Excessive care about worldly matters is characteristic of an unbelieving and fainthearted person.. ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Excessive care about worldly matters is characteristic of an unbelieving and fainthearted person, and woe to us, if, in taking care of ourselves, we do not use as our foundation our faith in God, who cares for us! If we do not attribute visible blessings to Him, which we use in this life, then how can we expect those blessings from Him which are promised in the future? We will not be of such little faith. 

By the words of our Saviour, it is better first to seek the Kingdom of God, for the rest shall be added unto us (see Mt. 6:33).

St. Seraphim of Sarov 

Do not forget your sin. ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this is in order to prevent them from falling into a still greater sin-pride. 

Your temptation will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.


St. Seraphim of Sarov

The door of penitence is always open ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Why do we judge our neighbors? Because we are not trying to get to know ourselves. Someone busy trying to understand himself has no time to notice the shortcomings of others. Judge yourself — and you will stop judging others. Judge a poor deed, but do not judge the doer. It is necessary to consider yourself the most sinful of all, and to forgive your neighbor every poor deed. One must hate only the devil, who tempted him. It can happen that someone might appear to be doing something bad to us, but in reality, because of the doer's good intentions, it is a good deed. Besides, the door of penitence is always open, and it is not known who will enter it sooner — you, "the judge," or the one judged by you.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Prayer to the Theotokos ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Ο my All-Merciful, Sovereign Lady! All-Holy Lady, Most Pure Virgin, Theotokos Mary, Mother of God, My undoubting and my only Hope: Disdain me not, reject me not, forsake me not, Help me, intercede, hear and behold me. Ο Lady, help me, forgive me, forgive me, Ο Pure One!

St. Seraphim of Sarov

A lofty and sound soul does not despair over misfortunes, of whatever sort they may be. ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Just as the Lord is solicitous about our salvation, so too the murder of men, the devil, strives to lead a man into despair.

A lofty and sound soul does not despair over misfortunes, of whatever sort they may be. Our life is as it were a house of temptations and trials; but we will not renounce the Lord for as long as He allows the tempter to remain with us and for as long as we must wait to be revived through patience and secure passionless!

Judas the betrayer was fainthearted and unskilled in battle, and so the enemy, seeing his despair, attacked him and forced him to hang himself, but Peter, a firm rock, when he fell into great sin, like one skilled in battle did not despair nor lose heart, but shed bitter tears from a burning heart, and the enemy, seeing these tears, his eyes scorched as by fire, fled far form him wailing in pain.

And so brothers, St. Antioch teaches, when despair attacks us let us not yield to it, but being strengthened and protected by the light of faith, with great courage let us say to the evil spirit: “What are you to us, estranged from God, a fugitive from heaven and evil servant? You dare do nothing to us. Christ, the Son of God, has authority both over us and over everything. It is against Him that we have sinned, and before Him that we will be justified. And you, destroyer, leave us. Strengthen by His venerable Cross, we trample under foot your serpent’s head” (St. Antioch, Discourse 27).
 
St. Seraphim of Sarov

Our Work Begins with Reverence and Fear of God. ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Saint Seraphim directs us to the following Psalm,
Upon his mind there must always be engraved these words of the prophet: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (Ps 2:11)
All our actions must be done with this in mind. It is only in this way that our works will aid us in our aim to be united with Him. Saint Seraphim points out that without such an attitude, instead of being blessed, we will be cursed. "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently" (Jer. 48:10).

Our work is great and difficult. We need to always cooperate with God's grace.


Saint Seraphim says,
Reverent carefulness is necessary here because this sea--that is, the heart, with it's thoughts and desires, which one must cleanse by means of mindfulness-- is great and vast, "and there are numberless reptiles there" (Ps 103:27), that is, numerous vain, unjust, and impure thoughts generated by evil spirits.
Much more than faith is necessary. In cooperation with divine grace, we have to do the work necessary to tame the impulses of our biological being, so that all our actions can be directed according to God's will and not be based on our own desires and fears because of our mortality and susceptibility to sickness and suffering.


Seraphim of Sarov,

Reference: Little Russian Philikolia, p 27

Source

Bear the insults of your enemy in silence ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Bear the insults of your enemy in silence, and open your heart only to the Lord. Try in any way possible to forgive those who humiliate you or take away your honor, by the words of the Gospel: 
"Of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again" (Lk. 6:30).

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Sorrow is the worm of the heart ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

When the evil spirit of sorrow seizes the soul, then, by filling it with bitterness and unpleasantness, it does not allow it to pray with necessary diligence; it disrupts the attention necessary for reading spiritual writings, deprives it of humility and good nature in the treatment of others and breeds aversion to any discussion. For the sorrowful soul, by becoming as if insane and frenzied, can neither accept kind advice calmly, nor answer posed questions meekly. 

It runs from people as if from the perpetrators of its embarrassment, not understanding that the reason for its illness — is within it. Sorrow is the worm of the heart, gnawing at the mother that bore it.



St. Seraphim of Sarov

Greek Miracles of St. Seraphim of Sarov

This story was told to us by a pious Greek Orthodox family who lives in England, but often visits its homeland. On one of their visits to the holy places of Greece, they were travelling on the Cassandra peninsula and stopped along the way at and unknown church. They went inside. It was an ordinary Greek church, but what surprised these visitors was the unusual veneration of St. Seraphim of Sarov, which could be seen from the church’s interior. Besides the usual large icon of the saint, there was also by the wall an original looking reliquary with an icon—an epitaphion (symbolical burial shroud), depicting the reposed God-pleaser, St. Seraphim.

As our Greek friends explained to us, very many people now know of Fr. Seraphim in Greece. Furthermore, the Russian Seraphim has become so dear to the hearts of simple believers that they take him to be their own Greek saint, and the less educated might even say that Sarov is somewhere in Greece. Nevertheless, it was not clear what made this particular church venerate him so, especially since it was located in “the boondocks”.

Soon a priest showed up and answered the visitors’ question, that this church was dedicated to St. Seraphim. Why and how this happened is a whole story, which he graciously offered to tell them over a cup of tea.

The story turned out to be quite extraordinary, even miraculous. Fr. Nectarios, as the church’s rector was named, once labored in obedience as a simple monk at the Lord’s Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was his duty to arrange the schedule of services and molebens amongst the different Orthodox jurisdictions, as well as for the heterodox. There was a specific time set aside there for the Russian nuns of the Jerusalem convent who came there to chant and read akathists.

Well, one day it seemed to Fr. Nectarios that the time allotted to them was too long. So he decided to shorten it by nearly half. The nuns’ tearful pleading had no effect on the self-assured administrator. “The decision’s been made; kindly follow it—otherwise you will lose your right to pray here at all.”

The cell where Fr. Nectarios rested at night was located on the second floor of the church building itself. That night, no one remained in the church to pray, and all the doors were locked. Suddenly, a light rapping at the door of his room was heard. Fr. Nectarios was extremely amazed. Who could it be? At the second knock, he opened the door. He was not frightened, but he was puzzled. Perhaps someone had remained in the church by accident.

Before him stood an unfamiliar, gray-haired old man, who pointed a threatening finger at Fr. Nectarios and said, “Do not dare to offend my daughters!” It was said in perfect Greek, but the custodian could not make out what these words were referring to. After repeating them, the elder disappeared into the darkness of the church.

Walking around the church one more time, Fr. Nectarios did not find anyone, and went back to his cell to rest. In the morning he was almost sure that it had been just a dream. But when the Russian nuns came to the church and after setting up their little icons began to pray, the monk’s heart constricted from reverent fear. On one of the icons was depicted the very elder who had appeared to him the night before. The voice again sounded in the custodian’s ears as from someone present, saying: “Do not dare to offend my daughters!”

Falling down in prostration before the icon and kissing it reverently, Fr. Nectarios found out from the nuns the name of the saint about whom he previously knew nothing, and gave them back their time for prayer at the Lord’s Sepulcher.

Soon after that, yet another unusual event happened in the life of Fr. Nectarios. Long before the event described at the Lord’s Sepulcher, an elderly Russian bishop came and prayed so long and late there, that Fr. Nectarios invited him to rest in his cell. He gave the bishop his bed, and intended to rest on the trestle bed in the corner. But the elder-bishop did not close his eyes all night, only “pulled his prayer rope”, sitting in the armchair. Fr. Nectarios felt uncomfortable going to sleep, and so he also prayed all night with his prayer rope. Well, a couple of days after the appearance of St. Seraphim and the custodian’s subsequent repentance, Fr. Nectarios suddenly received a package from that same bishop. As it turned out, the elder-bishop had reposed in the Lord, and bequeathed the monk-custodian nothing other than a piece of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Fr. Nectarios’s compunction and gratefulness knew no bounds. What mercy the saint has shown him, how quickly he had forgiven him, and how wondrously blessed him! Then and there he made a vow, that at the end of his service at the Lord’s Sepulcher, after he returns to Greece, he would build a church in honor of St. Seraphim. He built the grave-covering by the wall so that after his death he could be buried on the other side of that wall, outside the church, but next to the Saint!

Hieromonk Kirill (Zinkovsky), Hieromonk Methodius (Zinkovsky)

Translation by OrthoChristian.com

St. Seraphim of Sarov: Ten Sayings

  On God

 God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance.

On Hope

 All who have firm hope in God are raised to Him and illumined by the radiance of the eternal light. If a man does not let excessive concern for himself turn him away from love for God and for acts of virtue, then this hope is true and wise. But if a man places all his hope in his own affairs and turns to God with prayer only when unforseen misfortunes befall him, and seeing no means in his own powers to avert them begins to rely on the help of God, his hope is vain and deceptive. True hope seeks first of all the Kingdom of God, and is confident that every earthly necessity of temporal life will doubtless be given… The heart can have no peace so long as it does not acquire such hope… It is of this hope that our Savior’s most holy words speak to us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are burdened, and I shall give you rest” (Matt. 11:28); that is, hope in Me and you shall be comforted in your labor and cares.

On Love for God  

He who has achieved perfect love exists in this world as though he does not exist in it, for he considers himself a stranger to what is visible, and patiently awaits the invisible. He is wholly turned away from it towards love for God and forgetful of every other love. The soul, full of love or God, then leaves the body; it has no fear of the unsubstantial power of this world, but flies off with angels as though from a foreign land to a land of its own.

On the Preservation of Truths  

One has Come to Know One should not open one’s heart to another unnecessarily. Out of a thousand you will find only one that will preserve your secret.
With a person of this world, one must speak of worldly things, but with a man whose mind is of a spiritual nature one must speak of heavenly things.

On Talkativeness  

An attentive man need but talk a lot with such as are of a contrary disposition for his inner self to be thrown into confusion.
But the really deplorable thing is that this results in the extinguishing of the fire which our Lord Jesus Christ came to re-establish in our hearts. For nothing so weakens the fire kindled in the heart of a monk by the Holy Spirit for the sanctification of his soul as communication and talk and chatter, excepting conversations with those who are sons of the divine mysteries, conversations for the restoration of the mind and for spiritual fellowship.

On Prayer 

A man who has decided to serve the Lord God must practice awareness of God and uninterrupted prayer to Jesus Christ, mentally repeating: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” After dinner one can say this prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, through the prayers of the Theotokos, have mercy upon me, a sinner;” or resort directly to the Most Holy Theotokos, praying: “Most Holy Theotokos, save us;” or repeating the angelic greeting: “Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos.” With such exercise, with preservation from distraction and with the maintenance of peace of mind, it is possible to come to God and become one with Him. For, according to the words of Issac the Syrian, we cannot come near to God without uninterrupted prayer (Homily 69).
St. John Chrysostom well described the virtue of prayer. Prayer, he said, is a mighty weapon, an unlimited treasure, independent wealth, a quiet haven, a reservoir of silence; it is the root and the source and the mother of ten thousand blessings (Homily on Inscrutability, 5).
If in prayer it happens that the mind is caught up by distracting thoughts, then one should bow down to our Lord God and ask for forgiveness, saying: I have sinned, O Lord, in word, deed and thought, and all my senses.
One must always strive against giving in to mental distractions. Through these the soul is turned away from the consciousness of God and His love to the activity of the devil. As St. Macarios says: “All the eagerness of our enemy is to turn our thought away from remembrance of God and of fear and love of Him” (Homily 2, Ch. 15).
When the mind and the heart are united in prayer, and nothing disturbs the soul’s contemplation, then the heart is warmed by spiritual heat and the light of Christ operates, filling the whole inner man with peace and joy.

On Sorrow 

A soul filled with sorrow, made mindless and frenzied, cannot either accept good advice or answer proffered questions with gentleness. Whoever masters passions masters sorrow as well.
He who loves the world cannot but sorrow, whereas he who has turned away from the world is eternally joyous.
As fire purifies gold, so sorrow that is in accord with God purifies a sinful heart.

On Despondency 

 Just as the Lord cares for our salvation, so the devil, the killer of men, strives to lead man to despondency.
When despondency seizes us, let us not give in to it. Rather, fortified and protected by the light of faith, let us with great courage say to the spirit of evil: “What are you to us, you who are cut off from God, a fugitive from Heaven, and a slave of evil? You dare not do anything to us: Christ, the Son of God, has dominion over us and over all. Leave us, you thing of bane. We are made steadfast by the uprightness of His Cross. Serpent, we trample on your head.”

On Patience and Humility

 One should always endure all things with gratitude, for God’s sake.
Our life is but a minute in comparison with eternity. Therefore, according to the Apostle, “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
When someone disparages and abuses you, try as far as possible to forgive him, in accordance with the Gospel: “Of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again” (Luke 6:30).
When people revile us, we should consider ourselves unworthy of praise. If we were worthy, all would defer to us.
We should always and foremost humble ourselves, following the teaching of St. Isaac of Syria: “Humble yourself and you will behold the glory of God.”
Therefore let us love humility, and we shall behold the glory of God. His glory is imparted to us in proportion as we become humble.
If there were no light all things would be dark. Similarly, without humility there is nothing in man but darkness.

On Care of the Soul

 We should have every concern for our soul, and should strengthen our body for this reason only, that it may assist in the strengthening of the soul.
Voluntarily to exhaust our body to the point that the spirit is exhausted is an unreasonable mortification, even if it is done to acquire virtue.
 

From Modern Orthodox Saints: Volume 5, St. Seraphim of Sarov, by Constantine Cavarnos and Mary-Barbara Zeldin.

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/02/st-seraphim-of-sarov-ten-sayings.html

Receiving the Light of Christ ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

Our aim is to know God in a direct way, not intellectually or through reason. This is often referred to as receiving the light of Christ. When we receive this light we experience a sense of joy. When it is a light sent by the devil we feel a bit of agitation or obscureness.


Saint Seraphim says,
The Christian heart, when it has received something divine, does not demand anything else in order to convince it that this is precisely from the Lord...
Saint Seraphim also gives many pointers about how to prepare to receive this gift of light.


He says,
To receive and behold in the heart the light of Christ, one must, as far as possible, divert one's attention away from the visible objects. Having purified the soul beforehand by repentance and good deeds, and with faith in the Crucified, having closed the bodily eyes, immerse the mind within the heart, in which place cry out with the invocation of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and then, to the measure of one's zeal and warmth of spirit toward the Beloved, a man finds in the invoked name a delight which awakens the desire to seek higher illumination.
What is important to remember that this gift comes after we have purified our heart and soul of its attachment to the passions of the body and one is committed to a life of ongoing repentance and good deeds, including participation in the sacraments of the Church.

Saint Seraphim goes on to describe this gift.
When a man beholds the eternal light interiorly, his mind is pure and has no sensory representations, but, being totally immersed in contemplation of uncreated goodness, he forgets everything sensory and wishes not even to see himself; he desires rather to hide himself in the heart of the earth if only he not be deprived of this true good--God. This is the gift that is available to all who are willing to cooperate with God and undertake the necessary preparation.
 

St. Seraphim of Sarov
Reference: Little Russian Philokalia, Vol 1, pp 46-47

Where there is God, there is no evil. ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

God is fire, warming and igniting the heart and inward parts. So, if we feel coldness in our hearts, which is from the devil (for the devil is cold), then let us call the Lord: He, in coming, will warm our heart with perfect love, not only towards Himself, but to our neighbors as well. And the coldness of the despiser of good will run from the face of His warmth.

Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment of his own imperfections and humility.

God shows us His love for man not only in those instances when we do good, but also when we affront Him with our sins and anger Him. With what longsuffering he bears our lawlessness! "Do not call God a rightful Judge," says St. Isaac, "for His rightful judgment is not seen in your deeds. True, David called Him a righteous judge and rightly, but the Son of God has shown us that God is good and merciful even more. Where is His righteous judgment? We were sinners, but Christ died for us" (St. Isaac the Syrian, Word 90).



St. Seraphim of Sarov

http://agapienxristou.blogspot.ca/2013/12/where-there-is-god-there-is-no-evil-st.html

Accepting the Light of Christ ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

 In order to accept and perceive the light of Christ in one’s heart, it is necessary to divert oneself from the external as much as possible. First, by cleansing the soul with penitence and good deeds with true faith in the Crucified; then, by closing the physical eyes, it is necessary to immerse the mind in the heart and appeal to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ continually. Then, by measure of our zealousness and fervor of spirit for the Beloved (Lk. 3:22), a person with the calling of this name finds delight, which arouses a thirst toward greater enlightenment.

When a person internally contemplates the eternal light, his mind becomes clean and free of any sensory notions. Then, by being completely immersed in the contemplation of uncreated beauty, he forgets everything sensory, does not want to see even himself, but desires to hide in the heart of the earth, if only not to be deprived of this true good — God.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

Protecting our heart ( St. Seraphim of Sarov )

We must continually protect our heart from unclean thoughts and impressions, according to the words of the author of the book of Proverbs: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23).

Purity is born within the heart from extended safekeeping of it, to which the vision of the Lord has access, according to the assurance of eternal Truth: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt. 5:8).

We should not reveal unnecessarily what is best in the heart, for only then does that which has been accumulated remain in safety from enemies visible and invisible, when it is kept as a treasure in the innermost heart. Do not open the secrets of your heart to everyone.

St. Seraphim of Sarov