A word on the memory of the deliverance of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra from the siege

“In the blessing of the upright the city will rise” (Proverbs 11:11). Contemporaries marveled, and reverent descendants marvel at the destinies of God that took place over the monastery of St. Sergius, during the days of unrest of imposture, in our fatherland. Close to the capital, constantly shaken by treason, hearing about the conquest of the closest cities by the impostor’s associates one after another, for sixteen months seeing before her the most courageous of his leaders with forces ten times greater than the forces of the defenders of the monastery, she did not hesitate, remained faithful to the just cause, and the enemy, who had already stretched out his hands to her treasures, after repeated defeats, had to leave the booty, which with I considered her weak with contempt. The enemy, who knew how to appreciate the importance of possessing the stronghold of the Trinity, deceived the monks with promises, frightened them with threats, repeatedly approached its walls, shook its walls, stopped all its communications; to complete the disaster, a destructive disease depleted the ranks of the soldiers imprisoned within the walls of the monastery; treason crept into the midst of the remaining defenders: but she bravely endured all the dangers and disasters of the Lavra of Sergius, and the suffering fatherland saw in her an example of firmness, which even the most populous cities did not show. Where is the source of this power hidden, with which the monastery, deprived of sufficient human help, is not only protected, but also glorified, exalted more than before? “The city will rise in the blessing of the righteous,” the wise ruler of the people of God, who had the opportunity to experience this through his reign, answers us. Let us delve into this truth and try to reveal its fulfillment in the circumstances of the remembered event. Blessing is a prayerful calling from one to another of God’s mercy as the source of all good things. It is performed not only according to the law of love, or according to the feeling of the need for higher help alone, like prayer for one’s neighbor. It is necessary that the caller be authorized to do this by law or by the grace of the One who entrusted one to the care of another, made one the leader and guardian of the other. Human blessing is actually nothing more than an invocation of God’s blessing. According to the law of the Creator of nature, the father of the family becomes a natural distributor of God's blessing for his family. By the establishment of grace, the chosen altar minister becomes the gracious dispenser of God's blessing to his flock. The same Spirit of grace, dividing the power of gifts “to anyone as he pleases” (1 Cor. 12:11), without departing from his usual order of action, and sometimes according to a special, extraordinary order, selects and supplies for entire societies, cities, states, and Churches special guardians and distributors of His temporary and eternal blessings. The very source of blessing is not far from us. It floats above us and around us, and His all-creating and all-sanctifying power dwells in us. But, commensurating the communication of His gifts with the qualities of people and His wise purposes, He pours out His bounties in all abundance only where the needs of many require it, and where He finds readiness and faithfulness in the recipient. Then by the blessing of one the blessing is shed upon many; then, from a few years of earthly life of the chosen one, God’s blessing spreads over many centuries, without becoming scarce or exhausted in its effect, just as a drop of water flowing from the first outflow continues to roll to the waters of the ocean. Thus, in the invisible world, as well as in the visible, there are streams of their own that make the city of God glad, - their distribution of countries watered by these streams, spilling abundance everywhere. This is how and why the cities rise in the blessing of the righteous! The blessing of the righteous primarily distributes spiritual benefits, since the highest benefits for a person are spiritual benefits. But since piety has a promise not only of the future, but also of the present age, since the author of all blessings, visible and invisible, natural and gracious, is one and the same, since earthly things, according to the intentions of the Creator and Provider of the world, must serve heavenly things; then the blessing of the righteous ensures the earthly well-being of their fellow men, to the extent required by the general divine rule of the world. You know, listeners, to whose blessing, to whose prayers this city of ascetics and prayer books owes its exaltation. Remember the impenetrable desert, a mountain covered with forest, and a waterless wilderness - in the place where the magnificent monastery of Sergiev now flaunts: a twenty-year-old youth, seeking perfect solitude for constant conversation with God, comes here and calls the first blessing from heaven to the earth, which has never seen man, in order to establish his residence on it. Remember how this blessing, which already during the life of the angelic ascetic brought abundant spiritual fruits in many other ascetics, before the end of Sergius’s earthly career, through the prayer of Sergius, was confirmed by the divine promise of the Queen of Heaven for the times to come. These sacred memories and consolation to see before us the imperishable remains of the monastery’s guardian, who has fallen asleep in the sleep of death, but never slumbers, is already enough for us to always trust with hope in the strong and unfading power of his blessing. It was in him that the monastery found its salvation even in the days of bitterness from its enemies. As a faithful guardian of the blessing of God, which he himself recognized, St. Sergius prudently prepared the defense of his monastery even before the onset of the siege; through repeated appearances and instructions he encouraged and guided those under siege; and with his invisible assistance he made ordinary means of defense successful. See how the monastery is timely fenced off with a stone wall and receives a form of fortification that it did not have even sixty years before the difficult time. For two hundred years the monastery stood, either not fenced at all, or surrounded only by a wooden wall - and only once, even before the discovery of the relics of the venerable founder of the monastery, did it experience the deplorable fate of defenselessness, from Edigei. But who could have foreseen the need for a new fortification for the monastery after the rise of Russia and the fall of its former enemies apparently promised only peace and prosperity? Who could have known that exactly two hundred years after Edigeev’s invasion, an enemy would again appear under the walls of the Lavra, from whom it would be necessary to seek protection in a better fortification? Who, other than the invisible trustee of the monastery, its permanent leader under changing abbots, could secretly inspire, arrange and arrange the work that turned out to be necessary for it later? When the days of trial came for the monastery, who was its first guardian and comforter if not the God-bearing Sergius? Was it necessary to warn the besieged about the secret intentions of the enemy - he appears to the chosen monks and forewarns of the danger. Whether it is necessary to encourage those going out to battle with the enemy, he either excites them to hope, calling them to prayer with his own prayer, or he consoles them with the intercession of the Mother of God, or he appears to call other friends of God to prayer; then they see Him going around and protecting the walls of the monastery with the power of prayer. Whether it is necessary to stop the confusion, to reason with the violent ones, he is a formidable accuser. In a word, the monastery saw its blessed father as if still living on earth. How his heart ached for the ulcers of his fatherland when he was on earth; how then he taught consolation to the defenders of the Russian land and, as a guarantee of victory, sent his associates with them to the battlefield; So now, sympathizing with the grief of his children, he himself hastened to their aid. That is why ordinary means of protecting the monastery turned out to be successful. Just as the king of Israel once needed the hands of the Prophet of God Elisha, so that the arrows fired at Syria would be the arrows of the Lord’s salvation (1 Kings 13, 16. 17.): so the leaders and defenders of the monastery of Sergius were made victorious by the power of their heavenly helper. They felt this, and they sanctified each of their undertakings with prayer to their intercessor; at his relics they swore an oath of allegiance; from his relics they went out to battle; his name never left the lips of the combatants; People came to his relics to thank him for every victory. And how many times have these victories been snatched from the hands of the enemy by inexperienced orators in battle, who could say to their enemy like David: “You come against me with a sword and with a spear and a shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Hosts, the God of the army of Israel, whom you have humiliated” (1 Sam. 17:45)! So, Reverend Father Sergius, your monastery deserves to please you, as its savior. Truly, through your prayers and assistance, she got rid of the hand of her enemies. You said: the Lord will not betray this holy place and it will not be heard in all, as if the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity were taken captive! - and your word was fulfilled. The days of trial were difficult and long; the monastery did not suddenly see the day of its deliverance: but through this, those in need learned to cleave more closely to the God of all joy and not to faint in their trust in Him; Through this, the chosen ones acquired and demonstrated new virtues of the spirit, and those who had been stifled in self-forgetfulness by repeated dangers were aroused to faithful warfare before God: so that your monastery not only became famous for its deliverance, but soon it could provide help and reinforcement to the whole suffering fatherland and the Church. Blessed are you too, valiant ascetics who have gained great glory in the fight against enemies invisible and visible. May the Lord write your names in heaven with the saints who were once beaten in Sinai and Raifa. For us, standing on that sacred platform, which during the days of tribulation was abundantly watered by the tears of those praying, contemplating before us the hitherto unerased wounds of the monastery inflicted by the enemy, may the Lord grant ever in good will to sing the glory of His omnipotence and goodness in His holy place, and now, at the invitation of David, who triumphantly drove out the enemies from Jerusalem, and the existence of our Zion and embrace him in a sacred procession, in the footsteps of St. Sergius 1. Amen. On this day, after the liturgy, a procession of the cross takes place in the monastery along its walls. On January 12, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius annually commemorates the liberation from the siege of 1608–1610.