A Light unto the World

One of the most common patron saints American converts choose is St. Seraphim of Sarov. He has an obvious appeal. He, somehow, sums up Americans’ desire for conservative and traditional Christianity, while living out a beautifully “wild” and zealous life. He personifies the depths of spiritual life that so many of us yearn to possess.

What more could we say about St. Seraphim than what our own enlightened, clairvoyant, and wonderworking San Franciscan saint, John Maximovitch, said of him in a homily, when he was still Hieromonk John, a seminary teacher in Serbia:

"Thus, despite the changes that have taken place in the world, the memory of St. Seraphim not only does not fade, but it remains a lamp that shines ever brighter to humanity. … He was wholly occupied with the acquisition of 'the one thing needful'. ...The Lord gave us to see Himself in those like unto Him, in His saints. And so, one of these likenesses was St. Seraphim. In him we see restored human nature, freed from slavery to sin. He is the incarnate personification of eternal victory over the transitory, sanctity over sin, good over evil. ...The path to the heavenly kingdom is hard, for sin has taken over human nature and spoiled it …[but] St. Seraphim is a beacon and lamp on this path; he is also our aid."

St. John brings up an important idea about St. Seraphim, that he is a lamp to which we are drawn, a beacon guiding us along our path, the personification of life in Christ. This brings up an important saying of St. Seraphim, his most repeated saying, but also one which some would like to water down and redefine: “Acquire the Spirit of Peace, and thousands around you will be saved.”

Or was it, more simply, “Acquire peace and a thousand around you will be saved”?

Or maybe, focusing on peacefulness, “Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved”, which is almost the same as, “Acquire the spirit of peace and thousands around you will be saved.”

Or is it the souls that are saved: “Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved”?

Or perhaps, instead of being saved, those folks will find peace: “Acquire peace in your soul and thousands of people around you will find peace.”

Or, sloughing off the “aquire” word entirely and using a life of Orthodox monasticism to interpret St. Seraphim's words, Hieromonk Innocent from St. John’s Monastery in Manton, California, re-stated this quote as, “If we save our souls, then thousands around us will be saved.” This interpretation of St. Seraphim requires us to see the work of the monk as a work interwoven throughout and amongst the entire life of the Church, even though physically and geographically distant.

I could not find any use of this quote that stated a source: no books, no spiritual children that wrote down his sayings, nothing. Interestingly, the Little Russian Philokalia series from St. Herman Monastery in California does not mention this phrase at all; perhaps this problem with confirming the original intention was part of the problem.

More about that next time. After going on what seems to be a rabbit trail, we will be able to come back to this saying and understand more fully what St. Seraphim meant by it.