Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin). "The mystery of salvation. Conversations about spiritual life." Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim. [1]
Obedience is necessary, absolutely
necessary, like air, for acquisition of grace. A monk without obedience
was not considered a monk by Fr. Seraphim. True, real, not imaginary and
illusory spiritual path is possible only through complete obedience to
his elder. Fr. Seraphim considered external feats of retreat and fasting
to be secondary to obedience, that is, the help, and not the foundation
of monastic life. A feat of the body should be based on the blessing of
the elder and to be precisely defined. Fr. Seraphim believed that
without obedience one cannot practice the Jesus prayer: it will remain
at the level of repetition of sounds, not being able to touch the heart
that is hardened in pride. Fr. Seraphim said to one monk (what I think
daring and I would not repeat it, if I did not hear it myself): "You do
not have any prayer of Jesus: you just got used to it, as some people
get used to the bad language."[2]
Once, when I was with Father Seraphim in
Sukhumi, a nun came to him; it was that nun to whom monk Mercury
devoted a considerable part of the book "In the mountains of the
Caucasus." Fr. Seraphim, knowing her unusually severe fasting, started
by saying: "You should have a hot meal once a day" She looked at Father
Seraphim with amazement, "Do I have to waste the time and distract the
mind from the prayer to prepare lunch?" Fr. Seraphim widely crossed
himself: "Cross my heart, that you don’t have any prayer and never had
it". When she left, Fr. Seraphim said, "She did not understand anything.
The one, who gave her the schema, was in delusion himself. Poor soul,
how much struggles she will have!"
[1] Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim is glorified by UOC MP as a local saint on 21.08.2010, commemoration on December 19/January 1.
[2] From these words it is clear that Father Seraphim could not sympathize with the movement of Imiaslavie. - Ed.
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