Житие преподобного Серафима, Саровского чудотворца
The Weekly Rhythm of Wilderness and Monastery
Seraphim spends weekdays in the wilderness, comes to the monastery on eves of feasts and Sundays for services and Communion, receives brethren, and returns to his hermitage with bread for the week.
On weekdays, while pursuing salvation in the wilderness, Fr. Seraphim would come to the monastery on the eve of feast days and Sundays, attend Vespers and the All-Night Vigil, and at the early Liturgy in the hospital church of Saints Zosima and Sabbatius, receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Then, until Vespers, he received in his monastery cell those of the monastic brethren who came to him for spiritual needs. During Vespers, when the brethren left him, he would take bread for the week with him and withdraw to his hermitage. He spent the whole first week of Great Lent in the monastery. During these days, he prepared for Communion, went to confession, and received the Holy1 Mysteries. His spiritual father for a long time had been the builder—Elder Isaiah.2
Solitude and the Absence of Disciples
Seraphim lived in complete solitude unlike other desert-dwellers; attempts by brethren to live with him failed, and during his lifetime there were no formal disciples, though the whole brotherhood considered themselves his disciples.
This is how the elder spent his days in the wilderness. Other desert-dwellers each had one disciple with them, who also served them. Fr. Seraphim lived in complete solitude. Some of the Sarov brothers tried to live with Fr.3 Seraphim and were received by him; but not one of them could bear the hardships of the eremitic life: in none was there found enough moral fortitude to appear as a disciple and imitator of the ascetic labors of Fr. Seraphim. Their pious attempts, while benefiting the soul, were not crowned with success; and those who had begun to settle with Fr. Seraphim, they returned again to the monastery.4 Therefore, although after the death of Fr. Seraphim some people were found who boldly declared themselves his disciples, but during his lifetime they were not, in the strict sense, disciples, and the name “Seraphim’s disciple” did not exist at that time.5 “While he was living in the wilderness,” the Sarov elders of that time used to say, “the whole brotherhood were his disciples.”
Visitors and Spiritual Counsel
Many brethren visited Seraphim in the wilderness for counsel; he discerned people well, guided those in need, and gladly spoke with regular visitors like schema-monk Mark and hierodeacon Alexander about soul-saving subjects.
Many of the Sarov brothers would also come to visit him for a time in the wilderness. Some just visited him, while others came because they needed counsel and instruction. The elder was a good judge of character. He withdrew from some when he wanted to keep his silence, but he never refused spiritual food to those who needed it, lovingly guiding them toward truth, virtue, and a well-ordered life.6 Among the regular visitors of Fr. Seraphim are known: schema-monk Mark and hierodeacon Alexander, who were also seeking salvation in the wilderness.7 The first visited him twice a month, and the latter once.8 Fr. Seraphim gladly talked with them about various soul-saving subjects.
Demonic Temptations and Assaults
The devil attacked Seraphim with terrors such as howling beasts, visions of collapsing cells, and open coffins, and later with physical assaults, but Seraphim did not yield and saw the evil spirits with his spiritual eye.
Seeing such sincere, zealous, and truly lofty ascetic struggle of the elder Fr. Seraphim, the devil, the age-old enemy of every good, armed himself against him with various temptations. In his cunning, beginning with the lightest, he first brought various "terrors" upon the ascetic.9 So, according to the account of one hieromonk of the Sarov Hermitage advanced in years, once during prayer he suddenly heard the howl of a beast beyond the walls of his cell; then, as if a mob of people, they began to break down the cell door, knocked out the doorjambs, and threw at the praying elder's feet a very thick log (a chunk of wood), which eight men could only carry out of the cell with difficulty. At other times, by day and especially at night, while he stood at prayer, it would suddenly appear to him in visible form that his cell was falling apart on all four sides and that terrible beasts were rushing at him from every direction with a wild and furious roar and cry. Sometimes an open coffin would suddenly appear before him, and a dead man would rise from it. Since the elder wouldn't yield to these terrors, the devil launched the fiercest assaults against him. So, by God's permission, he would lift the elder's body into the air and hurl it down onto the floor with such force that, if it weren't for the Guardian Angel, even his bones could have been shattered by such blows. But even by this he did not overcome the elder. Probably, during the temptations, with his spiritual eye, which pierced into the heavenly world, he saw the evil spirits themselves. Perhaps the spirits of malice themselves also appeared to him in bodily forms, as they have to other ascetics.
The Offer of Abbacy and Humble Refusal
The spiritual authorities wanted to appoint Seraphim as archimandrite of the Alatyr Monastery, but he earnestly asked to be excused; the Sarov brethren and builder Isaiah agreed, and another hieromonk, Elder Avraamy, accepted the rank out of obedience.
The spiritual authorities knew Fr.10 Seraphim, and they understood how beneficial it would be for many to make such an elder an abbot—a superior somewhere in a monastery. A place as archimandrite opened up in the city of Alatyr. Fr.11 They had intended to appoint Seraphim there as superior of the monastery, elevating him to the rank of archimandrite. In the past century and in the present one, the Sarov hermitage had more than once given good superiors from among its brethren to other monasteries. But Elder Seraphim most earnestly asked Isaiah, then the superior of Sarov, to turn this appointment away from him. Builder Isaiah and the Sarov brethren were sorry to let Elder Seraphim leave them—a fervent man of prayer and a wise mentor.12 The wishes of both sides aligned: everyone started asking another hieromonk from Sarov itself, Elder Avraamy, to take on the rank of archimandrite at the Alatyr Monastery, and the brother, only out of obedience, accepted that rank.
Read the original Russian
По будням, спасаясь в пустыне, о. Серафим накануне праздников и дней воскресных являлся в обитель, слушал вечерню, всенощное бдение и за раннею литургиею в больничной церкви святых Зосимы и Савватия причащался Святых Христовых Таин. Затем, до вечерни, он принимал в монастырской келии приходивших к нему, по нуждам духовным, из монастырской братии. Во время вечерни, когда братия оставляла его, он, взяв с собою хлеба на неделю, удалялся в свою пустыню. Всю первую неделю Великого поста он проводил в обители. В эти дни он говел, исповедывался и причащался Св. Таин. Духовником его с давнего времени был строитель – старец Исаия.
Так проводил старец дни свои в пустыне. Другие пустынножители имели при себе по одному ученику, которые и служили им. О. Серафим жил в совершенном одиночестве. Некоторые из Саровской братии пытались сожительствовать с о. Серафимом и были приняты им; но ни один из них не мог вынести трудностей пустыннического жития: ни в ком не нашлось столько нравственной крепости, чтобы явиться в качестве ученика подражателем подвигов о. Серафима. Благочестивые попытки их, принося пользу душе, не увенчались успехом; и те, которые поселялись было с о.
Серафимом, возвращались опять в обитель. Посему, хотя после кончины о. Серафима нашлись некоторые люди, дерзновенно объявлявшие себя его учениками, но при его жизни они, в строгом смысле, учениками не были, и название «Серафимов ученик» в то время не существовало. «В пребывание его в пустыне,– говорили тогдашние Саровские старцы,– вся братия была его учениками».
Также многие из Саровской братии временно приходили к нему в пустыню. Одни просто посещали его, а другие являлись по нужде в советах и наставлениях. Старец хорошо различал людей. От некоторых он удалялся, желая сохранить молчание, а имеющим нужды до него не отказывал в духовной пище, с любовью руководствуя их к истине, добродетели и благоустроению жизни. Из постоянных посетителей о. Серафима известны: схимонах Марк и иеродиакон Александр, также спасавшиеся в пустыне. Первый бывал у него два раза в месяц, а последний – однажды. О.
Серафим охотно беседовал с ними о разных душеспасительных предметах.
Видя столь искреннее, усердное и, поистине, высокое подвижничество старца о. Серафима, диавол, исконный враг всякого добра, вооружился против него разными искушениями. По своей хитрости, начиная с легчайших, он сперва наводил на подвижника разные «страхования». Так, по сказанию одного почтенного летами иеромонаха Саровской пустыни, однажды во время молитвы он услышал вдруг за стенами келии вой зверя; потом, точно скопище народа, начали ломать дверь келии, выбили у двери косяки и бросили к ногам молящегося старца претолстый кряж (отрубок) дерева, который восемью человеками с трудом был вынесен из келии. В другие разы и днём, особенно же ночью, во время стояния на молитве, ему видимо вдруг представлялось, что келия его разваливается на четыре стороны и что к нему со всех сторон рвутся страшные звери с диким и яростным рёвом и криком. Иногда вдруг являлся пред ним открытый гроб, из которого вставал мертвец.
Так как старец не поддавался страхованиям, диавол воздвигал на него жесточайшие нападения. Так, он, по Божию попущению, поднимал тело его на воздух и оттуда с такою силою ударял об пол, что, если бы не Ангел-Хранитель, самые кости от таких ударов могли бы сокрушиться. Но и этим не одолел старца. Вероятно, при искушениях, он духовным оком своим, проникавшим в горний мир, видел самих злых духов. Может быть, духи злобы и сами видимо в телесных образах являлись ему, как и другим подвижникам.
Духовное начальство знало о. Серафима и понимало, как полезно было бы для многих сделать такого старца аввою, настоятелем где-нибудь в обители. Открылось место архимандрита в городе Алатыре. О. Серафима предназначили было туда настоятелем монастыря с возведением в сан архимандрита. В прошлом и в текущем столетиях Саровская пустынь не раз давала из своей братии хороших настоятелей в другие обители. Но старец Серафим убедительнейше просил тогдашнего Саровского настоятеля Исаию отклонить от него это назначение. Строителю Исаии и братии Саровской жаль было отпустить от себя старца Серафима, усердного молитвенника и мудрого наставника.
Желания обеих сторон сошлись вместе: все стали просить другого иеромонаха из Сарова же, старца Авраамия, принять на себя звание архимандрита в Алатырский монастырь, и брат, единственно из повиновения, принял на себя это звание.
Notes
- 1 ↩говел: Orthodox preparatory fasting and prayer before Communion; rendered as prepared for Communion.
- 2 ↩строитель: monastic office title for the monastery superior/administrator; same Isaiah named earlier as abbot (настоятель).
- 3 ↩сожительствовать here means share a dwelling / live alongside in the monastic sense, not sexual cohabitation.
- 4 ↩Continues the previous section’s clause (‘those who had settled with Fr.…’); Серафимом is instrumental, and возвращались is plural.
- 5 ↩дерзновенно rendered as ‘boldly’; it can also carry the sense of presumptuous boldness.
- 6 ↩благоустроению жизни rendered as ‘a well-ordered life’; it can also mean the good ordering / right arranging of one’s way of life.
- 7 ↩спасавшиеся rendered as ‘seeking salvation’; in Orthodox usage it means living the ascetic life for salvation.
- 8 ↩однажды rendered literally as ‘once’; after ‘twice a month,’ it may intend ‘once a month,’ but the source does not supply в месяц.
- 9 ↩«страхования» is Orthodox ascetic jargon for demonic frightenings or terrorizing apparitions; rendered here as "terrors" to match the source's scare quotes and the term's use in the following section.
- 10 ↩Source ends at «о.»; most plausible reading is the ecclesiastical abbreviation О. (Father), belonging with Серафима in the next sentence.
- 11 ↩«О.» is the ecclesiastical abbreviation for Отец (Father), erroneously split from the following sentence.
- 12 ↩«Строитель» here is the traditional title for the head of a hermitage (пустынь), not merely a construction tradesman.
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