Simon of Trinity

Holy Venerable Simon of Trinity was ecclesiarch of the Holy Trinity Monastery, one of the first disciples of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, and he received during the Divine Liturgy a vision of the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Simon watched in the church over the good order of the services. He was a monk adorned with many virtues, and Saint Sergius himself testified of him that his life was perfect. Once, when Sergius was serving the Divine Liturgy, Simon saw a fire moving over the Holy Table, lighting the altar and surrounding the Holy Gifts on every side. Before Sergius communed, the divine fire coiled like a veil and entered the Holy Chalice. Seeing this, Simon was seized with dread and trembling and kept silent, marvelling. When the venerable one stepped away from the Holy Table, he understood that Simon had been granted a wondrous vision, called him and asked, "Child, why was your spirit so frightened?" "My lord, I had a wondrous vision of the grace of the Holy Spirit working with you," he answered. "See that you tell no one what you saw until the Lord takes me from this life," the elder warned, and the two together gave praise to the Lord.

Saint Sergius counted Simon the ecclesiarch among his closest associates. After the Most Holy Mother of God Herself appeared to him in his cell, he called to him, with Isaac the Silent, Simon the ecclesiarch also, to share the joy of that wondrous visit. The year of Simon's repose is not known exactly; most probably he fell asleep after 1377.

He is commemorated on 19 July, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh, and on 5 September, a movable date, in the Synaxis of the Saints of Moscow, in the new style.