Sergiev Posad is one of the major religious centers in the country. The road we used to drive here is known as the road to pilgrimage.
This monastery was started by a monk Sergius who thought his fellow monks were not as religious as they could be, so he left his old monastery. On this pilgrimage, he had a dream and in the dream an angel told him that where he was currently asleep was the place to start a monastery, so when he woke up he started the construction of a wooden chapel on that site.
At his old Monastery Sergius was very popular as he was a healer and predictor of future, so his old followers sought him out and settled by his new chapel. He then decided the life in hermitage was not for him, so he started a new religious center.
The faithful gave donations when they worship, the workers settled in the village, and this helped to build the monastery. To this day, when you buy souvenirs look to see if it has been made in Sergiev Posad and if it is, the money goes to help this village and church.
When Sergius died he was buried in a coffin he made for himself. This is a common practice today, for monks to make their own coffins and then pray over them, etc. The story continues, after Sergius died, a priest from the monastery while praying or in a dream heard the voice of Sergius telling him that he was drowning. His grave was opened and they discovered that it was full of water. After it was emptied they discovered that the body was not decayed but preserved. Due to this, he became St. Sergius and placed in a special silver tomb with a silver canopy and this new tomb is in one of the churches on the grounds of the monetary and used during worship services.
The Assumption Cathedral was constructed by money given by Ivan the Terrible.
Another church was constructed by money given by Peter the Great.
Elizabeth gave it the title of the Lavra meaning it was the main monastery in the country.
It also was a cultural center for the young people and it had many icons.
In the 50 s they started the reconstruction of the church as it was very badly destroyed in the war , they found a depository with one of the icons and it is here.
While we visited two of the churches were holding services. There is still a lot of reconstruction going on and many people came to collect holy water from the well. There were many many monks in attendance as this was the busiest of all the monasteries we saw on this trip..