On a windy November day in 1920, the Chersonese commandant steamboat departed from the Sevastopol pier, taking those who were trying to resist the impending chaos to the emigration yesterday with arms in hand. Among the officers crowding on the deck and watching the disappearing shore away was a tall forty-year-old man in monastic vestments - Bishop Seraphim (Sobolev).
Childhood and years of study of the future ascetic
The future saint Seraphim (Sobolev) was born on December 13, 1881 in Ryazan. In holy baptism he was called Nikolai. Having received a pre-home education, in 1894 the thirteen-year-old Kolya was enrolled in the Ryazan Theological College. Since at the entrance tests he excelled his peers in his knowledge, the inspector considered it possible to enroll Nikolai immediately in the second grade.
A young man gifted by nature with an inquiring mind and perseverance, it was not difficult for six years spent in school to be among the best students and after graduation in 1904 to enter the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Here, deeply realizing that the only way intended for him in life was to serve God, the young student expressed a desire to forever break with the world of vanity and become a monk. At the end of January 1908, already in his last year at the academy, he accepted monastic tonsure with the name Seraphim, in honor of the saint of God, St. Seraphim of Sarov, whom he sought to be like in everything, and was ordained a priest a month later.
The beginning of active religious activity
In September of the same year, Hieromonk Seraphim was to defend his dissertation. His theme he chose the doctrine of humility in the presentation of the holy fathers of the V-XV centuries, based on the works of which was compiled a collection, called the "Philokalia". The Academic Council of the Academy, having familiarized itself with the work of the graduate, unanimously approved it, and the chairman of the commission, Professor F. F. Bronzov, found it necessary to make a note in the certification documents that the level of this work is beyond the scope of the dissertation.
The prospect of a fast and successful career opened up before the young theologian. Immediately upon receipt of the diploma, Hieromonk Serafim (Sobolev) is sent for pedagogical work in Zhitomir, and then in Kaluga, where he serves as the supervisor of a religious school. Now every year becomes for him the stage of the career ladder. In 1911 he was the inspector of the seminary in Kostroma, and in 1912 he was the rector of the Voronezh seminary. Accordingly, his spiritual rank also rises. In Voronezh, he becomes an archimandrite. In parallel with teaching, Father Serafim (Sobolev) is the editor of the local newspaper Diocesan Vedomosti.
Work in rebellious seminary
He holds the post of rector until 1918, but at the very beginning of his activity he is faced with the first signs of a future catastrophe. It is well known that one of the driving forces on the path of overthrowing the then monarchist system in Russia was students.
This is not surprising. Young, easily giving in to new, sometimes outwardly effective and attractive social ideas, students often became a toy in the hands of political adventurers. Oddly enough, but this equally applied not only to students of Soviet universities, but also to students of religious schools who took an active part in political strikes and demonstrations.
Pupils of the Voronezh seminary, the rector of which was Archimandrite Serafim (Sobolev), were no exception. Moreover, even before his appointment to this position, the educational institution was “famous” throughout Russia for the fact that his students attempted to assassinate the previous rector and inspector. A letter has been preserved to Father Seraphim from one of his colleagues, in which he, sympathizing with the newly appointed rector, calls this seminary “most hopeless” and “rebellious”.
Forced emigration
After the October coup and the outbreak of the Civil War, Archimandrite Seraphim, resigning as a rector and interrupting cooperation with the editors of the Diocesan Vedomosti, goes to the south of Russia. There he enters the disposal of the structure of church authority, formed by the church cathedral held in Stavropol in 1919. Its creation was caused by the fact that large areas of the south of the country were cut off from the top church leadership of the Civil War fronts.
In October 1920, in Simferopol, under the roar of the guns of the advancing Red Army, Archimandrite Saint Seraphim (Sobolev) was elevated to the rank of bishop. This was his last consecration in his native land. September 14, he sailed to Constantinople. Forty years of life spent in Russia were left behind, years of emigration awaited ahead.
On a foreign shore
At that time, Constantinople became the refuge of many who, fleeing Russia from the senseless and merciless rage intoxicated by the victory of the Bolsheviks. Finding themselves in a foreign country, without connections, without knowledge of the language, and often without money, people needed a warm and sincere word from the shepherd, able to console and give strength to those whom they left. Such a spiritual leader among them was St. Seraphim (Sobolev), who himself found himself in no less difficult situation.
The wave of Russian emigration that swept over Constantinople in 1920 by the next year began to gradually spread all over the world. Together with his compatriots, the bishop Seraphim also left the Bosphorus. He kept his way to Bulgaria, where, despite the long period of the Turkish yoke, long-standing Orthodox traditions have historically developed.
Among the brothers in faith
Arriving in Sofia in the spring of 1921, he first receives the appointment of Bishop Bogucharsky, and soon becomes rector of the former embassy church and dean of Russian Orthodox parishes. Here, in the Bulgarian capital, he continues his feat of service to God, as zealously fulfilling his obedience as he once did in Russia.
In 1935, the future St. Seraphim was elevated to the rank of archbishop. It was in the thirties that his broad activities as a theologian and publicist began. In 1935, his works went out of print, in which the saint enters into a theological dispute with such recognized authorities of religious philosophy as V. Solovyov, P. Florensky and S. Bulgakov.
Political and philosophical views of Lord Seraphim
In August 1937, at the All-Diaspora Church Council, Archbishop Seraphim of Bogucharsky (Sobolev) made an uncompromising criticism of ecumenism, which was then in fashion, the ideology of Christian unity. Referring to the works of the church fathers, he indisputably proved the unacceptability of this teaching for Russian Orthodoxy.
Two years later, a book appeared from print, over which Vladyka Serafim (Sobolev) had been working all the past years. "Russian ideology" - so he outlined his work, putting him in the forefront of the ideologists of Orthodox monarchism. In the book, he considered autocracy as the only possible form of government in Russia, condemned the Westernist policies of Peter I and his subsequent followers, and also called for the revival of the Russian monarchy.
Statements that shocked the public
In his statements, Vladyka Seraphim was sometimes extremely radical. For example, many readers were perplexed by his idea of applying the death penalty to people promoting atheism and convicted of blasphemy. It is difficult to say how the author linked such views with the principles of Christian mercy and forgiveness.
The range of topics covered by Archbishop Seraphim was very wide. In his newspaper publications, he did not pass over such a question as, in his opinion, the contradiction of the Gregorian calendar to the Church Charter. The controversy that erupted around this article has not ceased for a long time.
Bold initiative
An important event in the life of Vladyka Seraphim was his written appeal, sent in April 1945 to the USSR, to Patriarch Alexy I. In it, he set out a request for his admission to the Moscow Patriarchate. Considering the abyss between the religious figures of emigration and their brothers in Christ, who were fulfilling their pastoral duty in the Soviet Union, in those years, one can imagine what spiritual strength this decision cost him.
A question of this level could only be solved by Stalin. In a memorandum addressed to him, Archbishop Pskov Grigory (Chukov), who had visited the Bulgarian Church shortly before, described Vladyka Seraphim as a near-sighted, politically illiterate, albeit parishioner who loves him. This characterization can hardly be fully considered objective, given that it was written for the head of a totalitarian state, and it spoke of an emigrant, that is, by the standards of that time, a traitor to the homeland.
Homecoming
However, Stalin, who changed the church policy during the war years, granted his request. At the end of October 1945, seven Bulgarian parishes were accepted into the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, and then Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) returned to the bosom of his native church. But the main event was yet to come - in 1946, he was granted Soviet citizenship by special government decree.
In the summer of 1948, after a twenty-eight-year hiatus, Vladyka Seraphim again entered Russian land. He was invited to Moscow to participate in the conference, at which the heads of the autocephalous Orthodox churches were to develop a common position regarding the ecumenical sentiments that then appeared in some archpastors.
The death of the righteous and attempts to glorify him
Archbishop Seraphim departed to the Lord on February 26, 1950 in Sofia, where he continued pastoral ministry until his death. Even during his lifetime there was a rumor about him as an old man endowed with the gift of perspicacity, and after resting in prayers miracles began to happen to him. Despite the fact that believers repeatedly appealed to the highest church authorities with a request for its canonization, the consideration of the issue was postponed for a long time. The glorification of Seraphim (Sobolev) by the Bulgarian Church took place in 2002. This act was recognized by all subjects of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad. However, at home, Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) was canonized only after fourteen years.
The official canonization of the holy saint of God is a long and complex process. Only universal worship and unquestioned authority are not enough. Documentary and truthful evidence is needed that he acted not according to his personal desires and abilities, but was a direct executor of the Will of God. Such evidence, in particular, can serve as evidence of eyewitnesses of miracles performed by the deceased during his life, or revealed through prayers to him after his death.
Canonization preparation and its final stage
The collection of such evidence was undertaken by Archimandrite Philip (Bogucharov). He placed a corresponding announcement on the Internet, and information began to come to him about the blessed help that Vladyka Serafim (Sobolev) gave to people. The miracles performed by him were described in detail, documented, and all information was sent to Moscow. These were stories of people who, through prayers to St. Seraphim, gained health, found their companions in life, and recognized the happiness of motherhood. There were so many evidences of his miracles that even the most ardent skeptics were silent before them.
I would like to give only one story of the Bulgarian peasant woman. This woman for a long time considered herself an atheist and, despite a congenital heart disease, she never resorted to prayer. However, over time, her condition worsened so much that, on the advice of her mother, she went to the grave, where St. Seraphim (Sobolev) rests, and asked him for help. After a while, she felt better, and soon was able to return to normal household chores.
In 2015, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrated sixty-five years from the date of the repose of St. Seraphim. At the festivities held in Sofia, a film by Bulgarian filmmakers was shown about his life and work, and in December of the same year a decision was made to refer the issue of canonization of Archbishop Seraphim to the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, the convocation of which was scheduled two months later.
On February 3, 2016, a final decision was made, on the basis of which, the prominent religious figure of the Russian emigration, Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) was glorified in the face of saints. The icon painted for this solemn day reveals to us the face of a saint who has seen and felt a lot in his earthly life, and has managed to remain the true son of the Orthodox Church until his death.