The life of the holy saints of God often passes unnoticed by their contemporaries, but after years many secrets become known. The time has come to learn about the life of the great elder of God - Seraphim Vyritsky. The saint became famous not only for his exploits and prayer. Seraphim Vyritsky wrote the world-famous work “It Was All From Me” during the difficult years of persecution of the church. The spiritual depth and power of these lines changes the heart structure of people of various faiths.
Seraphim Vyritsky as the author of the prayer
Little is known about the saints who shone forth in the distant past. The scant information that has come down through the centuries does not make it possible to create a complete picture of their life. The ascetics of the 20th century are a completely different matter. Many eyewitness accounts and surviving documents make it possible to touch their personalities and reveal the secret of their life’s feat.
Biography
Seraphim Vyritsky (in the world Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov, born in 1866) was one of the wealthiest people of his time, and later became one of the most mysterious saints. When he was 12 years old, he was forced to work to support his large family, with whom he lived in the village of Vakhromeevo, Yaroslavl province. His father died when he was only 40 years old.
Vasily got a part-time job at Gostiny Dvor, at that time the largest shopping center in St. Petersburg. Very soon he climbed the career ladder thanks to his intelligence, hard work and the Christian qualities that he received in the family from his God-fearing parents. Over time, he opened his own business and became the largest trader in furs and fur products.
After the events of 1917, V.N. Muravyov lost his business, but got the opportunity to realize his old childhood dream. He distributed property to monasteries and retired as a novice to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. At the same time, his wife, Olga Ivanovna, with whom he had lived for decades by that time (they were married in 1890), also went to the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent for women.
Thus, the blessing of Barnabas of Gethsemane, confessor of the Sergius-Trinity Lavra, given to Vasily in adolescence, came true. The successful St. Petersburg merchant maintained a strong spiritual connection with the gracious old man all these long years.
Religious activities
Both spouses took monastic vows at the same time, on the same day (October 16, 1920). Vasily was named in honor of the Apostle Barnabas and in memory of his spiritual father. Olga became Christina in monasticism. Monk Barnabas was ordained a hierodeacon, and a year later a hieromonk. People began to gather around him, seeking the path to God.
A few years later, Barnabas was appointed confessor of the Lavra. Before accepting new obedience, he decided to put on the schema. This time he was named in honor of Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, whom he tried to imitate all his life. I spent about 3 years in this obedience, completely losing my strength and health.
Doctors diagnosed him with:
- blockage of veins in the legs;
- rheumatism;
- pulmonary congestion;
- heart failure.
With the blessing of Metropolitan. Seraphim Chichagov, the elder moved to the village of Vyritsa, a resort village near St. Petersburg. In 1930 he left the northern capital forever.
For twenty years, seriously ill Father Seraphim, lying on his bed, received all the sufferers who came to him from different parts of the country, refusing no one advice, guidance and consolation. The stream of people was endless. It did not stop even after the blessed death of the elder in 1949 to his grave. Next to the blessed righteous man all this time was schema-nun Seraphima, his ex-wife (died 1945), and granddaughter Margarita, a novice of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent.
Gift of Prophecy
Father Seraphim possessed a great prophetic gift. This is eloquently evidenced by many living testimonies of people who communicated with him. Some of his prophecies have already been fulfilled, others are being fulfilled before our eyes, and others are yet to come true. But they all have special spiritual value for our contemporaries. For the main of these prophecies are dedicated to the sincere repentant return of the people to God and the Orthodox faith.
For example, Seraphim Vyritsky predicted that soon believers would turn away from the church not through persecution, as was the case before. People will be distracted from God by wealth and the delights of earthly life. And this temptation will be much stronger. Indeed, we now do not have persecution of the church, but there are many temptations that force people to retreat from faith in God and fulfillment of His commandments.
It was from me
Very often a modern person, who is well versed in computers, sports or fashion, does not know simple ordinary things. For example, what to do if you are not understood or how not to fall into despair from failures?
Seraphim Vyritsky passed away from earthly life, but we are left with the spiritual will of the saint, written in poetic form, “It was from me.” After reading a small work, but unique in its strength and content, you can receive spiritual help in all life situations.
History of writing
The time of appearance of the text “It was from me” dates back to 1937. For Orthodox believers, and especially priests, this was a very difficult period in life.
Features of that time:
- mass arrests;
- executions;
- exile into exile.
In order to survive everything and not break in spirit, incredible human efforts were required. God's appeal to the believing soul, clothed in poetic form, served as spiritual instruction to Bishop Manuel Lemeshevsky from Elder Seraphim Vyritsky. At that time, the clergy were constantly under the vigilant attention of the NKVD. The arrest could happen at any minute.
Manuil Lemeshevsky has already experienced more than one imprisonment, the last of which took place in the Mariinsky camps. One can only assume that this undermined the spiritual and physical strength of the priest. The fear of another arrest haunted him. Elder Seraphim, knowing about such a painful state of the soul of the ascetic, his weaknesses, wrote a spiritual message “It was from me,” which to this day evokes in all believers a feeling of closeness and love for God, giving support in all difficult circumstances of life.
origin of name
Spiritual letter from Rev. Seraphim initially circulated in handwritten lists passed from hand to hand. When the opportunity arose to publish the text by typography, it began to be published in the form of a Christian poetic work. Its title “It Was From Me” fully reflects the essence of the spiritual message.
The source of everything that happens to us is God:
- sorrow;
- temptations;
- losses;
- joy;
- happiness;
- finding the meaning of life.
Authorship disputes
Many researchers and church historians attribute the authorship of the work “It Was From Me” to Manuil Lemeshevsky. They explain their position by the fact that entries were found in his diaries that are very similar in form and content to the spiritual message of Elder Seraphim. But if you read them carefully, you can clearly see that they are more of an afterword or an imitation of a great work. The bishop seems to be reflecting on the contents of the letter, trying to discover its meaning as fully as possible.
This video talks about Seraphim Vyritsky.
Idea and essence
The great significance of the divinely inspired work lies in the fact that every believer begins to understand and feel with all his nature that the Lord is incredibly close to us. He accepts any of our pain or joy as His own. We are very important to Him. And a reciprocal feeling for a loving Father begins to ignite in the heart.
In the soul of every believer appears:
- internal support (fearlessness), which does not allow one to break under the yoke of external circumstances;
- trust in Heavenly Father;
- repentance, disappointment in one’s previous life;
- a burning desire to improve.
The work leaves an indelible mark on the soul, makes you listen (read) it again and again. No other words convey with such clarity and completeness the meaning of Divine Providence operating in our lives.
Genre of the work
The conversation between God and the soul of Seraphim Vyritsky is presented in the form of a short poem written in blank verse. This method of presentation involves a wider use of expressive means, which makes it possible to convey the depth and emotionality of the message as much as possible. In addition, with the help of blank verse you can easily give a work a philosophical intonation and reveal a person’s inner world.
Selected passages from the diary (conversation with God)
Not a single cry of yours, not a single groan of yours, not a single heavy sigh of yours, not a single drop of tears - nothing that suffered in you and trembled in your tired heart, I left in vain.
My mercies surrounded you precisely at such moments of your life when you did not expect it and therefore did not notice, due to your sins. At times they clearly testified to My care for you.
When sorrows and despondency begin to torment your soul, remember how many joys I gave you in the days of childhood and adolescence.
Now I do not look at your vile deeds, but I hear the cries and tearful groans of your repentance - and they are dear to Me, because they are now sincere and timely.
You are dear to Me, and all your sufferings are dear, as they were sincerely experienced by you.
You are dear to Me, and therefore I have helped you so often, turned you away from death, destruction and various shocks of life.
You are dear to Me, because the image of sincere repentance does not leave you and the desire to correct yourself grows stronger in your mind and heart.
Craven! How did you not notice in dark moments that My hand, leading you, always strengthened you; My help, although at the last minute (when it seemed like there was nowhere to expect it), came to you. For all this was from Me. For My wrath is for a moment, but My favor is for a lifetime. For “mourning may endure in the evening, but joy in the morning” (Ps. 29:6).
Remember that all these experiences and moods should not be inherent in you, because you are following the path of self-restraint and mercilessness towards yourself. You should not allow them to reach you, remembering in such sad moments about the joys with which I led you to a new life during the years of your search for God.
Take heart, weary traveler!
Rely on My caring hand for you!
You see that I lead every Christian soul to salvation in different ways. And you, too, even at the eleventh hour of your life, I lead in a special way.
Follow Me.
I wanted to see you as a reliable person for Me, as you once were. So do not hesitate to follow Me. You must therefore be holy in everything, in all your actions, in all your thoughts, so as not to offend My holiness.
Win, says the inner voice in you. Conquer everything bad in yourself,” he repeats. So win and prove that you have irrevocably abandoned sin.
Be a person who is not ashamed to show attention to small, poor, invisible people, most of them defenseless, showing condescension to their weaknesses.
Be a person from whom you can always find support, so in dealing with people, do not allow yourself to show callousness and insensitivity, which you have sinned so many times in previous years.
You are alone, but do not forget and always remember that I am with you. It is not easy to experience feelings of acute melancholy and loneliness, but this is the inevitable path of all people with heightened intuition and sensitive to the grief of others.
I want you to begin now to justify the trust that I have placed in your heart.
I have the right to demand all this from you, for I have given you too much.
How many warnings have I given you about correction and repentance!
I am waiting for a sincere answer from you, warmed by the impulse of your soul.
What do you have left now?
Strive for deep silence, such as happens at the bottom of lakes or in wells and deep storages, and often isolate yourself in the desert of your heart, without falling into drowsy silence.
I want you to be the master of your thoughts. Notice what they are like... When the work goes smoothly and easily, thoughts are fresh and free, they come short, transparent, and fluid. You just need to organize them, summarize them clearly and accurately. And you need to think a lot, a lot about them, discarding the unnecessary and alien ones.
I want you, working on them, to create a treasury in your heart for the creation of the unceasing Jesus Prayer.
You are dear to Me also because you have loved My Most Pure Mother with all zeal and in the simplicity of your heart you turn to Her as to your Dear Mother.
You are dear to Me, and therefore My watchful eye accompanies you everywhere. Have you not noticed in your life and among those around you, who sincerely or hypocritically and with partiality are concerned about alleviating your bitter fate and your suffering - have you not noticed My care for you?
I want you to be a person with a good character, so that your sense of justice never leaves you, so that you always do the right thing, i.e. as your conscience commands you, so that from you people learn nobility, thoughtfulness, prudence, generosity and maturity in every action and word.
I want everyone who knows and surrounds you to be able to always say about you: here is a person who can be relied upon and trusted in everything and everywhere.
I want you to be sensitive to those around you, to the grief and misfortune of your neighbors.
I want you to always give more, but not ask for yourself.
I want you to strengthen your accuracy in work and determination as the main incentive for your modus vivendi.
I want your thoughts and actions to be consistent.
Strive for this, because I want you to be a person with a strong character, so that you never lose strength of spirit, diligence and the ability to give all of yourself to the work to which you are called and which you are doing. Such a person never stops halfway, and this is the main trait of his character.
Remember that everything that happens to you is providential, and therefore all thoughts and attempts on your part to speed up the movement of your affairs are unworthy of you and criminal. Believe that everything happens according to My will, and nothing in the world, and especially to you, happens before its time. Therefore, experience all the more courageously all the suffering associated with the test of time, ignorance and expectation, knowing that all this was from Me.
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian
Other works of St. Seraphim
The elder conveyed spiritual experience and instructions for a righteous life in the famous prayer “It was from me.”
St. Seraphim is considered the author of several more poems:
- Quatrain on the tombstone cross of nun Seraphima (1945).
- “Both in joy and in sorrow...” (1942).
- “A thunderstorm will pass over the Russian land...” (1939).
- “Glory to the great Lord God!..” (1930s)
The ascetic Vyritsky did not write any other books. He was a man of prayer, a mentor to the pilgrims who came to him, seeking consolation, salvation and strengthening in the sorrows that abounded in that difficult time. Huge streams of people came to him in the post-war years. Most of them knew nothing about the fate of their loved ones. The war separated families, deprived them of shelter, and severed family ties. St. Seraphim became a bright guiding star on the path to God for many people.
Moscow Sretenskaya Theological Academy
Rev. Seraphim Vyritsky 06/21/201615518
The work, known as the spiritual testament of St. Seraphim Vyritsky, is a reflection of his entire ascetic life, closely intertwined with the life of the long-suffering Russian people. In the most difficult years - the years of the Great Patriotic War - this amazing monk was with the people, saying: “As long as my hand rises for blessing, I will receive people!”
Having loved monasticism from his youth, he, in obedience to his spiritual father, lived in the world, was a successful entrepreneur and generous philanthropist, knew family happiness, but also knew grief - the death of his beloved daughter, and he himself knew what serious illness and weakness were. By mutual agreement, having lived in a happy marriage for 30 years, he and his wife went to monasteries and took monastic vows.
Father Seraphim's mature years were spent during persecution, and his old age during the Great Patriotic War. At this time, he intensified the feat he had taken upon himself: like Seraphim of Sarov, the monk prayed on a stone every day. And through his prayers in Vyritsa, where the saint lived, not a single building was damaged by shelling, not a single person was killed.
I am your God, who controls circumstances. It was not by chance that you ended up in your place...
St. Seraphim, a strict ascetic who accepted the great schema back in the 1920s, attracted hundreds of people every day.
He confidently said that the Russians would win the war. And back in the 30s, he foresaw that the time would come when the people would win the spiritual war - the domes would shine again and prayer would sound. Everyone came to the perspicacious old man with his grief, and he knew what he was saying when he wrote confidently and unshakably, daring to depict how the Lord loves us: “Everything that concerns you touches the apple of My eye”...
“It was from Me” (spiritual testament)
Have you ever thought that everything that concerns you concerns Me? For whatever touches you touches the apple of My eye.
You are dear in My eyes, highly valuable, and I loved you, and therefore it is a special joy for Me to educate you. When temptations rise against you and the enemy comes like a river, I want you to know that it was from Me.
That your weakness needs My strength and that your safety lies in giving Me the opportunity to fight for you.
Are you in difficult circumstances, among people who don’t understand you, who don’t take into account what pleases you, who push you away - it was from Me.
I am your God, who controls circumstances.
It was not by chance that you ended up in your place; this is the very place that I assigned to you.
Didn’t you ask Me to teach you humility? So look, I placed you in exactly that environment, in that school where this lesson is taught. Your environment and those living with you only fulfill My will.
Whether you are in financial difficulties, it is difficult for you to make ends meet, know that this was from Me.
For I have your material means. I want You to come to Me and be dependent on Me. My supplies are inexhaustible. I want you to be convinced of the faithfulness of Mine and My promises. Let it not be that they can tell you about your need: “You did not believe the Lord your God” (Deut. 8: 12-13).
Are you going through a night of sorrows, are you separated from those near and dear to your heart - It was from Me.
I am a man of sorrows, having experienced illness. I allowed this so that you could turn to Me and in Me you could find eternal consolation. Have you been deceived in your friend, in someone to whom you have opened your heart? It was from Me. I allowed this disappointment to touch you so that you would know that your best friend is the Lord. I want you to bring everything to Me and tell Me. If anyone has slandered you, leave it to Me and cling closer to Me, your refuge, with your soul, to hide from the “quarrel of tongues.” I will bring out your righteousness like light and your destiny like the noonday (see: Ps. 37:6).
Whether your plans were destroyed, whether you were downcast in soul and tired - It was from Me. You created your own plans and brought them to Me so that I could bless them. But I want you to let Me manage the circumstances of your life, and then the responsibility for everything will be on Me, because it is too hard for you, and you alone cannot cope with them, since you are only a tool, and not an active person.
Whether unexpected failures in life visited you and despondency gripped your heart, know that it was from Me.
For I want your heart and soul to always be on fire before My eyes and to overcome all cowardice in My name.
You don’t receive news from people close and dear to you for a long time and, due to your cowardice, you fall into despair and murmuring, know that it was from Me. For with this yearning of your spirit I test the strength of your faith in the immutability of the promise, the power of your bold prayer for those close to you. For wasn’t it you who handed them over to the Protection of My Most Pure Mother, wasn’t it you who once entrusted the care of them to My providential love?
Remember that every obstacle is God’s instruction
Whether a serious illness, temporary or incurable, visited you, and you found yourself chained to your bed - it was from Me. For I want you to know Me even more deeply in your bodily weaknesses and not to grumble for this test sent down to you, not to try to penetrate into My plans for the salvation of human souls in various ways, but to meekly and submissively bow your neck to My goodness towards you. Did you dream of doing some special thing for Me and instead lay down on the bed of illness and infirmity - it was from Me.
For then you would be immersed in your affairs, and I could not attract your thoughts to Me, but I want to teach you the deepest thoughts that you are in My service. I want to teach you to realize that you are nothing. Some of My best co-workers are those who are cut off from living activity so that they can learn to wield the weapon of unceasing prayer.
Whether you are unexpectedly called to take on a difficult and responsible position, go trusting in Me. I entrust these difficulties to you, for for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your deeds, in all your ways, in everything that will be done with your hands. This day I give into your hand this vessel of sacred oil. Use it freely, My child. Let every difficulty that arises, every word that offends you, every obstacle in your work that could cause a feeling of annoyance and disappointment, every revelation of your weakness and inability be anointed with this oil - It was from Me. Remember that every hindrance is God’s instruction, and therefore put in your heart the word that I announced to you this day - It was from Me.
Holy abodes will be opened again, and faith in God will unite everyone
Keep them, know and remember - always that every sting will become dull when you learn to see Me in everything. Everything was sent by Me for the perfection of your soul - It was from Me.
A thunderstorm will pass over the Russian land
A thunderstorm will pass over the Russian land, the Lord will forgive the sins of the Russian people, and the holy cross will shine brightly with divine beauty on the churches of God.
And the ringing of bells will awaken all of our Holy Rus' from sinful sleep to salvation, holy abodes will be opened again, and faith in God will unite everyone.
(circa 1939)
