The Orthodox Church celebrates on January 15 the repose (+ 1833) and the second finding of the relics (1991) of the great Russian ascetic St. Seraphim of Sarov.
The future saint was born in 1759 in Kursk. In the Sacrament of Baptism, he received the name Prokhor. From the age of 10, the boy studied literacy, while he loved to attend divine services and dreamed of taking monastic vows.
In 1776, Prokhor made a pilgrimage to the Kiev Caves Lavra. It was there that he finally decided to become a monk. Upon returning home, where he received a blessing and a copper cross from his mother, he went to the Sarov monastery.
In 1786, at the age of 27, Prokhor took monastic vows with the name Seraphim. In November 1794, he went into seclusion.
St. Seraphim settled on the banks of the Sarovka River, 5-6 kilometers from the monastery, in a dense forest on a high hill. During this period of his life, the monk began to bear all the hardships of a hermit's life: he was engaged in farming, gardening, at the same time, constantly prayed, and endured various trials. On holidays and Sundays, the saint visited the Sarov monastery.
In 1806, they wanted to make St. Seraphim the monastery's mentor, but he refused. After that, there came a period when he alternated between various monastic exploits – silence, seclusion, and old age.
Since about 1825, people from different regions of the country began to come and come to Elder Seraphim for spiritual advice. The elder helped everyone who turned to him – to whom he gave advice, and to whom he helped with his prayers. At the same time, St. Seraphim took care of and spiritually nurtured the Diveevo monastery.
St. Seraphim of Sarov died on the night of January 2, 1833. He went to the Lord quietly, kneeling during the night prayer.
The Church canonized Seraphim of Sarov in 1903. On July 19 of the same year, in the presence of the imperial family, the relics of the saint were opened for public veneration.
The second finding of the relics of St. Seraphim, after the loss in Soviet times, occurred in 1991. In the fall of 1990, unknown remains were found in the storerooms of the Leningrad Museum of the History of Religion, which, after a church examination, were recognized as the relics of the monk.
In January 1991, they were moved from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra to Moscow, to the Epiphany Cathedral. On August 1 of the same year, they were taken in a procession to the Diveevsky monastery.