A fascinating man, St. Sergius, born Bartholomew, was to change the size and shape of Russia for centuries to come. The spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox people, he inspired men to go into the forests of Russia and to build small churches and monasteries far from the horrors that beset the Russian people. With the plague running rampant and people fed up with the constant bickering amongst the princes of Russia, they enthusiastically took up the task.

Within a few hundred years, the Russian Orthodox Church owned fully 1/3rd of the land of the Rus. They caused one of the largest expansions the country had yet seen. Join me in today’s podcast on the man of God, St. Sergius of Radonezh.