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St. Sergius
St. Sergius, the
founder of the Holy Trinity Lavra, was born of wealthy Rostov boyars on
May 3, 1314. On the fortieth day the local priest baptized the child,
naming him Bartholomew. From his childhood he grew accustomed to solitude
and sought his salvation through prayer, fasting and work. In 1337, at
the age of 23, after his parents’ death, he decided to leave for
the desert together with his elder brother Stephen. The brothers chose
to found their hermitage in a clearing surrounded by thick forest on a
low hill, later called Makovets (a term often used to indicate the top
of a hill). |
St. Seraphim of Sarov
More than 200 years ago there lived in Russia a young boy named Prochorus.
When he was 27 Prochorus was made a monk and given the name Seraphim.
At the age of 3l he became a priest and for a long time he served Liturgy
and received Holy Communion every day. A year later, like the ancient
desert-dwellers, St. Seraphim went to live alone in a dense pine forest.
Next to his one-room hut or cell he planted a vegetable garden. Later
he also kept bees. |
Patriarch Tikhon
When, in 1917, Patriarch
Tikhon accepted his election to the patriarchal throne, he did so in humble
submission to the will of God, knowing full well that he was being handed
a bitter cup: the throne was his Cross and the white patriarch's hood
- his crown of thorns. For 7 years he daily endured the suffering which
fell to him as to the head of the Russian Church during one of the most
difficult periods in all of her history. At first he called upon the faithful
to resist the communists – whom he anathematized as servants of
Satan - and, if necessary, to suffer martyrdom for the sake of Christ's
truth. |
