Seraphim

In the Christian tradition

Saint Seraphim of Sarov is one of the most-honored Russian Orthodox saints, an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century hermit, ascetic, and spiritual director whose conversations with the layman Nicholas Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit became foundational documents of modern Orthodox spirituality. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on January 2.

Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833) is one of the principal figures of modern Russian Orthodox spirituality. After many years as a hermit in the forest near Sarov, he came to serve as a spiritual director for pilgrims who sought him out. His instructions to Nicholas Motovilov on "the acquisition of the Holy Spirit as the goal of Christian life" are among the most-cited Orthodox spiritual writings of the modern period. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on January 2 and on August 1 (the translation of his relics in 1903). The name has come into significant modern Orthodox use, both for boys and (in the feminine form Seraphima) for girls.