Seraphim of Sarov is one of the most revered saints of Russia and the Orthodox world. Every day hundreds of pilgrims from all over Russia and the rest of the Orthodox world come to the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery to venerate the holy relics.
Days of memory of Seraphim of Sarov: January 15 - day of assumption, August 1 - birthday.
The help of Saint Seraphim is beneficial for every sufferer: he healed my mother from a terrible fatal illness and literally put her on her feet. When is St. Seraphim's Day celebrated in 2021? I will tell you about this in the article. I will also talk about the miraculous Canal of the Mother of God, which is located in the Diveyevo Monastery.
Brief life of the saint
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In the pantheon of Orthodox saints, Seraphim of Sarov is revered on a par with Sergius of Radonezh: they are the patrons of the Russian people. Saint Seraphim (in the world Prokhor) was born back in 1759 in the Kursk province. His parents were pious Christians and wealthy merchants. My father owned his own brick factory and built many churches in the area.
One day the boy Prokhor fell from the bell tower to the ground. It seemed impossible to survive after such an injury. But God showed his mercy to the chosen one, and the child was not harmed. His mother no longer hoped to see her fallen son alive, but tears of joy flowed from her eyes at the sight of the uninjured child.
When Prokhor was 10 years old, he fell ill with a serious illness and melted before our eyes. And then one day the Most Holy Theotokos came to him in a dream and promised healing. After some time, a religious procession with the holy icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” walked past Prokhor’s house. The boy asked his mother to take him to the icon, because the Most Holy Theotokos herself told him to do so in a dream. After Prokhor venerated the icon, he was healed. This was the second miracle granted to the chosen one of heaven.
It is not surprising that upon turning 17, Prokhor asked his mother for a blessing for monastic life. He could not do otherwise, since his heart and soul called him to serve. Mother blessed him with a large copper cross, which Seraphim did not part with all his life until the last minute.
At the monastery, Prokhor did hard work: he carried out obedience in the bakery, rafted timber, and did carpentry. One day he was bedridden by a dangerous illness that did not leave him for three years. And again the Most Holy Theotokos came to the rescue and healed him in a dream.
After 8 years of selfless service in the monastery, Prokhor was tonsured a monk and named Seraphim. At the appointed time, Seraphim was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, and then to the rank of hieromonk. However, Seraphim, instead of serving people (as was expected by his rank), chose the path of a recluse. He retired into the wilderness, built himself a cell and began to indulge in incessant prayers.
Healing the dumb
The peasant girl Ekaterina Vasilyeva Bolonina (40 years old) from the village of Baranichi, Bogorodsk volost, Shuisky district, Vladimir province, was mute for 4 years. According to her ticket, No. 443, the special features include: mute. The truth that her muteness lasted for 4 years was personally testified by Pavel Matveevich Gubanov, a tradesman from the city of Shui who came to Sarov with her, and can also be confirmed by members of the church clergy of the village of Vasilyevskoye. The healing took place as soon as the mute woman venerated the relics and immediately began to speak.
It is difficult for the writer to even believe that a woman who now speaks freely, half an hour before this time, was completely mute for four years. She explains that, approaching the relics, she felt some kind of relief and liberation in her larynx. Entry No. 90
Life in retreat
What did Seraphim of Sarov eat in the forest? His menu consisted of monastery crackers, which he dried himself, berries and roots. His soul thirsted for constant prayer, and one day he accomplished the feat of pillarism - he prayed kneeling on a stone for 1000 days and nights.
One day, Seraphim’s cell was attacked by robbers: they thought they would find the monk’s treasure. But under long torture, Saint Seraphim never admitted that he owned the treasures. The robbers severely beat the monk (they maimed him with an ax) and left. And this time the Most Holy Theotokos did not leave her pet without help.
The holy elder wore the same clothes all year round.
Despite the danger of being attacked by robbers, Saint Seraphim remained in the forest and continued the feat of desert living in the Sarov desert. They say that he fed the bear with crackers in the forest. Soon the elder began to receive all the suffering (except women). Instead of a greeting, Saint Seraphim always said the following phrase: “Christ is Risen, my joy!”
In 1825, Father Seraphim had a vision from the Mother of God, where she asked to create a monastery in her honor in the village of Diveevo. In 1861, the Diveevo community was created, which united 2 convents: the community was called Seraphimo-Diveevo.
At the end of his life, the holy elder moved to a monastery; he died in his cell while praying before his favorite icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness”. In 1903 he was canonized as a saint. This year the famous Sarov celebrations took place, glorifying God's saint. Emperor Nicholas II himself carried the reliquary with the relics of the saint from the Zosimo-Savvatievskaya Church to the Assumption Cathedral. During the glorification of St. Seraphim, many cripples received healing; this was recorded in the personal notes of the Emperor of the Russian Empire himself.
What does it help with?
People turn to Saint Seraphim in various needs, because even after his dormition he continues to help people and guide them on the true path.
Prayer support:
- during times of mental suffering;
- when choosing a life path;
- to get rid of pride;
- when applying for a job;
- for healing from illnesses;
- when looking for a soul mate;
- in business, commerce.
St. Seraphim helps in finding peace and tranquility when a person is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Prayer to the elder miraculously creates peace and tranquility within a person. The holy elder also helps to find the right direction in life, and, if you want to change your lifestyle, provides significant prayer support. There is a lot of evidence when people who stumbled became righteous.
If a person cannot independently get rid of pride, despondency and other mortal sins, then the prayerful support of Elder Seraphim will create a true miracle. There is no need to be shy about making requests of this kind, because the saints are given to help every believer.
If a person cannot find a job for a long time, asking Seraphim helps him find a job. God does not want a person and his family to experience need and poverty. You just have to earn money honestly.
Healing from illnesses is the main prayer request to the elder. Through the prayers of Seraphim, people receive deliverance from the most serious illnesses. The elder is especially helpful in healing the legs and internal organs. But faith is needed, since only by faith does a person receive what he asks for. Why in former times did the lame rise to their feet and the blind receive their sight? Because the faith in help was much stronger.
A strong Orthodox family is pleasing to God, so Saint Seraphim helps young people find a worthy couple. All requests will be heard and fulfilled.
St. Seraphim also helps success in commerce if the entrepreneur conducts business honestly. They turn to him when planning a business, when opening, and when conducting business.
Prayer for healing and help in commerce:
Prayer for a successful marriage:
Prayer for emergency help:
Troparion and Kontakion:
Seraphim of Sarov: advice on how to pray, how often to take communion, how to follow the commandments
The Reverend considered prayer to be the most important feat and means of acquiring the Holy Spirit. “Every virtue done for the sake of Christ gives the blessings of the Holy Spirit, but... prayer most of all brings the Spirit of God, and it is most convenient for everyone to correct it.”
The Monk Seraphim advised standing in the church during the Divine Service, either with his eyes closed, or turning his gaze to an image or a burning candle, and, expressing this thought, he offered a wonderful comparison of human life with a wax candle.
If they complained to the holy elder about the impossibility of fulfilling the prayer rule, then he advised them to pray constantly: during work, while walking somewhere, and even in bed. And if anyone has time, said the Reverend, let him add other soul-helping prayers and readings of canons, akathists, psalms, the Gospel and the Apostle. The saint advised to study the order of the Divine Service and keep it in memory.
St. Seraphim considered long prayer rules unnecessary and gave his Diveyevo community a simple rule. The Mother of God forbade Fr. Seraphim to oblige novices to read long akathists, so as not to impose unnecessary burden on the weak. But at the same time, the saint strictly reminded that prayer should not be formal.
“In prayers, pay attention to yourself,” the ascetic advised, “that is, collect your mind and unite it with your soul. First, for a day, two or more, do this prayer with one mind, separately, listening to each particular word. Then, when the Lord warms your heart with the warmth of His grace and unites it in you into one spirit: then this prayer will flow within you incessantly and will always be with you, delighting and nourishing you...”
The monk said that by fulfilling this rule with humility, one can achieve Christian perfection in worldly life.
“The soul must be supplied with the Word of God. Most of all, one should practice reading the New Testament and the Psalter . From this comes enlightenment in the mind, which is changed by a Divine change,” instructed the holy ascetic of Sarov, who himself constantly read the entire New Testament during the week.
Every Sunday and every holiday, unforgettably partaking of the Holy Mysteries, the Monk Seraphim, when asked how often one should begin Communion , answered:
"The more often the better."
He said to the priest of the Diveyevo community Vasily Sadovsky: “The grace bestowed upon us by Communion is so great that no matter how unworthy and no matter how sinful a person may be, if only in the humble consciousness of his total sinfulness he approaches the Lord, who redeems us all, at least from head to toe covered with sores of sins, and will be cleansed by the grace of Christ, become more and more bright, will be completely enlightened and saved.”
“I believe that according to the great goodness of God, grace will be marked in the generation of the one who receives communion...”
The saint, however, did not give everyone the same instructions regarding frequent communion. He advised many to fast during all four fasts and on all twelve holidays. It is necessary to remember his warning about the possibility of being included in condemnation:
“Sometimes it happens like this: here on earth they commune; but they remain uncommuned with the Lord!”
“There is nothing worse than sin and nothing more terrible and destructive than the spirit of despondency,” said Saint Seraphim. He himself shone with spiritual joy, and with this quiet, peaceful joy he abundantly filled the hearts of those around him, greeting them with the words: “My joy! Christ is Risen!"
Every burden of life became light near the ascetic, and many mourning and God-seeking people constantly crowded around his cell and hermitage, wanting to partake of the grace pouring out from the saint of God.
Before everyone’s eyes, the truth expressed by the saint himself in the great angelic call was confirmed: “Get peace, and thousands around you will be saved.” This commandment about acquiring the world leads to the teaching about acquiring the Holy Spirit, but in itself it is the most important step on the path of spiritual growth.
St. Seraphim, who experienced the entire ancient Orthodox science of ascetic feat, foresaw what the spiritual work of future generations would be like, and taught to seek peace of mind and not to condemn anyone:
“He who walks in a peaceful state draws out spiritual gifts, as it were, with a spoon.” “To preserve spiritual peace... one must avoid judging others in every possible way... To get rid of condemnation, one must pay attention to oneself, not accept extraneous thoughts from anyone, and be dead to everything.”
Our Lady's Groove
Every year, on the day of the Dormition of St. Seraphim, January 15, a procession of the cross along the groove of the Virgin Mary is held at the Diveyevo monastery. To take part in the procession, believers come from all over Russia and other Orthodox countries. During the religious procession, the prayer “Rejoice, Virgin Mary” is read 150 times.
Orthodox tradition says that the Most Holy Theotokos chose Diveevo as her fourth earthly destiny. Christians firmly believe that the Mother of God walks along the holy ditch every day, because she herself ordered it to be dug. The Monk Seraphim said that by applying earthen soil from the ditch they would receive healing and blessing. Whoever walks along the groove, reading “Theotokos” 150 times, his requests will be immediately heard by heaven. The holy elder said that this place (Diveevo) would become revered on a par with Athos, Jerusalem, and Kiev.
The Diveyevo Monastery is also famous for its healing springs: there are about ten of them in the area. Pilgrims specially come to plunge into the healing waters of the springs, draw holy water and be healed.
