SYNAXIS OF THE SAINTS OF RADONEZH

This memory in the Russian, Serbian, Polish, Georgian, Jerusalem Orthodox Churches and on Mount Athos is celebrated on July 19, in the Greek Churches, the Bulgarian and Romanian Orthodox Churches it is celebrated on July 6. This difference is due to the mutual lag of the two calendars, the Julian and Gregorian, which in our time is 13 days.

The celebration of the assembly of the saints of a local Church, a country, or even a region is a characteristic feature of modern Orthodoxy. In Russian, it is called a “Sobor.” A Sobor is a gathering of bishops, clergy, or laity, a synod, or even a council of the entire Church; it is also a cathedral; and finally, it is a solemn service in honor of the saints or a religious holiday. In European languages, the Greek word “Synaxis” is used without translation. Applied to the Sobor of Saints, it designates the celebration of a solemn divine liturgy in the presence of the Patriarch, several bishops, or all religious and lay people. The Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh, and this is perhaps the most important thing, is a thanksgiving to God for the incomprehensible choice of grace, His predestination, which granted to the Church Saint Sergius, and, along with him, all the other saints, beginning with his parents, Cyril and Mary, and ending with all those righteous people who have not yet been born, but who, if God prolongs the existence of the world, will join his monastery and, God willing, the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh.

The day after the feast of Saint Sergius in mid-July, the Church celebrates the Synaxis of All the Saints of Radonezh. These saints, more than eighty in total, were direct disciples of Sergius, came from his monastery after his death, or are considered privileged heirs of his tradition. In modern times, the brothers of the Monastery of Saint Sergius, who became new martyrs because they suffered for the Church during the Bolshevik period, joined the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh.

The founders of Russian monasticism were Anthony and Theodosius of Kiev-Pechersk. Both saints lived in the 11th century and died almost simultaneously in 1073 and 1074, respectively. Sergius is the father of Russian spirituality. In him were manifested, as if condensed, the traits of Russian holiness that were only truly discovered and studied many centuries later, in the 20th century, within the great schools of Orthodox theology in Paris. And New York Without this, one cannot understand Dostoevsky, nor Tolstoy, and, unfortunately, nor the tragically fraternal approach of Russian communism.

The Synaxis of Saints of Radonezh includes Andrei Rublev (1360-1430), a great iconographer and creator of the icon of the Holy Trinity; Maximus the Greek (1480-1556), a disciple of Jerome Savonarola in his youth; and even Innocent Veniaminov (1797-1879), who began his ministry as a married priest, became a widower, before finding his vocation as a missionary and apostle of Siberia, and later Metropolitan of Moscow. The Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh undoubtedly includes many righteous people whose names have not yet been revealed to the world.

The first official celebration of the Synaxis took place on July 19, 1981. At that time, the Russian Church was going through a period of militant atheistic communism. This era considered itself eternal, but lasted only seventy years, just like the Babylonian captivity of God’s people. The establishment of this feast thus became a prophecy and a sign of hope.

Radonezh is the village where Sergius spent his childhood. It is located 12 kilometers as the crow flies from the place where Sergius founded his monastery. Today, the monastery is surrounded by a large city of 110,000 inhabitants, literally called “The City of Sergius,” in Russian Sergiev Posad. At that time, it was a dense forest where even bears could live. One of them, as life of the saint tells us, came to Sergius, who fed him.

The bear is one of the symbols of Russia. It is generally believed to be a sign of unbridled strength. But if we strive to see the divine hand in all things, as the Scriptures teach us (cf. Matthew 16:3), then the Russian bear certainly recalls Saint Sergius of Radonezh, a merciful saint who, in the frozen wilderness, took pity on a solitary bear.

How can we not recall Fyodor Tyutchev’s (1803.-1873) poem “These poor villages”: “Burdened by the cross, in the form of a slave, the Heavenly King passed through you, blessing you, O native land.” “Weighed down by the burden of the cross, All of you my native land, Has the King of Heaven, in the guise of a servant, Trod, strewing blessings”. (Translation M. Pettus)

Unlike “The City of Sergius,” Radonezh, as in the past, has remained a small village with a parish church. No historical trace of Sergius has survived there. As if everything of spiritual value, except the name, became part of the heavenly Jerusalem, only to descend from heaven at the end of history (cf. Revelation 21:2). But the name of the village is borne by Sergius and a whole congregation of saints, the Synaxis, who intercede before God for the Church and for the whole world.