A legend about the life and exploits of Father Seraphim of blessed memory, Sarov Hermitage, hieromonk and recluse

The Apostle Paul says: Remember your Teachers, who spoke the Word of God to you, looking at the end of their lives, imitate their faith (Heb. 13:7). Therefore, in reverence for the Elder who died in Bose for his exemplary virtues, I set out to commemorate his life and exploits in a short writing. I will narrate partly what was known to the contemporary Elders of the Sarov Hermitage, and partly what he himself told me out of his special trust and love for me, at different times of my cohabitation with him. Observing his life, I also wrote down his brief instructions that he gave to me and those who came. Thus, the following brief biography was compiled. The birthplace of this valiant ascetic of piety was the provincial city of Kursk. He was born on the 19th day of July 1759. His father was the Kursk merchant Isidor, nicknamed Moshnin, his mother Agathia. At baptism he was given the name Prokhor. Three years after his birth, his father Isidore died. Just as during his life he was engaged in the construction of churches, so when he died he left the construction of a stone church in the name of the great Wonderworker, St. Sergius, which he had begun in the city of Kursk, to the care of his wife Agathia, under whose supervision it was later completed. During the construction of this church, one day Agathia went to the church building, taking with her her son, who was then about seven years old, and as she ascended the building, he, leaving her, through childish carelessness, fell from the height of the building to the ground. The mother, seeing this, hurried to go downstairs and thought to find him already dead; but to my surprise I found him standing on his feet and completely unharmed. The pious mother saw in this a special action of the Providence of God, which preserved the boy, and with tears thanked the Lord God for this. At the time, the youth Prokhor was sent to learn reading and writing. He was diligent and showed a sharp mind. When he was about ten years old, he suffered from an illness with which he was obsessed for a long time. The clergy of the local Znamensky Monastery happened to be walking with the Kursk Miracle-Working Icon of the Mother of God through the city along the street on which the house of Prokhor’s parents was located, and at that time there was heavy rain, from which the resulting mud and swamp prevented them from further carrying the Icon along the street; then, for the most convenient procession, they carried Her through the courtyard of Prokhor. Mother Prokhorov, seeing this and rejoicing at this sudden event, went out to meet the Miracle-Working Icon of the Mother of God, carrying in her arms the sick youth Prokhor - she brought him to the Icon and let him venerate it. Therefore, the Miracle-Working Icon was transferred through him, and at the same time the youth received a miraculous and perfect healing, for which the mother and her son brought earnest thanks to the Intercessor and Healer. From these grace-filled actions and miraculous healing, a fiery zeal for the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother was kindled in the youth Prokhor. Inflamed more and more with this jealousy, he finally decided to leave his home, estate, mother, brother and his native country, and devote himself to monastic life; why, in the eighteenth year of his birth, he received his dismissal from the Kursk Society to the rank of monk. Before entering the monastery, Prokhor went to Kiev to venerate the holy relics, and returning from there, he came to the Sarov Monastery on November 20, 1778, on the eve of the Entry into the Church of the Mother of God, under the builder of the monastery, Hieromonk Pachomius, and became one of the novices. Upon entering the monastery, he underwent various obediences, such as: alarm clock, prosphora maker, was engaged in carpentry work, and, according to the custom of that desert, had the cell job of cutting cypress crosses. When building a hospital church at that time, out of diligence, he made a throne with his own hands from cypress. In 1780, while a novice, he became ill. The treasurer of the desert, Hieromonk Joseph, then had special supervision over him. How Prokhor became extremely exhausted from illness, so that they feared for his life; then the builder Pachomius suggested that he call a doctor or open the blood. But Prokhor answered him: I have devoted myself to the True Physician of souls and bodies, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His Most Pure Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The builder, having heard this, no longer reminded him about the medicine. The treasurer Joseph, out of his love for the sick man, suggested to the builder that he wanted to perform an all-night vigil and liturgy for Prokhor’s health, and to commune him with the Holy Mysteries, to which the builder agreed. After Treasurer Joseph served the all-night vigil and liturgy, Prokhor received the body and blood of the Lord, brought to him in his cell after the liturgy, and was left in this position. The next night he was honored with a certain divine visitation, and, having received relief from his illness, he soon completely recovered. On the 13th day of August 1786, by decree of the Holy Synod, he was tonsured into monasticism by the builder, Hieromonk Pachomius, and given the name Seraphim. Having accepted the new name of Angel, he turned away his eyes, so as not to see vanity, and, changing by the Divine change, he directed his path with inner attention and intelligent vision of God to the eternal sun of truth, Christ God, whose name he bore incessantly in his heart and lips; with burning zeal, he began to strive to draw closer to the Lord through love, and actively learned that love elevates our mind to God, and God descends to us, just as the Savior Himself said: He who loves Me will be loved by My Father: and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself (John 14:21). During congregational prayer with the brethren, he stood before the Lord with attention, unwavering, both in body and spirit. In December 1787, he was ordained a hierodeacon by His Eminence Victor, Bishop of Vladimir and Murom. Having accepted this sacred service, he intensified his zeal and zeal for the Lord God and for His Holy Church, so that for three years from the time of initiation into this degree, he was either in the order of the late liturgy, or served in the early liturgies in different churches of the monastery, and after each service he was busy either putting the sacred utensils in order, or taking care of the cleanliness of the altar. His zeal for the churches of God was so great that he often spent whole days in them, following the voice of the Prophet: I deigned to sneak into the house of my God (Ps. 83:11). There he practiced the thought of God and reading Divine books, and from there he studied the Divine mind and collected spiritual treasures into the ark of his heart. Having a mind cleared of passions, he was repeatedly rewarded with spiritual visions. Being a hierodeacon, he already had a deserted cell, five miles away from the monastery. He went there for solitary night prayer, but during the day he was always in the monastery. On the 2nd day of September 1793, he was ordained a hieromonk by His Grace Theophilus, Bishop of Tambov and Penza, under the builder Pachomius. Upon receiving the new grace of the Holy Spirit, he began to strive with even greater love for the Lord God, planning to ascend to Him in his heart. Bringing a bloodless sacrifice to God, he at the same time offered himself as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, verbal service (Rom. 12:1). From constantly standing in church, Father Seraphim received swelling in his legs. Due to this illness, and more due to his inclination towards a solitary life and love for complete silence, he began to ask the abbot, Hieromonk Pachomius, for a blessing to live a desert or hermit life, in imitation of the ancient desert dwellers. Having received a blessing from the abbot, he retired to his deserted cell in the autumn of 1794. Upon entering the life of a hermit, his bodily exercises consisted of cultivating ridges for planting potatoes and other vegetables, as well as preparing firewood for heating his cell. Through some hardworking exercise, the illness that was in the legs passed away. He saturated his soul with reading the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, John Climacus, Basil the Great, Ephraim the Syrian, the Philokalia and the works of the other Holy Fathers, purifying through this his thought for the vision of God and making it a mirror of the Holy Spirit. His rule in the desert was: every day to read several chapters from the Gospel and the Apostle, and to correct the entire order of the service according to the Church Charter without any change; at night I did a lot of prayer and bowing; His sleep was very short. On the eve of any holiday or Sunday, he always came to the monastery, where he listened to Vespers, the all-night vigil, and on the very holiday he partook of the Holy Mysteries at the early liturgy. After the liturgy, until Vespers, he received in his monastery cell the brethren who came to him for spiritual benefit; He gave useful advice to the older ones, and gave fatherly instructions to the younger ones. During Vespers, having taken enough bread for the week, he returned to his hermit’s cell. He had the custom of always coming to the monastery on the first week of Holy Great Lent; throughout that week, until Saturday, he did not eat anything, and he did not order any food to be brought. Living in the desert, he was so overcome with love for abstinence that he asked the abbot for a blessing to eat only potatoes and other vegetables, which he himself planted at his cell; and after that he ate for three years only potatoes, vegetables and snitch. Some of the novices of the monastery wanted to live with him; but unable to bear the desert life and his great labors, they returned back to the monastery. Striving for a greater feat, he became zealous to stand on a stone in imitation of the Venerable Simeon the Stylite. There were two stones on which he stood: one was in his cell, the other in the forest at half the distance from the monastery to his cell. The image of his standing was as follows: on one stone that he had in his cell, he stood from morning to evening, leaving it only to eat food, which was brought to him by his brother from the monastery, who was zealous for him; on the other he stood from evening until morning with his hands raised in grief, crying out to the Lord in a publican’s voice: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. He was in such a feat for a thousand days and a thousand nights; from which his whole body changed, the hair on his head became like felt, and he received a disease in his legs that lasted until his death. He performed this feat so secretly that during his stay no one knew about it. Later, he revealed this to some of the brethren. One brother, being amazed at such a feat of his, objected to the elder that this surpassed human strength; the elder, pointing to the example of Simeon the Stylite, added: this ascetic of piety stood on the pillar for forty-seven years, and are my labors similar to his feat? Then this brother asked the elder: Of course, in this feat you felt the help of strengthening grace? Otherwise, human strength would not be enough, answered the Elder; I was inwardly strengthened and consoled by that heavenly gift that descends from above from the Father of Lights, and, after a pause, I added: when there is tenderness, then God is with us. During his deserted life, he sometimes gave instructions to the brethren who came to him from the monastery to visit and benefit from his advice, in accordance with the requirements of each, and sometimes, wanting to maintain silence, he moved away from those who came, or, without saying anything, falling prostrate to the ground, did not get up until those who came to him left him in the silence that was pleasant to him. The primordial enemy the devil, not tolerating seeing such valiant deeds of the Elder, made various temptations to him, especially at night, during prayer, he attacked him so strongly that he lifted him into the air, hit him on the floor so hard that if it were not for the help of God to strengthen him, then even his bones could have been crushed from such blows. And therefore, he used to say to those who required his advice for going through life in the desert that those living in the desert should feel as if they were crucified on a cross, and that those living in the monastery fight against opposing forces, as if against doves, and in the desert, as against lions and leopards. But no matter how hard the devil tried to hinder this valiant ascetic in his progress and remove him from a solitary life, all his efforts remained in vain: for with such temptations he could not accomplish anything; on the contrary, he himself was defeated by it, and was forced to retreat from it in shame, without making a change in the sobriety of his mind. But when the devil on his own could not cause any harm to the resolute hermit, he used evil people as his weapon. On September 12, 1804, three people from neighboring peasants came to the Elder. He was in his garden at that time. The peasants approached him and demanded money from him, saying that worldly people come to you and bring money. He answered them that I don’t take anything from anyone; but they, not believing his words, decided to force what was required by force. One of them first hit him in the head so hard that blood came from his mouth and ears, then they beat him fatally and, tying his hands and feet, dragged him into the vestibule of his cell, where they beat him until they considered him already dead. In such an inhumane act, they examined everything in his cell and, finding nothing but meager food supplies, left. From these mortal blows he could hardly come to his senses and somehow untie himself. The next day, all wounded, with great difficulty he came to the monastery during the liturgy. He was covered in blood, his hair was crushed and mixed with rubbish, his hands were beaten, his mouth was caked with blood and several teeth were knocked out. Seeing his brothers in such a pitiful position, they were horrified and asked what had happened to him? He asked them to call the builder and the treasurer, to whom he announced everything that had happened to him. The builder Isaiah and the treasurer were very sorry about this. After that, those peasants who beat him were recognized; but he, having forgiven them, begged the abbot not to make any punishment from them for this; otherwise, he would rather agree to be expelled from the monastery than to inflict any insult on them. So he was gentle and let go of insults to his enemies! After some time, through the intercession of the Mother of God, as he revealed to one of the brethren, he received healing from the beatings inflicted on him. After this, he asked the abbot for permission to return to his hermit’s cell. The abbot, on the advice of the brethren, persuaded him to stay forever in the monastery, fearing such cases; but he replied that he was not afraid of such attacks; for he decided to endure all insults, no matter what happened, imitating the Martyrs who suffered for our Lord Jesus Christ. The abbot, seeing the strength of his spirit, left him at his request, and he returned to his deserted cell. Father Seraphim had great respect and love for the builder Isaiah: for Isaiah accepted him when he was tonsured into monasticism from the Gospel, and was his spiritual father. Therefore, after the death of this builder, who died in 1807, the deprivation of which was a great loss for him, he devoted himself to complete silence and did not speak to anyone, remaining in silence for about three years. Dejected by the years and exhausted from long-term exploits, his strength gradually weakened, so that he could no longer, as usual, come to the monastery on holidays to receive the Holy Mysteries. This prompted him to change his desert life. With the blessing of the builder Nifont, he left his deserted cell, having stayed in it for about sixteen years, and moved to the monastery on May 9, 1809. The abbot and the brethren were very happy about his resettlement: for they could always see him and use the example of his pious life. Upon entering the monastery, he secluded himself in his cell and again, according to his previous custom, devoted himself to silence and solitude, for five years receiving almost no one from either the brethren or outside visitors. He did not want to demand even the necessary needs for himself. There was no fire in his cell; the hair on his head was so matted that they could barely cut it with scissors and take it off like a hat. His clothes were always the same. He wore chains on his body. Having mortified his desire for all worldly delights, he always had before his eyes the memory of death, according to the teaching of Jesus son of Sirach: Remember your last, and you will never sin (Sir. 7:39). He asked to make himself an oak coffin and placed it in the entryway of his cell, where he often prayed, always preparing for the exodus from here to eternal life, and sat in his cell as if in a coffin, like a living dead. Few of the brethren could see him and talk with him. He taught those who came to him to go to church unforgivingly, to engage in mental prayer, to undergo the obedience that would be assigned by their superiors, and to try above all to be peaceful. The necessary food for him was brought through one brother living with him in his canopy and was supplied here. So they brought it to him until his death. It often happened that one of the brethren found him in his cell praying or reading, and, wanting to take advantage of his instructions, asked him various questions; but he, not paying any attention to his words, remained at his task, and the brother who came to him was forced to leave without receiving any answer from him to the questions proposed. Such was his silence and deepening into himself! While in seclusion he had the following cell rule. Starting from Saturday evening and on Sunday itself, he performed the entire Sunday service, which is supposed to be corrected in the Church Charter; on Monday I read the entire Gospel from Matthew, on Tuesday from Mark, on Wednesday from Luke, on Thursday from John, on Friday I celebrated the service of the Cross of the Lord according to the Church Charter, on Saturday to All Saints; In addition to this, he made a thousand bows every day instead of the rule contained in the Sarov Hermitage, and practiced the mental Jesus Prayer. The Holy Mysteries for communion with him, with the blessing of the abbot, were brought to him in his cell on Sundays and holidays from the early liturgy. He made it so desirable for himself to partake of the Holy Mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord that he did not miss a single holiday or Sunday without being honored with this Shrine. And he also encouraged others so that they would not miss a single annual holiday without clearing their conscience by confession and washing their sins with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. After five years of silent life, convinced by the requests of some visitors, Father Seraphim began to accept outsiders. The former Tambov governor, who visited the monastery in 1815 in September, was the first to receive his blessing. From that time on, the Elder did not refuse anyone who just wanted to accept his blessing and take advantage of his advice; and therefore the number of visitors increased more and more from time to time. Many from distant places began to come to him to receive his blessings and useful advice. He blessed those who came to him and gave them short teachings, depending on the spiritual needs of each. At the same time, he had the habit of distributing antidor and finely crumbled blessed bread to those who came to him; and everyone accepted them from him with reverence, respect and love. He spent seventeen years in seclusion. From being in seclusion for such a long time, he became extremely exhausted and especially began to feel a severe headache; That’s why he asked the doctors how he could alleviate his illness and at least somewhat restore his health. They advised him to either open the blood or go out into the air. And how he had not been treated all his life; then I chose the latter. But since he made this a rule for himself, so as not to undertake anything without receiving some kind of notification from above; then in this case, he revealed his intention in prayerful exaltation to the Lord God and asked for Divine notification about this, which he received. Why on the 25th day of November 1825, in memory of Saints Clement the Pope and Peter of Alexandria, did he leave the seclusion for the first time into the forest. Beyond the distance of the first cell, he built himself another closer by the Sarovka River, about two miles from the monastery, where he had rest during the day’s labors and offered prayers to the Almighty. From then on, except for holidays and Sundays, he went to the forest almost every day, and there he was busy either preparing firewood for heating his cell, or cultivating beds for planting potatoes, and in the evening he always returned to the monastery. While walking from the forest to the cell and from it to the forest, he used to carry stones in a bag on himself, and when asked why he carried them, he answered: I, according to Ephraim the Syrian, am tormenting me. During such his solitude, many of the brethren heard him often singing the Antiphon: The incessant Divine desire is deserted, except for the vain world. This singing was not a simple beating of the air, but was an expression of his heartfelt feeling; for he did this in delight of spirit. Upon leaving the retreat for communion of the Holy Mysteries, he began to go to the early liturgy in the hospital church, and after the liturgy he returned to his cell, accompanied by many visitors who wanted to accept his blessing and receive spiritual benefits. From that time on, there were so many people who were zealous for him that every day, especially in the summer, some came to him in his deserted cell, while others waited in the monastery to see him, receive his blessing and hear edifying instructions. His memory was sharp, his mind was purified and his gift of speech was abundant. His conversations were so effective and comforting that everyone who heard them found spiritual benefit in them - and some among the congregation admitted that his conversations lifted a kind of veil from their eyes, illuminated their minds with the light of spiritual enlightenment, and aroused in their souls a decisive change for the better. He based all his words and reasoning on the Word of God, and confirmed them in most places from the New Testament. Due to the purity of his spirit, he had the gift of clairvoyance; to others, before they explained their circumstances, he gave instructions that were directly related to their inner feelings and thoughts of the heart. He had special love and respect for those Saints who were zealots of the Christian faith, such as: Clement the Pope, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius the Great, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius of Cyprus, Ambrose of Milan and others like them, calling them the pillars of the Church; often cited them as an example of firmness and steadfastness in faith. He convinced us to stand firmly for the truth of the dogmas of the Eastern Church, also citing as an example Mark of Ephesus, who showed particular zeal in defending the Eastern Catholic Faith at the Florentine Council. He himself offered instructions about Orthodoxy, explaining how it is needed, what it consists of, and how to defend it. He loved to talk about the Russian saints Alexis, Jonah, Philip, Dmitry of Rostov, Stephen of Perm, about St. Sergius of Radonezh and other Russian saints of God - and made their lives a rule on the path of salvation. He knew so firmly the Lives of the Saints described in the Fourth Menaion that he retold them in entire sections, advising them to imitate the saints of God. A special quality of his conversations and demeanor was love and humility; no matter who came to him, whether a poor man in rags, or a rich man in light clothes, even no matter how burdened anyone was with sins, he kissed everyone with love, bowed to the ground to everyone, and while blessing, he himself kissed the hands of many uninitiated people. He did not strike anyone with cruel reproaches or severe reprimands, he did not place a heavy burden on anyone, himself bearing the cross of Christ with all its sorrows. He spoke reproaches to others, but meekly, dissolving his word with humility and love; he tried to arouse the action of conscience with advice, pointed out the path of salvation, and often in such a way that the one who listened for the first time did not understand that it was about his soul; after that, the Power of the word, salted with grace, produced its effect invariably; neither the rich, nor the poor, nor the simple, nor the learned, nor the nobles, nor the common people left him without guidance: for everyone there was enough living water flowing from the lips of the humble and wretched Elder - everyone felt his benevolent love and its power, and streams of tears sometimes escaped from those who had a hard and petrified heart. With particular vigilance, he took care of those in whom he saw a disposition for good, confirmed them with advice, instructions, indicating the path of salvation, and aroused them to love with his love. However, despite his love for everyone, for some he was difficult to see; for his life was not like others, and his paths were made void (Wis. 2:15). But he was also peaceful with those who hated him, treating them meekly and lovingly. It was not noticed that he attributed any good deed to himself, or praised himself; but always, blessing the Lord God, he said: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory (Ps. 113:9). When he saw that those who came heeded his advice and obeyed his instructions, he did not admire it. We, he said, must remove all earthly joy from ourselves, following the teaching of Jesus Christ, who said: in this matter do not rejoice, for the souls obey you: rejoice, for your names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20). One brother, for whom he had a special affection, asked him to allow his portrait to be copied from him. The elder said to him: “Who am I, poor Seraphim, that I could allow my portrait to be taken from me? The faces of our Lord Jesus Christ, His Most Pure Mother and the Saints are depicted, but what do we sinners mean?” When that brother continued to ask him, imagining that many wanted this out of zeal, the elder said: “We should always and in all cases try to cut off the guilt of vanity at the very beginning.” One brother said to Father Seraphim: People of both sexes bother you a lot, and you let everyone in without any distinction; Father Seraphim cited the example of Hilarion the Great, who did not order doors to be closed for the sake of strangers; Suppose, he said, that I close the doors of my cell, but when people who come to it, thirsty for a word of consolation, will conjure me with God, and, not receiving anything from me, will return with sadness; What answer can I then give at the Last Judgment of God? Another brother asked Father Seraphim: What are you teaching everyone? To this he answered: I follow the Word of God, which teaches: It is good to bless God and exalt His name, piously speaking the words of God’s works (Tob. 12:6), and the teaching of the Church, which sings: do not hide the Word of God, proclaim His wonders (on Tuesday of Holy Week at the evening stichera). Someone said to Father Seraphim: Some are tempted by you. To this he replied: I am not tempted by the fact that some take advantage of me, while others are tempted. One rich man, having come to Father Seraphim, began to say to him: Why are you wearing rags? To this he responded: Joasaph the Tsarevich considered the mantle given to him by the hermit Varlaam to be higher and more expensive than the Royal robe (Thurs. Min. November 19th). Father Seraphim often said: “We are forbidden to live in the desert; but our first father, John the Baptist, was a hermit.” Approaching old age, a year before his death, the elder began to feel especially exhausted in his bodily strength, and therefore began to go to his deserted cell less often; Also, in the monastery he did not always receive visitors. This saddened some; but the zealous, wanting to certainly see him and take advantage of his instructions, waited and lived for this in the monastery for a considerable time. A few days before his death, he left his cell to the Assumption Cathedral, measured and designated a place for his grave on the side of the altar. On the 1st day of January 1833, I came to the hospital church for the last time for the early liturgy, and received the Holy Mysteries. At this time, extreme exhaustion of bodily strength was noticed in him; however, he showed a calm and joyful spirit. The next day, that is, January 2, during Matins, he gave up his spirit to the Lord God. When the monk John entered his cell from the early liturgy, seeing an old man in it on his knees, standing in front of the holy icons with his head bowed, with his hands bent to his chest, he thought that he was standing in prayer. When I approached him, I found him already dead. The dust remained on the earth, but the soul was already with the Lord. This monk announced this to the abbot in a meeting of all the senior brethren. Everyone, being amazed by this news, mourned the separation from such a valiant ascetic, who was an example to all the brethren and served as an adornment to the monastery. At his burial there was an extraordinary gathering of people of various ranks from the surrounding areas and from neighboring provinces.