On January 15, the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery held the solemn services to mark the day of repose and the second finding of the relics of Venerable Seraphim.

Venerable Seraphim of Sarov was known to greet his visitors exclaiming  “My joy! Christ Is Risen!” Batiushka warmed everyone’s hearts with his love so that no one left him unconsoled and sorrowful. In our days, every feast day of the venerable saint is filled with Paschal joy that unites all those who arrive to celebrate it. His remembrance day on January 15 may be called a winter Pascha when the Church remembers the venerable saint’s day of repose and the second finding of his relics.

Around 6 am on January 2/15, 1833, Father Paul, Venerable Seraphim’s cell-attendant, noticed the smell of smoke coming from the venerable elder’s cell. Father Seraphim usually left candles burning in his cell and he used to say: “While I am alive, there will be no fire, but when I die, my death will be revealed through fire.” When the doors to his cell were opened, it turned out that that books and other things were smoldering whereas venerable father was found kneeling before the icon of the Mother of God as if praying, but no longer alive. One day prior to that, Father Seraphim came to the hospital church of Sts. Zosimas and Sabbatius one last time for liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries, after which he blessed the brethren and bid them farewell, saying: “Save your souls. Do not be despondent, but watchful. Today crowns are being prepared for us.”

One and a half centuries later at approximately the same time in the winter of 1991, the relics of the Venerable saint were found intact at the storerooms of the Museum of History of Religion in St. Petersburg. Today, they rest in the Diveyevo monastery where the pilgrims from all over the world come to celebrate the feast of dear Batiushka Seraphim. Today’s church service beside the tomb with the relics of the venerable saint in the Trinity Cathedral goes on practically all day.  The evening service turns to a nighttime Divine Liturgy and then on to a late morning liturgy that later continues with the series of the akathist services ending around 3pm of the next day.

This year, His Eminence Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas presided at the festive services at the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. Concelebrating at the services were Metropolitan Valentin (Mischuk), Metropolitan John of Yoshkar-Ola and Mary El, Metropolitan Joseph of Ivanovo-Vosnesensk and Vichuga, Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, Bishop Kliment of Krasnoslobodsk and Temnikov, Bishop Benjamin of Ardatov and Atyashev, Bishop Filaret of Dalnekonstantinov, Vicar of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese, Bishop Barnabas of Vyskun and Pavlovsk, Bishop Methodius of Almetyevsk and Bugulma, and Bishop Silouan of Lyskov and Lukoianovo.

At the end of the liturgy, Hegumenia Sergiya thanked the archpastors and the clergy for celebrating the services and reminded that today’s celebration is the 188^th anniversary of the repose of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov and 30 years since the second finding of his holy relics.

In his sermon, Metropolitan Georgiy remarked that Venerable Seraphim of Sarov is truly a luminary for the whole world who attracts a great number of people from every corner of the earth. “What had this man done that we are so drawn to him?” His Eminence asked and promptly responded himself. “He was a desert dweller and a man of prayer. He walked the path of the ancient church fathers and spent his life in prayer, fasting, and ascetic labors. That is why the grace of God entered this pure vessel.” Taking a journey back to the beginning of the 20^th century, when the celebrations in Sarov united the people around his saintliness, as well as to 1917, when animosity and hatred entered the hearts of men, the head of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis wished everyone to live in peace. Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, noted Metropolitan Georgiy, is the example of such a life and such a precious jewel of holiness that we continue to draw strength from him and keep walking on the path of acquisition of holiness of the spirit.

Immediately following the Divine Liturgy, a prayer service with the akathist was held before the holy relics of Venerable Seraphim.