Archimandrite
Saint Sergius (Mitrofan Vasilyevich Srebriansky) was born on 1 August 1870 in a village of the Voronezh Province. After graduating from the theological school, he began attending an Orthodox church, where he met his future wife, Olga. They were married in 1893.
His ministry as a clergyman began on 2 March 1893, when he was ordained a deacon. In 1894, he became an army priest. During the Russo-Japanese War, he served as a military chaplain, keeping a diary that was later published, revealing his pastoral care and concern for the young soldiers.
After the war, he was appointed parish priest. In 1908, he became the spiritual father of the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary, which had been founded by the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. He laboured there with great zeal, expanding and strengthening the convent while caring for the sisterhood and the poor who sought refuge within its walls.
After the Revolution of 1917, the convent was closed and Saint Sergius was arrested. He was exiled to Tomsk and later returned to Moscow. In 1925, the convent was closed once again, and Sergius was arrested for a second time, though he was soon released. He then settled in the village of Vladychnya, where he continued his ministry and cared for his spiritual children.
In 1930, he was arrested and sentenced to five years of exile in the Northern Region. After his release in 1933, he returned to Vladychnya, where he lived until his death on 23 March 1948.
At the site of his burial, there stands a cross bearing the following inscription: “Here rests the body of Hieromonk Sergius, Protopresbyter Mitrofan. He reposed on 23 March 1948.”
