Sergius of Valaam

Venerable Sergius of Valaam is regarded, together with Herman, as the founder of the Valaam monastery and an enlightener of the Karelian and Finnish tribes. Their life cannot be established with certainty: tradition places them in the tenth century, while other reports place them in the fourteenth (the death of Sergius in 1353 according to our record). They are commemorated (Old Style) on 28 June and 11 September. Veneration was at first local, then, by decision of the Holy Synod, in all Russia; the Orthodox Church of Finland honours them as enlighteners of Karelia.

What the sources say

The early written sources on Sergius and Herman are very few, and the earliest hagiographical accounts are much later, which makes it hard to reconstruct their lives. According to the tradition of the monastery, Sergius was a Greek, of the tenth century, and, together with Herman, began the monastic community that became the Valaam monastery. The old chronicles of Novgorod say that in 1163 to 1164, in the time of Archbishop John, the relics of the venerable Sergius and Herman, wonderworkers of Novgorod, were found and moved to Novgorod out of the way of the Swedish invasion. According to other data he lived in the fourteenth century: a note on an old book at Saint Sophia of Novgorod says that "in the year 6837 (1329) the elder Sergius began to live on the island of Valaam, on Lake Ladoga", and another note says that Herman came to the founder in 1393. Historians today think the monastery began toward the end of the fourteenth century, perhaps between 1389 and 1393, according to the "Tale of the Valaam Monastery" of the sixteenth century, in the time of Archbishop John II of Novgorod. Many documents on its beginnings have been lost, among others in the Russo-⁠Swedish wars; the oldest surviving are from the sixteenth century.

Commemoration

According to the typikon, 11 September recalls the last translation of the relics from Novgorod back to Valaam, when the Swedish danger had passed, and their laying deep under a stone, where they are today. According to another version, from a manuscript of the sixteenth century published by N. A. Okhotina-⁠Lind, the feast of 11 September was ordained in the mid-⁠sixteenth century in memory of the translation of the relics of Sergius from Novgorod, where he died, and their burial beside the relics of Herman (the "holy union"). The celebration of 28 June, at first only local, was ordained in the mid-⁠eighteenth century, tied to the fair held under the walls of the monastery; then the Holy Synod ordered veneration of the saints of Valaam in all Russia, with the days 28 June (11 July New Style) and 11 September (24 September New Style).