The Life of Archimandrite Seraphim (Alexiev) (1912-1993)

Faithful Son of Saint Seraphim of Sofia and Spiritual Father of Bishop Photii of Triaditza, Chief Hierarch of the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria

[Translated from the original Bulgarian]

 

 

Archimandrite Seraphim (secular name, Stoyan Gheorghiev Alexiev) was born on February 25, 1912 (Old Style) in the village of Gorno Brodi (Serres region), in Bulgaria. He was the youngest son of poor but very pious parents. With the pressures of the tragic events of the Second Balkan War (June 16-July 18, 1913, Old Style), they forsook their native home and emigrated, together with their numerous offspring, to the capital of Sofia. The father, Gheorghi Alexiev, was by family trade a caster of bells, a craft bequeathed to his two elder sons, Dimiter and Atanas. The youngest of the sons, Stoyan, grew as a boy of fragile health and with a gentle, sensitive soul. His intense faith in God and his love for His Church he inherited from his mother Nedelya, a woman of profound religious spirit. Encouraged in his spiritual aspirations by both parents and by his kinsfolk, Stoyan completed his studies at the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Sofia as one of its best pupils, and in 1934 became a student in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Sofia. Here he studied on scholarship, later continuing his education at the eminent theological faculty of the University of Bern, in Switzerland. Education in a non-Orthodox institution might have proved detrimental to a young man; however, Stoyan's faith, love of Truth, and humility formed a good soil that, in the future, yielded rich fruit. The knowledge of heterodoxy that he acquired in Bern, Stoyan Alexiev would later put to use in the composition of his critical works on Protestant and Roman Catholic teachings from an Orthodox point of view.

The young Stoyan's life in the foreign land of Switzerland was penurious; his fellowship grant sufficed only for his university tuition, and the resources available to him for food and lodging were scanty. The permanent poverty and the strenuous mental efforts of his scholarship wore him out, and Stoyan became ill with tuberculosis. When, by God's mercy, he recuperated, his health was to remain frail until his last breath. In spite of this grave ordeal, the gifted student graduated with success from the University of Bern, which conferred upon him the academic degree of Doctor of Theology, after he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, entitled “The Meaning of Jesus Christ's Commandments in His Sermon on the Mount." The knowledge which he gained during his studies abroad, as well as the acquisition of a firm command of several foreign languages, did not, however, fill the young and promising theologian with pride and conceit. Instead, he sedulously pursued his studies and his brilliant career by adhering to the evangelic virtues and behaving with modesty, humility, gentleness, and purity of heart.

In 1937, Stoyan Alexiev returned to Bulgaria with excellent attestations to his scholarly skills, but with certain disordered theological notions. However, God's Providence watched over him. Soon after his return to his homeland, he visited the Holy Monastery of Rila, in order to offer prayers to St. John, in search of his further path in life. Here, the great hermit of Rila and intercessor for the entire land of Bulgaria arranged that he meet with Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev), a Hierarch richly endowed by God with various gifts of Divine Grace and known for his admirable humility and ascetic labors. His Eminence, who was then the Ruling Hierarch of the Orthodox communities of the Russian immigrants in Bulgaria, was also visiting the monastery, making a pilgrimage to St. John, a man of God for whom he also had deep veneration. This meeting was indeed momentous for Stoyan Alexiev. He had long yearned to meet a living Saint and to entrust his soul to him. There, then, in a sermon from the ambon of the monastery Church, the righteous Hierarch offered perspicacious answers to various spiritual issues that had been anxiously kept in the pious youth's bosom. The words—full of Grace—and the shining face and clairvoyance of the Archbishop won Stoyan's trust in an instant. He felt that this encounter with this man of God was a response to his innermost wish. The ensuing colloquies with the holy Hierarch strengthened in the young theologian his aspiration of long standing—to follow the monastic path. They strengthened his resolution to acquire in fullness the spirit of the Orthodoxy of the Holy Fathers. Subsequently, Archbishop Seraphim became his tutor and irreplaceable spiritual Father.

Already from his earliest meetings with the Hierarch, Stoyan, the future Father Seraphim, preserved one of Archbishop Seraphim's photographs, which he would thereafter always carry with him. On the back of it, he had diligently written what may have been the first spiritual instructions of his righteous Abba: “Better death than sin"—brief words, but words rich in their profound meaning and a spiritual testament of fidelity toward Christ—, as well as the Archangel's greeting to the Holy Virgin at the Annunciation, “Virgin Theotokos, rejoice...," which the Archbishop ardently recommended to his spiritual children in entreating heavenly aid in times of misfortune and danger.

Soon after his meeting with Archbishop Seraphim, Stoyan Alexiev was appointed a Professor at the Theological Seminary in Plovdiv, and not long after that, he was transferred to the Sofia Seminary. On February 3, 1940, he was tonsured a monk with the name of “Seraphim." It was hardly a coincidence that Archbishop Seraphim's heavenly patron, St. Seraphim of Sarov, should become the new monk's heavenly patron as well. Three years later, on the Feast of the Annunciation, Monk Seraphim was honored with the Priestly office, which signalled the beginning of his arduous pastoral work, lasting, as it did, for almost half a century.

The spiritual bond of the young Hieromonk with Archbishop Seraphim deepened, thereafter. Commiserating with the hardships which the Bulgarian Orthodox Church had to suffer, being isolated as she was, owing to the long schism with the Oecumenical Patriarchate, Vladyka Seraphim endeavored to aid the Bulgarian Church in the recovery of her spiritual life. [In 1872, Constantinople, which had ruled the Bulgarian Church since the fall of its ancient Patriarchate in the fourteenth century, declared the Bulgarian Exarchate “schismatic," on account of its desire for independence, and maintained that position until 1945—Ed.] He blessed his spiritual children—young Bulgarian clerics—to make great efforts to overcome unsound occultist influences and the chiliastic tendencies of certain sectarian movements, restoring the use of the forgotten Mystery of Confession and working for the rebirth of the Church's liturgical life. Father Seraphim absorbed with his whole heart the Grace-filled lore of Orthodox truths from the Spirit-bearing Hierarch. He acquired his love for the Holy Fathers, his ceaseless zeal for communing with God in prayer, as well as the Hierarch's subtle sense of spiritual life, which he later tried to instill in his spiritual children. Father Seraphim was to keep in his heart the Patristic teachings and instructions of his righteous Abba throughout his life; and, guided by them, he was to grow into a wise spiritual monitor, a dedicated confessor, a champion theologian of genuine Orthodoxy, and a renowned Church writer and inspired poet.

As early as the 1940s, Father Seraphim laboriously honed the literary talent he was granted by God, writing a score of articles, touching upon subjects of immense significance to the religious life of that time. Such was the origin of the following articles: “Are the leaders of ‘The Good Samaritans' Orthodox?" (Sofia, 1942) [The “Good Samaritans" were religious activists and enthusiasts working within Bulgarian Orthodoxy, but deeply influenced by Western Christian fundamentalism and Protestant sectarian ideas—Ed.]; “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy" (The Orthodox Missionary Journal [OMJ, in Bulgarian], 1943 [Nos. 3-4]); “Are the Lives of the Saints Authoritative" (OMJ, 1943 [Nos. 1-2]); “The Conduct of a Heretic" (OMJ, 1943 [Nos. 5- 6]); “The Meaning of Suffering" (OMJ, 1944 [Nos. 1-2]); “A Saint and Missionary" (OMJ, 1944 [Nos. 1-2]); “Pride and Humility" (OMJ, 1944 [Nos. 3-6]); “Will There Be Eternal Torments Beyond the Grave?" (OMJ, 1946 [No. 1]); “Saint John of Rila and His Significance for the Bulgarian People" (OMJ, 1946 [No. 2]); “Is Christ's Doctrine of Saving Oneself Egotistic?" (OMJ, 1947 [No. 2]); “God's Traces in Nature" (Spiritual Culture [SC, in Bulgarian], 1947 [No. 6]); “Spiritism, Seeing Spirits, and Telling Fortunes" (SC, 1949 [Nos. 9-10]), and so on. In these early and humble works of Father Seraphim, there is revealed, in an easily understandable way, the basics of the Orthodox world-view and of evangelical morality, as well as an attraction to the Holy Faith spawned by personal examples of holiness. His articles also expose the perniciousness of the heresies and prompt the followers of materialism to reflection. And finally, they unmask prevailing incorrect notions of temporality and of eternal punishment.

Apart from the works mentioned above, Hieromonk Seraphim also composed lovely poems, which uncovered in him the innermost, concealed beauty of a soul both honest and tender, turned towards God and its neighbor. The power of their impact is no less significant than that of his spiritual works in prose form. His poems set forth the immediate intimacy of his heart and capture the reader with their unpretentious sincerity and warmth.

In 1945, Hieromonk Seraphim was sent to the town of Sliven, where he served for two years as Protosyngellos (Chancellor) of the local Metropolitan's residence. His selfless and competent work was highly valued by the ecclesiastical authorities. In January of 1947, he was raised to the dignity of Archimandrite and appointed Head of the Department of Culture and Education of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Patriarchate in Sofia—an office which he held until 1960. In the years of spiritual darkness that followed, the Lord placed His faithful servant where his ebullient energy in working in God's held would be the most beneficial for the salvation of the souls seeking after Him. One of the first commissions which Archimandrite Seraphim assumed in his new path was to write a vitally-needed handbook of introduction to the Holy Orthodox Faith. Co-authoring his endeavor with Archimandrite Nikolai (Kozhukharov), he managed to prepare the book in a very short time. Entitled “Our Faith," it was printed in 1950 and remained, for decades, the only extensive catechetical handbook in Bulgaria, opening before the eyes of many the light of the Christian Faith.

However, Archimandrite Seraphim's transfer to Sofia in 1947 was important for him personally, as well, since he was able again to be in permanent contact with Vladyka Seraphim, whose repose would ensue in three years. Archimandrite Seraphim often visited his humble quarters at 30, Veliko Turnovo St., where he made his confessions to the Holy Hierarch and conversed with him for long hours. Apart from their dialogues concerning the innermost spiritual life, Archbishop Seraphim introduced Father Seraphim to diverse ecclesiastical matters that were a cause of anxiety for the future of Orthodoxy, advising him that, in his future theological and pastoral activities, he should champion the purity of the Orthodox faith. Among the topics of great importance that they discussed was the fast-developing ecumenical movement.

Even in 1938, at the Second Pan-Diaspora Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Archbishop Seraphim called on the ecclesiastical forum to reject Orthodox participation in the inter-confessional movement on grounds of principle. Ten years later, this time at the Pan-Orthodox Conference in Moscow, St. Seraphim again raised his authoritative voice, in order to expose the anti-Christian essence of the ecumenical movement and to insist that the Orthodox should not participate in it. At the sunset of his life, already physically enfeebled by his numerous labors and griefs, his legacy to his spiritual children was his affirmation that, as Orthodox, they had absolutely nothing in common with the heresy of ecumenism. A little before the Holy Hierarch's death, Archimandrite Seraphim assisted his beloved Abba in one of his last pastoral cares—a defense of the canonical buttresses of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. This took place in the following circumstances.

At the end of October 1949, in Sofia, there was organized a “congress" of Priests, in which a group of clerics of left-wing mentality attempted to lead the Church towards the path of innovation. They insisted on the restriction of the role of the Holy Synod, on second marriages for the lay clergy, and on “democratic" changes in the governing of the Church. Such a “modernization" of the Church was, indeed, tantamount to Her weakening and destruction—the very goal of the communists. So the new Power took over the initiative of the rebellious Priests and transformed it into a true threat to the Hierarchs of the Bulgarian Church. Archbishop Seraphim could not remain passive towards the alarming events in the country, which had become his second motherland [after Russia—Ed.]. While already bed-ridden with his last ailment, he yet found strength not only to support the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria through his prayers, but also to write an exposition in defense of her canonical foundations. In this document, he emphasized the significance of Episcopal authority and the inadmissibility of a second marriage for clergymen, basing his arguments on God-revealed evidence from the Holy Scriptures, as well as the Holy Canons.

Archimandrite Seraphim immediately translated this article into Bulgarian, and it was printed as an editorial in Tsarkoven Vestnik [The Church Press], Soon after its publication, the Vicar of the Holy Synod of that time, Metropolitan Paisius of Vratsa, openly confessed that Archbishop Seraphim's support had been of crucial importance for the pacification of the controversy then blazing within the Bulgarian Church. In this his last address to the Orthodox clergy, Archbishop Seraphim again painfully brought their attention to the perils menacing Orthodoxy, and called them to vigilance. “The Priests Union"—wrote the Holy Hierarch—“cannot but be aware of the fearsome and dreadful force that is presently waging war against the Orthodox Church in the guise of ecumenism. The pernicious flames of the latter have engulfed the entire world and have already drawn within its orbit several local Orthodox Churches.... The Church of Bulgaria can combat ecumenism, this formidable anti-canonical and anti-dogmatic evil, only by the purity of her Faith and by resolutely guarding her canonical and dogmatic treasures."

To Archimandrite Seraphim, the touching pastoral care manifested by Archbishop Seraphim on his deathbed, as well as Vladyka’s unremitting sense of responsibility for the future of Orthodoxy, were his last lesson in love for the Church and a testament to sacred struggle in defense of the Faith. Archimandrite Seraphim embraced this testament filially and abided in it, to his very last breath, as he was instructed by the Holy Hierarch—moderately but firmly, at the cost of countless heartaches and labors. Not long after, on February 13/26, 1950, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, Saint Seraphim moved on to eternity, at the age of sixty-eight. His death plunged his numerous Russian and Bulgarian spiritual children into profound grief. On behalf of all of them, Archimandrite Seraphim delivered a funeral oration, wherein he unintentionally disclosed the enormous love and homage paid to the ever-memorable Archpastor by his flock:

“Bereaved brethren and sisters," Father Seraphim said, “we are burdened by the heavy weight of dolor. We weep not for Vladyka Seraphim, but for ourselves; for we are now left orphans. But may we be consoled by this: that now, in heaven, there is great mirth because a new earthly Angel has joined the host of Heavenly Angels, and has thus increased the number of heavenly citizens. May we be consoled by the dear memories of our beloved Abba Seraphim! May we be comforted with his priceless testaments! Let us fulfill the soul-saving instructions which he gave us in his wondrous sermons. Let us follow his soul-saving example! Then death, which physically separates him from us today, shall not be able to separate us from him in spirit. Finally, let us thank our All-Good God for having sent in our midst such a treasure, for having allowed us to enjoy his presence. And let us pray that God might grant repose, in His celestial abodes, to His outstanding, chosen, and favorite servant, His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim."

The comforting days, when anxieties were dispelled simply by seeing the hallowed visage of his Abba, were now in the past for Father Seraphim. The times were becoming harder and harder. Having become stabilized, the communist authorities now relinquished their double-faced ways and revealed their genuine atheistic ugliness. The burden of the shepherd's service, which Father Seraphim would carry with self-denial for half a century, was redoubled by the conditions of ideological tyranny in Bulgaria. However, notwithstanding impediments and ordeals of every kind, which reality “behind the Iron Curtain" presented daily to the Orthodox shepherd, Archimandrite Seraphim remained an indefatigable sower of the Word of the Gospel. Meek and wise by nature, he saw that it was quite useless to argue with the blinded atheists; thus, he concentrated his efforts on serving Christ's rational flock and preserving the light of the Holy Gospel in the hearts of the oppressed Orthodox Christians. And in those years, to defend one's Faith was tantamount to a sentence never to climb the hierarchical ladder; readiness to suffer slander and denigration; readiness even to sacrifice one's life. Fortified by God's Grace, Archimandrite Seraphim took up this cross and, by his deep faith and love of righteousness, was able to achieve what few people could at that time. Laboring in Christ's vineyard in complex and difficult conditions, he preserved the purity of his conscience before God and his neighbors.

As head of the Department of Culture and Education in the Holy Synod, Archimandrite Seraphim attempted to deal with the critical decrease in the number of Bulgarian Priests. He actively took part in organizing pastoral courses and personally, in word and in writing, instructed and encouraged candidates to assume the burden of Priestly service. During this period, he wrote two important articles: “The Pastor as a Man of Prayer" (SC, 1954 [Nos. 4-5]) and “The Preacher: the Marks of a Graceful Preacher" (SC, 1957 [No. 10]). In these articles, he endeavored to reveal the ideal of the genuine minister and to encourage Orthodox pastors towards self-sacrifice and the exploits of prayer. In his concern for reviving the practice of the Mystery of Repentance, Father Seraphim prepared two wonderful booklets: he wrote The Forgotten Medicine (which originally appeared in SC in 1953 [Nos. 1-2]) and also compiled and published a particularly valuable handbook for pastors, co-authored with Archimandrite Methodius (Zherev), The Confessor’s Handbook (Sofia, 1955).

In this difficult period for the faithful, Archimandrite Seraphim maintained spiritual relations with a number of honorable Bulgarian clergymen and supported them in their adversities. He was particularly fond of Father Evstatii Yankov, from the village (now town) of Chepelare, with whom he was in spiritual communion. Later, in order to inspire the younger priests, he put his memoirs of Father Evstatii's praiseworthy life in writing. When compelled by circumstances, Father Seraphim never hesitated openly to take sides with Priests persecuted by the authorities, running the risk of bringing trouble on himself. Thus, in 1958, during the court proceedings against one Priest, Father Mikhail Apostolov, he made his appearance in the courtroom of the town of Stanke Dimitrov (Dupnitsa) and spoke in defense of the accused. For understandable reasons, his efforts were from the start doomed to failure, and yet he fulfilled the duty of his conscience, even though he had to suffer later the rebuke of some of his more “prudent" fellow-clerics.

In spite of all of every impediment, Archimandrite Seraphim took pains to care for the spiritual enlightenment of the faithful people, who were subjected to crass atheistic propaganda. Even today, aged Church-going people remember the emotion with which they listened to the series of his discourses delivered in various Churches in the capital and the provinces in the 1950s—a time of belligerent atheism. ...Hushed, half-dark Churches and a number of persons, thirsty for Divine words, with their eyes fixed on the gentle visage of the preacher and his warm and luminous appearance. “Beloved!" the inspired, almost youthful voice of Father Seraphim could be heard saying, as though hovering over the people. And every heart would feel that, in Christ's name, it was in reality beloved to him, and that for the sake of the people—Christ's lambs—, he was ready to lay down his life. His words poured out like a gushing stream, profound and full of truth and Grace, Filed with candor and Patristic wisdom. On the basis of these oral discourses of his, Archimandrite Seraphim in quite a short time compiled several greatly-needed books of spiritual enlightenment: Our Hope (Sofia, 1957) and Our Love (Sofia, 1958), with which he enriched and comforted the faithful. In them, he profoundly and, at the same time, lucidly described the foundations of spiritual life and Orthodox morality, revealing with captivating talent the sublime ideals of the Holy Gospel and God's commandments.

When speaking or writing about the Faith, the meek and amenable Archimandrite Seraphim exhibited firmness and courage. He allowed no compromises with his conscience in favor of the mighty and the powerful, or in tune with ad hoc situations. A fitting illustration of this is the following: A year or two after publishing Our Hope, Father Seraphim was called to the then Committee for Religious Affairs. There, he was reprimanded because in his book, when clarifying the bliss of peacemakers, he had pointedly distinguished graceful evangelical peace from mundane peace, which may be a matter of self-interest and even displeasing to God. To this topic he dedicated a separate chapter: “Peace with one's neighbor, displeasing to God." Now, in those times, for purely political reasons, the communist authorities unfailingly involved the Church in their “peace-making" initiatives. They insisted that Archimandrite Seraphim should publicly correct “his error" in a manner pleasing to the authorities. Father Seraphim, however, did not agree. So, the Committee turned to Patriarch Kyrill, in order that he might command Father Seraphim “from on high" to correct himself. The intractable Father Seraphim, however, did not yield to the pressure, because he did not want to sin even an iota in the face of Evangelical Truth—or to distort it in order to please the ruling authorities. Things went so far that the Holy Synod published a declaration by which it distanced itself from Archimandrite Seraphim's “private opinion." This “private opinion," however, was the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church.

While still living, Archbishop Seraphim encouraged and blessed those of his spiritual children with theological education to labor over hagiographical works, by means of which the ideal of Orthodox sanctity could be deeply impressed on the hearts of the faithful. A fruit of this blessing was Archimandrite Seraphim's book, Saint Seraphim of Sarov, which was published in 1957. This book soon became a favorite of the Orthodox Bulgarians. The total number of printed copies being small, the book was passed from one reader to another and was even copied by hand by Christians thirsting for Grace-filled spirituality. Later Archimandrite Seraphim would continue his work in hagiography, in order to resurrect in the souls of the faithful the brilliant visages of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, Equals-to-the-A- postles; Prince Boris-Mikhail, Equal-to-the-Apostles and Baptizer of the Bulgarian nation; and the holy Father, Saint John of Rila—Pillars of the national Church of Bulgaria. To them, Father Seraphim dedicated his studies: “Saint John of Rila and His Testament" (SC, 1958 [No. 11]), The Life of the Holy King Boris-Mikhail, Baptizer of the Bulgarian Nation (Sofia, 1965), and The Ecclesiastical Missionary Activities of Constantine the Philosopher—Saint Cyril (1969). Assiduous and conscientious, Archimandrite Seraphim was not be satisfied with a superficial narrative of the events in the lives of these Saints, but studied closely the available primary historical sources and, using the candle of faith, drew out of oblivion their holy legacies.

In 1960, Archimandrite Seraphim was appointed Professor in the Theological Academy of Saint Clement of Ochrid, at the University of Sofia. Thereby was fulfilled his heartfelt desire, of long standing, to devote himself to theological work and, through his teaching activities, to sow in the minds and hearts of young theologians a love for, and dedication to, Holy Orthodoxy. On the basis of an extensive study—a critical examination of the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos—, Archimandrite Seraphim was confirmed as docent [Assistant Professor—Ed.] in the area of dogmatic theology. His academic lectures enjoyed great popularity, fascinating as they were in their profundity, vividness, and gleanings from ecclesiastical history and the lives of the Holy Fathers. His lectures would often surpass the limits of the subject taught, being transformed into spontaneous spiritual conversations. With his humble comportment and prolific theological illustrations, Archimandrite Seraphim won over the affection and respect of his students, leaving in most of them indelible memories.

During the period of his work as a Professor (1960-1969), Archimandrite Seraphim worked on various theological treatises. In treating with some of these—such as original (ancestral) sin and redemption—, he took inspiration from the theological works of Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev). Other subjects he covered in jubilee commemorations, or in responding to specific emergent needs in defense of the Faith. Thus, he wrote a series of theological studies and articles, among which were: “Two Extreme Views in Western Christian Denominations Regarding the Most Holy Mother of God" (Annals of the Theological Academy [ATA], 1962-63); “The State of Man Before and After the Fall According to Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant Views" (ATA, 1962-63); “Redemption as an Act of Divine Love and Divine Justice" (ATA, 1963-64); “Franz Von Baader: A Roman Catholic Philosopher and Theologian in Search of Orthodoxy and Its Conciliarity" (ATA, 1964-65); “Bogomilism From the Standpoint of the Orthodox Dogmatic Foundations of Presbyter Cosma and Orthodox Dogmatics in General" (ATA, 1965-66); "The Unity of the Christian Church According to the Holy Apostle Paul" (SC, 1967 [Nos. 7-8]), etc. In all of these works, Father Seraphim commented on the theological subjects under consideration honestly and objectively, leaning exclusively on Patristic teachings. He rejected the fashionable obfuscation of theological notions and lucidly delineated the boundary between truth and falsehood—between the Orthodox Christian Faith and heresy. Most of his studies were printed in the Annals of the Theological Academy [A7A]. The last of them, The Ecclesiastical Missionary Activities of Constantine the Philosopher—Scant Cyril, was written on the occasion of the 1,100th anniversary of the repose of this outstanding Apostle to the Slavs, which was celebrated in 1969. Though it was already typeset and prepared for publication, its release was cancelled at the last moment, on account of the stand taken by its author, as a Confessor of the Faith, against the Church Calendar reform that was implemented at that time.

During these years, Archimandrite Seraphim enjoyed immense popularity among the faithful. His spiritual books exerted a beneficial influence over not a few human souls. His books were sought and read by churchly people. His poems were copied by hand and distributed hand-to-hand, and were even sent abroad, to kith and kin in exile. Notwithstanding the general respect paid to his works by the faithful, Father Seraphim's spiritual attunement was not affected or changed in the least. Modest and humble of heart, he fled from glory in all possible ways. When hearing words of praise about himself, he would merely bend his head and, with a sigh, utter the words of his favorite Optina elder, Schema-Hieromonk Macarius: “Woe to him whose glory surpasses his deeds!"

Yet, in spite of his sincere aspiration to remain concealed and unnoticed, the faithful sought him out for confession, counsel, and solace. As a good Christian pastor, Archimandrite Seraphim never turned away those who turned to him for spiritual support. He extended his paternal care towards his own kinsfolk according to the flesh, toil- worn people who had experienced the drudging hardships of refugee life. Father Seraphim tried hard to direct them to spiritual things. He would regularly visit his sister Mariika, and another sister—the eldest child of the family—, Daphinka. Toward the latter he felt particular gratitude. It was precisely she who carried him in her arms, as a one-year-old infant, in those fearsome days of 1913, when their parents ran straight from their cornfields to the North, to the free lands of Bulgaria, leaving behind their native village, destroyed by Are.

In his house on Pordim St., in Sofia, Father Seraphim's brother, Dimiter, consigned to him a private room. Here, to the gentle spiritual Father, during his receiving hours, visitors hied in one after another. There came pious old women, Priests, students of theology, the errant intelligentsia, and sorrowful people ridden with hardship.... Merciful and loving, Father Seraphim was ready to respond to everybody's pain. Some he would instruct, others he would encourage, and yet others he would reprimand and bring to their senses. To those in need, despite his indigence, he would give something from his limited means. Often, in order to console the despondent, he would read one of his new poems, and it would anoint, as with balm, a heart frosted by daily gloom. Sometimes he would sit at the old harmonium and, to its quiet accompaniment, sing in his clear voice a Psalm or a Sticheron. This, however, was but for a short respite. Otherwise, his talks were always directed toward the pit and pith of spirituality: enduring one another in fulfilling Christ's law, the struggle with thoughts and the passions, purifying one's heart, or the necessity for prayer and for constant directing of the thoughts of one's heart towards God.

About these things Father Seraphim spoke naturally and simply, without any pomposity or posturing whatsoever. In him, one would never feel the duplicity that tears apart the spiritually weak person. Using his inborn wittiness, he ingeniously concealed his abundant spiritual wisdom—the fruit not so much of his outward erudition, as of his profoundly-formed Orthodox Faith, in which his entire being breathed and lived.

There, hardly able to await his reception day, a bevy of young people would make their way, spiritually thirsty for his living words. At the very entrance to his room, they would ask: “Father Seraphim, tell us, please, something about spiritual correction." Archimandrite Seraphim would serenely smile, and without much preparation at all, commence: “I can say nothing...." For a moment, he would pause, sweeping across his visitors with his tender gaze, and then continue— “I can say nothing to justify myself!" And then he would start, in simple words, speaking about self-reproach, about contrition of heart, about how these things should be grafted onto the soul through the short prayer of the publican: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" Time passed imperceptibly. One wished that the river of spiritual milk would never stop flowing, and yet.... Other sheep of Christ were waiting outside, no less thirsty than oneself. Father Seraphim would see off his audience at the threshold, and there, smiling, conclude in rhyme [the rhyme in the original Bulgarian is lost in translation— Ed.]: “Let he who seeks spiritual improvement/Acquire a spirit of self-chastisement." And he would utter this so simply and lucidly, that one would remember it forever.

The years during which Archimandrite Seraphim taught in the Theological Academy coincided with negative transitions in the spiritual life of Bulgaria. In 1961, a great number of the local Orthodox Churches, among which was also that of Bulgaria, joined the World Council of Churches. Holy Orthodoxy was once more converted into a bartering chip in the hands of unscrupulous politicians and the offstage powers animating them. Archimandrite Seraphim's honest soul could not quietly assent to the rising danger which threatened to divert human souls from the path of salvation and redemption by Christ. Loyal to the testament of his Abba, Archimandrite Seraphim made all possible efforts to defend and guard the precepts of the Faith from change and to inspire love for them in the hearts of churchly people, theology students, and his spiritual children.

The pro-ecumenical, ecclesio-political course of the Bulgarian Patriarchate soon affected her liturgical life as well. In December of 1968, the Church Calendar, sanctified by many centuries of prayerful usage, was uncanonically scrapped for a new one: a “corrected" calendar. As it was officially declared, the motives for implementing the reform were ecumenical. The Orthodox Church of Bulgaria once again suffered spiritual damage. On the one hand, she was forced down the way of apostasy, while, on the other, her connection with the people, which had been weakened by many years of atheist propaganda, was now even more fiercely disrupted. Father Seraphim refused to accept the calendar reform and the ecumenical spirit implanted by means thereof. To clergymen who were his close associates, and who occupied even higher positions of responsibility in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, he repeatedly stated the serious theological reasons in favor of his stand, soliciting their support.

Alas, everywhere he met coolness and disinterest—something incomprehensible for his honest heart—towards his concern for Orthodoxy. He was admonished and told that the calendar reform was something insignificant and of little consequence, that “one should not burn the blanket because of the fleas." Being an experienced confessor, however, Father Seraphim recognized all too well the vicious logic of sin. He knew that he who takes a first—however “insignificant"—step on the road to apostasy will be coerced into making another and another, since having once gone astray from the behest of conscience, human reason is by all means capable of finding sufficient “logical" arguments in favor of sinful “rectitude." Being possessed of evangelical love of neighbor, and of meekness, Father Seraphim was downright shocked by the unprincipled position of his close fellow clergymen, among whom there proved to be, as well, some of those who were once favored by the love and the paternal care of the holy Hierarch Seraphim.

In 1969, Archimandrite Seraphim was retired from his professorial activity and post at the Theological Academy and, in general, from official ecclesiastical life, since he could not be a party to apostasy. Before leaving the Academy, at the solemn meeting on the occasion of the patronal feast of theologians, he delivered a noteworthy talk, in which he once more called the professors and the theology students to follow the path of Patristic Orthodoxy. In these hours—hard for Archimandrite Seraphim—, he received spiritual succor and comfort from the full unanimity in faith that he found in the persons of the nuns from the Convent of the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, in Knyazhevo [a suburb of Sofia—Ed.], founded by the holy Hierarch Seraphim, as well as in the person of his spiritual brother, Archimandrite Panteleimon (Staritsky), the faithful cell-attendant, for many years, of the righteous Vladyka and, after his death, spiritual guide to the Protection Convent. In the Knyazhevo Convent, Archimandrite Seraphim found also his last harbor; after leaving the Academy, he moved to the convent, where for more than two decades, until his very repose in 1993, he labored in spiritual activities and the profession of an ecclesiastical writer.

For his loyalty as a Confessor of the immaculate Church of Christ, Divine Grace grew in him, producing rich spiritual fruits. The time which he spent in grievous hardship for the sake of holy Orthodoxy also marked the ripest period of his work as a theologian, writer, and poet. Exercising enormous industriousness and feeling an intense sense of duty before a people thirsty for spiritual enlightenment, Archimandrite Seraphim composed in those years a series of books with vibrant theological, spiritual, and moral content, in which he revealed and defended the precepts of Patristic Orthodoxy. Printed on a typewriter or on a cyclostyle (mimeograph machine), his works were distributed among the faithful even in those difficult years; they were for many—and still are—a source of spiritual education and solace. His most significant works of this period are: Life After Life, The Optina Elders, Our Prayer, On the Lord’s Prayer, The Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian in the Light of Patristic Doctrine, The Orthodox Perspective on the Old and New Calendar, and his capital theological study, Orthodoxy and Ecumenism, composed and co-authored with Archimandrite Serghii (Yazadzhiev) [a colleague from the Theological Academy and an octogenarian, still living at the Protection Convent, who has written frequently for Orthodox Tradition—Ed.].

In all of these works, Archimandrite Seraphim proved to be an irreplaceable spiritual guide along the narrow and precipitous path to salvation. Their numerous pages manifest his profound knowledge of the works of the Holy Fathers from the first centuries of Christianity to our days. His books abound with wise instructions on spiritual life, which the author laboriously collected from their priceless works. With his habitual humility, Archimandrite Seraphim gladly allowed them, in his own words, the honor of being the teachers themselves, joyfully aligning himself with their pupils. Nevertheless, Father Seraphim shines forth with his own light. His rich spiritual and practical experience is manifested both in his personal, admonitory instructions, as well as in the many eloquent and memorable examples that he gave, all in his usual manner: unconstrainedly and intelligibly. Owing to these qualities, Archimandrite Seraphim's works offer, to this day, precious spiritual guidance for every Orthodox Christian seeking the one thing needful (cf. St. Luke 10:42): a ceaseless connection with God, achieved through prayer and vigilance. However, the life and work of Archimandrite Seraphim indisputably testify to something else. They testify to the living continuity which he realized—adopting it through his personal podvig—in the spiritual treasure of Orthodoxy bequeathed to him by the holy Hierarch and Miracle-Worker, Seraphim of Sofia: life in spirit and in truth.

On January 13/26, 1993, in his humble monastic cell—inherited from the ever-memorable Father Panteleimon—, Archimandrite Seraphim quietly departed to the Lord. He had already been slowly declining for several years. His physical strength was gradually abandoning him, even if his gaze continued to pour out graceful gentleness and warmth. Relentless pastoral labors had made their marks and their imprints on his body, old and failing in power. But his labors had not been in vain. The encounter of many deluded and suffering souls with the spiritual books that he wrote was momentous. And how much more may this be said with regard to personal meetings with him! He brought many people to the Faith; to many he taught the basics of the truths of the Gospel; and he prepared many for Holy Baptism. Many were those that he dragged from the mire of sin and vice. He converted others from all sorts of heresies and sects, in order to join them to Orthodoxy. Yet others he directed onto the narrow monastic path, fortifying them with a spirit of repentance and humility—the most certain landmarks on the way towards salvation. And when the harvest hour came, Father Seraphim's soul, like abundant, pure, ripe corns of wheat, was expecting the Heavenly Reaper. Yearning for the steadfastness of the Saints and the love of those who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus Christ, it, together with them, humbly bore in its bosom the pledge of hearing the words:

“On the fortieth day after Archimandrite Seraphim's repose, after the Panikhida for the repose of his soul was served, there began the all-night Vigil in honor of the forthcoming bright feast, which was especially dear to the newly-reposed—the Feast of Orthodoxy, the day on which Saint Seraphim of Sofia had passed to the Lord. In the unending torrents of prayerful hymns, extolling the Incarnate, Incomprehensible God and his Holy and Blameless Church, in our hearts there naturally emerged the realization that, midst the luminous choir of the Champions of Orthodoxy—together with his righteous Abba— there had also entered into celestial joy his faithful son and the preserver of his spiritual testament, Archimandrite Seraphim (Alexiev).''

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXV (2008), No. 1, pp. 8-22.