A few notes on Saint Sergius of Radonezh, for the 600th anniversary of his death

This article by Olivier Clément, written on the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the death of Saint Sergius of Radonezh (c. 1314–1392), offers a historical and spiritual study of this central figure of medieval Russian monasticism. Drawing on the Life written by Epiphanius the Wise and on the context of the Byzantine hesychast renewal, Clément shows how Sergius embodied, within the Russian setting, a synthesis between cenobitic life and inner solitude, between contemplative prayer and active charity. The article traces the influence of Palamite hesychasm on fourteenth-century Russia, the founding of the Trinity Lavra, and the monastic influence that followed. Its contribution lies in the articulation between Trinitarian and Palamite theology and the concrete spirituality of Sergius, as well as in the analysis of the later tensions between the Possessors and the Non-Possessors, of whom Sergius remains the common point of reference.