---
title: "The Life of St Sergius of Radonezh — Church history"
description: "Abbot of the Russian Land and founder of the Trinity Monastery. The Orthodox Church calendar, icons, prayers, lives of saints and Church history on spas.life."
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saint-sergius"
language: "en"
---

Lives of saints

# The Life of St Sergius of Radonezh

Abbot of the Russian Land and founder of the Trinity Monastery.

## Contents

1. [Life](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saint-sergius#s1)
2. [Ministry](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saint-sergius#s2)
3. [Legacy](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saint-sergius#s3)

## Life

Bartholomew was born into a family of Rostov boyars c. 1314. The Life written by his disciple Epiphanius the Wise tells of the miracle of learning to read in his youth, his withdrawal to the forest at Makovets and the founding of the Trinity Monastery (c. 1337). Becoming abbot, he introduced the cenobitic rule.

## Ministry

Sergius reconciled princes, by tradition blessed Dimitry Donskoy before the Battle of Kulikovo and gave him the monks Peresvet and Oslyabya. He declined the metropolitan see. He died on 25 September 1392.

## Legacy

His disciples founded some forty monasteries. Nationwide veneration was established in 1452. For the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra Andrei Rublev painted the “Trinity” icon.

[St Sergius of Radonezh](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saints/sergius)

## Related

- [St Sergius of Radonezh](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/saints/sergius)
- [Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Sergiev Posad](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/places/trinity-lavra)
- [The Trinity by Andrei Rublev](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/icons/trinity-andrei-rublev)