Father Seraphim’s personal things Nun Artemia (Korolkova) recently related the following story:
“In 2003, the whole Church lived in anticipation of celebrations dedicated to the centenary of the canonization of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. They were supposed to begin in Sarov, where the church, which had once been built over the saint’s cell, was restored. The cell itself was reconstructed from old photographs on its surviving foundation inside the walls of the church. Our convent, too, was preparing for the celebrations with great exertion of both spiritual and physical strength: the cathedrals were being renovated at the convent, hotels were being completed, the entire convent’s area was being beautified anew; The sisters would spend days and nights digging the holy canal of the Most Holy Theotokos, which had to be completed before August 1.
“At the beginning of the summer, the abbess called me and said that with the blessing of Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, our convent was in charge of the interior adornment of St. Seraphim’s reconstructed cell in Sarov. ‘Take it on yourself,’ the mother-superior said, blessing me with a cross, ‘God will bless you.’ At that time, I still did not fully realize what a heavy burden I had on my shoulders.
“We discussed with the deputy abbess, Mother Ekaterina, the list of things that I was supposed to collect. Among them were carved furniture that would look like antique, carved candleholders with copper trays for sand, icons in the eighteenth-century style and icon lamps, monastic vestments, ancient books, copper utensils and much, much more.
On the day of commemoration of Abbess Maria (Ushakova) at her grave at St. Seraphim’s Diveyevo Convent “Of all the things I needed I had only a copy of the ‘Tender Feeling’ Icon in the Diveyevo style, which the deputy abbess suggested taking from the sacristy.
“As is often the case, a work done for the sake of the Lord is accompanied by many difficulties. With my long list I had to turn to carpenters, tinsmiths, suppliers, church workers, sacristans, seamstresses... At first I had no idea where to run. I began to visit all of them one after another as obedience, showing them the drawings and asking them to do something urgently. But all of them had their own urgent work in the run-up to the feast, so they did not respond very enthusiastically and suggested that I come later. The tinsmith agreed to make trays for candleholders, but there were no copper sheets in the warehouse. Many other things were also unavailable: ancient icons, utensils and homespun runners…
“I could no longer try to coax or insist—everybody was already working under incredible strain. That summer the sisters often had to work even at night, and the workers would literally drop from weariness.
“All human efforts led to nothing, my possibilities were exhausted, but everything remained in its place. I walked along the canal, begging Father Seraphim to sort it out…
“So a week passed, then another… The remaining days were flying rapidly by. It seemed to me that the celebration would begin at the newly renovated church in Sarov; His Holiness the Patriarch, bishops, and honored guests would arrive..; President Vladimir Putin and representatives of the Romanov family were expected; but there would be an empty cell here at the cathedral… I anticipated the upcoming feast with apprehension.
“Once, after yet another unsuccessful request, as I was walking past the sanctuary of the Holy Trinity Cathedral towards the canal, I turned to the graves. I remember going up to Abbess Maria’s cross and entreating almost without hope: ‘Mother, I cannot fulfill my obedience! You were able to arrange everything so well in Diveyevo! Intercede, help me as much as you can, save the situation...’
“Private traders with their stalls were set up where the holy rampart began and a lot of people gathered in crowds. I came up to them, and an elderly woman suddenly took an akathist to the Feodorovskaya Icon of the Mother of God from a counter with Her icon on the cover and handed it to me… The saleswoman, not at all surprised, said, ‘I wonder why you’ve been given the Feodorovskaya Icon. People usually pray for children in front of it...’ Not understanding what had happened, I went with this icon along the rampart, imploring for help over and over again. Something important was connected with that icon, because I suddenly felt that I was calming down.
“Much later everything fell into place. After rereading The Chronicles, I recollected that the Feodorovskaya Icon was Abbess Maria’s personal icon, which she especially venerated. Her father blessed her with this icon to go to the convent. In different years, Mother Maria came to the convent and became the abbess on its feast-day.
Shrine with St. Seraphim of Sarov’s relics at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of Diveyevo Convent
“After that, all my difficulties began to be resolved surprisingly easily and quickly, as if the things I needed began to appear by themselves. The sister from the warehouse bought copper sheets for the tinsmith. The carpenters began to work on the ‘antique’ furnishings for the saint’s cell, and within a few days, working till late, they made wonderful models. The brethren later said that they felt great grace from this work, which at first they had not wanted to tackle... An old mantiya from Sarov was found as well. The sisters from the sewing workshop found some free time, and soon they made a klobuk, coverings for analogions (lecterns), and bags for dried bread modeled on those belonging to St. Seraphim. And even the eighty-year-old Nun Maria herself volunteered to go to her acquaintances in Mordovia, where it was still possible to find homespun canvases and runners. ‘People carried them from all their households!’ she said later, smiling. She brought a whole car of them!
“Lastly, two days before the feast I received a box donated by pilgrims ‘for the museum’. There I found marvelous ancient icons (I needed icons of this exact sort!), large books from the time of Catherine II, ancient icon lamps and copper utensils—in a word, everything I needed and even more. Those ‘accidentally’ collected things stunned me as they matched the plan perfectly.
“In such an amazing way I collected and placed everything in Father Seraphim’s cell on the eve of the celebrations.
Diveyevo. Our days
“The next day, the Lord vouchsafed me to accompany St. Seraphim’s relics in cross procession and then attend the consecration of the newly revived church in Sarov. His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II was pleased with the cell; many said that there was a ‘special prayerful atmosphere’ in it and that they ‘didn't want to leave it’. Perhaps this is because it was reconstructed with the blessing of St. Seraphim and through the powerful prayers of the righteous mother, Abbess Maria.”
Mother Maria firmly believed that Father Seraphim would be canonized, leaving for him the lower left side-chapel at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the convent, built through her efforts despite all the obstacles. Then, a few years before the celebrations in Sarov, a holy man told her: “You will live to see the relics, and then prepare for death.” On August 19 (September 1 according to the new calendar) of the following year, 1904, Mother Maria passed away. And the Lord performs many miracles through prayers to her even in our days.
