Download Seraphim of Sarov

Seraphim of Sarov
Mystic, Russia
January 2
Seraphim was born as Prokhor Moshnin in 1759 at Kursk in Russia. He entered the monastery
of Sarov near Moscow as a novice in 1779. In 1786, after taking monastic vows, he received
the name Seraphim. He was ordained deacon in 1786 and priest in 1793. From 1794 he chose
to live in seclusion as a hermit in the forest seven kilometres from the monastery. He looked
after a small garden, tended bees, read and meditated on the Bible and the fathers. He shared
his food with the wild animals which came to him.
The discipline and severity of his lifestyle was astonishing, with long periods of fasting. He
encountered the deepest spiritual conflicts: “He who has chosen the desert and silence must
feel himself constantly crucified.” In 1804 he was attacked by robbers and carried the effect
of the wounds for the rest of his life. Because of his failing health he returned to the monastery in 1810, and lived there in solitude in his small cell. In 1825 he agreed to share his insights with others and became a staretz (spiritual director, guide and soul-friend) to the people
who came to him in their thousands.
Seraphim had outstanding gifts of healing, perception and spiritual discernment, believing intensely in the power of prayer to give healing. He was known for his visions, his prophecies,
his radiant joyful faith, and a particular love of children. Despite his personally austere ways
he was always gentle-spirited and full of compassion towards others, seeing his priestly ministry as one of bringing comfort to the afflicted. He stressed the importance of joy and cheerfulness in the spiritual life. “Christ, my joy, is risen” was the expression he preferred above all
others with which to greet people.
The whole purpose of the Christian life, he taught, was nothing other than the acquisition of
the Holy Spirit. It is the infusion of the Spirit which gives life, the penetration of the entire
human being by the divine energies.
Among works done for the love of Christ, prayer is the one that most readily obtains the grace of the Holy Spirit, because it is always at hand. . . . Prayer, more
than anything else, brings us the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Seraphim practised the unceasing “prayer of the heart” or “Jesus prayer”, which becomes an
inner equivalent of the eucharist, an unending communion with Jesus, who is present when
his name is spoken. When Jesus has been drawn into the heart, the kingdom has come, and the
soul is at peace. Seraphim emphasised that the offering of the heart to God and the gift of the
kingdom to us are complementary to one another. Seraphim died in prayer before an icon of
the Virgin in January 1833. His life has been described as “an icon of Orthodox spirituality”.
For Liturgical Use
Seraphim was a monk and priest of the Russian Church who became, after many years in solitude, a remarkable spiritual director (staretz), with great gifts of healing and insight. He was
born in 1759. His life, marked by a radiant joy, was centred on the “prayer of the heart”, or
“Jesus prayer”, an unceasing communion with Jesus. He stressed the need to draw Jesus into
one’s heart, and that “every soul is brought to life by the Holy Spirit.” The whole aim of the
Christian life he defined as the “acquisition of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of the Holy
Spirit himself”. He died in 1833.
Sentence
Great is the might of the Lord; yet the Lord is glorified by the humble.
Ecclesiasticus 3:20 (adapted)
Collects
Everloving God,
you made your servant Seraphim
an icon of prayer and self-denial;
grant to all your people
selfless love and commitment to others;
through the image of God invisible,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Holy Spirit,
lifeblood to the saints
and to Seraphim the gentle Russian hermit,
absorbed in his prayer,
in his single-minded love for you;
keep our devotion pure, we pray,
and tender-hearted.
Psalms
119:145-152
139:1-18
Readings
Numbers 6:1-8
Ephesians 5:8-14
John 17:20-26
Dedicated to the Lord
Living in the light
To see God’s glory
Post Communion Sentence
God has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6