In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today, on this Sunday,
the Day of the Lord, when we make our weekly
commemoration of the Lord's death and resurrection,
we also celebrate the memory of our Venerable
Father, Seraphim of Sarov, one of the most venerated
saints of the Orthodox Church, especially in
the churches of the Russian tradition, including
our Orthodox Church in America. But one might
think, aside from this being a feast of the dedication
of this temple, patronal feast of this church,
what relevance does the memory of the Russian
saint has for us Orthodox Christians in America?
In 1778, two young men entered and became novices
in a large and growing Russian monastery of the
time, the men's monastery of Sarov in central
Russia. One of them, most likely named Yegor
Popov, was from a peasant family, and another
from a merchant family in Kursk, he was named
Prokhor Mashnin. The first of these young men
received in monasticism the name Herman. In a
few years, moved with his elder to the monastery
of Walaam up north, and then joined the first
Russian Orthodox mission in Alaska, becoming
as a simple monk, a spiritual leader, the first
missionary, defender and protector of the native
people of Alaska, the elder of Alaska and all
America. And we know him as St. Herman, our venerable
Father Herman of Alaska. The second of these
young men. somewhat younger than Herman, received
the name Seraphim. In 1794, when Monk Herman
arrived in Kodiak as part of the first Russian
Orthodox mission in North America, in the same
year, higher Monk Seraphim, a little more than
a year after his ordination, after he has, as
a deacon, experienced the vision of God during
the Divine Liturgy. He departs to the forest
of Sarov and becomes a hermit, remaining in his
hermitage until he is compelled to move back
into the monastery. We do not know, we don't
have evidence, whether St. Seraphim and St. Hermon
ever met one another, except perhaps in passing,
even though they knew the same elder and the
teacher of the Jesus prayer, Nazari of Sarov.
Thus, one or another way, they were spiritually
connected. And also, not only by sharing in the
same tradition of prayer, not only in sharing
in the same rich tradition of Orthodox monasticism
that produces saints, but they shared the same
immediate spiritual heritage. They were spiritually
related. And also for us, Orthodox Christians
in America, who venerate St. Herman as our own
American Orthodox saints, the life of St. Seraphim
becomes directly relevant. As St. Paul calls
in his epistle today, having gifts that differ
according to the grace being given to us, let
us use them in proportion to our ability. but
let love be genuine, without hypocrisy, without
guile. The monastic saints heard this call. All
Christians are aliens and strangers in this world,
and this is especially visible in the lives of
monastic saints, fleeing the world, seeking solitude,
not only visibly and openly, but ultimately seeking
the journey into the solitude of one's own heart,
into the depths of their soul, building the temple
of their heart, calling out of these depths upon
the Lord's holy name, Lord Jesus Christ, Son
of God, have mercy on us. Saint Seraphim became
a hermit and entered into solitude to seek the
inner prayer, But in continuation of his journey,
he is called out of his hermitage to give counsel
and spiritual guidance to great numbers of people
who were lost, to his monastic disciples and
to laity, and now also to us, his spiritual children,
who study his words and his life to find guidance
in our own quest for salvation. The monks enter
into the hermitage. into the depths of their
own heart, but not in search of self -fulfillment,
self -gratification, but for the salvation of
themselves, of their own souls, and for salvation
of all. In the Gospel today, according to Luke,
we have heard the Beatitudes, the commandments
of blessedness and happiness from the mouth of
Christ himself. and in St. Luke's Gospel we hear
them in a much more terse, pithy, and expressive
version than in the Gospel of Matthew. We read
those words for the feasts of all monastic saints,
showing thus that all of these great saints were
united in taking these words seriously, in fulfilling
those new commandments of God to the best of
their ability. Our Venerable Father Seraphim
fulfilled those commandments precisely. The Lord
said, Blessed are the poor, since Seraphim lived
in his hermitage in abject poverty, and when
robbers attacked his cell and tortured him asking
for money, he forgave them and insisted that
they will not be punished. But most of all, first
of all, these robbers found that in his cell,
in the cell of a higher monk who was visited
by many people. There was in his cell, there
was simply nothing to steal. The Lord said, Blessed
are you that hunger now. For three years in his
solitude, Saint Seraphim starved himself, feeding
on a plant which the peasants of the time fed
on during the time of famine, thus visibly identifying
with those who are poor and hungry. Blessed are
that weep now. During his exile in the forest,
St. Seraphim became a stylite, exemplifying this
ultimate radical way of prayer, praying on a
rock for a thousand days and nights, unceasingly,
until he had difficulty walking afterwards. St.
Seraphim experienced hatred, misunderstanding,
and persecution. also from his own monastic brethren
and superiors, who found his gifts and his popularity
suspicious. And even after his death, there was
great resistance in the Russian church to his
canonization from important prominent members
of the church's elite. And it is a direct intervention
of Tsar Nicholas II which ensured that St. Seraphim
is canonized. And lastly, the Lord calls us,
rejoice and leap for joy, for your reward is
great in heaven. In the famous account of the
conversation with his disciple, Matavilov, St.
Seraphim tells us that the goal of Christian
life is to acquire the Holy Spirit, to acquire
the peace, joy, and love of God dwelling in our
hearts and filling all of our existence. St.
Paul says, God's love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given
to us. All that we do as Christians, fulfilling
the commandments, fasting, following the rules,
is not an end in itself, but it is not a reason
to pride and to be conceited about so many things
that we have done, that we have done successfully,
what we have achieved, what we have acquired.
We are living a Christian life if we keep in
mind the greatness of the mercy of God towards
us, when we always keep our mind looking at Christ
our Savior, when we bear each other's burdens
and pray unceasingly as much as we can, keeping
the name of Christ in our mind. We may not experience
hardship and suffering, in the same way that
St. Seraphim endured in his mission of bringing
salvation to the people of God. We often have
our own share of hardship and suffering. But
we look at St. Seraphim as our guide because,
according to anyone who has met him, his life
was filled, his countenance was filled with joy.
His life was filled with joy and peace, which
he shared with those he met. the peace and joy
in the Holy Spirit. If we seek to acquire this
peace, if we keep our mind and our heart directed
to God, if we seek to hear the life -giving words
of God and to do them, then we indeed become
closer to be the disciples of Christ, as was
our Venerable Father, St. Seraphim of Sarov.
Our Venerable Father, Seraphim, pray to God for
us. Amen.