SERAPHIM

(July 19, 1758 – January 1, 1833)

Seraphim, from Heb. seraphim – ‘fiery angel’, the name given when the saint took his monastic vows. His secular name was Prokhor Isidorovich Mashnin. The most revered ascetic of the Russian Orthodox Church after the revisions introduced by Peter the Great. Formalised the main aim of life as a Christian and worked hard for the spread of convents in Russia. Russian. Born in the town of Kursk (now the courtyard of 13 Mazhayevskaya Ulitsa), parish of St Elijah’s, Russia. His mother was Agafya Fateyeva Zavozgryayeva, descended from Kursk traders; his father Isidor Ivanovich Mashnin, a Kursk merchant. One older brother, Alexei, and a sister, Paraskeva. Seraphim was tall, slim and physically well developed, but after being seriously injured in his mature years he developed a stoop (see below). Thick, light chestnut hair and beard. Images painted during his lifetime have been preserved, including an oil on canvas painting at the Kazan Cathedral of St Sergius in Kursk. Twice all his hair fell out (after illness when still a novice monk and after an attack by bandits). Known distinguishing marks on his body: a scar between the shoulder blades (in the words of Father Seraphim, ‘for deliverance of my mortal soul’); serious wounds inflicted by robbers from Kremenka village, September 12th, 1804 (cracked skull, broken ribs, split thorax, etc.); and in his last years, leg ulcers that oozed sanies. Never married. Educated at home and church, initially a tradesman. On August 13th, 1786 Seraphim took monastic vows at the Sarov Monastery. In 1788 he was ordained as hierodeacon, and on September 2nd, 1793 hieromonk. Seraphim passed through different stages of Orthodox asceticism and penance: seclusion, stylitism, the vow of silence and priesthood. Had many spiritual followers. Professed the Christian Orthodox faith. Belonged to the Greco-Russian Ecumenical Church. Certain features of Seraphim’s religious life are reminiscent of the Old Believers, although he was critical of the Old Belief. No criminal convictions. Never left the Russian Empire. Died in his cell at the Sarov Monastery of the Dormition, Tambov diocese. Buried in an oak log hollowed out with his own hands, beneath the altar wall at the Cathedral of the Dormition, Sarov Monastery. After St Seraphim was canonised in 1903 his relics were placed in a cypress wood coffin within an oak coffin, then encased in a white marble shrine. When the monastery was closed the relics were confiscated and all trace was lost. They were rediscovered in 1991 and ceremoniously transported to the Diveyev Convent.