St. Seraphim of Sarov’s icon with his Life scenes, the early twentieth century In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters! Today the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates a great saint and wonderworker—St. Seraphim of Sarov. He was a man of amazing life, almost angelic, and some feats of his monastic life astonish and astound.
Who was St. Seraphim of Sarov? He was born in the city of Kursk and had pious parents named Isidore and Agafia (Agatha) Moshnin. Their family was quite well off, and ahead of him was a future in which he would have everything he needed. His father was the owner of brick factories, he built houses, various plants and churches, and it can be said that St. Seraphim was one of the gilded youth, but he did not want to follow this path.
From his youth, he loved God and the Most Holy Theotokos so much that he dreamed of becoming a monk. He prayed that his mother would bless him for this path, and coming to her and trembling, he told her about his desire. His pious mother saw Divine Providence in this and blessed him for monastic service.
He came to the Kiev-Caves Lavra where he was blessed to live as a monk at Sarov Monastery. On arriving there, he was admitted as a novice, and in the very first years of his life at the monastery, while still a novice, he excelled in spiritual life and stood out even among the brethren by his high spiritual life.
The Lord tested His chosen one, His beloved son, and as a novice St. Seraphim developed dropsy. But even during this severe illness he did not abandon his obedience, prayer and extremely strict fasting that he had taken on. And in this faithful service to God, the Mother of God appeared to him and healed him from illness. After some time, St. Seraphim took monastic vows, then was ordained hierodeacon, and during the Liturgy he was vouchsafed a vision of the King of Glory. For three hours, he did not dare to move, seeing the Lord Himself walking through the air within the church, accompanied by Heavenly Powers. After that vision, St. Seraphim of Sarov would say: “If people knew what the Lord has prepared for His elect, for those who love Him, they would endure the harshest trials in this earthly temporary life for the sake of everlasting life.”
He withdrew to the wilderness and for a long time struggled at some distance from Sarov Monastery, building a small, shabby cell there for himself. Various animals came to him. There is evidence that St. Seraphim, like St. Sergius of Radonezh before him, was visited by a bear. He cordially welcomed and fed all of them, even though he himself fasted very strictly.
People started flocking to him, and sometimes representatives of the nobility and wealthy families sought his advice. Seeing this, one day some serfs who believed that there were riches in St. Seraphim’s hermitage came and beat him so terribly that when the doctors examined him, they were surprised that, with such wounds on his body, St. Seraphim was still alive.
In the wilderness, St. Seraphim fought with the enemy of the human race. For a long time, the devil tried to drive St. Seraphim away from the wilderness, appearing to him in the form of a horde of demons who wanted to tear him to pieces, or in the form of a coffin with a dead person inside in order to horrify him, but no one and nothing could overpower St. Seraphim of Sarov. Then the enemy of mankind attacked him with the temptation of despondency and sorrow. Seeing this spiritual warfare, St. Seraphim became a stylite like St. Simeon, who stood on top of a pillar for about forty years, offering up prayers to the Almighty. St. Seraphim chose the same ascetic labor—he stood on a granite stone for 1000 days and nights, beating his chest and repeating the prayer of the publican: “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” His legs and feet hurt for the rest of his life after this, but the result of his ascetic labor was absolute victory over the devil and the demon of despondency.
After this labor of praying on a rock, St. Seraphim took on the asceticism of silence. When someone stood in his way, he would prostrate himself and fall to his knees without moving until the person he encountered left.
Closer to the age of fifty, St. Seraphim was called back to the monastery where the new abbot blessed him to live there, and not in the wilderness. Then St. Seraphim took upon himself the ascetism of seclusion. He did not let anyone into his cell, which was only two and a half square meters in size, ate only fermented cabbage, and lived for fifteen years in total seclusion. And fifteen years later, when the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to him and revealed the location of the holy spring, he left his seclusion, telling people about this great gift so that they could come to this spring and receive healing.
He also acquired the extraordinary gifts of miracle-working and eldership. From that moment on, he received everybody who flocked to him. Sometimes on the great feasts the number of visitors reached 5,000; they all wanted to see St. Seraphim and receive instructions from him. He greeted everyone with these wonderful words: “My joy, Christ is Risen!” He showed absolute love, absolute simplicity and holiness.
A year and a half before his death, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to him again. There were about twelve appearances of the Queen of Heaven that are known to us. And during the last apparition, accompanied by Sts. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, the Virgin Mary conversed with St. Seraphim for about four hours. What did they speak about? We don’t know. But the fact that St. Seraphim was vouchsafed so many visions of the Most Holy Theotokos indicates that he was Her beloved son. St. Seraphim fell asleep in the Lord while kneeling in prayer with his arms crossed on his chest.
We marvel at all these ascetic labors. We reflect on the life of this great saint, and each one of us probably wants to imitate his remarkable life if only partly. After all, the veneration of the saints consists not only in kissing their holy relics, but also in emulating their lives.
Hieromonk Laurus (Arkhipov)
What does St. Seraphim teach us? To devote special attention to reading the Holy Scriptures. He himself would read the entire New Testament in a week. He would say that if you read even one line of the Gospel during a day, then you have not lived this day in vain. He never neglected the Revelation of God. St. Seraphim taught us not to look at others and judge who has succeeded in what, who is guilty of what or has committed one or another sin. He exhorted everybody to be vigilant over themselves, answer for themselves, and not try to judge anyone. And he would repeat the words that are well-known to all of us: “If you acquire the spirit of peace, you will see how thousands around you will be saved.” He advised us to ask ourselves the following questions every day: “Where am I now? What spiritual state am I in? Am I sliding down? Am I stagnating, making no headway? Am I developing in Christ?”
All of St. Seraphim’s ascetic labors were instruments for his spiritual warfare, for drawing closer to his Heavenly Father.
May each one of us give thanks to God for sending us such great saints, and that we have such a powerful intercessor as St. Seraphim of Sarov. God is wondrous in His saints (Ps. 67:36), the Holy Scriptures proclaim. Likewise, the Lord is wondrous in the ascetic labors of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
Through the prayers of St. Seraphim, may the Lord grant each one of us the spiritual wisdom to walk our own path and become a worthy child of our Father, the Most High. Amen.
