Saint Sergius of Valaam () was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
monk and
wonderworker
Thaumaturgy is the purported capability of a magician to work magic or other paranormal events or a saint to perform miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking.
A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a "thaumaturge", "thauma ...
credited with bringing
Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion.
Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...
to
Karelian and
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
people. Conflicting church traditions place him possibly as early as the 10th century or as late as the 14th. His feast day is celebrated on
June 28
Events Pre-1600
* 1098 – Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul at the battle of Antioch.
* 1360 – Muhammed VI becomes the tenth Nasrid king of Granada after killing his brother-in-law Ismail II.
* 1461 – ...
.
Church legends about St. Sergius of Valaam were not committed to writing until the 18th century. In these writings, Sergius is described as an
Athonite monk sent by the
Byzantine Emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...
to enlighten the heathen tribes of Karelia with the light of the Christian faith. He traveled along the
trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks
The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a medieval trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Eastern Roman Empire. The route allowed merchants along its length to establish a direct prosperous trade with the Empir ...
, passing the
Rus' towns of
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
and
Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga (russian: Ста́рая Ла́дога, p=ˈstarəjə ˈladəɡə, lit=Old Ladoga), known as Ladoga until 1704, is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near ...
. He arrived on the northern shores of
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
, and soon moved to
Valaam
Valaam ( Russian: Валаам or Валаамский архипелаг, also known by the Finnish name Valamo) is an archipelago in the northern portion of Lake Ladoga, lying within the Republic of Karelia, Russian Federation. The total area ...
island, where he would spend the rest of his life preaching.
A tradition placing his arrival on Valaam as early as 992 would make him a contemporary of Emperor
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...
. Another pious legend describes Sergius as a disciple of
Apostle Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
who reportedly visited
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
in the 1st century AD. However, the earliest record of this saint's activity claims that he arrived in Valaam in 1329. His work was carried on by, among others,
Herman of Valaam
Herman of Valaam (russian: Герман Валаамский) is a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. Herman of Valaam together with Sergius of Valaam are considered to be the founders of the Valaam Monastery. The exact time of the monastery est ...
, who may or may not have a contemporary of Sergius. Saints Sergius and Herman are considered the founders of the
Valaam Monastery
The Valaam Monastery (russian: Валаамский монастырь; Finnish version: ''Valamo Monastery'') is a stauropegic Orthodox monastery in Russian Karelia, located on Valaam, the largest island in Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in Euro ...
. Yet another church tradition dates his death to 1353, but there are no medieval documents to validate this claim either. The
archaeological record
The archaeological record is the body of physical (not written) evidence about the past. It is one of the core concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record. Archaeological th ...
places the arrival of
Christianity in Finland at the 10th or 11th centuries.
The date of the monastery's foundation is not clear, as all records of its early history have been destroyed, most of them in the
Russo-Swedish Wars
Wars between Russia and Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> ...
. According to an 18th-century church chronicle, the
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
s of Sergius and Herman were moved to safety in
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...
in 1162 (or 1163), possibly before a major Swedish offensive against
Staraya Ladoga
Staraya Ladoga (russian: Ста́рая Ла́дога, p=ˈstarəjə ˈladəɡə, lit=Old Ladoga), known as Ladoga until 1704, is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Volkhovsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Volkhov River near ...
,
[. In Swedish. Hosted by th]
National Archive of Finland
See and ''Diplomatarium Fennicum'' from the menu. roughly a decade after the legendary
First Swedish Crusade
The First Swedish Crusade was a mythical military expedition in the 1150s to Southwestern Finland by Swedish King Eric IX and English Bishop Henry of Uppsala.
Earliest written sources of the crusade are from the late 13th century. The main sou ...
, to be returned in 1182 (or 1180). The date of the translation, September 11, continues to be commemorated by the
Orthodox Church of Finland
The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Const ...
.
See also
*
Stephen of Perm
*
Herman of Alaska
Herman of Alaska ( rus, Преподобный Ге́рман Аляскинский, r=Prepodobny German Alaskinsky; 1756 – November 15, 1837) was a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary to Alaska, which was then part of Russian America. His g ...
Notes
References
Valaam Monastery: Cloister historySaints Sergius and Herman of Valaam / Ortodoksi.netSergei ja Herman Valamolainen / Ortodoksi.net / in Finnish(icon)
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14th-century Christian saints
Burials at Valaam Monastery
Christian missionaries in Finland
Eastern Orthodox missionaries
Greek Christian monks
Greek Christian missionaries
Saints of medieval Greece
Russian Orthodox monks
Miracle workers
Year of birth unknown
14th-century Byzantine monks
Greek expatriates in Russia
Greek expatriates in Finland