This saint foresaw the future course of events in world history and saw into the very depths of human souls. He arranged human destinies and had such power to “decide and bind” that he could even make decisions about the timing of not only healing, but also death. There is a huge amount of evidence that, through the prayers of the elder, people recovered from incurable diseases. To this day, an inexhaustible stream of pilgrims from various parts of our planet reaches out to the elder’s grave.
The external history of the life of Elder Seraphim is not replete with many events. It is divided into three stages:
- the period before tonsure as a monk,
– life in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra,
- the time of eldership in Vyritsa until his blessed death.
Childhood, merchants, spiritual maturation. 1866-1920
Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky, in the world Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov, was born on March 31, 1866 in the village of Vakhromeevo, Yaroslavl province, into a simple peasant family. Vasily's parents were deeply pious people and taught all their children to believe.
At the age of ten, Vasily loses his father, and in order to support the large family of his parents, he goes to work in St. Petersburg. God gave the boy many natural gifts. He had a tenacious mind, a good grasp of life, and an excellent memory.
Working as a delivery boy in one of the Gostiny Dvor stalls, Vasily shows such diligence, diligence and diligence that at the age of seventeen he already becomes a senior clerk. The path that others spent decades on, Vasily completed in seven. It was a very high position that gave a good profit. Vasily begins to build his own business and, in the end, selling furs, he becomes a merchant of the second guild.
He was well known in Vienna, Berlin, and Warsaw. At the same time, while engaged in self-education, Vasily studied several European languages and was well versed in history, economics, and philosophy.
Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov. Petrograd merchant of the 2nd guild. 1916
But Vasily’s soul was always with God. While still a young man, he intended to go to a monastery, but the schemamonk, to whom he turned for a blessing for tonsure, according to the grace given to him by God, prophesied that first Vasily needed to follow his path in the world, and with the beginning of the persecution of the Church, he should take monasticism. And only at the age of 54 he was tonsured a monk.
In the meantime, on the advice of the elder, Vasily continues to live in the world. It would be unnecessary to say that he spent most of his money on charity.
The main meeting in Vasily’s life was his acquaintance with the Monk Barnabas of Gethsemane, who for twenty years, until his death, would be his prayer leader and spiritual leader. Both the student and the elder were united by deep love and veneration for St. Seraphim of Sarov. Both of them had a deep personal spiritual connection with Father Seraphim. Elder Seraphim of Sarov invisibly took a very direct part in the lives of each of them.
In 1890, with the blessing of his elder, Vasily married Olga Ivanovna Netronina, and in 1895 their son Nikolai was born. Somewhat later, a daughter, Olga, appears in the family, who dies in infancy. After the death of their daughter, having received the blessing of Elder Varnava, the Muravyovs began to live like brother and sister.
Merchant Vasily Muravyov with his family. 1905
Acquiring the Holy Spirit, according to the commandment of St. Seraphim of Sarov, was the main meaning of life for this family. Therefore, in the coming menacing years of revolutionary madness, the Muravyov couple begins to climb their personal Golgotha. The available material capital would be more than enough for a comfortable life in Europe or America. In those years, many merchants transferred their accounts to European banks and left Russia, gripped by revolutionary fever. But instead, the Muravyovs donated all their money and property to the poor and in 1920 took monasticism.
Vasily was accepted as a novice, and then tonsured with the name Varnava at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and Olga was tonsured with the name Christina at the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg. Later, Hieromonk Barnabas and nun Christina in the schema will be tonsured with the names Seraphim and Seraphim.
Prophecies of St. Seraphim Vyritsky
Photo: Azbyka.ru
The Orthodox priest had the most terrible times in his life - persecution and the almost complete destruction of churches and the priesthood in the USSR, when tens of thousands of Orthodox priests languished in camps or were simply exterminated.
Prophecy about the fate of the Church
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In 1939, when there were less than 100 operating churches left in the USSR out of 60 thousand that were in pre-revolutionary Russia, the guardian of piety and humility Seraphim Vyritsky predicted the great flowering of the Church. He then wrote poems that were passed on by believers from mouth to mouth, in letters to camps and prisons. Instilling hope and strength to endure suffering in the hearts of the Orthodox, the following lines sounded:
A thunderstorm will pass over the Russian Land, the Lord will forgive the sins of the Russian people. And the Holy Cross with Divine beauty will shine brightly on the churches of God again. And the ringing of bells will awaken all of our Holy Rus' from the sleep of sin to salvation. Holy abodes will be opened again, And faith in God will unite everyone.
(Reverend Seraphim Vyritsky, around 1939)
From the northern town of Vyritsa, where the bright-hearted and pure-soul Elder Seraphim spent 19 years of his life, this prophecy has reached our times.
Prophecies about the return of the Holy Abodes
Photo: Pravlife.org
That is, in those times when, it would seem, the new ideology won a complete and final victory on Russian soil, Father Seraphim constantly reminded his many spiritual children that the Church could not be overcome by the gates of hell.
And he accompanied his story with specific examples: that the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevo Convent will be revived. He even told in detail when the Alexander Nevsky Lavra would be handed over to the believers. That is, that first the Holy Trinity Cathedral will return, where parish services will begin. And only then the entire Lavra will be handed over to the monastics. This is truly divine insight, given as a great gift of help and hope to everyone who did not lose and retained faith in the Lord in their hearts in those times.
About Orthodox radio
Photo: Radiovera.ru
During the war years, being under occupation and already having difficulty moving only with outside help, due to serious illnesses, the elder, like Seraphim of Sarov, went to the garden, where he knelt on a stone and prayed for the salvation of the country from the enemy hordes. He suffered terrible pain and everyone who saw this could not look at his prayerful feat without tears. But the priest stopped praying only when he was already exhausted and was taken to his cell. However, he always remained humble, bright and gave people hope. Hearing the German radio through the window, which was spreading throughout the area, he said that there would be a time in Russia when radio in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities would begin to broadcast Orthodox edifications, chants and prayers.
Wasn’t it a miracle that was given to people as a consolation to hear such words in what seemed like the last times for our country?
On returning St. Petersburg to its name
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Born in the 19th century, who survived the revolution and a terrible war, Father Seraphim said that Russia is a stronghold of Orthodoxy and he is not destined to perish. Everything will return to normal, and Leningrad will again receive its first name, St. Petersburg. At a time when Marxism-Leninism was the only idea, and Lenin’s name was the banner, it was very difficult to believe that Leningrad would be renamed. But this prediction also came true.
Alarming prophecies of Seraphim Vyritsky
Photo: Flickr.com
It is all the more important today to listen to the alarming predictions of the Saint, who possessed an undoubted great gift from God. His prophecies about a new time sound as if written from our lives. The bright old man knew what was happening in the 21st century and warned us about it.
He said that the time would come when it was not persecution of the church and the Orthodox, but money and the temptations of the world that would turn people away from God. And because of this, significantly more souls will die than during the open destruction of the Orthodox. Although new temples will be built and domes gilded, at the same time a kingdom of lies and evil will come. The True Orthodox Church will be persecuted and it will be scary to live until those times. It will be possible to be saved only through sorrows and illnesses. And the persecution of Orthodoxy will take on a sophisticated, cunning character.
And most importantly, Seraphim Vyritsky warned us: “If the Russian people do not take the path of repentance and do not come to it, then such a thing may happen that brother will again rebel against brother.”
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. 1920-1930
Almost immediately after the monk’s tonsure, Barnabas was ordained a hierodeacon, and a year later – a hieromonk. First, Father Barnabas receives the difficult obedience of the head of the cemetery service of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and then the chief candle maker of the monastery. Here both his experience as a merchant and the gifts he received from God were useful to him. But dark clouds are gathering more and more around the laurel. The Bolsheviks shoot a close friend of Barnabas’s father, Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd. Gradually, almost the entire world of the then clergy of St. Petersburg was subjected to arrests, exile and executions. Realizing that sooner or later his fate will come to him, Hieromonk Varnava makes a short trip to his mother to say goodbye to her forever.
But God prepared a different fate for Father Barnabas. He ascends to another cross: he becomes a great prayer book and comforter of the Russian land. Gradually, the gifts of old age and the accompanying gifts of clairvoyance and miracles begin to manifest themselves in him with greater and greater force. The people are groaning more and more under the onslaught of the godless authorities, the flow of sufferers flowing to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra to Father Barnabas for consolation and asking for prayer is becoming ever greater.
The rumor about the spiritual gifts of Elder Barnabas begins to spread more and more. At the same time, the monks of the Lavra themselves begin to receive spiritual nourishment from Father Barnabas. Thus, the recently tonsured hieromonk becomes the confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, a great mourner and prayer book for the people of God. And after some time, Hieromonk Varnava also accepted the schema with the name Seraphim.
Schemamonk Seraphim was the confessor of such Church hierarchs as Metropolitan Nikolai (Yarushevich), Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov), Patriarch Alexy (Simansky), to whom he predicted the future patriarchate. Other prominent church figures also took care of the elder. The elder gave spiritual nourishment to the entire world of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia, who did not accept the godless government. There were cases when Schemamonk Seraphim confessed to people for two days without a break for rest and sleep. Such stress led to Father Seraphim becoming very seriously ill. He could no longer get out of bed, and in such a semi-immobilized state he spent the rest of his life, all the most intense years of his old age.
The Council of Elders of the Lavra, having listened to the recommendations of the doctors, blesses Father Seraphim to move to a new place of residence in the village of Vyritsa. Having made such a decision as obedience, Elder Seraphim will live forever in this small Russian village until the end of his days. And Vyritsa itself will be destined to become the spiritual center of Holy Rus', where a huge number of people will flock, seeking consolation and support. To help Father Seraphim, the spiritual leadership sent schema-nun Seraphim, his former wife, to Vyritsa.
About the end times
St. Seraphim Vyritsky
According to the word of St. Seraphim, the spiritual rise of Russia will last no more than 15 years, after which the times of the Antichrist will come. The saint said about them that:
- Russia will be destroyed, torn apart by countries of the West and East;
- Russia will lose some of its lands, but will survive;
- a world government will arise, which will be a sign of the imminent coming of the Antichrist;
- then persecution of Christians will begin, so that it will be possible to escape from them only by leaving deep into Russia.
Revolution and rebellious times
As soon as the revolution took place, the rich people of Russia left it forever, transferring capital abroad, but this did not affect Vasily Nikolaevich and Olga Ivanovna. They could not imagine life without their people, and the time of persecution was predicted by the holy saints.
In 1920, the Muravyovs left the capital and moved to live in the country, having lost their trading business. Not accustomed to inaction, Vasily Nikolaevich immerses himself in the study of theological messages, often being in solitary prayer.
Spiritual father
At the beginning of 1927, Father Barnabas accepted the great schema with the name Seraphim, in honor of the Elder of Sarov, who was deeply revered by him, after which Hieroschemamonk Seraphim was elected confessor of the Lavra. Both priests and ordinary people went to the newly elected spiritual father for advice, and no one was refused.
The Time of Troubles united people under the protection of a wise mentor, who foresaw the suffering and sorrows of the Russian people, took this as a lesson in patience and great trust in God, he called on people to constantly remain in prayers and petitions to the Creator, to repent and hope.
Demise
Shortly before his death, in the spring of 1949, Father Seraphim slept without waking up for 12 days in a row. When the priest woke up, he said to his cell attendant, Mother Seraphim: “I have visited many countries. I haven’t found a better country than my own and I haven’t seen a better faith than ours. Tell everyone so that no one deviates from Orthodoxy.”
Appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Most Holy Theotokos appears to St. Seraphim of Vyritsky
Before his death, the Most Holy Theotokos herself appeared to Father Seraphim. It was at night. The elder knew who would visit him, and said to the women who were caring for him: “Today I cannot receive anyone, light all the lamps and we will pray.”
Akathists to the Most Holy Theotokos, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and St. Seraphim of Sarov were read with reverence. After Father Seraphim received the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he gave his blessing to read the Psalter and Gospel. Towards evening, the priest asked to sit him in a chair and began to pray. At the same time, he sometimes inquired about the time. At about two o'clock in the morning, Father Seraphim gave his blessing to read a prayer for the exodus of the soul and, making the sign of the cross, with the words “Save, Lord, and have mercy on the whole world,” he went to the eternal abode. This happened on the day of the celebration of the resurrection of the righteous Lazarus, April 3, 1949.
Farewell to St. Seraphim
For three days an endless stream of people walked to the tomb of the righteous man. Everyone noted that his hands were surprisingly soft and warm, as if they were alive. Some felt a fragrance near the coffin. On the first day after the blessed death of the elder, a blind girl was healed. Her mother led her to the coffin and said: “Kiss grandfather’s hand.” Soon after this, the girl regained her sight.
The funeral service for St. Seraphim of Vyritsky took place on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation and was distinguished by rare solemnity. Three choirs sang: the Vyritsky Kazan and Peter and Paul churches and the choir of the theological academy and seminary. There, with the blessing of Metropolitan Gregory, classes were canceled on the day of the burial. During the funeral, an image of St. Seraphim of Sarov from the priest’s cell was carried in front of the coffin. This is exactly what the Vyritsky ascetic predicted back in the pre-war years. The saint of God was buried in Vyritsa, in a small cemetery near the Kazan Church, next to his wife. In 2000, over the grave of St. Seraphim, a wooden chapel was erected.
Chapel over the elder's grave
Inside the chapel
Spiritual connection between Seraphim Vyritsky and Seraphim of Sarov
Contemporaries compared the eyes of Father Seraphim - in terms of the power of their penetration - with the eyes of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov in his lifetime portraits... The Sarov wonderworker, with whom the Vyritsa elder shared a deep prayerful connection, was his favorite mentor. It was as if the great Sarov ascetic had been resurrected in Father Seraphim Vyritsky. Both of them spread peace and silence around them. Until the end of his days, the Vyritsa elder kept the holy image of St. Seraphim in his heart with the greatest reverence and joy.
Holy image of Elder Seraphim Vyritsky
Marriage and worldly life
At the age of 24, Vasily married the pious maiden Olga, the daughter of noble people. They had a son, Nikolai. Vasily’s career took off sharply, he traded furs, his goods were valued even abroad. Within a short time he became a millionaire.
The family bought a large house, which often hosted travelers. The couple set an example of Christian piety : they prayed together, took communion in church, visited hospitals and prisons, and gave gifts to prisoners and the sick. They took some patients to their home so that they could recover faster in their home environment.
They also had a two-story dacha near Pavlovsk. Everything worked out for them in the best way, but Vasily was burdened by this life. Especially after the death of his youngest daughter, his soul grieved a lot.
For a long time, Elder Barnabas of Gethsemane was Vasily’s confessor . When Soviet power came, it was hard for the spouses. They hid for a long time outside the city.
Teachings and instructions to spiritual children
How should Orthodox Christians in Russia live? First of all, realize that they live in a special country that has special grace-filled gifts from the Lord, the main one of which is the Orthodox faith. Therefore, may the Orthodox not lose heart during persecution and everyday sorrows.
You just need to remember that Russian people have always sought heavenly, and not earthly, blessings, because the only experience that a person will take with him when the time comes for the separation of soul from body is the experience of knowing God.
It’s hard to live like this when the modern world is ruled by completely different values. Books that “destroy faith and morality” are distributed easily, “like clockwork,” and a lot of effort is spent on their distribution. But, as the monk says, God did not cease to exist because of all this, and therefore every human soul is inevitable to meet Him - sooner or later.
Prayer will help you keep your faith. The monk advised the Orthodox:
- read the Jesus Prayer as much as possible (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”); it is she who will help in the most difficult times, moreover, she will help to rise “from the frequent invocation of the name of the Son of God to unceasing prayer”;
- resort to the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian not only during Great Lent, but also at any other time, because it contains the entire Gospel, “with it we ask the Lord for help in acquiring the properties of a new person”;
- maintain spiritual sobriety: do not accept any kind of “visions”, “revelations”, protect yourself from delusion, remembering your sinfulness and passion;
- obey the will of God in everything, humble yourself.
