as the year of his canonization (Life of Sergius of Radonezh editors’ introduction). See Sergius of Radonezh and the Trinity Monastery.
In the timeline
- c. 1337–1345, estimated dateSergius of Radonezh and the Trinity Monastery
A young man from a ruined Rostov family settles in the forest near Radonezh and builds a small church of the Trinity. The community that gathers round him adopts the common life and grows into the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.