Feast of St Seraphim - Fr Kirill Sokolov

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We find ourselves today

in this beautiful cathedral, in this temple dedicated

to St. Seraphim of Sarov, right in the middle

of two feasts, two appearances of Christ, two

epiphanies, the first being our Lord's birth

in the flesh, and the second being something

we celebrate in a few days, the manifestation

of the Holy Trinity at Jesus' baptism by John

in the River Jordan. Incredible moments in history

to contemplate, to consider, to remember, and

to live. And I can't ignore... That only yesterday

we took down our calendars marked 2023 and hung

up the ones with 2024 printed on them. 2024 years

after these saving events. Give or take a decade.

And if your life is anything like mine, the emails

keep coming. The text messages keep dinging.

The world is asking us, demanding, really, that

we get over Christmas by now. Okay, that's nice

that you got a day with family. This year, it

seems like the greeting I got a lot in my world

outside of church was, I hope you have a meaningful

holiday. Yes, indeed, meaningful. But we have

to encourage ourselves to really think about

what meaning this has for all of us. Christ's

incarnation and ministry happened at a specific

moment in history. 500 years or so before Christ,

the people of God were carried away into exile.

And when their Babylonian oppressors were overthrown

finally by Persian overlords, some of the people

of God returned to the Holy Land. But it wasn't

the same. Alexander the Great to Herod, it's

one pagan overlord after another. The rebuilt

temple is a shadow of its former glory. There's

no son of David on the throne. Worst of all,

the presence of God doesn't return to this new

temple. In reality, you can think of the people

of God as still somehow being in exile. That

all changes. When God comes to dwell with his

people, right? That's the whole drama of the

season. Herod might be evil, but he's not dumb.

He knows that if the Messiah is born in Bethlehem

and allowed to take the reins, well then Herod

can't be the anointed one. The evil priests and

scribes know full well that if the Messiah is

made manifest by the Father and if the Spirit

of God confirms the truthfulness of his word,

Their term in office is finished. We even heard

in the pre -festal troparion today a kind of

rumbling, prepare oneftily. It's like the whole

creation knows that something big is changing.

But the strange reality of our Christian life,

brothers and sisters, is that it doesn't always

feel like it's really changed, does it? Get back

to the grind. Keep your head down. Consume your

entertainment, food, alcohol, drugs, whatever,

and your social media, of course. And while you're

at it, dear 2024, get super excited, irritable,

flustered, passionate, whatever, about the so

important election. That'll keep you occupied.

Some years ago, I did something very different

than focusing on our elections and my social

media, mostly because there wasn't great cell

phone service. But I was blessed to go on a short

pilgrimage with Bishop Daniel to Deveovo, the

women's monastery that St. Seraphim gave guidance

to from afar. It took so long to get there. I

really had to kind of pass out. of civilization.

I had to go from San Francisco to New York, New

York to Moscow, and then I had to like go, go,

go for hours through countryside, never -ending

countryside, till I got to that place. And when

we arrived, it was so clean, so pristine. Everything

tasted better there, especially the dairy and

the ice cream they made there. It was so organized.

Everything was in its place. Think of our convent

in Calistoga or here in Santa Rosa. It was like

that but much bigger. It made me really wonder,

is this what being a Christian is like? Is it

about being more organized and more peaceful

somehow on the outside? I was thinking about

this when I was rereading St. Seraphim's life

this weekend, and as I often do as a beginner

in anything ascetic, I'm particularly interested

in the beginning of his acquisition of the Holy

Spirit. When he came as a really young man, we'd

call him a kid nowadays. When he came to the

monastery, the first thing he did was, to quote

the life, Very simply, many obediences. He was

the elder's cell attendant. He toiled at making

bread and prosphora and at carpentry. He fulfilled

all his obediences with zeal and fervor as though

serving the Lord himself. The life continues.

By constant work, he guarded himself against

despondency. Akidea. This being, as he later

said himself, St. Seraphim did, the most dangerous

temptation for new monks. It is treated by prayer,

by abstaining from idle chatter, by strenuous

work, by reading the word of God, and by patience.

Since, Father Seraphim continues, it is engendered

by pettiness of soul, negligence, and idle talk.

And this phase of being a novice, you might be

excused for assuming he kind of got through it

quickly. He was already at that point, in a sense,

the chosen one of the mother of God, as we heard

a few moments ago. She had already, in his novitiate,

as a novice, healed him from a terrible tribulation.

But he was a novice, actually, practicing, as

it were, for eight years. A time when he worked

really hard. So that word patience, well, St.

Seraphim knows what he's talking about. And that

phase of eight years. I won't recount to you

the whole life. You should all read it once a

year, though, I think, probably in preparation

for this day or for your other feast day. It's

so wonderful that you get an extra reminder if

we are busy at this time of year. It kind of

goes in chunks. He has these interesting phases.

It's like 10 years, 15 years, 8 years, stages,

different stages. And at each stage of his life,

And I take great comfort from the fact that he

has different phases, if you will, different

stages. He exercises this virtue, I think, first,

patience. And as I read that life, as I contemplate

St. Seraphim, and maybe you'll have this experience

once in a while too, there's something really

terrifying about it all. the receiving of multiple

visions of the mother of God and the saints,

the pure obedience to the abbot's commands. You

know, he's offered the position of abbot multiple

times and he turns it down humbly. And then it's

almost immediately that he asks the new abbot

something and usually doesn't get exactly what

he asked for, which is a terrifying thing to

actually not just talk about obedience and Christian

obedience, but to live it. The 15 years he spent,

one of those phases I was mentioning, in total

solitude, away from people. And then even, I

found this very moving, but in a kind of scary

sort of way, when he emerged from that 15 years

of silence, he's able to receive visitors, all

of those kinds of famous expressions we hear

about, like Christ is risen, my joy, and so forth,

happen at that moment. And he's able to see into

the hearts of those visiting him. with all of

his great love and tenderness, it's just all

so extreme. And it made me realize the difference

between the period of exile for the people of

God for all of those centuries, century after

century, waiting for the chosen, anointed Christ,

the Messiah. The difference between living and

being born and dying a few years before Christ.

and a few years after Christ, or a few centuries,

or a thousand years, or 2 ,024 years, is that

now we are no longer actually in exile. For someone

like Saint Seraphim, God was always right there,

dwelling with us. Saint Seraphim... In a very

particular way, I think this is maybe his most

impressive, to me, feat. I think a lot of the

other works that he did probably flow from this.

But it's said that he reread the entire New Testament

every single week. And I know that when I'm around

people, maybe you do this too, I start kind of

picking up verbal tics and things like that from

them. Seraphim is picking up the word of God.

week after week, that becomes his influence,

that becomes his constant companion. It got to

the point where St. Seraphim was so living as

if he was just where he was supposed to be, so

much like a Christian, like someone who actually

believes that the world is different because

of Christ's birth and theophany. that this little

slither of time between the incarnation of Christ,

his first coming, and his second and glorious

coming, becomes for St. Seraphim very small.

His visions of the mother of God, her appearings

to him, along with always the saints of the day,

I find that a fascinating detail. It was... as

if the resurrection was completely real for him.

Now, of course, it is completely real. We say

that, we believe that, we know that. But for

him, it was not just something he was thinking

about or thought about once a week, but he was

living the resurrection. I love how when our

choices are inspired by the Lord, it becomes

kind of obvious. to sometimes the most unlikely

of people. One of my favorite stories from his

life is the young child who said to one of her

friends after a quick encounter with Father Seraphim,

she said to one of the other little children,

Father Seraphim only looks like an old man. He

is really a child like us. And that, of course,

has to remind us of Christ's commandment to be

like the little children. And of course, St.

Seraphim was able to distill for us this way

of life in ways that even with our attention

deficit we can remember. He said one time, save

your souls, do not be despondent, but watchful.

Save your souls, do not be despondent, but watchful.

Now what happens when we actually find ourselves

being a little less watchful in our lives? and

maybe a little more despondent. Perhaps in this

darkness that the earth is kind of in right now,

you or someone you love or someone you know or

you can just kind of get a sense of somebody

around you is feeling a little down. Maybe someone

you love, maybe you yourself today are having

a little trouble really believing all of the

good news that is shared with us. I know at least

for me, I hear all the time around this time

of year, like we're singing, you know, Christ

is born, glorify him. When the Lord was baptized

in the Jordan, and yet sometimes people are in

like their worst state of just kind of not feeling

it or something. It's interesting when St. Seraphim

talks about his acquisition of the Holy Spirit,

about the acquisition of the Holy Spirit for

all of us. We really get the sense when we kind

of distill it and maybe I'm putting my own words

around it because that's the simplest thing for

me to think about. He kind of makes the point

that you're either in the Holy Spirit or what's

the opposite? You're in the kind of captivity

of the evil one. And he makes the point that

we can go back and forth so quickly. And I think

we know that. One minute, even in this liturgy,

I can be totally focused on the word of God.

And another moment can be thinking about a little

distraction over here or a little bit of pride

over there or a little bit of just like, I wonder

which emails I should answer this afternoon when

this is all over and I'm home. It happens so

quickly. Holy Spirit, not Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit,

devil. So why? would I bring that up? Partly

because I think we need to remind ourselves that

that's normal. Not normal in the sense of that's

what we want. Not normal in the sense of that's

how it should be. Not normal in the sense that

I should stay exactly as kind of wishy -washy

my whole life with God's help. But because I

don't want any of us, myself included, to get

down and to think, none of this really applies

to me. I'm just going to do a few commandments

as best I can, and that's the best I have to

give. No, think back to St. Seraphim. He had

phases of life. He had growth at every phase

of life. Just because I'm 45 doesn't mean I'm

always going to be this way. I can still keep

growing. I have to be focused on growing in Christ,

in that Holy Spirit captivating me. Somehow even,

it seems like such a strange word, Father Tom

Hopko said maybe we should say attaining the

Holy Spirit instead of acquiring the Holy Spirit.

But somehow, can I attain the Holy Spirit? Maybe

not flipping and flopping every few seconds,

but maybe more steadily with more growth. And

I think that's the beautiful thing about having

a feast day like this. When we have a feast day,

when we come together, travel from wherever,

whether it's our home parish or from more of

a distance, when we come to the church and there's

flowers and the singing is elevated and the serving

is more, there's more celebrants and we're kind

of like... taking off of work maybe or school

to be here. Why do all that if it's really just

a day -to -day struggle? And I think the point

is when we do something like this, like a feast

day of St. Seraphim, we're sort of saying that

this day belongs to the Holy Spirit. Does that

mean yesterday or tomorrow don't belong to the

Holy Spirit? I'm not saying that. But I am inviting

you not to focus on either yesterday or tomorrow.

The Lord himself says tomorrow will take care

of itself. That's easy to hear and sometimes

hard to practice. But in a feast day, we can

say for these two hours, for this day, I am going

to be here. I am going to try to grow in the

Holy Spirit. We are claiming it. We are naming

this day for Christ's Holy One. this holy priest

and monk seraphim. We are saying that today is

a day I'm intentionally living in the Holy Spirit

as best as I can. I'm just going to say never

mind to tomorrow or never mind to yesterday.

All I have right now is today, the now of God,

that newness of God. And even if I have trouble

most of the time living like that, even if most

of the time I'm worried about the future, even

if most of the time I'm worried about other things,

I'm going to claim this moment and try to kind

of hear the Word of God, try to live like somebody

that really listened to the Word of God all the

time. Let us embrace our Holy Father, Seraphim.

Let's maybe catch on to his coattails a little

bit. Maybe I don't feel ready to grow today,

but if I can at least believe that humans can

do this, that this is something available, that

it was something completely available to Father

Seraphim, that means it's totally available to

you and to me. Let's at least strive for that.

claim today make this offering of our praise

and thanksgiving as holy as we possibly can.

Amen.