Житие преподобного Серафима, Саровского чудотворца
The Humility of Practice
Father Seraphim teaches a seminary professor that true monastic life requires practicing what one teaches, not just knowing doctrine.
Father Seraphim, as mentioned, received a great many visitors. He instructed the laity and exposed the false directions their minds and lives were taking. So one priest brought with him to Father.1 Seraphim a professor who wanted not so much to hear the elder's conversation as to receive his blessing to enter the monastic life. The elder gave him a blessing in the customary priestly manner, but regarding his desire to enter monastic life, he gave no answer at all, instead turning to conversation with the priest.2 The professor, standing to one side, listened attentively to their conversation. Meanwhile, during the conversation, the priest often steered the conversation toward the reason the scholar had come to him. But the elder, deliberately steering clear of that subject, continued his conversation and only once, as if in passing, remarked about the professor: “Doesn't he still need to learn something more?” In reply, the priest firmly explained to him that the man knew the Orthodox faith, that he himself was a seminary professor, and earnestly asked him to resolve only his uncertainty about monasticism. To this the elder answered: "I know too that he's skilled at composing sermons. But teaching others is as easy as throwing little stones down to the ground from our cathedral, while putting into practice what you teach is just the same as carrying those little stones up to the top of the cathedral yourself. So you see the difference between teaching others and walking the path of the work yourself. In conclusion, he advised the professor to read the life of St.3 John of Damascus, saying that from it he would see what he still needed to learn.
The Church, Our Ship of Salvation
Father Seraphim instructs Old Believers on the proper sign of the cross and urges them to return to the Orthodox Church, which is guided by the Holy Spirit like a ship with a helmsman.
Once four Old Believers came to him to ask about making the sign of the cross with two fingers. They had barely stepped across the threshold of his cell and hadn't yet managed to speak their thoughts when the elder came up to them, took the first of them by the right hand, arranged his fingers in the three-fingered form according to the rite of the Orthodox Church, and, signing him with the cross in that way, delivered this address: "This is the Christian form of the Cross! Pray this way, and tell the others. This form was handed down from the holy Apostles, but the two-fingered form is contrary to the holy canons. I ask and beg you: go to the Greco-Russian Church—she is in all the glory and power of God! Like a ship with much rigging, sails, and a great rudder, she is steered by the Holy Spirit. Her good helmsmen—the teachers of the Church, the archpastors—are the successors of the Apostles. But your chapel is like a little boat without a rudder or oars; it's moored by a rope to the ship of our Church, sails along behind her, swamped by the waves, and would surely have sunk if it weren't tied to the ship." At another time an Old Believer came to him and asked: “Tell me, holy elder, which faith is better: the present Church faith, or the old one?” "Leave your nonsense," answered Father Seraphim. "Our life is a sea; the Holy Orthodox Church is our ship, and the Helmsman is the Savior Himself. If even with such a Helmsman people, because of their sinful weakness, can barely cross the sea of this life and not everyone is saved from drowning, then where are you heading in your little boat, and what are you basing your hope on—that you'll be saved without the Helmsman?4
Restored to Health and Faith
Father Seraphim heals a woman who had fallen ill after leaving the Orthodox Church, by anointing her with oil from the icon of the Mother of God and instructing her to make the sign of the cross correctly.
Once in winter they brought a sick woman on a sled to the monastic cell of Father Seraphim, and they told him about it. Despite the crowd of people thronging in the entryway, Father Seraphim asked that she be brought to him. The sick woman was completely contorted, with her knees drawn up to her chest. They carried her into the elder's dwelling and laid her on the floor. Father Seraphim locked the door and asked her: – Where are you from, mother? – From the Vladimir province. – How long have you been ill? – Three and a half years. – So what's the cause of your illness? – Father, I used to be of the Orthodox faith, but they married me off to an Old Believer. For a long time I wouldn't go over to their faith, and all that time I stayed healthy. Finally they talked me into it: I changed to making the sign of the cross with two fingers, and I stopped going to church.5 After that, one evening I went out into the yard on some household errand; there one animal appeared to me as if it were on fire—it even scorched me; in fright I fell, and I began to be racked and convulsed. Quite some time passed. The household missed me, looked for me, went out into the yard, and found me—I was lying there. They carried me into the room. I've been sick ever since. “I understand.” . . the elder answered. “And do you believe again in the Holy6 Orthodox Church?” “I believe again now, Father,” the sick woman answered. Then Father7 Seraphim arranged his fingers in the Orthodox way, made the sign of the cross on himself, and said:8 Cross yourself like this, in the name of the Holy Trinity. "Father, I'd be glad to," the sick woman answered, "but I can't use my hands." Father9 Seraphim took oil from the lamp before the Mother of God of Tenderness and anointed the sick woman's chest and hands.10 Suddenly her body began to straighten — even her joints cracked — and at once she received perfect health.11
Read the original Russian
Батюшка Серафим, как сказано, принимал множество посетителей. Он поучал мирян, обличал в них ложные направления ума и жизни. Так, один священник привёл с собою к о. Серафиму профессора, который не столько хотел слышать беседу старца, сколько принять его благословение на вступление в монашество. Старец благословил его по обычаю священства, но насчёт его желания вступить в монашество не давал никакого ответа, занявшись беседою со священником. Профессор, стоя в стороне, внимал их беседе. Священник, между тем, во время разговора часто наводил речь на цель, с которою пришёл к нему учёный. Но старец, намеренно уклоняясь от сего предмета, продолжал свою беседу и только раз, как бы мимоходом, заметил о профессоре: «Не нужно ли ему ещё доучиться чему-нибудь?»
Священник на это решительно объяснил ему, что он знает Православную веру, сам – профессор семинарии, и стал убедительнейше просить разрешить только недоумение его насчёт монашества. Старец на это отвечал: «И я знаю, что он искусен сочинять проповеди. Но учить других так же легко, как с нашего собора бросать на землю камешки, а проходить делом то, чему учишь, всё равно, как бы самому носить камешки на верх собора. Так вот, какая разница между учением других и прохождением самому дела». В заключение, он советовал профессору прочитать историю св. Иоанна Дамаскина, говоря, что из неё он усмотрит, чему ещё надобно доучиться ему.
Однажды пришли к нему четыре старообрядца спросить о двуперстном сложении. Только что они переступили за порог келии, не успели ещё сказать своих помыслов, как старец подошёл к ним, взял первого из них за правую руку, сложил персты в трёхперстное сложение по чину Православной Церкви и, таким образом крестя его, держал следующую речь: «Вот христианское сложение креста! Так молитесь и прочим скажите. Сие сложение предано от св. Апостолов, а сложение двуперстное противно святым уставам. Прошу и молю вас, ходите в Церковь Греко-российскую: она во всей славе и силе Божией! Как корабль, имеющий многие снасти, паруса и великое кормило, она управляется Святым Духом. Добрые кормчие её – учители Церкви, архипастыри – суть преемники Апостольские.
А ваша часовня подобна маленькой лодке, не имеющей кормила и вёсел; она причалена вервием к кораблю нашей Церкви, плывёт за нею, заливаемая волнами, и непременно потонула бы, если бы не была привязана к кораблю».
В другое время пришёл к нему один старообрядец и спросил: «Скажи, старец Божий, какая вера лучше: нынешняя церковная или старая?»
– Оставь свои бредни,– отвечал о. Серафим. – Жизнь наша есть море, св. Православная Церковь наша – корабль, а Кормчий – Сам Спаситель. Если с Таким Кормчим люди, по своей греховной слабости, с трудом переплывают море житейское и не все спасаются от потопления, то куда же стремишься ты со своим ботиком и на чём утверждаешь свою надежду – спастись без Кормчего?
Однажды зимою привезли на санях больную женщину к монастырской келии о. Серафима и о сём доложили ему. Не смотря на множество народа, толпившегося в сенях, о. Серафим просил принести её к себе. Больная вся была скорчена, коленки сведены к груди. Её внесли в жилище старца и положили на пол. О. Серафим запер дверь и спросил её:
– Откуда ты, матушка?
– Из Владимирской губернии.
– Давно ли ты больна?
– Три года с половиною.
– Какая же причина твоей болезни?
– Я была прежде, батюшка, Православной веры, но меня отдали замуж за старообрядца. Я долго не склонялась к ихней вере, и всё была здорова. Наконец, они меня уговорили: я переменила крест на двуперстие и в церковь ходить не стала. После того, вечером, пошла я раз по домашним делам во двор; там одно животное показалось мне огненным, даже опалило меня; я, в испуге, упала, меня начало ломать и корчить. Прошло немало времени. Домашние хватились, искали меня, вышли на двор и нашли – я лежала. Они меня внесли в комнату. С тех пор я хвораю.
– Понимаю. . . отвечал старец. А веруешь ли ты опять в св. Православную Церковь?
– Верую теперь опять, батюшка,– отвечала больная. Тогда о. Серафим сложил по-православному персты, положил на себе крест и сказал:
– Перекрестись вот так, во имя Святой Троицы.
– Батюшка, рада бы,– отвечала больная,– да руками не владею.
О. Серафим взял из лампады у Божией Матери Умиления елея и помазал грудь и руки больной. Вдруг её стало расправлять, даже суставы затрещали, и тут же получила совершенное здоровье.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source abbreviation «о.» stands for отцу (“Father”); the sentence continues in the next ref.
- 2 ↩«по обычаю священства» rendered as “according to the custom of the priesthood”; it may mean the usual priestly form of blessing rather than a special rite for clergy alone.
- 3 ↩Sentence break falls mid-name: 'св.' closes here; 'Иоанна Дамаскина' continues in s6.
- 4 ↩ботик is a dismissive diminutive ('little boat'); rendered to keep Seraphim's rebuke of the Old Believer's separate craft.
- 5 ↩двуперстие denotes the Old Believer two-finger sign of the cross, as opposed to the three-finger Orthodox form; rendered descriptively rather than left untranslated.
- 6 ↩«св.» abbreviated; rendered as «Holy» before «Orthodox Church» in s6 (св. Православную Церковь).
- 7 ↩Source sentence is the truncated ecclesiastical abbreviation «Тогда о.» (Then Fr./Father), completed by the following sentence naming Seraphim.
- 8 ↩«сложил по-православному персты» refers to forming the fingers for the Orthodox sign of the cross (typically three fingers joined).
- 9 ↩Russian «О.» is the conventional abbreviation of «Отец» (Father), split here from «Серафим» in the following sentence; rendered as Fr. to preserve the abbreviated form.
- 10 ↩«Божией Матери Умиления» names Seraphim's cell icon of the Mother of God «Умиление» (Tenderness / Eleousa type); kept as a proper icon title rather than a generic Marian epithet.
- 11 ↩Impersonal «её стало расправлять» describes her contracted/crippled body being straightened out; rendered with an explicit subject («her body») for natural English without adding medical detail absent from the source.
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