V

The celebrations in honor of Saint Seraphim that we have described were not the only ones in those days, but only the center of a whole series of others that took place across all of Orthodox Russia. These other celebrations were all-night vigils with litias and magnifications to Saint Seraphim on July 18, and Divine liturgies with prayer services to him on July 19, served in the churches of, if not all the villages, then certainly all the cities and monasteries of Orthodox Russia. It is a pity only that the special service to the saint composed for July 19, or at least the troparion and prayer to him, was not published in timely fashion—if only through the “Church Gazette” published by the Most Holy Synod—so that the service everywhere was the general one for venerable saints. In most cases, before the divine services, icons of Saint Seraphim that had already been prepared for the occasion were consecrated, before which prayer services were performed and to which the faithful venerated—gathering everywhere in great numbers; in some churches, especially those of the capitals and provincial cities, icons of the saint were made of large size, in precious rizas and richly ornamented icon cases.

Moscow on this occasion, as always, led the other cities in this respect. The church-liturgical glorification of Saint Seraphim on the day of the opening of his holy relics was distinguished by special splendor in the great Dormition Cathedral, where on July 18 before the all-night vigil was brought the small monastic mantle of Saint Seraphim. This mantle, through which the saint had granted healing from scarlet fever to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, now Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is kept in the palace of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and was, with his permission, brought to the Dormition Cathedral. The divine service was performed by His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir, at which during the litia a cross procession was made around the Cathedral, and after the magnification to the saint and the reading of the Gospel, first the Bishop and the serving clergy, and then the pilgrims, venerated the holy icon and the mantle. How great was the number of pilgrims who desired and kept coming to venerate the mantle of Saint Seraphim may be judged by the fact that this sacred object remained in the Cathedral and the veneration of it continued not only throughout the following night, but also through the following day and night until the late liturgy of July 20. Entry into the Kremlin was open only through the Savior Gates, from which in a long chain with numerous turns and windings the pilgrims made their way to the Cathedral—and those going by this path had to wait seven or eight hours after entering the Kremlin before they could venerate. One had to see the patient humility of the pilgrims waiting their turn, and with what special sympathetic goodwill and considerateness they gave way to children and the sick. Moscow did not lag behind Sarov in the building of a church in the name of Saint Seraphim; for in it also, in the Church of the Tikhvin Mother of God in Sushchevo, already on July 20 an altar was consecrated in the name of the newly manifested saint of God.

After Moscow, the celebration of the opening of the holy relics of Saint Seraphim was celebrated with special splendor at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiev Posad, at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, in Tver, Pskov, and other cities; prayer services to the saint were performed in those days even in such places where there are no churches; in many factories and other industrial and commercial establishments, workers were released from work on July 19. The newspapers did not set down in their pages, but it is an undoubted truth, that in very many families who had no possibility of participating in the church services of those memorable days, the hours of those services were devoted to communal domestic prayer to the saint and to the reading of his life.

In short, without exaggeration it may be said that for the glorification of Saint Seraphim, on the day of the opening of his holy relics and the day immediately following, all of Orthodox Russia, all the Orthodox-Russian Church stirred as one. All of it in those days, as one family, with one mouth and one heart glorified the newly manifested saint of God—all was turned by the spiritual eyes of faith toward those heavenly mansions where, together with all the saints and angels in the kingdom of glory, before the throne of God stands the Sarov ascetic and people’s intercessor in prayer, the Venerable Seraphim.

This turning of the earthly Church of Christ to the Heavenly Church in the person of the newly manifested heavenly dweller, Saint Seraphim, which began in its own time, will of course continue within it until the end of the age. In its Act, the Most Holy Synod decreed that the memory of Saint Seraphim of Sarov should be observed with panegyrics throughout the whole Russian Church, henceforth annually on July 19—the day of the opening of his holy relics—and on January 2—the day of his blessed repose; and within the bounds of the Tambov eparchy, in the territory of which the Sarov monastery is located, his name is to be proclaimed continually at the so-called great dismissals and in those church prayers in which it is ordained to raise the names of the saints of the Orthodox Russian Church…

Is it not true that this immeasurable grandeur of the celebration of the glorification of Saint Seraphim is profoundly significant and supremely instructive for those who interpret, whether with arrogant delight or with faint-hearted apprehension, the near-universal infatuation of Russia with the one called “the great writer of the Russian land”? Indeed, for not just a few decades all manner of means have been used to propagate the teaching of this writer and the man himself in Russian society, and how the popular orators “clamor” about his count’s grandeur and glory; yet what comes of all this? Can one compare with this artificially inflated infatuation with the count and his “simplified” teaching the popular wave that of its own free will, without any artificial enticements or assistance, poured into the monastic hermitage lost in the Tambov forests, to the coffin-shrine that had become a reliquary of “poor Seraphim’s little grave”? For that wave with a single surge is capable of eclipsing the count’s glory like a marsh light… But to see even more vividly and clearly all the immeasurable power and inestimable significance of the glory of Saint Seraphim, another comparison comes to mind. We have in view the glorification of the “infallible” Roman departed one by the “Western” Catholic world that was taking place simultaneously with our Sarov celebrations. How much arrogant pride, how much vanity alien to all things spiritual, how many base intrigues and even malice—in general something earthly, material, or rather materialistic—was in the celebration of the burial and glorification of Leo XIII! And how diametrically different from that celebration—also ecclesiastical in its own way—is our celebration, and precisely in its spirituality, in those moods and feelings with which it was accomplished and which it nourished and cultivated! And this is not surprising, because the starting point of the Sarov celebration was the humility of the saint, which, like light with darkness, is incompatible with the arrogance of the infallible one; its active force was love, which never fails; and its final aim was spiritual, heavenly goods, the salvation of the soul, which is worth more than the whole world that the one who calls himself the vicar of Christ strives to rule. And can one think that in those days, when all of Russia was stretching its spirit toward heaven, heaven was not bowing toward it with its love, and that the Heavenly Church was not rejoicing with us and glorifying Saint Seraphim, and at the same time praying for us to God our Savior? The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which in miraculous manifestations, like heavenly dew, poured out and pours out in abundance upon the souls of the faithful who thirst for it and come with faith to the saint of God—is our surety of that.

Yes, this is a holy truth for those believers who have lived through the holy moments of such grace-filled communion with heaven, and many of whom, overshadowed by this grace, were enlightened in their understanding, comforted in conscience, and strengthened spiritually. For unbelievers, however, this inner, spiritual, grace-filled and divine side of the church celebration that has taken place has of course remained hidden and incomprehensible; yet even they, if only they do not reason dishonestly, cannot and have no right to deny this grace-filled power of the church celebration that has taken place; it is proclaimed by those miracles which in such abundance—before the eyes of thousands of people—were accomplished and continue to be accomplished through the prayers of Saint Seraphim for those who come to him with faith and love, and which cannot be explained by any natural forces and laws of nature:

“One constantly has to hear of cases of healing,” says one eyewitness in the Church Gazette published by the Most Holy Synod (No. 30), “and not only to hear, but to see with one’s own eyes the healed ones themselves, glorifying and thanking God who has manifested His mercy upon them through the prayers of Saint Seraphim. At the spring of Saint Seraphim—that well of healings—signs of God’s mercy constantly appear. On one of the days there were more than ten cases of healing of the lame. The latter, as if in proof of the miraculous mercy of God manifested upon them, gathered their crutches and in the presence of a multitude of people, on the bank of the Sarovka river, committed them to burning. Touching also was another case that took place here. A blind boy, brought from far away to Sarov by his parents, suddenly regained his sight after bathing in Saint Seraphim’s spring. From joy at seeing the light of God, he broke into a run, followed by a whole crowd of people, deeply moved by this astonishing miracle accomplished before their eyes.” Or here again is a case of healing that took place on July 19 at the late liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral. “Among those at prayer in the Cathedral was a Mrs. Maslennikova who had come from Moscow; with her was her sick 12-year-old daughter, who for about two years had not spoken a word. She had treated her with several specialist physicians, but they had been unable to help her. When during the Little Entrance the coffin with the holy relics was carried by, Mrs. Maslennikova touched the coffin with a handkerchief and then wiped the face of her sick daughter with it, and the latter, to her mother’s great joy, at once began to speak, and was then led by her mother to receive holy communion.” So His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony relates this in his report to the Most Holy Synod, alongside several other cases. The miracles that occurred in Sarov are being recorded by Father Hieroschemamonk Simeon, who verifies their authenticity on the spot through the testimony of eyewitnesses. Not a few miracles from those that occurred in Moscow, Tambov, and other cities have also been made public. But can they all be written down and retold? New and new miracles appear even before such descriptions manage to appear in print. And will they cease? Will the word of God grow faint? Will His almighty power run dry? Will the Church of Christ, in which the saint was saved and is saved, and in which believers abide, be impoverished of that power? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and He shall be the same forever (Heb. 13:8); He promised to remain with believers until the end of the age (Matt. 28:20), and said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church that He built (Matt. 16:18). And His word is of course not false…

Here we conclude our account of the glorification of Saint Seraphim the Wonderworker of Sarov, and proceed to clarify its dogmatic meaning and its church-canonical significance in opposition to the misinterpretations of rationalism and unbelief.