St. Seraphim Day 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

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

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. They

will sing Pascha in the summer. That's what St.

Seraphim mysteriously once said to someone. And

I think St. Seraphim would be overjoyed hearing...

Not the Devea Volan singing, but the St. Cassini

singers, women's quartet singing. St. Seraphim

was a saint mostly for women, especially monastics.

He didn't have many disciples among the men,

but many, many of women. So today is just perfect.

This is glorious. Thank you. Thank you, Nicholas.

It is like Pascha a little bit. First time we've

heard this kind of singing in a long time. Pascha

in the summer sounds lovely, but of course that's

exhausting. But Pascha in summer actually did

occur, fulfilling one of St. Seraphim's many

prophecies, 117 years ago, July 19, 1903. The

venerable and priest monk Seraphim was glorified

by the Russian church. This clairvoyant man,

man with the gift of prayer, the man with the

gift of healing. As you heard about Christ, many

came to him that were sick and they were healed.

They were comforted by St. Seraphim. They were

corrected. He was a me -corrector of those that

have gone astray, it says in the Akathist. He

consoled them and he was joyful and he imparted

that joy to others. And he was long -suffering.

And he helped hundreds who came to him every

day for counsel and help. From the imperial family

members and the intelligentsia and famous people

to peasants alike, discerning what was best for

each person, hearing confessions so that... The

person who confesses sins like the young man

in the gospel today. Jesus said, son, your sins

are forgiven. Pharisees are thinking, well, that's

easy to say. And besides, he can't say that.

He's not God. But that's what's most important.

Because it saves us from spiritual death. And

it gets us ready for the resurrection. And that's

why that young man could get up. and those who

came to St. Seraphim for confession and heard

the prayer of absolution leapt up with joy. When

we leave confession, we should be joyful. He

helped everyone, even a peasant man who came

inconsolable because his horse had been stolen,

and St. Seraphim told him exactly where the horse

was, such and such a road, take a left, it's

in this guy's yard, and you get it, take it back.

On that July day in 1903, over a hundred thousand,

think of it, we can't even imagine this, a hundred

thousand pilgrims came to Sarov for the many,

many church services. A final panekhita was served,

followed by the festival vigil with newly composed

hymns in honor of the saints of Russia, the priest

monk Seraphim. And when the hymns for the saint

began, healings began too. in the many people

that were gathered. As I say, for us, maybe it's

well nigh impossible to imagine and conceive

of all that. The 79 years of life of St. Seraphim,

the monastic life there in Sahara, the outpouring

of love and veneration of the... 100 ,000 plus

that gathered on that glorification day in 1903.

And it would be less, it would be 20 years later,

1923, that the Bolsheviks would close that monastery.

They would continue their reign of destruction

and terror and atheism, making martyrs for the

glory of the church, it must be said. Hundreds

and thousands of them. And the relics of St.

Seraphim, what happened to them? They were put,

ironically, in deep storage in the Museum of

Religion and Atheism in Leningrad. And they would

be uncovered in 1991 and returned to the Church.

What great and joyful encouragement the Church

received on that day in 1991. And now, more than

ever, our time as we... go through this COVID

-19 period, emotionally, spiritually, economically,

we need encouragement. We need the encouragement

that God loves us. We need the encouragement

that comes from being united in the Orthodox

faith. We need the encouragement for remembering

our sins too have been forgiven, and now we have

life. dwelling within us. So I thought this morning

when I woke up this paper is pretty useless.

I thought this morning what marks distinguish

us in this parish as members of St. Seraphim

Cathedral? What do we manifest in our life from

being given this saint by Bishop Teek on way

back in 1996 as our patron. How do we identify

as members of the parish named after St. Seraphim?

Let me suggest something. First, St. Seraphim

told someone this, true hope seeks the one kingdom

of God. Let that sink in. And he's sure that

everything necessary for this mortal life will

surely be given. St. Paul wrote the Romans, you've

all been given grace according to the gift of

Christ. And he wrote to the Galatians and told

us what it means. Joy, peace, love, long -suffering,

mercy, kindness. The heart cannot have peace

until it acquires this hope, said St. Seraphim.

This hope in the one kingdom of God. This hope

pacifies the heart, brings peace to it, and brings

joy to it. The most holy lips of the Savior spoke

about this very hope. Come unto me, all ye that

labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you

rest. This was St. Seraphim's life. He interacted

with the faithful like that. hope and with comfort.

This is our first calling, the first necessity

that we as members of this congregation under

the umbrella of the protection of the Virgin

and St. Seraphim are to manifest to those around

us. But first we have to do what St. Seraphim

did. We fast. We pray. We're obedient to the

life of the Church. The second thing, since you

heard St. Paul say that we all have to live according

to the grace that's been given us, the gift,

whatever it might be, teaching, preaching, ministering,

comforting. This is what St. Seraphim says about

that. He says, the good deed done for Christ's

sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

You heard all about that in Galatians. The fruit

of the Spirit. That's grace. Grace is put to

use in our lives, he says, brings dividends of

more grace. His parents were merchants. He spoke

in this concrete language. St. Seraphim did not

become what he was through a momentary gift,

a one -time thing, but a lifetime of ascesis.

He reinvested that grace given to him. Grace

is nothing other than the life of Christ. His

light, which he manifested. So bring forth the

fruit of the Spirit. Start with the little things.

If we're going to do the first thing, bring comfort,

hope, peace, joy, then start with the little

things every day. Make the sign of the cross

when you arise. Say, thank you, God. Pray. Bless

your food before you eat it. Manifest Christian

joy when you receive absolution and you hear

the words that your sins are forgiven, when you

receive Holy Communion, when you come before

the icons. Be joyful. God has given us his heavenly

kingdom, but we have to start with the small

things to manifest that in our life. Third, especially,

Third, what's lacking in our world? There's plenty

of cynicism. There's plenty of anger. There's

plenty of anxiety. There's plenty of trouble

and suffering. On one occasion, St. Seraphim

heard, he overheard, they didn't know he was

there, two monastic brothers bitterly, bitterly

complaining about the monastery, about other

brothers, about those that were in charge of

them. Our parish is this. Our parish is that.

This priest is this. The priest is that. Why

can't we do this? They were complaining about

the things they were asked to do, which they

felt were stupid. And Father Seraphim came up

to them. They didn't know he was there. And he

said, but brothers, forgive me. I understand

you have some complaints. I can hear that. But

did you not hear that Christ has risen? And so

all those things are not so bad after all. So

let's ask ourselves, brothers and sisters, if

we have some bitterness in our heart, and this

day make a correction to find grace. God gave

us finally number four, a great spiritual guide.

If we are to manifest anything about St. Seraphim,

whether it be comfort or joy, paschal joy, and

consolation. Let us pray to him. Let us ask daily

for his intercessions. He was a great wonder

worker when he was alive and even greater after

he passed into the realm of the kingdom of God.

St. Seraphim greeted his guests on most days

with the Paschal greeting. So I boldly and hopefully

without pretension greet you as he did, my beloved

friends. Christ is risen.