Chapel of Sergius of Radonezh in Losinoostrovskoe
The chapel-temple is located at 4, Malygina street and is named after St. Sergius of Radonezh. St. Sergius of Radonezh was a founder of a number of monasteries, including the Holy Trinity Monastery near Moscow (now it is the Trinity–Sergius Lavra), spiritual collector of the Russian people, who is associated with the cultural ideal of Holy Russia and the emergence of Russian spiritual culture. He was born around 1314 in the family of Rostov boyars Kirill and Maria and was named as Bartholomew. According to the legend, he was drawn to knowledge, but studying at a parochial school was not given to him in any way. And one day, looking for lost horses, he saw an old man in the field praying under a lonely oak tree. The boy came up to him for a blessing and told him about his sadness. The elder blessed him and said, “God will give you the possibility to understand the letter.” And indeed, after this brief communication with the pious old man, the young man easily mastered the art of reading and immersed himself in the study of spiritual books. Around 1328, Bartholomew’s family moved to the city of Radonezh, the name of which, after the boy’s monastic tonsure, was firmly fixed in his name – Sergius of Radonezh. The monastic life of St. Sergius began in 1337, when together with his brother Stefan, a monk of the Khotkovsky Pokrovsky Monastery, he settled in the forest on Makovets Hill and built a small wooden church in the name of the Holy Trinity. This event is considered to be the date of the foundation of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, a monastery in which hundreds of people flocked to Sergius of Radonezh, seeking solitude and rest in prayer. Sergius of Radonezh brought up many students who founded dozens of monasteries in different parts of Russia, built temples, gathering around themselves supporters of Orthodoxy, the one faith and the country. He blessed Dmitry Donskoy to fight Mamai before the Battle of Kulikovo. Russian Orthodox Church venerates Sergius of Radonezh as a saint, the patron saint of the Russian land, the mentor of monastics, the patron saint of the Russian army and a special patron of children who want success in school teaching.
Address: Moscow, Malygina str., 4
