Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov
People still did not know with what joy the Lord visited His land, but the Angels rejoiced, for a flaming man similar to them appeared on earth - Seraphim. The Lord chose the city of Kursk in the Russian Land as his birthplace, and the merchant Isidor Moshnin and his wife Agathia were his parents.
All his life Isidore was engaged in the construction of stone buildings, he built many churches of God, and in the declining days of his life he undertook the construction of a temple in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh. And while he was working on the construction of this temple, the Lord delighted him with great joy, giving him a son, a wondrous baby, to whom he called the name Prochorus, in honor of the holy Apostle.
Ten years after the start of the construction of the temple, in 1762, when the lower church in the name of St. Sergius was already ready, the life of the merchant Isidore was fulfilled and he passed away to the Lord, leaving Prokhor a three-year-old baby in his mother's arms. The God-loving widow Agafia continued her husband's work on the construction of the St. Sergius Church, the upper church of which was consecrated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She herself looked after all the works, working with zeal and prayer for the Lord.
Not only with book words, but with her whole life, pleasing to God, she taught her son piety and purity and the fear of God. And the grace of God was on the baby, protecting him from an early age. Once his mother took him with her to the construction of the St. Sergius Church; a seven-year-old boy ascended with her
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the very top of the bell tower, stumbled and fell from a height to the ground. The mother did not think to see her son alive, but when she went downstairs, the boy stood on the ground unharmed. Everyone marveled at his miraculous salvation and saw the hand of God on him. One holy fool who lived in that city said to Agathia: “Blessed are you, widow, having this offspring, for it will be a strong intercessor before the Holy Trinity and an ardent prayer book for the whole world.” The word of that man was fulfilled, and the lad grew up, overshadowed by the glory of God. He already understood literacy and had great zeal for reading Scripture, when his teaching was suddenly to be interrupted: an unexpected illness chained him to a bed, and there was no longer any hope for his recovery. At this time, the Queen of Heaven appeared to the sick child in a dream vision and promised to visit him and grant him healing. Prokhor told his mother about that dream, and both began to expect its fulfillment with faith. At that time, the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God, called the "Root" icon, was carried in procession through the city of Kursk, for it was revealed at the root of a tree. When they carried the icon along Sergievskaya Street, where Agafia lived, a thunderstorm broke out near her house, and they carried the icon into Agafia's yard. Without delay, she brought out her sick son, put it to the icon of the Mother of God, and they carried the holy icon over the youth. From that hour the youth rose from the bed of sickness and was soon completely healed.
Miraculously erected by the Mother of God, the youth Prokhor continued his teaching with even greater zeal. Every day he read the Book of Hours and the Psalter, the Bible, the Lives of the Saints and other spiritual books—his heart was not attached to anything worldly, but only to God. Most of all, he loved the constant stay in the temple, unceasing prayer and, during the hours of solitude, unceasing meditation on God. He also loved to gather his children, his peers, to talk with them about God and read spiritual books together. And the children loved the wonderful lad and eagerly came to listen to him, because he was always cheerful and joyful.
Prokhor had an older brother and sister. Brother Alexei had his own shop in Kursk; he began to teach his young brother to trade as he began to come of age. Prokhor could no longer, as before, attend Liturgy and Vespers every day, because he had to spend the whole day in the shop helping his brother. But he did not become discouraged by this: he got up at dawn, and in winter even before dawn, and went to church to pray for matins; on holidays and Sundays, he continued to diligently engage in spiritual reading. Through prayer and reading, the young man's heart was more and more attuned to spiritual wakefulness, his eyes were opened to spiritual vision, and his spirit flared up with Divine fire. In the midst of the vain world, he began to walk, as in a paradise: when his eye saw any worldly thing, his mind contemplated spiritual truth in it, and from everything worldly that was entrusted to him, he collected heavenly treasure. In buying and selling, and in the acquisition of earthly goods, he saw forms of human life through which the Lord arranges the work of our salvation. In adulthood and even until his death, he loved to recall these images and in conversations tell everything that was revealed to him through them in this short time, when he served as a clerk to his brother as a young man. At that time of his youth, when his spirit grew and grew strong in standing before God, the Lord sent him to interlocutor that same holy fool who had long ago foretold his mother about him. This man of God became his friend and adviser, greatly contributing to Prochorus's heartfelt desire to give his whole life to the service of the Lord and devote it to monastic deeds. In this striving, the young man Prokhor did not hide either from his mother or from his peers - a lit candle could not hide his light, and there could not be an invisible flame, a fiery column rising from his heart. The mother knew about the cherished desire of her son and did not resist him, getting used to the thought of separation from him. His peers also knew what his heart was attached to, for he did not avoid talking with them about it.
The Sarov desert shone for many miles around. Her fame reached Kursk—there were quite a few Kursk people in her; the abbot of Sarov himself, Father Pachomius, was one of them. For many years the young man Prokhor listened to stories about that desert, and for many years he rushed to it in spirit. The time has come, and Prokhor asked for blessings from his mother on the monastic path. His mother blessed him with a copper cross with the Crucifixion, and Prokhor made him wear that cross openly on his chest and never, until his death, did not part with it. Young Prokhor was attracted to the Sarov desert, but he wanted to first check his decision on choosing a place for exploits. To do this, he went to Kyiv, in order to pray at the holy relics of the first Russian monks Anthony and Theodosius in the Pechersk Lavra - the cradle of Russian monasticism, and then receive instruction, blessing and guidance from some elder experienced in spiritual life. His friends went along with him.
With great joy, the young man returned to Kursk and spent a little time here with his mother and relatives. From time to time he went to his brother's shop and held conversations there with those who came to talk with him, learn about the holy places and listen to the reading. He was no longer engaged in trade, having abandoned his part of the inheritance. When his hour came, he took a knapsack on his shoulders and a staff in his hands, and with the blessing of his mother hurried to the place where the perspicacious Dositheus had indicated to him to go. He was at that time 19 years old. Agreed to go with him and two of his friends who went with him to Kyiv; the other two left earlier.
Chapter 3
In a short time, the eyes of all believing Russia will be drawn to the Sarov desert, hidden among the dark, huge pine forest. A great celebration will take place there - the glorification of the wondrous old man Seraphim, whom popular rumor has long called a saint and miracle worker.
And this time the wise proverb of the people came true: "The voice of the people is the voice of God." The great zeal of Orthodox people for the memory of the elder attracted the special attention of the crowned leader of the Russian people, who, as it was said in the government message that appeared about that, "shares the people's faith in the holiness of the elder Seraphim and his intercession before God for those who flow to him with prayer." The day of July 19, 1902, blessed and all joyous for those who honor the memory of the elder, arrived - and on this 142nd anniversary of the birth of Fr. the end of the work already begun in the Holy Synod on the glorification of the most reverent elder.
The glorification of Father Seraphim will be one of the most joyful events that the Orthodox Russian Church has ever experienced, because, as can be seen from the life of the elder on earth and from his appearances and deeds after his blessed death, great is the power of his prayers before the Lord, great is his boldness before the throne of God.
The mind of a person who has read and thought a lot about the lives of the saints of the Church becomes dumb before the story of the life and deeds of Elder Seraphim; at the memory of him, reverent awe, indescribable delight overwhelm the soul. Those who closely read and pondered the life of Father Seraphim love him, honor him with some special ardor. This feeling, as it were, oppresses the heart, breaking out in loud praises to the great, wondrous old man.
He was like a celestial who flew into our sinful earth; bright, bright, warming ray of light, sent into the darkness of life by the Father and the source of light. He truly, "seeking God and the Creator of all things, has soared above the visible creature." Rarely in whom the power of spirituality reached such a detachment from everything worldly and to such a clear manifestation. It is rare for anyone to have flesh, and everything earthly has become so refined and abolished. Rarely in whom the victory of the spirit, the most perfect, the most triumphant, has gone so far. He certainly did not live on earth, but only in contact with it. Above his earthly image, you can definitely hear the beating of snow-white wings, ready at any moment to carry him up for the greatest prayerful revelations, for the most holy contemplations of the spiritual, for the vision of the abodes of paradise.
Rarely has anyone shown such zeal for God, a zeal that burns the whole being of a person, calling him to the most difficult feats. Rarely has God's election been justified more fully, more amazingly, rarely has anyone managed to become such a faithful and pleasing son and friend of God. It was one, never weakened, never once surrendered in its tension to the impulse to God - and the further, the more intense. He wanted to know only hardships, only sufferings on earth, and the closer he approached the cherished edge, the more he sought suffering, so that in the last years of his life it was impossible to look at his life without horror. Oh, how he shamed the fierce, primordial enemy of our salvation! If this misanthrope killed many, then he could not tear a single inch of soil from under the feet of Father Seraphim, and in this terrible, fatal struggle, the elder covered him with eternal shame. And what hardly ever seen revelation of love for people was shown by the elder! He seemed to tremble all over with this love, this boundless power of sympathy and compassion. She shone in his eyes, sounded in those affectionate, tender words and his appeals to people. So touchingly warmly he called everyone: "My joy!"
"My joy" is definitely heard even now from his grave; as if standing, forever remaining indelible in the air of places sanctified by the presence of his holy soul, these precious words - "My joy!" And it is believed that innumerable treasures of grace and joys will be shed on believers during the glorification of Father Seraphim. Even now it is as if that veil of grief and suffering that usually envelops life - as if this veil has disappeared, and something bright has illumined all life. It is so light in the soul, so good and reliable, as it seems, never before, except in early childhood.
You can only think about him. Falling asleep at night, you keep repeating: "Father Seraphim is glorified." In the morning, waking up, the first thought that flashes in the head, which has not yet shaken off the dream: "Father Seraphim is glorified." And everything around - people, events, things - just brightened up. With some new eyes you look at the world, feeling involuntarily, independently of you, some mysterious work of spiritual renewal taking place in you. And you involuntarily realize that all this happens for the reason that can be expressed in three words: "Father Seraphim is glorified." And how you want to remember, speak, hear, write about him, you want to go out to the people and proclaim his name: "Do you know what great happiness awaits you - run to the fertile new source, ask, call him, demand help - he will hear everyone He will beg everyone for what is necessary for life and for salvation!
How extraordinary was the life of Elder Seraphim, reading about which one should renounce many of our ordinary earthly concepts and try to imagine a person who was reborn under the influence of grace to such an extent that many of the earthly restrictions do not exist for him; just as unusual is the origin of that Sarov desert, which was a witness to the exploits of Father Seraphim.
The area where the current Sarov is located has long been inhabited by the people of the Finnish tribe, the Mordovians. Hitherto, mounds have been preserved there - Mordovian graves - and there are remains of their structures in the form of pits and depressions in the soil. This tribe, before the invasion of the Tatars, paid tribute to the Ryazan and Vladimir princes. It is very likely that there was a Russian outpost on that mountain where Sarov now rises. This probability is proved by the presence of crosses in the ground at the top of the mountain, when the Sarov Hermitage was founded.
In 1298, the Tatars, led by the Shirin prince Bekhmet, conquered this place. And, probably, at the same time, the Tatar city of Saraklych was built on the site of the present monastery, on a mountain between the rivers Satis and Sarovka. It was called the "royal city", occupied a significant area and was heavily fortified. Four parts of it, surrounded from everywhere by rivers or deep ditches and a high rampart, defended each other. Often there were battles with the surrounding population, and the first monks found arrows, sabers, spears and many human bones in the ground.
The Tatars have been sitting here for ninety years. Finally, pressed by the local population, which, after the Kulikovo victory of Dmitry Donskoy, no longer considered the Tatars invincible, they had to retire across the Moksha River, where they gradually dispersed into different villages.
The capital city of Saraklych began to fall into disrepair. It is overgrown with forest and inhabited by wild animals. Little by little, the once lively place turned into a dense forest and the memory of those who lived here disappeared. The fact that a city once stood here was indicated only by the name given to this place by the inhabitants - "Old Settlement".
The legend about Sarov says this about the transformation of the city that used to be here into a desert: "A great forest, and trees, oaks, pines and other growths, and in that forest many animals live - bears, lynxes, elks, foxes, martens; and along the Satis rivers and Sarov - beavers and otters. And the place was unknown to people, except for beekeepers - Mordovians. " For three hundred years not a single soul has lived in this place.
In 1664, the Penza monk Theodosius came here and, placing a cell on the ramparts of the former city, began to ascetic here. Sometimes he went to preach the word of God to the inhabitants of the nearest village of Kremenki and told them about the extraordinary phenomena that he had witnessed. More than once at night he saw the sky as if opened; from there a light appeared, illuminating the whole mountain. Sometimes a fiery beam descended from above, sometimes a loud blaze of many bells was heard. All this affirmed Theodosius in the thought that a great future was destined for this place. Theodosius did not have to end his life in the Old Town. Monk Gerasim, who lived here after him, also witnessed various signs. While standing at prayer on the feast of the Annunciation, he heard such a strong ringing that the mountain seemed to shake from him, and since then this ringing has been heard to him often. “I remember that this place is holy,” said the elder.
Attracted by rumors about this unusual ringing, believing by superstition that this phenomenon means the presence of a treasure at that place, several peasants of the village of Kremenki began to dig the soil. They did not find the treasure, but found six four-pointed wooden crosses and one copper one.
After the departure of Elder Gerasim for ten years or more, this place was again uninhabited, and the surrounding peasants alone were witnesses of the signs that did not stop in the Old Settlement. Now, in clear weather, thunder was heard there, then the ringing of bells was heard. The superstitious inhabitants continued to search in vain for treasures in the mountain. And the place was all deserted, until a man, chosen by God, came to populate it - the founder of Sarov, Hieromonk John.
The son of the clerk Red Arzamas district, he became attached to the temple from childhood, helping his father and singing along with him on the kliros. Reading spiritual books, the lives of saints, and some blessed visions forced him to accept monasticism. Hearing about the mountain between the Satis and Sarovka rivers in the dense Temnikovsky forests as a place convenient for hermitage, the ascetic went there and went around the whole Old Town. The beauty of this place - the impenetrable wilderness, the harsh wildness, the complete desertion, the majestic silence of this mysterious mountain - all made a deep impression on the young enthusiastic monk.
He erected a cross here and after a while returned to finally settle here. The life of a hermit is hard and full of temptations from the enemy of salvation. In order to strengthen the soul with the constant memory of death, the ascetic began to dig a cave in the mountain - as a symbol of the coffin. Subsequently, when the desert formed, these caves were expanded and a church was built in them in the name of the first Russian monks, St. Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves. From time to time, comrades joined the hermit, but soon left him, and he was left to endure alone. It would be a long time to dwell on the description of the various misfortunes and persecutions endured by the original Sarovsky. Let's just say that in 1706 an event took place that marked the beginning of the emergence of the Sarov Desert, namely the construction of the first temple.
On April 28, it was laid on the mountain; by May 16, the walls had already been erected and the roof laid. 17 decided to erect a cross on the temple. On the night of the 17th, a loud bell ringing was heard on the mountain. Meanwhile, there was not a single bell. Before noon on May 17, the roofer finished finishing the dome, and the rest of the workers worked inside the temple. Suddenly, at noon, an unusual light illuminated everyone, the ringing of many bells was heard and lasted about an hour.
Crowds of people gathered for the celebration of the consecration. Again, life was in full swing in the silent place of the bustling city of Saraklych, which had remained so long. But people came here not for battle and not in military armor, but for prayer, carrying with them church utensils, robes, icons as a sacrifice to the new church. On the eve, Vespers were served, and in the midst of a clear summer evening, for the first time in these places, it was no longer the miraculous ringing of invisible bells, but the quiet chime of a church bell. Hearing about the construction of the church, many monks began to ask for Fr. John to take them to the hostel. In order to ensure order in the lives of the monks, Fr. John wrote the Rule of the community, which is still strictly observed in the wilderness, which testifies both to the great spiritual experience of the elder and to his practical wisdom.
On July 7, 1706, the original Sarovsky summoned all the brethren to a council, and by unanimous agreement, the brethren made the following decision - a sentence, which was then written down:
"In this Satiso-Grado-Sarovskaya desert, at the holy church of the Most Holy Theotokos of Her Life-Giving Source, there will be a cenobitic stay of monks ... And put, according to the testimony and tradition of the holy apostle and holy father, the rank is the Charter of a common life. And from now on, we all living here to keep and keep without delay as a monk and the rector and brethren who exist after us, until this monastery will stand by the grace of God.
The rules of the Sarov hostel are the strictest, in the spirit of the ancient Christian cenobitic monasteries. So, for example, any property is excluded, it is forbidden to eat outside the meal. Father John erected two more churches in the monastery, transferred all the cells to the mountain, arranged a fence and a hotel for visitors. He hoped to put stone churches instead of wooden ones and began to prepare bricks. But only his successors had to accomplish the work of building the magnificent Sarov Cathedrals.
The number of brethren in 1733 was 36 people. Life in the desert was harsh. Everything necessary for life was acquired by the labors of the brethren. They themselves cultivated the land, sowed bread, ground flour on millstones. They were engaged in turning and carpentry, sewed clothes, wove bast shoes, which served as ordinary shoes. In winter, they wore naked sheepskin coats, in summer - overalls made of dyed or rough canvas. The only delicacy of the brethren during the holidays was an infusion of raspberries and mint, which they drank with honey.
Chief Sarovskiy Fr. John, who retired as a builder due to old age, ended his life in exile.
Those were the sad years of the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna. Accusations of political treason constantly arose on the slightest occasion, and once the suspect disappeared for life: he languished in the dungeons of the so-called Secret Chancellery or was sentenced to death.
In 1733, on a false denunciation, the Sarov monks were suspected of high treason. Officials of the Secret Chancellery galloped to Sarov with soldiers to arrest Fr. John. Having chained him, they put him under guard. Then, having interrogated the monastics, they were going to take him to Petersburg. The builder Dorotheos and the whole monastery barely begged to let them say goodbye to Fr. John and two monks arrested at the same time with him. They were led out to the gates of the monastery in shackles, placed ten sazhens from the fence in a row. Soldiers armed with weapons stood on the sides and behind. The brothers were ordered to go out to them, not coming close and not saying a word to them. It was a glorious moment. The rattling of shackles and the weeping of the brethren alone broke the silence. Crossing himself, the founder of Sarov made three bows before the holy gates of the monastery he created. Then, turning to the brethren he was leaving, he bowed three times at her feet, to which the brethren also bowed to the ground. Then he silently overshadowed her with the sign of the cross.
For about four years John languished in chains in Petersburg. Before his death, admonished by the Holy Gifts, he asked the confessor to deliver a letter to the Sarov Hermitage with his dying testament to the brethren - to firmly keep the charter, keep peace and love among themselves and meekly carry out obedience. Hieroschemamonk John, who died on June 4, 1737, was buried at the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, in Koltovskaya, in St. Petersburg.
From the successors of John the most remarkable builder is Ephraim. He also suffered under an unfair denunciation of treason and spent 16 years in exile in the Orenburg fortress - as a sexton at the church. He was exceptionally merciful. He especially showed his philanthropy during the great famine of 1775, when many had to eat tree bark, mixing rotten wood and oak acorns with flour. Then the elder, grieving for the distressed, ordered to feed all those who came to the monastery, who used to be up to a thousand a day. The brethren began to grumble, fearing that there would not be enough bread for themselves. Then the elder, having gathered the elder brethren and describing to them the need of the people, said: “I don’t know about you, but I settled down until God wills for our sins to continue to suffer gladly with all the people than to leave them to perish from hunger. What good is it for us to survive people like us? Some of them, perhaps, until this disastrous time, fed us with their gifts."
Comforting joy and peace always shone on the handsome face of the elder, who everywhere enjoyed the glory of holiness. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk was in correspondence with him. To the portrait of Ephraim, the following inscription was made in the monastery:
You are not Sirin, but you are Russian Ephraim. Sarov desert armor and helmet.
He also left a grateful memory for himself with beautiful buildings. In addition to the meal and the body of cells, he erected a magnificent temple in honor of the Assumption of the Mother of God - vast, majestic, with a high iconostasis, as if reaching into the sky, richly decorated.
Life in Sarov was truly monastic. Having no shrines yet, except for the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called the "Life-Giving Spring", Sarov became, nevertheless, the goal of prayers; the people went to admire the beauty of its temples, to enjoy the harmonious, earnest worship, to learn from its wise and righteous elders. In one old manuscript, in the chapter on "Cities Ascribed to the Suzdal Diocese" (Sarov used to belong to this diocese), the following interesting information about Sarov was preserved:
“In the Temnikovsky district there is a desert in great impassable places, called Sarovskaya, very remote from the worldly villages on all sides, having a commanding builder. a city called Satis, and for this many years has been in neglect.The monks and Balti living in that monastery have a temperate and strong life, food and clothes are common and more practiced in labor, among them the builder himself has primacy in every deed (i.e. "the first in labor"). The monastic rank was taken from the Florishcheva hermitage, which exists in the Gorokhov district. In that (Sarovskaya) desert, there are no estates other than forests and arable land, but they are content with the alms of the Christ-lovers, who the Christ-lovers supply with great thuja, do not only the needs of the holy church, but also the brethren for food and clothing are very scarce. well adorned with ornaments."
Of the ascetics of the 19th century who belonged to the Sarov Hermitage, the famous abbot and renovator of Valaam Nazarius, who laid the foundation in Sarov and spent the last years of his life there, the silent schemamonk Mark, who for a long time huddled in the dense forest of Sarov, in huts or caves, is especially memorable.
Now the Sarov Hermitage is one of the richest Russian monasteries, having vast forest lands. Two centuries of zeal for her by many rich people provided her with excellent church utensils. Its heavy cast chandeliers, many burning candles, the wondrous beauty of its temples, the splendor of church vessels (there are huge chalices that only two hierodeacons can carry), luxurious vestments - on the days of great holidays, all this liturgical wealth, accumulated over long decades, pleases the Orthodox heart. But, being far from the railroad tracks, the monastery preserved both the high order of life of the monks and the mood of the desert. The monks have a humble appearance, stand reverently in churches, diligently fulfill their obediences, meek,
diligent. The main thing that hitherto attracted pilgrims here and that will now attract the attention of Russia and the desire for this place of all believing hearts is the grave of Elder Seraphim. Like the sun, it shines in the sky of Sarov. The whole Sarov seems to be full of them. To name Sarov means to name the elder Seraphim. Let us convey with reverence and love the main features of his life.
The great chosen one of God, Elder Seraphim, was born in the ancient city of Kursk, which had already given Russia the father of Russian monasticism, St. Theodosius of the Kiev Caves. He came from the family of a rich and eminent Kursk merchant Isidor Moshnin, who had brick factories and took contracts for the construction of stone buildings, churches and houses. He was known as an extremely honest man, zealous for the temples. His main building in Kursk was a temple erected according to the plan of the famous architect Rastrelli in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh. In 1833 this church was named a cathedral. After ten years of work, in 1762, the lower church - with an altar in the name of St. Sergius - was completed, and in the same year Moshnin died, transferring all the affairs to his clever, diligent wife, Agafia.
Moshnina was reputed to be even more pious than her husband. Her special feature - which subsequently so sharply distinguished her great son - was mercy. She loved to give alms; it was especially to her heart to deal with the fate of poor orphan girls. She prepared a dowry for them and gave them in marriage. For 15 years, even after the death of her husband, Agafya led the construction of the Sergius Church and brought the matter to an end. Everything was done so conscientiously that the gilding, for example, in 1863 retained its freshness. The eldest son of the Moshnins was called Alexei, his offspring still exist. Father Seraphim, the second son of the Moshnins, was born on July 19, 1759. He was named Prochorus in honor of the Apostle Prochorus, whose memory is celebrated on July 28. After the death of his father, Prokhor remained three years old. He owes all his upbringing to his mother.
Unfortunately, very little information has been preserved about his childhood. He grew up quietly, in an atmosphere of primordial Russian piety and, one might say, all the most cherished, the best content of the Russian people, all his high spirituality, all his care and thought about salvation, about eternity, little by little absorbed into his soul to the point that already in there was no room for another concern, another thought.
God's special providence for Prochorus was expressed in two events in his life. Once, when he was seven years old, his mother, going to the construction site of the church, took him with her. She climbed to the very top of the bell tower, where the railing had not yet been approved. The boy, having forgotten where he was, inadvertently approached the edge and fell down. Mother, assuming that he had killed himself and that there, below, could only be his mutilated body, hurriedly ran down the steps. The child stood on the ground unharmed.
Prokhor was distinguished by a strong physique, a sharp mind, impressionability, an excellent memory, and at the same time meekness and good temper. When they began to teach him church literacy, he set to work with great eagerness and began to quickly succeed in teaching, when he suddenly became very ill. The family despaired of his recovery. And again, the grace of God was destined to manifest over him. Prokhor saw in a dream the Most Holy Theotokos, who promised to visit and heal him. He told this dream to his mother. Soon, the miraculous Root Icon of the Mother of God was carried in procession around Kursk along the very street where the Moshnins' house stood. A heavy downpour hit. Probably, in order to shorten the path, the procession turned through the Moshnins' courtyard. Prokhor's mother took advantage of this and brought her sick son to the icon. Then the icon was carried over the boy. From that time on, he began to improve and soon completely recovered.
Having recovered, Prokhor continued his studies: he went through the Book of Hours, the Psalter, learned to write and fell in love with reading the Bible and spiritual books. The eldest Moshnin, Alexei, had a trade in various village goods in Kursk: belts, tar, twine, arches, harnesses, bast shoes, iron, and they tried to accustom Prokhor to this trade. But his heart was not in this matter. Trade prevented him from being, as he would like, at all church services. Prior to that, he went daily to Mass and Vespers. Now, omitting these services as necessary, he would rise early in order to defend matins.
Prokhor at this time of his life had a great influence on one holy fool, revered in Kursk, whose name, unfortunately, has not been preserved. Often talking with Prokhor, he finally strengthened him in spiritual life.
The clever and pious mother of Prokhor felt in her heart that her boy was not a tenant in the world, that another fate awaited him. In general, in relation to Moshnina towards her son, we see the exact opposite of how the Monk Theodosius (Kiev-Pechersky) was treated by his mother, who also loved him in her own way. She tried her best to keep her son in the world and was extremely unfriendly to his childish attempts to be ascetic. She severely punished her son when she saw chains on his body; beat and chained him when he secretly left the house with strangers, and she caught up with him and brought him home. Even from the Kiev-Pechersky monastery, when after a long search she found her son there, she tried to bring him back to the world - with threats, reproaches and entreaties. Clever and pious Agafya Moshnina did not do so. As a wise Christian, she realized that sacrificing her son, yielding him to God without grumbling, would be a sacrifice pleasing to Him, and that God is able to give anyone who seeks Him such happiness, before which all the glory, happiness and prosperity of the world are nothing. And her faith was justified.
Fearing to upset his mother, Prokhor, when the decision to leave the world began to gradually take shape in him, tried to carefully find out his mother’s thoughts - whether she would let him into the monastery. He noticed with joy that she would not interfere with him in the least, and then he began to speak directly about this subject. At the same time, he confided his thoughts to some comrades, and five people from the Kursk merchant youth decided to begin monastic life at the same time as him. In this one cannot fail to see the significant influence of Prokhor on his peers. It is known that, although in the years of both adolescence and early youth he loved solitude, he still did not avoid the company of his comrades; but, like a strong, whole nature, he subordinated them to his mood. He loved to read spiritual books aloud to his peers and to have a spiritual conversation with them.
There is a memory of how Prokhor said goodbye to his mother. At first, according to Russian custom, everyone sat. Then Prokhor got up, prayed to God, and bowed at his mother's feet. She gave him to venerate the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, then blessed him with a large copper cross. He kept this cross all his life as the greatest shrine, never took it off himself, wearing it over his clothes openly on his chest, and died with it. In advance, Prokhor was taken for tonsure to the monastery by dismissal from the Kursk City Society. The only thing left to do was decide where to go. The Sarov Hermitage was famous for its truly monastic life, and it should have attracted Prokhor all the more because the builder Pakhomiy, a native of Kursk merchants and a friend of Moshnin's parents, was in charge in it. But he wanted to test his decision with the advice of experienced and spiritual people. In addition, he longed to bow to the Kyiv shrines, where everything speaks to the heart of a person who chooses the monastic path. And with five of his associates, he went on foot to Kyiv.
At that time, Elder Dositheus, a recluse who was escaping in the Kitaev monastery, was famous for his life and the gift of clairvoyance. Prokhor came to him, opened his whole soul to him and, kneeling before him, kissing his feet, begged him to show him the place where he should settle. The perspicacious elder directly pointed him to Sarov with the following words: “Come, child of God, and abide there. This place will be for your salvation with the help of the Lord. Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" May all your attention and teaching be in this. Walking and sitting, standing in work and in church, standing everywhere, in every place, entering and leaving, may this unceasing cry be in mouth, and in your heart. With it you will find peace, you will gain spiritual and bodily purity, and the Holy Spirit, the source of all blessings, will dwell in you, and govern your life in the shrine, in all piety and purity. He is a follower of our Anthony and Theodosius." With a joyful heart, Prokhor of the elders accepted the advice. He dissuaded him in Kyiv, then returned to Kursk, where he lived for several months. Although he sometimes went to the shop, he was no longer engaged in trade, but carried on a spiritual conversation: people came to talk with him about monasteries, about how to be saved, or listen to him read spiritual books.
On November 20, 1778, on the eve of the Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Mother of God, 19-year-old Prokhor came to Sarov. The All-Night Vigil and the reverence of the brethren made a strong impression on him from the very first time. The builder Pachomius, a true monk, kindly received him and entrusted him to the treasurer, Elder Joseph. In addition to the fact that Prokhor had to serve this elder, he also performed other obediences: in the bakery, in the prosphora, in the carpentry, he served as a sexton. With the greatest zeal, he set about the matter of moral re-education of himself, constant monitoring of himself and striving for perfection, which is the whole vocation and appointment of a monk. By constant activity, he tried to protect himself from boredom, which he considered one of the most dangerous temptations for a monk. “This disease is cured,” he later said from his own experience, “by prayer, abstinence from idle talk, feasible needlework, reading the word of God and patience, because it is born from cowardice, idleness and idle talk.”
At certain hours he came to church, trying to be there before everyone else, he stood motionless throughout the service, constantly having his eyes lowered to the floor in order to avoid absent-mindedness, he always stood in a certain place and to the very end. In his cell he practiced reading and bodily labor. He always read the Gospel and the Epistles of the Apostles while standing. From spiritual books I read St. Basil the Great's Six Days, the conversations of St. Macarius the Great, St. John's Ladder, The Philokalia, and others. During his rest hours, Prokhor was busy with work: he skillfully carved crosses from cypress wood for distribution to the pilgrims. He was generally skilled in carpentry, so that in one timetable of the monks, "Prokhor the carpenter" is named one of all. He also participated in the general labors-obediences of the brethren, consisting in the rafting of timber, in the preparation of firewood. In the Sarov forest, several monks were saved in hermitage, of which Fr. Nazarius and Fr. Mark were the most famous. Their example, as much as the striving of Prokhor's soul, prompted him to take refuge in the forest for solitary prayer during his free hours. He later said this: “If it’s not always possible to remain in solitude and silence, living in a monastery and doing the obediences assigned from the rector, then although some of the time remaining from obedience should be dedicated to solitude and silence. And for what little the Lord God does not leave to send His rich mercy upon you."
Here, in the midst of nature, to the perception of the beauties of which he was so sensitive, his praise and prayer to God flowed freely and enthusiastically. In addition to this solitary prayer, Prokhor accepted another feat - an enhanced fast. On Wednesday and Friday he ate nothing, and on other days of the week he ate only once a day. In 1780, Prokhor fell dangerously ill. The ailment - apparently dropsy - lasted three years, of which the patient spent at least a year and a half in bed. What respect he already enjoyed then, how they valued him, is evident from the fact that the builder Pachomius and other senior monks followed him, a novice, throughout his illness. The patient was getting worse, and Fr. Pachomius began insistently suggesting that he see a doctor, or at least bleed. Prokhor answered: "I have given myself, holy father, to the true doctor of souls and bodies - our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother. If your love will judge, provide me with spiritual medicine."
Elder Joseph served a special vigil and liturgy for the healing of the sick, the brethren prayed for him. Prokhor began to get better. Many, many years later, the elder told one nun of Diveyevo that then, in an illness, after communion of the Holy Mysteries, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to him in an inexpressible light with the apostles John the Theologian and Peter. Pointing to Prokhor, the Lady said: "This one of our kind!" Then the Lady placed her right hand on the head of Prochorus and touched the sick man with the staff, which She held in her left hand. A depression formed in his thigh, in which all the water from the whole body collected. The cell in which Prokhor lived then and in which this miraculous healing took place was soon demolished, and a hospital with a two-story church was erected in its place - in honor of the Monks Zosima and Savvaty and the Transfiguration of the Lord. Prokhor was sent to collect money to decorate this church. His mother was no longer alive, but his brother was of great help to him. Upon returning home, Prokhor built a cypress wood throne with his own hands for the lower church of the Solovetsky miracle workers. Father Seraphim always treated this church with a special feeling as a place of blessed visitation. He loved to be in it. He visited the same temple and communed in it on the eve of his blessed death, on January 1, 1833. He lived for eight years. Seraphim novice. His appearance at that time was as follows. He was very strong, he was 2 arshins 8 inches tall, strong build. Despite strict abstinence and fasting, he had a full, white face. His expressive and penetrating eyes were of a light blue color, his nose was straight and sharp, thick eyebrows and thick light blond hair on his head, in a bushy beard and mustache. He spoke engagingly and had a good memory.
On August 13, 1786, Prokhor was tonsured into monasticism, and without his knowledge and choice, he was given the name Seraphim, which means "fiery." A year later he was ordained a hierodeacon. Since then, for almost six years, he served almost continuously. He has now stepped up his exploits. Sunday nights and big holidays he spent everything in prayer. The Lord strengthened him. He did not feel tired, did not need almost rest, often forgot about food and drink; going to bed, he regretted that a person could not, like an angel, incessantly, without interruption, serve God. Builder Fr. Pachomius greatly valued Hierodeacon Seraphim and, when leaving the monastery on business or to serve somewhere, he usually took him with him. This gave the case about. Seraphim to be present at the death of a great wife and to accept from her the work that subsequently grew so amazingly through him, namely the Diveevo community.
The widow of Colonel Agafya Simeonovna Melgunova, a wealthy landowner in several provinces, devoted her life to wandering around holy places and doing good deeds. There is a legend that during her stay in the Kiev Frolov Monastery, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her with a command to go to the North of Russia and stop at the place that the Lady will indicate to her, and that a glorious monastery will arise in that place. When Melgunova, on her way to Sarov, reached the village of Diveevo and, sitting down to rest on the logs near the village church, forgot herself from fatigue, the Queen of Heaven again appeared to her with a command to stay in this place. Agafya Simeonovna settled with the village priest, where, looking for exploits and humiliation, she performed all the menial work. In addition, she widely, but secretly, did good to the peasants. The money she received from the sale of her estates, she used to build several and decorate many temples. By the way, she built a beautiful stone church in Diveevo. Several pious women gathered around her to live, which constituted the initial, so to speak, grain of the Diveevo monastery.
Shortly before her death, she accepted monasticism with the name Alexandra. She enjoyed great respect throughout the neighborhood and, in addition to her wondrous life and piety, amazed everyone with her deep wisdom. Father Seraphim was in awe of her memory. He was present at her unction a few days before her death and at her burial. Dying, she passed on Fr. Pachomius the remnants of her once large fortune, asking him to take care of the fate of the Diveyevo nuns who remained orphans after her. Father Pachomius answered that he would fulfill her will, but would hardly live to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Queen of Heaven that there would be a monastery here. But he said that after his death, Fr. Seraphim.
On June 3, 1789, the original Diveevskaya woman died the sleep of death. Fr. Seraphim sacredly fulfilled the Fr. Pachomy promise. He took the fate of Diveev to heart. He called the Diveyevo nuns nothing more than "Diveyevo orphans." In Diveevo, after the blissful death of the old man, his spirit seemed to rest. Something extremely fertile seems to be poured into the air of this inexpressibly gratifying place.
While serving as a deacon, Fr. Seraphim was rewarded with great spiritual revelations. At times he saw angels ministering to the brethren and singing; they had the image of lightning youths, dressed in white gold-woven clothes. And the way they sang cannot be expressed in words. Remembering this, Seraphim said: "Be my heart, like melting wax from inexpressible joy."
Fr. Seraphim on one great Thursday, celebrating the Liturgy with the builder Fr. Pachomius.
As you know, the small exit from the altar and the subsequent entry of the clergy into the altar expresses their entry into heaven itself, and the priest then prays: "Create with our entrance the holy angels of being, serving us and glorifying Your goodness." When, after a small entrance and paroemias, Hierodeacon Seraphim exclaimed: “Lord, save the pious and hear us,” and, turning to the people and giving a sign by the speaker, finished: “And forever and ever,” he completely changed, could not move from his place and say the words. The servants realized that he had a vision. He was led under the arms into the altar, where he stood for three hours, now all inflamed with his face, now turning pale, and still unable to utter a single word. When he came to his senses, he told his elders and mentors, Fr. Pachomius and the treasurer that he saw. "I, the wretched one, have just proclaimed -" Lord, save the pious and hear us!" - and pointing the horarium at the people, he finished: "and forever and ever," - suddenly a ray of sunlight illuminated me, and I saw the Lord God our Jesus Christ in the form of the Son of Man, in glory, shining with indescribable light, surrounded by heavenly powers, angels, archangels, cherubim and seraphim, like a swarm of bees, and from the western church gates coming in the air. "His hands, the Lord blessed the servants and those present. Therefore, entering into His holy local image, which is on the right hand of the royal gates, he was transformed, surrounded by angelic faces, shining with an inexpressible light throughout the whole church. But I, the earth and ashes, then met the Lord Jesus Christ , was awarded a special blessing from Him. My heart rejoiced pure, enlightened, in the sweetness of love for the Lord.
Still about. Seraphim looked for deserts for solitary prayer and in the evening went to his forest cell and, after spending the night there in prayer, returned to Sarov by morning. 34 years old, September 2, 1793, Fr. Seraphim in Tambov was ordained a hieromonk. Now his soul was languishing with a desire for perfect solitude, complete wilderness. Such a life is one of the highest steps on the path of man's ascent to God. This is an undistracted, complete immersion of a person in the thought of God and a constant prayerful conversation with God, an undiminished single impulse of the soul into the goodness of the Divine. Not because they hate or despise people, ascetics go into seclusion, and not because they do not want to serve people. But because at first they want to get closer to God, and then, having become strong in Him, to serve people. “Father,” a monk once asked Father Seraphim, who thought a lot about solitude, “some say that moving away from the hostel into the desert is hypocrisy, that the brethren are neglected, or condemnation is thrown at them. What do you think?” “It is not our business,” the elder answered, “to judge others. And we are removed from the society of the brotherhood not out of hatred for him, but more because we have accepted and wear the rank of an angel, which is inappropriate to be where one is angry with word and deed Lord God. And therefore, when we leave the brotherhood, we move away only from hearing and seeing what is contrary to the commandments of God, as this inevitably happens with a multitude of brethren. We do not avoid people who are of the same nature with us and bear the same name of Christ , but the vices they create, as it was said to the great Arseny: "Run people and you will be saved."
But, having experienced all the difficulties of the hermit life, the elder subsequently warned those who asked him for advice that in the monastery the monks fight against the opposite forces like with doves, and in the desert like with lions and leopards.
Before his death, the builder Pachomius, who 16 years ago accepted the young Prokhor Moshnin, who was thirsty for a feat, among the Sarov novices, now blessed Hieromonk Seraphim for life in the desert. Father Seraphim carefully followed his dying mentor and benefactor and mourned him bitterly. After his death, he retired, on November 20, 1794, to a forest cell. The apparent reason for the removal was a severe illness of the legs - due to constant standing on their feet. The cell where Fr. Seraphim, was located in a dense pine forest, on the banks of the Sarovka River, on a hill 5-6 versts from Sarov. It had a hut with a stove, a vestibule and a porch. Surrounded by a small fenced garden. The same poor clothes were on about. Seraphim in winter and summer: a white linen hoodie, leather mittens, leather stockings (boot covers), bast shoes, an old kamilavka. A cross hung on his chest - a mother's blessing. He carried a bag on his back, and in it was the Gospel.
His external labors consisted in preparing firewood and heating the cell; however, often, in order to torment himself, he endured frost in his cell. In the summer, he cultivated a vegetable garden, which he fertilized with moss collected in the swamp. During this work, he was sometimes naked to the waist, and many insects stung him mercilessly. The body was swollen, covered with dried blood, but he endured. During work, prayerful delight often descended on the soul of the ascetic. He loved to sing church songs at that time, which, with his excellent memory, he knew many by heart. He especially loved "World Glory", the antiphon "Desolate incessant divine desire happens." It happened that during work a shovel or a spade suddenly fell out of his hands, his face took on a wondrous expression, he stood motionless, delving into the contemplation of spiritual mysteries. In the same forest lived the hermits Fr. Nazarius, Mark and Dositheus. Coming sometimes to Fr. Seraphim, they found him in such a position, he did not notice them, and, sometimes waiting in front of him for about an hour, they left without being noticed by him. His prayer rule was extremely extensive. Often, instead of evening prayers, he made a thousand bows at once. He ate in the desert the bread that he brought with him from Sarov on Sunday, and which, of course, was dry and stale on the third day. And he shared this with the birds and forest animals, who loved him very much and went to him. Having reached a high level of spirituality, the elder also received the gift that the first man had and was lost through the fall. The animals obeyed him. More than once they saw him feeding a huge bear, which, according to him, went into the thicket of the forest, and then returned again. In addition to bread, vegetables grown in his garden served as food for him. Then he limited himself to vegetables alone. Finally, he reached an incredible abstinence.
He stopped taking bread from the monastery altogether, and the brethren wondered what he was eating. Shortly before his death, the elder said that for about 3 years he ate only a decoction of snitki grass, which he collected in the summer and dried for the winter. Spending everyday life in the desert, Fr. On the eve of Sundays and holidays, Seraphim came to the monastery and communed there. After mass, he spoke to those of the brethren who needed him. And then he returned to the desert. The monks who lived in the forest heard wise instructions from him. Here is one of them - about unceasing prayer: "Those who truly decide to serve the Lord God should exercise in the memory of God and unceasing prayer, saying with the mind:" Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner "; in the afternoon hours, you can say this prayer like this: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of the Theotokos, have mercy on me, a sinner"; or resort to the Most Holy Theotokos proper, praying: "Most Holy Theotokos, save us"; or say an angelic congratulation: "Theotokos, Virgin, rejoice!" Such an exercise, while guarding oneself from dispersion and observing the peace of conscience, one can draw near to God and unite with Him, for, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, without unceasing prayer we cannot draw near to God.” If the ascetic met someone in the forest, he bowed humbly and hurriedly stepped aside.
But on those who did not hear his words, one inspired sight of him in his wretched clothes made a great impression - he touched souls, taught, aroused to goodness.
Father Seraphim did not escape those great temptations, with which the enemy of salvation usually fights against the monks who are going through the desert life, and with which he tries to confuse them at this great time of spiritual growth. Once, while praying, Fr. Seraphim heard the howling of animals outside the walls of the cell, then, as if a crowd of people began to break the Door, they knocked out the jamb at the door and threw into the cell a huge stump of wood, which then eight people could hardly bear. Sometimes during prayer it seemed to him that his cell was falling apart into four and that terrible beasts were rushing towards him with a roar from everywhere. Sometimes he saw an open coffin from which a dead man rose. These ghosts about. Seraphim did not give in, but drove them away with the power of the sign of the cross. Then the enemy began to attack him with even greater fury. He lifted the ascetic into the air and hit him on the floor with such force that the bones could have been broken if it were not for the grace that guarded Father Seraphim. One might think that o. Seraphim saw the evil spirits themselves, because to the simple-hearted question of one layman, the elder answered with a smile: “They are vile.
All temptations about. Seraphim won through prayer, the name of Christ, and the sign of the cross, and for some time he enjoyed peace. Meanwhile, Fr. Seraphim received an offer to be the rector of the Alatyr Monastery with the elevation to the rank of archimandrite. He refused; humbly refused another similar offer. It is known that humility is the crown of virtues, like a cement that holds all virtues together. Nothing so vouches for the true path of salvation, nothing so frightens and shames the enemy as humility. Christ also conquered his malice with humility, because what the enemy of the first man tempted and tempted - "you will be like gods" - Christ did the same through humility: having descended to earth and becoming a Man, He deified man and poured into him the shed for him His Divine blood.
Not enduring great humility, Fr. Seraphim, the enemy took up arms against him even more fiercely: he erected in his soul the so-called mental battle. In order to win this terrible, fatal, fierce struggle, the elder decided to undertake a new feat, which very few ascetics dared in ancient times and which seemed unbearably difficult in later times. That was pilgrimage.
Halfway from the cell to the monastery lay a huge granite rock. Father Seraphim began to climb this rock at the onset of every night. He prayed either on his knees or standing on his feet, raising his hands up and calling out with the words of the publican's prayer: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" In his cell, he placed another, small stone, and in the same position he prayed on it all day, leaving it only for a short rest and eating. In this great feat he spent a thousand days and a thousand nights. The enemy was finally defeated. But as a result of this almost three years of uninterrupted standing, the old man's legs again opened up, which was in the early days of his wilderness life. This illness did not go away until the very death of Fr. Seraphim. The marvelous ascetic managed to hide his thousand-day and thousand-night prayers. Subsequently, there was a secret request from the Tambov bishop about Fr. Seraphim Abbot Nifont. Nifont's review has been preserved, in which he writes: "We know about the exploits and life of Father Seraphim. About what secret actions, as well as about standing 1000 days and nights on a stone, no one knew." Only shortly before his death, following the example of many other righteous people, revealing some of the circumstances of his life, the great elder told about this prayer to some of the Sarov brethren. One of the listeners noticed then that this feat is beyond human strength.
“Saint Simeon the Stylite,” answered the elder, “stood on the pillar for forty-seven years. But are my labors similar to his feat?.. - The interlocutor noted that, probably, the elder felt the help of grace at that time.
“Yes,” he answered, “otherwise human strength would not be enough. - Then, after a pause, he added: - When there is tenderness in the heart, then God is with us.
Confounded in a personal, so to speak, struggle with the hermit, the enemy began to act on him through people.
On September 12, 1804, they came to Fr. To Seraphim, who was chopping wood in the forest, three peasants boldly demanded money, saying that worldly people bring him money. Father Seraphim replied that he did not take anything from anyone. Not believing him, the peasants attacked him. One, rushing at him from behind, wanted to knock him down, but fell himself. Father Seraphim was dexterous and very strong. With an ax in hand, he could easily count on fighting off the villains. But he remembered the words of the Gospel: “If you take a knife, you will die with a knife,” and he decided not to defend himself. Throwing the ax to the ground and folding his hands in a cross on his chest, he calmly said to his offenders: "Do what you need." One of them, seizing an ax, hit him on the head with a butt, so that blood gushed from the mouth and ears of the ascetic and he fell unconscious. Then they dragged him into the cell, continuing to beat him with an ax, a club, trampled on him with their feet, and even thought of throwing him into the river. But, seeing that he seemed to be dead, they tied his hands and feet, threw him into the passage, and themselves rushed to the cell, where they searched all the corners, even broke the stove, hoping to find the money. But they found only an icon and a few potatoes. Fear seized them and they ran away. When about. Seraphim came to his senses, with difficulty he got out of the ropes, thanked God for innocent suffering, prayed for the offenders, and the next day during the liturgy he dragged himself into the wilderness in the most terrible form. The hair on his beard and head was caked with blood, dust, tangled. Hands and face were beaten, several teeth were knocked out, there was dried blood on the ears and face, bloody clothes in places stuck to the wounds on the body. He told the abbot and the brethren what had happened, and remained in Sarov. The first eight days of his suffering were extraordinary. He could neither drink, nor eat, nor forget himself for a minute with sleep from unbearable pain. In the monastery they were waiting for his death. On the seventh day of his illness, seeing no improvement, the abbot sent for doctors to Arzamas. Doctors found the patient in this position: his head was broken, his ribs were broken, his chest was trampled, and there were mortal wounds all over his body - and they only wondered how he was still alive. While these three doctors, who had three paramedics, were conferring in Latin over the patient's bed on what to do, Fr. Seraphim forgot himself and had a vision in a dream.
Surrounded by glory, in royal purple, the Most Holy Theotokos with the Apostles Peter and John the Theologian approached his bedside. She said to the doctors: "What are you doing?" And then, pointing to the apostles at the ascetic, she said: "This is from our kind." After this vision, he refused any medical assistance whatsoever, saying that he placed all his hope in the Lord and the Mother of God.
For several hours after the vision, the sufferer felt extreme spiritual joy. Then I felt relieved. That same evening, for the first time after being wounded, he asked for food and ate bread with sauerkraut. From that day on, he gradually began to recover, but the traces of this incident remained forever on him. Even before that, he was somehow crushed by a fallen tree during logging, and, before straight and slender, he now became bent. Now he was even more hunched over and could not walk otherwise than leaning on a stick or hatchet.
After spending five months in Sarov, Fr. Seraphim returned again to his beloved desert cell. Thus, the enemy of salvation suffered a new defeat. The offenders of the ascetic were found and turned out to be serfs of the landowner Tatishchev from the village of Kremenok. Father Seraphim asked the rector not to persecute them and wrote about the same to the landowner. Everyone insisted on punishment. Then about. Seraphim announced that in this case he would leave Sarov and completely go to another place.
The Lord Himself punished these people: all their huts burned down. Then, having repented, they came to Fr. Seraphim and asked his forgiveness.
In 1807, the second since Fr. Seraphim, the rector of Sarov - the righteous hegumen Isaiah, who greatly honored Fr. Seraphim and to whom Fr. Seraphim paid with sincere love. When about. Isaiah was healthy, he himself went to the desert to Fr. Seraphim. When he resigned his position, Fr. Seraphim was elected abbot by the brethren, but refused, and the treasurer Nifont was elected abbot. The sick elder could not deprive himself of consolation in a conversation with Fr. Seraphim, and the brethren drove the former rector on a cart into the desert to Fr. Seraphim. The end of Isaiah had a severe effect on Fr. Seraphim. Three of his favorite elders, two of whom, Joseph and Pachomius, led his first monastic steps, lay in their graves. He himself lived for almost half a century. And the new generation of monks could not give his clinging soul what communion with these three deeply spiritual, and for him indispensable, indigenous people gave him. No matter how he limited human relations, the departure of these people had a painful effect on him. He never passed the monastery cemetery without praying at their graves. He once said to the head of the Ardatov community: "When you come to me, go to the graves, make three bows, asking God to calm the souls of His servants Isaiah, Pachomius, Joseph, and then crouch at the tomb, saying to yourself: " Forgive me, holy fathers, and pray for me!"
Striving further and further, purifying the soul more and more, and perhaps in order to subdue the sadness of the soul with a feat, Fr. Seraphim began a new activity - silence. He no longer went out if anyone visited him. Meeting someone in the forest, he fell face down on the ground and did not get up until they left him, he even stopped going to the monastery on holidays. Once a week, on holidays, a novice from Sarov brought food to the elder. In winter, we had to walk to him through deep snow. Having reached the cell, the novice knocked, saying aloud the Jesus Prayer, and the elder, answering "amen", opened the door of the passage, where a tray was prepared. He himself stood at that time with folded hands, looking at the ground and not raising his eyes to the newcomer. The novice put what he had brought on a tray, and Fr. Seraphim put a piece of bread or cabbage in the same place, meaning by the fact that you need to bring it next time. Then the novice left without even hearing the elder's voice. Such was the outward expression of silence. Its meaning and essence consisted in the renunciation of all worldly cares for the most perfect service to God.
Father Seraphim explains: “Most of all, one should adorn oneself with silence, for St. Ambrose of Milan says that by silence he saw many who were being saved, but by verbosity, not a single one. this. Silence brings a person closer to God and makes him, as it were, an earthly angel. Just sit in your cell in attention and silence, and by all means try to bring yourself closer to the Lord. And the Lord is ready to make you an angel out of a person: (Isaiah, 66, 2), I will only look at the meek and silent and trembling of My words. The fruit of silence, in addition to other spiritual acquisitions, is peace of the soul. Silence teaches silence and constant prayer. Finally, the one who has acquired this awaits a peaceful state.
When the elder was asked why, having imposed silence on himself, he deprives the brethren of the spiritual benefit that he could bring to her with his conversations, he answered: “St. God."
From silence, he moved on to a new feat - seclusion. This was partly facilitated by the following circumstance. It was not known who and how Fr. Seraphim, since he, having assumed silence, stopped going to the monastery. The Council of Senior Hieromonks decided to offer him either to go on Sundays and holidays to join the monastery, or, if the illness of the legs does not allow this, to move to Sarov. The monk who wore Fr. Seraphim food, was ordered to give it to him and learn about his decision. For the first time o. Seraphim did not answer, the second time he silently followed the monk to Sarov and stayed there. This was in May 1810.
As before, his prayer rule was difficult and great. By the way, he read the entire New Testament for a week and, as he read, interpreted the Scriptures aloud to himself. Many came to his door and gladly listened to him. Sometimes, sitting over a book, he seemed to freeze, immersed in contemplation, without reading further. Every Sunday and major feasts, the elder communed with the Holy Mysteries, which, after early mass, were brought to his cell from his favorite and significant hospital church.
In the passage he had an oak coffin, probably made by him as a skilled carpenter. After death, he asked to put him without fail in this coffin and often prayed near him, preparing for death. He sometimes went out of his cell at night to get some fresh air, and, quietly reciting the Jesus Prayer, at that time carried firewood.
After five years of strict seclusion, the elder outwardly weakened him somewhat. Anyone could enter to him, as he unlocked the door of the cell. The elder, although not embarrassed by the visitors, did not answer the questions. Even when Bishop Jonah of Tambov (later Exarch of Georgia) visited Sarov and came to his cell, the elder did not open the door for him and did not answer.
Another five years of seclusion passed, and Fr. Seraphim began to answer questions from the brethren and even talked with them. He inspired the brethren to perform divine services without fail, to stand reverently in church, to constantly engage in mental prayer, to diligently fulfill obedience to everyone, not to eat anything outside the meal, to sit at the meal with reverence and fear of God, not to go out of the gate without an important reason, to be afraid of self-will as the reason for the great evil.
In 1825, Fr. Seraphim of the Mother of God. The Most Pure One ordered him to leave the seclusion and receive everyone who would come to him. At this time, Fr. Seraphim was already a 66-year-old elder. During almost half a century of monastic life, how much great spiritual experience he had accumulated, what great love for God he cultivated in himself, how he studied the slightest movements of the soul, how he knew all the shades of the struggle that the enemy is waging with man! .. And now he had to he has 7 years of his life to pour out on the Russian people all the treasures of his experience, all the power of his prayers, all the greatness of his love ... He began a new feat - eldership, spiritual leadership of people. From the end of the early Mass until 8 pm, the cell was open to the laity, and to the Sarov brethren at any time. This small cell was lit only by a lamp and candles lit in front of the icons. The stove has never been heated in it. Through two small windows she looked out into the wide, free meadow distance. Sandbags and stones lay on the floor, probably serving as his bed. A stump of wood replaced a chair.
Usually the elder received visitors in this order. Dressed in a white robe and mantle, he also put on an epitrachelion and bands on those days when he communed. With special love he met those in whom he saw a desire to improve, sincere repentance for sins. After talking with such people, he covered their heads with his stole and said over them, putting his right hand on their head: “I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned in soul and body, in word, deed, mind and thought, and with all my senses: sight, hearing , smell, taste, touch, will or not, knowing or not knowing. Then he said the usual prayer of permission, and the visitor experienced an unusually gratifying feeling. Following this, the elder drew a cross on the forehead of the visitor with oil from the icon and gave, if it was in the morning, Epiphany water and antidoron. Finally, kissing everyone on the mouth, he always said, whatever the day of the year, "Christ is Risen" and let him venerate the image of the Mother of God or the cross - a motherly blessing that hung on his chest.
The elder especially advised to pray without ceasing, and for this he always repeated the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." “Walking and sitting, standing in deeds and in church, before the beginning of the service, entering and leaving, keep this in your mouth and in your heart without ceasing. With the invocation of the name of God, you will find peace, achieve spiritual and bodily purity, and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you” . Many of the elder's visitors were guilty of not praying enough, not reading even the prescribed morning and evening prayers. They did this both out of lack of time and out of illiteracy. Father Seraphim established such an easily enforceable rule for these people. "Rising from sleep, every Christian, standing before the holy icons, let him read the Lord's Prayer "Our Father" three times, in honor of the Most Holy Trinity. Then the hymn to the Theotokos "Virgin Mother of God, rejoice" - also three times. At the end of the "Symbol of Faith" -" I believe in one God..." - once. Having made this rule, let every Orthodox go about his business, for which he is appointed or called. While working at home or on the way somewhere, the path quietly reads: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy me, a sinner (or a sinner)"; if others surround him, then, doing business, let him only say with his mind: "Lord, have mercy!" - and so on until dinner. Just before dinner, let him again make the morning rule. After dinner, doing his work, let every Christian read just as quietly: "Most Holy Theotokos, save me, a sinner" and let this continue until sleep. When he happens to spend time in solitude, he reads the way: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, sinful (or sinful)". Going to sleep, let every Christian read the morning rule again, that is, the Our Father three times, the Mother of God three times, and the Creed once. Fr. Seraphim explained that by adhering to this small rule, one can achieve a measure of Christian perfection, for these three prayers are the foundation of Christianity. The first, as a prayer given by the Lord Himself, is the model of all prayers. The second was brought from heaven by the archangel to greet the Mother of God, while the “Symbol” contains in brief all the saving dogmas of the Christian faith. To whom it is impossible to fulfill even this small rule, the elder advised reading it during classes, while walking, even in bed, and at the same time cited the words from the Epistle to the Romans: "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Whoever has time, the elder advised to read from the Gospel, canons, akathists, psalms. Have been to Fr. Seraphim noble people. The elder talked to them about the duties of their rank. He especially begged them to be faithful to the Orthodox Church, to observe its statutes, to protect it from attacks. How simple-heartedly the elder treated the needs of the common people can be seen from the following two examples.
Once a peasant ran into the Sarov Hermitage with signs of great excitement and asked every monk he met: "Father, are you, Father Seraphim?" When they pointed to the old man, he fell at his feet and shouted: “Father, my horse was stolen. I don’t know how I will feed my family now. I became a beggar without her. And you, they say, guess.” The elder said affectionately to him, putting his head to his head: “Shield yourself with silence, go to the village (the elder named the village). As you approach him, turn off the road to the right and go through four houses behind you, there you will see a little gate. , untie your horse from the deck and bring it out silently." The peasant immediately ran in the indicated direction, and there was a rumor that he had found his horse.
On another occasion, a monk brought a young peasant with a bridle in his hands to the elder, crying over the loss of his horses, and left the elder with the peasant alone. After some time, having met this peasant, the monk asked him:
- Well, did you find your horses?
- How did you find it? Father Seraphim told me to go to the auction and that I would see them there. I went out and just saw and took my horses to me.
The gift of healing worked in Father Seraphim to a great extent. For the first time, he manifested himself over a person who later became the most devoted, most faithful to oblivion, to complete renunciation, his admirer.
Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, a landowner in the village of Nuchi, Ardatovsky district, Nizhny Novgorod province, who had served in the military for a long time, fell seriously ill and, having retired, had to settle in his estate. His illness was extremely strange and inexplicable. The best doctors could neither understand nor treat her. Nucha lay 40 versts from Sarov, and rumors about the holiness of Father Seraphim reached her. When the illness took on such proportions that pieces of bones began to fall out of Manturov's legs, he, as a last hope, decided to go to Fr. Seraphim. With great effort, his people brought him to Sarov and led him into the cell of the elder. The elder came out to him and affectionately said:
- Complained what? Look at the wretched Seraphim? Manturov fell at his feet and began to ask him with tears for healing. Penetratingly and lovingly, the elder asked the patient three times if he believed in God, and three times he received an ardent assurance of perfect, fiery faith. To this the old man replied:
“My joy, if you believe in this way, then believe in the fact that everything is possible for the believer from God. Therefore, believe that the Lord will heal you too. And I, wretched, pray.
Having planted Manturov in the passage at the coffin, Fr. Seraphim retired to pray in his cell, and after a while he returned, carrying consecrated oil. He ordered the patient to bare his legs and, preparing to wipe them with oil, said: "According to the grace given to me from the Lord, I am the first to heal you!" Having anointed his sore legs and put on stockings made of linen, the elder took out a large amount of crackers from the cell, poured them into the tails of Manturov's coat and so ordered him to go to the monastery. With some doubt, Manturov began to fulfill the order of Father Seraphim. But suddenly I felt strength in my legs and I could stand firmly and boldly. He did not remember himself from amazement and joy and threw himself at the feet of the old man, but Fr. Seraphim raised him, sternly saying: "Is it Seraphim's business to kill and live? What are you, father? This is the work of the One Lord, Who does the will of those who fear Him and listens to their prayer; give glory to the Lord Almighty and His Most Pure Mother!"
Some time has passed. Manturov felt so good that he even began to forget about the recent illness that had tormented him so much. He wanted to visit Fr. Seraphim, accept his blessing, and he went to Sarov. On the way, he thought about the words of Fr. Seraphim, told by the elder after his healing, that he should give thanks and glorify the Lord. The elder greeted him with the words: "My joy, but we promised to thank the Lord that He gave us life back!"
“I don’t know, father, what and how you order,” Manturov answered, surprised at the old man’s foresight.
Joyfully looking at the healed man, the elder said: “Behold, my joy, give everything you have to the Lord and take upon yourself spontaneous poverty!” A strange, difficult to convey impression was made on Manturov by this word, arousing the intense work of his thought. He was still young, married - how will he live if he gives everything? Knowing his thoughts, the elder said: "Don't worry about what you think about. The Lord will not leave you either in this life or in the future. You will not be rich. You will have your daily bread." It was only the second time that Manturov saw the elder. But the old man, as if calling him to life again from terrible suffering, already completely possessed the grateful, affectionate, ardent heart of Mikhail Vasilyevich. The elder's word was already sacred to him, and he answered: "I agree, father. What do you bless me to do?"
This time the wise Fr. Seraphim did not give Manturov a specific instruction and released him with a blessing. Manturov, following the advice of the elder, set his serfs free, sold the estate, and, while retaining capital, bought 15 acres of land in the village of Diveevo at the place indicated by the elder. The elder bequeathed to him to keep it, not to give it to anyone, and to appoint it after death in Diveevo. Having settled with his Lutheran wife in this area, Manturov began to suffer shortcomings. His wife, generally a good woman, was hot-tempered, impatient, and reproached him for selling the estate. But, infinitely trusting the elder, subduing his will to him, Manturov never grumbled and joyfully carried that great feat to which Christ called the young man who turned to Him for the word of life and which that gospel youth was unable to bear. The main thing that Fr. Seraphim occupied Manturov, there were Diveevo affairs. Manturov became the most faithful, most devoted student of the elder, one might say, his trusted friend. The elder did not call him anything other than the name Mishenka.
The life of Father Seraphim changed in many ways when, in 1825, after the appearance of the Most Holy Theotokos to him, he came out of the seclusion. The old man's health was poor. The feats and exhaustion of his whole life, standing on stones, the shutter - everything also responded to his strong, hardy nature. His legs hurt, his head hurt badly. Since the spring of 1825, he began to leave his cell at night. On the night of November 25, the Mother of God appeared to him with permission to leave the seclusion, and from November 25, having taken a blessing from the rector, the elder began to go daily to that place, which, unlike his former dwelling in the forest ("distant wilderness"), became be called "near desert".
For a long time, two versts from Sarov, there was a spring, dug by no one knows who and standing next to it on a column of the icon of John the Theologian, called Bogoslovsky. On a hill a quarter of a mile from the spring, the hermit Hieromonk Dorotheus, who died in September 1825, was escaping in his cell. Seraphim visited when he lived in the far desert, worked here sometimes and loved him. After leaving the seclusion, he began to visit this place every day. Then a new source appeared, according to legend, it beat from the blow of the rod of the Mother of God, who appeared here to the elder. The water of this source, called the Seraphim, has the property not to deteriorate even for years, and many patients, washing themselves with it with faith, received miraculous healings from serious ailments.
In the summer of 1825, the Bogoslovsky spring was renewed. The elder, collecting pebbles in the Sarovka river, threw them ashore and humiliated the spring pool with them. Ridges were arranged nearby, on which the elder planted onions and potatoes. Since in the cell of Fr. Dorothea, a quarter of a mile away, it was already difficult for the old man, weary of years and illnesses, to walk; they made a log house for him on a hill near the spring. This small frame, a sazhen long and high and two arshins wide, had a roof sloped to one side. There were no windows or doors. I had to crawl under the wall. Here the elder took refuge from the heat of the day. Two years later, a new cell was arranged for him here - with a door, but without windows. And then he began to spend all days in this place in the morning, returning to Sarov only in the evening. Early in the morning, at four, sometimes at two in the morning, the elder set off for the nearby hermitage. He walked in his white linen overall, in an old kamilavka, with an ax in his hand. On his back hung a knapsack stuffed with stones and sand. The gospel lay on top of the sand. He was asked why he depresses himself with this weight.
- I torment the languishing me! - answered the old man. The confluence of people who wanted to - some just to look at him, some to accept a blessing, some to ask his advice - all increased. Who was waiting for him in Sarov, who hoped to see him on the road, who was in a hurry to find him in the desert and be a witness to his labors. Especially great was the gathering of people around the elder on holidays, when he returned after receiving the Holy Mysteries from the temple. He walked as he approached the bowl - in a mantle, stole, handrails. He walked slowly among the people crowding around him, and everyone wanted to look at him, to squeeze closer to him. But he did not speak to anyone here, did not bless anyone, did not see anything. His bright face showed deep concentration. He was full of joy and consciousness of union with Christ. And no one dared to touch him.
Entering the cell, the elder received visitors and spoke to them. The speech of Fr. Seraphim. Humble, glowing with faith and love, she seemed to take off the blindfold, open up new horizons, call a person to fulfill his high earthly calling - serving God as a source of goodness, truth and happiness. These conversations clearly clarified all the delusions of life, illuminated the path ahead, aroused the thirst for a new, better life, subdued the will and heart of the listeners to the elder, poured peace and quiet into them. Everything that the elder said, everything he based on the words of Scripture, on the example of the saints. He always said what in the given circumstances was the most important, necessary for a person. His speech was also so powerful because he himself was the first to fulfill everything that he taught others. According to the excellent, apt comparison of Fr. Seraphim, "teaching others is like throwing stones down from a high bell tower, and doing it yourself is like climbing a high bell tower with a bag of stones on your back." The elder hid his gifts of grace, not opening them unless absolutely necessary. In general, he was a supporter of a concentrated life and found that worldly people should also be restrained and not open up (the great Optina elder Ambrose, who died 11 years ago, held the same opinion) easily to other people.
Here is what he writes about this:
"You should not unnecessarily open your heart to another. Out of a thousand, you can only find one who would keep your secret. When we ourselves do not keep it in ourselves, how can we hope that it will be kept by others? When it happens to be among people in the world, one should not talk about spiritual things, especially when there is no desire to listen in them. By all means one should try to hide the treasure of gifts in oneself; otherwise, one will lose and not find. For, according to the saying of St. from storage, more than help, even from deeds. "When the need requires it or the matter comes, then you must act frankly to the glory of God."
The elder was a great zealot of Orthodoxy. He was especially in awe of the memory of those saints who clarified and established the essence of the right faith: Clement, Pope of Rome, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Athanasius of Alexandria, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius of Cyprus, Ambrose of Milan. He loved to remember their firm stand for the faith. Urging them to keep the dogmas of the faith, the elder cited the example of Blessed Mark of Ephesus, who with unwavering courage defended Orthodoxy at the Council of Florence. Father Seraphim loved to talk about what the purity of Orthodoxy consists of, how to protect it, and rejoiced that our Church contains the truth of Christ in its entirety. The ascetic also highly honored our Russian saints, spoke about their life, took from them examples to follow. In general, the lives of the saints were living writings for him, according to which he taught the people. Particularly striking was his humility and love. Everyone - the righteous and sick with sins, trembling before the holiness of his sinner, the rich nobleman and the poor - he equally met with an earthly bow, often kissed the hands of visitors. No matter how many visitors he had, no one left him unsatisfied: he often covered the life of a person with one phrase, one word, instructed him on the right path.
His holy image acted so strongly that sometimes proud, arrogant people who came to him only out of curiosity cried before him. With people who were looking for him for spiritual benefit, sincerely striving for salvation, the elder was especially affectionate.
The image of Fr. Seraphim from the surviving memories of his visitors, people of various ranks and positions. This is what he once answered to four Old Believers from the village of Pavlova, Gorbatovsky district, who came to talk with him about the two-fingered addition. They had hardly crossed the threshold of the cell and had not yet said why they had come, when the elder approached them, took one of them by the right hand and, folding his fingers in accordance with the order of the Orthodox Church, said:
“Here is the Christian laying of the cross. So pray and tell others. I beg and pray you: go to the Greek-Russian church. She is in all the glory and power of God! Like a ship with many riggings, sails and a great helm, she is ruled by the Holy Spirit. Her good helmsmen are the teachers of the Church, the archpastors are the apostolic successors. And your chapel is like a small boat without a helm or oars. She is tied with a rope to the ship of our Church, sails after her, is flooded with waves and would certainly drown if she were not tied to the ship.
The cavalry officer I. Ya. Karataev, who was sent from the regiment for repairs in 1830, was passing by Sarov. Hearing stories about the elder along the way, he wanted to call on him, but did not dare, fearing that the elder would rebuke him in front of others of his sins, especially in his attitude towards icons. It seemed to him that the work of the hands of a man, often a sinner, cannot contain grace and be an object of reverence. Soon, on the occasion of the fact that he was summoned in view of the Polish campaign, he again had to pass Sarov with a team of lower ranks, and now, on the advice of his father, he decided to be with the elder. When he began to approach the elder's cell, his fear was replaced by quiet joy, and he fell in love with Fr. Seraphim. Here's what happened next:
“A lot of people were already standing near the cell, who had come to him for a blessing. Father Seraphim, blessing the others, looked at me and gave me a sign with his hand to go up to him. I carried out his order, bowed at his feet with fear and love Fr Seraphim blessed me with his copper cross, which hung on his chest, and kissing me, began to confess me, saying my sins himself, as if At the end of this consoling confession, he said to me: “It is not necessary to submit to the fear that the devil inspires in young men, but then you need to be especially vigilant in spirit and remember that although we are sinners, we are all under the grace of our Redeemer without whose will not a single hair will fall from our heads. " After that, he began to talk about my error regarding the veneration of holy icons: "How bad and harmful for us is the desire to explore the mysteries of God, the weak mind of man, for example, how the grace of God works through holy icons, how it heals sinners like you and me,” the elder added, “and not only their body, but also their soul, so that sinners, by faith in what is in them grace of Christ, they were saved and reached the Kingdom of Heaven. Listening about. Seraphim, truly I forgot about my earthly existence. The soldiers who were returning with me to the regiment were also honored to receive his blessing, and he, instructing them on this occasion, predicted that not one of them would die in the struggle, which really came true: not one of them was even wounded. Departing from Fr. Seraphim, I put three rubles on candles beside him. But the enemy gave me this thought: "Why does the Holy Father need such money?" This thought confused me, and I hurried with repentance to Fr. Seraphim. I entered with a prayer to the elder, and he, warning my words, told me the following: “During the war with the Gauls, it was necessary for one commander to lose his right hand; but this hand gave some hermit to the holy temple, and through the prayers of the holy Church, the Lord saved her Understand this well and do not repent of good deeds in the future.
your health." Then Fr. Seraphim again confessed me, kissed me, blessed me, gave me a few crackers to eat and a drink of holy water, pouring it into my mouth, and said: "Let the evil spirit that found the servant of God John be married by the grace of God." gave me crackers and holy water for the journey, and moreover, prosphora, which he himself put in my cap. Finally, receiving his last blessing from him, I asked him not to leave me with his prayers. To this he said: "I put my trust in God and ask for His help. Yes, know how to forgive your neighbors - and you will be given everything that you ask for. "In the course of the Polish campaign, I was in many battles, and the Lord saved me everywhere for the prayers of His righteous man."
A general came to the elder and thanked him for his prayers. At the same time, he told him: “I was saved by your prayers during the Turkish campaign. Surrounded by many regiments of enemies, I myself remained with only one regiment and saw that I could neither strengthen nor move anywhere - neither back nor forward. Not "There was no hope of salvation. I only repeated incessantly: "Lord, have mercy on Elder Seraphim with the prayers," - I ate the crackers that you gave me as a blessing, drank water, and God protected me from enemies unharmed. The elder answered this: "The great means of salvation is faith, and especially unceasing prayer of the heart."
Highly placing the fifth commandment, the elder did not allow children to speak against their parents, even those who had undeniable shortcomings. One man came to the old man with his mother, who was betrayed by the vice of drunkenness. The son just wanted to talk about it, like Fr. Seraphim put his hand over his mouth and did not let him utter a word. Then, turning to his mother, he said: "Open your mouth," and when she opened her mouth, he breathed on her three times. Letting her go, oh Seraphim said: "Here is my testament to you. Do not have in your house not only wine, but even wine dishes, since (he predicted to his mother) you will no longer tolerate wine."
If someone, asking for the advice of an elder, subsequently did not fulfill this advice, he had to bitterly repent of that. One Ryazan landowner, who served as an officer, asked the elder for blessings for marriage. The elder showed him the bride appointed to him by God. She lived not far from him, and the elder called her by name. But he announced to the elder that he would marry another. "This does not belong to you in joy, but in sorrow and tears!" The old man answered him. He married of his choice, but within a year he was widowed. He was again a widower with the elder, then he married the person indicated for the first time by the elder, and lived happily with her.
The elder united the divorced spouses. The Teplovs parted ways due to family troubles. The husband lived in Penza, and the wife lived in Taganrog. The husband came to Sarov. As soon as the elder looked at him, he began to say: "Why don't you live with your wife? Go to her, go!" The words of the elder brought him to his senses: he went to fetch his wife, was with her in Kyiv on pilgrimage, then he settled in the village, and they lived peacefully and happily. Known for her piety, Mrs. Kolycheva wrote to the famous recluse George after the death of Fr. Seraphim: "I saw their letters after the news of the death of the elder. They are filled with sorrow that their father and benefactor died."
One mother lost sight of her son and in terrible grief went to Fr. Seraphim. The elder told her to wait in Sarov for her son for three days. On the fourth day, the weary woman again went to the old man,
to say goodbye to him. And at that time her son was with him, and, taking him by the hand, Fr. Seraphim led him to his mother.
One monk had the good fortune to hear the story of Fr. Seraphim about his rapture to heavenly abodes. The elder spoke like this: “Here I’ll tell you about the wretched Seraphim. I delighted in the word of my Lord Jesus Christ, where He says: in the house of My Father there are many abodes. prayed the Lord Jesus Christ to show me these abodes. The Lord did not deprive me of His mercy. So I was caught up into these heavenly abodes. Only I don’t know whether with the body or besides the body, God knows: it is incomprehensible. But about that joy and sweetness which I ate there, it is impossible to tell you." Father Seraphim fell silent. He bowed his head, moving his hand over his heart. His face became so bright that it was impossible to look at him. Then he spoke again: “If you knew what joy awaits the soul of the righteous in heaven, you would decide in temporary life to endure all kinds of sorrows, persecutions, slander; if our cell were full of worms and these worms would eat our flesh, all temporary life ours, then it would be necessary to agree to this, so as not to be deprived of that heavenly joy. If the holy Apostle Paul himself could not explain that heavenly glory, then what other human language can explain the beauty of the mountain village?
The landowner Mrs. Eropkina conveys her impression from one conversation with the elder. “I was honored to hear from him a comforting story about the Kingdom of Heaven. Neither his words, nor the impression he made on me at that time, I am now unable to convey exactly. The appearance of his face was completely unusual. Gracious light penetrated through his skin His eyes expressed calmness and some kind of unearthly delight. It must be assumed that, in his contemplative state of mind, he was outside the visible nature, in the holy heavenly abodes and conveyed to me what bliss the righteous enjoy. I could not keep everything in my memory, but I know that he told me about three saints: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, in what glory they are there. He described in detail and vividly the beauty and triumph of St. Fevronia and many other martyrs. I have not heard such living stories from anyone. But he definitely didn’t tell me everything then and added in conclusion: “Ah, my joy, such bliss there that it’s impossible to describe!” Seraphim, Ms. Kolycheva, in her letters to the well-known recluse of Zadonsk Georgy:
“General Mavra Lvovna Sipyagina told me and in my presence to others. She was ill, felt terrible anguish, and because of her illness could not eat the food laid down by the charter of the Church on fasting days. When she came to Father Seraphim to ask for help, the elder ordered her to drink water from of its source. Mavra Lvovna got drunk. Suddenly, without any coercion, a lot of bile came out of her larynx, and after that she became healthy. Even in wounds, Father Seraphim ordered many to douse with water from his source. Everyone received healing from this - and various diseases. Life Father Seraphim and the miraculous works of God in him rejoice me. And when I remember his resettlement from those here, my eyes are full of tears. When I was with him, I was so surprised by him that I talked little about myself with him. Only my tears flowed uncontrollably" .
Turning to the description of the last years of the life of the great old man, it should be noted that during these years he dressed somewhat differently than before. He now wore a cassock of thick black cloth. In summer, a white linen robe was thrown over the top, and in winter, he now put on a fur coat and mittens. From rain and heat, he wore a leather half-mantle with cutouts for threading. His shoes were: for the church - leather cats; for winter - shoe covers, for summer - bast shoes. He rested in the passage or in a cell. He slept sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall and stretching his legs. Sometimes he laid his head on a brick or logs. In the very last time of his life, it was impossible to look at his dream without horror. He knelt down and, supporting his head with his hands, slept, resting his elbows on the floor, facing the ground.
Heaven became for him a really close, native element. When, two years before his death, his officer Karataev asked him if there was something to convey to his brother and Kursk relatives, the elder pointed to the face of the Savior and the Mother of God and said with a smile: "Here are my relatives!" At this time in his life, Fr. Seraphim prayed especially fervently for all Christians, the dead and the living. In the cell of Fr. Seraphim burned many lamps and especially many bunches of large and small wax candles. They were placed on round trays, and from their constant burning in a cramped cell there was heat. Father Seraphim himself explained the meaning of these candles to his admirer Motovilov: “As you know, I have many persons who are zealous for me and do good to my orphans (Diveev). They bring me oil and candles and ask me to pray for them. That’s when I I read my rule, then I first remember them once. these candles are a sacrifice to God for them, for each one candle; sometimes for several people one large candle, for others I constantly warm lamps; and where it is necessary to commemorate them on the rule, I say: “Lord, remember all those people, Thy servants, for their souls I kindled to you, wretched one, these candles and censers. "And that this is not mine, the wretched Seraphim, a human invention or so, my simple zeal, based on nothing, I will bring you to reinforce the words of Divine Scripture. In The Bible says that Moses heard the voice of the Lord saying go to him: “Moses, Moses, pray to your brother Aaron, let him burn shackles before Me day and night. For this is pleasing before Me, and the sacrifice is favorable to Me. "So this is why the Holy Church has adopted the custom of burning censers or lamps in front of icons in holy churches and in the homes of faithful Christians."
His concern for the dead was touching. He himself said the following: “Two nuns died, who were both abbesses. The Lord revealed to me how their souls were led through air ordeals, that they were tortured at the ordeals, then condemned. For three days I prayed for them, wretched, asking God for them Mother, the Lord, in His goodness, through the prayers of the Mother of God, had mercy on them: they went through all the airy ordeals and received forgiveness from God.
Yes, Elder Seraphim penetrated deeply into everything invisible to our eyes. The barrier that exists between the earthly and the heavenly did not seem to exist for him. Even in the earthly body he seemed incorporeal. So, a story has been preserved about how they saw him rise into the air during prayer. Princess E.S.Sh. brought to the elder her sick nephew Y., who came to her from St. Petersburg. They carried him on the bed into the monastery fence. The elder, as if waiting for him, stood at the door of his cell and asked that the sick man be brought to him. When they were alone, oh. Seraphim said: "You, my joy, pray, and I will pray for you. Just look: lie down as you lie and do not turn around in the other direction." For a long time the sick man lay without turning around, obedient to the word of the elder. But at last curiosity forced him to turn around, to see what the old man was doing. He saw o. Seraphim standing in the air in a prayer position. He screamed in surprise. The elder, having finished his prayer, went up to him and said: “Now you will explain to everyone that Seraphim is a saint, praying in the air. The Lord will have mercy on you. will come back to you." The patient left the old man himself, although leaning on a crutch. When they began to question him what the elder was doing with him, he stubbornly remained silent. Having completely recovered, he returned to Petersburg, where he usually lived, then again went to his aunt in the village and learned here about the death of the great old man. Then he revealed what he had witnessed.
Throughout Russia, people who valued piety in any way deeply revered Father Seraphim. All contemporary Russian ascetics of piety spoke of him as a great spiritual man. Some bishops wrote to him, asking him for advice. Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh, whom Elder Seraphim called the great bishop of God, especially revered him. Spirit of Seraphim knew many ascetics. Known, for example, are his full of amazing insight towards Georgy, a recluse from the Don, to the recluse of Minsk (in Siberia) Daniil Delie. One visitor to the recluse George asked whose portrait it was. Then George told him a remarkable manifestation of the foresight over him of the elder Seraphim, who then had already died and whom the portrait depicted.
For a long time the recluse was embarrassed by the thought of whether he should move from the Zadonsky monastery to another monastery. For two years he struggled with this thought, not revealing it to anyone. One day, his cell-attendant reports to him that a wanderer has come with an assignment from the elder Seraphim of Sarov, which he wishes to convey personally. When the wanderer was admitted to the hermit, he said: "Father Seraphim ordered you to say: it's a shame, having been sitting in the lock for so many years, to be overcome by such enemy thoughts in order to leave this place. Don't go anywhere. The Most Holy Theotokos orders you to stay here." Having said these words, the elderly wanderer bowed and left. For some time, deeply amazed that Fr. Seraphim from afar sent him an answer to a secret thought, the hermit stood motionless. Coming to his senses, he sent his cell-attendant after him to question him in detail. But neither in the monastery, nor behind the monastery could they find the wanderer.
Twenty-one months before his death, the great elder Seraphim had a wonderful visit to the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Like many or, rather, most of the Russian reverends, Elder Seraphim was distinguished by boundless reverence for the Mother of God. The Most Holy Lady, starting from the time that in childhood she promised him healing, repeatedly appeared to Her chosen one. A particularly significant visit to the Lady of the World, and already in reality, the elder was honored on the day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, March 25, 1831. The witness of this visit was the old woman Evdokia from Diveyevo. Father Seraphim knew about the blessed visit the day before.
Early in the morning on the day of the Annunciation, Fr. Seraphim, having covered the nun with his mantle, began to read the canons and akathists. Then he said to her: "Do not be afraid, do not be afraid - the Grace of God is to us ..."
There was a noise like the wind, the door of the cell itself opened, a bright light shone, a fragrance poured out, singing was heard. Trembling seized the nun. Father Seraphim fell to his knees and, raising his hands to the sky, said: "Oh, blessed Most Pure Virgin, Lady Mother of God!"
Two angels walked ahead, holding branches with freshly blossomed flowers in their hands. They got ahead. They were followed by Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Theologian in white shining robes. Behind them was the Mother of God and twelve virgins. The Queen of Heaven was wearing a mantle, as it is written on the image of the Sorrowful Mother of God, of unspeakable beauty, fastened with a stone lined with crosses. The handrails on Her hands and the epitrachelion, superimposed on top of the dress and mantle, were also lined with crosses. She seemed taller than all the maidens. On Her head shone a crown in crosses - and her eyes could not stand the light that illuminated the face of the Most Pure One. The virgins followed Her in pairs wearing crowns and were of different types, but all of great beauty. The cell became more spacious, and its top was filled with lights, as if from burning candles. It was clearer than noon, brighter than the sun.
For a long time the nun was in trembling oblivion. When she came to herself, oh. Seraphim was no longer on his knees, but on his feet before the Lady, and She spoke to him as to a native person... The virgins told the nun their names and sufferings for Christ. These were the Great Martyrs Barbara and Catherine, Marina and Empress Irina, Pelagia, Dorothea and Juliana, the First Martyr Thekla, the Monk Eupraxia and Macrina, the Martyrs Anisia and Justina.
From the conversation of the Most Pure Lady with Father Seraphim, the nun heard: "Do not leave My virgins (of Diveyevo)". The elder answered: “O Lady, I collect them. But I cannot control them by myself.” The Queen of Heaven said: "My beloved, I will help you in everything. Whoever offends them will be struck down by Me. Whoever serves them for the Lord's sake will be remembered before God." Blessing the elder, the Lady said: "Soon, my beloved, you will be with us."
The vision vanished in an instant. The elder said that it lasted four hours.
In the last year of his life, the great elder became extremely weak. He could not go every day to the nearby hermitage and could not receive many in the monastery. The people mourned that, and many, in order to see the elder, had to live for a long time in a monastery hotel in order to enjoy the fragrance of his last conversations. All the same, his wondrous gifts shone in the elder - insight, the gift of healing.
Remarkable is one of the elder's last conversations, which he had with the landowner Bogdanov a week before his end. On Christmas Day, Bogdanov came very early to the still empty church and saw that Fr. Seraphim sits on the floor of the right kliros. After mass, he asked to set a time for him to talk. To this request, the elder replied: “There is no need to appoint a time; the holy apostle James, brother of God, teaches: if the Lord will be pleased, and we will live, we will do this and this.” On the same day, having prepared questions that he wanted to discuss with the elder, Bogdanov came to his cell, and Fr. Seraphim agreed to talk with him. Throughout the conversation, he stood leaning on an oak coffin, and held a burning wax candle in his hands. When asked whether to continue the service or live in the village, the elder replied: “You are still young – serve. Do good. The way of the Lord is all the same. The enemy will be with you everywhere. .
To the question whether to teach children languages and other sciences, the elder replied: "What's the harm in knowing something?" At the same time, the thought flashed through Bogdanov that he himself had to be a scientist in order to answer this. And the perspicacious old man immediately said: "Where can I, a baby, answer this against your mind? Ask someone smarter."
When asked if illnesses should be treated, the elder said: “The disease cleanses sins. However, it’s your will. Go the middle way. Do not take it beyond your strength. Blame - praise. Condemn yourself, so God will not condemn. Submit your will to the will of the Lord. Never flatter. Know good and evil in yourself: blessed is the man who knows this. Love your neighbor: your neighbor is your flesh. If by If you live in the flesh, you will destroy both your soul and your flesh.
When asked if, in order to maintain one’s rank, one should be involved in expenses that exceed a person’s income, the elder said: “Who can do it. Better than God sent. Bread and water are enough for a person.” When asked whether pleasing people should come to disagreement with the will of God, the elder replied: “For this love, many died. If anyone does not do good, he sins. When asked how to manage subordinates, Fr. Seraphim answered: "By graces, by facilitating labors, and not by wounds. Drink, feed, be fair. If God forgives, and you forgive." Then the elder said: “What the holy Church kissed and accepted, everything should be kind to the heart of a Christian. Do not forget the holidays. oil to the church. Almsgiving will do you much good." When asked about virginity and marriage, the elder said: "And virginity is glorious, and marriage is blessed by God. Only the enemy confuses everything."
Bogdanov asked if it was possible to eat fast food, if Lenten food is harmful to someone and doctors demand that they eat fast food. To this, the elder replied: “Bread and water are not harmful to anyone. How did people live fast for years? A person will not live on bread alone ... But what the Church has laid down at the seven Ecumenical Councils, then fulfill. Woe to the one who adds one word. What do doctors say about the righteous who healed festering wounds with a single touch?
"How to destroy pride and acquire humility?" asked Bogdanov. "In silence," answered the elder. "In silence, great sins conquer."
Saying goodbye to Bogdanov, the elder thanked him "for visiting his poverty" and wanted to kiss his hand, bowing to him all to the ground; endowed him with crackers, asking him to distribute them to his subordinates. The elder spoke extremely hastily this time. Bogdanov did not have time to read the question written on a piece of paper, as the answer already followed.
What the elder said in this conversation is the rules of life for a layman who follows the middle path - without any special deeds, but not forgetting about God.
Having seen a true ascetic, Elder Timon, whom he had not seen for 20 years, Fr. Seraphim said to him: “This, Father Timon, this, this wheat given to you everywhere. and bear fruit, though not soon." Blessing at parting the nun he had healed five months before his death, who asked him if she could still hope to see him again, the elder, pointing to the sky with his hand, said: "I'll see you there. It's better, better, better!"
Father Seraphim began to prepare for the end. He went out into the desert less and less often, received less and less. He was often seen in the hallways. He sat at the coffin he had prepared for himself and thought about death and the afterlife. Often he wept bitterly. Now, saying goodbye to many, the elder affirmatively said: "We will not see you again." When some spoke of their desire to come to Sarov during Great Lent, the elder answered: "Then my doors will be closed. You will not see me." The elder was still cheerful, but, apparently, his vitality was burning out. “My life is shortening,” he said to some, “in spirit, I’m as if born now. But in body I’m dead all over.”
In August, four months before the end of Fr. Seraphim, His Eminence Arseniy, newly appointed to Tambov, later Metropolitan of Kyiv, was in Sarov and visited Fr. Seraphim. The elder presented the bishop with a gift of a rosary, a bunch of wax candles wrapped in linen, a bottle of wooden oil, and woolen stockings. Then, separately, he brought him a bottle of red church wine. All this meant that the elder asked to remember him after his death. The candles, oil and wine saved by the bishop were used for the liturgy that he performed for the repose of the elder when they received the news of his death. And the bishop kept the rest of the items. Father Seraphim ordered letters to be sent to some persons, inviting them to hurry with their arrival. He also instructed to convey to various other persons who could not come, the instructions they needed. “They won’t see me on their own,” the elder explained.
Before the New Year, the elder measured out his own grave at the altar of the Assumption Cathedral, in the place where he once laid a stone when he came out of the gate. Somehow at this time, one monk, marveling at the life of Fr. Seraphim, asked him:
—Why don’t we, father, have such a strict life as the ancient ascetics of piety led?
“Because,” answered Fr. Seraphim, - that we do not have the determination to do so. If they had the determination, then they would live like the fathers, who shone in antiquity. Because the grace and help of God to the faithful and those who seek the Lord God with all their hearts is now the same as it was before. For, according to the word of God, Jesus Christ is "yesterday and today, the same and forever."
Yes, in one human being he contained so many feats, in the space of one life he united in himself the strength, jealousy, ardor, as it were, of many great people; yes, he truly proved with his life that all the same grace that inspired the first great saints, raised the greatest men of the Church, and now, not at all impoverished, abides in the Church, if only people would seek to draw from this source, if only they had the determination to Aspire to God alone, desire only God. That is why the significance of Father Seraphim is great, that in his person the treasured fortress of former times has been resurrected. His spirit soared just as high as that of the fathers of the first Christian churches. And therefore, just as striking, going beyond any usual framework, was his life. Here is a touching testament handed down by the elder to one Diveyevo nun and, of course, also applies to all who revere him:
"When I'm gone, go, mother, to my coffin. Go as you have time. And the more often, the better. Everything that you have in your soul, everything that you grieve about, no matter what happens with you - with everything, come to me on the coffin. Yes, crouching to the ground, as to a living person, and tell. And I will hear you, and your sorrow will pass. As with a living person, speak to me. And I will always live for you. " The old man entrusted the Diveyevo sisters to the intercession of the Queen of Heaven.
The first day of 1833 arrived, which fell on a Sunday. Father Seraphim took communion at an early Mass in the church of the Solovetsky Wonderworkers, dear to him. And, which he did not do before, he went around all the icons, kissing each and putting candles. After the service, he said goodbye to all the monks who were praying, blessed, kissed and said: "Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake, today crowns are being prepared for us!" Three times that day, the elder went out to the place appointed for his burial, and looked at the ground for a long time. In the evening he could be heard singing Easter songs in his cell.
At the end of the early liturgy on January 2, Father Seraphim was found in his cell reposed in a prayerful kneeling position. The elder was buried at a place chosen by him near the wall of the Assumption Cathedral, in an oak coffin prepared by him long before his death. On his chest, according to his will, they put an enamel image of St. Sergius on him. Recently, a chapel with glass walls has been built around the grave. There are large paintings depicting the blessed death of the elder and the grace-filled visit of the Most Holy Theotokos to him.
In recent years, his cell has been surrounded by a temple, in which she serves as an altar. Huts from both deserts - near and far - were moved to Diveev. In one of them, an altar is arranged, where various items that belonged to Father Seraphim are stored. In another, pieces of rye bread are handed out in memory of the elder, as he himself did. The stone, on which Elder Seraphim prayed for a thousand nights, was taken apart by the pilgrims for a blessing. Only a small piece remained of it. In many Russian pious families, fragments of this stone are kept with the image of Father Seraphim praying kneeling on the stone with his hands raised. There is something touching to tears, binding the heart with some inexpressible power, in the being of the wondrous old man. Happy is he who will call upon him! The opinion about him of the "great bishop of God" Archbishop Anthony of Voronezh is fair: "He, like a pood candle, always burns before the Lord - both by his past life on earth, and by real boldness before the Holy Trinity."
Few righteous people were glorified so soon after their death as Fr. Seraphim. All these 70 years separating us from the day of his death are full of manifestations of his forgotten, his love and compassion. Here are some of the elder's miracles.
From a letter to P.I. Arkhipova from Moscow dated October 7, 1869: “I offer my sincere gratitude for sending my wife Maria Nikolaevna an image on enamel with the image of the Mother of God and Father Seraphim praying before Her. This image was handed over during a serious illness by a nun who came in the morning. before that, she had seen in a dream or even in reality - for she was unconscious - that Father Seraphim was busy and caring for her, dousing her with warm water. When she came to her senses, she was covered in sweat. Then they gave her the image you sent, and from that moment she began to recover, while an evil fever, together with a blistering face, completely drove her to the grave. I and each member of my family testify that the prayer of St. Seraphim is great before God. There were many, many wonderful cases with us, who assured us of his intercession before God."
Letter from Maria Grigoryevna Saburova: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. During a severe typhoid fever, I was honored to see the saint of God, Fr. Seraphim in a vision, as if I had come to the Sarov Hermitage and the elder Fr. Seraphim sent me to the Diveevo monastery And when the desert appeared in a vision, there was an unfinished temple in it, and in the air above the temple I saw the icon of the Mother of God, the holy father Seraphim told me on behalf of the Queen of Heaven that I would be alive, my illness was not to death. The elder also said: " And now you will not have mourning, but in the future, in 1869, there will be mourning. "I immediately told this vision, without regaining consciousness, to everyone present, and recovering myself, I repeated the story again. Everything that I saw was fulfilled. And mourning in our family happened unexpectedly ten months later. My husband's brother, a young man, chamberlain Nikolai Dmitrievich Saburov died abroad. In the vision, sign: M. G. Saburova. Witnesses at this vision were: A. M. Yazykova, T. S. Uznanskaya , VG Language ova".
Marfa Tolstova, a peasant woman in the Penza district of the village of Zaichnoye, 50 years old, was completely blind for 14 years. In a dream, she saw an old man who ordered her to visit Sarov, where she would receive healing. "Look at me!" - the old man who dreamed told her, and she clearly saw him. “Go,” he ordered, “to the Seraphim spring, wash yourself and, taking water from it, climb the mountain, to the stone; bending down, help your eyes and you will be healed of blindness.” On June 29, 1873, everything that was said was fulfilled - she received her sight in Sarov.
In October 1874, a letter was received in Diveevo from the Nizhny Novgorod landowner Karataeva: she asked to send oil from the lamp from the image of Fr. Seraphim. This oil, brought from Diveevo, was given to her by her cousin, Princess Chegodaeva, and it cured Karataeva of severe rheumatism.
Princess A.S. Kugusheva wrote to Abbess Maria of Diveyevo: “You can’t imagine the suffering I endured. My ear and jaw hurt so much that I didn’t sleep at night and couldn’t lay my head down to calm down. One beneficial remedy is Father Seraphim’s towel. As soon as I put it on a sore spot, the pain will calm down and I will fall asleep.
Letter to Mother Superior of Diveyevo Maria, B.C. Volkova: “Wonderful is God in His saints. On the 17th of this month, through the prayers of Father Seraphim, a miraculous instantaneous healing of my three-year-old granddaughter Olga took place in my family, who, being cheerful and playing, suddenly fell into exhaustion, her eyes were clouded, she she stared wildly, like a madwoman, her hands were brought together, and to the questions put to her, as her tongue was taken away, she could not answer. Her mother ran to me in tears, confused and like a madwoman, asking me to give her something holy I immediately ordered water to be brought from the spring of Fr. cracker water, then her eyes and hands took on their permanent form and she began to laugh and play, and to this day she is healthy.
The archpriest of the Arzamas Cathedral, Svetozarsky, wrote in Diveevo on April 26, 1873: “Since the second week of the last Lent, the visitation of God has come upon me with a severe cold, from which unbearable pain arose inside. On the fourth week, it intensified to such an extent that I expected an imminent death. On March 17, at one o'clock in the morning, the saint of God himself appeared in front of my bed and on his knees fed me some sweet food like pies. He ordered me to immediately read the akathist to the Mother of God, which I knew by heart. his job is to feed me, and suddenly disappeared, after which in an instant my illness was destroyed.
And how charmingly merciful, affectionate, caring the great elder is in such his appearances! And what streams will now flow from his good deeds, signs, healings!
Marvelous old man Seraphim, help us!
Father o. Seraphim entered the Sarov Hermitage in 1778, on November 20, on the eve of the Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos into the temple, and was entrusted with obedience to the elder hieromonk Joseph.
His homeland was the provincial city of Kursk, where his father, Isidor Moshnin, had brick factories and was engaged in the construction of stone buildings, churches and houses as a contractor. Isidor Moshnin was known as an extremely honest man, zealous for the temples of God and a rich, eminent merchant. Ten years before his death, he undertook to build a new church in Kursk in the name of St. Sergius, according to the plan of the famous architect Rastrelli. Subsequently, in 1833, this temple was made a cathedral. In 1752, the laying of the temple took place, and when the lower church, with a throne in the name of St. Sergius, was ready in 1762, the pious builder, the father of the great elder Seraphim, the founder of the Diveevsky monastery, died. Having transferred all his fortune to his kind and intelligent wife Agathia, he instructed her to bring the work of building the temple to the end. Mother o. Seraphim was even more pious and merciful than her father: she helped the poor a lot, especially orphans and poor brides.
Agafia Moshnina continued the construction of St. Sergius Church for many years and personally supervised the workers. In 1778, the temple was finally finished, and the execution of the work was so good and conscientious that the Moshnin family gained special respect among the residents of Kursk.
Father Seraphim was born in 1759, on July 19, and was named Prokhor. At the death of his father, Prokhor was no more than three years old, therefore, he was fully raised by a God-loving, kind and intelligent mother, who taught him more by the example of her life, which took place in prayer, visiting churches and helping the poor. That Prokhor was the chosen one of God from his birth - this was seen by all spiritually developed people, and his pious mother could not but feel. So, one day, while examining the structure of the St. Sergius Church, Agafia Moshnina walked with her seven-year-old Prokhor and imperceptibly reached the very top of the bell tower that was being built at that time. Moving away suddenly from his mother, the fast boy leaned over the railing to look down, and, through negligence, fell to the ground. The frightened mother fled from the bell tower in a terrible state, imagining to find her son beaten to death, but, to inexpressible joy and great surprise, she saw him safe and sound. The child stood up. The mother tearfully thanked God for saving her son and realized that the son Prokhor was guarded by a special providence of God.
Three years later, a new event clearly revealed God's protection over Prokhor. He was ten years old, and he was distinguished by a strong physique, sharpness of mind, quick memory and, at the same time, meekness and humility. They began to teach him church literacy, and Prokhor set to work eagerly, but suddenly he became very ill, and even his family did not hope for his recovery. In the most difficult time of his illness, in a dream, Prokhor saw the Most Holy Theotokos, who promised to visit him and heal him from his illness. When he woke up, he told this vision to his mother. Indeed, soon, in one of the religious processions, the miraculous icon of the Sign of the Mother of God was carried around the city of Kursk along the street where Moshnin's house was. It started raining heavily. In order to cross to another street, the procession, probably to shorten the path and avoid dirt, went through the Moshnin courtyard. Taking this opportunity, Agathia brought her sick son out into the yard, put it on the miraculous icon and brought it under its shadow. We noticed that from that time Prokhor began to recover in health and soon completely recovered. Thus, the promise of the Queen of Heaven to visit the boy and heal him was fulfilled. With the restoration of health, Prokhor continued his studies successfully, studied the Book of Hours, the Psalter, learned to write and fell in love with reading the Bible and spiritual books.
Prokhor's older brother, Alexei, was engaged in trade and had his own shop in Kursk, so the young Prokhor was forced to get used to trading in this shop; but his heart did not lie in trade and profit. The young Prokhor never let go of almost a single day without visiting the temple of God, and, being unable to be at the late Liturgy and Vespers on the occasion of classes in the shop, he got up earlier than others and hurried to matins and early Mass. At that time, in the city of Kursk, there lived some fool for Christ, whose name is now forgotten, but then everyone honored. Prokhor met him and with all his heart clung to the holy fool; the latter, in turn, loved Prochorus and, by his influence, disposed his soul even more towards piety and a solitary life. His clever mother noticed everything and sincerely rejoiced that her son was so close to the Lord. Rare happiness also fell to Prokhor to have such a mother and teacher who did not interfere, but contributed to his desire to choose a spiritual life for himself.
A few years later, Prokhor began to talk about monasticism and cautiously inquired whether his mother would be against him going to a monastery. He, of course, noticed that his kind teacher did not contradict his desire and would rather let him go than keep him in peace; from this, the desire for the monastic life flared up in his heart even more. Then Prokhor began to talk about monasticism with people he knew, and in many he found sympathy and approval. So, the merchants Ivan Druzhinin, Ivan Bezkhodarny, Alexei Melenin and two others expressed the hope to go with him to the monastery.
In the seventeenth year of his life, the intention to leave the world and embark on the path of monastic life finally matured in Prokhor. And in the heart of the mother, a determination was formed to let him go to the service of God. His farewell to his mother was touching! Having gathered completely, they sat for a while, according to Russian custom, then Prokhor got up, prayed to God, bowed at his mother's feet and asked for her parental blessing. Agathia gave him to venerate the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God, then blessed him with a copper cross. Taking this cross with him, he always wore it openly on his chest until the end of his life.
Prokhor had to decide not an unimportant question: where and to what monastery should he go. Glory to the ascetic life of the monks of the Sarov Hermitage, where many of the Kursk residents were already there and Fr. Pakhomiy, a native of Kursk, urged him to go to them, but he wanted to be in Kyiv beforehand in order to look at the labors of the Kiev Caves monks, ask for guidance and advice from the elders, learn through them the will of God, be affirmed in his thoughts, receive a blessing from some ascetic and, finally, to pray and be blessed by St. relics of St. Anthony and Theodosius, the founders of monasticism. Prokhor went on foot, with a staff in his hand, and with him were five more people of the Kursk merchants. In Kyiv, bypassing the local ascetics, he heard that not far from St. Lavra of the Caves, in the Kitaevskaya monastery, a hermit named Dositheus, who has the gift of clairvoyance, is saved. Coming to him, Prokhor fell at his feet, kissed them, opened his whole soul before him and asked for guidance and blessings. The perspicacious Dositheus, seeing the grace of God in him, understanding his intentions and seeing in him a good ascetic of Christ, blessed him to go to the Sarov Hermitage and said in conclusion: “Come, child of God, and abide there. This place will be your salvation, with the help Gentlemen, here you will end your earthly journey, but try to acquire the unceasing remembrance of God through the unceasing invocation of the name of God thus: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner! doing and standing in the church, everywhere, in every place, entering and leaving, let this unceasing cry be both in your mouth and in your heart: with it you will find peace, you will acquire spiritual and bodily purity, and the Holy Spirit will dwell in you, the source of all good, and will govern your life in the shrine, in all piety and purity. In Sarov, and the rector Pachomius of a charitable life; he is a follower of our Anthony and Theodosius!
The conversation of the blessed elder Dositheus finally confirmed the young man in good intentions. After rebuking, confessing and partaking of the Holy Mysteries, bowing again to St. saints of the Kiev-Pechersk, he directed his steps on the path and, protected by the protection of God, safely arrived again in Kursk, at the house of his mother. Here he lived for several more months, even went to the shop, but he was no longer engaged in trade, but read soul-saving books as a warning to himself and others who came to talk with him, ask about holy places and listen to readings. This time was his farewell to his homeland and relatives.
As already mentioned, Prokhor entered the Sarov monastery on November 20, 1778, on the eve of the feast of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos. Standing in the church at the all-night vigil, seeing the deanery of the service, noticing how everyone, from the rector to the last novice, fervently pray, he was delighted with the spirit and rejoiced that the Lord had shown him a place here for the salvation of his soul. Father Pakhomiy knew Prokhor's parents from an early age and therefore lovingly accepted the young man, in whom he saw a true desire for monasticism. He appointed him to the number of novices to the treasurer, Hieromonk Joseph, a wise and loving old man. At first, Prokhor was in the cell obedience to the elder and faithfully followed all the monastic rules and regulations at his direction; in his cell he served not only meekly, but always with zeal. Such behavior drew the attention of everyone to him and gained him the favor of the elders Joseph and Pachomius. Then, in addition to the cell, they began to assign him obedience in order: in the bakery, in the prosphora, in the carpentry. In the latter, he was an wake-up man and performed this obedience for quite a long time. Then he performed ponomari duties. In general, young Prokhor, vigorous in strength, went through all the monastic obediences with great zeal, but, of course, he did not escape many temptations, such as sadness, boredom, and despondency, which had a strong effect on him.
The life of the young Prochorus before being tonsured a monk was daily distributed as follows: at certain hours he was in the church for worship and rules. Imitating Elder Pachomius, he appeared as early as possible at church prayers, stood motionless throughout the service, no matter how long it was, and never left before the perfect end of the service. During the hours of prayer, he always stood in one specific place. To protect himself from entertainment and daydreaming, having his eyes downcast, he listened with intense attentiveness and reverence to singing and reading, accompanying them with prayer. Prokhor liked to retire to his cell, where, in addition to prayer, he had two kinds of occupations: reading and bodily labor. He read the Psalms and sitting, saying that it is permissible for the weary, and St. The Gospel and Epistles of the Apostles are always standing before St. icons, in a prayer position, and this was called vigil (wakefulness). He constantly read the works of St. fathers, for example. Six days of St. Basil the Great, Conversations of St. Macarius the Great, Ladder of St. John, Philokalia, etc. In the hours of rest, he indulged in bodily labor, carved crosses from cypress wood for blessing the pilgrims. When Prokhor passed the carpentry obedience, he was distinguished by great zeal, art and success, so that in the schedule he was one of all called Prokhor - the carpenter. He also went to work common to all the brethren: rafting timber, preparing firewood, and so on.
Seeing examples of hermitage, Fr. hegumen Nazarius, hieromonk Dorotheus, schemamonk Mark, young Prokhor strove in spirit for greater solitude and asceticism, and therefore asked for the blessing of his elder, Fr. Joseph to leave the monastery during his free hours and go into the forest. There he found a solitary place, arranged a secret sanctuary, and in it, completely alone, indulged in divine meditation and prayer. The contemplation of wondrous nature elevated him to God, and, according to a man who was later close to Elder Seraphim, he performed here rule, hedgehog gave the Angel of the Lord to Great Pachomius, the founder of the monastic hostel. This rule is performed in the following order: Trisagion and according to our Father: Lord, have mercy, 12. Glory now: come and worship - three times. Psalm 50: Have mercy on me, God. I believe in one God... One hundred prayers: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, and according to this: It is worthy to eat and let go.
This amounted to one prayer, but such prayers had to be performed according to the number of daily hours, twelve during the day and twelve at night. He combined abstinence and fasting with prayer: on Wednesday and Friday he did not eat any food, and on other days of the week he took it only once.
In 1780, Prokhor fell seriously ill, and his whole body swelled up. Not a single doctor could determine the type of his illness, but it was assumed that it was water sickness. The illness lasted for three years, of which Prokhor spent at least half in bed. Builder Fr. Pakhomiy and the elder Fr. Isaiah alternately followed him and were almost inseparable from him. It was then that it was revealed how everyone, and before others, the bosses, respected, loved and pitied Prokhor, who was then still a simple novice. Finally, they began to fear for the life of the patient, and Fr. Pachomius urged to invite a doctor, or at least open the blood. Then the humble Prokhor allowed himself to say to the hegumen: “I have given myself, Holy Father, to the True Physician of souls and bodies, our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother; . Mystery". Elder Joseph, at the request of Prochorus and his own zeal, especially served about health the sick all-night vigil and liturgy. Prokhor was confessed and received communion. He soon recovered, which surprised everyone. No one understood how he could recover so soon, and only later Fr. Seraphim revealed the secret to some: after Communion of the Holy Mysteries, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him in an indescribable light, with the Apostles John the Theologian and Peter, and turning her face to John and pointing her finger at Prochorus, the Lady said: "This one of our kind!"
“The right hand, my joy,” Father Seraphim said to the churchwoman Xenia, “she put it on my head, and in the left hand she held a rod; and with this rod, my joy, she touched the wretched Seraphim; I have on that in a place, on the right thigh, a depression became, mother; all the water flowed out into it, and the Queen of Heaven saved the wretched Seraphim; and the wound was very big, and the pit is still intact, mother, look, give me a pen!" “And the father used to take it himself, and put my hand into the pit,” mother Xenia added, “and he had a big one, so the whole fist will rise!” This illness brought much spiritual benefit to Prokhor: his spirit grew stronger in faith, love and hope in God.
During the period of Prochorus' novitiate, under the rector Fr. Pachomia, many necessary buildings were undertaken in the Sarov desert. Among them, on the site of the cell in which Prokhor was ill, a hospital was built to treat the sick and calm the elderly, and at the hospital a church on two floors with altars: in the lower one in the name of Sts. Zosima and Savvaty, the miracle workers of the Solovetsky, in the upper - to the glory of the Transfiguration of the Savior. After an illness, Prokhor, still a young novice, was sent to collect money in different places for the construction of a church. Grateful for his healing and the care of his superiors, he willingly endured the difficult feat of the collector. Wandering around the cities closest to Sarov, Prokhor was also in Kursk, in the place of his homeland, but he did not find his mother alive. Brother Alexei, for his part, provided Prokhor with considerable assistance in building the church. Returning home, Prokhor, as a skilled carpenter, built with his own hands an altar of cypress wood for the lower hospital church in honor of the Monks Zosima and Savvaty.
For eight years, young Prokhor was a novice. By this time, his outward appearance had changed: being tall, about 2 ars. and 8 inches, despite strict abstinence and exploits, he had a full face covered with a pleasant whiteness, a straight and sharp nose, light blue eyes, very expressive and penetrating; thick eyebrows and light blond hair on the head. His face was bordered by a thick, bushy beard, with which, at the extremities of his mouth, a long and thick mustache was connected. He had a manly build, possessed great physical strength, a captivating gift for words, and a happy memory. Now he had already passed all the degrees of monastic prowess and was able and ready to take monastic vows.
On August 13, 1786, with the permission of the Holy Synod, Fr. Pachomius tonsured the novice Prokhor to the rank of monk. During his tonsure, his adoptive fathers were Fr. Joseph and Fr. Isaiah. At the initiation, he was given the name Seraphim (fiery). On October 27, 1786, monk Seraphim, at the request of Fr. Pachomius, was consecrated by His Grace Victor, Bishop of Vladimir and Murom, to the rank of hierodeacon. He completely devoted himself to his new, truly already angelic, service. From the day of his elevation to the rank of hierodeacon, he, keeping the purity of soul and body, for five years and 9 months, was almost continuously in service. He spent all the nights on Sundays and feast days in vigilance and prayer, standing motionless until the very liturgy. At the end of each Divine service, remaining for a long time in the temple, he, in accordance with the duties of a sacred deacon, put the utensils in order and took care of the cleanliness of the Altar of the Lord. The Lord, seeing the zeal and zeal for exploits, granted Fr. Seraphim received strength and strength, so that he did not feel tired, did not need to rest, often forgot about food and drink, and, going to bed, regretted that a person, like Angels, could not continuously serve God.
Builder Fr. Pachomius was now even more attached in his heart to Fr. Seraphim and without him did not perform almost a single service. When he traveled on monastery business or to serve, alone or with other elders, he often took Fr. Seraphim. So, in 1789, in the first half of June, Fr. Pakhomiy with the treasurer, Fr. Isaiah and Hierodeacon Fr. At the invitation of Seraphim, they went to the village of Lemet, located 6 versts from the present city of Ardatov, Nizhny Novgorod province, to the funeral of their wealthy benefactor, the landowner Alexander Solovtsev, and stopped on the way to Diveevo to visit the abbess of the community Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, highly revered by all the old woman and also his benefactor. Alexandra's mother was sick and, having received a notice from the Lord of her imminent death, she asked the ascetic fathers, for the love of Christ, to specialize her. Father Pachomius at first offered to postpone the consecration of the oil until they returned from Lemet, but the holy old woman repeated her request and said that they would not find her alive on the way back. The great elders performed the sacrament of unction over her with love. Then, saying goodbye to them, Alexander's mother gave Fr. Pachomia was the last thing she had and accumulated over the years of her ascetic life in Diveevo. According to the testimony of the maiden Evdokia Martynova, who lived with her, to her confessor, Archpriest Fr. Vasily Sadovsky, mother Agafya Semyonovna handed over to the builder Fr. Pachomia: a bag of gold, a bag of silver and two bags of copper, in the amount of 40 thousand, asking her to give her sisters everything they need in life, since they themselves will not be able to dispose of. Mother Alexandra begged Fr. Pachomias commemorate her in Sarov for repose, do not leave or leave her inexperienced novices, and also take care in due time of the monastery promised to her by the Queen of Heaven. To this, the old man Fr. Pachomius replied: “Mother! I do not renounce to serve the Queen of Heaven according to my strength and according to your will and care for your novices; also I will not only pray for you until my death, but our entire monastery will never forget your good deeds, but in I don’t give you my word about anything else, for I’m old and weak, but how can I undertake it, not knowing whether I will live to see this time. it's a big deal."
Matushka Agafya Semyonovna began to ask Fr. Seraphim not to leave her monastery, as the Queen of Heaven Herself will then instruct him on that.
The elders said goodbye, left, and the marvelous old woman Agafya Semyonovna died on June 13, on the day of St. martyr Akilina. On the way back, O. Pakhomiy and his brethren just arrived in time for the burial of Mother Alexandra. Having served the liturgy and the funeral service in a cathedral, the great elders buried the founder of the Diveevo community against the altar of the Kazan Church. The whole day of June 13th it rained so heavily that no dry thread was left on anyone, but Fr. Seraphim, in his chastity, did not even stay to dine in the convent, and immediately after the burial went on foot to Sarov.
Once on Great Thursday, the builder Fr. Pachomius, who never served without Fr. Seraphim, began the Divine Liturgy at 2 pm in the evening, and after a small exit and sayings, Hierodeacon Seraphim exclaimed: "Lord, save the pious and hear us!" centuries" - when suddenly he changed his appearance so much that he could neither move from his place nor utter a word. Everyone noticed this and understood that God's visitation was with him. Two hierodeacons took him by the arms, led him into the altar and left him aside, where he stood for three hours, constantly changing his appearance, and after that, having already come to his senses, he told the builder and treasurer in private his vision: “I, the wretched one, have just proclaimed: Lord save the pious and hear us! and, pointing the orarion at the people, finished: and forever and ever! - suddenly a ray illuminated me, as if sunlight; looking at this radiance, I saw the Lord and our God Jesus Christ, in the form of the Son of Man , in glory and indescribable light shining, surrounded by heavenly powers, Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, as if by a swarm of bees, and from the western church gates coming in the air; approaching in this form to the pulpit and raising His most pure hands, the Lord blessed the servants and coming, therefore, having entered into His holy local image, which is on the right side of the royal gates, I was transformed, surrounded by Angelic faces, shining with inexpressible light on the whole church. Jesus in the air, received a special blessing from Him; my heart rejoiced pure, enlightened, in the sweetness of love for the Lord!
In 1793 Fr. Seraphim was 34 years old, and the authorities, seeing that he had become superior to other brothers in his exploits and deserved an advantage over many, petitioned for his elevation to the rank of hieromonk. Since in the same year the Sarov monastery, according to the new schedule, moved from the diocese of Vladimir to Tambov, Fr. Seraphim was summoned to Tambov, and on September 2, Bishop Theophilus ordained him a hieromonk. With the receipt of the highest grace of the priesthood, Fr. Seraphim began to strive in the spiritual life with greater zeal and redoubled love. For a long time he continued his uninterrupted service, daily communing with ardent love, faith and reverence.
Having become a hieromonk, Fr. Seraphim had the intention to completely settle in the desert, since the desert life was his calling and appointment from above. In addition, from the incessant cell vigil, from the constant standing in the church on his feet with a little rest during the night, Fr. Seraphim fell into an illness: his legs swelled, and wounds opened on them, so that for some time he lost the opportunity to perform the priesthood. This illness was no small impetus to the choice of a desert life, although in order to rest he should have asked the rector Fr. Pachomius blessing to retire to hospital cells, and not to the desert, i.e. from lesser labors to greater and more difficult ones. The great elder Pachomius blessed him. This was the last blessing received by Fr. Seraphim from a wise, virtuous and respectable elder, in view of his illness and approaching death. Father Seraphim, remembering well how during his illness Fr. Pachomius, now served him with selflessness. Once about. Seraphim noticed that Fr. Pachomia was joined by some kind of mental concern and sadness.
What, holy father, are you so sad about? - asked him about. Seraphim.
I grieve for the sisters of the Diveyevo community, - answered the elder Pachomius, - who will oversee them after me?
Fr. Seraphim, wanting to calm the elder in his dying moments, promised himself to oversee them and support them in the same way after his death, as it was during his time. This promise calmed and rejoiced Fr. Pachomia. He kissed o. Seraphim and then soon rested in the peaceful sleep of the righteous. Father Seraphim bitterly mourned the loss of Elder Pachomius and, with the blessing of the new rector, Fr. Isaiah, also dearly beloved, retired to a desert cell (November 20, 1794, the day of his arrival in the Sarov Desert).
Despite the removal of Seraphim into the wilderness, the people began to disturb him there. The women also came.
The great ascetic, starting a strict hermit life, considered it inconvenient for himself to visit a female, since this could tempt both monastics and laymen prone to condemnation. But, on the other hand, to deprive women of the edification for which they came to the hermit could be a deed displeasing to God. He began to ask the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos for the fulfillment of his desire, and that the Almighty, if this is not contrary to His will, would give him a sign for this by bowing the branches near the standing trees. In the traditions recorded in due time, there is a saying that the Lord God really gave him a sign of His will. The feast of the Nativity of Christ has come; about. Seraphim came to the monastery for a late mass in the temple of the Life-Giving Spring and took communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After dinner in his monastery cell, he returned to the desert for the night. The next day, December 26, celebrated according to the situation (the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos), Fr. Seraphim returned to the monastery at night. Passing his hill, where he falls down the valley, which is why the mountain was named about. Seraphim of Athos, he saw that on both sides of the path the huge branches of centuries-old pines bent over and filled up the path; none of this happened in the evening. Father Seraphim fell to his knees and thanked God for the sign given, through his prayer. Now he knew that it was pleasing to the Lord God that women should not enter his mountain.
In the course of all asceticism, Fr. Seraphim constantly wore the same wretched clothes: a white linen robe, leather mittens, leather shoe covers - like stockings, over which they put on bast shoes, and a worn kamilavka. On the hoodie hung a cross, the very one with which his own mother had blessed him when he let him leave the house; and over his shoulders hung a bag in which he carried St. Gospel. Carrying the cross and the Gospel had, of course, a deep meaning. In imitation of the ancient saints, Fr. Seraphim wore chains on both shoulders, and crosses were hung to them: one in front at 20 pounds, others at the back at 8 pounds. each, and another iron belt. And the elder carried this burden throughout his life in the wilderness. In frosts, he put a stocking or a rag on his chest, but he never went to the bathhouse. His visible exploits consisted of prayers, reading books, bodily labors, observing the rules of the great Pachomius, etc. In the cold season, he heated his cell, chopped and chopped wood, but sometimes he voluntarily endured cold and frost. In the summer, he cultivated ridges in his garden and fertilized the land, collecting moss from the swamps. During such work, he sometimes walked without clothes, girdling only his loins, and the insects cruelly stung his body, which caused it to swell, turn blue in places and baked with blood. The elder voluntarily endured these ulcers for the sake of the Lord, guided by the examples of the ascetics of ancient times. On ridges fertilized with moss, Fr. Seraphim planted seeds onions and other vegetables, which he ate in the summer. Bodily labor gave rise to a benevolent state in him, and Fr. Seraphim worked with the singing of prayers, troparia and canons.
Spending his life in solitude, work, reading and prayer, Fr. Seraphim combined with this fasting and the strictest abstinence. At the beginning of his settlement in the desert, he ate bread, most of all stale and dry; he usually took bread with him on Sundays for a whole week. There is a legend that from this weekly portion of bread he gave part to desert animals and birds, which were caressed by the elder, loved him very much and visited the place of his prayers. He also ate vegetables harvested by the labors of his hands in a desert garden. This garden was arranged with this in order not to burden the monastery with "nothing else" and, following the example of the great ascetic Ap. Paul, eat, "working with your own hands" (1 Cor. 4, 12). Subsequently, he accustomed his body to such abstinence that he did not eat his daily bread, but, with the blessing of the abbot Isaiah, he ate only the vegetables of his garden. These were potatoes, beets, onions, and an herb called snit. During the first week of Great Lent, he did not take any food at all until Communion of the Holy Mysteries on Saturday. Some time later, abstinence and fasting, Fr. Seraphim reached an incredible degree. Having completely stopped taking bread from the monastery, he lived without any maintenance from it for more than two and a half years. The brethren, wondering, wondered what the elder could eat during all this time, not only in summer, but also in winter. He carefully hid his exploits from the view of people.
On weekdays, fleeing in the desert, Fr. On the eve of holidays and Sundays, Seraphim appeared at the monastery, listened to vespers, the all-night vigil, and during the early liturgy in the hospital church of Saints Zosima and Savvaty, communed the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Then, until Vespers, he received in the monastery cell those who came to him, for spiritual needs, from the monastic brethren. During Vespers, when the brethren left him, he took bread with him for a week and retired to his wilderness. He spent the entire first week of Great Lent in the monastery. During these days, he fasted, confessed, and communed with the Holy Mysteries. For a long time his spiritual father was the builder - the elder Isaiah.
Thus the elder spent his days in the desert. Other desert dwellers had with them one disciple, who served them. Father Seraphim lived in complete solitude. Some of the Sarov brethren tried to cohabit with Fr. Seraphim and were received by him; but not one of them could endure the hardships of hermit life: no one had so much moral strength as to be an imitator of the exploits of Fr. Seraphim. Their pious attempts, bringing benefit to the soul, were not crowned with success; and those who settled with Fr. Seraphim, returned again to the monastery. Therefore, although after the death of Fr. Seraphim, there were some people who boldly declared themselves to be his disciples, but during his lifetime they, in the strict sense, were not disciples, and the name "Seraphim's disciple" did not exist at that time. "During his stay in the desert," the then Sarov elders said, "all the brethren were his disciples."
Also, many of the Sarov brethren temporarily came to him in the desert. Some simply visited him, while others came out of need for advice and guidance. The elder distinguished people well. He withdrew from some, wishing to remain silent, and those who needed it before him did not refuse spiritual food, lovingly guiding them to truth, virtue and the well-being of life. Of the regular visitors about. Seraphim are known: Schemamonk Mark and Hierodeacon Alexander, who also fled in the desert. The first visited him twice a month, and the last - once. Father Seraphim willingly talked with them about various soul-saving subjects.
Seeing such a sincere, zealous and, truly, high asceticism of the elder, Fr. Seraphim, the devil, the primordial enemy of all goodness, armed himself against him with various temptations. By his cunning, starting with the lightest, he first directed various “insurances” on the ascetic. So, according to the words of one hieromonk of the Sarov Hermitage, respected for years, once during a prayer he suddenly heard the howl of a beast outside the walls of the cell; then, like a crowd of people, they began to break down the door of the cell, knocked out the jambs at the door and threw at the feet of the praying old man a very thick log (cut) of a tree, which eight people had with difficulty carried out of the cell. At other times during the day, and especially at night, while standing in prayer, he apparently it suddenly seemed that his cell was falling apart on four sides and that terrible beasts were rushing towards him from all sides with a wild and furious roar and cry. Sometimes an open coffin would suddenly appear before him, from which a dead man would rise.
Since the elder did not succumb to fears, the devil raised the most severe attacks on him. So, by God’s permission, he lifted his body into the air and from there hit the floor with such force that, if not for the Guardian Angel, the very bones from such blows could have been crushed. But even this did not overcome the old man. Probably, during temptations, with his spiritual eye, penetrating into the heavenly world, he saw the evil spirits themselves. Perhaps the spirits of malice themselves, apparently in bodily forms, appeared to him, as well as to other ascetics.
The spiritual authorities knew about. Seraphim understood how useful it would be for many to make such an elder an abbot, a rector somewhere in the monastery. The place of the archimandrite was opened in the city of Alatyr. Father Seraphim was appointed there as the head of the monastery with the elevation to the rank of archimandrite. In the past and in the current centuries, the Sarov Hermitage more than once gave good abbots from its brethren to other monasteries. But Elder Seraphim most convincingly asked the then Sarov rector Isaiah to reject this appointment from him. It was a pity for the builder Isaiah and the brethren of Sarov to let go of Elder Seraphim, a zealous prayer book and a wise mentor. The desires of both sides came together: everyone began to ask another hieromonk from Sarov, the elder Avraamy, to take on the title of archimandrite in the Alatyr Monastery, and the brother, solely out of obedience, accepted this title.
In all temptations and attacks on Fr. Seraphim the devil had the goal of removing him from the wilderness. However, all the efforts of the enemy were unsuccessful: he was defeated, retreated with shame from his winner, but did not leave him alone. Looking for new measures to remove the old man from the desert, the evil spirit began to fight against him through evil people. On September 12, 1804, three men unknown to him, dressed like peasants, approached the elder. Father Seraphim was chopping wood in the forest at that time. The peasants, impudently approaching him, demanded money, saying that "worldly people come to you and carry money." The elder said: "I don't take anything from anyone." But they didn't believe. Then one of those who came rushed at him from behind, wanted to knock him to the ground, but instead he fell down. From this awkwardness, the villains were somewhat timid, but they did not want to back down from their intention. Father Seraphim had great physical strength and, armed with an ax, could have defended himself not without hope. This thought flashed through his mind instantly. But at the same time, he remembered the words of the savior: “All who take the knife will perish with the knife” (Matt. 26, 52), did not want to resist, calmly lowered the ax to the ground and said, meekly folding his arms crosswise on his chest: “Do what you need” . He decided to endure everything innocently, for the Lord's sake.
Then one of the peasants, picking up an ax from the ground, hit Fr. Seraphim in the head, that blood gushed from his mouth and ears. The elder fell to the ground and became unconscious. The villains dragged him to the vestibule of the cell, furiously continuing to beat him along the way, like hunting prey, some with a butt, some with a tree, some with their hands and feet, they even talked about throwing the old man into the river? .. And how did they see that he had already was as if dead, they tied his hands and feet with ropes and, having laid him in the hallway, they themselves rushed to the cell, imagining to find innumerable riches in it. In a wretched dwelling, they very soon went through everything, revised it, broke the stove, dismantled the floor, searched and searched, and found nothing for themselves; only saw St. icon, but a few potatoes came across. Then the conscience of the villains spoke strongly, repentance awakened in their hearts that in vain, without any benefit even for themselves, they beat a pious man; some fear fell upon them, and they fled in terror.
Meanwhile, oh Seraphim could hardly come to his senses from the cruel mortal blows, somehow untied himself, thanked the Lord that he was honored for His sake to suffer wounds innocently, prayed that God would forgive the murderers and, having spent the night in a cell in suffering, the next day with great difficulty, however, he himself came to the monastery during the liturgy itself. His appearance was terrible! The hair on his beard and head was soaked with blood, crumpled, tangled, covered with dust and rubbish; face and hands beaten; knocked out several teeth; ears and mouth were parched with blood; the clothes were wrinkled, bloody, dried up and in places stuck to the wounds. The brethren, seeing him in such a state, were horrified and asked: what happened to him? Without answering a word, oh. Seraphim asked to invite the rector Fr. Isaiah and the monastery confessor, to whom he told everything that had happened in detail. Both the rector and the brethren were deeply saddened by the sufferings of the elder. Such a misfortune. Seraphim was forced to stay in the monastery to improve his health. The devil, who raised up the villains, apparently now triumphed over the elder, imagining that he had driven him out of the wilderness forever.
The first eight days were very difficult for the patient: without taking any food or water, he did not even sleep because of the unbearable pain. The monastery did not hope that he would survive his suffering. The abbot, Elder Isaiah, on the seventh day of his illness, not seeing a change for the better, sent to Arzamas for doctors. After examining the elder, the doctors found his illness in the following condition: his head was broken, his ribs were broken, his chest was trampled, his whole body was covered with mortal wounds in different places. They wondered how the old man could survive after such beatings. According to the ancient method of treatment, doctors considered it necessary to open the blood of the patient. The abbot, knowing that the patient had already lost a lot of it from wounds, did not agree to this measure, but, on the urgent conviction of a council of doctors, he decided to suggest that Fr. Seraphim. The council again gathered in the cell of Fr. Seraphim. It consisted of three doctors; they had three assistants with them. While waiting for the abbot, they again examined the patient, argued among themselves for a long time in Latin, and decided: to bleed, to wash the patient, to apply a plaster to the wounds, and in some places to use alcohol. We also agreed that assistance should be submitted as soon as possible. Father Seraphim, with deep gratitude in his heart, noticed their attentiveness and care for himself.
When all this was happening, someone suddenly shouted: "Father rector is coming, father rector is coming!" At this moment, o. Seraphim fell asleep; his sleep was brief, subtle, and pleasant. In a dream, he saw a wondrous vision: the Most Holy Theotokos in royal purple, surrounded by glory, approaches him from the right side of the bed. She was followed by Sts. Apostles Peter and John the Theologian. Stopping at the bedside, the Blessed Virgin pointed with the finger of her right hand at the patient and, turning with Her Most Pure Face in the direction where the doctors were standing, she said: “What are you working on?” Then again, turning her face to the old man, she said: "This is from Our kind"- and ended the vision, which those present did not suspect.
When the abbot entered, the patient regained consciousness. Father Isaiah, with a feeling of deep love and participation, suggested that he take advantage of the advice and help of doctors. But the patient, after so many worries about him, in a desperate state of health, to the surprise of everyone, answered that he now did not want help from people, asking the rector father to give life to his God and the Most Holy Theotokos, the True and Faithful Physicians of souls and bodies. There was nothing to do, they left the elder alone, respecting his patience and marveling at the strength and strength of faith. He was filled with indescribable joy from the wondrous visit, and this heavenly joy lasted four hours. Then the elder calmed down, entered his usual state, feeling relief from his illness; strength and strength began to return to him; he got up from his bed, began to walk a little about the cell, and in the evening, at nine o'clock, he fortified himself with food, tasted some bread and white sauerkraut. From that day on, he again began to gradually indulge in spiritual exploits.
Even in the past, Fr. Seraphim, once engaged in work in the forest, was crushed by him while chopping a tree, and from this circumstance he lost his natural directness and harmony, became bent. After the attack of the robbers from beatings, wounds and illness, the bentness increased even more. From that time on, he began to walk, fortifying himself with an ax, a hank, or a stick. Thus, this bentness, this wound in the heel, served all his life as the crown of the victory of the great ascetic over the devil.
From the day of his illness, Elder Seraphim spent about five months in the monastery, not seeing his desert. When his health returned to him, when he felt himself again strong for the passage of the desert life, he asked the abbot Isaiah to let him go from the monastery to the desert again. The abbot, at the suggestion of the brethren, himself, sincerely pitying the elder, begged him to stay forever in the monastery, imagining the repetition of such extremely unfortunate events as possible. Father Seraphim answered that he did not impute such attacks and was ready, imitating Sts. martyrs who suffered for the name of the Lord, even to death endure all kinds of insults, no matter what happens. Yielding to the Christian fearlessness of spirit and love for hermit life, Fr. Isaiah blessed the elder's desire, and the elder Seraphim again returned to his deserted cell.
With the new settlement of the elder in the desert, the devil suffered a complete defeat. The peasants who had beaten the elder were found; they turned out to be serfs of the landowner Tatishchev, Ardatovsky district, from the village of Kremenok. But oh. Seraphim not only forgave them themselves, but also begged the abbot of the monastery not to exact from them, and then wrote the same request to the landowner. Everyone was so outraged by the act of these peasants that it seemed impossible to forgive them, but Fr. Seraphim insisted on his own: "Otherwise," the elder said, "I will leave the Sarov monastery and retire to another place." The builder, oh Isaiah, his confessor, he said that it would be better to remove him from the monastery than to inflict any punishment on the peasants. Father Seraphim presented vengeance to the Lord God. The wrath of God really caught up with these peasants: in a short time, a fire destroyed their homes. Then they themselves came to ask Fr. Seraphim, with tears of repentance, forgiveness and his holy prayers.
Elder Fr. Isaiah greatly revered and loved Fr. Seraphim, and also valued his conversations; therefore, when he was fresh, cheerful and enjoying health, he often went to the desert to Fr. Seraphim. In 1806, Isaiah, due to old age and from the labors incurred to save himself and the brethren, became especially weak in health and, at his own request, resigned from the duty and title of rector. The lot to take his place in the monastery, according to the general desire of the brethren, fell on Fr. Seraphim. This is the second time the elder has been elected to positions of authority in the monasteries, but this time too, out of his humility and out of extreme love for the desert, he refused the offered honor. Then, by the vote of all the brethren, the elder Nifont was elected rector, who until that time had fulfilled the obedience of the treasurer.
Elder Fr. Seraphim, after the death of the builder Isaiah, did not change the former kind of life and remained to live in the desert. He only took on even more work, namely, silence. He never went out to visit again. If he himself happened to unexpectedly meet someone in the forest, the elder fell on his face and did not raise his eyes until the one he met passed by. In this way he remained silent for three years and for some time stopped visiting the monastery on Sundays and holidays. One of the novices also brought him food in the desert, especially in winter, when Fr. Seraphim didn't have his own vegetables. Food was brought once a week, on Sunday. It was difficult for the appointed monk to perform this obedience in the winter, since Fr. There was no road for Seraphim. It used to be that during a blizzard he wandered through the snow, drowning in it knee-deep, with a week's supply in his hands for the silent old man. Entering the vestibule, he said a prayer, and the elder, saying to himself: "Amen", opened the door from the cell to the vestibule. Crossing his arms on his chest, he stood at the door, lowering his face down to the ground; he himself will not bless his brother, nor even look at him. And the brother who came, having prayed, according to custom, and bowing at the feet of the old man, put food on the tray, which lay on the table in the hallway. For his part, the elder put on the tray either a small particle of bread, or a little cabbage. The brother who came noticed this carefully. With these signs, the elder silently let him know what to bring him on the future resurrection: bread or cabbage. And again, the brother who came, having made a prayer, bowed at the feet of the elder and, having asked for his prayers for himself, returned to the monastery without hearing from Fr. Seraphim not a single word. All these were only visible, outward signs of silence. The essence of the feat did not consist in external removal from sociability, but in the silence of the mind, the renunciation of all worldly thoughts for the purest dedication of oneself to the Lord.
Silence about. Seraphim connected with standing on a stone. In a dense forest, halfway from the cell to the monastery, lay an unusually large granite stone. Remembering the difficult feat of Sts. pillars, oh. Seraphim decided to take part in asceticism of this kind. For this he ascended, so as not to be seen by anyone, in night time on this stone to enhance the prayer feat. He usually prayed either on his feet or on his knees, raised up, like St. Pachomius, with his hands, calling out in a publican's voice: "God, be merciful to me a sinner." In order to equalize nighttime exploits with daytime ones, Fr. Seraphim also had a stone in his cell. On it he prayed during the day, from morning to evening, leaving the stone only to rest from exhaustion and to reinforce yourself with food. This kind of prayer feat he carried, at times, for a thousand days.
From standing on stones, from the difficulty of this prayerful feat, his body changed very noticeably, a disease resumed in his legs, which from that time until the end of his days did not cease to torment him. Father Seraphim realized that the continuation of such feats would lead to exhaustion of the strength of the spirit and body, and left the prayer on the stones. He went through these feats in such secrecy that not a single human soul knew about them and did not guess. There was a secret request to Fr. Seraphim from the Bishop of Tambov. Preserved in the papers of the monastery draft Nifont’s review, in which the rector replied: “We know about the exploits and life of Father Seraphim; about what secret actions, as well as about standing 1000 days and nights on a stone, no one knew.” At the end of his days, so as not to remain a mystery to people, in the likeness of other ascetics, among other phenomena of his life, he, as an edification to the listeners, told about this feat to some of the brethren.
FATHER Seraphim, since the death of Elder Isaiah, having imposed the labor of silence, lived in his wilderness without a way out, just like in a seclusion. Previously, he used to go to the monastery on Sundays and holidays to partake of the Holy Mysteries. Now, since standing on the stones, his legs hurt; he could not walk. It was not known who communed him with the Holy Mysteries, although they did not doubt for a moment that he did not remain without partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ. The builder convened a monastery council of senior hieromonks and the question of communion Fr. Seraphim offered for discussion. The matter was resolved thus: to propose Fr. Seraphim, so that he would either walk, be healthy and strong with his legs, as before, to the monastery on Sundays and holidays for communion of the Holy Mysteries, or, if his legs do not serve, he would go to live forever in a monastery cell. The general advice was to ask through a brother who carried food on Sundays what Fr. Seraphim? The brother, on his very first visit to the elder, fulfilled the decision of the Sarov Cathedral, but Fr. Seraphim, having silently listened to the proposal of the council, let his brother go without saying a word. The brother, as it was, handed over to the builder, and the builder told him to repeat the cathedral proposal on the following Sunday. Having brought food for the next week, the brother repeated the offer. Then Elder Seraphim, having blessed his brother, went with him on foot to the monastery.
Accepting the second proposal of the council, the elder showed that, due to illness, he was unable to go, as before, on Sundays and holidays to the monastery. It was in the spring of May 8, 1810. Entering the monastery gates, after a 15-year stay in the desert, Fr. Seraphim, without entering his cell, went straight to the hospital. It was during the day, before the all-night service. When the bell was struck, Fr. Seraphim appeared at the all-night vigil in the church of the Dormition of the Theotokos. The brethren were surprised when a rumor instantly spread that the elder had decided to live in the monastery. But their surprise increased even more when the following circumstances occurred: the next day, May 9, on the day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Fr. Seraphim came, according to custom, to the hospital church for the early liturgy and took communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Upon leaving the church, he directed his steps to the cell of the builder Nifont and, having received a blessing from him, settled in his former monastic cell; he did not take anyone to himself, he did not go out anywhere and did not say a word to anyone, that is, he took upon himself the new most difficult feat of seclusion.
About the exploits Even less is known about Seraphim in seclusion than about his solitary life. In his cell, he did not want to have, to cut off his self-will, nothing, even the most necessary things. The icon, in front of which a lamp was burning, and a piece of a stump, which served instead of a chair, made up everything. For himself, he did not even use fire.
During all the years of seclusion, on all Sundays and feast days, the elder took communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ. In order to keep the seclusion and silence in all purity, the Celestial Mysteries, with the blessing of the builder Nifont, were brought to him from the hospital church to his cell after the early liturgy.
To never forget the hour of death, to visualize it more clearly and see it before you more closely, Fr. Seraphim made himself a coffin of solid oak and placed it in the hallway of the recluse cell. Here the elder often prayed, preparing for his departure from the real life. Father Seraphim, in conversations with the Sarov brothers, often said about this coffin: "When I die, I beg you, brethren, put me in my coffin."
The elder spent about five years in seclusion, then somewhat weakened his appearance. His cell door was open, anyone could come to him, see him; The elder was not embarrassed by the presence of others in his spiritual studies. Some, having entered the cell, proposed various questions, having a need for advice and instructions from the elder; but, having taken a vow of silence before God, the elder did not give answers to questions, continuing his usual studies.
In 1815 the Lord, according to a new appearance, Fr. Seraphim of His Most Pure Mother, ordered him not to hide his lamp under a bushel and, having opened the doors of the shutter, to be accessible and visible to everyone. Taking Great Hilarion as an example, he began to receive everyone without exception, talking and teaching about salvation. His small cell was always lit only by a lamp and candles lit near the icons. It was never heated by a stove, had two small windows, and was always littered with sandbags and stones that served him as a bed; a stump of wood was used instead of a chair, and in the hallway there was an oak coffin made by his own hands. The cell was dissolved for all the brethren of the monastery at any time, for outsiders - after early mass until 8 pm.
The elder welcomed everyone willingly, gave a blessing, and to each, depending on the needs of the soul, gave various kinds of brief instructions. The old man received those who came as follows: he was dressed in an ordinary white robe and a half-mantle; he had an epitrachelion around his neck and handrails. He did not wear the epitrachelion and the commissions for himself, not always when receiving visitors, but only on those days when he communed the Holy Mysteries, therefore, on Sundays and holidays. In whom he saw sincere repentance for sins, who showed in himself an ardent zeal for Christian life, he received those with special zeal and joy. After a conversation with them, he, forcing them to bow their heads, laid the end of the stole and his right hand on it, offering to pronounce the following prayer of repentance behind him: "I have sinned, Lord, I have sinned in soul and body, in word, deed, mind and thought, and with all my senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, will or not, knowledge or ignorance. He himself then said a prayer for permission from sins. At the end of such an action, he anointed the forehead of the one who came with oil from St. icons and, if it was earlier than noon, therefore, before eating, he gave to eat from the bowl of the "great agiasma", that is, St. Epiphany water, blessed with a particle of antidoron, or St. bread consecrated at the all-night service. Then, kissing the one who came on the mouth, he said at all times: "Christ is Risen!" and gave to be applied to the image of the Mother of God or to the cross that hung on his chest. Sometimes, especially to noble persons, he advised to go into the temple to pray to the Mother of God before St. the icon of Her Dormition or the Life-Giving Source.
If the visitor did not need special instructions, then the elder did general Christian edification. In particular, he advised to always have the memory of God and for this purpose to constantly call on the name of God in the heart, repeating the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. “In this, let it be,” he said, “all your attention and training! Walking and sitting, doing in church before the start of the service, standing, entering and leaving, keep this unceasingly on your lips and in your heart. With thus invoking the name of God you will find peace, achieve spiritual and bodily purity, and the Holy Spirit, the Source of all blessings, will dwell in you, and He will rule you in the shrine, in all piety and purity.
Many, coming to Fr. Seraphim, they complained that they prayed little to God, even leaving the necessary daily prayers. Others said that they were doing it out of illiteracy, others out of lack of time. Father Seraphim bequeathed to such people the following rule of prayer: "Rising from sleep, every Christian, standing in front of the holy icons, let him read the Lord's Prayer: Our Father- three times; in honor of the Rev. Trinity, then the song of the Virgin: Virgin Mary, rejoice- also three times and, finally, the Creed: I believe in one God- once.
Having made this rule, let every Christian go about his business, to which he was appointed or called. While working at home or on the way somewhere, let him read quietly: G Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner or sinful; and if others surround him, then, doing business, let him say only this with his mind: Lord have mercy and continue until lunch.
Just before dinner, let him perform the above morning rule.
After dinner, doing his work, let every Christian also read quietly: Holy Mother of God, save me a sinner and let it continue until sleep.
When it happens to him to spend time in solitude, then let him read: Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God, have mercy on me a sinner or sinful.
Going to bed, let every Christian again read the above morning rule, that is, three times Our Father, thrice Mother of God and one day Symbol of faith. After that, let him fall asleep, protecting himself with the sign of the cross.
Once a simple peasant ran to the monastery with a hat in his hand, with disheveled hair, asking in despair at the first monk he met: "Father! Are you, Father Seraphim?" He was pointed out. Seraphim. Rushing there, he fell at his feet and said convincingly: "Father! They stole my horse from me, and now I'm completely beggar without it; I don't know how I will feed my family. And, they say, you guess!" Father Seraphim, affectionately taking him by the head and putting it to his, said: “Protect yourself with silence and hasten to such and such(he named it) village. When you approach it, turn off the road to the right and pass four houses behind: there you will see a little gate; enter it, untie your horse from the log and take it out silently. " The peasant immediately ran back with faith and joy, not stopping anywhere. After that, there was a rumor in Sarov that he really found the horse in the place shown.
Nizhny Novgorod province, Ardatovsky district, in his family estate, the village of Nucha, lived orphans, brother and sister, noble landowners Mikhail Vasilyevich and Elena Vasilievna Manturov. Mikhail Vasilyevich served in Livonia in military service for many years and married there a native of Livonia, Anna Mikhailovna Ernts, but then he became so ill that he was forced to leave the service and move to live in his estate, the village of Nucha. Elena Vasilievna, much younger than her brother in years, was of a cheerful nature and dreamed only of a secular life and a speedy marriage.
The illness of Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov had a decisive influence on his whole life, and the best doctors found it difficult to determine its cause and properties. Thus, all hope for medical help was lost, and it remained to turn to the Lord and His holy Church for healing. Rumor about the holy life of Father Fr. Seraphim, who had already traveled all over Russia, of course, also reached the village of Nuchi, which lay only 40 miles from Sarov. When the disease assumed alarming proportions, so that pieces of bone fell out of Mikhail Vasilyevich's legs, he decided to go, on the advice of relatives and friends, to Sarov to Fr. Seraphim. With great difficulty, he was brought by his serfs into the canopy of the cell of the hermit elder. When Mikhail Vasilievich, according to custom, made a prayer, Father Fr. Seraphim came out and graciously asked him: "What did you wish to look at the wretched Seraphim?" Manturov fell at his feet and began to tearfully ask the old man to heal him of a terrible illness. Then, with lively participation and paternal love, he asked Fr. Seraphim: "Do you believe in God?" And, having also received the most sincere, strong, ardent assurance of unconditional faith in God three times in response, the great elder said to him: “My joy! believe that the Lord will heal you, and I, poor Seraphim, will pray." Then about. Seraphim seated Mikhail Vasilyevich near the coffin, which stood in the entryway, and he retired to his cell, from where he emerged a little while later, carrying the holy oil with him. He ordered Manturov to undress, bare his legs, and, preparing to rub them with the brought holy oil, he said: "According to the grace given to me from the Lord, I am the first to heal you!" Father Seraphim anointed Mikhail Vasilievich's feet and put on them stockings made of linen. After that, the elder took out a large amount of crackers from the cell, poured them into the folds of his coat and ordered him to go with the load to the monastery hotel. Mikhail Vasilievich at first carried out the order of the priest not without fear, but then, having made sure of the miracle performed with him, he came to inexpressible joy and some kind of reverent horror. A few minutes ago he was not able to go up to Fr. Seraphim without outside help, and then suddenly, according to the word of the holy elder, he was already carrying a whole pile of crackers, feeling completely healthy, strong and as if he had never been sick. In joy, he threw himself at the feet of Fr. Seraphim, kissing them and thanking them for the healing, but the great old man lifted Mikhail Vasilyevich and said sternly: “Is it Seraphim’s job to kill and live, to bring down to hell and raise up? What are you, father! This is the work of the One Lord, Who does the will of those who fear Him and listens to their prayer! Give thanks to the Lord Almighty, give thanks to His Most Pure Mother!" Then Father Seraphim released Manturov.
Some time has passed. Suddenly, Mikhail Vasilyevich remembered with horror about his past illness, which he had already begun to completely forget, and decided to go to Fr. Seraphim, accept his blessing. On the way, Manturov thought: after all, as the father said, I must thank the Lord ... And as soon as he arrived in Sarov and entered Fr. Seraphim, as a great old man met him with the words: "My joy! But we promised to thank the Lord that He gave us life back!" Surprised at the elder's foresight, Mikhail Vasilyevich replied: "I don't know, father, what and how; what do you order?!" Then about. Seraphim, looking at him in a special way, cheerfully said: "Behold, my joy, give everything you have to the Lord and take upon yourself spontaneous poverty!" Manturov was embarrassed; a thousand thoughts ran through his head in an instant, for he did not expect such a proposal from the great old man. He remembered the gospel youth, to whom Christ also offered voluntary poverty for a perfect path to the Kingdom of Heaven... He remembered that he was not alone, had a young wife, and that, having given everything, there would be nothing to live with... But the perspicacious old man, understanding his thoughts , continued: "Leave everything and do not worry about what you think; the Lord will not leave you either in this life or in the future; you will not be rich, but you will have your daily bread." Hot, impressionable, loving and ready, in the purity of his soul, to fulfill every thought, every demand of such a great and holy elder, whom he saw only the second time, but he loved already, no doubt, more than anything in the world, Mikhail Vasilyevich immediately answered: " I agree, father! What do you bless me to do?" But the great wise old man, wishing to test the ardent Mikhail Vasilievich, answered: "Well, my joy, let us pray, and I will show you how God will enlighten me!" After that, they parted as future friends and the most faithful servants of the Diveevo monastery, chosen by the Queen of Heaven for Herself in the earthly lot.
With the blessing of Father Fr. Seraphim, Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov sold his estate, set his serfs free, and, saving money for the time being, bought only 15 acres of land in Diveevo on the island indicated to him. Seraphim place, with the strictest commandment: keep this land, never sell it, never give it to anyone and bequeath it after the death of your Seraphim monastery. On this land, Mikhail Vasilyevich settled with his wife and began to suffer shortcomings. He endured a lot of ridicule from acquaintances and friends, as well as reproaches from his wife Anna Mikhailovna, a Lutheran, who was not at all prepared for spiritual exploits of a young woman who did not tolerate poverty, a very impatient and ardent character, although, in general, a good and honest person. All his life, the wonderful Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, a true disciple of Christ, endured humiliation for his gospel deed. But he endured everything meekly, silently, patiently, humbly, meekly, with complacency, out of love and extraordinary faith to the holy elder, obeying him unquestioningly in everything, not taking a step without his blessing, as if betraying himself and his whole life in hands about. Seraphim. It is not surprising that Mikhail Vasilievich became the most faithful student of Fr. Seraphim and his closest, most beloved friend. Father o. Seraphim, speaking about him with anyone, called him “Mishenka” in no other way, and entrusted everything related to Diveev’s device only to him alone, as a result of which everyone knew this and sacredly honored Manturov, obeying him in everything implicitly, as if the manager of the father himself.
Father Seraphim, after the healing of M.V. Manturov, began to receive other visitors and, true to the promise given by Fr. Pachomius, did not forget the Diveevo community. He sent some novices to the headmaster Xenia Mikhailovna and, praying for them daily, received revelations about the future of this community.
Taking visitors to his monastery cell for 15 years, Fr. Seraphim still did not leave the shutter and did not go anywhere. But in 1825 he began to ask the Lord for his blessing on the completion of the shutter.
On November 25, 1825, on the feast day of St. Clement, Pope of Rome, and Peter of Alexandria, in a dreamy vision, the Mother of God, accompanied by these saints, appeared to Fr. Seraphim and allowed him to leave the seclusion and visit the desert.
As is known, from 1825 to Fr. First the sisters began to go to Seraphim for blessings, and then the virtuous head of the Diveevo community herself, Ksenia Mikhailovna, whom the priest called: "a pillar of fire from earth to heaven" and "spiritual rasp." Of course, the old woman Xenia Mikhailovna deeply respected and highly revered Fr. Seraphim, but, however, she did not agree to change the charter of her community, which seemed difficult, as Fr. Seraphim, and to all the sisters who were saved in the community. The number of sisters in the community increased so much that it was necessary to extend their possessions; but it was impossible in either direction. Father o. Seraphim, having called Ksenia Mikhailovna to him, began to persuade her to replace the heavy Sarov charter with a lighter one, but she did not want to hear. "Listen to me, my joy!" - was talking about. Seraphim - but the unshakable old woman finally answered him: "No, father, let it be the old way, the builder father Pakhomiy has already arranged for us!" Then about. Seraphim released the head of the Diveevo community, reassured that what commanded him by the great old woman Alexandra no longer lies on his conscience, or that the hour of the will of God had not yet come to him. Temporarily about. Seraphim did not enter into the affairs of the community, and only by the gift of foresight sent the sisters chosen by the Mother of God to live in Diveevo, saying: “Come, child, to the community, here, nearby, mother Colonel Agafia Semyonovna Melgunova, to the great servant of God and the pillar , mother Xenia Mikhailovna - she will teach you everything!
In the notes of N. A. Motovilov on the foundation of the mill monastery, Fr. Seraphim says:
“When, on November 25, 1825, on the day of the saints of God, Clement, Pope of Rome, and Peter of Alexandria, Father Seraphim himself, as well as to many, constantly used to say, making his way, as usual, through the thickets of the forest along the bank of the Sarovka River to his distant hermitage, he saw below the place where the Bogoslovsky well had once been, and almost near the bank of the Sarovka River, the Mother of God, who appeared to him here (where his well is now, and where then there was only a quagmire), and further and behind Her, on a hillock, two Apostles: Peter the Supreme and the Apostle Evangelist John the Theologian. And the Mother of God, hitting the ground with a rod so that the source boiled out of the ground with a fountain of bright water, said to him: “Why do you want to leave the commandment of My servant Agathia, the nun Alexandra? Leave Xenia with her sisters, and not only do not leave the commandment of this servant of My, but try to fulfill it completely, for by My will she gave it to you. And I will show you another place, also in the village of Diveevo, and on it arrange this My promised abode. And in memory of the promise given to her by Me, take eight sisters from the place of her death from the community of Xenia. And she showed how to surround this place with a ditch and a rampart, and from these eight sisters she ordered him to start this monastery, Her fourth ecumenical lot on earth, for which she ordered him first from the Sarov forest to cut down a two-stage windmill and the first cells, and then , according to time, to build in honor of the Nativity of Her and Her Only Begotten a two-altar church for this monastery, attaching it to the porch of the church of the Kazan appearance of Her Diveevo nun Alexandra. And She herself gave him a new charter for this monastery and nowhere before that time in any monastery yet And she made a commandment as an indispensable rule that not a single widow would dare to be admitted to this monastery, but he would accept it, and then he would always only girls would be accepted, for the reception of which She herself would express her good pleasure; and she promised herself to be the everlasting Abbess of this monastery of Hers, pouring out on her all His mercy and all the graces of God, blessings from all of Her three previous lots: Iberia, Athos and Kyiv. But the place where the Most Pure Feet of Her Feet stood and where, from the impact of Her rod, the spring boiled up and received healing in memory of future births by digging a well here, promised to give Her waters a greater blessing than the waters of Bethesda of Jerusalem once had.
Now, on the site of the appearance of the Mother of God to Father Seraphim on November 25, 1825, a well has been built, distinguished by miraculous power, and below, near it, there is the former Theological well. In the summer of 1826, at the request of the elder, the Bogoslovsky spring was renewed. The roll-up covering the pool has been removed; a new log house was made with a pipe for the source of water. Near the pool, the elder now began to engage in bodily labor. Collecting pebbles in the Sarovka River, he threw them ashore and humiliated the spring pool with them. He arranged ridges for himself here, fertilized them with moss, planted onions and potatoes. The elder chose this place for himself because, due to illness, he could not go to his former cell six miles from the monastery. It even became difficult for him, after the morning labors on his feet, to visit Fr. Dorothea, who stood only a quarter of a mile from the spring. For about. Seraphim was arranged on the shore of the mountain, near the spring, a new small frame, three arshins high, three arshins long and two wide. From above it was covered with a slope on one side. It had no windows or doors. The entrance to this log cabin was opened by an earthen one from the side of the mountain, under the wall. Crawling under the wall, the elder rested in this shelter after labors, hiding from the midday heat. Then, in 1827, right here, on a hill near the spring, they put up a new cell for him with doors, but no windows; inside it there was a stove, on the outside, senets were knocked together from boards. During 1825-1826, the elder used to go to this place every day. And when they arranged a cell for him, he began to constantly spend all his days here in the desert; returned to the monastery in the evening. Going to and from the monastery in an ordinary white, dilapidated linen robe, in a wretched kamilavka, with an ax or a hoe in his hands, he carried a bag over his shoulders, heavily filled with stones and sand, in which St. Gospel. Some asked: "Why is he doing this?" He answered with St. Ephraim the Syrian: "I torment the languishing me." This place has been known since then under the name near desert about. Seraphim, and the spring began to be called well about. Seraphim.
Since the construction of a new cell, in 1827, the activities and works of Fr. Seraphim were divided between the monastery and the nearby hermitage. In the monastery, he remained on Sundays and holidays, taking communion at the early liturgy; on weekdays, he went almost daily into the forest to the nearby desert. He spent the nights in the monastery. The number of visitors has greatly increased. Some waited for him in the monastery, eager to see him, accept his blessing and hear the word of edification. Others came to him in a deserted cell. The elder had almost no rest either in the desert, or on the road, or in the monastery. It was touching to see how the elder, after receiving the Holy Mysteries, returned from the church to his cell. He walked in a mantle, stole, and handrails, as he usually approached the sacrament. His procession was slow because of the multitude of the crowding people, from whose midst everyone tried, even slightly, to look at the elder. But at that time he did not speak to anyone, did not bless anyone, and no matter how he saw a soul around him; his gaze was downcast, and his mind was immersed inward. In those moments he entered with his soul into contemplation of the great blessings of God revealed to people by the sacrament of Holy Communion. And, reverent for the wonderful old man, no one dared even touch him. Arriving in his cell, he already received all those who were zealous, blessed them, and offered a soul-saving word to those who wished.
But what was most delightful was his conversation. Mind at Fr. Seraphim was bright, his memory was firm, his gaze was truly Christian, his heart was accessible to everyone, his will was unbending, his gift of words was alive and plentiful. His speech was so effective that the listener received spiritual benefit from it. His conversations were filled with the spirit of humility, warmed the heart, removed some kind of veil from the eyes, illuminated the minds of the interlocutors with the light of spiritual understanding, brought them to a feeling of repentance and aroused a decisive change for the better; involuntarily conquered the will and heart of others, poured peace and silence into them. Elder Seraphim based both his own actions and his words on the word of God, confirming them most of all in the New Testament, on the writings of St. fathers and on the examples of the saints who pleased God. All this had a special power because it was directly applied to the needs of the listeners. By the purity of his spirit, he had the gift of clairvoyance; to others, before revealing the circumstances, he gave instructions that related directly to their inner feelings and thoughts of the heart.
Love and humility of mind were a special feature of his manners and conversations. Whoever came to him, whether a poor man in sackcloth, or a rich man in bright clothes, no matter who came with needs, no matter what sinful state his conscience was in, he kissed everyone with love, bowed to everyone to the ground and, blessing , he kissed the hands of not even dedicated people. He struck no one with cruel reproaches or severe reprimands; he did not place a heavy burden on anyone, he himself carried the cross of Christ with all sorrows. He spoke to others and denunciations, but meekly, dissolving his word with humility and love. He tried to arouse the voice of conscience with advice, pointed out the ways of salvation, and often in such a way that his listener for the first time did not understand that it was about his soul. After that, the power of the word, overshadowed by grace, certainly produced its effect. Neither the rich, nor the poor, nor the simple, nor the learned, nor the nobles, nor the common people, did not go out from him without real instruction; for everyone there was enough living water flowing from the lips of the former silent, humble and wretched old man. The people, especially in the last ten years of his life, flocked to him every day as many as thousands. Every day, with a large gathering of newcomers in Sarov, he had about 2,000 people or more in his cell. He was not burdened and found time to talk with everyone for the benefit of the soul. In short words, he explained to everyone what exactly was useful to him, often revealing the most secret thoughts of those who turned to him. Everyone felt his benevolent, truly kindred love and its strength, streams of tears sometimes burst out from such people who had a hard and petrified heart.
One day, Honored Lieutenant General L. arrived in Sarov. The purpose of his arrival was curiosity. And so, having looked at the monastery buildings, he already wanted to say goodbye to the monastery, not having received any spiritual gift for his soul, but he met the landowner Alexei Neofitovich Prokudin here and started talking with him. The interlocutor suggested that the general go to the hermit Elder Seraphim, but the general only with difficulty yielded to Prokudin's persuasion. As soon as they entered the cell, Elder Seraphim, walking towards them, bowed at the general's feet. Such humility struck the pride of L ... Prokudin, noticing that he should not remain in the cell, went out into the vestibule, and the general, decorated with orders, talked with the hermit for about half an hour. A few minutes later, a cry was heard from the elder’s cell: then the general was crying, like a small child. Half an hour later the door opened, and Fr. Seraphim led the general under his arms; he continued to cry, covering his face with his hands. Orders and a cap were forgotten by him from grief at Fr. Seraphim. Tradition says that the orders fell from him during the conversation by themselves. Father Seraphim carried it all out and put the medals on his cap. Subsequently, this general said that he had traveled all over Europe, knew many people of various kinds, but for the first time in his life he saw such humility with which the Sarov recluse met him, and had never yet known about the perspicacity by which the elder revealed to him all his life down to secret details. By the way, when the crosses fell from him, Fr. Seraphim said, "That's because you didn't deserve them."
With special zeal, Elder Seraphim cared for those in whom he saw a disposition towards goodness; on the path of good, he tried to establish them with all spiritual Christian means and forces. However, despite the love for everyone, Fr. Seraphim was strict with some. But even with those who did not love him, he was peaceful, treated meekly and lovingly. It was not noticed that he attributed any 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” (Psalm 113, 9). When he saw that those who came to him listened to his advice, followed his instructions, he did not admire this, as if the fruit of his work. “We,” he said, “must remove all earthly joy from ourselves, following the teachings of Jesus Christ, Who said:“ Do not rejoice about this, for spirits obey you: rejoice, for your names are written in heaven "(Luke 10 , 20)".
In addition to the gift of clairvoyance, the Lord God continued to show in Elder Seraphim the grace of healing ailments and bodily illnesses. So, on June 11, 1827, Alexandra was healed, the wife (of the Nizhny Novgorod province, Ardatovsky district, the village of Elizariev) of a courtyard man Varfolomey Timofeev Lebedev. At the time, this woman was 22 years old and had two children. On April 6, 1826, on the day of the village feast, she returned after the liturgy from the church, dined, and then went outside the gate to take a walk with her husband. Suddenly, God knows why, she became dizzy, dizzy; her husband could hardly bring her to the entrance hall. Here she fell to the floor. With her began vomiting and terrible convulsions; the patient became dead and fell into complete unconsciousness. Half an hour later, as if coming to her senses, she began to grind her teeth, gnaw at everything that came across, and finally fell asleep. A month later, these painful attacks began to recur with her every day, although not every time to the same degree.
At first, the patient was treated by the home village doctor Afanasy Yakovlev, but the means he took did not have any success. Then they took Alexandra to the Ilevsky and Voznesensky iron works - there was a foreign doctor; he undertook to treat her, gave her various medicines, but, seeing no success, refused further treatment and advised her to go to Vyksa, to the iron factories. “In Vyksa, according to the description of the patient’s husband, the doctor was a foreigner with great privilege". By good agreement with the manager, who took part in the patient, the Vyksinsky doctor exhausted all his attention, knowledge and art, and finally gave this advice: "Now you rely on the will of the Almighty and ask him for help and protection; none of the people can cure you.” Such an end to the treatment made everyone very sad, and plunged the patient into despair.
On the night of June 11, 1827, the patient had a dream: an unfamiliar woman appeared to her, very old, with sunken eyes, and said: "Why are you suffering and not looking for a doctor?" The patient was frightened and, putting the sign of the cross on herself, began to read the prayer of St. Cross: "May God rise again and scatter against Him..." The one who appeared answered her: "Do not be afraid of me, I am the same person, only now not of this world, but from the kingdom of the dead. Get up from your bed and hurry to the Sarov monastery to Father Seraphim: he is expecting you tomorrow and will heal you." The patient dared to ask her: "Who are you and where are you from?" The one who appeared answered: "I am from the Diveevo community, the first abbess Agafia there." The next day, in the morning, the relatives harnessed a couple of master's horses and drove to Sarov. Only it was impossible to take the patient very quickly: fainting spells and convulsions were incessantly done to her. The patient reached Sarov after the late Liturgy, during the meal of the brethren. Father Seraphim shut himself up and did not receive anyone, but the sick woman, approaching his cell, barely had time to pray, when Fr. Seraphim went out to her, took her by the hands and led her into his cell. There he covered her with an stole and quietly said prayers to the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos; then he gave the sick St. Epiphany water, gave her a particle of St. antidora and three crackers and said: “Every day take a cracker with holy water, and moreover: go to Diveevo to the grave of the servant of God Agathia, take land for yourself and make bows in this place as much as you can: she (Agathia) is about you regrets and wishes you healing." Then he added: “When you get bored, pray to God and say: Father Seraphim! Remember me in prayer and pray for me a sinner, so that I don’t fall into this disease again from the adversary and enemy of God.” Then the ailment departed from the aching one with a great noise; she was healthy all the following time and unharmed. After this illness, she gave birth to four more sons and five daughters. The healed husband's handwritten note about this ends with the following afterword: "We hold the name of Father Seraphim in our hearts and commemorate him with our relatives at every memorial service."
On December 9, 1826, in the Diveevo community, by order of Fr. Seraphim, the laying of the mill took place, and in the summer, on July 7, it was ground.
In the same 1827, Father Seraphim said to Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who constantly came to him for orders and orders: “My joy! it is necessary: they are girls. The Queen of Heaven wants them to have their own church attached to the porch of the Kazan Church, since this porch is worthy of an altar, father! , my joy, and build this temple for the Nativity of Her Only Begotten Son - for my orphans! Mikhail Vasilievich Manturov kept intact the money from the sale of the estate, which the priest ordered to hide for the time being. Now the hour has come for Mikhail Vasilyevich to give all his property to the Lord, and such money was undoubtedly pleasing to the Savior of the world. Consequently, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was created at the expense of a person who voluntarily accepted the feat of begging.
How often did the Diveevsky sisters have to go to Fr. Seraphim had to work for food, which he sent them from himself from Sarov, is evident, for example, from the story of sister Praskovya Ivanovna, later nun Seraphim. He also forced others to come more often to those who entered again, in order to teach them spiritual edification. On the feast of the Presentation of 1828-29. he ordered his sister Praskovya Ivanovna, as she had just entered the monastery, to have time to come to him twice and return. Consequently, she had to walk 50 miles and spend more time in Sarov. She was embarrassed and said: "I won't be able to do it, father!" “What are you, what are you, mother,” Father Seraphim answered, “after all, the day now lasts 10 hours.” "All right, father," Praskovya said with love. The first time she came to the cell to the priest in the monastery, when there was an early mass. Batiushka opened the door and greeted her cheerfully, saying: my joy! He sat him down to rest, fed him with particles of prosphora with holy water, and then gave him a large bag of oatmeal and breadcrumbs to carry to the monastery. In Diveevo she rested a little and again went to Sarov. Vespers were being served when she entered the priest, who greeted her in delight, saying: "Come, come, my joy! Here I will feed you with my food." He seated Praskovya and placed a large dish of steamed cabbage with juice in front of her. "It's all yours," said the father. She began to eat and felt a taste that surprised her indescribably. Later, from inquiries, she learned that this food was not available at the meal, and it was good, because the priest himself, through his prayer, prepared such extraordinary food. Once the father ordered her to work in the forest, collect firewood, and stocked up food for her. At one o'clock in the afternoon, he himself wanted to eat and said: "Come, mother, to the desert, there I have a piece of bread hanging on a string, bring it." Sister Praskovya brought it. Batiushka salted the stale bread, soaked it in cold water and began to eat. He separated a particle from Praskovya, but she could not even chew it - the bread was so dry - and she thought: this is what the father is suffering from. Answering her thought, oh. Seraphim said: "This, mother, is still my daily bread! And when I was in seclusion, I ate potions, poured hot water over the grass, and ate it; this is desert food, and you eat it." On another occasion, Sister Praskovya Ivanovna fell into temptation: she began to become cowardly, bored, yearning, and decided to leave the monastery, but did not know whether to open herself to the priest? Suddenly he sends for her. She enters confused and timid. Batiushka began to talk about himself and about his life in the monastery, and then added: “I, mother, have gone through my entire monastic life and never, beyond thought, have ever left the monastery.” Repeating this several more times and citing examples from his past, he completely healed her, so that Praskovya Ivanovna testifies in her narration that, in the continuation of the story, “all my thoughts gradually calmed down, and when the father finished, I felt such consolation, as if sick member cut off with a knife." When Praskovya Ivanovna was with the priest, Kursk merchants, who had come to Sarov from the Nizhny Novgorod fair, approached him in a nearby hermitage. Before parting, they asked the priest: "What would you like to say to your brother?" Father Seraphim answered: "Tell him that I pray for him to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother day and night." They departed, and the priest, raising his hands, repeated several times with delight: "There is no better monastic life, no better!" Once, when Praskovya Ivanovna was working at the spring, the priest came out to her with a bright, shining face and in a new white robe. From a distance he exclaimed: "What have I brought you, mother!" - and approached her, holding a green twig with fruit in his hands. Picking one, he put it in her mouth, and the taste of it was inexpressibly pleasant and sweet. Then, putting the same fruit into his mouth, he said: "Taste, mother, this is heavenly food!" At that time of the year, no fruit could yet ripen.
The elder sister in the mill monastery Fr. Serafima, Praskovya Semyonovna, testified a lot about the father's favors to the sisters and, among other things, told how terrible it was to disobey him. Once the father ordered her to come with the maiden Maria Semyonovna on two horses for logs. They went straight to the priest in the forest, where he was already waiting for them and prepared two thin logs for each horse. Thinking that one horse could carry all four logs, the sisters shifted these logs on one horse along the way, and loaded a large, thick log onto the other horse. But as soon as they started off, this horse fell, wheezed and began to stun. Realizing that they were guilty that they had acted against the blessing of the father, they, falling on their knees, immediately, in tears, began to ask for forgiveness in absentia, and then threw off the thick log and laid the logs as before. The horse jumped up on its own and ran so fast that they could barely catch up with it.
Father o. Seraphim constantly healed his orphans from various diseases. Once sister Ksenia Kuzminichna suffered from a toothache, from which she could not sleep at night, did not eat anything and was exhausted, as she had to work during the day. They told their elder sister Praskovya Semyonovna about her; she sent Xenia to the priest. “As soon as he saw me,” Xenia said, “he says: what is it you, my joy, haven’t come to me for a long time! Go to Father Pavel, he will heal you.” And I thought: what is this? can heal me? But I didn’t dare to object. I found Father Pavel and told him that the father had sent me to him. He tightly squeezed my face with both hands and stroked my cheeks several times.
Sister Evdokia Nazarova also said that, as a young girl, she suffered for two years with paralysis of her arms and legs, and she was brought to Father Fr. Seraphim, who, seeing her, began to beckon to him. With great difficulty they brought her to the priest, but he gave her a rake in her hands and ordered her to rake the hay. Then she felt that something had fallen off her, and she began to row like a healthy one. At the same time, Praskovya Ivanovna and Irina Vasilievna worked for the priest. The latter began to reprimand her why she, so sick, had come to work with them, but the priest, having enlightened their thoughts with the spirit, said to them: "Take her to your place in Diveevo, she will spin and weave for you." Thus she labored until vespers. Batiushka fed her lunch, and then she reached the house completely healthy.
Elder Varvara Ilyinichna also testified to the cure of her father Seraphim: “He, my breadwinner, healed me twice,” she said. I came to him, he put me at a distance from himself, and he ordered me to open my mouth, he blew hard on me, tied my whole face with a handkerchief, and immediately ordered me to go home, and the sun was already at sunset. I was not afraid of anything for his holy prayer, but at night I came home, and the pain was taken away like a hand. I often visited the priest. He used to say to me: "My joy! You will be forgotten by everyone. "And for sure, it happened, I would come to mother Xenia Mikhailovna to ask for something, either from shoes or clothes, and she would say:" You would come and ask on time; go to bows. "He gives it to everyone, but not to me. Since Tatyana Grigorievna was offended by something and said:" Oh, you oblivious one! ”, And I remembered this word of the priest, but when I scream, I cry! : all my life I have been "forgotten" by everyone. Since Akulina Vasilyevna and I came to the priest, he spoke to her for a long time in private, he convinced everyone of something, but, apparently, she obeyed. He went out and said: " Take out of my ark (as he called his coffin) crackers. "He tied a whole bundle of them, gave them to Akulina, and the other bundle to me; then he poured a whole bag of crackers, and he began to beat him with a stick, and we laugh, and roll with laughter! Father "He looks at us, beats him even harder, but we - know, do not understand anything. Then the priest tied it up, and hung Agrafene around his neck and ordered us to go to the monastery. After that, we already understood how this sister Akulina Vasilievna left the monastery and went to the world endured terrible beatings. She then again came to us and died in Diveevo. As soon as I returned to the monastery, I went straight to mother K Senia Mikhailovna, yes, she said that we spent three nights in Sarov. She sternly reprimanded me: "Oh, you self-willed woman! How you lived so long without blessing!" I apologize, I say: the priest detained us, and I give her the crackers that I brought. She answers: "If the father left, then God will forgive. Only he gave them to you for patience." So it soon happened: they told my mother a lot about me, and she sent me away. I kept crying, and I went to Father Seraphim and told him everything; I cry myself, I kneel before him, and he laughs, and so he knocks his hands together. He began to pray and ordered to go to his girls at the mill, to the boss Praskovya Stepanovna. She, with his blessing, left me with her." - "Once I come to Father Seraphim in the wilderness, and he has flies on his face, and blood runs in streams down his cheeks. I felt sorry for him, I wanted to brush them off, but he says: "Do not touch them, my joy, let every breath praise the Lord!" He is such a patient person."
THE GREAT old woman, of high life, Evdokia Efremovna (nun Evpraksia) spoke of the persecution that Fr. Seraphim: “Everyone already knows how the people of Sarov disliked Father Seraphim for us; they even persecuted and persecuted him for us all the time, making him a lot of patience and sorrow! And he, our dear, endured everything complacently, even laughed, and often, knowing this myself, he joked with us. I come to the priest, and he, after all, during his lifetime, he himself fed and supplied us with paternal care, asking: is there everything? Is there anything needed? With me sometimes, but with Ksenia Vasilievna, he would send more honey, linen, oil, candles, incense, and red wine for the service. forcibly he lifted it from the coffin, Indo grunted, and said: “In, bring it, mother, and go straight to the holy gates, don’t be afraid of anyone!” What is it, - I think, - father, it always happened, he sends me past the horse yard by the back gate, and then all of a sudden it sends me straight to patience, but sends me to grief through the holy gates! whether. The Sarov abbot and the treasurer with the brethren painfully mourned the priest, who gives us everything, sends us; and they ordered the soldiers to always watch and catch us, especially they pointed me out to them. I did not dare to disobey the father and went, not myself, and I was shaking all over, because I did not know what the father had imposed on me so much. As soon as I came up, this, to the gate, I read a prayer; two soldiers, now they arrested me by the collar. "Go," they say, "to the hegumen!" I pray to them, and I tremble all over; it wasn't there. "Go," they say, "and that's all!" They dragged me to the abbot in Senki. His name was Nifont; he was strict, he did not like Father Seraphim, but he did not like us even more. He ordered me, so severely, to untie the bag. I untie it, but my hands are shaking, they walk like that, and he looks. I untied it, I took everything out ... and there: old bast shoes, broken crusts, cuts and different stones, and everything was so tightly stuffed. “Ah, Seraphim, Seraphim!” exclaimed Nifont. - and let me go. So another time I came to the priest, and he gives me a purse. "Go," he says, "straight to the holy gates!" I went, but they stopped me and took me again and led me to the abbot. Unleashed the bag, and in it sand and stones! The abbot ahal-ahal, let me go. I’m coming, I told the father, and he said to me: “Well, mother, now for the last time, go and don’t be afraid! They won’t touch you anymore!” And indeed, it used to be that you go, and at the holy gates they will only ask: what are you carrying?
In order to apparently convince everyone that the Lord and the Queen of Heaven are pleased, so that Fr. Seraphim was engaged in the Diveevo monastery, the great elder chose an age-old tree and prayed that it would bow, as a sign of God's determination. Indeed, in the morning this tree turned out to be uprooted with a huge root in completely calm weather. About this tree there are many recorded stories of orphans about. Seraphim.
So, Anna Alekseevna, one of the 12 first sisters of the monastery, tells the following: “I also witnessed a great miracle with the late sister of the monastery, Ksenia Ilyinichnaya Potekhina, who later briefly was the head of our mill community, later the dean of our monastery, nun Claudia. to father Seraphim, the painter Tambovsky, the Sarov novice Ivan Tikhonovich. For a long time the father talked with him that they were blaming him in vain, that he cared about us; that he was doing this not from himself, but by order of the Queen of Heaven Herself. "Let us pray," he says Father Seraphim. - I think that this tree is more than a hundred years old ... "- while he pointed to a tree of enormous size. "It will stand for many more years ... If I do obedience to the Queen of Heaven, this tree will bow in their direction !.." - and pointed to us. "So know," continued Fr. Seraphim - that there is no way for me to leave them, although they are girls! And if I leave them, then it will probably come to the Tsar! "We come the next day, and the father shows us this most healthy and huge tree, as if uprooted by some kind of storm with all its roots. And the father ordered, joyful , all shining, cut the tree and take it to us in Divaev. (Its root is still kept in the cemetery church with other things of Father Seraphim.)
The abbot of the Nikolo-Barkovskaya hermitage, hegumen Georgy, the former hotel guest of the Sarovskaya hermitage Guriy, testifies that, having once come to the elder, Fr. Seraphim in the wilderness, found him that he was cutting down a pine tree for firewood, which had fallen down with the roots. Following the usual greeting, the elder revealed the following about this pine tree, which he was chopping: “Behold, I am engaged in the Diveevo community; you and many people despised me for this, why I am engaged in them; behold, I was here yesterday, I asked the Lord for assurance yours, is it pleasing to him that I deal with them? If the Lord pleases, then, as an assurance that this tree will bow. On this tree, from a root of a yard and a half height, a note was carved with a cross. I asked the Lord for this assurance; along with by the fact that if you or anyone takes care of them, will it be pleasing to God? The Lord fulfilled for your assurance: behold, the tree has bowed. Why do I deal with them? I have care for them for the obedience of the elders the builder Pachomius and the treasurer Isaiah, my patrons They promised to take care of them until their death, and after their death they commanded that the Sarov monastery would not leave them forever. And for what? she came and here, and with her three slaves of the same mind. This Agathia, desiring to be saved near the elders, chose the village of Diveevo as the place of salvation, settled here and made a donation of money for the construction of the cathedral; I don’t know how many thousands, but I only know that three sacks of money were brought from her: one was with gold, one with silver, and the third with copper, and they were full of the same money. The cathedral was built by her diligence; behold, for which they promised to bake forever about them and commanded me. Here, and I ask you: take care of them, because they lived here twelve people, and the thirteenth was Agafia herself. They worked for the Sarov monastery, sewed and washed linen, and they were given all the food from the monastery for maintenance; as we had a meal, and they had the same. This went on for a long time, but Father Superior Nifont stopped this and separated them from the monastery; on what occasion, I don't know! Father Pachomius and Isaiah cared for them, but neither Pachomius nor Joseph were ever at their disposal; even then I did not dispose of them, and no one has a way to dispose of them.
In such a difficult time for the marvelous old man, Fr. Seraphim approved and strengthened the Queen of Heaven. Here is what Archpriest Fr. Vasily Sadovsky: “Once (1830), three days after the feast of the icon of the Assumption of the Mother of God, I came to Father Seraphim in the Sarov Hermitage and found him in a cell without visitors. He received me very mercifully, affectionately and, having been blessed, began a conversation about the charitable life of the saints, how they were granted gifts from the Lord, miraculous phenomena, even visits from the Queen of Heaven Herself. And having talked enough in this way, he asked me: “Do you have a handkerchief, father?” Give it to me!" - said the father. I gave it. He laid it out, began to put handfuls of crackers in a handkerchief from some kind of vessel, which were so unusually white that I had never seen such ones in my life. "Here, I have, father , there was the Queen, and so, after the guests, there was something left!" - the father deigned to say. His face became so divine at the same time and cheerfully, which is impossible to express! He put on a full handkerchief and, tying it tightly, said : "Well, come, father, and when you come home, then the very eat some crackers, give them to your friends (as he always called my wife), then go to the monastery and your spiritual children, put three crackers in each mouth, even those who live near the monastery in cells: they are all ours they will!" Indeed, subsequently everyone entered the monastery. In my youth, I didn’t even understand that the Queen of Heaven visited him, but I simply thought if the priest had some kind of earthly queen incognito, but I didn’t dare to ask him, but then the saint of God himself already explained this to me, saying: “The Queen of Heaven , father, the Queen of Heaven herself visited the wretched Seraphim, and in! What a joy to us, father! The Mother of God covered the wretched Seraphim with inexplicable goodness. "My beloved! - said the Most Blessed Lady, the Most Pure Virgin. - Ask me what you want! "Do you hear, father? What mercy the Queen of Heaven has shown us!" - and the saint of God all himself brightened up, and shone with delight. “And wretched Seraphim,” the father continued, “Seraphim was wretched and begged the Mother of God for his orphans, father! this unspeakable joy to the wretched Seraphim, father! Only three are not given, three will perish, the speech of the Mother of God! - At the same time, the bright face of the elder became clouded. - One will burn, one mill will be swept away, and the third ... I can; apparently, it’s necessary).
Gracious sister Evdokia Efremovna, who was honored to be on her next visit to the Queen of Heaven, Fr. Seraphim, in 1831, reported her conversation with the priest about the same visit that Fr. Vasiliy:
“Here, mother,” Father Seraphim told me, “up to a thousand people will gather in my monastery, and everyone, mother, everyone will be saved; I begged, poor, the Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven deigned to the humble request of the wretched Seraphim; and, except for three, the Merciful Lady promised to save everyone, everyone, my joy! combined who, by their purity, by their unceasing prayers and deeds, through this and with their whole being, are united to the Lord; their whole life and breath is in God, and forever they will be with Him! Favorites who will do my deeds, mother, and they will be with me in my monastery. And called who will only temporarily eat our bread, for whom there is a dark place. They will be given only a bed, they will be in the same shirts, but they will always yearn! These are negligent and lazy, mother, who do not take care of the common cause and obedience and are busy only with their own affairs; how dark and hard it will be for them! They will sit, all swaying from side to side, in one place!" And, taking my hand, the father wept bitterly. "Obedience, mother, obedience is higher than fasting and prayer!" continued the father. "I tell you, there is nothing higher than obedience , mother, and you tell everyone! "Then, having blessed, he let me go."
A year and 9 months before his death, Fr. Seraphim was honored with another visit to the Mother of God. The visitation was early in the morning, on the day of the Annunciation, March 25, 1831. The marvelous old woman Evdokia Efremovna (later mother Evpraksia) wrote it down and reported in detail.
“In the last year of Father Seraphim’s life, I come to him in the evening, by his order, on the eve of the feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God. The father met and said: “Oh, my joy, I have been waiting for you for a long time! What mercy and grace from the Mother of God is being prepared for you and me on this real holiday! This day will be great for us!” “Am I worthy, father, to receive grace for my sins?” I answer. Then he began to say: "And it never happened to hear what kind of holiday awaits you and me!" I started to cry ... I say that I am unworthy; but the father did not order, he began to comfort me, saying: "Although you are unworthy, I begged the Lord and the Mother of God for you, so that you could see this joy! Let's pray!" And, taking off his mantle, put it on me and began to read akathists: to the Lord Jesus, the Mother of God, St. Nicholas, John the Baptist; canons: Guardian Angel, all saints. After reading all this, he says to me: "Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, the grace of God appears to us! Hold on to me tightly!" And suddenly there was a noise, like the wind, a shining light appeared, singing was heard. I could not see and hear all this without trembling. Batiushka fell to his knees and, raising his hands to the sky, called out: “Oh, Blessed, Most Pure Virgin, Lady Mother of God!” And I see how two Angels walk ahead with branches in their hands, and behind them our Lady Herself. Twelve virgins followed the Mother of God, then another St. John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. I fell dead from fear on the ground and I don’t know how long I was in this state, and what the Queen of Heaven deigned to say to Father Seraphim. I also didn’t hear anything about what the father asked the Lady. Before the end of the vision, I heard, lying on the floor, that the Mother of God deigned to ask Father Seraphim: “Who is this lying on the ground with you?” The father answered: “This is the same old woman, about which I asked You, Lady, to be her at Your appearance!” Then the Blessed One deigned to take me, unworthy, by the right hand, and the father by the left, and through the father she ordered me to go up to the virgins who came with Her and ask: what were their names and what kind of life was they on earth. I went down the line to ask questions. First, I approach the angels and ask: who are you? They answer: we are the angels of God. Then she approached John the Baptist, he also told me his name and life in brief; just like St. John the Theologian. went up to the virgins and asked them, each of them about the name; they told me their lives. The holy virgins by name were: Great Martyrs Barbara and Catherine, St. First Martyr Thekla, St. Great Martyr Marina, St. Great Martyr and Empress Irina, Venerable Eupraxia, St. Great Martyrs Pelageya and Dorothea, Saint Macrina, Martyr Justina, St. Great Martyr Juliana and Martyr Anisia. When I asked them all, I thought: I will go, fall at the Feet of the Queen of Heaven and ask for forgiveness for my sins, but suddenly everything became invisible. Afterwards, the priest says that this vision lasted four hours.
When we were left alone with the father, I said to him: "Ah, father, I thought I would die of fear, and did not have time to ask the Queen of Heaven for the remission of my sins." But the father answered me: “I, the wretched one, asked the Mother of God for you, and not only for you, but for all those who love me, and for those who served me and fulfilled my word; who worked for me, who loves my monastery, but more than that, I will not leave you and will not forget you. I am your father, I will take care of you both in this age and in the future; and whoever lives in my wilderness, I will not leave everyone, and your generations will not be abandoned. Behold, what joy is the Lord vouchsafed us, why should we lose heart! Then I began to ask the priest to teach me how to live and pray. He answered: “This is how you pray: Lord, grant me to die a Christian death, do not leave me, Lord, at Your terrible judgment, do not deprive the Kingdom of Heaven! Queen of Heaven, do not leave me!” After everything, I bowed at the feet of the priest, and he, having blessed me, said: "Come, child, in peace to the Seraphim Hermitage!"
In another story of Elder Evdokia Efremovna, there are even greater details. So, she says: “Two Angels walked ahead, holding - one in the right and the other in the left hand - along a branch planted with freshly blossomed flowers. Their hair, similar to golden yellow flax, lay loose on their shoulders. The clothes of John the Baptist and the Apostle John the Theologian was white, shining with purity.The Queen of Heaven had on herself a mantle, similar to the one written on the image of the Sorrowful Mother of God, shining, but what color - I can’t say, inexpressible beauty, fastened under the neck with a large round buckle (clasp ), adorned with crosses, variously decorated, but I don’t know what, but I only remember that she shone with an unusual light. The dress, over which the mantle was, was green, girded with a high belt. which, as well as the epitrachelion, were removed with crosses. The Lady seemed to be taller than all the virgins; on Her head was an exalted crown, decorated with various crosses, beautiful, wonderful, shining with such a light that it was impossible look with your eyes, as well as at the buckle (clasp), and at the very Face of the Queen of Heaven. Her hair was loose, lying on her shoulders and was longer and more beautiful than Angelic. The virgins followed her in pairs, in crowns, in clothes of different colors and with loose hair; they became the circle of all of us. The Queen of Heaven was in the middle. The cell of the priest became spacious, and the whole top was filled with lights, as if burning candles. The light was special, unlike daylight and brighter than the sun.
Taking my right hand, the Queen of Heaven deigned to say: "Get up, maiden, and do not be afraid of Us. Virgins like you have come here with Me." I didn't feel like I got up. The Queen of Heaven deigned to repeat: "Do not be afraid, We have come to visit you." Father Seraphim was no longer on his knees, but on his feet before the Most Holy Theotokos, and She spoke so mercifully, as if with a loved one. Embraced by great joy, I asked Father Seraphim: where are we? I thought I was no longer alive; then, when she asked him: Who is this? - then the Most Pure Mother of God ordered me to go up to everyone myself and ask them, etc.
The virgins all said: "God did not give us this glory, but for suffering and for reproach; and you will suffer!" The Most Holy Theotokos spoke a lot to Father Seraphim, but I couldn’t hear everything, but what I heard well: “Do not leave My Diveyevo virgins!” Father Seraphim answered: "Oh, Lady! I collect them, but I cannot control them by myself!" To this the Queen of Heaven answered: “I will help you, My beloved, in everything! Place obedience on them; if they correct them, they will be with you and near Me, and if they lose wisdom, they will lose the fate of these near My maidens; neither place nor there will be no such crown. Whoever offends them will be smitten by Me; whoever serves them for the Lord's sake will have mercy before God!" Then, turning to me, she said: “Look, look at these My virgins and their crowns: some of them left the earthly kingdom and wealth, desiring the Kingdom of Eternal and Heavenly, loving spontaneous poverty, loving the One Lord. And for this, you see, what glory and honor they were honored with! As it was before, so it is now. Only the former martyrs suffered openly, and the current ones secretly, with sorrows of the heart, and their reward will be the same. The vision ended with what the Most Holy Theotokos said to Fr. Seraphim: "Soon, My beloved, you will be with Us!" - and blessed him. All the saints also said goodbye to him; the virgins kissed him hand in hand. I was told: "This vision was given to you for the sake of the prayers of Father Seraphim, Mark, Nazarius and Pachomius." After that, the father, turning to me, said: “Behold, mother, what grace the Lord has vouchsafed to us, the poor! Thus, for the twelfth time I have had a manifestation from God, and the Lord has vouchsafed you. and hope to have with the Lord! Defeat the enemy-devil and be wise in everything against him; the Lord will help you in everything!"
Father Seraphim, as it is said, received many visitors. He taught the laity, denounced in them the false directions of mind and life. So, one priest brought with him to Fr. Seraphim of the professor, who did not so much want to hear the elder's conversation as to accept his blessing to enter monasticism. The elder blessed him according to the custom of the priesthood, but he did not give any answer about his desire to enter monasticism, engaging in a conversation with the priest. The professor, standing aside, listened to their conversation. The priest, meanwhile, during the conversation often directed his speech to the goal with which the scientist came to him. But the elder, deliberately evading this subject, continued his conversation and only once, as if in passing, remarked about the professor: "Doesn't he still need to finish his studies?" To this the priest resolutely explained to him that he knew the Orthodox faith, he himself was a seminary professor, and began to most convincingly ask to be cleared only of his perplexity about monasticism. The elder answered this: “And I know that he is skilled in composing sermons. But teaching others is as easy as throwing stones from our cathedral on the ground, and doing what you teach is the same as carrying stones to the top yourself.” So that's the difference between teaching others and doing things yourself." In conclusion, he advised the professor to read the history of St. John of Damascus, saying that from it he will see what else he needs to learn.
One day four Old Believers came to him to ask about the two-fingered constitution. They had just crossed the threshold of the cell, before they had time to say their thoughts, when the elder approached them, took the first of them by the right hand, folded his fingers into a three-finger addition according to the order of the Orthodox Church and, thus baptizing him, made the following speech: " Here is the Christian formation of the cross! So pray and tell others. This composition was betrayed by the Holy Apostles, and the composition of two fingers is contrary to the holy statutes. I beg and pray you, go to the Greek-Russian Church: she is in all the glory and power of God! Like a ship that has many riggings, sails and a great helm, it is controlled by the Holy Spirit. Its good helmsmen - the teachers of the Church, the archpastors - are the successors of the Apostles. And your chapel is like a small boat that does not have a helm and oars; it is moored with a rope to the ship of our Church, sails after it , flooded with waves, and would certainly have drowned if it had not been tied to the ship.
At another time, an Old Believer came to him and asked: "Tell me, elder of God, which faith is better: the current church or the old one?"
Leave your nonsense, - answered Fr. Seraphim.- Our life is the sea, St. Our Orthodox Church is a ship, and the Pilot is the Savior Himself. If with such a Pilot, people, due to their sinful weakness, with difficulty cross the sea of \u200b\u200blife and not everyone is saved from drowning, then where are you striving with your boat and on what do you base your hope - to be saved without the Pilot?
One winter, a sick woman was brought on a sledge to Fr. Seraphim and this was reported to him. Despite the multitude of people crowding in the passage, Fr. Seraphim asked to bring her to him. The patient was all crouched, her knees brought to her chest. They carried her into the elder's dwelling and laid her on the floor. Father Seraphim locked the door and asked her:
Where are you from, mother?
From the Vladimir province.
How long have you been sick?
Three years and a half.
What is the cause of your illness?
Before, father, I was of the Orthodox faith, but they gave me in marriage to an Old Believer. For a long time I did not bow to their faith, and everything was healthy. Finally, they persuaded me: I changed the cross to two fingers and did not go to church. After that, in the evening, I once went about household chores to the yard; there one animal seemed to me fiery, even scorched me; I, in fright, fell, I began to break and writhe. A lot of time has passed. The family grabbed me, looked for me, went out into the yard and found - I was lying. They carried me into the room. Since then I have been sick.
I understand... the old man answered. Do you still believe in St. Orthodox Church?
I believe now again, father, - answered the patient. Then about. Seraphim folded his fingers in the Orthodox manner, laid a cross on himself and said:
Cross yourself like this, in the name of the Holy Trinity.
Father, I would be glad, - answered the patient, - but I don’t own my hands.
Fr. Seraphim took oil from the icon lamp from the Mother of God of Tenderness and anointed the chest and hands of the patient. Suddenly it began to straighten, even the joints crackled, and immediately received perfect health.
The people standing in the hallway, seeing the miracle, divulged throughout the monastery, and especially in the hotel, that Fr. Seraphim healed the sick.
When this event was over, she came to Fr. Seraphim is one of the Diveevo sisters. Father Seraphim said to her:
This, mother, was not the wretched Seraphim who healed her, but the Queen of Heaven.
Then he asked her:
Are there any in your family, mother, who do not go to church?
There are no such people, father, - answered the sister, - but my parents and relatives all pray with a two-fingered cross.
Ask them on my behalf, - said Fr. Seraphim, so that they lay down their fingers in the name of the Holy Trinity.
I told them, father, about this many times, but they do not listen.
Listen, ask on my behalf. Start with your brother who loves me; he is the first to agree. Did you have relatives of the deceased who prayed with a two-fingered cross?
Unfortunately, in our family, everyone prayed like that.
Even though they were virtuous people, Fr. Seraphim, having thought, - but they will be connected: St. The Orthodox Church does not accept this cross... Do you know their graves?
The sister named the graves of those she knew, where they were buried.
Go, mother, to their graves, make three bows and pray to the Lord that He will resolve them in eternity.
The sister did just that. She also told the living to accept the Orthodox folding of fingers in the name of the Holy Trinity, and they definitely obeyed the voice of Fr. Seraphim: for they knew that he was a servant of God and understood the mysteries of St. Christian faith.
Once about. Seraphim, in indescribable joy, said to the trusted monk: “Behold, I will tell you about the wretched Seraphim! I delighted in the word of my Lord Jesus Christ, where He says: in the house of My Father are many abodes (i.e. for those who serve Him and glorify His holy name). At these words of Christ the Savior, I, the wretched one, stopped and desired to see these heavenly abodes and prayed to my Lord Jesus Christ to show me these abodes; and the Lord did not deprive me, the wretched one, of His mercy; He fulfilled my desire and petition; behold, I was caught up into these heavenly abodes; only I do not know whether with or without a body - God knows; it is incomprehensible. And it is impossible to tell you about the joy and sweetness of heaven that I tasted there. And with these words, Fr. Seraphim fell silent... He hung his head, gently stroking his hand against his heart, his face began to gradually change and, finally, became so bright that it was impossible to look at him. During his mysterious silence, he seemed to contemplate something with emotion. Then about. Seraphim spoke again:
Oh, if you knew, - said the elder to the monk, - what joy, what sweetness awaits the soul of the righteous in heaven, then you would decide in a temporary life to endure all kinds of sorrows, persecutions and slander with thanksgiving. If this very cell of ours, - at the same time he pointed to his cell, - were full of worms, and if these worms ate our flesh throughout our temporal life, then with any desire we would have to agree to this, so as not to be deprived of that heavenly the joy that God has prepared for those who love Him. There is no sickness, no sorrow, no sighing; there is sweetness and joy inexpressible; there the righteous will shine like the sun. But if that heavenly glory and joy could not be explained by St. Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12, 2-4), then what other human language can explain the beauty of the mountain village, in which the souls of the righteous will dwell?
At the end of his conversation, the elder spoke about how it is now necessary to carefully take care of your salvation, before the favorable time has passed.
The clairvoyance of Elder Seraphim extended very far. He gave instructions for the future, which the ordinary man could never foresee. So, a young lady came to his cell, who never thought of leaving the world to ask for guidance on how to save herself. As soon as this thought flashed through her head, the elder already began to say: “Don’t be embarrassed for a lot, live the way you live; God Himself will teach you more.” Then, bowing to the ground to her, he said: "Only one thing I ask you: please, enter into all orders yourself and judge fairly; by this you will be saved." Being at that time still in the world and not at all thinking of ever being in a monastery, this person could not understand in any way what such words of Fr. Seraphim. He, continuing his speech, said to her: "When this time comes, then remember me." Saying goodbye to Fr. Seraphim, the interlocutor said that perhaps the Lord would bring them to see each other again. “No,” Father Seraphim answered, “we are already saying goodbye forever, and therefore I ask you not to forget me in your holy prayers.” When she asked to pray for her, he answered: "I will pray, and now you come in peace: they already grumble strongly at you." Companions, indeed, met her at the hotel with a strong murmur for her slowness. Meanwhile, the words of Seraphim were not uttered into the air. The interlocutor, due to the inscrutable fate of Providence, entered monasticism under the name of Callista and, being abbess in the Sviyazhsky monastery in the Kazan province, remembered the instructions of the elder and arranged her life according to them.
On another occasion, they visited Fr. Seraphim, two maidens, spiritual daughters of Stefan, the Schemamonk of the Sarov Hermitage. One of them was of the merchant class, of young years, the other of the nobility, already advanced in age. The latter, from her youth, burned with love for God and wished for a long time to become a nun, only her parents did not give her blessing for that. Both girls came to Fr. Seraphim to accept the blessing and ask him for advice. Noble, moreover, asked to bless her to enter the monastery. The elder, on the contrary, began to advise her to enter into marriage, saying: “Marriage life is blessed by God Himself. In it, you only need to observe marital fidelity, love and peace on both sides. In marriage you will be happy, but you have no road to monasticism. difficult; not for everyone tolerable. The girl from the merchant rank, young in age, did not think a word about monasticism, Fr. Seraphim did not speak. Meanwhile, he, on his own behalf, blessed her, in his perspicacity, to enter the monastic order, even named the monastery in which she would be saved. Both were equally dissatisfied with the elder's conversation; and an elderly maiden was even offended by his advice and grew cold in her zeal for him. Their spiritual father, Hieromonk Stefan, was surprised and did not understand why, in fact, the elder of an elderly person, zealous for the monastic path, distracts from monasticism, and blesses the young virgin, who does not want monasticism, on this path? The consequences, however, justified the elder. The noble girl, already in her advanced years, married and was happy. And the young one, indeed, went to that monastery, which the perspicacious elder named.
With the gift of his foresight, Fr. Seraphim brought many benefits to his neighbors. So, there was a pious widow of a deacon in Sarov from Penza, named Evdokia. Wishing to receive the blessing of the elder, she, in the midst of many people, came for him from the hospital church and stopped on the porch of his cell, waiting behind everyone when it was her turn to approach Fr. Seraphim. But oh. Seraphim, leaving everyone, suddenly says to her: "Evdokia, come here as soon as possible." Evdokia was unusually surprised that he called her by name, having never seen her, and approached him with a feeling of reverence and trembling. Father Seraphim blessed her, gave St. Antidoron and said: "You need to hurry home to find your son at home." Evdokia hurried and, in fact, barely found her son at home: in her absence, the authorities of the Penza Seminary appointed him a student of the Kyiv Academy and, due to the distance of Kyiv from Penza, was in a hurry to send him to his place. This son, at the end of the course at the Kyiv Academy, went to monasticism under the name of Irinarch, was a mentor in seminaries; at present he holds the rank of archimandrite and deeply honors the memory of Fr. Seraphim.
Alexei Gurevich Vorotilov spoke more than once about. Seraphim, that once three powers will rise against Russia and exhaust it a lot. But for Orthodoxy, the Lord will have mercy and keep her. Then this speech, as a legend about the future, was incomprehensible; but events explained that the elder was talking about the Crimean campaign.
The prayers of Elder Seraphim were so strong before God that there are examples of the restoration of the sick from the deathbed. So, in May 1829, the wife of Alexei Gurevich Vorotilov, a resident of the Gorbatovsky district, the village of Pavlovo, became very ill. Vorotilov had great faith in the power of Fr. Seraphim, and the elder, according to the testimony of knowledgeable people, loved him, as if his disciple and confidante. Vorotilov immediately went to Sarov and, despite the fact that he arrived there at midnight, hurried to the cell of Fr. Seraphim. The elder, as if waiting for him, sat on the porch of the cell and, seeing him, greeted him with these words: “Why, my joy, hastened at such a time to the wretched Seraphim?” Vorotilov told him with tears about the reason for his hasty arrival in Sarov and asked him to help his ailing wife. But oh. Seraphim, to the greatest grief of Vorotilov, announced that his wife must die from an illness. Then Alexey Gurevich, shedding a stream of tears, fell at the feet of the ascetic, begging him with faith and humility to pray for the return of her life and health. O. Seraphim immediately plunged into smart prayer for about ten minutes, then he opened his eyes and, lifting Vorotilov to his feet, said with joy: "Well, my joy, the Lord will give your wife a belly. Come in peace to your house." With joy, Vorotilov hurried home. Here he learned that his wife felt relieved precisely at those moments when Fr. Seraphim was in a prayerful feat. She soon recovered completely.
After the shutter Seraphim changed his way of life and began to dress differently. He ate food once a day, in the evening, and dressed in a cassock of black, thick cloth. In the summer he threw a white linen robe over it, and in the winter he wore a fur coat and mittens. In autumn and early spring weather, he wore a caftan made of thick Russian black cloth. From rain and heat, he put on a half-mantle made of whole leather, with cutouts for donning. Over his clothes he girded himself with a white and always clean towel and wore his copper cross. He went out to work at the monastery in the summer in bast shoes, in the winter in boot covers, and, going to church for worship, put on, by decency, leather cats. He wore a kamilavka on his head in winter and summer. Moreover, when he followed the monastic rules, he put on a mantle and, starting to receive the Holy Mysteries, put on an epitrachelion and handrails and then, without taking them off, received pilgrims in the cell.
One rich man, visiting Fr. Seraphim, and seeing his wretchedness, began to say to him: "Why do you wear such a rag on yourself?" Father Seraphim answered: “Prince Joasaph, given to him by the hermit Barlaam, considered the mantle higher and more expensive than the royal scarlet” (Thursday, November 19).
Against sleep Seraphim labored very strictly. It became known in recent years that he indulged in the night's rest, sometimes in the passage, sometimes in the cell. He slept sitting on the floor, leaning back against the wall and stretching out his legs. At other times he would bow his head on a stone or a piece of wood. Sometimes he fell on bags, bricks and logs that were in his cell. Approaching the moment of his departure, he began to rest in this way: he knelt down and slept prostrate on the floor on his elbows, supporting his head with his hands.
His monastic self-denial, love and devotion to the Lord and the Mother of God were so great that when one gentleman, Ivan Yakovlevich Karataev, who was with him in 1831 for a blessing, asked if he would order him to say something to his own brother and others relatives in Kursk, where Karataev was going, the elder, pointing to the faces of the Savior and the Mother of God, said with a smile: "Here are my relatives, and for living relatives I am already a living dead."
The time that Seraphim was left with sleep and work with those who came, he spent in prayer. Performing the prayer rule with all precision and zeal for the salvation of his soul, he was at the same time a great prayer book and intercessor before God for all the living and deceased Orthodox Christians. For this, when reading the Psalter, at each chapter, he relentlessly uttered the following prayers from the bottom of his heart:
1: For the living: "Save, Lord, and have mercy on all Orthodox Christians and in every place of Your dominion living Orthodox: give them, Lord, peace of mind and bodily health and forgive them every sin, voluntary and involuntary: and with their holy prayers and me, the accursed one, have mercy."
2: For the departed: "God give rest, Lord, to the souls of your departed servants: forefather, father and our brothers, lying here and everywhere Orthodox Christians who have reposed: give them, Lord, the kingdom and communion of Your endless and blessed life, and forgive them, Lord, any sin, voluntary or involuntary."
In prayer for the dead and the living, the wax candles that burned in his cell in front of the shrine were of particular importance. This was explained in November 1831 by the elder Fr. Seraphim in conversation with N. A. Motovilov. “I,” said Nikolai Alexandrovich, “having seen many lamps at Father Seraphim’s, especially many heaps of wax candles, both large and small, on various round trays, on which, from the wax that melted for many years and dripped from the candles, it was as if formed mounds of wax, I thought to myself: why is Father Seraphim lighting so many candles and lamps, producing an unbearable heat in his cell from the warmth of the fire? And he, as if silencing my thoughts, said to me:
Do you want to know, your love of God, why do I light so many lamps and candles in front of the holy icons of God? This is for this: as you know, I have many persons who are zealous towards me and do good to my mill orphans. They bring me oil and candles and ask me to pray for them. So, when I read my rule, then I remember them once at first. And since, according to the multitude of names, I will not be able to repeat them at every place of the rule, where it follows - then I would not have enough time to complete my rule - then I put all these candles for them as a sacrifice to God, for each one candle, for others - for several people one large candle, for others I constantly warm lamps; and, where it is necessary to commemorate them on the rule, I say: Lord, remember all those people, Thy servants, for their souls I kindled for you, poor, these candles and kandila (i.e., lamps). And that this is not my, wretched Seraphim, human invention, or so, my simple zeal, not based on anything divine, then I will bring you to reinforce the word of Divine Scripture. The Bible says that Moses heard the voice of the Lord, who spoke to him: "Moses, Moses! Rice to your brother Aaron, let him burn a candila before Me day and night: this is pleasing before Me and the sacrifice is acceptable to Me." So, your love of God, why St. The Church of God has adopted the custom of burning in St. churches and in the homes of faithful Christians candila or lampadas in front of the holy icons of the Lord, the Mother of God, St. Angels and St. people who are pleasing to God.
Praying for the living, especially for those who demanded his prayerful help, Fr. Seraphim always commemorated the dead and created the memory of them in his cell prayers according to the charter of the Orthodox Church.
Once, oh. Seraphim recounted the following circumstance: “Two nuns died, both of whom were abbesses. The Lord revealed to me how their souls were led through air ordeals, that they were tortured at the ordeals and then condemned. For three days I prayed, poor, asking the Mother of God for them. The Lord, in His goodness, through the prayers of the Mother of God, had mercy on them: they went through all the airy ordeals and received forgiveness from God's mercy.
Once it was noticed that during prayer, Elder Seraphim stood in the air. This incident was told by Princess E. S. Sh.
Her sick nephew, Mr. Ya, came to her from St. Petersburg. She, without delay, took him to Sarov to Fr. Seraphim. The young man was seized with such illness and weakness that he could not walk on his own, and he was carried on the bed into the monastery fence. Father Seraphim at that time was standing at the door of his monastic cell, as if expecting to meet the paralytic. Immediately he asked to bring the patient to his cell and, turning to him, said: "You, my joy, pray, and I will pray for you; just look, lie down as you lie down, and do not turn around in the other direction." The patient lay for a long time, obeying the words of the elder. But his patience weakened, curiosity tempted him to see what the old man was doing. Looking back, he saw Fr. Seraphim standing in the air in a position of prayer, and from the unexpectedness and extraordinaryness of the vision, he cried out. Father Seraphim, after completing the prayer, went up to him and said: “Now, you will explain to everyone that Seraphim is a saint, he prays in the air ... The Lord will have mercy on you ... And you look, protect yourself with silence and do not tell no one until the day of my death, otherwise your illness will return again. G. Ya., indeed, got up from his bed and, although leaning on others, he himself, on his own feet, left the cell. In the monastery hotel he was besieged with questions: "How and what did Father Seraphim do and what did he say?" But, to everyone's surprise, he didn't say a single word. The young man, completely healed, was again in St. Petersburg and after a while returned to the estate of Princess Sh. Then he learned that Elder Seraphim had died from his labors, and then he told about his prayer in the air. One instance of such a prayer was inadvertently seen, but, of course, the elder was raised into the air more than once by the grace of God during his lengthy prayer struggles.
A year before his death, Seraphim felt an extreme exhaustion of the forces of his soul and body. He was now about 72 years old. The usual order of his life, wound up from the end of the shutter, has now inevitably undergone a change. The elder began to go to the deserted cell less frequently. The monastery also found it difficult to constantly receive visitors. The people, accustomed to the idea of seeing Fr. Seraphim at all times, mourned that now he began to deviate from the eyes. However, zeal for him forced many to stay at the monastery hotel for quite some time in order to find an opportunity that would not be burdensome for the elder to see him and listen from his lips to the desired word of edification or consolation.
In addition to predicting others, the elder now began to predict about his own death.
So, once the sister of the Diveevo community, Paraskeva Ivanovna, came to him with other employees from the sisters. The elder began to tell them: "I am weakening in strength; now live alone, I leave you." The mournful conversation about separation touched the listeners; they wept, and with that they parted from the elder. However, they thought, about this conversation, not about his death, but about the fact that Fr. Seraphim, in his declining years, wants to put off caring for them in order to retire into seclusion.
On another occasion, Paraskeva Ivanovna alone visited the elder. He was in the forest, in the nearby desert. Bless her, oh Seraphim sat down on a piece of wood, and his sister knelt beside him. O Seraphim led a spiritual conversation and came to an extraordinary delight: he got to his feet, raised his hands to grief, and looked to the sky. The blessed light illumined his soul from the imagining of the bliss of the future life. For the elder was talking for the present time about what eternal joy awaits a person in heaven for the short-lived sorrows of temporal life. “What joy, what delight,” he said, “embracing the soul of the righteous, when, after being separated from the body, Angels meet it and present it before the Face of God!” Expanding this thought, the elder asked his sister several times: does she understand him? The sister listened to everything without saying a word. She understood the elder's conversation, but did not see that the speech was leaning toward his death. Then about. Seraphim again began to say the same: "I am weakening in strength; now live alone, I leave you." My sister thought that he wanted to go into seclusion again, but Fr. Seraphim answered her thoughts: "I was looking for your mother (abbot), I was looking ... and could not find it. After me, no one will replace me for you. I leave you to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother."
Six months before the death of Fr. Seraphim, saying goodbye to many, said with determination: "We will not see you again." Some asked for blessings to come to Great Lent, to speak in Sarov and once again enjoy the sight and conversation of him. “Then my doors will be closed,” the elder answered, “you won’t see me.” It became very noticeable that the life of Fr. Seraphim fades away; only his spirit, as before, and even more than before, was awake. "My life is shortening," he said to some among the brethren, "in spirit I am as it were now born, but in body I am dead all over."
January 1, 1833, Sunday, Fr. Seraphim came for the last time to the hospital church in the name of Sts. Zosima and Savvatiy, he himself put candles to all the icons and kissed, which had not been noticed before; then he took communion, according to custom, of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. At the end of the Liturgy, he said goodbye to all the brethren who were praying here, blessed everyone, kissed them and, consolingly, said: "Be saved, do not lose heart, stay awake: this day the crowns are being prepared for us." Having said goodbye to everyone, he kissed the cross and the image of the Mother of God; then, going around St. throne, made the usual worship and left the temple through the northern doors, as if signifying that a person enters this world through one gate, by birth, and comes out of it through another, that is, through the gates of death. At that time, everyone noticed in him an extreme exhaustion of bodily forces; but in spirit the old man was cheerful, calm and cheerful.
After the liturgy, he had a sister of the Diveevo community, Irina Vasilievna. The elder sent Paraskeva Ivanovna with her 200 rubles. assign. money, instructing the latter to buy bread in a nearby village with this money, because at that time the entire supply was gone, and the sisters were in great need.
Elder Seraphim used to, when leaving the monastery for the wilderness, leave candles lit in the morning in front of the icons burning in his cell. Brother Pavel, taking advantage of his favor, sometimes told the elder that a fire could start from lit candles; but oh. Seraphim always answered this: "As long as I am alive, there will be no fire; and when I die, my death will open with fire." And so it happened.
On the first day of 1833, brother Pavel noticed that Fr. During this day, Seraphim went out three times to the place that he indicated for his burial, and, remaining there for quite a long time, looked at the ground. In the evening about Pavel heard how the elder sang Easter songs in his cell.
On the second day of January, at about six in the morning, brother Pavel, leaving his cell for the early Liturgy, felt in the hallway near the cell of Fr. Seraphim smell of smoke. Having made the usual prayer, he knocked on the door of Fr. Seraphim, but the door was locked from the inside with a hook, and there was no answer to prayer. He went out onto the porch and, noticing the monks passing into the church in the darkness, he said to them: “Fathers and brothers! There is a strong smoky smell. Then one of those passing by, the novice Anikita, rushed to Fr. Seraphim and, feeling that it was locked, with an intensified push tore it off the inner hook. Many Christians, out of zeal, brought to Fr. Seraphim different canvas things. These things, along with the books, this time lay in disarray on a bench near the door. They smoldered, probably from candle soot or from a fallen candle, the candlestick of which was immediately standing. There was no fire, and only things and some books were smoldering. It was dark outside, it was a little glimmering; in the cell of There was no light for Seraphim, and the elder himself was neither seen nor heard. They thought that he was resting from his nightly exploits, and in these thoughts those who came crowded around the cell. There was some confusion in the hallway. Some of the brethren rushed after the snow and put out the smoldering things.
The early liturgy, meanwhile, continued unceasingly in its own way in the hospital church. sang Worthy to eat... At this time, a boy, one of the novices, unexpectedly ran into the church and quietly told some of what had happened. The brethren hastened to the cell of Fr. Seraphim. Enochs gathered quite a few. Brother Pavel and the novice Anikita, wanting to make sure that the elder was not resting, in the darkness began to feel the small space of his cell and found him himself, kneeling in prayer, with his hands folded crosswise. He was dead.
After dinner, Fr. Seraphim was placed in a coffin, according to his will, with an enamel image of the teacher. Sergius received from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The grave of the blessed elder was prepared at the very place that he himself had long planned, and for eight days his body stood open in the Assumption Cathedral. The Sarov hermitage until the day of burial was filled with thousands of people who had gathered from the surrounding countries and provinces. Everyone vied with each other to kiss the great old man. Everyone unanimously mourned his loss and prayed for the repose of his soul, just as he prayed during his lifetime for the health and salvation of all. On the day of the burial, there were so many people in the cathedral at the liturgy that the local candles near the coffin went out from the heat.
At that time, Hieromonk Filaret was ascetic in the Glinsky monastery, Kursk province. His disciple reported that on January 2, leaving the church after Matins, Fr. Philaret showed an extraordinary light in the sky and said: “This is how the souls of the righteous ascend to heaven! It is the soul of Fr. Seraphim who ascends!”
Archimandrite Mitrofan, who served as a sacristan in the Nevsky Lavra, was a novice in the Sarov desert and was at the tomb of Fr. Seraphim. He told the Diveyevo orphans that he personally witnessed a miracle: when the confessor wanted to put a prayer of permissiveness in the hand of Fr. Seraphim, then the hand itself unclenched. The abbot, the treasurer and others saw this and remained for a long time in bewilderment, amazed by what had happened.
Burial about. Seraphim was committed about. abbot Nifont. His body was interred on the right side of the cathedral altar, near the grave of Mark the Recluse. (Subsequently, by the zeal of the Nizhny Novgorod merchant Y. Syrev, a cast-iron monument in the form of a tomb was erected over his grave, on which it is written: he lived for the glory of God 73 years, 5 months and 12 days).
... The other day I finished reading the book "The Life and Feats of St. Seraphim of Sarov." To be honest, the impression of the life story of the elder is mixed and ambivalent. At times it was funny, at times it was creepy. In general - a feeling of some confusion.
Elder Seraphim is greatly revered by the Russian people. There are many legends about him. For example, that he prayed in the desert, but the animals did not touch him. It is said that he fed the bear with bread from his hands. However, there is no evidence for this. But many artists kissed this plot - the elder Seraphim feeds the bear with bread ...
But back to my little analysis of this book.
In 1807, the elder took a vow of silence. How it manifested itself: “He no longer went out to the visitors. If he himself happened to unexpectedly meet someone in the forest, the elder fell on his face and did not raise his eyes until the one he met passed by ”(p. 55). It is known that a few months before the adoption of this vow on Fr. Seraphim in the forest was attacked by three peasants. The elder was severely beaten, including being hit on the head with a butt of an axe. After that, he recovered his health for about five months. And after this incident, Fr. Seraphim takes a vow of silence... It seems to me that this is not a vow, but a necessary measure. Perhaps the elder became afraid of people. Isn't all of his silence-related behavior a consequence of the mental trauma after that attack? Is it possible to survive such brain injuries without consequences for the psyche? Unlikely. For everyone, he is a holy elder, but first of all, he is a man of flesh, blood, lymph and bones. Therefore, he is also vulnerable like all other people, no matter what activity he conducts.
To be honest, a lot in the behavior of Fr. Seraphim personally seems strange to me. For example, his feat of standing on a stone. Once an old man was walking through the forest, he saw a large granite stone and decided to pray on it. “From standing on stones, from the difficulty of this prayerful feat, his body changed very noticeably, a disease resumed in his legs, which from that time until the end of his days did not cease to torment him.” (p. 58) Why? Matrona of Moscow the gift of healing and insight was given from birth. Elder Seraphim - no. It is not known whether he received any gift from the Lord after standing on the stone, but he received health problems. It seems that the elder himself was looking for suffering on his way, he himself wanted to surpass someone, for example, the holy pillars.
Next - something from the series "Outlast".
Staritsa Varvara Ilyinichna says: “Once I come to Father Seraphim in the wilderness, and he has flies on his face, and blood runs in streams down his cheeks. I felt sorry for him, I wanted to brush them off, but he says: “Do not touch them, my joy, let every breath praise the Lord!” He is such a patient person." (p. 104). This is fine? I don't think so. On the face - the lack of common sense and the instinct of self-preservation. But God saves the safe. But the elder throws a challenge to the entire universe. I don't see any achievement in this. As well as in this: “In the summer he cultivated ridges in his garden and fertilized the ground, collected moss from the swamps. During such work, he sometimes walked without clothes, girdling only his loins, and the insects cruelly stung his body, which caused it to swell, turn blue in places and baked with blood. The elder voluntarily endured these ulcers for the Lord's sake, guided by the examples of the ascetics of ancient times” (p. 39) Why? It looks like some kind of show... Perhaps it would be prudent not to go without clothes during such work. So it would be possible to avoid ulcers and as a result of suffering and pain. But this is Elder Seraphim! Since the Lord does not give suffering, you must seek it yourself, otherwise you will not enjoy all the glory of the Kingdom of God. “They wounded his body” - even the words in the narrative are in this order, as if they were talking about the life of Christ. But the old man is a man, not God.
About the love of God. Seraphim talked a lot. About love for one's neighbor… Tells the proteire Fr. Vasily Sadovsky: “And wretched Seraphim,” the father continued, “Seraphim is wretched and begged the Mother of God for his orphans, father! And he asked that all, all orphans in the Seraphim Desert would be saved, father! And the Mother of God promised the wretched Seraphim this inexpressible joy, father! Only three are not given, three will perish, the Mother of God declared! - at the same time, the bright face of the old man became clouded. - One will burn, one mill will be swept away, and the third ... (no matter how hard I try to remember, I just can’t; it’s obvious that it’s necessary) ”(p. 114). In other words, the Mother of God came to the elder Seraphim, came and said with a touch of some bloodthirstiness that everyone living in his monastery would be saved. All but three. And these three will die a terrible death... Sounds like a sacrifice. All will be saved, except for three, because it is necessary. But the elder says this with humility. Because the Mother of God said so. It's for business.
Further, in continuation of the theme, sister Evdokia Efremovna recalls the words of Seraphim about that visit by the Mother of God:
“Here, mother,” Father Seraphim told me, “up to a thousand people will gather in my monastery, and everything, mother, everyone will be saved; I begged, wretched, the Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven deigned to the humble request of the wretched Seraphim; and, except for three, the Merciful Lady promised to save everyone, all, my joy! Only there, mother, - the father continued, after a short pause, - there, in the future, everyone will be divided into three categories: combined, which, by their purity, by their unceasing prayers and deeds, through that and with their whole being, are combined to the Lord; their whole life and breath is in God, and forever they will be with Him! The chosen ones who will do my work, mother, will be with me in my monastery. And those who are called, who will only temporarily eat our bread, for whom there is a dark place. They will be given only a bed, they will be in the same shirts, but they will always yearn! These are negligent and lazy, mother, who do not take care of the common cause and obedience and are busy only with their own affairs; how dark and hard it will be for them! They will sit, all swaying from side to side, in one place! ”(p. 114-115). "The Chosen Ones", i.e. those who will do the deeds of. Seraphim. "My business," as he writes. And who is he, exactly? It smacks of megalomania ... About the "Called", in general, I am silent. We feel sorry for these people in advance, they will be reproached with a piece of bread, they will be given some kind of dark place to live, and they “will sit, all swaying from side to side in one place!”. And who sways from side to side, sitting in one place? Only mentally ill people. But with what delight and ecstasy he pronounces these words of Fr. Seraphim. Truly, love for one's neighbor is all-encompassing.
What to say? At that time, psychiatry in Russia did not exist as such. And a lot in the behavior of Fr. Seraphim is suggestive of his mental disorders. For example, his excessive desire for asceticism. All this looks like some kind of self-flagellation, self-harm ... He spoke about himself in the third person, without fail adding the word "Poor". Almost never washed. He slept on bricks, on stumps, sometimes sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out in front of him. "Suffered", begging for a place in Heaven. But such people at that time were called "blessed". Now they would be put in a hospital or they would be charged with fraud. However, oh Seraphim healed someone there...
In 1903, Nicholas II ranked Fr. Seraphim to the face of saints. Question: Was Fr. Seraphim canonization? Does the same person (Nicholas II) have the right to rank someone as a saint? If yes, then why were not, for example, Daniil Andreev or Vasily Nikiforov-Volgin canonized as saints? Yes, because these people were born at the wrong time. They did their good deeds when the very institution of the church, as such, was destroyed in Russia.
The entire “Life” of the elder miraculously fit into a small book of 298 pages. Of these, half are the instructions of Fr. Seraphim, which are mainly quotations from the Gospels, and an appendix. At the same time, the print is high. A whole page is devoted to what Fr. Seraphim at different times of the year ... Two or three pages are devoted to dialogues ...
…I have finished reading this book. I was looking for answers to my questions. I didn't find any answers. I will not hide: there was a feeling of disappointment.
Should we try to be like Christ? Can someone become like Christ through suffering and deprivation? Is it possible? Unlikely. And it does not matter whether a person suffers voluntarily or involuntarily. The feat of Christ itself is beyond human comprehension. Probably, one can only try to become like Christ through love for one's neighbor. But it is unlikely that anyone living on earth will ever be able to love us the way Christ loved us.
The name of the Reverend Father Seraphim of Sarov is widely famous throughout the Orthodox world. He was born on July 19, 1759 in Kursk in the family of a local merchant Isidor Moshnin and Agafia .; in holy baptism he was named Prokhor. Young Prokhor, having an excellent memory, soon learned to read and write. Since childhood, he loved to attend church services and read the Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints to his peers, but most of all he loved to pray or read the Holy Gospel in solitude. In his youth, Prokhor made a pilgrimage to Kyiv to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where the elder Dositheus blessed and showed him the place where he should accept obedience and tonsure. This place was named Sarov desert. Returning briefly to his parents' house, Prokhor forever said goodbye to his mother and family. He became a novice with Elder Joseph at the Sarov Monastery in the Tambov province. Under his leadership, Prokhor went through many obediences in the monastery: he was the cell-attendant of the elder, he worked hard and did everything with zeal and zeal, serving, as it were, the Lord Himself. By constant work, he protected himself from boredom. During these years, Prokhor, following the example of other monks who retired to the forest to pray, asked the elder's blessing in his free time to also go to the forest, where he performed the Jesus Prayer in complete solitude. Two years later, the novice Prokhor fell ill with dropsy, his body was swollen, he experienced severe suffering. The illness lasted about three years, and not once did anyone hear a word of grumbling from him. The elders, fearing for the life of the patient, wanted to call a doctor to him, but Prochorus asked not to do this, telling Father Pachomius to partake of the Holy Mysteries. At the same time, Prochorus had a vision: the Mother of God appeared in an indescribable light, accompanied by the holy apostles Peter and John the Theologian. Pointing her hand at the patient, the Blessed Virgin said to John: "This is from our kind." Then she touched the patient's side with the staff, and immediately the liquid that filled the body began to flow out through the hole formed, and he quickly recovered. Soon, a hospital church was built on the site of the appearance of the Mother of God. The Monk Seraphim built a throne for the chapel with his own hands and always communed the Holy Mysteries in this church. After spending eight years as a novice in the Sarov monastery, Prokhor accepted monasticism with the name Seraphim, which so well expressed his fiery love for the Lord and his desire to serve Him zealously. A year later, Seraphim was consecrated to the rank of hierodeacon. Burning in spirit, he served daily in the temple, incessantly praying even after the service. For 6 years he was almost without interruption in the ministry. God gave him strength - he almost did not need rest, often forgot about food and regretfully left the Church. The Lord vouchsafed the reverend visions of grace during church services: more than once he saw the holy angels ministering to the brethren. The monk was granted a special vision of grace during Passion Week during the Divine Liturgy on Maundy Thursday, which was officiated by the rector Father Pachomius and Elder Joseph. When, after the troparia, the monk uttered “Lord, save the pious,” and, standing in the royal gates, pointed the orarion at those praying with the exclamation “and forever and ever,” a bright ray suddenly dawned on him. Raising his eyes, the Monk Seraphim saw the Lord Jesus Christ walking through the air from the western doors of the temple, surrounded by Heavenly Incorporeal Forces. Reaching the pulpit. The Lord blessed all those praying and entered the local icon to the right of the royal gates. The Monk Seraphim, looking in spiritual delight at the wondrous manifestation, could not utter a word, nor move from his place. He was taken by the arms to the altar, where he stood for another three hours, changing in his face from the great grace that illumined him. After the vision, the monk intensified his exploits: during the day he labored in the monastery, and spent his nights in prayer in a deserted forest cell.
At the age of 39, Saint Seraphim was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. A year later, he left the monastery for silent deeds in the desert and began to live in a forest in a cell 5 km from the monastery. Here he began to indulge in solitary prayers, coming to the monastery only on Saturday, before the Vespers, and returning to his cell after the Liturgy, during which he partake of the Holy Mysteries. The monk spent his life in severe deeds. The cell of the Monk Seraphim was located in a dense pine forest, on the banks of the Sarovka River, on a high hill, 5 km from the monastery, and consisted of one wooden room with a stove. He performed his cell prayer rule according to the rules of the ancient desert monasteries; he never parted with the Holy Gospel, reading the entire New Testament during the week, he also read patristic and liturgical books. The monk memorized many church hymns and sang them during his hours of work in the forest. Earning food for himself, the monk kept a very strict fast, ate once a day, and on Wednesday and Friday he completely abstained from food. On the first week of Holy Lent, he did not take food until Saturday, when he received Communion of the Holy Mysteries. The holy elder, in solitude, was sometimes so immersed in inner prayer of the heart that he remained motionless for a long time, hearing nothing and not seeing anything around him. For about three years the monk ate only one herb that grew around his cell. Besides the brethren, the laity began to come to him for advice and blessings. It violated his privacy. Having taken upon himself the monastic labor of silence, he tried not to meet or communicate with anyone. For 3 years the Monk Father Seraphim spent in complete silence, not speaking a word to anyone. Seeing the deeds of the Monk Seraphim, the enemy of the human race armed himself against him and, wanting to force the saint to leave silence, decided to frighten him, but the monk protected himself with prayer and the power of the Life-Giving Cross. To repel the onslaught of the enemy, the Monk Seraphim aggravated his labors, taking upon himself the feat of pilgrimage, wishing to imitate St. Semion the Stylite. Every night he climbed a huge stone in the forest and prayed with outstretched hands, crying out: "God, be merciful to me a sinner." During the day, he prayed in his cell, also on a stone that he brought from the forest, leaving it only for a short rest and refreshing his body with meager food. Thus the monk prayed for 1000 days and nights. The devil, put to shame by the monk, planned to kill him and sent robbers. One day robbers attacked him in the forest. The monk at that time had an ax in his hands, he was physically strong and could have defended himself, but he did not want to do this, remembering the words of the Lord: “Those who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26, 52). The saint, lowering the ax to the ground, said: "Do what you need." The robbers began to beat the monk, with the butt of an ax they crushed his head, broke several ribs, then, having tied him up, they wanted to throw him into the river, but first they searched the cell in search of money. Having crushed everything in the cell and finding nothing in it except an icon and a few potatoes, they were ashamed of their crime and left. The monk, having regained consciousness, crawled to the cell and, suffering severely, lay all night. In the morning, with great difficulty, he made his way to the monastery. Later, these people were identified, but Father Seraphim forgave and begged them not to punish them. After a 16-year stay in his desert, Father Seraphim returned to the monastery, but went into seclusion and for 17 years he did not go anywhere and gradually weakened the severity of his seclusion. For the first 5 years, no one saw him, and even his brother, who brought him meager food, did not see how the elder took it. Then the holy elder opened the cell door, and everyone could come to him, but he did not answer the questions of those who needed him, taking a vow of silence before God and silently continuing his spiritual work. There was nothing in the cell, except for the icon of the Mother of God, in front of which a lamp was glowing, and a stump of a stump that served him as a chair. An unpainted oak coffin stood in the entryway, and the elder prayed near it, constantly preparing for the transition from temporary to eternal life. After 10 years of silent seclusion, by the will of the Most High, Saint Seraphim again opened his mouth to serve the world.
The Mother of God, together with two saints, appeared in a dream to the elder and commanded him to leave the seclusion and receive weak human souls in need of guidance, consolation, guidance and healing. The doors of his cell became open to everyone - from the early liturgy until eight o'clock in the evening. The elder saw the hearts of people, and, as a spiritual doctor, he healed mental and physical illnesses with a prayer to God and a grace-filled word. Those who came to the Monk Seraphim felt his great love and listened with tenderness to the affectionate words with which he addressed people: "My joy, my treasure." The love with which the saint was filled attracted everyone to him. By this time, he already possessed insight: he saw the spiritual dispensation, thoughts and life circumstances of each person. Most importantly, the will of God regarding everyone was revealed to him, so that his advice was accepted as from God Himself. . The elder and members of the royal family visited. In the last period of his earthly life, the Monk Seraphim took special care of his beloved, the offspring of the Diveevo Convent. Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent . The disciples and spiritual friends helped the saint to nourish the Diveyevo community. In the last years of the life of the Monk Seraphim, one healed by him saw him standing in the air during prayer. The Most Holy Theotokos visited the saint 12 times and was honored with a vision of the Virgin surrounded by John the Baptist, John the Theologian and 12 virgins, which was, as it were, an omen of his blessed death and imperishable glory awaiting him.
The elder died in 1833 in the Sarov Monastery in his cell while praying, kneeling before the lectern. The news of the death of the holy elder quickly spread everywhere, and the entire neighborhood of Sarovskaya quickly flocked to the monastery. For 8 days the relics of the saint stood in the temple; and, despite the extreme stuffiness from the multitude of people and candles, during all these days of farewell, not the slightest smell of decay was felt.
What prayers should be read in the morning and evening
Hegumen Dionysius (Shlenov)
Temple of the Life-Giving Trinity on the Sparrow Hills of the Revelation of John the Theologian read adapted
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