Siege of the Trinity Lavra of Sergius. Trinity siege Heroic defense of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery

On September 23, 1608, Polish detachments of Sapieha and Lisovsky appeared at the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. On September 29, they sent a letter to the Lavra demanding the surrender of the stronghold. However, the monks, archers and peasants from the devastated villages had already managed to prepare for defense. No one even thought about handing over the Orthodox shrine to the filthy.

On September 23, 1608, Polish detachments of Sapieha and Lisovsky appeared at the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. On September 29, they sent a letter to the Lavra demanding the surrender of the stronghold. However, the monks, archers and peasants from the devastated villages had already managed to prepare for defense. No one even thought about surrendering the Orthodox shrine to the filthy people, although there were exactly ten times fewer defenders - two and a half thousand. The Russians responded to the Polish ultimatum: “Know, proud leaders Sapega and Lisovsky, that even a ten-year-old boy will laugh at you, for it is of no use to a person to love darkness more light, exchange truth for lies, freedom for slavery.”

The garrison of the Lavra consisted of monks and a detachment of archers sent to help by Vasily Shuisky. There were 3,000 defenders in total. The defense was led by siege commanders - Prince Dolgoruky and boyar Golokhvostov.

Nine Polish batteries destroyed the fortress for 6 weeks without noticeable success. Unsuccessful assaults alternated with forays of the besieged. Sapieha's engineers began to dig a mine gallery. Having learned from a defector that the Poles were going to equip a tunnel with a mine, Dolgoruky ordered the opening of an old secret passage, protected by three doors, and made a sortie. The Russians burst into the mine gallery, where the charges had already been laid, and detonated them. Since the Poles did not have time to clog up the gallery by this time, the explosion caused destruction on the Polish side.

Shelling and attacks replaced each other, the number of defenders dwindled. Food ran out, there was a shortage of water, people suffered from wounds and cold, as wood supplies were running out. The situation was becoming hopeless. But as before, cauldrons with boiling resin were at the ready, the cannons looked sternly towards the invaders, and the peasants, archers and the monks themselves held their weapons tightly. Every day the besieged prayed to the Most Holy Trinity, Archangel Michael, the Mother of God and the founder of the Lavra, Sergius of Radonezh. St. Sergius himself repeatedly appeared to the defenders, walked around the monastery and sprinkled it with holy water, and with God’s help, the defenders of the stronghold of Orthodoxy more and more often succeeded in daring forays, after which the Lavra was replenished with livestock, firewood, water, flour, and also... captive Poles. From time to time, small Russian detachments made their way through the Polish blockade to help the besieged. But still the situation remained formidable: the winter of 1609-1610 claimed the lives of many defenders. People died in battle on the fortress walls, died from wounds and diseases. As a menacing harbinger of even greater troubles, scurvy began in the fortress laurel. But the Poles’ strength was running out. Polish ambition gradually gave way to concern, fear and, finally, despair, and these few but stubborn Russians still did not give up.

In January 1610, the Poles, after a fruitless fifteen-month siege, unable to withstand Russian resistance, fled.

This is how the promise of the Queen of Heaven to St. Sergius was justified: “I will not retreat from this place and will cover it.”

As a reminder of those glorious days there is a hole from a Polish cannonball on one of the doors of the Trinity Church.

Here is the full chronology of events:

September 22nd- the battle of the village of Rakhmantsy and the defeat of I.I.’s detachment by Polish and Lithuanian troops. Shuisky, sent in pursuit of Sapieha, in order to prevent him from reaching the Trinity-Sergius Monastery.

23 September, the conception of the prophet John the Baptist, the arrival of the troops of Hetman Peter Sapieha and Alexander Lisovsky to the Trinity Monastery along the Moscow road.

October 13- a new shelling of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery and the 1st great attack on the walls of the monastery on the night of October 13-14.

October 23- the appearance of St. Sergius to the sexton Irinarch with a warning about the imminent attack of enemies on the beer yard and the unsuccessful attack of enemies on the beer yard on the night from Sunday to Monday.

October 26, in memory of Saint Demetrius of Thessalonica, Archimandrite Joasaph led a religious procession along the walls of the monastery, the flight of Lithuanian people from the walls of the monastery to their camps.

End of october- a sortie from the monastery and the capture of captain Brushevsky, who reported about the undermining of the monastery fortress.

Nov. 1, in memory of Cosmas and Damian, an unsuccessful attack by the defenders of the monastery. According to Tyumentsev, this event occurred on November 10.

Appearance of St. Sergius to Archimandrite Joasaph.

November, on the night from Saturday to Sunday, the appearance of the Monks Sergius and Nikon to the besiegers of the monastery.

It is likely that St. Sergius appeared to both Archimandrite Joasaph and his enemies on the same night, or that this appearance occurred on October 23.

November 4- capture of a prisoner who showed the direction of the tunnel and the time frame for blowing up the Pyatnitskaya Tower.

November 8, feast of the Council of the Archangel Michael - two cannonballs hit the Trinity Cathedral: one pierced the image of the Archangel Michael, the other - the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Appearance of Archangel Michael to Archimandrite Joasaph. Destruction of the Lithuanian arquebus "Treschera".

November 9, Wednesday, in memory of the holy martyrs Onesiphorus and Porfiry, a sortie from the Trinity Monastery and the capture of several enemy guns. According to Abraham Palitsyn, on this day the tunnel under the Pyatnitskaya Tower was destroyed.

November 17- the beginning of scurvy in the monastery. According to Kostomarov, on this day there was an unsuccessful foray for firewood and the enemies, pursuing the Trinity people, almost captured the Kalichya Gate.

December 21, 25, 28– according to the secretaries of Jan Sapieha, in the battles on these days, the defenders of the monastery lost 325 people killed and captured.

1609

Tsar Vasily Shuisky granted the Trinity-Sergius Monastery land on the outskirts of Moscow, behind Zemlyanoy Gorod, along the banks of the Neglinnaya River (later Trinity Sloboda and Trinity Sukharevskoye Metochion).

February, 15- Ataman Ostankov’s detachment of 66 Cossacks and 20 monastery servants with a supply of gunpowder, sent by Tsar Vasily Shuisky to help the Trinity prisoners at the insistence of Abraham Palitsyn, made their way into the monastery.

March- a letter from nun Olga (Ksenia Godunova) from a besieged monastery.

9th May- consecration of the chapel in the name of St. Nicholas in the Assumption Cathedral by Archimandrite Joasaph. Relief of scurvy.

June 28– 3rd great attack on the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. According to Abraham Palitsyn - July 31.

12th of August- departure of the main forces of Sapieha and Lisovsky from near the Trinity-Sergius Monastery to meet the troops of Skopin-Shuisky.

August 15, on the Feast of the Assumption Holy Mother of God, - stealing cattle from the Sapezhin camp to the monastery.

Late September–early October– liberation of Pereslavl from Tushino by the army of Semyon Golovin and Grigory Valuev.

October 19- the arrival of David Zherebtsov’s detachment of 600 people to the monastery from Pereslavl on the orders of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky.

28 of October- the battle for Aleksandrova Sloboda between the troops of Skopin-Shuisky and Sapieha. The defeat of Sapieha and his flight to the camp near the Trinity Monastery.

1610

4 January- the arrival of Grigory Valuev’s detachment of 500 people from Alexandrova Sloboda to the monastery.

January 12- flight of Sapieha and Lisovsky from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, end of the siege.

Russian Civilization

Trinity siege- the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery by the troops of False Dmitry II, which lasted almost sixteen months - from September 23, 1608 to January 12, 1610, when it was lifted by the troops of Mikhail Vasilyevich Skopin-Shuisky and Jacob Delagardie.

Previous Events

By the Time of Troubles, the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was already an influential religious center, the owner of a rich treasury and a first-class military fortress. The monastery was surrounded by 12 towers connected by a fortress wall 1250 meters long, 8 to 14 meters high, and 1 meter thick. There were 110 cannons placed on the walls and towers, there were numerous throwing devices, cauldrons for boiling boiling water and tar, and devices for throwing them onto the enemy. Having strengthened near Moscow, False Dmitry II and the Polish forces that supported him made an attempt to organize it complete blockade. The occupation of the monastery and subsequent control over it ensured a complete blockade of Moscow from the east and control over the north-eastern regions of Rus', the capture of the monastery’s treasures made it possible to strengthen the financial position, and the attraction of the influential monastic brethren to one’s side promised the final collapse of the authority of Tsar Vasily Shuisky and the subsequent crowning of the kingdom False Dmitry II.

To solve this problem, the united Polish-Lithuanian army of Hetman Jan Sapieha was sent to the monastery, reinforced by detachments of their Russian allies, Tushino and Cossacks under the command of Colonel Alexander Lisovsky. Data on the number of these troops differ (according to some sources - about 15 thousand people, according to other sources - up to 30 thousand people). Historian I. Tyumentsev provides the following data about the enemy troops: Polish-Lithuanian regiments and mercenaries numbered 4.5 thousand people, Tushino troops - 5-6 thousand. The army consisted of 6,770 cavalry and 3,350 infantry, the total number of troops was slightly more than 10 thousand people, which by the standards of that time was a significant fighting force. There were 17 guns, but they were all field guns, almost useless for waging a siege.

The government of Vasily Shuisky sent in advance the Streltsy and Cossack detachments of the governor Grigory Dolgorukov-Roscha and the Moscow nobleman Alexei Golokhvastov to the monastery. At the beginning of the siege, the defenders numbered up to 2,300 military men and about 1,000 peasants from neighboring villages, pilgrims, monks, ministers and workers of the monastery, who took an active part in its defense. During the entire period of the siege, Princess Ksenia Godunova was in the monastery, tonsured as a nun at the direction of False Dmitry I.

Beginning of the siege

The leaders of the Polish-Lithuanian army did not expect the stubborn defense of the monastery, based on the mass rejection of the reign of Vasily Shuisky by the population of Rus' and the paralysis of Russian state power. Therefore, the refusal of the Russian garrison to surrender the Trinity-Sergius Monastery without resistance put them in a difficult position. The first thing the besiegers had to do was hastily build their own fortified camps and prepare for the difficulties of the assault, while at the same time trying to negotiate with the besieged. However, in the last question, Sapieha faced failure - the archimandrite of the monastery Joasaph, in his response message to him, prioritized not the fulfillment of the oath to Tsar Vasily Shuisky, but the defense of Orthodoxy and the duty to “faithfully serve the sovereign who will be in Moscow.” Copies of this message in the form of letters were widely distributed throughout Rus', playing a significant role in the growth of the national self-awareness of the Russian people. Thus, from the very beginning, the defense of the monastery acquired, in the eyes of the besieged themselves and in the eyes of Russian society of that time, a national, deeply state character, multiplied by the significance of the armed defense of one of the main Orthodox shrines.

In October 1608, small skirmishes began: the besiegers fought with Russian spies, the besieged tried to cut off and destroy small groups of besiegers during construction work and forage procurement. The construction of tunnels under the monastery towers began. On the night of November 1, 1608, the first assault attempt was made with a simultaneous attack from three sides. The besiegers set fire to one of the advanced Russian wooden fortifications. The flames of the fire illuminated the formations of the advancing troops. The attackers were stopped and put to flight by targeted fire from numerous Russian artillery. During the subsequent foray, scattered groups of Tushin residents hiding in the ditches were destroyed. The first assault ended in complete failure with significant damage to the besiegers.

The leaders of the monastery garrison adhered to active defense tactics. In December 1608 - January 1609, daring forays managed to recapture some of the besiegers' livestock and hay supplies, destroy a number of outposts, and set fire to some of the besiegers' fortifications. However, at the same time they suffered significant losses, amounting to 325 people killed and captured in December alone. There were also defectors to the enemy from among the garrison, including nobles and archers. Apparently, thanks to their testimony, in January 1609, one of the forays of the besieged almost ended in tragedy - the enemy attacked them from an ambush and cut them off from the monastery, and the cavalry of the besiegers attacked the open monastery gates. Some of the attackers even managed to break into the monastery. The situation was again saved by numerous Russian artillery, which with accurate fire caused confusion among the Tushino residents who attacked the soldiers who had gone on a sortie. Thanks to this support, the archers who took part in the sortie returned to the monastery, having lost over 40 people only killed. The enemy cavalry that burst into the monastery were mostly exterminated by peasants and pilgrims, who pelted them with stones and logs in the narrow streets between the buildings.

Events of 1609

From January 1609, the situation of the besieged worsened - due to the lack of food supplies, scurvy began. Already in February, mortality reached 15 people per day. The few reserves of gunpowder also began to be depleted. Hetman Jan Sapieha, who received information about this, began preparing for a new assault, planning to blow up the fortress gates with prepared powerful firecrackers. In turn, the governors of Vasily Shuisky tried to support the besieged by sending a convoy with a load of 20 pounds of gunpowder to the monastery, accompanied by 70 Cossacks and 20 monastery servants. The Poles managed to capture messengers, whom the senior of this convoy sent to the monastery to coordinate the plan of action. Under torture, the messengers revealed the information they knew. As a result, on the night of February 16, 1609, the convoy fell into one of the ambushes, and the Cossacks guarding the convoy entered into an unequal battle. Hearing the sound of battle, Voivode Dolgoruky-Roshcha launched a sortie. As a result, the ambush was dispersed, and the valuable convoy broke through into the monastery. Frustrated by the failure, Colonel Lisovsky ordered the next morning to take the captured messengers and four prisoners taken in the night battle under the walls of the monastery and brutally execute them. In response, Dolgoruky-Roshcha ordered all the prisoners in the monastery to be taken to the walls and slaughtered - 61 people, most of them Tushin Cossacks and mercenaries. The result was a revolt of the Tushin troops among the besiegers, who blamed Lisovsky for the death of their comrades. From that time on, discord in the besieging camp began to intensify.

Discord also arose in the garrison of the monastery between the archers and the monks. There were facts of people fleeing to the enemy. Sapega, who knew about the difficulties of the besieged, made preparations for a new assault, and to guarantee success, he sent the Pole Martyash, a defector, to the monastery with the task of gaining confidence in the Russian governor, and at the decisive moment, disabling part of the fortress artillery. Participating in sorties and firing cannons at the Tushin residents, Martyash really gained confidence in the governor Dolgoruky. But on the eve of the assault, scheduled for June 28, an Orthodox Litvin ran into the monastery and reported a spy. Martyash was captured and, under torture, told everything he knew about the upcoming assault. Although by that time the forces of the garrison had decreased by more than three times since the beginning of the siege, their correct placement in the places of enemy attacks made it possible to defend the monastery this time too. The attackers were repulsed in a night battle, and during the subsequent sortie, more than 30 people were captured. But the number of soldiers among the besieged decreased to 200 people.

Therefore, Sapega immediately began to prepare a third assault. By joining the Tushino detachments operating in the vicinity, he increased the number of his troops to 12,000 people. This time the attack had to be carried out from all four sides in order to achieve complete fragmentation of the insignificant forces of the garrison. The signal for the attack was a cannon shot, which would start a fire in the fortress; if a fire did not break out, then a second shot, and if even then a fire did not break out, then a third shot, regardless of the results. The assault was scheduled for July 28, 1609. Voivode Dolgoruky-Roshcha, who saw the preparations for it, armed all the peasants and monks, ordered all the gunpowder to be taken to the walls, but there was practically no chance of success in the battle.

Only a miracle could save the besieged, and it happened. The confusing system of signals for the assault played a fatal role - some units rushed to the assault after the first shot, others - after the subsequent ones. In the darkness, the ranks of the attackers were mixed up. In one place, the German mercenaries heard the screams of the Russian Tushins behind them and, deciding that they were the besieged on a sortie, they entered into battle with them. In another place, with flashes of shots, the Polish column saw a detachment of Tushins approaching it from the flank and also opened fire on it. The artillery of the besieged opened fire on the battlefield, increasing the confusion and panic that arose. The battle between the besiegers turned into a bloody massacre of each other. The number of people killed by each other amounted to hundreds of people.

End of the siege

Essentially, the inconsistency of the attackers became a turning point in the struggle for the monastery. Long-standing disagreements between the Tushino people on the one hand, the Poles and the mercenaries on the other, spilled out into the open. A split occurred in the besieging army. Many Tushin atamans withdrew their troops from the Trinity-Sergius Monastery; in the remaining detachments, desertion became mass character. Following the Tushins, foreign mercenaries left the Sapega camp. The besieged, on the contrary, were confident that the miraculous salvation of the monastery was the result of divine intercession and that the end of the siege was near.

In the autumn of 1609, the Russian troops of Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky inflicted a number of defeats on the Tushino people and Poles, after which they began an offensive towards Moscow. Part of the forces was allocated to fight Sapieha’s army, blocking it in its own camp. Regular communication was restored between the besieged and the troops going to the rescue.

On October 19, 1609 and January 4, 1610, the defenders received reinforcements: detachments of archers from Voivode Zherebtsov (900 people) and Grigory Valuev (500 people) broke into the monastery. The reinforced garrison began active military operations. In one of the forays, the archers set fire to the wooden fortifications of Sapieha’s camp. The enemy's numerical superiority did not allow them to break into the camp, but the outcome of the fight had already become clear. Knowing about the movement of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky's troops from Novgorod to the monastery, Sapieha ordered to quickly lift the siege. On January 12, 1610, Polish-Lithuanian troops moved away from the monastery towards Dmitrov. There they were overtaken and defeated by the Russian detachment of governor Ivan Kurakin. As a result, Sapieha brought back a little more than 1000 people to False Dmitry II.

By the end of the siege, no more than 1,000 people remained in the besieged monastery from those who were there at the beginning of the siege, of whom the garrison numbered less than 200 people.

The successful end of the siege had a significant impact on the mood of the population and raised the morale of the army, which for the first time during the Time of Troubles gave such a decisive rebuff to foreign invaders.

The Trinity Monastery greatly interfered with the Tushins: it stood on the way from Moscow to the Volga region, and supplies were transported to the capital along this road. The monks, together with the soldiers, often intercepted the travels of the Tushins, and, most importantly, with their loyalty and devotion to Tsar Vasily they set a high moral example and kept many from treason; therefore, it was not only self-interest, but also military calculations that prompted the Tushin residents to take possession of the rich monastery

“How long,” the Poles said to the impostor, “will these crows, nesting in a stone coffin, bother you?” How long will the elders harm us everywhere? Not only are our messengers seized on the paths, emerging from the forests like animals, but they are also given over to cruel deaths without mercy; Moreover, they corrupt all the cities and teach them to serve Tsar Shuisky...

October 3 (September 23, Old Style) 1608 Sapega and Lisovsky stood under the monastery. They had about thirty thousand troops: there were Polish troops, Cossacks, and Russian traitors.

Even under Ivan IV, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra was fenced with stone walls, four fathoms high, three fathoms thick, with high towers and a deep ditch. Anticipating danger for the monastery, the king sent small detachments of servicemen and archers there in advance. There were about three thousand of those capable of defending the Trinity Fortress, including the monks, some of whom, of course, knew military affairs, since they were from military men. The governors were Prince Grigory Dolgoruky-Roshcha and nobleman Alexei Golokhvastov. They burned the monastery settlements so that the enemy would not take advantage of them. The Trinity-Sergius Lavra was filled with many people deprived of shelter: the sick, the crippled, the elderly, women, and children sought refuge here. The cramped conditions and the need to feed many people could greatly hinder the defense, but the monks accepted everyone.

Saint Sergius, they said, does not reject the unfortunate!

The monastery hastily prepared for defense: cannons were placed on the wall; the positions and responsibilities of the defenders were indicated. Archimandrite Joasaph, a meek man, capable of establishing peace and harmony among the people who filled the monastery, led the governor and all the defenders to the oath over the tomb of St. Sergius. Everyone kissed the cross that they would “sit under siege without betrayal!” They encouraged each other, swore to die, but not to give up; it was not only about standing up for the fatherland, but also about not giving away the shrine, the tomb of St. Sergius, to desecrate the “filthy Poles,” the hated Gentiles, who have abused the Orthodox shrine more than once.

In vain did the enemies try to persuade the monastery to voluntarily surrender, promising not only mercy, but also “a grant from Tsar Dimitri Ivanovich,” and in case of resistance they threatened with extermination; they received a response from the Lavra that ended with these words:

You command the Christian king to leave and want to deceive us with false, vain flattery and vain wealth! We will not take the wealth of the whole world for our kiss on the cross!

The enemy positioned himself around the monastery, set up tours, dug ditches, made embankments and opened fire from eighty guns. Fortunately for the besieged, the enemy cannons were small and did not cause significant damage to the monastery walls.

On October 13, the enemy tried to take the Lavra by storm. With loud screams, the Poles rushed to the walls of the monastery - they rolled Taras on wheels in front of them to protect themselves from shots, and carried ladders for an attack. It was towards evening, but all the defenders appeared in their places on time and opened such fire on the enemy from cannons and arquebuses that he lost all courage, and he hastily retreated, abandoning even his ladders and taras. There were many killed and wounded. The Russians made a sortie and captured abandoned ladders and taras - for several days there was no need to leave the fence for firewood.

This success gave the Russians spirit, and reduced the enemy's arrogance... The besieged not only bravely fought back, but themselves made frequent forays, often brought prisoners and from them obtained information about the forces and intentions of the enemies. Once they learned from one prisoner that the enemies were digging under the wall and wanted to blow up the monastery. This news amazed everyone... The terrible thought that an explosion was about to break out tormented everyone, even the most fearless. For a long time, no matter how much they fought, they could not find out from which side the tunnel was being dug; They dug dormer wells in different places under the towers and walls, but did not find out anything. Fear and agonizing expectation of imminent death overwhelmed the besieged more and more. Several times forays were made to find where the mine was being dug from, or to get a “tongue,” that is, a prisoner who could say this. Finally, on one of the forays, they managed to catch a wounded Cossack, from whom they learned that the digging was being carried out under the Pyatnitskaya Tower. Then they quickly began to build a new fortification against this tower in order to defend themselves in case the enemies succeeded in the explosion... They began to clear and dig secret underground passages. They made forays several times to find and destroy the tunnel, but all in vain. Finally, two peasants managed to reach the mouth of the mine, which had not yet been completed. Without thinking twice, they jumped in and lit the gunpowder; there was an explosion; Russian daredevils also died, but the work of the enemies was destroyed, and the monastery was saved from this undermining.

The besieged were encouraged when they saw in this God's mercy and the intercession of St. Sergius. Church services and singing did not stop in the monastery churches.

After an unsuccessful attack and an attempt to blow up the monastery, Sapega and Lisovsky decided to take the monastery with a long siege, “by starvation,” as the Russians put it.

Winter came. The enemy settled in hastily built huts and dugouts. The Poles obtained supplies and everything they needed by looting in the surrounding area. Forays were still being made from the monastery. Many of the defenders became famous for their daring and strength.

With the onset of winter, things became increasingly difficult for the “Trinity inmates.” It was difficult to get firewood; they had to be taken in battle; sometimes they followed them with weapons in their hands and did not return... Finally, illnesses began due to the crowded conditions in the monastery. While it was warm, crowds of people lived in the open air, in the courtyard, but now, as the cold and frost set in, everyone huddled in cramped closets and cells. The crowd was terrible. There was already a shortage of good food. They drank spoiled water. Scurvy developed: gums swelled, teeth fell out... Others developed wounds on their bodies. The contagion spread greatly due to the crowded conditions. There was no supervision. Others rotted alive. The mortality rate increased day by day. At first, up to 20 people died every day, and then they began to bury thirty or more per day. Funeral singing and weeping were heard from morning to evening every day... Many of the Trinity “inmates” were beaten in the forays, and even more died from disease. More warriors died than “eaters,” that is, the weak, the elderly, and women who had to be fed. From the monastery we managed to send the petition to Moscow. The governors begged the king to send them fresh military forces and gunpowder; It was difficult for Shuisky to fulfill this request: he himself was in straitened circumstances.

At that time, the cellarer of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Abraham Palitsyn, lived in Moscow (who described its defense from the words of the defenders). He was a very active and intelligent man. He worked hard to have help sent to the monastery. Patriarch Hermogenes also insisted on this. The king sent a detachment, but an insignificant one, about sixty people. They managed to get into the monastery and carry twenty pounds of gunpowder there.

A handful of these warriors could not, of course, make up for the loss of people. The disease was still rampant and the death rate was rising. Unfortunately, disagreements and bickering began between the monks and military men. The Sagittarius complained that the elders did not feed them well... But all sorts of hardships and disasters did not break the resolve of the “Trinity inmates” to die, but not to give up. Winter has passed. Although the illnesses continued, it still became easier, it was possible to be healthy in the air more and not languish in cramped conditions and stuffiness... The enemies stubbornly continued the siege; but the besieged did not at all think about surrender, they even made forays, although less frequently than before. Rumors reached the monastery that soon Skopin-Shuisky would bring a large army and a Swedish auxiliary army to the rescue of Moscow and the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

The long and fruitless siege, apparently, was already beginning to torment the Poles. Sapieha again tried to take the monastery by storm; he knew that there were very few defenders left. On May 27, the enemy camp began to move... Many horsemen drove around the monastery, apparently looking for something; others pranced on their horses in front of the monastery and threatened with their sabers...

The besieged realized that there would be an attack, and began to prepare to fight back. The monks took up arms; the women stood on the walls with stones, fire, pitch, brimstone and lime. The archimandrite prayed with the elder monks in the church. Finally, towards nightfall, at dusk, the attack began.

The Poles, according to the legend of Abraham Palitsyn, in the evening, when it got dark, began to secretly approach the walls, some even crawling, “like snakes,” and took with them ladders, tours and all sorts of “battering contraptions” (machines). There was complete silence for some time... Suddenly a cannon shot rang out. This was a sign to attack. Then, with a loud cry and the sound of a trumpet, the enemies rushed to the monastery walls, thinking of taking them over with a united attack. But the besieged began to defeat the attackers with cannons and arquebuses, did not allow them to put ladders to the wall, threw stones at the Poles, doused them with boiling tar, threw lighted sulfur at them and poured lime into their eyes. At dawn, the enemy retreated with great damage, having achieved nothing... The besieged, in turn, jumped out of the gate and attacked the retreating ones and captured several dozen prisoners. The next day, Sapieha repeated the attack, but again without success.

This ended the Poles’ attempts to seize the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by force.

Neither cannon fire, nor attacks, nor undermining, nor spies helped the Poles take possession of the Lavra during its 16-month siege. The courageous defenders of the monastery, enduring hunger, cold and illness, sometimes numbering up to 200 people, survived and on January 22 (12th Art. Art.), 1610, joyfully greeted the troops of Prince-Liberator M.V. Skopin-Shuisky.

And more than once, the Lavra, strong in spirit, helped the Russian people overcome Time of Troubles. This happened at the turning point of the battles for the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, when the Cossacks who volunteered to help “not only did not help, but also boasted of ruining the noble regiments. Hearing this, Archmandrite Dionysius and cellarer Abraham... promised the Cossacks the entire Sergius treasury if they stood, and the Lord would help them... For this, the Cossacks joyfully promised to stand for the faith of Christ and lay down their heads...”

When the Poles were defeated, then “Archimandrite Dionysius with the cathedral elders of the Trinity Lavra, in fulfillment of the promise given to the Cossacks, sent them the treasures of St. Sergius as a pledge of a thousand rubles - church vestments, stoles in frames and church utensils. When the Cossacks saw this parcel, their Orthodox hearts trembled. They hastened to return her to the monastery and sent a letter to it, promising to endure everything, but not to leave Moscow.”

In 1608-1609, the Sergiev Posad land became one of the centers of resistance to the invaders - for 16 months the Trinity-Sergius Lavra held its defense against the Poles besieging it. At that time, the royal governors were in the monastery - Prince G. B. Dolgoruky and nobleman A. Golokhvastov with a small detachment, and the rest were monks and surrounding residents who took refuge in the monastery. The Poles wanted to rob the Lavra and kill the defenders, who remained loyal to their fatherland amid the general turmoil. There were few defenders, but they were strong in spirit, and the monastery was firm in the faith and protection of the “great elder and wonderworker, intercessor and quick man of prayer.” Everyone kissed the cross over the tomb of St. Sergius and swore to remain under siege without treason. The Trinity Monastery then had more than 300 brethren; Among them were those who in the world served the fatherland on the battlefield and in the present circumstances could be useful to the monastery with their courage and art. The entire garrison of the fortress, initially consisting of only 2,400 armed men, resisted the forces of the Polish governors Sapieha and Lisovsky, who, according to various sources, amounted to from 15 to 30 thousand people with more than 60 guns.

In September 1610, governor M.V. Skopin-Shuisky defeated the enemy army and on January 12, 1610, Sapieha fled, having kept the monastery under siege for almost 16 months without success. During the week, the monks still did not dare to believe that their enemies had left them forever, but on the 20th they sent Elder Macarius to Moscow to the Tsar with a notification of God’s mercy and with holy water, sprinkling the monastery walls with it in advance.
This news had a huge moral impact on the entire state and instilled hope for a speedy final liberation. The chronicles say this: “Tsar Vasily himself, having heard about Lithuania’s escape from the Trinity Monastery, greatly rejoiced in their hearts, thanking God.” The monastery, and with it all of Russia, solemnly celebrated its liberation from the enemy. In memory of such good deeds and the mercy of God, the Lavra established a religious procession around the monastery walls for eternity - January 12.
Despite the fact that chronicles often show a tendency to exaggerate the enemy's forces and understate their own, the resistance of the besieged to the besiegers was truly heroic.

In 1618, the Polish prince Vladislav again tried to threaten the Trinity Monastery, but the monastery’s defensive structures, rebuilt and significantly strengthened, again proved impregnable. As a result, in the town of Deulino, not far from Sergiev Posad, the Peace of Deulino was signed, putting an end to the Russian-Polish war of 1605-1618.
The fortifications of the Trinity Monastery, which were badly damaged during the war, were rebuilt, the thickness and height of the walls were increased, the number of combat tiers increased, all the corner towers of the monastery were rebuilt, which made it possible, if necessary, to keep the entire territory in front of the fortress under fire, keeping out possible enemies closer than 100 meters to its walls.

Heroic Resistance defenders Trinity Monastery troops of False Dmitry II during the Polish-Lithuanian intervention is inextricably linked with the history of the north-east of the Moscow region.

« “Everyone of the Moscow State is glad to retreat from Moscow.”...
The general situation of the country during this period was extremely difficult. Even after the Battle of Khodynka, on June 25, 1608, the open departure of service people from Moscow to Tushino, the headquarters of False Dmitry II, began. According to a contemporary of that time, cellarer of the Trinity Monastery, Abraham Palitsyn, many service landowners reasoned as follows: “If we stand and stay with the Poles together in Moscow and the Trinity St. Sergius Monastery, then our estates will not be ruined”. But this calculation, as events showed, was not correct. Other service people left the Moscow army, going home to guard their hearths. Troubles swept through the entire center, reached Vladimir-on-Klyazma, and crossed the Volga. As was written in one of the chronicles those terrible years: “all the cities of the Moscow state retreated from Moscow”...

Shelling of the Trinity Monastery. Artist: N. Leventsev.

Having received a decisive refusal to the offer to surrender without a fight, on October 3 The interventionists began shelling shelling of the monastery from 63 guns.

Jan Sapieha's camp. Lithography.

On October 13, as night fell, the first assault on the monastery walls began, but the besieged bravely met the attackers - the attacks were repulsed, and in the morning the siege weapons left by the enemy at the walls of the monastery were burned. On the night of October 24, another attack was repelled. The besieged made frequent forays.

Sally of the Besieged from Trinity Monastery. Artist: N. Leventsev.

During the night sortie on October 8, Lisovsky himself was wounded, on October 19 a new sortie was made, which escalated into a bloody battle, and on October 26, another sortie was made, during which the company of Captain Gerasim was exterminated, and Captain Bryushevsky was captured.

Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery October 13, 1608

According to an anonymous inventory of forays that has survived to this day, from October 3, 1608 to the end of January 1609, the besieged made 31 forays. Having examined the issue, A.V. Gorsky found mention of four more.The lack of firewood, so necessary for heating the monastery during the winter cold, led to the fact that “they had to be bought from the enemy at the cost of blood.”

On November 17, 1608, due to a lack of food, scurvy began in the monastery. At first, 10 people died per day, then 50 and even 100. On February 19 (March 1), 1609, in documents captured by Sapieha from the monastery and sent to Vasily Shuisky, it was reported that the combat and food supplies of the besieged were coming to an end.

"Cattle foray." Lithograph from 1862.

By March 1609, the siege had developed into a tactical confrontation. On April 1 (11), 1609, the Sapezhinites captured three archers with five hundred messages to Moscow. “The letters reported that scurvy was claiming dozens of lives every hour, and the monastery garrison could no longer hold out.” In May, the position of the defenders of the Trinity was so difficult that Sapieha again sent a parliamentarian to the monastery with a letter in which he demanded the immediate surrender of the fortress, but received no response.

Siege of the Trinity Monastery. Appearance of St. Sergius and Nikon to their enemies. Lithography.

On June 28 (July 8), the besieged fought off another decisive enemy attack. The leadership of individual detachments of the defenders was entrusted to three monks: Afanasy Oshcherin, Paisiy Litvin and Guriy Shishkin. After this new failure, most of Sapieha's army was forced to leave from under the walls of the monastery to join forces with A. Zborovsky. In July, when the Russian traitors Saltykov and Grammatin came to Sapieha’s camp with their troops, a new attack began three hours before dawn, but due to the fact that the messenger’s cannon fired ahead of schedule, it was thwarted. Meanwhile, no more than 200 defenders remained in the monastery.

The disciples of St. Sergius Micah, Bartholomew and Naum are sent to Prince Mikhail Vasilyevich for help October 1609

Explaining the circumstances that prevented the Polish-Lithuanian troops from taking Moscow under a complete blockade back in June 1608, S.F. Platonov wrote: “First of all, this was prevented by the resistance of Kolomna, which connected Moscow with the Ryazan region, and then the lack of funds for good monitoring of small roads like the Olshanskaya road, Khomutovka, etc.” .

Historians have noted that the liberation of the Moscow region began from the northeast. Having united near Alexandrov with Sheremetev’s troops and troops from Moscow led by I.S. Kurakin and B.M. Lykov, the troops of Skopin-Shuisky in the spring of 1610 began a slow advance towards Moscow along the largest roads of the northeast. As S.F. wrote Platonov: “Skopin systematically resorted to the same technique on all the roads that he mastered: he built forts on them and planted garrisons in them, which held this path at your disposal. The Poles attributed the invention of this measure to the Swedish military leaders, but this was a purely Moscow technique, which found its best expression in the famous “walking cities”. It was used not only on the Trinity and Stromynskaya roads, where Skopin operated, but also on the Kolomenskaya road, where Tsar Vasily “ordered guards to be built for the passage of grain.” With the help of such forts, the Moscow army knocked out the Tushins from all their positions around Moscow, and reached Moscow itself.” According to the assumption of local historian M. Baev, not far from the Grebnevsky nursery there are impressive ramparts of one of these forts, but this opinion has not been confirmed archaeological excavations.
"Great dishonor, disgrace, disgrace and disgraceful reproach have been brought upon the King of Poland and his kingdom...
In October 1609, Yaroslavl, Kostroma and Galicians came to the aid of the besieged, about 900 people in total under the leadership of D. Zherebtsov. The supplies they brought were enough for another 12 weeks. Finally, Valuev with a detachment of 500 people, joining forces with Zherebtsov’s detachment, set fire to the interventionist camp. A lot of blood was shed on Red Mountain, on Kelarsky Pond, on Volkusha and Klementyevsky Field. When the Poles left their camp on January 12, the monks did not dare leave the walls of the monastery for another 8 days. Thus the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery was lifted.


The end of the Siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Polish trophies of the governors Sapieha and Lisovsky, fleeing with their army, in the hands of M. Skopin-Shuisky

As Jan Sapieha wrote, summing up this bloody war: “And in the end, both the throne and the entire kingdom of Moscow were released from their hands and lost in vain, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish crown is burdened with uselessly unpaid debts, the states are devastated, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is involved in an eternal war with these people [Russians] and in great danger from other sides; Great disgrace, disgrace, disgrace and shameful reproach have been brought upon the King of Poland and his kingdom...

A. Poslykhalin, 2012. When using the material, a link to trojza.blogspot.com is required.

Spanish lit.
1. Platonov S.F. Essays on the history of unrest in the Moscow state of the 16th-17th centuries. St. Petersburg, 1906., p. 279
2. Palitsyn A. The legend of the siege of the Trinity Sergius Monastery from the Poles and Lithuania. M. 1822., p. 60
3. Gorsky A.V. Historical description of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. Sergiev Posad, 1910.., p. 96
4. Russian archive of Jan Sapieha 1608-1611: experience of reconstruction and source analysis. Ed.: O.V. Inshakova. Volgograd, 2005. p. 133
5. Folomeeva N.V. The land of Pavlovo Posad. Orekhovo-Zuevo, 1999, p. 233
6. Lyubavsky M.K. Lithuanian Chancellor Lev Sapieha about the events of the Time of Troubles. M. 1901, p. 13.