Saint Seraphim in Bonds

MARTYROLOGY OF THE COMMUNIST YOKE

Saint Seraphim in Bonds

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GREAT SAROV MONASTERY

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David is risen again from the dead, according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
ST. PAUL
II Tim. 2:8-9

HAVING SURVIVED the first years of the Revolution and the terrible trials of persecution and the apostasy of the Living Church, St. Seraphim's Sarov Monastery and Diveev Convent were closed by the Communists in 1927. Only partial information has come down to us concerning the suffering and fate of the many holy monks and nuns who lived in these monasteries at that time, but what has come down is enough to form a separate chapter in the history of Russia's new martyrs. Here is what is known of some of the leading Sarov monks:

ABBOT HIEROTHEUS was the abbot of Sarov during the canonization of St. Seraphim in 1903; then he retired and led an ascetic life until he was sent by the Communists to Temnikov prison (the former Sanaxar Monastery), where he met his suffering and death.

ABBOT RUFINUS: In 1927, after the closure of the monastery, he was arrested and imprisoned in the prison of Arzamas, where he was cruelly tortured. According to the testimony of those who were with him in prison, once when he was brought back to his cell after a long interrogation, none of the prisoners could recognize him. His whole face was swollen, especially under the chin. All the hair of his beard had been pulled out. Soon after this he was tortured to death.1

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1 Archpriest Michael Polsky, Russia's New Martyrs, Jordanville, N.Y., 1957, vol. II, p. 228.


MONK BASIL, a severe ascetic. His obedience was to stay always by the spring of St. Seraphim and dispense holy water to the pilgrims. During the destruction of the monastery, the atheist "activists" made a bonfire in the middle of the monastery, threw into it icons and other holy objects after sacrilegiously trampling on them, and burned the log-coffin which had been made by the Saint himself and in which his relics had reposed for seventy years until his canonization; then they destroyed both of the log cabins in the Saint's "Near" and "Far" Hermitages, and having defiled his spring and muddied it, they martyred Father Basil, who died as a true monk – at his obedience.1

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1 Loc. cit.


MONK ISAAC: A clairvoyant elder who was known to the whole of Orthodox Russia, it was through him that St. Seraphim revealed to the monks what to do with his holy relics. At the time of the destruction of the monastery, "the monks resisted the taking away of the holy relics and locked themselves in the Dormition church where the relics of the Saint lay, declaring that they would all be killed rather than give up the relics. For three days the monks remained locked up in the church without eating... In Sarov at that time lived the ascetic, Father Isaac, a disciple and successor of the renowned Elder Anatole (of Sarov), who died in 1922. Elder Isaac, grieving over what was happening and having pity on the brethren, prayed to the Saint for three days that he would instruct them how to act. On the third day St. Seraphim appeared to him and said: 'It is the will of God that my relics be taken away from here and the monastery destroyed; do not hinder this.' When the Elder told this vision to the brethren, the monks left the church, and the commission of secret police agents and local Soviet 'experts,' having gathered the relics into a wooden box, took them away, and the monks in the evening of February 9, 1927, were all driven away from Sarov, and in this way the Sarov Hermitage ended its existence... The relics of St. Seraphim were taken to Moscow and placed in the Rumyantsev Museum (converted into an anti-religious museum), and in the newspapers it was announced that the bones of Seraphim of Sarov had been brought, and those who wished could view them. The people began to come in masses to the museum to venerate the holy relics, tickets were sold for admission to the museum costing three rubles, but despite this high charge the people came, wept, prayed, and bowed down before the glass cover under which the relics lay. There were many healings. Then the Communists, seeing that not a mockery, but rather a glorification of the holy relics was occurring, announced that the relics were no longer in the museum, but had been taken away to the city of Penza. The faithful were not satisfied with this announcement, and many went to Penza to be convinced for themselves, but in Penza it was announced to them that there were no relics there. Thus the relics of St. Seraphim were hidden, and now it is not known where they are."1

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1 Hieromonk George of Sarov, from the words of Abbot Methodius, an eyewitness, in the Messager of the Rus. Stud. Chr. Mvmt., May-June, 1934, p. 20.


In Russia it was widely believed that the relics of the Saint were stolen from the train which was taking them away from Moscow and were hidden by members of the Catacomb Church.

The fate of Sarov Monastery and the continued presence of St. Seraphim there after its closure are described in the memoirs of the Nun Veronica, who was a prisoner in the hospital of one of the concentration camps in St. Seraphim's forest near the monastery: "Around our barracks, as a thick green wall, stood a forest of age-old pines. Amidst the columns of their red trunks was the bright emerald green of curving birches the unforgettable Sarov forest, unique in the world. Involuntarily we all felt the invisible power and the grace-filled nearness of the holy monastery. The Saint himself appeared once on a road in the forest to a sick monk-prisoner when he became exhausted under the weight of his burden and could not go on. Almost all the believing prisoners experienced St. Seraphim's help in their own lives. They felt his protection and defense in the midst of the most difficult trials. At first a concentration camp was built in the monastery. But such a despondency attacked the officials of the 'special division' who were sent there, and so frequent did cases of suicide among them become, that the camp was transferred to another place, and in the monastery an orphanage for the children of prisoners was established. It is related that at night the children often see an elder in a white garment and a black half-mantle."1

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1 St. Vladimir's Russian National Calendar for 1973, p. 119.


Diveev Convent was closed by the Communists in September, 1927, some months after Sarov. Here is how its end was described by Mother Alexandra, as recorded by Dr. A. P. Timofievich:1 "For several months before the closure, there were signs in the monastery. Sometimes the bells would ring by themselves, sometimes the main church would be all illuminated inside at night and everyone would become alarmed and think there was a fire, but then everything would again be quiet and dark. And this happened many times. But when our Blessed one (Maria, the clairvoyant fool for Christ) made a great uproar and began to prophesy clearly that a disaster was coming then our eldest nuns assembled and decided to hide all of the Saint's holy things, distributing them to trustworthy people. Everything was taken away."2

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1 We Were Guests at St. Seraphim's, in Russian, Jordanville, N.Y., 1953.
2 One of these holy objects, the icon-portrait of St. Seraphim, is now in the monastery of New-Diveev at Spring Valley, N.Y.


"And what about the chief holy object," I asked: "the wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God of Tender Feeling (Umileniye)? Was it saved?"

"The Lord helped to save it too; and we believe that His wrath is not unto the end, and that when the monastery will arise from the ashes, the Icon also will return to its place. Earlier an exact copy of the Icon was made and was placed in a metal covering; but the original has been taken far away, where the hand of the blasphemer will not reach it."

And so Sarov and Diveev Monasteries were destroyed, the vast forest of Sarov chopped down, the Saint's relics mocked, and his very memory as it were abolished from the face of the Russian land. And yet, Sarov and Diveev Monasteries are specifically mentioned in the prophecies of St. Seraphim concerning the future of Russia. Further, we know from many indications that St. Seraphim himself is alive today in the hearts of many of the Russian people, even those who have been raised entirely under atheist influence. The following account, as recorded by S. Rozhdestvensky from the words of a Soviet Army officer who escaped to the West, is by no means a unique case of the presence of St. Seraphim in the suffering Russian land:

I was born and grew up in the city of Arzamas, near the former Sarov Monastery. If I am not mistaken, it was about 1929 when this monastery with its very valuable and vast forest (a forest for building, as we say) was turned by the Soviet regime into a corrective-labor camp. Not only the cells of the monks and the monastery buildings, but even the monastery churches (both summer and winter churches) were turned into barracks for prisoners. In the churches bunks were built in several layers and the churches themselves were surrounded by barbed wire. But around the whole monastery also rows of barbed wire extended, and there were watchtowers. What happened to the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov I don't know. From my mother I heard that they were taken away somewhere, as they said, to one of the anti-religious museums of the land.

In these years when the corrective-labor camp existed, narrow-guage lines were laid out throughout the monastery in order to take out the trees. The forest was valuable and went, for the most part, for export abroad. In the neighborhood we often met parties of prisoners, with a guard of course, and sometimes with watchdogs also. In general it was not recommended for us free citizens to go near this concentration camp or express interest in it. In the end we also became used to it. And whenever echelons of prisoners would be unloaded at our stations, we young people would only shrug our shoulders. After all, these were enemies of the people, that's where they belonged.

I can add that before my very eyes the immensely valuable forest, in which bears had roamed, was greatly thinned, and of its previous grandeur we could judge only by the tales of my mother and acquaintances.

Once with a group of Pioneers (Communist "Scouts") I accidentally wandered across the mass graves of the prisoners, which were laid out near the monastery itself. Even then I was unpleasantly struck by the size of the cemetery. Dread overcame us Pioneers, and we quickly left. Later, in the long winter evenings, I sometimes listened in on mother's quiet conversation with some old women. They usually talked about the hundreds and thousands of prisoners who had been martyred by hunger and overwork. They sighed, ohed, and crossed themselves, and mother always wept because of these conversations. I knew that she was very religious and had hidden old icons somewhere, and that she went around to the churches which remained in Arzamas. She did not prevent me from living my own life: from the Pioneers I went to the Komsomol (Communist Youth), and then went away to study and work in a factory, and therefore I did not interfere in her private matters. But I did not ridicule her faith.


Sarov Monastery just before its destruction by the Soviets, viewed from the east


ST. SERAPHIM:
An old portrait of the Saint, made long before his official canonization.
It came from the cell of the late Father Parthenius of Karoulia on Mount Athos. Presently it is in the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston, where the fathers treasure it as a great relic.


Saint Seraphim's Far Hermitage


Saint Seraphim's Near Hermitage


During the Second World War I was sent from the army to military school. Before leaving for the front I was able to come home for a visit. This was in the summer of 1943. Mother once asked me to accompany her as far as the church. In that year two or three churches were opened in the city, it appears, and every prohibition against religion was lifted. Some kind of solemn service was going on in church. Mother even remarked to me that there they were going to pray for the granting of victory over the enemy and that now, in connection with the war, one could see many soldiers in the churches.

I went with mother, desiring to give her this small joy. Near the church, in fact, I noticed many paupers and likewise soldiers, who entered the church quite boldly. I also decided to look and I entered there with mother. We could hardly force ourselves into the church, there were so many people. In the middle of the church I noticed many candles in front of a large icon of Seraphim of Sarov, and even flowers around the icon-stand. The service was going on. But I did not stay in church long – I was unaccustomed to everything there, and to speak frankly, I was afraid that some one of my companions, former Komsomols, might see me there.

At night I left for the front. Just before my departure mother, of course, wept, and then somehow unexpectedly she told me: "I believe you will remain alive. I will pray, and he will preserve you!"

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Our Saint, Seraphim of Sarov," mother answered.

Not desiring to offend mother, I answered her nothing then, but in my soul I only laughed at her prediction.

Oh yes, I should add that on this visit some icons were hanging openly in the corner of mother's room, and one of them was of Seraphim of Sarov. Mother explained to me that many people now had icons out. She related also that in the churches all the newly-born were being baptized, and boys were being given the name Seraphim. "In honor of our Saint," she added.

At the front endless campaigns and battles began. I was slightly wounded twice, received decorations and promotions. Our regiment for its military merits was called a "guardian" regiment. At that time we all lived on the dream that the enemy would be quickly banished and destroyed.

In the summer of 1944, during the decisive battles on the Polish border, I was seriously wounded and lay unconscious for several days. As I found out later, the physicians had no hope that I would be saved. And then, believe it or not as you wish, at the moment when my organism was fighting with death, I dreamed that I was again a Pioneer and that we were walking in the forest by Sarov Monastery – there where once we Pioneers had come across the prisoners' cemetery. For some reason I became separated from the others. Some kind of terror overcame me. And suddenly an old man came out of the forest. He came up to me quickly, looked me right in the eyes, put his hand on my head, and said: "But you will live! Your mother obtained this by her prayers!..." And I had no time to come to myself or become afraid when he had already disappeared. I woke up... I was in a hospital ward, not a forest. A doctor and a nurse were standing by my cot and saying something. I remember only one remark: "The crisis has passed!" I stubbornly tried to remember where I had met that old man before. Finally I remembered: in the church in Arzamas, on the icon. Then I gently fell asleep...

I lay in this hospital several weeks more and then again went to the front. I stormed the Oder, Berlin, climbed on German tanks, earned another two medals. One may say that I was in hell itself, but I was certain that I would remain alive. But why, actually, I was so certain-I could not explain to myself at that time...

The war ended. Our regiment remained in occupied Germany. At the end of 1947 I went home again. But I did not find my mother – she had died. I went to her grave in the city cemetery. On the way back from the cemetery, for some reason I decided to look at the church into which I had gone with my mother before leaving for the front. It was getting dark. In the halflit church there were few people. I again saw that icon of Seraphim of Sarov. I looked at it and something shuddered in my heart. I remembered my old mother. Coming out of the church, I turned my attention to the citizens who were hurrying along the streets. And I remarked to myself: in the victorious country everyone is dressed more poorly than the Germans. But more important: everyone's face looks worried, sad, and distressed...

Outside the church were invalids of the War, without legs, openly begging alms yet another new blow and a new discovery. After looking all around, I inconspicuously gave them everything I had in my pocket. On the way to my friends', I noticed more of the same invalids. From my friends I found out that religion was again in disgrace and was being persecuted. Both icons and churches had again become dangerous things.

That evening I got drunk with my friends. Many of them were responsible workers, one of them, just like me, being a war hero. We recalled the Komsomol, the campaigns, the war. It's strange, but not a word was spoken about the future. I heard them talk, but I didn't understand them and only drank and drank. Concerning myself and my experiences I didn't say a single word to them. In the morning, before the end of my leave, I left my native Arzamas with the firm intention never to return.

At the station I accidentally came across a party of prisoners. They were being forced to walk under convoy to Sarov Monastery. And suddenly I caught myself in a traitorous thought: "You dogs! Before you at least unloaded the prisoners at night, but now you aren't ashamed to do it in the morning!"...

Well, later on, step by step everything began to be revealed to me anew. I began to see more often at night the little old man, Seraphim of Sarov. Now I understood that he was not like the rest of us... And now you see, my eyes were opened so much that I escaped from there. And I do not regret it.1

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1 Translated from Novoye Russkoye Slovo, "Sarov Monastery," Aug. 1, 1970.


This and numerous other testimonies give us no grounds to doubt that the great Saint Seraphim, even in bonds, is alive in Russia today and grants his aid as ever to the now-crucified Orthodox Russian people, who with him await, in God's time, the day of deliverance.

Holy Father Seraphim, pray to God for us!