The meaning of the name Seraphim
Seraphim is the female form male name Seraphim. It comes from the Hebrew word “saraf” and is translated as “flaming”, “fiery”.
Name days, days of the Angel at Seraphim
Venerable Seraphim of Sarov (1754–1833)
One of the most famous saints not only in Russia, but throughout the world was born in Kursk into a merchant family. Before becoming a monk, his name was Prokhor Moshnin, and already in childhood he was a special child. The life of the monk tells of several amazing incidents. The most famous is the story of how, while still a teenager, Prokhor remained alive and unharmed after falling from a high temple bell tower. Another story is widely known. One day Prokhor fell seriously ill. Having somehow lost himself in a heavy sleep, he saw the Mother of God, who promised him a speedy healing. And so it happened. During the religious procession, an icon was carried past his house Holy Mother of God"The Omen". The mother brought her son to the procession and placed him next to the icon. He soon began to recover. Subsequently, the Mother of God continued to visit the saint in the most difficult moments of his life.
When Prokhor turned 22, he went to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Wanting to devote himself to God, he hoped to receive advice from the monastery on how to arrange his life further. In the Lavra, the young man met with one venerable schema-monk, who blessed him for monastic tonsure and sent him to the Sarov Hermitage (Tambov province). Thus began his spiritual path, on which Prokhor Moshnin was to become St. Seraphim of Sarov.
Prokhor spent eight years in the monastery as a simple novice and only then took monastic vows (receiving the name Seraphim). After this, the future saint asked himself for a blessing to retire to a deserted cell several kilometers from the monastery in a deep and deserted forest.
Here, imitating the ancient “athletes of the spirit” - the greatest Christian righteous of the desert - Seraphim began to lead the strictest ascetic life: he wore the same clothes both in winter and summer, got his own food in the forest, and constantly read the Holy Scriptures. The monk subsequently started an apiary not far from his cell and planted a small vegetable garden.
One day, an ascetic took upon himself the feat of pillar mongering for a thousand days. In the forest, he found a granite stone-boulder, on which he knelt down every night and constantly prayed the publican’s prayer from the Gospel parable: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”
During his forest hermitage one of the most famous stories from his life - the saint was attacked by robbers. They brutally beat the monk and thought to profit from “church riches” in his cell. Finding nothing, they fled the crime scene. St. Seraphim, bleeding, barely made it to the Sarov Monastery and miraculously survived. When the criminals were found, the saint personally petitioned for their pardon.
At the end of his life, the righteous man decided to come out of seclusion for the sake of many people who began to come to him from all over the Russian Empire: they asked for his help, prayer and advice. Father Seraphim accepted everyone without exception. He greeted each one with his own special greeting, which became the symbol of his life: “Christ is risen, my joy.”
Many of the instructions of St. Seraphim have reached us thanks to his conversation with the landowner Nikolai Motovilov, who was the spiritual child of the saint. Nikolai Alexandrovich subsequently wrote down the words of the monk, and the transcript of this amazing conversation has survived to this day.
The saint's heart stopped on January 14, 1833. The last words of St. Seraphim of Sarov were: “Save yourself, do not lose heart, stay awake, today crowns are being prepared for us.”
Famous people and saints named Seraphim
Other famous saints named Seraphim
Venerable Martyr Seraphim (Sulimova)
Holy Martyr Virgin Seraphim of Rome(beginning of the 2nd century) was born in Antioch into a family of secret Christians. Once in Rome, the saint lived in the house of a noble townswoman, Savina, whom she converted to Christianity. When the next wave of persecution of Christians began, Seraphima was captured and brought to trial. Savina followed her. The judge, seeing the noble lady, at first even decided to drop all charges against the saint, but soon again ordered her to be brought to him. He tried to persuade her to renounce Christ, but received a categorical refusal in response. According to legend, during the torture of Seraphim, the executioners suddenly fell lifeless. Only through the prayers of the martyr were they able to rise, being completely unharmed. The unbroken Seraphim was executed. Savina buried her body with reverence.
Venerable Martyr Seraphim (Sulimova)(1859–1918) - abbess of the Ferapontov Monastery (Vologda region). Already at the age of 17 she began to live a monastic life. Having taken monastic vows, the saint headed the monastery in 1905. Seraphima devoted Special attention children's education. In particular, under her leadership a women's parochial school was built. In addition, the abbess did a lot of charity work. In 1918, she was arrested due to a conflict with a commission that came to the monastery for an inventory and subsequent confiscation of monastery valuables. On September 15, she was shot without trial or investigation. In 2000 she was canonized.
Venerable Martyr Seraphima (Gorshkova)(1893–1937; in the world Anna) early decided to follow the path of monasticism. After the events of 1917, she had to wander for a long time until she became a nun of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent (St. Petersburg). In 1932, nun Seraphima was arrested and sentenced to three years of exile in Kazakhstan. Here the saint helped the exiled clergy and did not leave the place of exile even after the term of punishment had ended. In 1937, she was arrested a second time “for counter-revolutionary activities.” Shot on September 10.
Great and famous people with the name Seraphim:
Serafima Birman(1890–1976) - famous Soviet theater and film actress. She graduated from the A. I. Adashev Drama School and was accepted into the troupe of the famous Moscow Art Theater. In the thirties, she staged the play “Vassa Zheleznova” and played the main role in it. The pinnacle of Serafima Birman’s creative career was the role of Efrosinya Staritskaya in Sergei Eisenstein’s grandiose film “Ivan the Terrible”. For her work in the film, she became a laureate of the Stalin Prize, first degree, in 1946. She died on May 11 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Serafima Birman in the film “Friends”, 1938
Serafima Amosova(1914–1992) - famous Soviet pilot, participant in the Great Patriotic War. A native of Krasnoyarsk, while still very young, had a burning desire to become a pilot and soon entered a gliding school. Having completed her training with honors, she became a pilot in the Civil Air Fleet. When did the Great Patriotic War, Serafima submitted a report three times to be sent to the front, until finally she was accepted into the women's air group, which was formed in Engels by Hero of the Soviet Union Marina Raskova. During the entire period of hostilities, S. Amosova made more than 500 combat missions, being the deputy commander of the women's aviation regiment of night bombers, better known as the “Night Witches”. After the war, Serafima Amosova married a military pilot and raised three sons with him.
Abbess Seraphima (Black)(1914–1999) - Soviet chemist, abbess of the Novodevichy Convent. In the world, Varvara Vasilievna graduated from the Moscow Petrochemical College. Subsequently she became a Doctor of Technical Sciences. Working at the Research Institute of the Rubber Industry, she participated in the development of space suits. In 1994, she took monastic vows with the name Seraphim and was appointed abbess of the Novodevichy Convent. The abbess revived the monastic choir and was actively involved in the restoration interior decoration temples on the territory of the monastery.
– After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia, the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov were opened, confiscated and taken out of the Sarov Monastery in an unknown direction. In 1991, they were accidentally found in the storerooms of the Museum of Atheism and Religion, which was then located in the building of the Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg).
Since the city of Sarov is the center of the military nuclear industry, Seraphim of Sarov is considered the patron saint of nuclear scientists.
Nuclear Weapons Museum. Sarov. Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin
Seraphim, according to Jewish and Christian tradition, are the highest angelic rank, closest to God. They are first mentioned in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Isa. 6 :2–3). The Monk Seraphim was tonsured in honor of this angelic order. There are known cases when a person was baptized or tonsured with the name Cherub (also an angelic rank).
– In 2015, a cartoon was released in Russia, which tells about the miraculous help of St. Seraphim of Sarov to the daughter of a priest named Seraphim in the 40s of the last century.
Name Seraphim for a girl
In Christianity, there is a tradition of forming female names from male ones. For example: John - Joanna, Eugene - Eugene, Seraphim - Seraphim.
Isidore was a merchant and took out contracts for the construction of buildings, and at the end of his life he began the construction of a cathedral in Kursk, but died before the completion of the work. The youngest son Prokhor remained in the care of his mother, who raised a deep faith in her son.
After the death of her husband, Agafia Moshnina, who continued the construction of the cathedral, once took Prokhor with her there, who, having stumbled, fell from the bell tower. The Lord saved the life of the future lamp of the Church: the frightened mother, going downstairs, found her son unharmed.
Young Prokhor, having an excellent memory, soon learned to read and write. Since childhood he loved to visit church services and read the Holy Scriptures and Lives of Saints to his peers, but most of all he loved to pray or read the Holy Gospel in solitude.
One day Prokhor became seriously ill and his life was in danger. In a dream, the boy saw the Mother of God, who promised to visit and heal him. Soon a religious procession with the icon of the Sign of the Blessed Virgin Mary passed through the courtyard of the Moshnin estate; his mother carried Prokhor out in her arms, and he venerated the holy icon, after which he began to quickly recover.
Even in his youth, Prokhor made the decision to completely devote his life to God and enter a monastery. The pious mother did not interfere with this and blessed him on the monastic path with a crucifix, which the monk wore on his chest all his life. Prokhor and the pilgrims set off on foot from Kursk to Kyiv to worship the Pechersk saints.
Eldership
The elder saw the hearts of people, and he, as a spiritual doctor, healed mental and physical illnesses with prayer to God and a word of grace. Those who came to St. Seraphim felt him great love and they listened with tenderness to the tender words with which he addressed people: “my joy, my treasure.” The elder began to visit his desert cell and the spring called Bogoslovsky, near which they built a small cell for him.
When leaving his cell, the elder always carried a knapsack with stones over his shoulders. When asked why he was doing this, the saint humbly answered: “I torment him who torments me.”
In the last period of his earthly life, the Monk Seraphim took special care of his beloved brainchild - the Diveyevo women's monastery. While still in the rank of hierodeacon, he accompanied the late rector Father Pachomius to the Diveyevo community to see the abbess nun Alexandra (Melgunova), a great ascetic, and then Father Pachomius blessed the reverend to always take care of the “Diveyevo orphans.” He was a true father for the sisters, who turned to him in all their spiritual and everyday difficulties. Disciples and spiritual friends helped the saint to care for the Diveyevo community - Mikhail Vasilyevich Manturov, who was healed by the monk from a serious illness and, on the advice of the elder, took upon himself the feat of voluntary poverty; Elena (Manturova), one of the Diveyevo sisters, who voluntarily agreed to die out of obedience to the elder for her brother, who was still needed in this life; Nikolai Alexandrovich Motovilov, also healed by the monk. ON THE. Motovilov recorded the wonderful teaching of St. Seraphim about the purpose of Christian life. In the last years of the life of the Monk Seraphim, one healed by him saw him standing in the air during prayer. The saint strictly forbade talking about this before his death.
Everyone knew and revered St. Seraphim as a great ascetic and wonderworker. A year and ten months before his death, on the Feast of the Annunciation, the Monk Seraphim was once again honored with the appearance of the Queen of Heaven, accompanied by the Baptist of the Lord John, the Apostle John the Theologian and twelve virgins, holy martyrs and saints. The Most Holy Virgin talked for a long time with the monk, entrusting the Diveyevo sisters to him. Having finished the conversation, She told him: “Soon, My beloved, you will be with us.” At this appearance, during the wondrous visit of the Mother of God, one Diveyevo old woman was present, through the prayer of the monk for her.
IN Last year During his life, the Monk Seraphim began to noticeably weaken and spoke to many about his imminent death. At this time, he was often seen at the coffin, which stood in the entryway of his cell and which he had prepared for himself. The monk himself indicated the place where he should be buried - near the altar of the Assumption Cathedral.
Shortly before the blessed death of St. Seraphim, one pious monk asked him: “Why don’t we have such a strict life as the ancient ascetics led?” “Because,” answered the elder, “we do not have the determination to do so. If we had the determination, we would live like our fathers, because grace and help to the faithful and those who seek the Lord with all their hearts are now the same as they were before, for “According to the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Prayers
Troparion for repose, tone 4
From your youth you loved Christ, O blessed one,/ and you ardently desired the work of Him alone,/ you labored with unceasing prayer and labor in the desert,/ with a tender heart, love X Having acquired Christ,/ the chosen one, beloved of God, appeared to the Mother./ For this reason we cry out to you:/ / Save us with your prayers, Seraphim, like our Father.
Troparion for glorification, same voice
From your youth you loved Christ, O Lord, / and you ardently desired to work for Him alone, / in your desert life you strived with unceasing prayer and labor, / touched by this Having acquired the love of Christ with your heart,/ Companion with the heavenly Seraphim in hymn,/ Christ flowing to you in love imitator,/ also the chosen one, beloved of God, you appeared to Mother,/ for this reason we cry out to you:/ save us with your prayers, our joy,/ warm intercessor before God,// Seraphim blessed.
Kontakion, tone 2
Having left the beauty of the world and even the corruption in it, O monk, / you moved into the Sarov monastery / and, having lived there like an angel, / you were the path to salvation for many, / for this sake and Christ with you, Father Seraphim, glorify / and enrich with the gift of healings and miracles ./ Moreover we cry to you: Rejoice, Seraphim, like our Father.
Video
Documentary film "The Wonderworker Seraphim of Sarov". Television company "Neophyt TV" of the Moscow St. Danilov Monastery, 2003
Literature
- Web portal dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov.
Used materials
- Site page Russian Orthodoxy:
- “The communal Sarov Hermitage and the memorable monks who labored in it” M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1996, 241 p. pp. 64, 85, 91.
- Monthly page Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate
- Venerable Seraphim of Sarov // Page of the site "ABC of Faith" http://serafim-library.narod.ru/Publikacii/OcherkiImage/Oche...htm and
One of the most revered Russian Orthodox Church saints, famous during his lifetime for miracles of healing and healing. Through his zeal, the Seraphim-Diveyevo convent was founded. Canonized at the beginning of the 20th century.
The childhood and adolescence of St. Seraphim
In the family of a wealthy Kursk merchant, large factory owner and contractor for the construction of stone churches and buildings, Isidor Ivanovich Moshnin (in some sources - Mashnin) and his wife Agafya Fotievna, on July 19, 1754 (according to other sources - 1759), a son, Prokhor, was born, who later became one from the pillars of Russian Orthodoxy - St. Seraphim of Sarov. The family lived in Ilyinskaya Sloboda and the boy’s pious parents, who were parishioners of the Ilyinsky Church, often took him to services, where Prokhor was introduced to faith and love for the Lord from early childhood. Shortly before the birth of his son, Isidor Ivanovich took out a contract for the construction of a temple in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God (now the Sergius-Kazan Cathedral), but did not manage to complete the work he started, dying in 1960 (1962). They held a funeral service for him in the Elias Church and, according to some information, he was buried near the walls of the temple.
The management of the construction of the cathedral was taken over by the merchant's widow, Agafya Fotievna, who personally supervised the workers and monitored the progress of construction. One day, when Prokhor reached the age of seven, his mother took him with her to inspect the almost completely erected church bell tower. Rising to the dome itself, she was briefly distracted and released her son’s hand. The curious Prokhor quickly ran up to the railing and leaned over it with interest. Two or three seconds were enough for a tragedy to occur - the boy fell down. With her heart ready to jump out of her chest, the mother ran downstairs, imagining with horror her son’s bloody body on the ground. But the grief-stricken woman could not call what happened below anything other than a miracle and the Providence of God - her boy, who did not even receive a scratch when falling from a great height, was absolutely safe and sound. Agafya, with tears of joy and relief, offered up a prayer to the Almighty, and realized that her son was being protected by the Heavenly Forces. Possessing a good memory and a burning desire to learn to read and write in order to read the Holy Scriptures and Lives of the Saints himself, Prokhor quickly mastered the basics of reading and writing and studied the holy books with pleasure and for a long time, reading them to his relatives and peers.
A few years later, an incident occurred that fully confirmed the mother’s guess that her son was chosen by the Lord. As a teenager, Prokhor became very ill, and doctors were powerless to help him. It was then that the Mother of God appeared to Prokhor in a dream, promising to heal him from his illness. Prokhor told his mother about this, and when a procession with the Icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos soon passed by their house, Agafya brought her son out onto the porch so that he could venerate the miraculous image. After this, Prokhor was truly healed, and he carefully kept the miraculous vision of the Mother of God in his heart. Therefore, when in 1776 he came to his mother for a blessing to take the path of monasticism and go with pilgrims to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the woman not only was not against it, but also reverently blessed her son, giving him a small copper crucifix, which he wore all his life at the heart as a shrine.
The path to monasticism
In the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, Elder Dositheus (the great ascetic of Christianity Dosithea of Kiev, who dedicated herself to serving the Lord in male guise) had a long conversation with Prokhor, who blessed him on the monastic path and pointed out the place of obedience and tonsure - the Sarov hermitage. Returning briefly to Father's house, Prokhor said goodbye to his family forever and went to, where he arrived on November 20, 1778. Elder Pachomius, the then abbot of the Sarov monastery, kindly received the guy and appointed him confessor to Elder Joseph, under whose leadership Prokhor passed obedience - he worked in carpentry, a bread shop, a prosphora shop, was a sexton, and devoted his free time entirely to prayers. Following the example of many monks who retire from the monastery into the forest to pray, the novice Prokhor asked for such permission for himself from Elder Joseph, and from then on, after righteous labors in the monastery, he retired to the wilderness of the forest and prayed to the Almighty.
Two years later, the Lord again decided to test Prokhor by sending him serious illness- dropsy, from which the guy’s whole body was swollen, and he found himself bedridden for almost three years. Other monks, who fell in love with Prokhor for his gentle disposition, hard work and gentleness, looked after him, never hearing any grumbling from him. Fearing that he could not do without the help of doctors, Elder Joseph wanted to invite a doctor, but Prokhor, entrusting his soul and body to the Lord, asked not to do this, only to give him communion. After communion, the Mother of God again appeared to him in a dream with the apostles - Saint Peter and John the Theologian, pointing to the sick man and saying that he was from their lineage and touching Prochorus's side with a rod, after which all the excess liquid poured out of the guy's body, and soon he was again healthy And at the place where the Most Holy Theotokos miraculously appeared to Prokhor, the monks erected a hospital church, in which the chapel was consecrated in honor of Zosima and Savvaty, the Solovetsky wonderworkers, for whose throne Seraphim made from cypress wood with his own hands and always took communion in this church.
After eight years of novitiate, in 1786 the young man accepted monasticism with the name Seraphim. A year later, Bishop Viktor (Onisimov) of Vladimir and Murom elevated him to the rank of hierodeacon and continued to serve the Lord even more zealously and diligently. The patronage of Father Seraphim was often shown by the Lord and the Incorporeal Heavenly Powers, appearing to him during festive services, which gained the monk even greater love from his brothers and inspired him to be even more zealous in serving the Heavenly Father and the Most Holy Mother of God. Every day, after all his labors, the Monk Seraphim would retire into the forest and perform prayer vigils all night.
In 1789, Hieromonk Seraphim took custody of the Kazan community (in the future - the Seraphim-Diveevo convent), established not far from schema-nun Alexandra (Melgunova), and throughout his life he helped the sisters with spiritual advice and material support.
The exploits of St. Seraphim
In September 1793, at the request of the monastic brethren, Bishop of Tambov and Penza Theophilus (Raev) elevated Seraphim to the rank of hieromonk, and already in 1794, after the quiet death of the rector, Fr. Pachomius, who blessed the monk for the feat of living in the desert, Fr. Seraphim, having also asked for a blessing from the new abbot, Fr. Isaiah (Zubkov), retired to a small forest cell, five kilometers away from the monastery, and began to live alone. One of the monk's deeds was strict asceticism, wearing the same clothes in summer and winter, independently obtaining food, observing all fasts and constantly re-reading holy books. Near the cell of Fr. Seraphim dug up a small vegetable garden and started a beekeeper. Only on Saturday before the all-night vigil did the hermit come to the Sarov hermitage, returning to his forest cell after the liturgy and communion of the Holy Mysteries.
Often, while praying, Fr. Seraphim was so deeply immersed in himself that he did not see or hear anything around him. At such moments, the infrequent guests of the recluse - hierodeacon Alexander, schemamonk Mark the Silent, or the monks who brought bread to the monk - quietly moved away, afraid to break his silence.
It is a well-known fact that for three and a half years St. Seraphim ate only grass growing near his cell and fed from the hands of a wild bear and other forest animals that came to his cell. And one day, when devilry began to pester and tempt Fr. Seraphim, he took upon himself the difficult feat of pillaring, and spent a thousand days and nights in prayers on a stone, one of which was in the cell, and the other near it, leaving the place of prayer only for a short rest and meal.
Soon to Fr. Not only monks, but also laymen, who had heard about the wonderful forest hermit, began to come to Seraphim, asking him for advice and blessings. He received everyone, but soon, tired of such a pilgrimage and wanting to live in complete solitude and silence, and having asked for the abbot’s blessing for this, with the help of prayers he blocked the path to his home with branches of centuries-old trees, hiding it from prying eyes.
Once with Fr. A tragic incident occurred with Seraphim. Three peasants, having heard that not only the poor, but also wealthy people often came to the monk, decided to rob him. At that time, the monk prayed fervently, as usual, not paying attention to what was happening around him. The robbers attacked him, but he, being in the prime of his life and strength, did not even try to resist them. One of the robbers broke through. Seraphim hit the head with the butt of an ax, and all three rushed to search the house. Having found nothing but an icon and a small supply of food, the robbers fled in horror at what they had done, and the monk, having come to his senses, barely made it to the monastery, where the shocked brethren looked after him for eight days, amazed that he managed to survive after severe wounds. The Most Pure Virgin again did not leave Fr. in trouble. Seraphim, coming to him in a dream. After the touch of the Mother of God, the Monk Seraphim began to recover, but he still had to spend almost six months in the monastery. After this incident, Fr. Seraphim forever remained slightly hunched over and walked, leaning on a stick or staff, but he forgave his offenders, who were soon found, and asked not to be punished.
Returning to his forest cell, in 1807 the monk took a vow of silence, avoiding meetings and communication with people, for which he even stopped attending Saturday all-night vigils at the monastery.
Return to the monastery
Three years later, Father Seraphim had to return to the Sarov Hermitage - his health was undermined (the attack by robbers was not in vain), but he immediately retired to his cell and did not receive anyone for fifteen years. Only in November 1825, after seeing the Ever-Virgin Mary in a dream, on her instructions, he interrupted his solitude and, having ascended to the last stage of the highest monastic feat - eldership and possessing the gift of healing and clairvoyance, began to receive monks and laymen.
The rumor about Seraphim, the miracle worker of Sarov, was so loud that not only ordinary peasants and the poor, but also people of the upper classes and even the emperor himself came to him for advice and blessing. For all visitors without exception, the saint had one greeting: “Christ is risen,” and he called everyone the same: “My joy.” Healing spiritual wounds and physical ailments, Fr. Seraphim was always friendly and cheerful, and had a kind word and parting words for everyone. The monk considered despondency to be the greatest sin and advised everyone to occupy their hands with godly deeds and their thoughts with passionate prayers.
Death of Elder Seraphim
In 1831, on the Feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Mother of God with the apostles and 12 virgins again came to Elder Seraphim in a dream and, after a long conversation, promised to soon take him to the Kingdom of Heaven. After this meeting, the monk began to talk a lot about his imminent death and himself indicated the place of burial - at the altar on the south-eastern side of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the vestibule of the cell, at his request, the monks installed a coffin, and he stood near it for a long time, offering prayers to the Almighty and preparing to appear before his court.
For the last time, Elder Seraphim came to the hospital Zosimo-Savvatievsky Church on January 1, 1833, where, after the service and communion, he said goodbye to the brethren and blessed them. Early in the morning of January 2, 1833, one monk, passing by the cell of Elder Seraphim, smelled the smell of burnt paper coming from it. After the monks opened the cell, they saw an amazing picture - all of Seraphim’s books and things were already smoldering, his soul flew off to the Lord, and his body was in a kneeling state with hands folded in prayer.
Canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov
For seventy years after the death of Elder Seraphim, people flocked to the place of his burial, believing that he could alleviate suffering and guide them to the truth. Long before the official canonization, thrones were set up in churches in his honor, troparia and biographies were compiled. And after the long-awaited son was born in the emperor’s family, which already had four daughters and dreamed of an heir, after prayers to Seraphim of Sarov, the royal couple believed in the holiness of the elder, a large portrait of Elder Seraphim appeared in the office of Nicholas II, and the Russian people in January 1903 received with jubilation the decision of the Holy Synod on his canonization.
On the saint’s birthday, July 19, 1903, in the presence of the imperial couple, the highest clergy, nobility and ordinary people Magnificent Sarov celebrations took place on the occasion of the discovery of the holy and multi-healing relics of Seraphim of Sarov. More than 150 thousand people attended the celebrations.
Finding holy relics
In December 1920, by decision of a special commission of the new workers' and peasants' government, the cancer with the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov was opened and in 1922 transported to Moscow, which was converted by the Bolsheviks into a museum of religious art.
Due to the turbulent and tragic events in history over the next seventy years, the relics of Seraphim of Sarov were lost, so they were found only in the fall of 1990. During work in (then the Museum of the History of Religion) in one of the reserves, relics that did not fit the previous inventories were discovered. In December 1990, the relics were examined and compared with the act of opening the relics of Seraphim of Sarov in 1920, which confirmed the hypothesis that the relics belonged to Elder Seraphim.
In early February 1991, the holy relics were transported to and carried in a religious procession to. At the end of July 1991, with a procession of the cross, the holy relics of the Sarov Wonderworker went to the resting place indicated by the monk himself - the Diveyevo Hermitage, where they were met a large number of believers.
Interesting Facts
- In the Kursk Root Hermitage of the Nativity of the Mother of God, monuments to the Venerable Father Seraphim were erected and consecrated.
- A street in the suburbs of the Serbian capital Belgrade, Batajnica, is named after him.
- Since 2007, Rev. Seraphim Sarovsky has been declared the patron saint of nuclear physicists, and Belgorod students, according to a survey conducted in 2009-2010 as part of the work “On Student Beliefs and Rituals,” consider him their heavenly protector.
With his righteous ascetic life and posthumous miracles, St. Seraphim, the Sarov wonderworker, became for the entire Orthodox world, along with the venerable, an unquenchable light of Christianity, and in our days, invisibly protecting people from evil and giving hope for salvation and eternal life.
Relevant to populated areas:
From November 1778 until his death in 1833, he stayed in the Sarov desert and a nearby forest cell; in 1786 he accepted monasticism with the name Seraphim. Hieromonk of the Sarov Monastery (since 1793).
Historical reality and myths in the memory of descendants turn out to be so tightly intertwined with each other that it is almost impossible to separate them. Trying to recreate a biography famous person, historians have to trust nothing and check even what seems to be generally known. It is especially difficult when before us is not an artist, not a writer, not a politician, but a canonized saint. A striking example of this is the biography of Seraphim of Sarov - one of the most revered Russian saints.
ALEXANDER KRAVETSKY
Biographers' headache
In church life at the beginning of the 19th century, the name of Seraphim of Sarov plays the same role as the name of Pushkin for secular culture. It is characteristic that Nikolai Berdyaev, wanting to show what a gulf lay between secular and church culture, wrote that “the greatest Russian genius - Pushkin - and the greatest Russian saint - Seraphim of Sarov ... lived in different worlds, didn’t know each other, never touched on anything.”
At the same time, clearly retelling the biography of the “greatest Russian saint” turns out to be quite a difficult task. There is a simple external plot outline: the son of a merchant came to the monastery and spent more than half a century there, either praying in solitude, or receiving visitors, of whom there were a lot towards the end of his life. There are stories about miracles, the attitude towards which depends on the reader’s worldview: an admirer of Seraphim will accept them on faith, and a skeptic will argue that these are all literary stories borrowed from ancient legends.
When talking about the biographies of saints, the problem always arises of what, exactly, to talk about. If the saint somehow participated in political life, then it is very easy to talk about it. Read, for example, popular biographies of Sergius of Radonezh and you will see that the story of how he blessed Dmitry Donskoy before the Battle of Kulikovo, sending Oslyabya and Peresvet with the army, will take up much more space than the actual story about the monastic side of his life.
Seraphim of Sarov did not participate in political life, did not lecture the Russian emperors and did not meet with them. However, there are many apocrypha about Seraphim’s meetings with members of the imperial family
We can talk not about politics, but about economics: about how and from what they built monasteries, how they got food, how they settled relations with the surrounding peasants and landowners. It’s easy to write about all this. But all these stories about economic and political activity have the same relation to the content of monastic life as his Don Juan list has to Pushkin’s literary work.
Monasticism is not about farming and not about the colonization of undeveloped lands. If we do not touch upon the actual monastic specifics, then
There is almost nothing to tell about Seraphim of Sarov. He did not build monasteries, did not solve economic problems, did not communicate with politicians, but prayed, remained silent or talked with those who came to him.
The authors of biographies and lives have no choice but to follow the path of least resistance, talking about miracles and the hardships to which the saint doomed himself. And it turns out something like a book of records with many days of abstinence from food and a thousand days of prayer, standing motionless on a stone.
In order to settle in a forest hut and pray for many hours for a thousand days, standing on a stone, the monk had to write a special petition and refer to poor health
If the reader thinks that in this article I will explain to him what the essence of monasticism is, then he is mistaken. We will talk about how, when reading lives, to separate reliable information from pious fiction.
Credibility and irrationality
The first biography of Seraphim was published eight years after his death. Its author, Hieromonk Sergius (Vasiliev), relied not on archival materials, but on his own memories and eyewitness accounts. Therefore, there were a lot of omissions in this book. For example, when talking about Seraphim’s family and ancestors, Sergius honestly admits that he has no material, since the elder did not like to talk about relatives and said that “for earthly relatives he is a dead man” (now the genealogy of Seraphim of Sarov includes 37 names).
In the more than one and a half centuries that have passed since Seraphim’s death, a lot has been written about him. Moreover, as often happens, the more time passed, the more dubious details appeared in books about him. Only at the beginning of the 21st century, Sarov historian and local historian Valentin Stepashkin tried to verify the seemingly generally known facts of the biography of Seraphim of Sarov. We managed to find a lot, since the bureaucratic system in pre-revolutionary Russia worked well and quite a lot of papers have been preserved that allow us to trace the fate of the merchant’s son who decided to become a monk.
To people who are far from historical research, it seems that the archive is a place where, if you look hard enough, you can find ready-made answers to all questions about the past. But that's not true. What can you find in the archive? Firstly, letters, memoirs, diaries. From these personal documents you can find out how their authors saw this or that event. Just try to understand, can this author be trusted? Was he an impartial observer? Did he have an unbridled imagination and a tendency to lie?
More reliable are various official documents that allow you to trace where this or that person went, what education he received, what means he lived on, etc. Strictly speaking, the work of a historian consists of comparing evidence extracted from documents of different types.
The only question is, to what extent can all these methods be used when we are dealing with lives? Well, for example, the life tells about a miraculous vision. What new can archival documents tell us in this case? The fact of the miracle itself is unverifiable. But from the documents we can determine when information about this event first appeared, and understand whether the recording was made in hot pursuit or after the fact, decades later. We can check whether the characters in question were actually in the specified place at a certain moment, etc.
A historian who studies stories of miracles is like a character in an old joke. An excited man tells his interlocutor: “Can you imagine, yesterday I was riding on trolleybus B along Tverskaya, and I looked, and Mozart was sitting opposite me!” “Nonsense,” his interlocutor replies, “trolleybus B doesn’t run along Tverskaya.”
This anecdote shows very well which questions a historian can answer and which ones he cannot. He cannot establish using the methods of his science what exactly the Moscow trolleybus passenger dreamed, but the trolleybus route is established quite reliably.
It is curious that the creators of the first biographies of Seraphim of Sarov understood what delicate matter they had to deal with. In 1841, the Synod turned to the Sarov abbot Nifont with a question about the degree of reliability of the newly published biography of Seraphim. The answer of Abbot Nifont is striking in its accuracy: “After reading the Biography of the late Hieromonk Seraphim, compiled by a person unknown to me, I have the honor to explain that those circumstances from this life that could have been visible, I do not reject, but about the invisible spiritual visions that he had and about how he allegedly prayed on stones for a thousand days and nights in the desert is unknown.”
Imaginary patient
Prokhor Moshnin, who became Seraphim as a monk, was born into a family of Kursk merchants. His father died shortly after Prokhor was born, so his mother took care of all family affairs. These tasks included the management of the construction of a stone temple, which was erected on the site of a burnt wooden church.
Numerous lives of Seraphim contain a story about how seven-year-old Prokhor fell from a bell tower under construction, but remained alive. The story about the bell tower is replicated everywhere, including the corresponding Wikipedia article.
The Sergius-Kazan Cathedral, from the roof of which seven-year-old Prokhor fell, was a building of impressive size, but over time the roof of the building turned into a bell tower
But, most likely, in 1761, when this event occurred, the bell tower had not yet begun to be built. In addition, in the very first biographies of Seraphim it is said that while the mother was busy with business, a seven-year-old child fell not from the bell tower, but “from the height of the building,” that is, from the church roof.
This is a very common situation:
The story about a child who survived a fall from a great height acquires more and more details over time, and the height from which he fell constantly increases.
And then meticulous historians come and, as a result of long archival searches, find out that “trolleybus B does not run on Tverskaya.”
The biographies of Seraphim talk a lot about illnesses. Without a doubt, he was not a healthy person. However, if you read not the lives, but the bureaucratic correspondence, it is difficult to escape the impression that illnesses often turn out to be just a way to convince the state to leave the monk alone.
It must be remembered that in the 18th - early 19th centuries there was no freedom of movement in Russia. A person could not simply pack up his things and leave the city to which he was assigned and where he paid taxes. To move, you had to get a passport. A passport giving the right to travel within the country was given for a year.
Going to the Sarov Hermitage in 1778 as a novice, the merchant's son Prokhor Moshnin was supposed to receive a passport, and a year later come back to his hometown and issue a new passport. This happened until 1781, when the time of novitiate ended and it was necessary to collect the papers necessary for monastic tonsure. First of all, they had to leave the merchant class and enroll in the clergy.
In Russia, class division was very strict. The state treasury was not interested in the merchant-taxpayer joining a monastery and thus stopping paying taxes. Among the documents collected by Prokhor was a certificate from a doctor, which looked like this: “I, who have signed this, testify that the Kursk merchant Prokhor Sidorov son Moshnin is obsessed with illnesses, aching legs and pain in the head. That’s why he’s in poor health.”
Apparently, the medical report was perceived as a valid reason why the young merchant could leave his business and go to the monastery. You can, of course, believe what is written in this certificate. But a researcher of Seraphim’s biography discovered that exactly the same certificates are available in the personal files of other Sarov novices who were tonsured in different years.
The next bureaucratic step was receiving from the magistrate a paper that Kursk merchants and townspeople undertake to pay taxes for their colleague who had gone to the monastery. As a result of all this correspondence, the merchant Prokhor Moshnin, from the point of view of the state, ceased to exist, that is, to pay taxes and bear duties. This happened at the end of 1784.
When drawing up a petition for monastic tonsure, Prokhor Moshnin again referred to poor health. “From those illnesses,” writes the future monk, “I sought many ways to improve my freedom, which I did not get rid of, which is why I am not able to be in the merchant class along with others and by citizenship, I am not able to correct any position, and due to such circumstances, I do not consider any other in my life hope, I wish to become a monk in the Sarov Desert.”
If you didn’t know that the author of this petition would limit himself to food and sleep for many years, and stand in prayer for many hours, one might think that this is the petition of a frail disabled person who dreams of a monastery as an almshouse where he can live out his life in peace. the rest of my days.
After Prokhor Moshnin became monk Seraphim, references to illness did not stop. The fact is that Russian monasteries had a certain “staffing schedule”, and the abbot could not allow the number of monks to exceed the number required by the state. At the moment when Prokhor became Seraphim, all the regular positions in the Sarov Monastery were occupied. But since Prokhor, who had lived in Sarov for several years as a novice, had proven himself well, the abbot did not want to let him go outside. And the reference to illness gave a legitimate reason to leave him in Sarov.
In the 18th–19th centuries, the Sarov Monastery was one of the largest centers of Russian monasticism, on which other monasteries were oriented.
“And now,” the abbot wrote, “for the serious illness that befell him, it is in no way possible to send him to the Gorokhovsky St. Nicholas Monastery, which is why he is in the hospital available in this desert until he is freed from this illness.” Until the time it became possible to officially remain in his native monastery, the newly tonsured could be listed as sick for several years.
It seems to me that the situation when a good monk must constantly show a certificate of poor health is very significant. The post-Petrine state saw the clergy as civil servants, and the functions of the parish clergy were understandable, but the state rather tolerated monastics. To overcome bureaucratic obstacles, a medical certificate turned out to be the most effective means. And, as the archives show, Seraphim of Sarov used it quite actively.
The Hermit and Stories about Him
In the 18th century, the monastery, located at the confluence of the Satis and Sarovka rivers, was an important monastic center. Its location successfully combined isolation and accessibility. On the one hand, the place was deserted and secluded, on the other, a large road passed a few kilometers from the monastery, so it was relatively easy for pilgrims to get here. The strict rules of monastic life adopted here were considered exemplary. Several new monasteries that appeared in Russia at that time introduced the Sarov charter. After living in the monastery for about nine years, Seraphim went into the surrounding forests and settled in the “distant desert,” that is, in a lonely forest hut. There was nothing extraordinary in such care. This was one of the practices of monastic life.
At the same time as Seraphim, at least two more Sarov hermits lived in the surrounding forests - Dorotheus and Methodius. To leave for the desert, permission from the monastery authorities was required. This permission was given only to those who had been living in a monastery for a long time and had a tendency towards a hermit life. If the abbot and confessor decided to release the monk, the monastery built a simple hut for the hermit in the place that he himself chose. The hermit also received cereals, bread, vegetable oil, vegetables and clothing. On Sundays and holidays he came to church for services.
Setting up life in a forest hut was not limited to cultivating the garden and collecting firewood. The surrounding hills and rivers have new names. The surrounding hills were named Mount Athos and Jerusalem. Here were Jordan, and Tabor, and Nazareth, and Bethlehem. The events of sacred history, on the basis of which the church calendar was built, now acquired specific geographical references. Such renaming and creation of a world around oneself Holy Scripture were also common monastic practice. It was rare that a monastery did not have its own Jordan or the Garden of Gethsemane within walking distance.
A well-known story is connected with life in the distant desert about how a bear came to Seraphim’s cell, which he tamed and fed from his hands. It must be said that stories about how saints communicate with wild animals and help them are found in hagiographic literature quite often. Elder Gerasim, who lived on the banks of the Jordan, cured the lion by pulling a thorn from its paw, after which the beast remained with the elder and even helped him carry water. A hungry bear came to Sergius of Radonezh, whom the saint fed with bread. Francis of Assisi preached to the birds (remember the famous fresco by Giotto).
The Christian tradition perceives holiness as the return of paradise, where communication between man and beast is completely organic. In this context, it is not surprising that a bear came to the hut of Seraphim of Sarov and the monk fed the beast from his hands. Artists are very fond of this plot; pictures depicting Seraphim with a bear are widely reproduced.
Meanwhile, already in the 21st century, among the papers of the Moscow Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), a note was discovered from which it follows that the nun Matrona (Pleshcheeva), on whose testimony the stories about the bear are largely based, invented this story. Shortly before her death, she admitted that she told this at the request of one of the biographers of Seraphim of Sarov.
Suffering from pangs of conscience, Matrona disavowed this story of hers in the presence of witnesses.
The life story about how a hermit living in a forest hut was attacked by robbers, beat him and demanded money also raises great doubts. The Life indicates the exact date of this event - September 12, 1802. Meanwhile, in the monastery papers during this time there is no mention of an attack by robbers or bodily injuries inflicted on Seraphim. This is very strange, since, according to the well-known version, he came to the monastery and told the abbot and confessor about what had happened. Usually monastic documents record such emergency incidents, but here there is complete silence.
Such correction of hagiographic versions with the help of archival data is in no way an attempt to discredit. It is characteristic that most of The archival finds discussed in this article were made by Valentin Stepashkin, a biographer and admirer of Seraphim of Sarov. It is clear that Seraphim’s admirers love him not for his friendship with the bear or for his safe fall from the bell tower.
Exalted biographers
There are always a lot of rumors around the monk, whom pilgrims reverence as a miracle worker and a saint. At some point, people appear who decide to record, process and publish all these stories. One of these people was Nikolai Motovilov, whose recordings had a huge influence on everything that is written about Seraphim now.
Motovilov began collecting biographical materials after Seraphim healed him. The very fact of healing raises certain questions. In his notes, Motovilov claims that the monastery knew about this, but the monastery archives do not report anything about the healing of a nobleman, a graduate of Moscow University, which is very strange. But let’s believe him in this case, because this statement of Motovilov is easier to believe than many others.
The fact is that Motovilov’s notes contain a number of prophecies of Seraphim of Sarov, and it is unclear to what extent these are the words of Seraphim, and to what extent these are the thoughts of Motovilov himself. So, for example, in the note “Antichrist and Russia” published already in post-Soviet times, prophecies about wars, revolutions and the coming of the Antichrist are placed in the mouth of Seraphim.
Nikolai Motovilov was a passionate person, so in his writings it is almost impossible to separate the author’s thoughts from the thoughts of Seraphim of Sarov
Discussing the degree of reliability of prophecies is an ineffective exercise. Motovilov is not a historian trying to impartially record everything connected with Seraphim, but an enthusiastic writer reflecting on the fate of the world and confident that Seraphim of Sarov will play a completely exceptional role in the future history of mankind. As a result, it is completely impossible to separate Motovilov’s text from the original words of Seraphim.
Judging by indirect data, Motovilov was not particularly attentive. For example, in a number of other memoirs it is indicated that Seraphim addressed everyone as “you”, but in Motovilov he calls it out. Motovilov also does not use the address “my joy,” with which Seraphim greeted those who came to him. Even Motovilov’s most popular text, “Conversation on the Purpose of Christian Life,” contains a number of provisions that go back to the works of German romantic philosophers, whom Seraphim clearly could not have known.
Nikolai Motovilov had huge literary plans. He was going to write a fundamental work on how the universe and divine providence work. In 1854, he tried to get an audience with Nicholas I to tell him that Seraphim of Sarov would soon be resurrected. The Emperor refused to accept Motovilov, but asked to put everything in writing.
It seems that during his lifetime Motovilov did not manage to finish any of his epoch-making works, and only years after his death his archive ended up in the possession of the writer Sergei Nilus, who began to publish and use Motovilov’s notes in his writings.
New materials from Motovilov were discovered in the 21st century. And since spectacular prophecies and conspiracy theories, for which this unbalanced man was greedy, always remain in demand, the texts that he either wrote down or invented gave rise to a whole wave of strange mystical literature telling about the last times, the Antichrist and the special role of Russia, standing in the way of the “kingdom of lawlessness.”
Posthumous wanderings
After Seraphim's death, his grave and places associated with him attracted a huge number of pilgrims. The Sarov monks carefully recorded, checked and double-checked evidence of healings associated with Seraphim.
However, his official canonization seemed highly problematic. This was due to the fact that in the 19th century the Russian Church was governed by laws created in the era of Peter I. Rationalism reigned in everything. Miracles and prophecies were highly suspect.
Seraphim was a national saint, and it was not customary in Russia to respect the faith, superstitions and misconceptions of the common people. The people had to be re-educated, enlightened, civilized, catechized.
The glorification of Seraphim of Sarov could have been postponed for a very long time if Leonid Mikhailovich Chichagov, a former artillery officer, participant in combat operations and even a holder of the French Legion of Honor, had not been among his admirers. Under the influence of John of Kronstadt, the brilliant officer took holy orders and began collecting materials about Seraphim of Sarov. In 1893, his “Chronicle of the Seraphim-Diveevo Monastery” was published, which is a high-quality compilation of all materials related to Seraphim available at that time. This book was read by Nicholas II, who actually pushed the idea of canonization at the Synod.
Nicholas II took popular religiosity very seriously and actually forced the Synod to canonize Seraphim of Sarov
Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images
The Sarov celebrations of 1903, in which both the royal family and thousands of pilgrims took part, seemed to demonstrate the unity of the monarchy and the common people. Everyone was shocked by the number of people who came to the celebrations. The Sarov and Diveyevo women's monasteries founded by Seraphim were visited by a huge number of pilgrims.
The number of pilgrims who came to the celebrations associated with the canonization of Seraphim of Sarov in 1903 made a huge impression on Russian society
After the revolution, the monasteries were destroyed, but veneration remained. In 1927, the relics of Seraphim of Sarov were confiscated and sent to Moscow to the anti-religious museum, then they moved to Leningrad, were on display for some time, then got lost and were discovered only in 1990. However, it was impossible to return the relics directly to Sarov, since the closed town of Arzamas-16, the first Soviet center for the production of nuclear weapons, was located on the territory of the monastery.
The relics of Seraphim of Sarov, considered lost, were discovered in the funds of the State Museum of the History of Religion in preparation for moving from the building of the Kazan Cathedral
Photo: Pavel Krivtsov / Photo archive of Ogonyok magazine
The relics of Seraphim of Sarov were sent to the nearby Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery. The reasons were quite understandable and rational, but it was difficult not to remember that, although Seraphim of Sarov bequeathed to bury himself in Sarov, he said that his relics would not remain there, but would lie in Diveevo. The reader has every right to decide for himself whether this is a fulfilled prophecy or a case where people who know about the prophecy consciously act in accordance with it.
The mystery of the name oculus.ru Seraphim- fiery angel (Hebrew). Seraphim of Sarov, Rev., 15 (2) January. If there is fog on St. Seraphim, January 15, expect a harvest. Seraphim is a very active, cheerful child, he literally radiates friendliness and is sure that he is treated the same way. Surrounded by a large number of friends, tireless in games. In his rare quiet hours, he likes to cut out figures from paper and glue models from ready-made parts. Loves listening to music, enjoys learning to play musical instruments. He studies easily and well at school, he has good memory, bright developed! imagination. The adult Seraphim is a charming person, objective, fair, deeply convinced that it is necessary to stand guard over these values. Seraphim's inner world is rich and varied. He is a broad-minded, inventive, enterprising person. Outwardly reserved, he even seems cold, but he gives warmth to everyone in need. Seraphim's intense inner life makes it possible to choose a creative profession - musician, actor, architect. In addition, he can work as a doctor, lawyer, teacher. Seraphim loves success, accepts distinctions and awards with great pleasure, they stimulate him to further creative activity. He takes failures hard, withdraws into himself for a while, but soon finds the strength to start all over again. Friendliness and the pleasure of making people happy extends to Seraphim’s family life. He does not immediately find his soul mate, maybe he has already been married several times, but he appreciates even more the one with whom he will be happy and calm at home, almost the same as with his mother. And she will also feel good and calm with him. Surname: Serafimovich, Serafimovna. Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833) - the great saint of the Russian land. Born into a pious merchant family. Even in adolescence, he decided to enter a monastery. With the blessing of the elder of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Dosifei, he chose the Sarov Hermitage, not far from Arzamas, as the place of his exploits. Here, after many years of solitary life, incessant prayer and zealous monastic labors - a thousand-day feat of pillar-making, a five-year seclusion - he was awarded special grace-filled gifts - insight and miracles. The mercy of Seraphim of Sarov was deepest and unfeigned. As a spiritual doctor, he healed the souls of many believers who came to him with gentle words, instruction, and most importantly, the love that emanated from him. He addressed everyone touchingly: “my joy.” His life was filled with the words he himself said to one of the monks of the monastery: “My joy, I pray to you, acquire a humble spirit, and then thousands will be saved around you.” Even his reproofs were dissolved by meekness. The gift of prophecy allowed the monk to see the innermost thoughts of the human heart, to know the past and future. The Lord granted Seraphim of Sarov a great gift: the Mother of God appeared to him, whom he deeply revered all his life. The Monk Seraphim went to the Lord, kneeling in his cell before the icon of the Tenderness of the Mother of God, during prayer... In 1903, with the active participation of Emperor Nicholas II, he was canonized. Now the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov rest in the Diveyevo convent of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese, which he founded.
As it is said in the sacred books, the Seraphim (as well as the Cherubim and the Thrones) stand closest to the Throne of God. They descend to earth in the form of lightning or pillars of fire and whirlwinds. They ignite and ignite Divine love in the hearts of people. Seraphim were revealed to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah in the form of living six-winged heavenly creatures surrounding the Throne of God. With two wings they covered their faces from the radiance of Divine Light, unbearable even by the Angels, with two wings they covered their legs, and with two wings they covered their details.
A beautiful, but rare name today.
Zodiac name: Capricorn.
Planet: Saturn.
Name color: yellow.
Talisman stone: amber.
Auspicious plant: ficus, phlox.
Patron name: kingfisher.
Happy day: Saturday.
Happy time of year: winter.
Main features: charm, objectivity.NAME DAYS, PATRON SAINTS
Seraphim, holy martyr, December 17 (4). Seraphim was the bishop of Phanartia; he was martyred by the Turks in 1601 for his faith in Christ.FOLK SIGNS, CUSTOMS
The blizzard on Seraphim's evening promises big harvest nuts
A starry night is a good sign: Seraphim fan the earth with their bright wings.NAME AND CHARACTER
NAME IN HISTORY AND ART
