A saint's day
St Seraphim of Sarov
Prokhor Moshnin, born in Kursk in 1754, became the monk Seraphim at Sarov and withdrew to a forest hermitage, where wild beasts ate bread from his hand and he prayed for a thousand days and nights upon a rock. Having acquired peace of soul and joy in the Holy Spirit, he taught the faithful to acquire the spirit of peace, and after years of silence he opened his door to all, greeting every visitor with “Christ is risen, my joy!” He reposed on his knees before an icon of the Mother of God in 1833.
The dates
- Kept on
- 2 January (15 January on the Old Calendar)
- Next, New Calendar
- Next, Old Calendar
The New Calendar (the Greek, Antiochian, Romanian and Bulgarian churches, the OCA and most converts) keeps fixed feasts on the church date; the Old Calendar (the Russian, Serbian and Georgian churches, Jerusalem and Mount Athos) keeps them 13 days later. Pascha and the feasts that follow it are kept on the same day by both.
How the day is kept
Orthodox Christians pray to him for peace of soul, for healing and for help in despair, anxiety and fear.
Many have recovered sight, hearing, speech and the use of their legs after praying to him and bathing in his spring at Sarov.
A second feast keeps the uncovering of his relics in 1903. He is a Russian saint now honored throughout Orthodoxy and much admired by Western Christians.
Name days
These names keep their name day on this feast: