“Christ is risen, my joy!” St. Seraphim’s characteristic greeting is well known. Also well known is his love for animals and his friendship even with bears. However, we should not allow St. Seraphim to become for us a sort of Santa Claus figure, friendly and soft. St. Seraphim’s ascesis—kneeling on a rock for a thousand days, the chains he bore on his body—is incomprehensible. His trials—the assault by robbers that left him bent over and crippled for life, various persecutions by uncomprehending church authorities—were extreme. And his holiness—he led a life marked by miracles and visions, including when he would serve at the altar, and he was seen to glow with the all-powerful light of God—is exalted. St. Seraphim was a kind, loving man, but his kindness and love were not of this world: they were full of the Spirit and power.
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