The miracle in our lives |
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14.04.2008 | Written by Deacon Sava Kokudev |
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Yet, in the very heart of the city of Sofia, though, on the Òyellow brick roadÓ,1 for fifty years and more, there has been an unceasing flow of people, who stop at the crypt of the Russian church and leave their prayer letters to the Òold VladikaÓ, as they affectionately call the Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev), who is resting there. Some call these letters Òjust wishesÓ. All the same, our Òold VladikaÓ has brought many people into the Church. I am saying this as one of them. In the Orthodox tradition, the writing of prayer letters exists as a specific kind of prayer towards some saints. This practice has been known in Russia in relation to the newly canonised venerable Father Seraphim of Viritsa, as well as with the saint Matrona of Moscow. In Bulgaria it is mostly related to St John of Rila. The letter is a symbol of our hope that the message would reach its addressee. The prayer letters show our hope that God would hear the prayer of the righteous one and would perform a miracle! Before his death, Vladika Seraphim ordered his parish members to write him letters, which he would answer, if he found boldness before the Lord (ÒIf I find boldness before the Lord, I will not leave youÓ, were his words). Those answers are the miracles of God, which do not seize to happen today, very often even to people who are not church followers, or even to non-believers. For many years the miracles, which happened because of Òold VladikaÕsÓ praying intercession, have been recorded. Here are only two of them, published in the book Life, Miracles and Testaments of the Archbishop Seraphim. Healing
from cancer: The wife of Dr
C.Y. from Stara Zagora, R., gets ill with cancer (of the stomach). As a
doctor, her husband made sure that all necessary tests were done, and after
cancer was diagnosed, he sent his wife to have an operation in the capital city.
When she arrived in Sofia, R. first went to visit the grave of Vladika
Seraphim, whom she greatly honoured. After that she was taken into hospital.
Before the operation, she had another number of tests done. This time all the
analyses showed she had no cancer! One woman, a taxi-driver, could not have children for many years. One night she had a dream. In her dream there was a baby lying on the back seat of her car, crying. She was very confused and she asked, still in her dream, where the baby came from. Then she heard a voice, and the voice said: ÒFrom Ruski Boulevard number 3Ó! The next morning she went to check what is on this address and found out with a surprise that this was the address for the Russian church. The woman entered the church and told the priests about her dream. They advised her to visit the grave of Vladika Seraphim and to pray to him. Very soon she became pregnant and gave birth to a child; and she glorified God and his servant Vladika Seraphim.
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev)
After he was
ordained as a bishop in the city of Simpheropolis in 1920, Seraphim was
divided in thought by the dillema whether he should choose to stay in his
country, which was gradually taken by the Red Army, or whether he should take
the path of the Çbloodless martyrdomÈ - serving God in exile. He sought advice from the foretelling
Elder (ÇStaretsÈ) hieromonk Aaron, who foretold Vladika's coming to Bulgaria,
which he called Ça good, beautiful small countryÈ. After a short
stay in Constantinople and on the island of Halki, Vladika Seraphim arrived
in Bulgaria, where in May 1921 he was appointed as the Çpriest in chargeÈ of
the church St. Nicholay the Wonderworker of the Russian embassy, as well as
of the Russian monastery in Yambol ÇSt. Alexander NevskiÈ. Not too long
after, he became the head of the Russian parishes in Bulgaria, where he spent
29 years of his life and which became his second homeland. His cares did not
only remain in the Russian diaspora; Vladika also worked for the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church, which was at the time under the schism of the Eucumenical
patriarch (since 1872) and remained isolated from the rest of the Orthodox
world. Vladika Seraphim wrote numerous letters and reports and in this way
contributed to the fall of the schism in 1945. He lived in
privation, but secretly looked after the poor. Until the end of his life he
lived a very humble life, living in a modest flat. He looked after his sick
brother archimandrite Sergius. Despite the many obstacles, slanders and
persecution during the years of aggressive communist atheism, Vladika
Seraphim founded the Monastery ÇThe Protecting Veil of the Mother of GodÈ in
Knyazhevo (an area in Sofia). Above all
Vladika remains in the memories of his contemporaries (some of them still
living today) with his huge great love towards the people. He called his
ÇchildrenÈ Çmy joy, my treasure, my dear ones, my dearest childrenÈ. Love
flowed from him abundantly, and people received from him, and still receive,
real comfort and loving kindness. He was always strict to himself and
generous and forgiving to others, as he used to say: ÇIn our neighbour we
should see an angel, and we should see their sin as an illness.È He liked to
use the words of St John Cassian the Roman: ÇThere is a whole abyss between
rigtheousness and holinessÈ. The person
who prayed for his enemies during every liturgy, was given the very special
gift of foreseeing, which he humbly used to hide. Even the time of his own
death was revealed to him. Days before his death, when he was seriously ill,
he was whispering to those who were close to him: ÇFive more days leftÈ,
ÇFour more days leftÈÉ Vladika
Seraphim presented himself in front of the Lord on the Day of the Orthodoxy,
on the 26th of February 1950. The church could not hold all the people, who
came to say a last goodbye to Vladika. Many were crying on this day, despite
the promise he gave when he was alive that Çif he had the boldness before
God, he would not leave usÈ. One monk, who grieved a lot, saw in his dream
the Vladika, who came and told him: ÇWhy are you grieving? I am not dead!È Up until his
death Archbishop Seraphim remained part of the Moscow patriarchy. This is
why his canonization is a privilege to the Moscow patriarchy. Still his
memory is honoured in Russia, as he is in the number of the locally honoured
(Ryazanskie, i.e. from Ryazan) saints. But the canonization involves long and
slow procedures of gathering and studying proofs and ÒprovingÓ the sanctity
of a person (which is rather typical for the Catholic Church). From the ancient times the act of canonization
has followed, in the life of the Church, the Church conscience, and not the
other way round. In the wholeness of the conscience of the Church, the
honouring of the saints by the People of God is an expression of the
infallible sense for the sanctity of the Church, in which the Holy Spirit is
present. The most varying grace from God only glorifies in one undisputable
way. ÇWe celbrate the memory of the righteous one with praisesÈ (a chant from
St. John Chrysostom). This is why the honour, which Vladika Seraphim receives
in the conscience of the Church and the believers, is the only ÇcriteriaÈ for
his sanctity. Our Lord Christ says: ÇAsk, and you will be givenÈ (Matt. 7:7). This is why one enters the Church in faith – in order to be accepted, to become part of it (or Her) (I am only using the word ÇChurchÈ in the gender which it has in Bulgarian and Russian languages, since I find this gender depicts very well the Church as the bride of Christ – the way the Holy Scripture describes the Church. I first heard it used in English on the Ancient Faith Radio.) On Vladika Seraphim's grave, as well as in the Church, each will be heard! However, Çaccordingly to the measure of their faithÈ! Because we participate in the grace of the miracle through our faith. (Translated by Vera D. Pote) How
vladika Seraphim received his monastic name
An
excerpt from The Life and Miracles from Kratkoye Zhizneopisaniye
Arkhiepiskopa Serafima (Soboleva), (A Brief Life of Archbishop Seraphim Sobolev), published as A Gift of
Orthodox Christians of Greece to their brothers in Christ of Russia; Thessalonika 1991; translated
by Mary Crockwell, and slightly abridged: http://www.roca.org/OA/132/132f.htm When Nicholay was in the fourth year at the Academy, the
inspector, Archimandrite Theophan, asked him point-blank if he intended to
become a monk. Nicholay, in his
humility considering himself unworthy of the monastic podvig, was tormented
by this question, not knowing God's will regarding him. To solve his perplexity, he wrote a
letter to Fr. John of Kronstadt, but he received no reply. He also asked Elder Anatole (Potapov)
of Optina, but the Elder wrote that he could not answer his question without
seeing Nicholay in person. When
Nicholay received the letter from Fr. Anatole, he began to grieve even more;
nowhere could he get a direct answer indicating God's will for him. At this time he was reading the life of St. Seraphim of
Sarov-the book lay open on his table. Weighed down by his quandary, Nicholay
began pacing the room, when suddenly it dawned on him, "What little
faith I have! Why, St. Seraphim
of Sarov is alive right now. He
is at the throne of the Holy Trinity.
Right now he can resolve all problems and questions, if with faith we
turn to him in our prayers. I
will go this very moment to the table where St. Seraphim's biography is
lying. I will turn to him as to
a living person, I will fall on my knees and beg him to resolve my dilemma:
Should I marry and become a priest, or should I become a monk?" And Nicholay did just this. Making a prostration, with a prayer he opened the book and
read: "A certain novice from the Glinsk Hermitage, wavering exceedingly
concerning his vocation, came purposely to Sarov to ask the advice of Fr.
Seraphim. Falling at the feet of the saint, he entreated him to resolve his
tormenting life's question: Is it God's will for him and his brother,
Nicholas to enter a monastery? The holy elder answered the novice, 'Save
yourself and save your brother.' "
Nicholay took these words of St. Seraphim as a divine revelation from
God that he should become a monk, which was, in fact, his heart's
desire. From this time he
regarded monasticism not only as his life's path, commanded him by God, but
also as the path of his brother Misha (who subsequently became the
Archimandrite Sergius.) When the time drew near for his tonsure, Nicholay was asked what
name he would like to receive. He said that, inasmuch as a monk should
renounce his own will from the very onset, he was willing to accept whatever
name he was given. "Well,
take care," said inspector Archimandrite Theophan, "that you not
are not upset if you receive an ugly name." It later came out that they
had decided to give Nicholay the name Dositheus. But it turned out otherwise. On the eve of the tonsure, the rector of the Academy,
Bishop Sergius, who was supposed to tonsure him, went to have dinner with the
merchant Rubakhin. Rubakhin's
two young daughters began asking the rector what name he was going to give
the new monk. On hearing that it
was to be Dosi-theus, they pleaded that it be changed not only to another but
to the very nicest name. Returning home in the carriage, Bishop Sergius suddenly remembered that when he was present at the opening of St. Seraphim's relics, he had made a vow to this God-pleaser that if he became rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, the first student he tonsured he would name Seraphim. And he decided to call Nicholas by this name, in honor of the great Sarov God-pleaser. During the tonsure, when Nicholas heard, "Our brother Seraphim tonsures the hair of his head," he gave a start from amazement and was filled with great love and thankfulness to St Seraphim, thinking, "He not only revealed to me God's will to become a monk, but he was pleased to take me under his grace-filled guidance." Accepting monasticism, the newly-tonsured Seraphim gave himself
over to strict fasting and unceasing prayer. Thus, from the day of his tonsure to his very death,
Vladika did not eat meat. For
many years he ate food only once a day. |
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