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Seraphim of Sarov | |
|---|---|
 Russian icon of Saint Seraphim of Sarov | |
| Confessor andWonderworker | |
| Born | (1754-07-30)30 July 1754 Kursk, Russian Empire |
| Died | 2 January 1833(1833-01-02) (aged 78) Sarov, Russian Empire |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | 19 July 1903 (O.S.), Sarov Monastery byHoly Governing Synod |
| Majorshrine | Diveevo Convent, Russia |
| Feast | 2 January, 19 July (opening of relics) |
| Attributes | Wearing peasant clothing, often kneeling with his hands upraised in prayer; crucifix worn about his neck; hands crossed over chest |
Seraphim of Sarov (Russian:Серафим Саровский; 30 July [O.S. 19 July] 1754 or 1759 – 14 January [O.S. 2 January] 1833), bornPrókhor Isídorovich Moshnín (Mashnín) [Про́хор Иси́дорович Мошни́н (Машни́н)], is one of the most renowned Russian saints and is venerated in theEastern Orthodox Church[1] and theAnglican Communion.[2] He is generally considered the greatest of the 18th-centurystartsy (elders). Seraphim extended themonastic teachings ofcontemplation,theoria andself-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was toreceive the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst his devotees is "Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and thousands around you will be saved."
Seraphim wasglorified by theRussian Orthodox Church in 1903.
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Born 19 July (O.S.) 1754, Seraphim wasbaptized with the name of Prochor, afterProchorus, one of the firstSeven Deacons of theEarly Church and thedisciple ofJohn the Evangelist. His parents, Isidore and Agathia Moshnin, lived inKursk, Russia. His father was a merchant. He took part in the building of the Sergievsko-Kazansky Cathedral in Kursk, but died before its completion. His mother would take young Prochor to visit the church while under construction. On one occasion, the seven-year-old accidentally fell from the bell tower.[1] According toEastern Orthodox Church tradition, awonderworkingicon of theTheotokos (Virgin Mary),Our Lady of Kursk, protected the young boy.
In 1775, at the age of 17, he visited Dorothea of Kiev. In 1777, at the age of 19, he joined theSarov monastery as anovice (poslushnik). He was officiallytonsured (took hismonastic vows) in 1786 and given the religious name of Seraphim (which refers toSeraph-angels in the Bible). Shortly afterwards, he wasordained ahierodeacon (monasticdeacon). In 1793, he was ordained as ahieromonk (monasticpriest)[3] and became the spiritual leader of theDiveyevo Convent, which has since come to be known as the Seraphim-Diveyevo Convent.
Soon after this, Seraphim retreated to a log cabin in the woods outsideSarov monastery and led a solitary lifestyle as ahermit for 25 years. During this time his feet became swollen to the point that he had trouble walking. Sarov's eating andfasting habits became more strict. At first he ate bread obtained from the monastery and vegetables from his garden, then only vegetables. For three years, he ate only grass.[3]
One day, while chopping wood, Seraphim was attacked by a gang of thieves who beat him mercilessly with the handle of his own axe. He never resisted, and was left for dead. The robbers never found the money they sought, only anicon of theTheotokos (Virgin Mary) in his hut. Seraphim had a hunched back for the rest of his life. However, at the thieves' trial he pleaded to the judge for mercy on their behalf. He spent five months in the monastery, recovering from his injuries and then returned to the wilderness.[3]
After this incident Seraphim spent 1,000 successive nights on a rock in continuous prayer with his arms raised to the sky, a feat ofasceticism deemed miraculous by the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially considering the pain from his injuries.
In 1815, in obedience to a reputedspiritual experience that he attributed to the Virgin Mary, Seraphim began admittingpilgrims to his hermitage as aconfessor. He soon became immensely popular due to his reputation forhealing powers and gift ofprophecy. Hundreds of pilgrims per day visited him, drawn as well by his ability to answer his guests' questions before they could ask.
As extraordinarily harsh as Seraphim often was to himself, he was kind and gentle toward others – always greeting his guests with aprostration, akiss, and exclaiming"Christ is risen!", and calling everyone "My joy". He died while kneeling before a tenderness icon of the Theotokos which he called "Joy of all Joys". This icon is kept currently in the chapel of the residence of the Patriarch of Moscow.
There was a widespread popular belief in Russia that a saint's remains were supposed to beincorrupt, which was not the case with Seraphim as was officially ascertained by a commission that researched his grave in January 1903. This, however, did not deter canonisation, spearheaded by archimandriteSeraphim Chichagov as well as popular veneration.[a] At the end of January (O.S.) 1903, theMost Holy Synod, having received approval fromEmperorNicholas II, announced Seraphim's forthcoming glorification.[5] In early July 1903, his relics were transferred from their original burial place to the church of Saints Zosimus andSabbatius. Nicholas II andTsarina Alexandra provided a new cypress coffin to receive the relics. The solemn canonisation (discovery of the relics) festivities took place in Sarov on 19 July (1 August) 1903 and were attended by the Tsar, his wife, his mother EmpressMaria Feodorovna, his sister-in-law Grand DuchessElizabeth Feodorovna and other senior members of the Imperial Family.[6][7]
On 18 July 1903, Metropolitan Anthony Vadkovsky of St. Petersburg officiated at the LastPannikhida (Memorial Service) in the Dormition Cathedral at Sarov, with the royal family in attendance. These would be the last prayers offered for Seraphim as a departed servant of God; from that time forward, prayers would instead be addressed to him as a saint. On 19 July, Seraphim's birthday, the late liturgy began at 8:00.[clarification needed] At theLittle Entrance, twelvearchimandrites lifted the coffin from the middle of the church and carried it around theholy table (altar), then placed it into a special shrine which had been constructed for it.
The festivities at Sarov ended with theconsecration of the first two churches dedicated to Saint Seraphim. The first had been constructed over hismonastic cell in the wilderness of Sarov. The second church was consecrated on 22 July at theDiveyevoconvent.
Following theBolshevik Revolution,Soviet authorities severely persecuted religious groups. As part of theirpersecution of Christians, they confiscated many relics of saints, including Seraphim. Furthermore, his biographerSeraphim Chichagov, who came to become ametropolitan, was arrested, sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in 1937 (and is also celebrated as a Russian Orthodox saint).
In 1991, Seraphim's relics were rediscovered after being hidden in aSoviet anti-religious museum for seventy years. This caused a sensation in post-Soviet Russia and throughout the Orthodox world. Acrucession (religiousprocession) escorted the relics, on foot, all the way from Moscow to Diveyevo Convent, where they remain to this day.
On 19 October 2016, some relics of Seraphim were launched into space aboard theSoyuz MS-02.[8]
Seraphim isremembered in theAnglican Communion with acommemoration on2 January.[9][failed verification][10]
In his book,Crossing the Threshold of Hope,Pope John Paul II referred to Seraphim of Sarov as a saint.[11]
On 15 September 2016, MetropolitanHilarion of Volokolamsk, head of theDepartment for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, presented toPope Francis a relic of Seraphim fromPatriarch Kirill of Moscow.[12] The Pope keeps the relic by his bedside and venerates it daily with a prayer for unity.[13]
"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved.""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."[citation needed]
The available information about relations between Seraphim of Sarov and RussianOld Believers tradition is somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, in all the memoirs and biographies, and in the collections of his sayings, he is undoubtedly portrayed as a convinced supporter of the reforms in the church and the official hierarchy.[14][better source needed] On the other hand, onicons of Seraphim he is usually depicted with alestovka in his left hand,[15] and in some cases even in old Russian, Old-Believers-style monastic garments (with a peculiarklobuk, and an old-fashioned cast bronze cross), as it is with these objects that he is depicted on the only lifetime portrait of him.[16][unreliable source] The lestovka used by St.Seraphim is preserved up to this time among his personal belongings.[17][better source needed]
According to some sources, the known problems with the beatification of Seraphim of Sarov did happen exactly due to his general support and sympathy towards the Old Believers tradition,[18][19] in which case the negative assessment of the old rite, ascribed to him, would have been interpreted as inventions of his followers, who tried to put their teacher in the most favorable light in the eyes of the official church functionaries.[20] It was also suggested that Seraphim could have descended from a family ofOld Ritualists,[18] or from a family of secret, cryptic Old Believers (that were widespread in northern and eastern areas of Russia),[16][unreliable source] possibly with consequent gradual shift towardsedinoverie.[17]
In spite of some (alleged) controversy, Seraphim was known, at least at the level of officialhagiography, for his rejection of the Russian old rites.[21] The majority of old believers authors doubt virtually all the facts known about Seraphim, as well as the very legitimacy of hisbeatification,[22][23] and his name is often used in interdenominational polemics.[16][unreliable source]
″Некоторые утверждают, будто мощи святых всегда и непременно суть совершенно нетленные, то есть совершенно целые, нисколько неразрушенные и неповрежденные тела. Но понимание слова „мощи“ непременно в смысле целого тела, а не частей его и преимущественно костей, – неправильно, и вводит в разногласие с греческой церковию, так как у греков вовсе не проповедуется учения, что мощи означают целое тело, и мощи наибольшей части святых в Греции и на Востоке (равно как и на Западе) суть кости. Самое нетление мощей всецерковным сознанием не считается общим непременным признаком для прославления святых угодников. История прославления святых показывает, что некоторые из чтимых нами святых были прославлены до открытия их мощей, некоторые прославлены спустя то или другое время и даже очень значительное время после открытия их мощей; мощи довольно многих прославленных святых никогда не были открываемы. Мощи многих святых и в настоящее время находятся под спудом: в большей части случаев это значит, что мощи совсем не были открываемы, в меньшей части значит, что были открываемы, но потом опять закрыты. Мощи святых, когда они нетленны, составляют чудо, но лишь дополнительное к тем чудесам, которые творятся чрез их посредство. Доказательство святости святых составляют те чудеса, которые творятся при их гробах, или от их мощей, а мощи, целые тела или только кости, суть дарованные нам, для поддержания в нас живейшего памятования о небесных молитвенниках за нас, священные и святые останки некоторых святых, которых мы должны чтить, как таковые, и суть те земные посредства, чрез которые Господь наиболее прославляет Свою чудодейственную силу.″
(С. В. Булгаков).[4]tr. "Some argue that the relics of the saints are always and certainly completely incorruptible, that is, completely whole, not at all undisturbed and undamaged bodies. But the understanding of the word "power" is certainly in the sense of the whole body, and not of its parts and mainly of the bones, is wrong, and introduces it into disagreement with the Greek Church, since the Greeks do not preach the doctrine at all that relics mean the whole body, and the power of the largest part the saints in Greece and in the East (as well as in the West) are bones. The very incorruption of relics by the all-church consciousness is not considered a common indispensable sign for the glorification of saints. The history of the glorification of the saints shows that some of the saints we venerate were glorified before the discovery of their relics, some were glorified after one time or another and even a very significant time after the discovery of their relics; the relics of quite a few illustrious saints have never been revealed. The relics of many saints are still under wraps: in most cases this means that the relics were not opened at all, in a smaller part it means that they were opened, but then closed again. The relics of the saints, when they are incorruptible, constitute a miracle, but only in addition to those miracles that are performed through them. Proof of the holiness of the saints are the miracles that are performed at their tombs, or from their relics, and relics, whole bodies or only bones, are those given to us, to maintain in us the most vivid remembrance of heavenly prayer books for us, the sacred and holy remains of some saints, which we must honor, as such, and are those earthly means through which the Lord most glorifies His miraculous power."
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