Saint Seraphim of Zhyrovichy: An Example of a True Orthodox Christian
Archimandrite Seraphim was born with the name of Roman in 1901 in a large peasant family. Despite the
lack of money, the future archimandrite managed to get a quite decent education. When he was 21
he went to the Monastery of Zhyrovichy, where within a year, on April 1, 1923, he was
tonsured as a monk and took his new name – Seraphim. In three more years he became
a hierodeacon. In 1939 he became father superior of the monastery.
The defining moment for the future life of archimandrite Seraphim came in 1941. He and his friend
Georgy Kudarenko were honored to perform a vital mission on the territory of
occupied Belarus – to restore and reopen the churches which have been closed before
the beginning of the second world war.
The missionaries
interceded that the churches should be opened, they served the divine services,
baptized children and performed funeral services. More importanlty they contimued to preach during the course of the their mission
Wherever Father
Seraphim was, he gathered information about persecutions against the Orthodox
Church in Belarus. According to his reports, there were no functioning churches in East Belarus (except from one in the city of Orsha), the clergy was
exiled and a lot of priests were murdered. The churches were turned into theatres
and clubs. Once, when the church was reopened in Vitebsk, people were so happy
that began to cry, which nearly prevented the priests from serving.
The Divine Miracle
During such an important and difficult mission, the missionaries faced dangerous problems many
times, but the Lord helped His servants and never left them. When Father
Seraphim visited his native village on his way to Grodno, he told a story which
happened to him. Once, he was suffering from a disease and his condition was
getting worse each day, untill finally the illness became life threatening. Father Seraphim could not even climb on his bed without a low chair, and he hurt every time he tried to move. At one point when he was in bed, the Soviet
aviation began to attack the city. Father Georgy was going to hide in the
basement, but he did not want to leave his sick friend, who could not go down
with him. So the priest decided to stay with his friend.
Suddenly Father
Seraphim heard the voice ordering him to leave the room. The archimandrite
stood up with great difficulty and went to the kitchen room. Then the voice
ordered to call Father Georgy as well. When he entered the kitchen, the bomb hit their
house. At that moment something mysterious happened. The shard of the bomb hit
Saint Seraphim and opened the apostasies without causing harm to any organ. The
gleet flew out from that wound, and soon Father Seraphim recovered completely.
Thus the operation happened without human interference. God cured His servant
himself.
When Father
Seraphim and Father Gregory returned to Minsk, they continued to serve in the Holy
Spirit Church, which they themselves had opened. Here, they also founded a monastery,
which got its spiritual literature from the historical museum. Father Seraphim also visited hospitals, home for the disabled, and orphanages. The good shepherd was carrying the light of Gospel and God’s love
everywhere.
Preaching at the cost of life
The convicts
were tortured severely, but their spirit remained strong regardless. There
is a copy of the interrogation of Father Seraphim dated to December, 5, 1994:
Q: Now you may
tell everything about your work on German secret service.
A: I have never
been an agent of German secret service.
Q: Your evidence
is false. You are concealing all the time that you were a German agent.
A: My evidence
is true. I have never been a German agent.
Q: I offer you
another opportunity to tell everything about your cooperation with German
agents.
A: I have
already told everything I can say on this account. I have no other evidence.
According to
the protocol the interrogation begun at 1 p.m. and ended at 4:15 p.m. It
lasted more those 3 hours but only those words were written. We can only guess
what was happening during the interrogation…
The prisoners
were on trial for 10 months. Finally they were sentenced to imprisonment for 5
years in a special concentration camp. A year after the conviction Archimandrite
Saraphim passed away inside the camp. The official cause of death was cardiac
failure, but the circumstances of death are still being investigated.
The feast of
Saint Martyr Seraphim of Zhyrovichy is celebrated on September, 6 – on the day
of the arrest which became the beginning of his path to martydom.
