Svyatogorsk, August 4, 2020
Photo: Facebook
On August 1, 2020, at 9 pm, on the feast of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a confessor of Svyatogorsk Lavra, Archimandrite Seraphim (Lavrik) has reportedly fallen asleep in the Lord.
Fr. Seraphim (Lavrik) was born on March 4, 1953 in the village of Krestishche, in the Slavyansk district of the Donetsk oblast of Ukraine.
On August 22, 1990, he was ordained a deacon, the next day—a priest.
He served in St. Nicholas Church in the village of Yampol, in the Krasnolimansk district of the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
On June 1, 1992, he joined the Svyatogorsk Dormition Lavra, also known as the Holy Mountains Lavra of the Holy Dormition of the Mother of God, in the Don basin (Donbass) region of Eastern Ukraine. In the Russian Church there are a total of five Lavras, three of which are in Ukraine, and Svyatogorsk is one of them, located on the chalk hills not far from the birthplace of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco.
On August 23, 1992, Fr. Seraphim was tonsured into monasticism and named in honor of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
On October 25 of the same year, he was confirmed as the first vicar of the Lavra, and from January 13, 1995 he was the confessor of the many pilgrims who visit the Holy Mountains Lavra.
May his Memory be Eternal!
