Young Saint Seraphim wanted to devote his life entirely to God and live in a Monastery. His mother gave him her blessing for this, and she also gave her son a copper Cross, as a blessing for his life as a Monastic. Saint Seraphim wore this Cross for the rest of his life.
“We must let the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Everything good that we are doing for Christ’s sake renders us the Holy Spirit, but most of all it is achieved through a Prayer, which is always in our hands.”
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One day the young Saint Seraphim of Sarov, while visiting the Holy Places of Kiev, was advised to visit the Hermit Dositheos. Saint Seraphim opened up his heart and received the answer from Saint Dosithea that he had been Praying about:
“Go, child of God, to the Monastery of Sarov and stay there. That place will be to you for Salvation. With God’s help, there you will finish your human wanderings on Earth. Only, struggle to acquire the unceasing remembrance of God. Continuously call upon His Name, saying: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!’ Let all of your attention and Ascetic labour be turned towards this activity. While you are walking, when you are resting or are standing in Church, have this unceasing Prayer on your lips and in your heart. You will find rest in it and will acquire Spiritual and bodily purity. Then the Holy Spirit will abide in you. And you will lead your life in all piety and purity. In Sarov, the Superior, Pachomios, leads a God-pleasing life. He follows in the footsteps of our own Anthony and Theodosios.”
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Below is a photo of Saint Seraphim’s Cross.
