Divine services in the temple of the village of Radonezh. Radonezh Compound of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra - Church of the Transfiguration, village of Radonezh. Chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
The name of the village of Radonezh is associated with ancient legends, the history of Orthodox ascetics and the word “joy”. Recently I visited an ancient village located near Sergiev Posad and realized that these associations are completely true.
Today I want to show you a new series of photos taken in Radonezh. In these frames you will see the main attractions of the village: the remains of the ramparts, the Pazha River, the monument to Sergius of Radonezh, a beautiful mill and the Church of the Transfiguration.
Have you ever been to Radonezh? What associations does this village evoke in you and what attractions did you like most?
By the way: you will be able to see ancient Radonezh with your own eyes on April 21 during the Ecoelectric train’s trip to the sights of the Moscow region and the Nomad park. You can familiarize yourself with the trip program and book a ticket for the tour.
The history of Radonezh dates back to time immemorial. The first mentions of organized settlements in its place date back to the beginning of our time. Gradually, the village began to grow and develop, and mounds and fortifications were actively built there.
3. View of the Church of the Transfiguration.
The village of Radonezh received its modern name in the 11th century. It probably came from the name of the Novgorodian Radoneg, who erected a fortress in these places and called it Radonezh. Radonezh suffered during the Mongol-Tatar yoke: in the village there was a state of Khan's Baskaks, mentions of which can be found in local folklore.
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5. Monument to Sergius of Radonezh.
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IN different years Radonezh was both part of the Rostov-Suzdal and Moscow principalities. Since the 14th century, the village has been part of the Moscow Principality and becomes an independent volost. And subsequently, at the beginning of the 15th century, the village became the center of the appanage Radonezh principality and received the status of a city.
8. View of the village.
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Under Ivan III, Radonezh was for some time the center of a separate county, however, it soon turned into a proprietary village.
12. Transfiguration Church was built in1834 - 1840 financed by parishioners and donations.
14. Descent to the river and the font.
The 15th fortress ramparts have been partially preserved in Radonezh to this day. But now there is a cemetery on the territory of the former fortification. The remains of ancient shafts are clearly visible when filming from a drone.
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Soon Radonezh will largely lose its independent strengthening significance, becoming important center spiritual life of Russia. It will belong to the Lavra and be revered among thousands of believers as a place associated with the spiritual asceticism of the great Russian saint Sergius of Radonezh.
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19. River Pazha.
The youth Bartholomew - that was the name of Sergius of Radonezh before his tonsure - moved to Radonezh with his family at the age of 12. After the death of his parents, he distributed all his inheritance to the needy and went to live in the forest, where, having built himself a modest hut, he began to constantly pray to God. This saint entered the history of Russia as the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. It was he who blessed Dmitry Donskoy for the Battle of Kulikovo. Sergius of Radonezh had the gift of healing and insight. He not only performed many miracles, but also left behind many students and followers, who also played a significant role in the spiritual life of our country. Today, Sergius of Radonezh is revered as one of the greatest Russian saints of the Orthodox Church.
20. At the holy spring.
It is not surprising that the modern appearance of Radonezh reflects the memory of the saint. Here is a holy spring, a memorial monument erected in memory of Sergius of Radonezh, as well as a whole complex of temple and pilgrimage buildings.
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One of the most notable attractions of Radonezh is the Church of the Transfiguration, built in the Empire style. It was built in 1834 - 1840. financed by parishioners and donations. The unplastered brick building with the use of white stone in its details has a composition characteristic of its time. The pillarless single-apse quadrangle of the temple with side porticoes of the Doric order is crowned with a domed rotunda. From the west it is adjoined by a refectory and a three-tiered bell tower with a spire, completed with a cylindrical tier of bells. The temple is surrounded by a brick church fence with a restored wooden lattice, which was restored in 1969 according to the model of the 1855 fence.
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In 1988, a monument to Sergius of Radonezh was erected next to the Church of the Transfiguration. It represents a three-meter figure of an old man, in the center of which is carved a relief image of a boy holding the image of the Trinity in his hands. Many cultural and artistic figures were involved in the creation and installation of the monument. First of all, he is a sculptor, president of the International Foundation Slavic writing and culture Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov; member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, head of the Patriotic Union “Russia” Igor Sergeevich Sychev; veteran of the Great Patriotic War, participant in the storming of the Reichstag, Guard Colonel Erofei Mikhailovich Levshov; Orthodox monk Hermogenes (in the world - Gennady Mikhailovich Khmelnitsky).
23. Pyzha River from a drone.
Other attractions of the village of Radonezh are a holy spring with a font, located near the Pazha River. The shrines have been ennobled these days and are a picturesque complex with wooden buildings, a bridge and a mill.
24. And here we see the remains of the rampartsXV century.
25. Nowadays there is a cemetery on the territory of the historical monument.
Nowadays, the temple and pilgrimage sites of Radonezh are the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
I was inspired to write and talk about Radonezh by a trip to this wonderful place. On September 15, 2012, we went on a family trip around the Radonezh region. The route was "Radonezh - Khotkovo - -".
Radonezh land is a special place. There are many historical and holy places here. To drive is not to move. These are Muranovo, Khotkovo, Vozdvizhenskoye, Gethsemane monastery, Sergiev Posad and Okhtyrka. Among these wonderful places, Radonezh occupies a special place.
Radonezh is a village in the Sergiev Posad district of the Moscow region, 55 km. from Moscow. The place is unusually picturesque, especially now - in autumn. Here we found those magnificent landscapes that V. Polenov, I. Levitan, M. Nesterov sang in their paintings. The terrain is hilly and the roads are winding.
It is known about Radonezh that
- it is located on an open hill, on the banks of the Pazhi River. At the excavation site here, an ancient settlement dating back to the beginning of our era was discovered.
- The Slavic settlement arose in the 11th century.
- Radonezh was located on the Pereyaslavskaya road, which led through Moscow to Rostov. It was part of Rostov-Suzdal, and in the 15th century it became part of the Moscow Principality.
- In 1328, the Rostov boyar Kirill, the father of Sergius of Radonezh, moved to Radonezh, who subsequently founded the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius 15 km from Radonezh.
- It fell into decline during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. During the Time of Troubles he was completely ruined.
- In the 18th century, the village received a new name – Gorodok. And in 1989, the village of Gorodok was again renamed Radonezh.
There are several attractions in Radonezh:
The Transfiguration Church was built in 1836-1842.
Near the temple there is a cross that stood on the grave of the holy blessed elder Matrona of Moscow.
Monument to Sergius of Radonezh. Established on May 29, 1988 - in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' and in honor of the 600th anniversary of the repose of St. Sergius here, opposite the Church of the Transfiguration. It is a three-meter figure of an old man with a relief image in its middle part of a boy with the image of the Trinity. This is the first monument to a Russian saint since 1917. Revered as an icon.
Ramparts of the 15th century. Nowadays there is a cemetery on the territory of the former Detinets. The photo shows a view of the ramparts.
Holy spring of Sergius of Radonezh. You have to go down the stairs to get to it. Those who did not bring containers for holy water with them can buy them in the souvenir shop nearby.
In 1836-1842. In the village, at the expense of parishioners, a stone Church of the Transfiguration was built with a chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the refectory. The building has the traditional parish churches of the 17th-20th centuries. three-part longitudinal-axial composition. Its basis is a pillarless one-light quadrangle of the temple, completed by an eight-window rotunda. A small drum with an octagonal bowl and a cross rises above the rotunda. Adjoining the temple on the east is a semi-circular apse, and on the north and south sides there are four-column porticoes of the Doric order. A rectangular refectory with a gable roof is attached to the temple from the west. Behind the refectory rises a three-tiered bell tower, topped with a spire with a small cross. The apse of the temple and the refectory are decorated with quadruple rustication. The first and second quadrangles of the bell tower are decorated with flat paired pilasters, completed in the first quadrangle with a triglyph-metope frieze, and in the second with a triangular pediment. The cylindrical tier of the bell, as in the quadrangles, is cut through by four arched openings. In all tiers, the partitions between them are processed with paired pilasters. The altar part of the temple is covered by a five-tiered iconostasis, and the south-eastern corner of the refectory, where the chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh is located, is covered by a two-tiered iconostasis. The icons in them were painted by local artists in the second half of the 19th century. The fragmentarily preserved wall painting dates back to the 1870s.
In 1855, a brick fence with a metal lattice and round turrets at the corners was erected around the church. In the 1860s, the separate bell tower was connected to the refectory by a narrow passage.
Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh
One of the most striking local attractions is the monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. It was created according to the design of sculptor V.M. Klykov and architect R.I. Semerzhiev and installed next to the temple on May 29, 1989 - in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' and in honor of the 600th anniversary of the repose of St. Sergius here, opposite the temple Transfiguration. This is the first monument to a Russian saint since 1917.
“On its flat top stood the three-meter figure of an old man in monastic robes. The monk's half-lowered head is covered with a doll pulled over his forehead. The elder's eyes are closed, his hands are folded on his chest in prayer. In the middle part of the figure, the stone is slightly selected and the figure of the boy Bartholomew protrudes from the outlined oblong niche. He is wearing an untucked shirt and soft pants tucked into his onuchi. The boy has bast shoes on his feet. With wide open eyes, Bartholomew looks over the Radonezh hills. In his hands he holds a carved icon, in the center of which, in a circle, is the Old Testament Trinity. At the base of the hill lies a parallelepiped with the inscription: “Grateful Russia to Sergius of Radonezh.”
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow
Next to the temple, the chapel of the blessed Matrona of Moscow was built, in which there is an unusual cross that once stood on the grave of the holy blessed old woman.
15th century ramparts
Nowadays there is a cemetery on the territory of the former Detinets.
Source of Sergius of Radonezh
In the village The Radonezh youth Bartholomew (Sergius of Radonezh) lived for seven years. The name of St. Sergius of Radonezh reminds us to what heights our land, enlightened by the Word of Christ, is capable of rising. A man who did not leave behind a single book stands at the beginning of all Russian culture of the Moscow period, opens the door leading from the remote taiga near Moscow straight into the depths God's wisdom into all the secrets of man and the world. And his activity seems all the more miraculous to us because we cannot share in it the fruits of heavenly help and his own labors. All his life Sergius tried to escape from the world, not to take upon himself the decisions of the destinies of the people around him, not to interfere arbitrarily in the events taking place around him. However, all the everyday and historical details of the era are so closely intertwined in his life that, it seems, there is no side of Russian life of the second half of the 14th century that he would not sanctify, where traces of his careful blessing would not remain. If we remember what this time was like, it turns out that St. Sergius stands not only at the beginning of the Russian Enlightenment, but also marks the Russian Renaissance in its highest sense. The spring located here is named after him.
Chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
A weak spring consecrated in the name Holy Mother of God The Kazan Icon is located a kilometer from the road leading to the village of Radonezh. The holy spring is equipped, the water outlet is at the wall of the bathhouse from the side of the stairs. Draining spring water metal pipe from a brick retaining wall near a small recess. Entering the road into a field, in dry weather, that’s all. The plunge pool is equipped for swimming in the cold season
The road to the chapel passes through a field. In rainy times, it is better to leave the car at the exit of the road so as not to get stuck and have the opportunity to walk and enjoy the beauty and spaciousness of the landscape. At the exit from the road there is a sign indicating the way to the chapel and bathhouse.
Ramparts of the 15th century. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Source of Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. 
Radonezh. 
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. 
Chapel in honor of the Kazan Icon Mother of God.
Source of Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Source of Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Radonezh. 
Radonezh. 
Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. 
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. 
Radonezh. 
Radonezh. 
Radonezh. 
Source of Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. 
Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration. 
Chapel of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow. 
Source of Sergius of Radonezh. 
Church of the Transfiguration.
Radonezh- one of the oldest settlements in the Sergiev Posad region. Radonezh is both the village itself and an ancient settlement located away from the houses in the bend of the Pazha River. The earliest archaeological finds date back to the 8th-9th centuries, thanks to the found jewelry that belonged to the Merya people. In the 10th–13th centuries, a Slavic settlement grew up on the Radonezh settlement. This is indicated by the ancient toponym “Radonezh” itself - a form of the personal Slavic name Radoneg.
In the 14th century, next to the settlement stood the village of Radonezh, mentioned in 1336 in the spiritual letter of the Great Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita. At this time, the fortified estate of the princely governor was located in the village - the administrative center of the Radonezh volost.
In the early 1330s, the family of the Rostov boyar Kirill moved to “the entire, verb Radonezh”. passed here last years the worldly life of the boyar son Bartholomew, the monastic life of Sergius. Based on the name of the village, St. Sergius was named Radonezh. In the first quarter of the 15th century, the village turned into the fortified town of Radonezh, the center of a small appanage Radonezh principality.
In 1422, under the Radonezh prince Andrei Vladimirovich, the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius took place. Soon, with the participation of the prince, the white-stone Trinity Cathedral was built in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery - evidence of the close spiritual connection between Radonezh and the monastery of St. Sergius. At the end of the 15th century. the town of Radonezh, annexed to the lands of the great Moscow principality, became the center of the district of the same name, and then the volost. During the Time of Troubles, Radonezh was devastated and was reborn in the form of the village of Gorodok, which was part of the Morozov volost of the Dmitrov district.
In the 19th century, the village area included the village of Glebovo, the villages of Antipino, Koroskovo, Novoselki, Repikhovo and Ryazantsy. In 1832, 750 people lived in the district, in 1927 -
809, now 253 people. In 1989, the village returned its ancient name.
Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
The stone church in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Radonezh was built in 1836–1840, presumably according to the design of the architect A.G. Grigorieva. Thanks to its harmonious and expressive volumetric-spatial composition, the church became one of the best examples of Empire style architecture. In 1854, a fence with corner towers was built around the church. There were 7 bells on the bell tower, the largest of which weighed more than three tons.
In 1941 the church was closed and turned into a club. In the 1970s and 80s, an exhibition dedicated to the history of Radonezh was organized in the church restored by the Zagorsk State Museum-Reserve.
In the 1990s, the Transfiguration Church was returned Orthodox Church and became the center of the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Material taken from the book “Return to Faith. Temples of the Sergiev Posad region."
Twelve miles from the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius is located a wonderful, picturesque corner. Far from the noisy highways and surrounded by forests, the Transfiguration Church with a majestic bell tower rises. At the foot of the hill on which the church stands, the Pazha River winds like a snake. She leads travelers to the source of St. Sergius. And there Sun rays, endlessly reflected in the golden domes above the images of St. Sergius, Cyril and Mary, playfully fill the entire valley with their light.
The ancient village of Radonezh gained its fame thanks to the pious parents of St. Sergius, who at the beginning of the 14th century moved to these places from Rostov. Pilgrims from .
As a gift to the Radonezh Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the motorcyclists brought an icon of the Council of Radonezh Saints, which was given to the rector of the metochion, Hieromonk Roman.
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Most often, Radonezh is mentioned when telling about the childhood of Bartholomew, the future St. Sergius, but the history of this village began many centuries earlier. Since ancient times, Finno-Ugric tribes - Meryas and Balts - settled on the banks of the Vori, Pazhi and Torgoshi rivers. Around the 11th century, the Slavs came here and founded a settlement at the intersection of the Pereslavl road and the Pazhi River, called Radonezh in the chronicles.
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According to legend, this name comes from the proper name - Radoneg. This was probably the name of the man who once founded the village here. Although the word Radonezh itself is primarily associated with joy. And indeed, filled with the Holy Spirit, St. Sergius became a joy and consolation not only for his pious parents, but also for all of Rus', which he remains to this day. Reverend Father Sergius, pray to God for us!
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IN mid-XII century, Radonezh became part of the Rostov-Suzdal Principality, and at the beginning of the 13th century - part of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir. After the Tatar-Mongol invasion of 1237-1240, the Khan's Baskaks lived here, who monitored the territory entrusted to them and collected tribute. The memory of this is preserved by the names of the wastelands - Khanskaya and Baskakova.
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In the second half of the 14th century, Radonezh was annexed to the Moscow Principality formed in 1263. The khan's Baskaks were replaced by princely governors. With their arrival, a large estate and a church in honor of the Nativity of Christ appeared in the village. The Moscow prince wanted to strengthen the position of his principality, which at that time was small. One of the ways to do this was to recruit noble people from neighboring fiefs, who were provided with various benefits in the new lands.
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As Epiphanius the Wise writes in the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Grand Duke Ivan I Kalita (grandson of Alexander Nevsky), due to his early childhood, appointed his son Andrei in the village called Radonezh as the governor of a certain Terenty Rtishch. And he, having heard about the plight of the Rostov boyars and wanting to attract more settlers, invited them to the then almost uninhabited Radonezh region.
Among the settlers were the former princely governor Kirill, his wife Maria and three sons - Stefan, Bartholomew and Peter. Subsequently, their middle son, Bartholomew, was destined by God's Providence to become not just a pious man of prayer and a humble monk, but the great Abbot of the Russian land and the builder of Holy Rus'.
8. Source of St. Sergius of Radonezh
The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir baptized Rus', and three centuries later St. Sergius revived it spiritually, elevated it, and brought Rus' out of moral stupor and ruin. The monk, filled with Love, again turned people to the Lord and scattered the seeds of the faith of Christ throughout the entire Russian land. “Sergius’s chicks from their native nest of Radonezh” scattered to all ends, constantly praising the Lord and multiplying the flock of Christ throughout the Fatherland. The disciples and spiritual friends of St. Sergius founded about forty monasteries, from which, in turn, came the founders of about fifty more monasteries. The spiritual children of the great Radonezh ascetic scattered throughout northeastern Rus', everywhere igniting the blessed flame of spiritual life and spreading the light of Christian enlightenment. The God-bearing Abba Sergius became a spiritual father not only for his students, but also for all Orthodox Christians in Rus'.
In Radonezh Reverend Kirill and Mary lived for about seven years, never abandoning acts of virtue for a moment. As in Rostov, they, fulfilling the commandment of the Apostle Paul, always hospitably welcomed strangers under their roof, helped those in need, and patronized the Intercession Khotkov Monastery located next door. Anticipating his imminent death, the saint’s pious parents abandoned all worldly concerns and retired to the Intercession Monastery, where they were tonsured into the schema and, in prayer and repentance, began to prepare for their meeting with the Lord.
After the death of the Moscow prince Ivan Kalita, the Radonezh lands, together with the Trinity Monastery founded on them by that time, passed to his wife Ulyana and her sons. After her death in 1374, part of the princess’s estates was inherited by Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, and the volosts of Beli and Radonezh went to his cousin, Prince Vladimir Andreevich Serpukhovsky. Prince Vladimir Andreevich deeply revered the wise Trinity Abbot and, wanting to do things for the benefit of his monastery, assigned the monastery a ruga - an annual food allowance. After the great victory of the army of Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo field, Prince Vladimir Andreevich, who led the ambush regiment in that battle, with the blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh, built the Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhov with a church in honor of the Conception of the Righteous Anna of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
After the death of the Serpukhov prince in 1410, his possessions were divided between his wife and five sons. The Radonezh volost, along with some other lands, went to the fourth son of Vladimir the Brave - Prince Andrei Vladimirovich. He built a Kremlin surrounded by earthen ramparts, after which Radonezh became the capital of an appanage principality. The main cathedral church was consecrated in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. From that time on, Radonezh began to be called in chronicle documents the Radonezh Town or simply the Town.
After the death of Prince Andrei Vladimirovich in 1426, the town was inherited by his nephew, Prince Vasily Yaroslavich Borovskoy. In 1456, when Grand Duke Vasily II took away the inheritance of Vasily Yaroslavich, Radonezh again became part of the Moscow principality. His heir, Ivan III, collecting and uniting the lands around the Moscow principality, wanted to make the Radonezh district and several adjacent volosts into a Radonezh district. In 1492, he transferred the fair to Radonezh, which had previously been held in the Trinity Monastery, and in 1505 he bequeathed the city to his son Vasily.
During the Time of Troubles, many holy monasteries of Rus' were plundered and destroyed by Polish-Lithuanian invaders. For 16 long months, the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was besieged by the troops of False Dmitry. The Khotkov Monastery and Radonezh Gorodok, located near the Pokrovskaya monastery, were practically destroyed by Western invaders. In 1616, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich transferred the never restored Gorodok to the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. The monastery brethren did not have enough funds to build a church, and then they asked the sovereign to give them a “povalusha,” i.e. a large unheated tower from the neighboring village of Vozdvizhenskoye. The monks converted the tower into a tented temple and consecrated it in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
13. Transfiguration Church
By decree of Catherine II on the secularization of church lands, the village of Gorodok became a state-owned village. The new stone Church of the Transfiguration with the chapel of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the refectory was built at the expense of parishioners in the 40s of the 19th century. It is considered one of the best examples of Empire style architecture. The creation of the project is attributed to the architect A.G. Grigoriev.
14. Transfiguration Church
In 1854, the temple was surrounded by a fence with corner towers. At first it stood separately from the three-tier bell tower, but in the 1860s they were united by a refectory. Seven bells were installed on the belfry. The largest of them weighed more than three tons. The temple was decorated with two iconostases at once: a five-tiered one in the main part and a two-tiered one in the chapel.
15. Transfiguration Church
In the 70s of the 19th century, a zemstvo appeared in the village Primary School. Approximately from mid-19th century, the ancient village of Gorodok began to attract historians and archaeologists.
With coming Soviet power The Transfiguration Church was closed. The priest's house was demolished and a pig farm was built in its place. Within the walls of the Transfiguration Church there was a granary, and in 1941 a club settled here...
In the post-war years, there was some warming in the attitude of the authorities towards the Radonezh region and its shrines. In 1960, the settlement began to be protected as an archeological monument of republican significance, and 14 years later, in 1974, the Church of the Transfiguration was placed under the guardianship of the state. From that moment on, her gradual recovery began. For about two more decades, the temple housed an exposition of the Zagorsk State Museum-Reserve dedicated to the history of Radonezh.
In 1988, a memorable year for the entire Russian Orthodox world, which marked the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', a monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh appeared opposite the Transfiguration Church. Its construction was planned to be carried out a year earlier, but the authors of the project faced a number of difficulties caused by the God-hating authorities.
Despite the fact that the opening of the monument was known in advance, in a television news broadcast on the eve of the event it was presented as being anti-Soviet in nature. Such a statement immediately caused a huge resonance, both from the people opposed to the church and from the authorities. The truck in which sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov was transporting the monument to the grand opening was stopped halfway on the Yaroslavl highway and turned around. Meanwhile, in Gorodok, the pedestal for the monument was torn down, and police cordons were placed along the road.
19. Monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh in Radonezh
These are the memories of those who, on September 20, 1987, were traveling towards the then Zagorsk for the opening of the monument:
“Many people heading to the highway leading to Gorodok (Radonezh) are met by reinforced police forces. A metallic voice comes from a megaphone: “Immediately clear the roadway!” Arriving people, regardless of their gender and age, are pushed off the highway into impassable mud. About five thousand people, led by Levshov (holding in his hands a red unfurled banner brought from Berlin), Sychev and the monk Hermogenes, forming a column, literally fight through first one, then another police cordon.
The concrete bridge over the small river Pazha is blocked by cars and the last, most numerous police squad. Above the column fly a banner with the Savior Not Made by Hands and a banner with the image of St. George the Victorious. People shouting “hurray” make the final breakthrough: the police are pushed back, the cars are moved. The column passed through all obstacles." ()
And yet, thanks to the persistence of citizens and not without God’s Help, the monument was erected on May 29, 1988. The majestic monument to St. Sergius of Radonezh was created by the sculptor Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov. A huge contribution to the appearance of the monument was made by a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, head of the Patriotic Union “Russia” Igor Sergeevich Sychev, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, a participant in the storming of the Reichstag, guard colonel Erofey Mikhailovich Levshov and monk Hermogenes (in the world - Gennady Mikhailovich Khmelnitsky).
An old man looks at Mother Rus' from a pedestal hill. His eyes are covered, but with spiritual vision he sees what is not open to others. He hears everyone turning to him and prays to the Almighty for the entire Russian land. In the middle part of the figure, the figure of a boy in simple peasant attire stands out. He holds in his hands an icon of the Old Testament Trinity. This is a youth - young Bartholomew, “the chosen vessel of God, the monastery and servant of the Holy Trinity.”
In 1989, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the town was returned to its historical name - Radonezh. In the 1990s, the Church of the Transfiguration was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now this is the courtyard of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
Fragments of paintings from the 1870s have been preserved in the temple. Today, the frescoes and iconostasis have been restored.
24. Transfiguration Church
The names of many are associated with the Radonezh land famous people. The first Kazan Archbishop Gury (+ December 4, 1563) and, as historians believe, the brilliant icon painter Andrei Rublev came from these places. Radonezh inspired the writer Sergei Aksakov and famous artists Mikhail Nesterov and Viktor Vasnetsov.
Thanks to the incredible diligence and work of the rector of the temple, Hieromonk Roman (Shubenkin), and with the help of good people, it was possible to restore the temple and surrounding areas in the majestic splendor in which pilgrims see it now when they come to ancient Radonezh.
A visit to the Radonezh land not only opened the treasury of Radonezh, but also allowed the Orthodox to gather together. A road that gathers pious like-minded people is one of the riches available to everyone today. As the Holy Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' noted at one of the meetings with young people: “Friendship is one of the few acquisitions for a person that has independent value.” Pilgrimage gives us this valuable acquisition.
In the temple in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord, part of the pilgrimage to the holy monasteries of the land of Radonezh ended. The travelers got acquainted with the history of the most ancient monasteries of the Moscow region, and were able to pray in front of their shrines. A great joy was the opportunity to spend Lazarus Saturday in the secluded monasteries of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, in which many years ago great saints and devotees of piety glorified the Name of the Lord. It was no less happiness to be at the Divine Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra on the Feast of the Entry of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, and therefore, having completed their journey through the Radonezh monasteries, the pilgrims went to Istra near Moscow, where the “Russian Palestine” is located - the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery .
Other stories about the Radonezhie pilgrimage.
