Житие преподобного Серафима, Саровского чудотворца
The Elder's Attire
After his seclusion, Saint Seraphim adopted a simple and varied dress for different seasons, and he vested properly for the Holy Mysteries.
After the seclusion, Fr.1 Seraphim changed his way of life and began to dress differently. He ate only once a day, in the evening, and dressed in an inner cassock of thick black cloth.2 In summer he threw a white linen smock over it, and in winter he wore a fur coat and mittens. In autumn weather and early spring he wore a kaftan of thick Russian black cloth. Against rain and heat he put on a half-mantle made of a single piece of leather, with openings for putting it on. Over his clothes he girded himself with a white towel that was always clean, and he wore his copper cross. For monastery work he went out in bast shoes in summer and in soft leather overshoes in winter; but when he went to church for the services, he put on leather shoes, as propriety required.3 He wore a kamilavka on his head both winter and summer.4 Moreover, when the monastic rule required it, he put on the mantle and, when approaching to receive the Holy5 Mysteries, he vested himself in the epitrachelion and cuffs and then, without removing them, received pilgrims in his cell.6
The Value of Holy Poverty
When a rich man questioned his ragged clothing, Saint Seraphim responded with the example of Prince Joasaph who valued a hermit's mantle above royal purple.
One rich man, having visited Fr. Seraphim and seeing his poverty, began to say to him: “Why do you wear such rags on yourself?” Father Seraphim replied, "Prince Joasaph considered the mantle given to him by the hermit Barlaam to be higher and more precious than royal purple" (Cheti-Minei, November 19).7
The Vigil of the Ascetic
Saint Seraphim struggled against sleep with great strictness, resting in various uncomfortable positions, especially as he neared his departure.
Against sleep, Father. Seraphim struggled with great strictness. It became known in recent years that he would take his night rest sometimes in the entryway, sometimes in his cell. And he slept sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall and stretching out his legs. At other times he would rest his head on a stone or on a wooden stump. And sometimes he would throw himself down on the sacks, bricks, and logs that were in his cell. And as he drew near to the hour of his departure, he began to rest in this way: he would kneel and sleep face down toward the floor on his elbows, supporting his head with his hands.8
Dead to the World
When asked about his relatives, Saint Seraphim pointed to the icons and said he was already a living dead man to them, showing his complete devotion to Christ and the Mother of God.
His monastic self-denial, love, and devotion to the Lord and the Mother of God were so great that when a gentleman named Ivan Yakovlevich Karataev came to him for a blessing in 1831 and asked whether he should pass along any message to the elder's own brother and other relatives in Kursk, where Karataev was heading, the elder pointed to the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God and said with a smile: "These are my Kin—and to my living relatives I'm already a living dead man."9
A Man of Prayer for All
Saint Seraphim spent his remaining time in prayer, interceding for all living and departed Orthodox Christians with specific prayers from the Psalter.
The time that Fr.10 Seraphim still had left after sleep and after attending to those who came to him, he spent in prayer. Keeping his rule of prayer with complete exactness and zeal for the salvation of his own soul, he was at the same time a great man of prayer and an intercessor before God for all living and departed Orthodox Christians. For this purpose, when he read the Psalter, at every chapter he never failed to say from his whole heart the following prayers: For the living: “Save, O Lord, and have mercy on all Orthodox Christians and on those who live in Orthodoxy in every place of Your dominion: grant them, O Lord, peace of soul and bodily health, and forgive them every sin, both voluntary and involuntary; and by their holy prayers, have mercy also on me, the wretched one.” 2: For the departed: “Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Your departed servants: our forefathers, fathers, and brothers who lie here, and Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep everywhere. Grant them, O Lord, Your kingdom and a share in Your endless and blessed life, and forgive them, O Lord, every sin, both voluntary and involuntary.”11
The Candles of Intercession
Saint Seraphim explained to Motovilov that he lit many candles and lamps as an offering for those who asked for his prayers, and he cited the scriptural command to keep lamps burning before God.
In prayer for the departed and for the living, the wax candles burning in his cell before the holy things held special significance. The elder himself explained this in November 1831.12 Seraphim, in a conversation with N. A. Motovilov. "I," Nikolai Alexandrovich related, "seeing at Father13 Seraphim's many lampadas, and especially many piles of wax candles, both large and small, on various round trays on which, from wax that had melted for many years and dripped from the candles, little wax mounds had formed, as it were — I thought to myself: why does Father14 Seraphim light such a multitude of candles and lampadas, producing in his cell an unbearable heat from the fire's warmth?" But he, as if silencing my thoughts, said to me: You want to know, you who love God, why I light so many lamps and candles before God's holy icons? Here's why: as you know, I have many people who are devoted to me and who do good to my mill orphans.15 They bring me oil and candles and ask me to pray for them. So when I read my prayer rule, I commemorate them once at the start. And since, with so many names, I couldn't repeat them at every place in the rule where I should—I wouldn't even have enough time to finish my rule—I set all these candles before God as an offering for them: one candle for each person, for some a single large candle for several people, and for others I keep lamps burning constantly; and where I should commemorate them in the rule, I say: 'Lord, remember all those people, Your servants, for whose souls I, the poor one, have lit these candles and kandila for You (i.'1617 e. lamps). And to show that this isn't some human invention of mine—poor Seraphim's—or just my private zeal with no divine foundation, I'll also bring you words of Divine Scripture in support. In the Bible it says that Moses heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him: "Moses, Moses!✦ Tell your brother Aaron to keep lamps burning before Me by day and by night: for this is pleasing before Me, and it is an acceptable sacrifice to Me."18 So that, your God-lovingness, is why the holy Church of God adopted the custom of lighting in the holy churches and in the homes of faithful Christians lamps or lampadas before the holy icons of the Lord, the Mother of God, the holy19 Angels and the holy people who have been well-pleasing to God."
Read the original Russian
После затвора о. Серафим изменил свой образ жизни и стал иначе одеваться. Он вкушал пищу один раз в день, вечером, и одевался в подрясник из чёрного, толстого сукна. Летом накидывал сверху белый холщовый балахон, а зимою носил шубу и рукавицы. В погоду осеннюю и ранней весны носил кафтан из толстого русского чёрного сукна. От дождя и жары надевал полумантию, сделанную из цельной кожи, с вырезами для надевания. Поверх одежды подпоясывался белым и всегда чистым полотенцем и носил медный свой крест. На труды монастырские летом выходил в лаптях, зимою в бахилах, а, идя в церковь к богослужению, надевал, по приличию, кожаные коты.
На голове носил зимою и летом камилавку. Сверх того, когда следовало по монастырскому уставу, он надевал мантию и, приступая к принятию Св. Таин, облачался в епитрахиль и поручи и потом, не снимая их, принимал в келии богомольцев.
Один богатый человек, посетивши о. Серафима и видя его убожество, стал говорить ему: «Зачем ты такое рубище носишь на себе?» О. Серафим ответствовал: «Иоасаф царевич данную ему пустынником Варлаамом мантию счёл выше и дороже царской багряницы» (Четь-минея, ноября 19 дня).
Противу сна о. Серафим подвизался очень строго. Известно стало в последние годы, что он предавался ночному покою иногда в сенях, иногда в келии. Спал же он, сидя на полу, спиною прислонившись к стене и протянувши ноги. В другой раз он преклонял голову на камень или на деревянный отрубок. Иногда же повергался на мешках, кирпичах и поленьях, бывших в его келии. Приближаясь же к минуте своего отшествия, он начал опочивать таким образом: становился на колени и спал ниц к полу на локтях, поддерживая руками голову.
Его иноческое самоотвержение, любовь и преданность к Господу и Божией Матери были столь велики, что, когда один господин, Иван Яковлевич Каратаев, бывши у него в 1831 году на благословении, спросил, не прикажет ли он сказать что-нибудь своему родному брату и другим родственникам в Курске, куда Каратаев ехал, то старец, указывая на лики Спасителя и Божией Матери, с улыбкою сказал: «Вот мои Родные, а для живых родных я уже живой мертвец».
Время, которое о. Серафиму оставалось от сна и занятий с приходящими, он проводил в молитве. Совершая молитвенное правило со всею точностью и усердием за спасение своей души, он был в то же время великим молитвенником и ходатаем пред Богом за всех живых и усопших православных христиан. Для сего, при чтении Псалтири, на каждой главе он неопустительно произносил от всего сердца следующие молитвы:
1: За живых: «Спаси, Господи, и помилуй всех православных христиан и на всяком месте владычествия Твоего православно живущих: подаждь им, Господи, душевный мир и телесное здравие и прости им всякое согрешение, вольное же и невольное: и их святыми молитвами и меня, окаянного, помилуй».
2: За усопших: «Упокой, Господи, души усопших раб Твоих: праотец, отец и братий наших, зде лежащих и повсюду православных христиан преставившихся: подаждь им, Господи, царствие и причастие Твоей бесконечной и блаженной жизни, и прости им, Господи, всякое согрешение, вольное же и невольное».
В молитве за усопших и живых особенное значение имели восковые свечи, горевшие в его келии пред святынею. Это объяснил в ноябре 1831 года сам старец о. Серафим в беседе с Н. А. Мотовиловым. «Я,– рассказывал Николай Александрович,– видевши у батюшки о. Серафима много лампад, в особенности многие кучи восковых свеч, и больших, и малых, на разных круглых подносах, на которых от таявшего много лет и капавшего со свеч воска образовались как бы восковые холмики, подумал про себя: для чего это батюшка о. Серафим возжигает такое множество свеч и лампад, производя в келии своей нестерпимый жар от теплоты огненной?
А он, как бы заставляя мои помыслы умолкнуть, сказал мне:
– Вы хотите знать, ваше боголюбие, для чего я зажигаю так много лампад и свеч пред святыми иконами Божиими? Это вот для чего: я имею, как и вам известно, многих особ, усердствующих ко мне и благотворящих мельничным сиротам моим. Они приносят мне елей и свечи и просят помолиться за них. Вот, когда я читаю правило своё, то и поминаю их сначала единожды. А так как, по множеству имён, я не смогу повторять их на каждом месте правила, где следует,– тогда и времени мне не достало бы на совершение моего правила – то я и ставлю все эти свечи за них в жертву Богу, за каждого по одной свече, за иных – за несколько человек одну большую свечу, за иных же постоянно теплю лампады; и, где следует на правиле поминать их, говорю: Господи, помяни всех тех людей, рабов Твоих, за их же души возжёг тебе аз, убогий, сии свещи и кандила (т. е. лампады). А что это не моя, убогого Серафима, человеческая выдумка, или так, простое моё усердие, ни на чём божественном не основанное, то и приведу вам в подкрепление слова Божественного Писания.
В Библии говорится, что Моисей слышал глас Господа, глаголавшего к нему: «Моисее, Моисее! Рцы брату твоему Аарону, да возжигает предо Мною кандила во дни и в нощи: сия бо угодно есть предо Мною и жертва благоприятна Ми есть». Так вот, ваше боголюбие, почему св. Церковь Божия прияла в обычай возжигать во св. храмах и в домах верных христиан кандила или лампады пред святыми иконами Господа, Божией Матери, св. Ангелов и св. человеков, Богу благоугодивших».
Scripture echoes
- ↩Exod.3.4 — When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him from the midst of the bush, "Moses, Moses," and he said, "Here I am."
Notes
- 1 ↩Source ends with abbreviated о. (отец, 'Father'); the sentence is truncated and continues in the next unit with Серафим.
- 2 ↩подрясник rendered as 'inner cassock' (Orthodox under-cassock worn beneath outer garments).
- 3 ↩лапти = bast shoes (traditional bark footwear); бахилы = soft leather overshoes/work boots; коты = simple leather shoes worn for church.
- 4 ↩камилавка: Orthodox monastic head-covering (cylindrical hat); kept as 'kamilavka'.
- 5 ↩Sentence is cut mid-phrase after 'Св.'; completed by s3 as 'Св. Таин' (Holy Mysteries).
- 6 ↩Св. Таин = Holy Mysteries (Eucharist). епитрахиль = epitrachelion; поручи = liturgical cuffs (epimanikia).
- 7 ↩Четь-минея rendered as Cheti-Minei (the Menologion / calendar of saints’ lives); Иоасаф царевич is Prince Joasaph from the Barlaam and Joasaph legend.
- 8 ↩отшествия: departure from this life (death), kept in the traditional hagiographic idiom.
- 9 ↩«живой мертвец» is the monastic idiom of being dead to the world while still alive; kept as "living dead man" to preserve the elder's stark paradox.
- 10 ↩Source sentence is truncated mid-phrase. Russian «о.» is the clerical abbreviation for «отец» (Father) and continues into s2 as «о. Серафиму».
- 11 ↩причастие here means participation/share in the blessed life, not Eucharistic Communion; rendered as “a share in.”
- 12 ↩Source sentence ends mid-abbreviation at «о.» (Father); continues in the following refs as «о. Серафим».
- 13 ↩«батюшка» rendered as Father (affectionate address for the elder priest); source again cuts on abbreviated «о.».
- 14 ↩«лампад» rendered as lampadas (Orthodox votive oil lamps before icons).
- 15 ↩мельничным сиротам: orphans associated with Seraphim's mill / Diveyevo mill community.
- 16 ↩кандила: Orthodox oil lamps before icons; the source itself begins glossing the term as лампады (lamps) in the next fragments.
- 17 ↩аз, убогий: Seraphim's habitual self-abasement, "I, the poor one."
- 18 ↩Church Slavonic paraphrase of a lamp-command to Aaron; wording does not match a single continuous English Bible verse and likely conflates the call of Moses with continual-lamp instructions (cf. Exod. 27:20–21; Lev. 24:1–4).
- 19 ↩кандила или лампады treated as near-synonyms; rendered 'lamps or lampadas' to keep the Orthodox oil-lamp sense from the preceding section.
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