Unsolved Mysteries of History: Why did the Reverend Nikon not Immediately Become of St. Sergius of Radonezh as Hegumen of the Trinity Monastery

Abstract

The years of Nikon’s Abbacy — the period of formation of the Russian monastery, which played a huge role in the history of our fatherland, which, as in the period of the formation and rise of the Moscow state so it was in the following centuries had a profound impact on the cultural and religious life of the Russian people, his national identity. The personality of the Venerable Abbot Nikon and after six centuries, it attracts attention with its role in the preservation of the Trinity Monastery and the creation of an economic basis for its further development. The article considers the question that has not yet been received in historical science, why was he appointed by St. Sergius himself as his successor, Nikon in 1392 renounces the post of abbot, six years into the lock and the circumstances of his return in 1398. Most likely, the suspension of the Reverend Nikon is related since beginning in the 14th century the struggle of two emerging currents (in further named the Josephites and the Non-Possessors) in the Russian orthodox church. at the same time, the decisive role in the abdication of Nikon from the abbacyin 1392 сыграл племянник преподобного Сергия Радонежского played by the nephew of St. Sergius of Radonezh Archbishop of Rostov Fyodor.