Tarrytown, New York, February 9, 2026
Photo: nasledie-college.ru His Grace Bishop Seraphim (Sigrist), who served for many years in Japan, reposed in the Lord on the morning of Saturday, February 7, reports the Orthodox Church in America.
He served as the ruling hierarch of East Japan for 19 years before returning to America. He was 84 years old.
May Bp. Seraphim’s memory be eternal!
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Bp. Seraphim was born Joseph Sigrist on December 13, 1941, in New York and baptized in a Presbyterian church. He was brought up in Pleasantville, NY and studied at Nyack College. While studying there, he began to attend the Orthodox church and, on completing his degree there, he was received into the Orthodox Church at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in New York. He then began studies at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and, after graduating in 1967, went to Japan to assist the Orthodox Church in Japan.
In Japan, working first as a teacher in a church related school and assisting as a deacon at the Toyohashi church, he was tonsured a monk with the name Seraphim and served first as a parish priest in the town of Nakanida and then, being consecrated in Tokyo on December 19, 1971, from that time served as Bishop of East Japan living in Sendai.
Bp. Seraphim served in Japan for 19 years until returning to the United States in 1987. He then taught in the Graduate Department of Religion at Drew University, wrote three books, and visited Russia frequently in recent years in support of missions especially to youth in Russia.
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