Diveyevo, August 2, 2021

Photo: nne.ru     

A wondrous celebration was held yesterday at Holy Trinity-St. Seraphim Diveyevo Monastery in honor of its beloved elder St. Seraphim of Sarov.   

July 19/August 1 marks both the glorification and uncovering of St. Seraphim’s relics in 1903 and their transfer to Diveyevo after their second finding 30 years ago in 1991.

Photo: nne.ru     

The joyous feast was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and 16 other hierarchs of the Russian Church, together with local clergy, reports the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis. The Liturgy was served on the square in front of the monastery’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, with the relics of St. Seraphim, which had been carried out from the church for the occasion.

Photo: nne.ru     

The service was attended by monastics and pilgrims and federal and local government officials, and representatives of charitable foundations and business groups. The Liturgy was broadcast on screens installed on the territory of the monastery and on several internet and television outlets:

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Met. Barsanuphius served the magnification to St. Seraphim and read a prayer at his holy relics.

Photo: nne.ru At the end of the service, the greeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the transfer of the great saint’s relics was read out. Abbess Sergia was awarded the Order of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga, II Degree, for her efforts in reviving the monastery.

Met. Barsanuphius spoke of the importance of the day’s celebration:

Today, on the memorial of the great ascetic, St. Seraphim of Sarov, we have gathered in this holy monastery to ask for his holy prayers and blessings. Just as all living things in this physical world are drawn to the light, so in the spiritual world everything strives for the Lord—the Light Co-Eternal. He shares the light of His Divine grace with the saints, and people always gather at these lighthouses to receive help and comfort. Such a beacon is St. Seraphim. And we flow to him with the hope that he will pray for us and help us to pass the earthly path to eternal life with dignity.

Mother Sergia thanked the hierarchs for their participation in the feast, and spoke of how the prophecies of St. Seraphim are coming true in our days:

When Batiushka said that he would rest with his relics in Diveyevo, and not in Sarov, few people believed it. But that’s what happened. The saint predicted that the Kazan parish church would be a monastery church, and now it’s a real cathedral with 13 altars. Batiushka said that all the land in Diveyevo up to the river would belong to the monastery, and now it is so. And, finally, according to his testament, the cathedral was built on the Holy Canal, standing in one line with Holy Trinity Cathedral and the bell tower. Another consolation for us was that the day of the 30th anniversary of the transfer of the relics of St. Seraphim to Diveyevo was a Sunday—little Pascha.

“The Holy Trinity-St. Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery has been revived and beautified over the past 30 years. And it’s important that everyone understands that by reviving churches and monasteries on the Russian land, we call the grace of God upon our land, so our people have a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity,” His Eminence Metropolitan George of Nizhny Novgorod said in turn.

Photo: nne.ru ***

On July 19/August 1, 1903, the canonization of St. Seraphim was celebrated in Sarov and his relics were opened for general veneration.

In 1920, his relics, taken from Sarov, were opened by representatives of the godless authorities. They were later taken to Moscow and placed in a museum of atheism at Donskoy Monastery, and then the trace was lost.

In 1990, the relics were rediscovered in the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism at Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg and were officially transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church on January 11, 1991. In July, they were taken in procession to Diveyevo, with 50,000 believers participating.

On July 30, 1991, the relics of St. Seraphim were placed in Holy Trinity Cathedral at Diveyevo Monastery, and on August 1, a festive Liturgy was served on the monastery square by His Holiness Patriarch Alexei II.

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