Seraphim Enters the Monastery at Sarov
At the age of 18,
Seraphim firmly decided to become a monk. His mother blessed him with a
large copper crucifix, which he wore over his clothing all his life.
After this, he entered the Sarov monastery as a novice.
From day one in the monastery,
exceptional abstinence from food and slumber were the distinguishing
features of his life. He ate once a day, and little. On Wednesdays and
Fridays he ate nothing. After asking the blessing of his starets (i.e.,
a spiritual elder), he began to withdraw often into the forest for
prayer and religious contemplation. He became severely ill again soon
after, and was forced to spend most of the course of the next three
years lying down.
Saint Seraphim was once again healed by the Most Holy Virgin Mary, Who
appeared to him accompanied by several saints. Pointing to the venerable
Seraphim, The Holy Virgin said to the apostle John the Theologian: "He
is of our lineage." Then, by touching his side with Her staff, She
healed him.
His taking of the monastic vows occurred in 1786, when he was 27 years
old. He was given the name Seraphim,
which in Hebrew means "fiery,"
or "burning."
He was soon made a hierodeacon. He justified his name by his
extraordinarily burning prayer. He spent all of his time, save for the
very shortest of rests, in church. Through such prayer and the labors of
religious services, Seraphim became worthy to see angels, both serving
and singing in church. During the liturgy on Holy Thursday, he saw the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the form of the Son of man, proceeding
into the Church with the Heavenly host and blessing those praying. The
saint could not speak for a long time after being struck by this vision.
In 1793, St. Seraphim was ordained a
hieromonk, after which he served every day and received Holy Communion
for a year. St. Seraphim then began to withdraw into his "farther
hermitage" — the forest wilderness about five kilometers from Sarov
Monastery.
Tonsured a monk in 1786 and given the
name of Seraphim, he was ordained a priest in 1793 but chose not to
preach until he had acquired a greater proximity to God, which he
thought could come only through prayer and meditation in the complete
solitude of the wilderness. The forbidding forest was to be his home for
the next several years.
Soon after this began the
"pillar period" of
the life of Saint Seraphim, when he spent his days on a rock near his
little hermitage, and nights in the thick of the forest. At one point,
he broke off his sporadic contact with the monastery and took up
residence on a stone slab, on which he is said to have remained for a
thousand days and nights in emulation of Saint Symeon, removing himself
from his uncomfortable roost only for the bare essentials of life. After
this test of spiritual and physical endurance, he sought the comparative
comfort of a hut, from which he would emerge from time to time to tell
of his visions, in which he had the company of the apostles Peter and
John and occasionally the Virgin Mary.
He
prayed with his arms raised to heaven, almost without respite. This feat
of his continued for a thousand days.
Even the
animals of the forest came to know the friendship of the gentle
Seraphim, and he would on frequent occasions seek out the solitude of
the wilderness, returning to the monastery always with renewed faith and
closeness to nature that refreshed the spirit.
He achieved great perfection at this time. Wild animals —
bears, rabbits, wolves, foxes and others — came to the hut of the
ascetic.
The staritsa (i.e., eldress) of the
Diveevo monastery, Matrona Plescheeva, witnessed how St. Seraphim fed a
bear that had come to him out of his hand: "The face of the great
starets was particularly miraculous. It was joyous and bright, as that
of an angel," she described. While living in this little hermitage of
his, St. Seraphim once suffered greatly at the hands of robbers.
Although he was physically very strong and was holding an axe at the
time, St. Seraphim did not resist them.
In answer to their threats and their
demands for money, he lay his axe down on the ground, crossed his arms
on his chest and obediently gave himself up to them. They began to beat
him on the head with the handle of his own axe. Blood began to pour out
of his mouth and ears, and he fell unconscious. After that they began to
hit him with a log, trampled him under foot, and dragged him along the
ground. They stopped beating him only when they had decided that he had
died. The only treasure which the robbers found in his cell was the icon
of the Mother of God of Deep Emotion (Ymileniye), before which he always
prayed. When, after some time, the robbers were caught and brought to
justice, the holy monk interceded on their behalf before the judge.
After the beating, St. Seraphim remained hunched over for the rest of
his life.
Returning to the monastery, Seraphim
had grown to such spiritual stature that he was visited by countless
pilgrims seeking the way of the Lord, and was ultimately designated as
the spiritual father of the nuns of the Diveyev Convent, an order which
attested to his power of healing through Jesus Christ and offered its
prayers to him when he was recognized as a prophet of the Lord and named
a holy Starets (Elder of the Faith). It was his firm belief that the
Kingdom of God was within us all and that only through the Holy Spirit
could come the joy of complete tranquility and the inner peace which
comes with faith. His sermons on this particular theme brought the true
meaning of God's love to all those privileged to hear him
Because of a special vision of the
Mother of God he was given toward the end of his life, St. Seraphim took
upon himself the feat of becoming an elder. He began to admit everyone
who came to him for advice and direction. Many thousands of people from
all walks of life and conditions began to visit the elder now, who
enriched them from his spiritual treasures, which he had acquired by
many years of efforts.
Everyone saw St. Seraphim as meek,
joyful, pensively sincere. He greeted all with the words: "My joy!" To
many he advised: "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands
will be saved." No matter who came to him, the starets bowed to the
ground before all, and, in blessing, kissed their hands. He did not need
the visitors to tell about themselves, as he could see what each had on
their soul. He also said, "Cheerfulness is not a sin. It drives away
weariness, for from weariness there is sometimes dejection, and there is
nothing worse than that."
"Oh, if you only knew" he once said to
a monk, "what joy, what sweetness awaits a righteous soul in Heaven! You
would decide in this mortal life to bear any sorrows, persecutions and
slander with gratitude. If this very cell of ours was filled with worms,
and these worms were to eat our flesh for our entire life on earth, we
should agree to it with total desire, in order not to lose, by any
chance, that heavenly joy which God has prepared for those who love
Him."
The miraculous transfiguration of the
starets’ face was described by a close admirer and follower of St.
Seraphim — Motovilov. This happened during the winter, on a cloudy day.
Motovilov was sitting on a stump in the woods; St. Seraphim was
squatting across from him and telling his pupil the meaning of a
Christian life, explaining for what we Christians live on earth.
One of the most notable expressions of
the power of healing through Jesus and Mary came about when Seraphim was
called upon to help his friend, Nicholas Motovilov, a wealthy benefactor
who had been paralyzed by a stroke. The prayers of Seraphim were
answered and his friend was healed.
Seraphim explained to Motovilov,
"It is necessary
that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do,
that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer
most of all, which is always available to us,".
"Father," answered Motovilov, "how can
I see the grace of the Holy Spirit? How can I know if He is with me or
not?"
Saint Seraphim began to give him examples
from the lives of the saints and apostles, but Motovilov still did not
understand. The elder then firmly took him by the shoulder and said to
him, "We are both now, my dear fellow, in the Holy Spirit." It was as if
Motovilov’s eyes had been opened, for he saw that the face of the elder
was brighter than the sun.
In his heart Motovilov felt joy and
peace, in his body a warmth as if it were summer, and a fragrance began
to spread around them. Motovilov was terrified by the unusual change,
but especially by the fact that the face of the starets shone like the
sun. But St. Seraphim said to him, "Do not fear, dear fellow. You would
not even be able to see me if you yourself were not in the fullness of
the Holy Spirit. Thank the Lord for His mercy toward us."
Thus Motovilov understood, in mind and
heart, what the descent of the Holy Spirit and His transfiguration of a
person meant.
What is
the main significance of Reverend Seraphim?
First of all,
the significance of the man is in his teaching. It was Reverend Seraphim
of Sarov who reminded the people the main truth of Christianity lost by
many people because of the outward understanding of the religion as a
code of rules and moral instructions. The main objective of the life of
a Christian is acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
The main objective of living is communication of a human with God and
becoming closer to God. According to Seraphim of Sarov, all other
achievements in the human life are nothing in God's eyes if the two
above mentioned objectives are not achieved.
Reverend
Seraphim of Sarov says: "People were told to go to church, pray to God
and observe the commandments" - this is the main objective of a Christian
man's living. I'll try to explain what the objective is in fact.
Although
prayer, fast, vigil and other Christian doings are good by themselves,
but the objective of the Christian living is not only fulfillment of the
things; all the things serve important means for attainment of the
objective. The actual objective of the Christian life lies in
acquisition of the Holy Spirit."
For centuries Orthodox Russia, as a spiritual and church whole was
living with this perception of the objective; and this is why it was
called Holy Russia. That was not just a haughty assertion of the
spiritual superiority, but recognition of the fact that a Russian man
truly devoted to the church wanted to become saint and he actually
became saint. When people popularizing different views wanted to
create the Kingdom of heaven on Earth, Orthodox Russians were creating
Russia in the heaven.
Reverend
Seraphim of Sarov observed the Holy Russia when it was substituted with
the Christian ideal of the empire in the state and public life.
The second
meaning of Seraphim of Sarov is in the very fact of his life and his
personal deed at a definite moment and in a definite place. It might
seem that under Peter the Great and his successor Catherine the Great
the spiritual life of Holy Russia was interrupted by the "regular
state." It seemed that acquisition of the Holy Spirit was then possible
only through emigration abroad, to the territories under the
jurisdiction of a Turkish sultan, not Russia's non-Christian tsar.
Reverend
Seraphim of Sarov proved it was not so. He demonstrated that it might
happen even in a laicized society. In the image of Seraphim of Sarov
Russia passed through its spiritually dark centuries and triumphed;
though at the end of the empire, but it triumphed during the reign of
Nicolas II who restored the rights of Holy Russia and made the
glorification of Reverend Seraphim of Sarov the culmination of his
reign.
Indeed, after
Nicolas II a period of disorders hit Russia when the Russian people
often committed incredibly bad things. It is astonishingly mystical that
a nuclear center called Arzamas-16 appeared in the place where the city
of Sarov stood. Arzamas-16 was a nuclear heart of the Soviet
civilization. Some people considered it to be an outrage and other
though it was the start of something new. Nowadays, Orthodoxy and the
atom are experiencing their problem moments and seek support of each
other. It is not accidental that many of physicians from Sarov are
believers. Today Russia's external and internal bases seem to be broken.
The third
significance of Reverend Seraphim of Sarov for the Russian history is
that the man is saint for us not only from the point of view of the past
but also of the future. If we follow Seraphim's prophecy, it means that
Holy Russia has not only its past but also its future. Seraphim of Sarov
is some kind of measure for the Russian history.
Yegor Kholmogorov
Uncovering of the Relics of the Venerable Saint Seraphim, Wonderworker
of Sarov
Uncovering of the Relics of Saint Seraphim, Wonderworker of Sarov: The
glorification of St Seraphim of Sarov (January 2), took place in 1903,
seventy years after his repose. On July 3, 1903 Metropolitan Anthony of
St Petersburg, assisted by Bishop Nazarius of Nizhni-Novgorod and Bishop
Innocent of Tambov, transferred the saint's relics from their original
burial place to the church of Sts Zosimus and Sabbatius. Tsar Nicholas
II and Tsarina Alexandra provided a new cypress coffin to receive the
relics. This cypress coffin was then placed inside an oak coffin and
remained in the church until the day of the saint's glorification.
At noon on July 16, the first day of the festivities, Metropolitan
Anthony offered a Memorial Service for the ever-memorable Hieromonk
Seraphim in the Dormition Cathedral. Services also took place in the
monastery's other churches.
The next day Metropolitan Anthony and Bishop Nazarius served a Memorial
Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral. At 5:00 that afternoon, the bells of
Sarov began to ring, announcing the arrival of Tsar Nicholas and his
family. Metropolitan Anthony greeted them and then led them to the
Dormition Cathedral for a Service of Thanksgiving.
The royal family attended the early Liturgy on July 18th and received
the Holy Mysteries. Later that morning, the final Memorial Service for
the repose of Hieromonk Seraphim's soul was offered in the Cathedral.
These would be the last prayers offered for him as a departed servant of
God. From that time forward, prayers would be addressed to him as a
saint. At 6 P.M. the bells rang for Vigil, the first service with hymns
honoring St Seraphim, and during which his relics would be exposed for
public veneration.
At the time of the Litia during Vespers, the saint's coffin was carried
from the church of Sts Zosimus and Sabbatius and into the Dormition
Cathedral. Several people were healed of various illnesses during this
procession. During Matins, as "Praise ye the Name of the Lord" was sung,
the coffin was opened. After the Gospel, Metropolitan Anthony and the
other hierarchs kissed the holy relics. They were followed by the royal
family, the officiating clergy, and all the people in the cathedral.
On July 19, the saint's birthday, the late Liturgy began at 8 o'clock.
At the Little Entrance, twelve Archimandrites lifted the coffin from the
middle of the church, carried it around the altar, then placed it into a
special shrine. The long awaited event was accompanied by numerous
miraculous healings of the sick, who had gathered at Sarov in large
numbers. More than 200,000 people came to Sarov from all across Russia.
The festivities at Sarov came to an end with the dedication of the first
two churches to St Seraphim. The first church to be consecrated was over
his monastic cell in Sarov. The second church was consecrated on July 22
at the Diveyevo convent.
In 1991, St Seraphim's relics were rediscovered after being hidden in a
Soviet anti-religious museum for seventy years. Widely esteemed in his
lifetime, St Seraphim is one of the most beloved saints of the Orthodox
Church.
The days of the commemoration of St.
Seraphim are August 1 and January 15 (July 19 and January 2 by the
church calendar).
Troparion of St. Seraphim, Tone 4
Thou didst love Christ from thy youth, O blessed one,/ and longing to
work for Him alone thou didst struggle in the wilderness with constant
prayer and labor./ With penitent heart and great love for Christ thou
wast favored by the Mother of God./ Wherefore we cry to thee:/ Save us
by thy prayers, O Seraphim our righteous Father.
Kontakion of St. Seraphim, Tone 2
Having left the beauty of the world and what is corrupt in it, O saint,/
thou didst settle in Sarov Monastery./ And having lived there an angelic
life,/ thou wast for many the way to salvation./ Wherefore Christ has
glorified thee, O Father Seraphim,/ and has enriched thee with the gift
of healing and miracles./ And so we cry to thee:/ Rejoice, O Seraphim,
our righteous Father.
In
1794 he became a
hermit in the forest near the Sarov
monastery. In
1804 he was severely beaten by thieves, and left for dead; he
dragged himself to the
monastery, spent five months in recovery, and spent the rest of his
life stooped and requiring a cane to walk. He lived for a while atop a
pillar, then in a walled up
cell. Offered the abbacy of Sarov in
1807, but declined, and lived the next three years without speaking.
In
1810 his health had deteriorated to the point that he could no
longer live in the woods. He returned to the Sarov
abbey, and lived as a hermit within its walls. In 1832 he received a
vision from the Virgin Mary that told him to return to the world and
give others the benefit of his wisdom. He attracted followers and
students, became known as a
healer, and was called by the honorific starets,
Russian for spiritual teacher. Many of his teachings have
been reprinted in the West.
