Homily One on the Repose of Saint Sergius,
Abbot of Radonezh, Wonderworker of All Russia
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1960)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters, today the entire Orthodox Christian world, with a sense of spiritual joy and gladness, brightly celebrates the day of the repose of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Sergius, the Saint of God, the great ascetic and intercessor of the Russian Land. But for you and me, dear brothers and sisters, this spiritual joy is compounded by the fact that, by the mercy of God, we have the happiness on this solemn and joyous day to be present in body and spirit at this holy place, where Saint Sergius himself lived, labored, and asceticized, and where his incorrupt holy relics rest.
The life of Saint Sergius is very edifying for each of us and is filled with the greatest miracles of God and blessings for our people. Loving the Lord with all his soul, the quiet and meek young man Bartholomew, after the death of his parents, withdrew to the dense and impenetrable forest, to the place where we are now. And here, in silence and solitude, in constant prayer, he devotes himself to the ascetic feats of the austere wilderness life for the acquisition of Christian virtues, for victory over his passions and lusts, for the purification of his heart. "Venerable Father, who shall tell of your labors and sorrows? Or whose tongue will utter about your harsh life, vigilance and dry eating, and lying down on the ground, purity of soul and body, complete silence in the mouth and mind, humility without hypocrisy, unceasing prayers, and prudent reasoning, poor garments and the memory of death?" — thus the Holy Church glorifies the feats and labors of Saint Sergius.
In his humility, the Venerable Sergius did not consider it possible to tell people about all his sorrows and temptations associated with such a severe ascetic life, but they were very frequent and, of course, served as a great test for the young hermit. The dense forest and wild beasts were all that surrounded him at first, these were his companions, with whom he had spent almost half of his life. But in spite of all these temptations, Saint Sergius never lost heart, did not grumble, did not grieve, he was always satisfied with everything. He was a true soldier of Christ. It was with such feats that the life of the Venerable Sergius was adorned on earth, and thanks to these feats the Lord glorified him with His Divine glory, and he, while still on earth, acquired the greatest purity and peace of heart, a deep peace of soul, a pledge of future blessedness. For his holy life the Lord granted him the gift of wonderworking and insight, so that the Venerable Sergius, while still living on earth, worked many miracles, and his name was known in all corners of our Russian Land as the name of a great Saint of God and intercessor. He was honored with a visit from the great Heavenly Guest – the Most Holy Theotokos with two Apostles. She said: "I will not depart from this place, and I will cover it." And by the end of his life, his name had already become so well-known that few of the faithful did not call on Saint Sergius in their prayers. Those who called upon him were vouchsafed the greatest mercies and bounties of God. "Those who glorify Me, I will glorify" (1 Samuel 2:30), says the Lord. Thus He glorified His saint – the Venerable Sergius.
Having attained spiritual success, the Venerable One by God's Providence was appointed a spiritual guide for the numerous brethren seeking salvation under his guidance. And he sacrifices himself for the good of his neighbors, laboring with great patience and love for the moral perfection of each novice monk. Under his wise spiritual guidance, a highly spiritual and moral monastic brotherhood was brought up, which embodied the highest ideals of Christian life; moreover, many of the members of this brotherhood themselves subsequently became mentors and leaders of monastic communities. We have already said that the Lord glorified His Saint with the gift of fervent prayer and wonderworking, so that his name became known throughout the Russian Land, and a multitude of people flocked to the Venerable One even during his lifetime to tell him their sorrows and griefs, to hear from him advice and instruction, to ask for his holy prayers and, to the extent of their faith, to receive from him healing of their ailments and consolation in sorrows. But in addition to the grace-filled help that those who came to him with faith received from him, and the consolation with which Saint Sergius consoled the sorrowful and suffering, he has another, greater merit before our Russian people and can rightly be called the savior and restorer of our Russian Land, for it is with his name in our history that the memory of the bright time of the moral rebirth of the people and liberation from the Tatar-Mongol rule is associated, so that even people who have absolutely no relation to the Church bow down before the bright image of Saint Sergius for his merits.
Venerable Sergius, through his moral influence and prayer, breathed into Russian society a sense of moral vigor and spiritual strength, raised the fallen spirit of the Russian people, awakened in them confidence in themselves, in their own strength, faith in their future, and helped our people to remove the shackles of foreign domination after two hundred years of enslavement. With his blessing and prayers, the Russian people gained moral and civil freedom. But now, dear brothers and sisters, Saint Sergius departed to the Lord, and this was more than five hundred years ago. The Orthodox Russian people mourned him, but they firmly believed that the Saint of Christ would not forget them before the Throne of God, for the word of the Lord is not false, that the righteous live forever (cf. Wisdom 5:15). And truly, after his death, the Saint of God began to exude grace-filled help even more, and became even closer to those who came to him with prayer. It is impossible to enumerate all those miraculous signs in which Saint Sergius showed his grace-filled help after his glorification to all who hastened with faith to his holy relics and with humility called upon him in prayer.
Saint Sergius was and is to this day a fervent man of prayer for the entire Russian Land and for the Russian Orthodox people, helping them with his prayerful intercession in the most difficult years of trials and sorrows. That is why the Russian Orthodox people with their entire vast world have gone and continue to go to venerate their strong leader and man of prayer in his holy, grace-filled monastery. Here, amidst the unceasing miracles, at the most glorious shrine of the relics of Saint Sergius, the believing heart will draw for itself consolation and grace-filled help in its sorrows and griefs, in the adversities of everyday life. Dear brothers and sisters, Saint Sergius remains to this day for those who come to him the same loving father and comforter as he was for our ancestors, and now the Venerable One looks with love at those gathered in his holy monastery in order to honor his holy memory, and is ready to give help and consolation to all of us, who come to him with zeal and warm hope.
Let us pray to him today with love and faith, that he would not leave us without his prayerful covering, and that by his intercession he would help us to cross this sea of life and reach the quiet harbor of eternal life. Let us pray to him and from the depths of our hearts with love call out to him: Rejoice, Sergius, speedy helper and most glorious wonderworker! Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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