St Seraphim Day Bp Vasily

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today, on this Sunday,

the Day of the Lord, when we make our weekly

commemoration of the Lord's death and resurrection,

we also celebrate the memory of our Venerable

Father, Seraphim of Sarov, one of the most venerated

saints of the Orthodox Church, especially in

the churches of the Russian tradition, including

our Orthodox Church in America. But one might

think, aside from this being a feast of the dedication

of this temple, patronal feast of this church,

what relevance does the memory of the Russian

saint has for us Orthodox Christians in America?

In 1778, two young men entered and became novices

in a large and growing Russian monastery of the

time, the men's monastery of Sarov in central

Russia. One of them, most likely named Yegor

Popov, was from a peasant family, and another

from a merchant family in Kursk, he was named

Prokhor Mashnin. The first of these young men

received in monasticism the name Herman. In a

few years, moved with his elder to the monastery

of Walaam up north, and then joined the first

Russian Orthodox mission in Alaska, becoming

as a simple monk, a spiritual leader, the first

missionary, defender and protector of the native

people of Alaska, the elder of Alaska and all

America. And we know him as St. Herman, our venerable

Father Herman of Alaska. The second of these

young men. somewhat younger than Herman, received

the name Seraphim. In 1794, when Monk Herman

arrived in Kodiak as part of the first Russian

Orthodox mission in North America, in the same

year, higher Monk Seraphim, a little more than

a year after his ordination, after he has, as

a deacon, experienced the vision of God during

the Divine Liturgy. He departs to the forest

of Sarov and becomes a hermit, remaining in his

hermitage until he is compelled to move back

into the monastery. We do not know, we don't

have evidence, whether St. Seraphim and St. Hermon

ever met one another, except perhaps in passing,

even though they knew the same elder and the

teacher of the Jesus prayer, Nazari of Sarov.

Thus, one or another way, they were spiritually

connected. And also, not only by sharing in the

same tradition of prayer, not only in sharing

in the same rich tradition of Orthodox monasticism

that produces saints, but they shared the same

immediate spiritual heritage. They were spiritually

related. And also for us, Orthodox Christians

in America, who venerate St. Herman as our own

American Orthodox saints, the life of St. Seraphim

becomes directly relevant. As St. Paul calls

in his epistle today, having gifts that differ

according to the grace being given to us, let

us use them in proportion to our ability. but

let love be genuine, without hypocrisy, without

guile. The monastic saints heard this call. All

Christians are aliens and strangers in this world,

and this is especially visible in the lives of

monastic saints, fleeing the world, seeking solitude,

not only visibly and openly, but ultimately seeking

the journey into the solitude of one's own heart,

into the depths of their soul, building the temple

of their heart, calling out of these depths upon

the Lord's holy name, Lord Jesus Christ, Son

of God, have mercy on us. Saint Seraphim became

a hermit and entered into solitude to seek the

inner prayer, But in continuation of his journey,

he is called out of his hermitage to give counsel

and spiritual guidance to great numbers of people

who were lost, to his monastic disciples and

to laity, and now also to us, his spiritual children,

who study his words and his life to find guidance

in our own quest for salvation. The monks enter

into the hermitage. into the depths of their

own heart, but not in search of self -fulfillment,

self -gratification, but for the salvation of

themselves, of their own souls, and for salvation

of all. In the Gospel today, according to Luke,

we have heard the Beatitudes, the commandments

of blessedness and happiness from the mouth of

Christ himself. and in St. Luke's Gospel we hear

them in a much more terse, pithy, and expressive

version than in the Gospel of Matthew. We read

those words for the feasts of all monastic saints,

showing thus that all of these great saints were

united in taking these words seriously, in fulfilling

those new commandments of God to the best of

their ability. Our Venerable Father Seraphim

fulfilled those commandments precisely. The Lord

said, Blessed are the poor, since Seraphim lived

in his hermitage in abject poverty, and when

robbers attacked his cell and tortured him asking

for money, he forgave them and insisted that

they will not be punished. But most of all, first

of all, these robbers found that in his cell,

in the cell of a higher monk who was visited

by many people. There was in his cell, there

was simply nothing to steal. The Lord said, Blessed

are you that hunger now. For three years in his

solitude, Saint Seraphim starved himself, feeding

on a plant which the peasants of the time fed

on during the time of famine, thus visibly identifying

with those who are poor and hungry. Blessed are

that weep now. During his exile in the forest,

St. Seraphim became a stylite, exemplifying this

ultimate radical way of prayer, praying on a

rock for a thousand days and nights, unceasingly,

until he had difficulty walking afterwards. St.

Seraphim experienced hatred, misunderstanding,

and persecution. also from his own monastic brethren

and superiors, who found his gifts and his popularity

suspicious. And even after his death, there was

great resistance in the Russian church to his

canonization from important prominent members

of the church's elite. And it is a direct intervention

of Tsar Nicholas II which ensured that St. Seraphim

is canonized. And lastly, the Lord calls us,

rejoice and leap for joy, for your reward is

great in heaven. In the famous account of the

conversation with his disciple, Matavilov, St.

Seraphim tells us that the goal of Christian

life is to acquire the Holy Spirit, to acquire

the peace, joy, and love of God dwelling in our

hearts and filling all of our existence. St.

Paul says, God's love has been poured into our

hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given

to us. All that we do as Christians, fulfilling

the commandments, fasting, following the rules,

is not an end in itself, but it is not a reason

to pride and to be conceited about so many things

that we have done, that we have done successfully,

what we have achieved, what we have acquired.

We are living a Christian life if we keep in

mind the greatness of the mercy of God towards

us, when we always keep our mind looking at Christ

our Savior, when we bear each other's burdens

and pray unceasingly as much as we can, keeping

the name of Christ in our mind. We may not experience

hardship and suffering, in the same way that

St. Seraphim endured in his mission of bringing

salvation to the people of God. We often have

our own share of hardship and suffering. But

we look at St. Seraphim as our guide because,

according to anyone who has met him, his life

was filled, his countenance was filled with joy.

His life was filled with joy and peace, which

he shared with those he met. the peace and joy

in the Holy Spirit. If we seek to acquire this

peace, if we keep our mind and our heart directed

to God, if we seek to hear the life -giving words

of God and to do them, then we indeed become

closer to be the disciples of Christ, as was

our Venerable Father, St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Our Venerable Father, Seraphim, pray to God for

us. Amen.