Galloping Gypsy
  • Home
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • About
  • Music
    • Repertoire
  • Events
  • Links
  • Gallery
  • Blog 2

Russia's St. Sergius Trinity Monastery

4/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Russia's indisputably most important monastery, the St. Sergius Trinity Lavra is often said to be the spiritual heart of the land. It’s named for the fourteenth-century Sergius (Sergei) of Radonezh, one of the country’s most venerated saints.
In addition to chartering the monastery and arranging for its construction, the monk blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoi as he left on his 1380 campaign against the Tatars, who had raided and dominated Russian territory for 140 years at that point. Dmitry’s victory at the battle of Kulikovo Field didn’t completely overthrow the “Tatar Yoke,” but it did mark a turning point. According to medieval records, St.Sergius otherwise stayed out of politics and only blessed Donskoy after assuring that he had exhausted all peaceful means.
The site was for centuries home to the Old Testament Trinity, the best-known work of Russia’s most famous iconographer, Andrei Rublev. The original now hangs in Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery, but a copy is in its place in the iconostasis of the monastery’s Cathedral of the Assumption.
The monastery also holds the tomb of Boris Godunov—and others of his noble family—who ruled Russia as regent from 1585-98, then as tsar until 1605. He was the brother of Ivan the Terrible’s wife, and his regency followed the death of that ruler, whose eldest legitimate son, Ivan the Bellringer, was mentally incapable of running the country. It was long rumored that Godunov murdered another son of Ivan the Terrible, causing the first line of Russia’s tsars, the Rurikids, to die out, thus leading to uncertainty about the succession in the Time of Troubles. The idea of the murder became the subject of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov.

IF YOU GO
The site is about an hour northeast of Moscow, on the main route to Yaroslavl, easily accessible by road or rail. You’re likely to find many more pilgrims than tourists. Please remember the dress codes for visiting religious sites in Russia: Men, no shorts or tank tops; women are additionally advised to bring a scarf to cover head and shoulders.


ALSO

My recent series of postings on Russia is no indication of sympathy for the trend of gushing over Putin/Russia from certain American political circles. The timing is mere coincidence.

I'm taking the rest of August off. See you September 1!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Musical & Literary Wanderings of a Galloping Gypsy

    Mark Eliot Nuckols is a travel writer from Silver Beach Virginia who is also a musician and teacher.

    Categories

    All
    Austria
    Birthday
    Central Europe
    Czechoslovakia
    Czech Republic
    Folk Music
    Francis Ferdinand
    Grand Budapest Hotel
    Hungary
    Martin
    Mozart
    Music
    Pécs
    Prague
    Requiem
    Sarajevo
    Slovakia
    St. Cecilia
    Stefan Zweig
    The World Of Yesterday
    Vienna
    World War I

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly