Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. Father's miracles

Named at birth Prokhor, who became the future hieromonk Seraphim of Sarov, was born on July 19, 1759 (or 1754) in the city of Kursk, Belogorodskaya province. There is no reliable information on this matter. Prokhor was born into a wealthy family of the Moshnins. His father's name was Isidore, his mother was Agathia. In addition to Prokhor, the Moshnin family already had an eldest son named Alexey.

Prokhor's father - a merchant - owned several small brick factories in Kursk and was engaged in construction different kinds buildings. At that time, he built both ordinary residential buildings and churches. So, he began the construction of a temple in honor of Saint Sergius Radonezhsky, but did not manage to complete his business. When Prokhor was no more than three years old, Isidor Moshnin died. All the remaining affairs related to the construction of the temple were continued by his wife.

From childhood, the boy gravitated towards everything churchly, so he often asked with his mother when she went to church. So, at the age of seven, he climbed the bell tower of the temple under construction, from where he fell from a great height. However, he remained safe and sound.

Later, Prokhor was overcome by a severe illness. One morning, the son told his mother that the Virgin Mary appeared to him in a dream, who promised to heal him from an illness. Then, not far from their house, a church procession took place, at the head of which they carried the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos. The woman carried her son out into the street in oblivion and attached him to the face of the Virgin. The disease receded. Since then, Prokhor has firmly decided that he will serve God.

Asceticism

At the age of 17, the young man made a trip to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra as a pilgrim. There he learned the place where he would be tonsured a monk. The mother did not oppose the choice of her son, realizing that he really was in some way connected with God. Two years later, the young man is already preparing to become a monk in the Sarov Monastery for men.

In 1786, the young man changed his name to Seraphim and joined the monastic ranks. He was ordained a hierodeacon, and seven years later - a hieromonk.

Seraphim was close to an ascetic lifestyle, like most of those who chose the ministry. For unity with himself, he settled in a cell, which was in the forest. To get to the monastery, Seraphim covered a distance of five kilometers on foot.

The hieromonk wore the same items of clothing in winter and summer, found food in the forest on his own, slept briefly, kept the strictest fast, re-read the Holy Scriptures, and often indulged in prayers. Seraphim set up a vegetable garden and set up an apiary next to his cell.

For many years, Seraphim ate only white grass. In addition, he chose a special kind of heroic deed - pillage, in which he continuously prayed for a thousand days and nights on a boulder made of stone. So Seraphim began to be called a monk, which means a way of life striving to become like God. The laity, going to him, often saw how the monk was feeding a large bear.

The Life describes a case when robbers, having found out that Seraphim had well-to-do guests, thought that he had managed to get rich and could be robbed. While the hieromonk was praying, they beat him. Seraphim did not offer any resistance, despite his strength, power and youth. But the criminals did not find any wealth in the cell of the ascetic. The monk survived. The misunderstanding that happened became the reason that he remained hunched over for life. Later, the criminals were caught, and Father Seraphim gave them forgiveness, and they were not punished.

Since 1807, Seraphim tried to meet and talk with people as little as possible. He began a new feat - silence. Three years later, he returned to the monastery, but went into seclusion for 15 years, finding solitude in prayer. At the end of the reclusive lifestyle, he resumed his receptions. Seraphim began to accept not only lay people, but also monks, having acquired, as described in the book about his life, the gift of prophecy and healing. The king himself was among his visitors.

Hieromonk Seraphim died on January 2, 1833 in his cell. This happened at the age of 79, when he performed the rite of kneeling prayer.

Life

Hieromonk Sergius undertook to describe the life of Seraphim four years after his death. It became the main source written about Sarov. However, it has been edited many times.

So, in 1841, Metropolitan Filaret himself rewrote his life. Affected by the desire to bring life in line with the requirements of the censorship of the time.

The next edition was edited by the abbot of one of the desert, George. He supplemented the book with details about the beasts that the monk fed, about the increase in food and the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.

Popular veneration and canonization

They began to worship Seraphim during his lifetime. However, he was canonized after death at the request of his wife -. It happened on July 19, 1902. Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna believed that it was thanks to the prayers of Father Seraphim that an heir appeared in the royal family.

This development of events caused a whole scandal, headed by Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who served as the emperor's representative in the Holy Synod. The latter did not consider the order of the tsar to be in accordance with the church canons.

Heritage

Orthodox Christians still pray to Seraphim of Sarov. The press has repeatedly written about the healings from various ailments of people who came to the relics of the saint, and other miracles associated with him.

The most famous icon, which depicts the monk, has survived to this day. The source for writing the icon of Seraphim of Sarov was a portrait that was made five years before the death of the hieromonk by an artist named Serebryakov.

Also, to this day, the Orthodox know not a single prayer to Seraphim of Sarov. In what way does this saint help: the believers ask him to pacify and end suffering, heal from an illness, harmony and mental endurance. Often people come to the icon with prayer, so that the saint would guide them on the right path. Young girls ask for a satellite message. Often, businessmen pray to Seraphim, wishing to get success in business and trade.

Today, there is a temple of Seraphim of Sarov in almost every city in Russia. Among them are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan. There are parishes in honor of the monk and in small villages. This suggests that the saint is still revered among believers.

Prophecies

According to the sources that have come down to our days, Seraphim predicted to Alexander I that the Romanov family originates and ends in the Ipatiev house. And so it happened. The first Tsar, named Michael, was elected at the Ipatiev Monastery. And in the Yekaterinburg house of Ipatiev, the entire royal family died.

Among the predictions of Saint Seraphim such events as:

Decembrist uprising,
Crimean War of 1853-1855,
the law on the abolition of serfdom,
war between Russia and Japan,
world wars,
Great October Socialist Revolution.
Seraphim believed that the world had six hundred years left before the coming of the Antichrist.

Quotes

Also, famous quotes, once said by Sarovsky, have come down to us. Here are some of them:
There is nothing worse than sin, and there is nothing more terrible and destructive than the spirit of despondency.
True faith cannot exist without works: whoever truly believes, he certainly has works.
From joy, a person can do anything, from inner strain - nothing.
Let there be thousands of those living with you in the world, but reveal your secret from one thousand to one.
No one has ever complained about bread and water.
Whoever endures illness with patience and thanksgiving is credited with it instead of a heroic deed or even more.

Life of St. Seraphim of Sarov

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, a great ascetic of the Russian Church, was born on July 19, 1759. The saint's parents, Isidor and Agafia Moshnins, were residents of Kursk. Isidor was a merchant and took contracts for the construction of buildings, and at the end of his life he began the construction of a cathedral in Kursk, but died before the completion of the work. The youngest son Prokhor remained in the care of his mother, who brought up deep faith in her son. After the death of her husband, Agafia Moshnina, who continued the construction of the cathedral, once took Prokhor with her there, who, having stumbled, fell down from the bell tower. The Lord saved the life of the future lamp of the Church: the frightened mother, going downstairs, found her son unharmed. Young Prokhor, possessing an excellent memory, soon learned to read and write. From childhood he loved to attend church services and read the Holy Scriptures and Lives of the Saints to his peers, but most of all he loved to pray or read the Holy Gospel in solitude. Somehow Prokhor fell seriously ill, his life was in danger. In a dream, the boy saw the Mother of God, who promised to visit and heal him. Soon a procession with the icon of the Kursk-Root Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos passed through the courtyard of the Moshnins' estate; Mother carried Prokhor in her arms, and he venerated the holy icon, after which he began to quickly recover.

Even in his youth, Prokhor matured the decision to completely devote his life to God and go to a monastery. The pious mother did not interfere with this and blessed him on the monastic path with a crucifix, which the monk wore on his chest all his life. Prokhor with the pilgrims went on foot from Kursk to Kiev to worship the Pechersk saints. Shimonakh the elder Dosifei, who was visited by Prokhor, blessed him to go to the Sarov desert and be saved there. Returning for a short time to his parental home, Prokhor forever said goodbye to his mother and family. On November 20, 1778, he came to Sarov, where the abbot was then a wise old man, Father Pachomius. He kindly received the young man and appointed Elder Joseph as his confessor. Under his leadership, Prokhor underwent many obediences in the monastery: he was the elder's cell attendant, worked in bread, prosphora and carpentry, carried out the duties of a sexton, and performed everything with zeal and zeal, as if serving the Lord Himself. By constant work, he protected himself from boredom - this, as he later said, "the most dangerous temptation for new-born monks, which is healed by prayer, abstinence from idle talk, feasible handicrafts, reading the Word of God and patience, because it is born from cowardice, carelessness and idle talk." ...

Already in these years, Prokhor, following the example of other monks who retired to the forest for prayer, asked the elder's blessing to also go into the forest in his free time, where he performed the Jesus Prayer all alone. Two years later, the novice Prokhor fell ill with dropsy, his body was swollen, he experienced severe suffering. The mentor, Father Joseph, and other elders who loved Prokhor looked after him. The illness lasted for about three years, and no one ever heard a murmur from him. The elders, fearing for the life of the patient, wanted to call a doctor to him, but Prokhor asked not to do this, telling Father Pachomius: “I have surrendered myself, Holy Father, to the True Physician of souls and bodies - to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother ...”, and wanted to be given the Holy Mysteries. At the same time, Prokhor had a vision: in an unspeakable light, the Mother of God appeared, accompanied by the holy apostles Peter and John the Theologian. Pointing to the sick man, the Blessed Virgin said to John: "This one is of our kind." Then she touched the side of the patient with the rod, and immediately the liquid filling the body began to flow out through the opening, and he quickly recovered. Soon a hospital church was built on the site of the apparition of the Mother of God, one of the side-altars of which was consecrated in the name of the Monks Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky. The Monk Seraphim built the altar table for the side-altar with his own hands from a cypress tree and always received the Holy Mysteries in this church.

In 1793, at the age of 39, the Monk Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk and continued to serve in the church. After the death of the abbot, Father Pachomius, the Monk Seraphim, having his dying blessing for a new feat of desertification, also took the blessing from the new abbot - Father Isaiah - and went to a deserted cell a few kilometers from the monastery, in a deep forest. Here he began to indulge in solitary prayers, coming to the monastery only on Saturday, before the all-night vigil, and returning to his cell after the Liturgy, during which he received the Holy Mysteries.

The monk spent his life in severe exploits. He performed his cell prayer rule according to the charter of the ancient desert monasteries; he never parted with the Holy Gospel, reading the entire New Testament, also read patristic and liturgical books. The monk memorized many church chants and sang them during his work hours in the forest. Near the cell, he planted a vegetable garden and arranged a bee-keeper. Procuring food for himself, the monk kept a very strict fast, ate once a day, and on Wednesday and Friday he completely abstained from food. In the first week of Holy Forty-days, he did not take food until Saturday, when he received the Holy Mysteries. The holy elder, in solitude, so sometimes plunged into inner, heartfelt prayer that he remained motionless for a long time, not hearing or seeing anything around him. The hermits who visited him from time to time - Schema monk Mark the Silent and Hierodeacon Alexander, finding the saint in such a prayer, quietly departed with reverence so as not to disturb his contemplation.

In the heat of summer, the monk gathered moss in the swamp to fertilize the vegetable garden; mosquitoes mercilessly stung him, but he complacently endured this suffering, saying: "Passions are destroyed by suffering and sorrow, either arbitrary or sent by Providence." For about three years the monk ate only one herb, which grew around his cell. Apart from the brethren, laymen began to come to him more and more often for advice and blessings. This broke his privacy. Having asked for the blessing of the abbot, the monk blocked access to women, and then to everyone else, having received the sign that the Lord approves of his thought of complete silence. Through the prayer of the monk, huge boughs of age-old pines barred the road to his deserted cell. Now only birds, who flew in multitudes to the monk, and wild beasts visited him. The monk fed the bear with bread from his hands, when they brought him bread from the monastery.

The devil, put to shame by the monk, planned to put him to death and sent out robbers. Approaching the saint who worked in the garden, the robbers began to demand money from him. The monk at that time had an ax in his hands, he was physically strong and could have defended himself, but did not want to do this, remembering the words of the Lord: “Those who take the sword by the sword will perish” (Matt. 26, 52). The saint, lowering the ax to the ground, said: "Do what you need." The robbers began to beat the monk, broke his head with a butt, broke several ribs, then, having tied him up, they wanted to throw him into the river, but first they searched the cell in search of money. Having crushed everything in the cell and finding nothing in it, except for the icon and a few potatoes, they were ashamed of their evil deed and left. The monk, regaining consciousness, crawled to the cell and, suffering severely, lay all night.

In the morning, with great difficulty, he made his way to the monastery. The brothers were horrified when they saw the wounded ascetic. The monk lay for eight days, suffering from wounds; Doctors were summoned to him, surprised that Seraphim remained alive after such beatings. But the monk did not receive healing from the doctors: the Queen of Heaven appeared to him in a subtle dream with the apostles Peter and John. Having touched the head of the monk, the Most Holy Virgin granted him healing.

After this incident, the Monk Seraphim had to spend about five months in the monastery, and then he again went to the desert cell. Remaining forever bent down, the monk walked, leaning on a staff or a hatchet, but he forgave his offenders and asked not to punish them. After the death of the abbot, Father Isaiah, who had been his friend since his youth, he took upon himself the podvig of silence, completely renouncing all mundane thoughts for the purest standing before God in unceasing prayer. If a saint met a man in the forest, he would prostrate himself and not get up until the passer-by left. The elder spent about three years in such silence, even ceasing to visit the monastery on Sundays.

The fruit of silence was for the Monk Seraphim the acquisition of peace of the soul and joy in the Holy Spirit. The great ascetic later said to one of the monks of the monastery: "... my joy, I pray you, the banners of the spirit are peaceful, and then thousands of souls will be saved near you."

The new abbot, Father Niphont, and the older brothers of the monastery suggested that Father Seraphim either continue to come to the monastery on Sundays to participate in divine services and communion at the monastery of the Holy Mysteries, or return to the monastery. The monk chose the latter, since it became difficult for him to walk from the desert to the monastery. In the spring of 1810, he returned to the monastery after 15 years in the desert. Without breaking the silence, he added to this feat a closure and, without going anywhere and not receiving anyone from him, he was incessantly in prayer and God-meditation. In seclusion, the Monk Seraphim acquired a high spiritual purity and was honored from God with special grace-filled gifts of clairvoyance and miracles. Then the Lord put His chosen one to serve people in the highest monastic deed of the elders.

On November 25, 1825, the Mother of God, together with the two saints celebrated on that day, appeared in a dreamy vision to the elder and commanded him to leave the seclusion and receive weak human souls, requiring instruction, consolation, guidance and healing. Having blessed the abbot for a change in his lifestyle, the monk opened the doors of his cell for everyone.

The elder saw the hearts of people, and he, as a spiritual doctor, healed mental and physical illnesses with prayer to God and the word of grace. Those who came to the Monk Seraphim felt his great love and listened with emotion to the gentle words with which he addressed people: "my joy, my treasure." The elder began to visit his deserted cell and the spring, called the Bogoslovsky, near which a small cell was built for him. Leaving the cell, the elder always carried a knapsack with stones over his shoulders. When asked why he was doing this, the saint humbly replied: "I am tormenting him who torments me."

In the last period of his earthly life, the Monk Seraphim took particular care of his beloved brainchild - the Diveyevo women's monastery. While still in the rank of hierodeacon, he accompanied the late rector, Father Pakhomiy, to the Diveyevo community to the abbess, nun Alexandra, the great ascetic, and then Father Pakhomiy blessed the monk to always take care of the "Diveyevo orphans." He was a true father to the sisters who turned to him in all their spiritual and everyday difficulties. His disciples and spiritual friends helped the saint to nourish the Diveyevo community - Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who was healed by the monk from a serious illness and, on the advice of the elder, took upon himself the feat of voluntary poverty;

Elena Vasilievna Manturova, one of the Diveevsky sisters, who voluntarily agreed to die out of obedience to the elder for her brother, who was still needed in this life; Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, also healed by the monk. N. A. Motovilov wrote down the remarkable teaching of the Monk Seraphim on the purpose of the Christian life. In the last years of the life of the Monk Seraphim, one healed by him saw him standing in the air during prayer. The saint strictly forbade telling about this before his death. Everyone knew and honored the Monk Seraphim as a great ascetic and miracle worker.

A year and ten months before his death, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Monk Seraphim was once again honored with the appearance of the Queen of Heaven, accompanied by the Baptist of the Lord John, the Apostle John the Theologian and twelve virgins, holy martyrs and saints. The Blessed Virgin conversed with the monk for a long time, entrusting him with the Diveyevo sisters. After finishing the conversation, She said to him: "Soon, my beloved, you will be with us." At this apparition, during a wondrous visit to the Mother of God, one Diveyevo eldress was present, at the prayer of the saint for her.

V Last year In life, the Monk Seraphim began to noticeably weaken and spoke to many of his imminent death. At this time, he was often seen at the tomb, which stood in the entryway of his cell and prepared by him for himself. The monk himself indicated the place where he was to be buried - near the altar of the Assumption Cathedral. On January 1, 1833, the Monk Seraphim came for the last time to the hospital church of Zosimo-Savvatievskaya for the Liturgy and communed of the Holy Mysteries, after which he blessed the brethren and said goodbye, saying: "Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake, today we are preparing crowns."

On the second of January the monk's cell-attendant, Father Paul, at six o'clock in the morning, left his cell, heading for the church, and smelled the smell of burning emanating from the monk's cell; candles were always burning in the saint's cell, and he said: "As long as I live, there will be no fire, and when I die, my death will open in fire." When the doors were opened, it turned out that the books and other things were smoldering, and the monk himself was kneeling before the icon of the Mother of God in a prayer position, but already lifeless. During prayer, his pure soul was taken by the Angels and flew up to the Throne of God Almighty, whose faithful servant and servant the Monk Seraphim was all his life.

In the Orthodox calendar

Childhood and adolescence of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov

The small homeland of Seraphim of Sarov was the city of Kursk. The monk came from a well-known, well-to-do merchant family. Seraphim's father, Isidor Moshnin, was a pious and devout man. By the nature of his earthly activities, he owned brick factories, was engaged in trade, took contracts for the construction of houses and churches. Mother Seraphim, Christian Agafia Fotievna, was not inferior to him in virtue, but was especially distinguished by her mercy and attention to the poor.

Three children were born from the marriage of Isidor and Agafia Moshnin: Paraskeva, Alexey and Prokhor, the future father Seraphim. Seraphim was born in 1759, on the night of July 19-20. It is believed that the name Prokhor was given to him at Baptism in honor of one of the seven deacons appointed by the apostles, whose memorial day is celebrated on July 28.

Seraphim's father, Isidore, died early enough, and the entire burden of responsibility for the maintenance and upbringing of children fell on the shoulders of the widow. She took upon herself the burden of managing the state and affairs, upon completion of the construction of the temple in the name of St. Sergius, begun by her husband.

Once, controlling the progress of construction, inspecting the bell tower, Agafia climbed to the top, and Prokhor, who was accompanying her, approached the edge, hung over the railing, could not resist and fell from a height. The mother ran downstairs in horror, but when she appeared in front of her son, she found him safe and sound. This is how God revealed His first miracle over the future lamp of the Russian land.

At the age of ten, Prokhor suffered a serious illness. It would seem that everything is moving towards a disappointing end: some did not even count on his recovery. But now, the Heavenly Queen appeared to Prokhor, promising healing. And a little later, when the Root Icon of the Mother of God was carried through the city, and when, due to a sudden onslaught of downpour, they carried it through the Moshnins' courtyard to shorten the path, the mother, having orientated herself, quickly took her child, carried him into the courtyard and brought it to the miraculous image. Soon the child began to recover, began to get stronger and recovered. This is how God showed a second miracle in relation to Seraphim.

After that, Prokhor took up his studies with even greater zeal, spent a lot of time reading, learned to write.

Once the Providence of God brought him away from Christ for the sake of the holy fools. They say that when he met Agathia with two sons on the street, he, looking at Prokhor, announced his future glory as a saint of God. Subsequently, communicating with the holy fool, Prokhor absorbed a lot of good and kind from him.

At that time, he often visited the temple, prayed a lot. Meanwhile, he did not shy away from the role of his mother's assistant in economic and commercial affairs, he performed the proper job. However, the more he grew in spiritual age, the more he realized how difficult it is to combine solitude, love and service to God with the commercial profits and concerns of the world.

Towards a Monastic Life

Prokhor dreamed more and more of a monastic life. Knowing and understanding the religious aspirations of her son, remembering the miracles that happened to him, Agathia did not interfere with her son, and would rather like to let him go, entrusting to the Providence of God, than to keep him with her mother's tears and reproachful. It is believed that the final decision, in this regard, was made by Prokhor in the seventeenth year of his life.

On the one hand, he was attracted by the Sarov monastery, where by that time many of his fellow countrymen were ascetic. But on the other hand, he wanted to pray at the holy relics of the Monks Anthony and Theodosius, to get acquainted with the life of the Kiev Caves monks, to receive instruction and blessing from the elders there. There he went on foot, along with five pilgrims. Before leaving, his mother blessed him with a copper cross, with which, then, he did not part, and which he wore on his chest all his earthly life.

Having reached Kiev, the travelers found out that a seer, Dosifei, was working in the Kitaevskaya desert. Prokhor went to him. The elder, having seen the will of God, gave him a parting admonition, pointed out the need to constantly keep the memory of God and call on the name of the Lord, and blessed him for asceticism in the Sarov desert.

After that, Prokhor returned home for a while, to Kursk, lived there for several months. No matter how bitter it was for Agafya to part with her son again, she again blessed him, and he left again: to where he had been with his heart for a long time.

After a long and difficult journey, he finally arrived at the monastery. It happened on November 20, 1778.

The beginning of the monastic exploits of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov

The abbot of the monastery, Elder Pachomius, entrusted the spiritual care of Prokhor to the wise and experienced ascetic, the treasurer, Elder Joseph. Initially, Prokhor was assigned the obedience of a cell attendant. As they stayed further, one obedience was replaced by another. Prokhor uncomplainingly and diligently worked both in bread, and in prosphora, and in carpentry; performed the duties of a wake-up operator, then a sexton, and together with the brethren he prepared firewood.

Prokhor prayed a lot, read, kept abstinence. Having in mind examples from the life of great desert dwellers and gravitating towards solitude, he asked for blessings so that he could retire in the forest during hours free from obedience and duties. There he built a small hut for himself and indulged in it in divine contemplation and prayer.

Approximately 2 years after entering the monastery, Prokhor fell ill and swollen. This disease, presumably dropsy, lasted for almost three years. Prokhor's illness was so serious that they began to fear for his life. But by the grace of God he was healed: once, after receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ, the Mother of God appeared to him, accompanied by the apostles Peter and John, and after Her miraculous intervention, the disease receded.

Subsequently, on the site of this miracle, a hospital building began to be erected, and with it - a church. They say that the place of the appearance of the Mother of God fell on the altar of the temple being built. A finance levy was allowed for construction. Prokhor eagerly accepted the obedience of the collector. Bypassing various places for this purpose, he reached Kursk, where he met with relatives. His brother, Alexey, made a considerable contribution to the construction. After that, Prokhor returned to the monastery. As a skilled carpenter, he personally made a throne for the church.

On August 13, 1786, Abbot Pachomius tonsured Prokhor into the dignity of a monk. From that time on, a new name was established for Prokhor - Seraphim. And a little later, on October 27, 1786, Bishop of Vladimir and Murom, His Eminence Victor, Seraphim was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon. It is said that during the period of his deacon's ministry, he more than once contemplated angelic powers at the Divine Liturgy.

On September 2, 1793, Bishop Theophilus ordained Seraphim as a hieromonk. About a year later, Father Pachomius died. Before that, he entrusted Father Seraphim with the care of the Diveyevo sisters, which, in turn, was requested by their abbess, Eldress Agafya Melgunova, before her death.

From that time on, Father Seraphim, prepared by Providence for a life in solitude, asked the blessing of the new abbot, Father Isaiah, to live in the wilderness. This happened 16 years later after Prokhor's arrival at the monastery. In addition to internal reasons, this decision was facilitated by the bodily illness of the monk. From unceasing pastoral labors and kneeling cell prayers Father Seraphim's legs were covered with wounds and swollen; it was hard for him to bear monastic obedience.

The Hermit Life of the Monk Seraphim

The Monk Seraphim settled about five versts from the monastery, on the banks of the Sarovka River, in a wooden cell, located on an elevated place in a deep, deserted forest.

Living in solitude, the saint prayed a lot, performed divine services, read, and cultivated a small vegetable garden. He wore only wretched clothes, and over his shoulders - a bag with the Holy Gospel. On the eve of Sundays and holidays, he returned to the monastery, confessed, received communion, talked with those in need of communion with him.

Despite some inaccessibility of Seraphim's dwelling, people came to him there too: some for consolation, some for advice and blessing. Considering it inconvenient for himself to communicate with females, and at the same time believing that a refusal to edify could violate the Divine will, Seraphim turned with a prayer to the Most Holy Theotokos and the Lord so that He would give him a special sign. According to legend, in response to the prayer of the saint, after a short time, the path leading to the cell was littered with branches of mighty trees. Seeing this, Father Seraphim fell before God and gave Him thanks and praise.

It is reported that, raising a battle against the ascetic Seraphim, the devil tried to make him fear: he showed him the howl of a wild beast, then a large crowd, then a coffin with a dead man, then lifted it into the air and threw it down with force, from which the Guardian Angel saved him. ...

And one day, on September 12, 1804, when the monk was preparing firewood for the household, three villains approached him and demanded money from him, believing that Seraphim kept material donations with him. The monk met the danger with deep Christian humility: he did not resist the robbers, although he held an ax in his hands. When he lowered the ax, one of the robbers raised it and hit the saint on the head with his butt. After that, the intruders began to beat the monk, despite the fact that he lost consciousness from the blow. Then he was dragged to the house, tied up and searched, the whole cell was turned over, but no wealth was found. Then terror fell upon them and they fled.

Having regained consciousness, Father Seraphim freed himself from the fetters, gave praise to God and, trusting in His mercy, prayed for the forgiveness of the offenders. Somehow, overcoming himself, he made it to the monastery. For eight days Seraphim suffered terribly, did not take food, could not even sleep. When the doctors summoned from Arzamas arrived, they found: the head of the monk was punctured, the ribs were broken, the body was wounded. By the end of the examination, Father Seraphim fell into oblivion and was honored with the next appearance of the Mother of God. She came with the apostles: Peter and John. Glancing at Seraphim, the Most Holy One turned to the apostles with the words: "This one is of our kind." Seraphim was filled with extreme joy, and towards evening he got out of bed, asked for food and refreshed himself. Gradually his condition improved. Nevertheless, the traces of that brutal crime, in particular the stoop, were imprinted on the whole life. From now on, Saint Seraphim, while walking, propped up on a hoe or ax.

Five months later, Seraphim, having asked for blessings, returned to solitude. And soon the robbers were caught. They turned out to be serfs. The indignation of the residents knew no bounds. They wanted to subject the villains to trial, but Father Seraphim begged Father Isaiah and their landowner, Tatishchev, to have mercy on them, which was done. Meanwhile, having left the human judgment, they did not leave the Judgment of God's Truth. After their houses were burned down, they themselves came to the monk, begging him for forgiveness and prayers for them.

In addition to other signs that took place with the participation of Saint Seraphim and indicated the special favor of God towards him, they name his relationship with wild animals, which he fed from his poor table. Among others, a bear was a frequent visitor to the reverend father. According to an eyewitness, once he watched as Saint Seraphim, sitting on a block, fed the bear with crackers, after which the beast, having nourished it, turned around and went into the forest.

When, in 1806, Father Isaiah weakened and resigned from the leadership, the brethren wanted to elect Father Seraphim to replace him. This was already the second proposal to the monk to take on the role of abbot (the first came even earlier, when the place of archimandrite in the Altyr was vacated). But the monk rejected him too.

After the death of Isaiah in 1787, Father Seraphim chose for himself an even more severe ascetic feat - silence. The saint stayed in it for three years. He no longer received visitors, and if someone, suddenly, met in the forest, he would prostrate himself and did not raise his face until he left. The monk visited his monastery less and less, sometimes he did not appear there even on holidays.

Halfway between the monastery and the cell lay a huge granite boulder. For a thousand days, Father Seraphim came to this stone every night and, standing on his feet or on his knees, raising his hands to Heaven, prayed. Another stone was located in a cell, where he prayed during the day, interrupting only to take food and the necessary rest.

New shutter

Much has changed in the life of Seraphim with the decision of Father Niphont, supported by other fathers: to oblige Seraphim to visit the monastery on Sundays and holidays, to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ; or, if his health does not allow him to make regular transitions, order him to return to the monastery and live in the monastery cell.

The choice was not great. Fulfilling the condition of obedience, the monk returned. It happened on May 8, 1810. However, having asked for a blessing, Seraphim continued to live as a recluse, but already inside the monastery fence. The Holy Gifts were brought to him in his cell. During this period, the elder made a coffin for himself and placed it in the entryway. After five years of such seclusion, he began to weaken him in order to serve people who needed his guidance and prayers. They say that during this period the Heavenly Queen appeared to Father Seraphim again, according to some information, with Onuphrius the Great and Peter the Athonite, demanding to serve people.

It is believed that the elder wore heavy chains under his clothes. According to another version, the weight of the chains replaced the weight of the large five-bar cross.

Organization of the Diveyevo monastery.

In 1825, on November 25, on the feast day of Saints Clement of Rome and Peter of Alexandria, the Mother of God, in a dream, visited Father Seraphim together with the named saints of God, and announced that he could get out of the seclusion. Around this time, sisters from the Diveyevo community began to visit Father Seraphim.

He also had a conversation with their boss, Eldress Ksenia Mikhailovna. The number of sisters had increased by that time, and it was appropriate to increase the holdings. Father Seraphim suggested that she change the charter of the community, which was notable for its severity. But she refused. The monk did not interfere in the affairs of their community, believing that the care of the community commanded to him no longer rests on his conscience, or, at least, a special will of God should be revealed for this.

After receiving a blessing from Father Nifont to live in the wilderness, Seraphim went to the forest. It was still the same day, November 25, 1825. They say that on the way, he witnessed the next appearance of the Mother of God. This time with her there were two apostles: Peter and John the Theologian. When the Virgin hit the ground with the rod, a fountain of light water gushed out of the ground. The Most Holy Lady reminded the saint of his obligation, connected with the request of Agafya Melgunova, the instructions of Father Pachomius, and informed him of the need to build the Diveyevo monastery at the place indicated.

By order of the Mother of God, the monk was to take eight sisters from the community of Xenia, and at the appointed place, in the back of the village of Diveyevo, found a monastery, into which only maidens could enter. It was required to fence this place with a ditch and a rampart, build a mill, build cells, and then - a church. In addition, the Mother of God gave a new charter for the monastery and promised to take it under Her protection.

In the place where Her feet were located and the healing spring was clogged, a well was built, later named Seraphimov. Seraphim himself made this place the place of his exploit. On Sundays and holidays, he remained at the monastery. The number of Fr. Seraphim's visitors has grown tremendously. He tried to listen to them with due attention.

The death of the Monk Seraphim

The last, in earthly life, the appearance of the Mother of God to the reverend elder took place in the early morning, on the Feast of the Annunciation, on March 25, 1831. Father Seraphim was informed that his earthly exploits were nearing completion. Preparing for the departure, the elder warned his neighbors that he would soon leave this world.

In 1833, on his first day, Seraphim went out several times to the place that he had chosen for his burial, and prayed for a long time. The next day he was found dead on his knees. By the grace of God, the famous prayer book, Elder Filaret Glinsky, became an eyewitness to the miracle accompanying the blessed death of Seraphim of Sarov. “At night, January 2, 1833, standing on the porch of his cell, Father Filaret Glinsky saw a radiance in the sky and someone's soul, singing ascended to Heaven by the Angels. He gazed at this wonderful vision for a long time. Calling some of the brothers who happened to be here, he showed them an extraordinary light and, thinking, said: “This is how the souls of the righteous depart! Now Father Seraphim has reposed in Sarov. " Only two of the brethren were able to see the radiance. Later they learned that, indeed, that very night Father Seraphim died ”(Glinsky paterikon). Subsequently, the body of the righteous was placed in a coffin, made by him in advance and with his own hand, and buried in the ground, near the altar of the cathedral church.

Spiritual and moral instructions of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov

Father Seraphim did not leave written theological works or lengthy treatises as a legacy to believers. Therefore, he is not a church writer.

Nevertheless, his preaching and moral edification have survived to this day, being captured in the memoirs of his contemporaries (see on this occasion:;;;;).

Troparion to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, Tone 4

From the youth of Christ you have loved, blessed, / and, to the One who is fiery with desire, / by unceasing prayer and labor in the wilderness you have fought, / having acquired the love of Christ with a tender heart, / the chosen one is beloved of God, you appeared to the Mother. / For this, for the sake of crying to you: / / Save us with your prayers, Seraphim, venerable our Father.

In troparion to the Monk Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov, voice 4

From the youth of Christ you have loved, venerable, / and for the One who is the only one to work ardently you have longed, / in your wilderness life you have fought by unceasing prayer and labor, / with a tender heart you have acquired the love of Christ, / Heavenly Seraphim in the song of love to you in Christ's companion, / imitator, / the same chosen one, beloved of God, you appeared to Mother, / for this, for the sake of thy cry: / save us with your prayers, our joy, / warm intercessor before God, / Blessed Seraphim.

Kontakion to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, Tone 2

The beauty of the world and even perishable in it, venerable, / you have moved into the Sarov monastery / and lived there angelically, / for many you had the path to salvation, / for this sake, and for the sake of Christ, you, Father Seraphim, glorify / and the gift of healings and miracles to enrich ./ The same cry: // Rejoice, Seraphim, venerable our father.

The Monk Seraphim of Sarov, a great ascetic of the Russian Church, was born on July 19, 1754. The saint's parents, Isidor and Agafia Moshnins, were residents of Kursk. Isidor was a merchant and took contracts for the construction of buildings, and at the end of his life he began the construction of a cathedral in Kursk, but died before the completion of the work. The youngest son Prokhor remained in the care of his mother, who brought up deep faith in her son.

After the death of her husband, Agafia Moshnina, who continued the construction of the cathedral, once took Prokhor with her there, who, having stumbled, fell down from the bell tower. The Lord saved the life of the future lamp of the Church: the frightened mother, going downstairs, found her son unharmed.

Young Prokhor, possessing an excellent memory, soon learned to read and write. From childhood he loved to attend church services and read the Holy Scriptures and Lives of the Saints to his peers, but most of all he loved to pray or read the Holy Gospel in solitude.

Somehow Prokhor fell seriously ill, his life was in danger. In a dream, the boy saw the Mother of God, who promised to visit and heal him. Soon a procession with the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos passed through the courtyard of the Moshnins' estate; Mother carried Prokhor in her arms, and he venerated the holy icon, after which he began to quickly recover.

Shimonakh the elder Dosifei, who was visited by Prokhor, blessed him to go to the Sarov desert and be saved there. Returning for a short time to his parental home, Prokhor forever said goodbye to his mother and family. On November 20, 1778, he came to Sarov, where the abbot was then a wise old man, Father Pachomius. He kindly received the young man and appointed Elder Joseph as his confessor. Under his leadership, Prokhor passed many obediences in the monastery: he was the elder's cell attendant, worked in bread, prosphora and carpentry, carried out the duties of a sexton, and performed everything with zeal and zeal, as if serving the Lord Himself. By constant work, he protected himself from boredom - this, as he later said, "the most dangerous temptation for the new-born monks, which is healed by prayer, abstinence from idle talk, feasible needlework, reading the Word of God and patience, because it is born from cowardice, carelessness and idle talk" ...

Already in these years, Prokhor, following the example of other monks who retired to the forest for prayer, asked the elder's blessing to also go into the forest in his free time, where he performed the Jesus Prayer all alone. Two years later, the novice Prokhor fell ill with dropsy, his body was swollen, he experienced severe suffering. The mentor, Father Joseph, and other elders who loved Prokhor looked after him. The illness lasted for about three years, and no one ever heard a murmur from him. The elders, fearing for the life of the patient, wanted to call a doctor to him, but Prokhor asked not to do this, telling Father Pachomius: "I have surrendered myself, Holy Father, to the True Physician of souls and bodies - to our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother ..." , and desired to be given the sacrament of the Holy Mysteries. At the same time, Prokhor had a vision: in an unspeakable light, the Mother of God appeared, accompanied by the holy apostles Peter and John the Theologian. Pointing to the sick man, the Blessed Virgin said to John: "This one is of our kind." Then she touched the side of the patient with the rod, and immediately the liquid filling the body began to flow out through the opening, and he quickly recovered. Soon a hospital church was built on the site of the apparition of the Mother of God, one of the side-altars of which was consecrated in the name of the Monks Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky. The Monk Seraphim built the altar table for the side-altar with his own hands from a cypress tree and always received the Holy Mysteries in this church.

After spending eight years as a novice in the Sarov monastery, Prokhor received monastic tonsure with the name Seraphim, which so well expressed his ardent love for the Lord and striving to serve Him zealously. A year later, Seraphim was ordained a hierodeacon. Burning in spirit, he served in the church every day, incessantly performing prayers after the service. The Lord vouchsafed the monk with grace-filled visions during church services: on more than one occasion he saw the holy angels co-serving the brethren. The monk was honored with a special blessed vision during the Divine Liturgy on Maundy Thursday, which was celebrated by the rector, Father Pachomius and Elder Joseph. When, after the troparion, the monk uttered "Lord, save the godly" and, standing in the royal gates, directed the orarion at the worshipers with an exclamation "and forever and ever," suddenly a ray of light overshadowed him. Raising his eyes, the Monk Seraphim saw the Lord Jesus Christ walking through the air from the western doors of the temple, surrounded by Heavenly Ethereal Forces. Reaching the pulpit. The Lord blessed all those praying and entered the local image to the right of the royal gates. The Monk Seraphim, beholding the wondrous apparition in spiritual delight, could not utter a word or leave his place. They took him by the arms into the altar, where he stood for another three hours, changing his face from the great grace that illuminated him. After the vision, the monk intensified his exploits: during the day he toiled in the monastery, and spent the nights in prayer in the wilderness cell. In 1793, at the age of 39, the Monk Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk and continued to serve in the church. After the death of the abbot, Father Pachomius, the Monk Seraphim, having his dying blessing for a new feat - desertification, also took the blessing from the new abbot - Father Isaiah - and went to a deserted cell a few kilometers from the monastery, in a deep forest. Here he began to indulge in solitary prayers, coming to the monastery only on Saturday, before the all-night vigil and returning to his cell after the Liturgy, during which he received the Holy Mysteries. The monk spent his life in severe exploits. He performed his cell prayer rule according to the charter of the ancient desert monasteries; he never parted with the Holy Gospel, reading the entire New Testament during the week, he also read patristic and liturgical books. The monk memorized many church chants and sang them during his work hours in the forest. Near the cell, he planted a vegetable garden and arranged a beekeeper. Procuring food for himself, the monk kept a very strict fast, ate once a day, and on Wednesday and Friday he completely abstained from food. In the first week of Holy Forty-days, he did not take food until Saturday, when he received the Holy Mysteries.

The holy elder, in solitude, so sometimes plunged into inner, heartfelt prayer that he remained motionless for a long time, not hearing or seeing anything around him. The hermits who visited him from time to time - Schema monk Mark the Silent and Hierodeacon Alexander, finding the saint in such a prayer, quietly departed with reverence so as not to disturb his contemplation.

In the heat of summer, the monk gathered moss in the swamp to fertilize the vegetable garden; mosquitoes mercilessly stung him, but he complacently endured this suffering, saying: "Passions are destroyed by suffering and sorrow, either arbitrary or sent by Providence." For about three years the monk ate only one herb, which grew around his cell. Apart from the brethren, lay people began to come to him more and more often for advice and blessings. This broke his privacy. Having asked for the blessing of the abbot, the monk blocked access to women, and then to everyone else, having received the sign that the Lord approves of his thought of complete silence. Through the prayer of the monk, huge boughs of age-old pines barred the road to his deserted cell. Now only birds, who flew in multitudes to the monk, and wild beasts visited him. The monk fed the bear with bread from his hands, when they brought him bread from the monastery.

Seeing the exploits of the Monk Seraphim, the enemy of the human race armed himself against him and, wishing to compel the saint to leave his silence, he decided to intimidate him, but the monk protected himself with prayer and the power of the Life-giving Cross. The devil brought a "mental battle" to the saint - a persistent and prolonged temptation. To repel the onslaught of the enemy, the Monk Seraphim aggravated his labors, taking upon himself the feat of pillar-domination. Every night he climbed a huge stone in the forest and prayed with uplifted hands, crying out: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." During the day, he prayed in his cell, also on a stone he brought from the forest, leaving it only for a short rest and to replenish the body with meager food. So the monk prayed for 1000 days and nights. The devil, put to shame by the monk, planned to put him to death and sent out robbers. Approaching the saint who worked in the garden, the robbers began to demand money from him. The monk at that time had an ax in his hands, he was physically strong and could defend himself, but he did not want to do this, remembering the words of the Lord: "Those who take the sword by the sword will perish" (Matt. 26, 52). The saint, lowering the ax to the ground, said: "Do what you need." The robbers began to beat the monk, broke his head with a butt, broke several ribs, then, having tied him up, they wanted to throw him into the river, but first they searched the cell in search of money. Having crushed everything in the cell and finding nothing in it, except for the icon and a few potatoes, they were ashamed of their evil deed and left. The monk, regaining consciousness, crawled to the cell and, suffering severely, lay all night. In the morning, with great difficulty, he made his way to the monastery. The brothers were horrified when they saw the wounded ascetic. The monk lay for eight days, suffering from wounds; Doctors were summoned to him, surprised that Seraphim remained alive after such beatings. But the monk did not receive healing from the doctors: the Queen of Heaven appeared to him in a subtle dream with the apostles Peter and John. Having touched the head of the monk, the Most Holy Virgin granted him healing. After this incident, the Monk Seraphim had to spend about five months in the monastery, and then he again went to the desert cell. Remaining forever bent down, the monk walked, leaning on a staff or a hatchet, but he forgave his offenders and asked not to punish them. After the death of the abbot, Father Isaiah, who had been his friend since his youth, he took upon himself the podvig of silence, completely renouncing all mundane thoughts for the purest standing before God in unceasing prayer. If a saint met a man in the forest, he would prostrate himself and not get up until the passer-by left. The elder spent about three years in such silence, even ceasing to visit the monastery on Sundays. The fruit of silence was for the Monk Seraphim the acquisition of peace of the soul and joy in the Holy Spirit. The great ascetic later said to one of the monks of the monastery: "... my joy, I pray you, acquire the spirit of peace, and then thousands of souls will be saved near you." The new abbot, Father Niphont, and the older brothers of the monastery suggested that Father Seraphim either continue to come to the monastery on Sundays to participate in divine services and communion at the monastery of the Holy Mysteries, or return to the monastery. The monk chose the latter, since it became difficult for him to walk from the desert to the monastery. In the spring of 1810, he returned to the monastery after 15 years in the desert. Without breaking the silence, he added to this feat a closure and, without going anywhere and not receiving anyone from him, he was incessantly in prayer and God-meditation. In the seclusion, the Monk Seraphim acquired a high spiritual purity and was honored from God with special gifts of grace - clairvoyance and miracles. Then the Lord put His chosen one to serve people in the highest monastic deed - the elders. On November 25, 1825, the Mother of God, together with the two saints celebrated on that day, appeared in a dreamy vision to the elder and commanded him to leave the seclusion and receive weak human souls, requiring instruction, consolation, guidance and healing. Having blessed the abbot for a change in his lifestyle, the monk opened the doors of his cell for everyone. The elder saw the hearts of people, and he, as a spiritual doctor, healed mental and physical illnesses with prayer to God and the word of grace. Those who came to the Monk Seraphim felt his great love and listened with emotion to the gentle words with which he addressed people: "my joy, my treasure." The elder began to visit his desert cell and a spring called Bogoslovsky, near which a small cell was built for him. Leaving the cell, the elder always carried a knapsack with stones over his shoulders. When asked why he was doing this, the saint humbly replied: "I am tormenting the one who is tormenting me." In the last period of his earthly life, the Monk Seraphim took particular care of his beloved child, the Diveyevo women's monastery. While still in the rank of hierodeacon, he accompanied the late rector, Father Pakhomiy, to the Diveyevo community to the abbess nun Alexandra, the great ascetic, and then Father Pakhomiy blessed the monk to always take care of the "Diveyevo orphans." He was a true father to the sisters who turned to him in all their spiritual and everyday difficulties. His disciples and spiritual friends helped the saint to nourish the Diveyevo community - Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who was healed by the monk from a serious illness and, on the advice of the elder, took upon himself the feat of voluntary poverty; Elena Vasilievna Manturova, one of the Diveevsky sisters, who voluntarily agreed to die out of obedience to the elder for her brother, who was still needed in this life; Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, also healed by the monk. N. A. Motovilov wrote down the remarkable teaching of the Monk Seraphim on the purpose of the Christian life. In the last years of the life of the Monk Seraphim, one healed by him saw him standing in the air during prayer. The saint strictly forbade telling about this before his death.

Everyone knew and honored the Monk Seraphim as a great ascetic and miracle worker. A year and ten months before his death, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Monk Seraphim was once again honored with the appearance of the Queen of Heaven, accompanied by the Baptist of the Lord John, the Apostle John the Theologian and twelve virgins, holy martyrs and saints. The Blessed Virgin conversed with the monk for a long time, entrusting him with the Diveyevo sisters. Having finished the conversation, She said to him: "Soon, my beloved, you will be with us." At this apparition, during a wondrous visit to the Mother of God, one Diveyevo eldress was present, at the prayer of the saint for her.

In the last year of his life, the Monk Seraphim began to noticeably weaken and spoke to many of his imminent death. At this time he was often seen at the coffin, which stood in the entrance of his cell and prepared by him for himself. The monk himself indicated the place where he was to be buried - near the altar of the Assumption Cathedral. On January 1, 1833, the Monk Seraphim came for the last time to the hospital of Zosimo-Savvatievskaya church for the Liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries, after which he blessed the brethren and said goodbye, saying: "Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake, today we are preparing crowns." On the second of January the monk's cell-attendant, Father Paul, at six o'clock in the morning, left his cell, heading for the church, and felt the smell of burning emanating from the monk's cell; candles were always burning in the saint's cell, and he said: "As long as I live, there will be no fire, and when I die, my death will open in fire." When the doors were opened, it turned out that the books and other things were smoldering, and the monk himself was kneeling before the icon of the Mother of God in a prayer position, but already lifeless. During prayer, his pure soul was taken by the Angels and flew up to the Throne of God Almighty, whose faithful servant and servant the Monk Seraphim was all his life.

Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov)

The fiery image from the icon,
We keep the people of Russia
In the churches, in the houses, the bells were ringing
Bless us, Seraphim.

Bless on the spiritual path
Amid the inevitable hustle and bustle
Your look, always full of love -
Beauty reminder.

Human heart
United with the Creator,
You opened the door to the world of joy
Thank you! Low bow.

In this article we publish the life of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov - a particularly revered saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The pious merchant Isidor Moshnin lived in Kursk with his wife Agafia. On the night of July 20, 1754, they had a son, who was named Prokhor in holy baptism. When the boy was only three years old, his father died and Agathia began to raise the baby alone. She herself continued her husband's work: the construction of God's temple in Kursk.

The boy was growing up, and soon Prokhor's mother realized that her son was an extraordinary child. Once the seven-year-old Prokhor climbed onto an unfinished bell tower. Suddenly he stumbled and fell to the ground. Terrified, the mother rushed to her son, not expecting to see him alive. What was the amazement and joy of Agafya and the runaway neighbors, when it turned out that the boy was unharmed! So from early childhood, it was revealed to the mother and relatives that God miraculously preserves His chosen one.

But soon Prokhor fell seriously ill. The doctors had no hope of recovery. And so, during the most difficult suffering of the boy, the Mother of God Herself appeared to him in inexpressible radiance. She kindly consoled the little sufferer and said that he had to endure quite a bit and he would be healthy.

The next day, a procession was going by the house where the sick Prokhor lived: they carried the great shrine of the city of Kursk and all of Russia - the miraculous icon of the Mother of God - Kursk-Root. Prokhor's mother saw it from the window. Taking her sick son in her arms, she hastened to carry him out into the street. Here the icon was carried over the boy, and from that day on he began to recover quickly.

Prokhor did not look like his peers. He loved solitude, church services, reading sacred books... It was not at all boring for him; through prayer, the unknown and wonderful spiritual world, in which Divine love and goodness reign, was more and more revealed to him.

He studied well, but when he grew up a little, he began to help his brother, who, following the example of his father, went into trade. But Prokhor's heart did not lie to the earthly. He could not spend a day without a temple and with all his soul strove for God, whom he loved with all his heart, more than anything in the world. He wanted to be with God constantly, and therefore he wanted more and more to go to a monastery. Finally he confessed his desire to his mother. No matter how hard it was for Agafya to part with her beloved son, she did not interfere with him. When Prokhor was seventeen years old, he left his home, having received his mother's blessing - a large copper crucifix, which he wore on his chest and which he treasured extraordinarily all his life.

Now Prokhor was faced with the question: which monastery to choose. With this he went to Kiev to the relics of the saints, the first leaders of Russian monasticism, the Monks Anthony and Theodosius. After praying to the holy saints, the will of God was revealed to Prokhor through the elder Dositheus, a recluse monk of the Kiev Caves Monastery. “Go to the Sarov monastery,” the elder said to Prokhor. “There the Holy Spirit will lead you to salvation, there you will end your days.” Prokhor bowed at the feet of the recluse and thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

On the eve of the great feast of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, Prokhor, having made the difficult journey from Kiev to the Temnikovsky forests, entered the Sarov monastery. It was a glorious monastic brotherhood known for its strict devotees. Here the young God-lover was carefully received by the abbot, Father Pakhomiy. Both the abbot and the brethren sincerely fell in love with the kind and zealous novice.

Prayer to the Lord and work - the life of a monk consists of them, through them the Lord strengthens the spirit of the ascetic, his striving for the highest heavenly world. Prokhor, who in his heart firmly decided to give himself entirely to the Lord, happily went through all the most difficult monastic obediences. He cut down trees in the forest, baked bread for the brethren all night long, worked as a carpenter and builder. But most importantly, he learned to pray, taught his mind and soul to ascend to God, so that nothing in the world could distract from prayer.

Wise people say that prayer, real prayer to God, is the hardest work in the world. No matter how hard it sometimes was, Prokhor was the first to come to church services, and he was the last to leave the church. His soul strove for complete solitude, where nothing distracts from communion with God. Once he told his confessor about this desire, and he blessed the novice Prokhor from time to time to retire to the remote monastery forest for solitary prayer.

From the very beginning of his monastic path, the Monk Seraphim firmly decided that in life he would hope only for the help of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Pure Mother. This faith and hope of the novice Prokhor was subjected to a severe test: Prokhor fell seriously ill and fell ill for three whole years. The disease was so serious that the brothers were already desperate for his recovery. But Prokhor entrusted his life into the hands of God. When the suffering reached its limit, it reappeared Holy Mother of God and healed him.

Many years later, the Lord Jesus Christ also bestowed upon the Monk Seraphim himself the power of healing the sick, foreseeing the future, and prayerfully helping the unfortunate. But first, his courage and loyalty to God were tested and strengthened in difficulties and temptations.

His soul was cleansed of all impurity, thoughts of little faith, doubt, exaltation over others, pride - everything that is in the soul of every person. When later the Monk Seraphim was asked why at the present time there are no such great saints as before, he replied that this is happening because people do not have the resolve to completely trust God and place all their hope only on Him.

When Prokhor was 32 years old, what he had been striving for for many years, he was tonsured into monasticism. The new name he received, Seraphim, means "fiery"; indeed, like a flame, his spirit burned to God. With even greater zeal, Fr. Seraphim began his monastic exploits, and he was ordained a hierodeacon. He spent six years in this ministry.

Once during the liturgy, on Maundy Thursday, a wonderful event happened to him. “The light shone upon me, - he later said, - in which I saw our Lord God Jesus Christ in glory, shining, brighter than the sun, ineffable light and surrounded by Angels, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim. From the church gates He walked through the air, stopped opposite the pulpit and, raising His hands, blessed the servants and worshipers. Therefore, He entered into the local image, which is near the royal doors. I, the earth and the ashes, have been rewarded with a special blessing from Him. My heart then rejoiced in the sweetness of love for the Lord. "

After this vision, the Monk Seraphim changed in face and could not utter a word; he was led by the arms into the altar, where he stood motionless for two hours. His exploits became even more severe: now he spent whole nights in prayer to God for the whole world.

Soon the Monk Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk. And when he was 39 years old, he left the monastery and settled in a wooden cell, which was located in a dense forest on the banks of the Sarovka River, five miles from the monastery.

Here he began to lead a special desert life. His fasting reached incredible severity. It became his food forest grass, which grew in abundance near his cell. The monk lived and prayed according to the order of the ancient desert-dwellers. Sometimes one of the brethren met him on the way, in a simple white robe, with a copper cross - the mother's blessing - on his chest, with a bag over his shoulders filled with stones and sand, and on top of them lay the Holy Gospel.

When the Monk Seraphim was asked why he carried such a weight on his back, he answered meekly: "I am tormenting the tormenting me." And those who understood in the spiritual life guessed what kind of struggle between mortal human flesh and immortal spirit takes place in the life of this ascetic.

The enemy of the human race, the devil, wishing to turn the Monk Seraphim away from the feat, made evil people his instrument.

Once the Monk Seraphim was chopping wood in the forest. Suddenly, three unknown persons appeared in front of him. They attacked the monk, demanding money from him.

"Many come to you and surely bring both gold and silver!" - “I don’t take anything from anyone”,- the Monk Seraphim answered them. But they rushed at him, wanting either to receive imaginary treasures, or to kill the ascetic. The Monk Seraphim was very strong and strong, moreover, he had an ax in his hands, however, being a monk, he could not answer anyone with a blow for a blow. Having surrendered himself into the hands of God, he said: “ Do what you need. "

One robber hit him on the head with the butt of an ax, blood gushed from the monk's mouth and ears, and he fell down dead. The robbers beat him for a long time, finally, tired, threw him near the cell and rushed to the hermit's dwelling to look for money. But they found only an icon and a few books there.

Then they realized that they had killed the righteous; fear fell upon them, and they rushed headlong away from the beggarly cell and from the lifeless monk lying on the ground.

But the Monk Seraphim remained alive. Having come to his senses, overcoming terrible pain, he thanked the Lord for the innocent suffering, similar to the suffering of Christ Himself, and prayed for the forgiveness of the evildoers. And when morning came, with great difficulty, covered in blood, tortured, he wandered into the monastery.

The brethren were horrified by his condition. The doctors called from the city found that his head had been broken, his ribs had been broken, and that his body had terrible bruises and mortal wounds; everyone was convinced that death was inevitable. While the doctors conferred, the monk fell asleep. And so the Mother of God appeared before him with the apostles Peter and John.

- What are you working on?- said, turning to the doctors, the Most Holy Theotokos. - This one is of my kind!

Waking up, the Monk Seraphim felt the return of strength. On the same day he began to get up, but still he had to spend five months in the monastery. And having got stronger, he again returned to his forest retreat. The devil was put to shame: he failed to force the ascetic to abandon his monastic exploit. But after the beating, the saint's back remained bent forever.

I must say that the robbers were caught. According to the law, severe punishment awaited them, but the monk stood up for his offenders. He even said that if they were not forgiven, he would leave these places forever. The villains were released, but God's punishment overtook them. The fire destroyed their houses with all their belongings. Only then they repented and came to the Monk Seraphim, asking for forgiveness and prayers.

Again the monk led his solitary life.

His heart burned with love and pity not only for suffering humanity, but for all living things. He had already reached such spiritual purity that even beasts of prey were striving towards him. Many of those who visited him saw him feeding from the hands of a huge bear. But the monk forbade talking about this until his death.

Seeing such progress of the ascetic in holiness, the devil increasingly took up arms against him. One night, during prayer, the Monk Seraphim heard the howling of animals outside the walls of the cell. And then like a crowd of people start banging on the door; the jambs could not stand, the door fell, and at the old man's feet a huge chunk of wood fell, which eight people could hardly take out the next day. The rage of the fallen spirits reached the limit, and they took on a visible form in order to confuse the saint. During prayer, the walls of the cell seemed to part, and terrible hellish monsters tried to pounce on the monk. Once an unknown force lifted him up and hit the floor with force several times.

And then the Monk Seraphim embarked on the most difficult feat in his life — the feat of silence and pillar-dom. For three years he did not speak a word to anyone, 1000 days and 1000 nights he spent in prayer, standing on a stone. He had two such stones: one was in his cell, the other lay in the forest thicket. On the stone in the cell, the saint stood from morning until evening, and at night he went into the forest. Raising his hands to heaven, he prayed in the words of the gospel publican: "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"

In severe frosts and in the pouring rain, on a sultry noon and on an anxious night, covered with clouds of mosquitoes, suffering from evil spirits, the monk bore his feat. During this time his body was exhausted, while his spirit reached extraordinary freedom and height. He could bear such a feat only when he was strengthened by the special grace-filled help of God.

After a 16-year stay in the desert, in 1810, the Monk Seraphim returned to the monastery. And again, not for repose, but for special prayer. Changing his beloved forest wilderness, where clean air, a babbling river, wild animals - everything made you happy soul, For many years the monk retired to the seclusion of the monastic cell, where, except for the icon, in front of which the lamp was always burning, and the chopped off stump that served as a chair, there was nothing. In the entryway there was an oak coffin, constantly reminding the ascetic of death. The elder did not receive anyone, his only conversation was a conversation with God - prayer.

After another seventeen years, he came out of the seclusion, having received a blessing from the Queen of Heaven herself. She commanded him to receive visitors and guide them spiritually.

The news spread throughout Russia that in the Sarov monastery the Lord raised up a great ascetic who heals the sick, comforts the mournful, guides the lost on the right path.

Since then, every day, after the end of the early liturgy and until evening, the elder received people. The love with which the saint was filled attracted everyone to him. By this time, he already possessed perspicacity: he saw the spiritual order, thoughts and life circumstances of each person. Most importantly, the will of God regarding everyone was revealed to him, so that his advice was received as from God Himself. Thousands of people, thanks to the prayers and advice of the Monk Seraphim, happily arranged their lives, avoided danger, and even death, and received healings from serious illnesses. But most importantly, they found the way of soul salvation and learned to ascend to God through love and obedience to the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the main thing that Saint Seraphim taught.

The elder greeted everyone with the greatest friendliness: "My joy, Christ is risen!" - he said, lovingly embracing the pilgrim who had come to him. But those who came with treachery, only hiding behind piety (and there were some), he threateningly removed from himself.

The monk foresaw not only the future of every person, but also the future destinies of Russia and the whole world. One day an officer came to his wilderness. The monk at this time stood at a miraculous source, which had once been brought out of the ground by the prayers of the elder himself and had great healing power.

The officer approached the hermit, and at this time the water in the spring darkened and became indignant, began to beat with a muddy spring. The monk glanced angrily at the officer and threateningly commanded: “Come out! Just as this holy spring has become muddied, so will you and your like-minded people revolt the whole of Russia! "

In horror and confusion, the officer departed from him: he really came with an insidious desire to cunningly get the approval of the impending coup d'etat from the elder. He was a man from among the so-called Decembrists and Freemasons, who, some out of criminal folly, and others out of hatred, wanted to ruin Russia and Orthodoxy. The monk foresaw the great misfortunes that the revolutionaries would bring to the people, and warned the Orthodox in advance about the events that were to take place, sometimes in many decades.

He also foresaw the bloody turmoil in our Orthodox fatherland, foresaw the destruction of the Church for multiplying sins, unprecedented persecution of Christians, foresaw the revival of Holy Russia for its fidelity to Orthodoxy.

“The villains will raise their heads high,” he said. - It will be indispensable: the Lord, seeing the unrepentant malice of their hearts, will allow their undertakings for a short time, but their illness will turn to their head, and the untruth of their destructive plans will come down to their top. The Russian land will be stained with rivers of blood, and many nobles will be beaten for the Great Sovereign and the integrity of his autocracy; but the Lord is not completely angry and will not allow the Russian land to collapse to the end, because in it alone Orthodoxy and the remnants of Christian piety are predominantly preserved.

Before the birth of the Antichrist, there will be a great long war and a terrible revolution in Russia, exceeding any human imagination, for the bloodshed will be the most terrible: the riots of Razinsky, Pugachevsky, the French Revolution - nothing in comparison with what will happen to Russia. There will be the death of many people loyal to the fatherland, the plundering of church property and monasteries, the desecration of the churches of the Lord, the destruction and plundering of wealth kind people, rivers of Russian blood will spill. But the Lord will have mercy on Russia and lead her through suffering to great glory ... "

Father Seraphim left to the Orthodox people a wonderful teaching on salvation. “The true goal of our Christian life,” he said, “is to acquire the Holy Spirit. Fasting, vigilance, prayer and good deeds are only means for acquiring the Spirit. " Acquisition means acquisition; the Spirit is acquired by the one who repents of all his sins and does virtues opposite to the sins committed. In such a person, the Spirit begins to act in the heart and secretly arranges the Kingdom of God within him.

“How can I know,” one young man asked the monk, “that I am in the grace of the Holy Spirit? I want to understand and feel it well. " This conversation took place in winter forest, in a snowy meadow; the young man loved Saint Seraphim very much and came to him for advice.

Reverend Seraphim's answer was truly wonderful. He firmly took the young man by the shoulders and said to him: “We are both now with you in the Spirit of God. Why aren't you looking at me? " The young man replied: “I cannot, father, look, because lightning is pouring from your eyes. Your face has become brighter than the sun, and my eyes ache with pain "... The reverend said to this: “Do not be afraid, your love of God! and now you yourself have become as bright as I am. You yourself are now in the fullness of the Spirit of God, otherwise you would not have been able to see me like that. Just look me in the eye and don't be afraid! "

“After these words I looked into his face,” the young man later recalled, “and an even greater reverential horror fell upon me. Imagine in the middle of the sun, in the brightest brightness of its midday rays, the face of a person talking to you. You see the movement of his lips, the changing expression of his eyes, you hear his voice, you feel that someone is holding you by the shoulders, but not only you don’t see these hands, you don’t see either yourself or his figure, but only one light, dazzling and extending far away, a few sazhens around, and illuminating with its bright shine both the snow veil covering the clearing, and the snow crumbs falling from above both me and the great old man. "

The young man was unusually good. He remembered for all his life the day when Father Seraphim taught him a lesson on what it means to "acquire the Holy Spirit."

By the end of his life, the monk elder was already revered by all of Russia. His blessed abilities were extraordinary. It was given to him to see even the heavenly abodes, prepared by God in eternity for virtuous people. When he told his closest people about these revelations, his face was transformed and poured out a wonderful light. With heavenly joy and tenderness, he said: “Oh, if people knew what joy, what sweetness awaits the soul of the righteous in heaven, they would decide to endure all sorrows in temporary life with thanksgiving. If this very cell was full of worms, and they would eat our flesh all their lives, then even then we would have to agree to this with every desire, so as not to lose that heavenly joy. "

Human glory weighed heavily on the elder, from the great labors he came to great exhaustion. When the monk was returning to his wilderness from the monastery, crowds of people stood on both sides of the road, wanting at least to touch his clothes, at least to see him.

In the last years of his life, the Monk Seraphim took great care of the Diveyevo women's monastery he founded. Orphan girls entered the monastery, as well as those who were looking for a high and godly life under the leadership of Father Seraphim. The saint directed the life of the monastery, following the blessings of the Mother of God.

Not long before the death of the saint, the Most Holy Theotokos visited him for the twelfth time. It was in the presence of one of the Diveyevo sisters. Suddenly there was a noise, like a wind shone a light, and a song was heard. The elder's cell miraculously transformed: it seemed to move apart, the ceiling disappeared and above there was one radiance.

And then a miraculous procession appeared: the Mother of God was walking, accompanied by twelve holy virgins, John the Theologian and John the Baptist; in front were two Angels with blossoming branches in their hands. The Queen of Heaven was wearing a shining, unspeakable beauty mantle, her head was crowned with a wondrous crown. The elder on his knees met the Lady of heaven and earth. The Mother of God promised the saint not to leave the Diveyevo sisters with Her help.

She predicted a quick end to the monk, a transition to the Heavenly Kingdom and blessed him. The elder and the saints who came to the monk together with the Mother of God blessed him. "This one is from our kind!" - proclaimed the Most Holy Theotokos with love looking at Her novice, who courageously lived a long life according to the commandments of Her Son.

The day before his death, January 1, 1833, Sunday, Father Seraphim visited the church for the last time. I put candles on the icons. Immersed in himself, he prayed during the Liturgy and received the Holy and Life-giving Mysteries of Christ. Then he began to say goodbye to the brethren, bless and comfort everyone. Physically he was very weak, in spirit he was cheerful, calm, joyful.

- Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake: on this day, crowns are being prepared for us!- he said.

In the evening that day, he sang Easter hymns in his cell.

And on January 2, a monk smelled smoke emanating from the monk's cell. Entering it, he saw that the monk was kneeling before the icon "Tenderness"; there was no fire, but the books smoldered from the falling candle. Thus came another prophecy of the monk, who said: "My death will open with fire"... The crossed arms of the saint lay on the analogue, his head rested on his hands. Thinking that the elder was asleep, the monk touched his shoulder, but there was no answer. Then the brother realized that the elder had died; his grief and the rest of his brethren were boundless.

The body of the monk was placed in an oak coffin, which was made with his own hands. They buried the Monk Seraphim near the monastery cathedral at the altar. For seventy years after the death of Father Seraphim, many people came to his grave.

Through the prayer of the saint of God, thousands and thousands of Christians were healed of diseases, bodily and mental.

On July 19, 1903, the discovery of the saints and the multifunctional relics of Father Seraphim took place and his glorification in the face of saints, which became a nationwide celebration.

In the 1920s, during the revolutionary turmoil and persecution of the Church, predicted by the Monk Seraphim, his holy relics disappeared. More recently, they have been miraculously found again. In July 1991, the relics were transferred to the Diveyevo Monastery, which was revived after the devastation. Here they rest to this day.

Since then, no matter how much Orthodox people in all nations, everyone learned about the Monk Seraphim, marveled at him great love to God and people, they asked him for holy prayers, and many sought to imitate his life and deeds. No matter how many ascetics - monks, laity, saints, martyrs, holy fools - the Lord has erected since then on the Russian land, they all seemed to come to the wretched cell of Father Seraphim, asking for blessings for labors, exploits and patience. And to all of them, and to future generations of Christians who want to live by fulfilling the commandments of God, the voice of the Monk Seraphim was heard and heard:

MY JOY, THERE IS NO TIME FOR US TO CHEER!
CHRIST IS RISEN!!!
COLLECT THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD
AND AROUND YOU
SAVE
THOUSANDS!

Holy places of Seraphim of Sarov

Distant desert of Seraphim of Sarov in Sarov

Four kilometers from the Sarov Monastery, upstream of the Sarovka River, there is one of the holy places associated with the name of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov.

Here, in the dense forests, he began to perform his first ascetic feat - hermitage. Immediately after the death of the abbot of the monastery Pachomius, Elder Seraphim asked the newly appointed abbot Isaiah to let him go to be alone, to test his spiritual strength. For 16 years, Elder Seraphim lived in a small hut on the steep bank of the Sarovka. Many trials fell to Father Seraphim, and he withstood them all with honor. For a thousand nights he stood on a stone in the forest, and during the day he continued his feat of standing on a stone in a cell so that the pilgrims would not interfere. Here, in the Far Desert, the robbers beat him up.

Here he performed his feat of silence.

After the death of Father Seraphim, the cell from the Dalnaya Pustynka was bought by the benefactor of the Diveyevo monastery N.A. Motovilov, whom Father Seraphim healed in 1831. The cell was dismantled into logs and transported to Diveevo. There they made the altar of the Church of the Transfiguration from it.

For the Sarov celebrations of 1903, a new large hut was erected on the Dalnaya Pustynka and the place of the hermitage was landscaped. The last Russian emperor Nicholas II and his family came to this newly installed cell to honor the memory of the great elder.

After the closure of the monastery, the place was desolate and everything was destroyed.

To mark the place of the Dalnaya Pustynka, in 1990 members of the historical association “Sarovskaya Pustyn” erected a wooden chapel with a cross in its place.

In 1991, the famous sculptor Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Klykov made a monument to the Monk Seraphim of Sarov and decided to install it on the Dalnaya Pustynka. After the installation of the monument, the city authorities improved this place.

Monument to St. Seraphim of Sarov

works of the sculptor V.M. Klykov was installed in 1991 at the Dalnaya Pustynka. The Monk Seraphim came here to live in the wilderness in 1794 and spent almost 16 years in solitude.

In 2000, with the help of the Nuclear Center, a stone chapel with a canopy was erected here, and by the centenary of the glorification of the Monk Elder Seraphim, a wooden hut was built on the site of the found stone foundation, a copy of the 1903 hut, where the icon lamps of Father Seraphim and the Mother of God "Tenderness" are burning around the clock.

Near the chapel on the slope of the steep bank of the Sarovka, one huge pine tree stands out among the trees. According to foresters, she is more than two hundred years old, and she must remember Elder Seraphim. Almost all guests of the city visit the Dalnaya Desert and come up to this pine tree.

The place in Sarov, where Seraphim of Sarov prayed on the stone

When Elder Seraphim left as a hermit, he decided to test himself by standing on a stone, to perform the feat of pillar-marching, as Christian ascetics had done before. Not far from his cell in the forest on the Far Desert, Father Seraphim found a large stone left over from the time of the glacier. On it, in front of the icon of the Holy Trinity, fixed on a tree, he knelt for 1000 nights. In the afternoon, Father Seraphim continued his exploit on a small stone, which was in his cell.

After the death of Elder Seraphim, a large stone was split into pieces. It was believed that if you put even a small piece of stone into a vessel with water, then it becomes healing. Fragments of this stone were smashed to all corners of our boundless Russia. A large fragment of the stone of Father Seraphim was presented to the Sarov parish by the Metropolitan of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Nikolay (N.V. Kutepov).

For the Sarov celebrations of 1903, a new one, similar to the previous one, was installed in the place where the first stone was located. From the tree on which the Trinity icon hung, only a part of the trunk remained. For the arrival of Emperor Nicholas II at the Sarov celebrations, wooden chapels with beautiful carved pillars were installed over the remains of the tree trunk and over the stone.

In times Soviet power the chapels were destroyed, and the stone was thrown into a deep ditch, which was specially dug by a bulldozer.

The place where the stone stood and the chapel above it has survived to this day thanks to believers who came to pray. There was a small wooden cross.

In 1990, the former nun of the Diveyevo Monastery Seraphim (S.A.Bulgakova) presented the members of the historical association with a piece of a real stone on which Elder Seraphim prayed. Then the idea arose to restore the place of prayer for Father Seraphim. By the look of the donated stone, a large boulder was found in the forest, which looked like outward appearance and the structure on the stone of the elder Seraphim. Members of the historical association turned to the city builders with a request to help transport this stone to the place of prayer of Father Seraphim.

To remove this stone, the builders had to pave a road in a swampy forest for the passage of a crane and a trailer, and despite great difficulties, this stone was delivered. Surprising was the fact that under a large stone lay another stone, red. He was also taken away. And what a surprise it was when, over time, it became known that in his cell Elder Seraphim was praying on a small red stone. Now this red stone lies next to the cell of Elder Seraphim on the Distant Hermitage near the large cross.

Above the stone where the monk elder prayed at night, as before, there is a wooden canopy and a cross is installed.

Many guests who come to the city stop at this stone, reflecting on the strength of the spirit of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov.

Seraphim of Sarov near hermitage

Between the Far Hermitage and the monastery was the Near Hermitage of Elder Seraphim. She stood on a mountain above the Sarovka river.

In 1825, the Monk Seraphim of Sarov finally completed the shutter and began to leave his monastery cell. He often went to the Far Desert, where he lived as a hermit for 16 years. Returning to the monastery along the Sarovka river, he stopped at the Bogoslovsky spring. This spring was so called because next to it stood a cross with an icon of John the Theologian. Near the spring was the cell of the hermit Dorotheus. Elder Seraphim liked this place. After the death of Father Dorotheus, he lived during the day in this small cell, which did not even have a door; he had to crawl inside it. After a while, a new cell was cut down for Father Seraphim, which was slightly larger and had windows and a door. Elder Seraphim began to improve the Theological Spring. And before people came to the source, but after Father Seraphim settled there, the number of pilgrims quickly increased.

The entire previous life of the Monk Seraphim was aimed at union with God, at testing the human spirit. He withstood these tests, and the gift of clairvoyance and miracles was revealed to him. The fame of the great ascetic spread throughout Russia.

Every day more and more people began to visit Father Seraphim. Legends say that he had up to two thousand people a day and miracles happened there every day.

After the death of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, the fame of this place increased many times over. People went to the Near Desert, to the source, in anticipation of a miracle. There they took holy water, bathed in the spring and felt the goodness of this place.

By the time of the glorification of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov in 1903, a wooden chapel was built over the spring; under the mountain, where the water flowed from the source, they made a bath. At first, it was a small wooden building into two sections - male and female, and then a large stone building was built. The bathhouse had four departments for all segments of the population. Everyone who came could swim under the icy stream of the source, which by this time began to be called Seraphim's.

In Soviet times, the chapel with the bathhouse was destroyed, and the source was concreted. But for a long time, the water found a way out and appeared under the mountain. A few years later, a dam was poured down the stream of the Sarovka River just below the bath, the water level rose, and the spring was under water. Over time, the place of the Near Desert was lost.

In 1991, members of the historical association "Sarovskaya Pustyn" began searching for this holy place. According to eyewitnesses, the bath was located on the site of a recreation area for townspeople, on the dammed bank of the Sarovka River, which was always called the "Pool".

As a result of searches and excavations, the site of the chapel above the spring and the bath was found. The building itself has not survived, but the foundations and lower rooms where the bathing took place turned out to be intact. Steps lined with Metlakh tiles led to these four rooms, the floor was tiled with very beautiful colored ornaments. When did it start excavation After clearing the bath, many volunteers came to help - ordinary residents of the city. There was a desire to restore this holy place. But the city authorities did not have the funds to restore the Near Desert. Over time, tiles and tiles were chipped off the walls and floors of the bathhouse for the production of souvenirs. I had to cover the bathhouse with earth again until better times.

The parish erected a large wooden cross on the site of the Near Hermitage. The city authorities have erected a large memorial stone next to the cross.

In preparation for the celebration of the centenary of the glorification of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, a chapel was erected in the place where the chapel stood over the spring, which outwardly resembled the previous one. But there was a rumor that the chapel was not exactly in the place where it stood in the monastic times. It is impossible to establish its exact location without archaeological excavations, so the chapel was dismantled.