Reflection on the commemoration of Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Today is the beginning of a period which the Typicon calls the “forefeast of lights,” and appropriately we begin this brief season with the celebration of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, one of the truly luminous saints. Once, in a snowy woodland, Motovilov witnessed the saint full of the uncreated light of God, but Saint Seraphim’s luminosity, his witness to the dazzling Paschal love of the Savior, is now famed the world over. The venerable Seraphim truly is a theophanic saint, revealing God in his life, glorifying him in body, manifesting him through his legacy and teachings and wonders. As unworthy as we are, may we glimpse that Light even now through Saint Seraphim’s prayers; may we attain unto that Light everlastingly through the mercy of the risen Christ, the Joy of the world.