Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Wonderworker
Monk of Sarov, elder and wonderworker
- Feast day
- January 2
- Lived
- 1754–1833
- Patronage
- Spiritual seekers, the depressed, those in need of consolation
Saint Seraphim greeted every visitor with the words 'My joy, Christ is risen!' — in the middle of winter, in the middle of Lent, to anyone at all. He is perhaps the most beloved saint of the Russian Church.
Life
Born Prochor Moshnin in Kursk to a merchant family, he entered the Sarov monastery at nineteen. After years in community he withdrew to a forest cell, where he lived on wild vegetables, was attacked and crippled by robbers whom he later refused to prosecute, and spent a thousand nights praying on a rock with his arms raised.
He kept complete silence for years, then complete seclusion, and finally, at the direction of the Theotokos who appeared to him repeatedly through his life, opened his door to anyone who came. Thousands walked to Sarov for a few words from him.
The conversation with Motovilov
His conversation with the layman Nicholas Motovilov is one of the great texts of Orthodox spirituality. Explaining that the aim of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, he was transfigured before Motovilov's eyes, his face shining unbearably like the sun in the snow-covered clearing.
'Acquire the Spirit of peace,' he said, 'and a thousand around you will be saved.' He was glorified as a saint in 1903 in the presence of the Imperial family.