Житие преподобного Серафима, Саровского чудотворца
The Call to Return
Seraphim, no longer able to walk to the monastery for Communion because of his aching legs, receives the council's repeated call and obediently returns to the monastery on May 8, 1810.
From the time of Elder Isaiah's death, Father Seraphim took on the labor of silence and lived in his wilderness without ever leaving it, as if he were in an enclosure. Before that, he used to go to the monastery on Sundays and feast days to receive the Holy Mysteries.1 Now, since the time of his standing on the stones, his legs ached; he could not walk. It was unknown who gave him Communion of the Holy Mysteries, though they never for a moment doubted that he was never left without partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Superior convened a monastic council of the senior hieromonks and put the question of Communion for Father2 Seraphim before them for deliberation. They settled the matter this way: to propose to Fr. Seraphim that he either come, if he was well and strong on his feet, as before, to the monastery on Sundays and feast days to receive the Holy Mysteries, or else, if his legs would not serve him, move permanently into a monastery cell. By common counsel they resolved to ask, through the brother who brought food on Sundays, what Fr. Seraphim would choose? The brother, on his very first visit to the elder, carried out the decision of the Sarov council, but Fr. Seraphim, having listened in silence to the council's proposal, dismissed the brother without saying a word. The brother reported to the Superior how things had gone, and the Superior ordered him to repeat the council's proposal the following Sunday.3 Having brought food for the coming week, the brother repeated the proposal. Then the elder Seraphim, having blessed the brother, set out on foot with him to the monastery. After accepting the council's second proposal, the elder indicated that he was no longer able, because of illness, to walk to the monastery on Sundays and feast days as he had before. This was in the spring, on May 8, 1810. Having entered the monastery gates after fifteen years of life in the wilderness, Fr. Seraphim went straight to the infirmary without stopping at his cell. This was during the day, before the all-night vigil began. When they struck the bell, Fr. Seraphim appeared for the all-night vigil in the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God. The brothers were astonished when word instantly spread that the elder had decided to live in the monastery.
The Hardest Labor of Reclusion
After receiving the Holy Mysteries on the feast of Saint Nicholas, Seraphim returns to his former cell and takes up the strictest reclusion, keeping only an icon and a stump, while the Church brings him Communion in his cell.
But their amazement grew even greater when the following happened: the next day, May 9th, the feast of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Father Seraphim came, as was his custom, to the hospital church for the early Liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ.4 After leaving the church, he went to the cell of the builder Niphon and, after receiving his blessing, settled back into his former monastic cell; he received no one, went nowhere, and didn't speak a word to anyone—that is, he took upon himself the new and hardest ascetic labor of reclusion.5 About the ascetic labors of Fr. Seraphim in seclusion, even less is known than about his life as a wilderness hermit. In his cell, to cut off self-will, he wanted to have nothing—not even the most necessary things. An icon, before which a lamp burned, and a stump of a log that served in place of a chair, were all he had. And for himself he did not even use fire. Throughout all the years of his seclusion, on every Sunday and feast day the elder received the Holy. Body and Blood of Christ. To maintain his seclusion and silence in complete purity, the Heavenly Mysteries were brought to him, with the blessing of Superior Niphont, from the hospital church to his cell after the early Liturgy.6
The Coffin in the Entryway
Keeping the hour of death close at hand, Seraphim makes an oak coffin, prays by it in his cell, and asks the brethren to lay him in it when he dies.
So that he would never forget the hour of death, and so that he might picture it more clearly and see it nearer before him, Fr.7 Seraphim made himself a coffin out of solid oak and set it in the entryway of his hermitage cell. Here the elder often prayed, preparing for his departure from this present life. Fr.8 In conversations with the Sarov brethren, Seraphim often spoke about this coffin: "When I die, I beg you, brothers, lay me in my coffin."
The Lamp Is No Longer Hidden
After five years of seclusion and silence, Seraphim is commanded by the Mother of God to open his doors, and he begins to receive everyone, teaching salvation while still living in profound simplicity.
The elder spent about five years in seclusion, then somewhat relaxed its outward form.9 The door of his cell stood open; anyone could come to him and see him. The elder wasn't put out by others being present during his spiritual exercises. Some who entered the cell asked him various questions, needing his counsel and instruction; but, having taken a vow of silence before God, the elder gave no answers and went on with his usual activities. In 1815, the Lord, through a new appearance to Fr. Seraphim of His Most Pure Mother, commanded him not to hide his lamp under a bushel and, opening the doors of his seclusion, to be accessible and visible to everyone.10 Taking the Great Hilarion as his example, he began to receive everyone without exception, conversing with them and teaching them the way of salvation. His little cell was always lit by only a single lampada and by candles burning before the icons. It was never heated by a stove, had two little windows, and was always piled with bags of sand and stones that served him as a bed; a tree stump was used as a chair, and in the entryway stood an oak coffin made by his own hands. The cell was open to all the brothers of the monastery at any time, and to outsiders from after early Liturgy until 8 o'clock in the evening.
Read the original Russian
Отец Серафим, со времени смерти старца Исаии, наложив на себя труд молчания, жил в пустыне своей безвыходно, точно как в затворе. Прежде он хаживал по воскресеньям и праздникам в обитель причащаться Св. Таин. Теперь, со времени стояния на камнях, у него болели ноги; ходить он не мог. Было неизвестно, кто его причащает Св. Таин, хотя ни на минуту не сомневались, что он без вкушения Тела и Крови Христовой не оставался. Строитель созвал монастырский собор из старших иеромонахов и вопрос о причащении о. Серафима предложил на рассуждение.
Решили же дело так: предложить о. Серафиму, чтобы он или ходил, буде здоров и крепок ногами, по-прежнему, в обитель по воскресным и праздничным дням для причащения Св. Таин, или же, если ноги не служат, перешёл бы навсегда жить в монастырскую келию. Общим советом присудили спросить через брата, носившего пищу по воскресеньям, что изберёт о. Серафим? Брат, в первый же приход к старцу, исполнил решение Саровского собора, но о. Серафим, выслушав безмолвно предложение собора, отпустил брата, не сказав ни слова. Брат, как дело было, передал строителю, а строитель велел ему повторить соборное предложение в следующее воскресенье.
Принёсши пищу на будущую неделю, брат повторил предложение. Тогда старец Серафим, благословив брата, вместе же с ним отправился пешком в обитель.
Приняв второе предложение собора, старец показал, что он не в силах был, по болезни, ходить, как прежде, по воскресным и праздничным дням в обитель. Это было весною 8 мая 1810 года. Вступив в монастырские врата, после 15-ти летнего пребывания в пустыне, о. Серафим, не заходя в свою келию, отправился прямо в больницу. Это было днём, до наступления всенощной службы. Когда ударили в колокол, о. Серафим явился на всенощное бдение в храм Успения Богородицы. Братия удивилась, когда мгновенно разнёсся слух, что старец решился жительствовать в обители.
Но удивление их возросло ещё более, когда произошли следующие обстоятельства: на другой день, 9-го мая, в день Святителя и Чудотворца Николая, о. Серафим пришёл, по обычаю, в больничную церковь к ранней литургии и причастился Св. Христовых Таин. По выходе же из церкви, он направил стопы свои в келию строителя Нифонта и, принявши от него благословение, водворился в прежней своей монастырской келии; к себе никого не принимал, сам никуда не выходил и не говорил ни с кем ни слова, то есть он принял на себя новый труднейший подвиг затворничества.
О подвигах о. Серафима в затворе известно ещё менее, чем о его пустынножительстве. В келии своей он не хотел иметь, для отсечения своеволия, ничего, даже самых необходимых вещей. Икона, пред которой горела лампада, и отрубок пня, служивший взамен стула, составляли всё. Для себя же он не употреблял даже огня.
В течение всех лет затвора старец во все воскресные и праздничные дни причащался Св. Тела и Крови Христовой. Для сохранения во всей чистоте затвора и молчальничества, Пренебесные Тайны, по благословению строителя Нифонта, приносили ему из больничной церкви в келию после ранней литургии.
Чтобы никогда не забывать о часе смертном, чтобы яснее представить и ближе видеть его пред собою, о. Серафим изготовил себе гроб из цельного дуба и поставил его в сенях затворнической келии. Здесь старец часто молился, готовясь к исходу от настоящей жизни. О. Серафим в беседах с Саровскими братиями часто говорил насчёт этого гроба: «Когда я умру, умоляю вас, братия, положите меня в моём гробе».
Старец провёл в затворе около пяти лет, потом несколько ослабил внешний вид его. Келейная дверь у него была открыта, всякий мог придти к нему, видеть его; старец не стеснялся присутствием других в своих духовных занятиях. Некоторые, вступив в келию, предлагали разные вопросы, имея нужду в советах и наставлениях старца; но, принявши на себя обет молчания пред Богом, старец на вопросы не давал ответов, продолжая обычные занятия.
В 1815 году Господь, по новому явлению о. Серафиму Пречистой Матери Своей, повелел ему не скрывать своего светильника под спудом и, отворив двери затвора, быть доступным и видимым для каждого. Поставя себе в пример Великого Илариона, он стал принимать всех без исключения, беседуя и поучая спасению. Маленькая келия его освещалась всегда одной только лампадой и возжжёнными у икон свечами. Она не отапливалась никогда печкой, имела два маленьких оконца и была всегда завалена мешками с песком и каменьями, служившими ему вместо постели; обрубок дерева употреблялся вместо стула, и в сенях дубовый гроб, изготовленный его же руками. Келия растворялась для всех братий монастыря во всякое время, для сторонних – после ранней обедни до 8 ч. вечера.
Notes
- 1 ↩Св. Таин = Holy Mysteries, the Orthodox designation for the Eucharist / Holy Communion.
- 2 ↩строитель here is the Sarov monastic title for the monastery Superior (administrator), not a construction worker.
- 3 ↩Russian строитель is the Sarov title for the monastery head; rendered here as Superior for contemporary clarity.
- 4 ↩«Св. Христовых Таин» is the Orthodox sacramental phrase for Holy Communion (the Holy Mysteries of Christ); kept as Mysteries rather than paraphrased as a shared meal.
- 5 ↩«строитель» here is the Sarov monastic title for the community's superior (Father Niphon), not a construction worker; rendered as «builder» to keep the historical title.
- 6 ↩строитель: in Sarov usage, the monastery superior (often rendered Builder/Superior); rendered here as superior.
- 7 ↩Source sentence ends mid-title on the abbreviation о. (Father); the name continues in the next sentence as Серафим.
- 8 ↩Standalone source fragment О. is the clerical title abbreviation Father; the name Серафим follows in the next sentence.
- 9 ↩«ослабил внешний вид его» refers to softening the outward observance of the seclusion (затвор), not the elder's personal appearance.
- 10 ↩Russian о. Серафиму Пречистой Матери Своей is one unit with s1: an appearance of His Most Pure Mother to Fr. Seraphim. Rendering keeps the split surface while preserving dative Seraphim + genitive Mother; the subject of повелел remains Господь from s1.
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