“To all, the sight of your face was a delight, and the sweet sound of your words a comfort.”
(From a prayer to St. Seraphim of Sarov)
Saint Seraphim. People remember him bent with age, yet ever joyful, kind, and gentle. Kindness, mercy, humility — these qualities marked the great wonder-worker and struck a deep chord within the Russian soul. This was certainly his image in later life. But in his prime, before a falling tree and a bandits’ attack bent his body, he cut quite a different figure. Standing tall at two arshins (177 – 184 centimetres, or around six feet), he moved with strength and vitality. Light-brown hair framed his fair face. A straight, sharp nose and expressive light-blue eyes, peering out from beneath thick eyebrows, pierced straight to the heart of those who met his gaze.
In silence moves he, softly glowing,
His eyes with heaven’s light ablaze,
Like streams of grace divinely flowing,
Through mortal souls his piercing gaze.
In wonder stood I, still and trembling,
My feet seemed rooted to the ground,
While his form, earthly shape dissembling,
Left warmth where peace at last was found.
A. P. Eremin
Portrait of St. Seraphim of Sarov (Moshnin, 1754-1833). Artist unknown. Late 1860s – 1870s. Kept in the “Church-Archaeological Study” of the Moscow Theological Academy
Those who met him, though, spoke little of his looks. Nadezhda Sergeevna Aksakova, who visited the Sarov Forest Monastery as a girl, later shared this memory:
“We came across an old man in a clearing, bent low to the ground as he worked at the roots of a fir tree. Sickle in hand, he swiftly cut through the tall grass that grew wild in the forest.
<...>
He put a finger to his lips, looking at us tenderly as if begging us children not to give him away to the grown-ups, whose steps we could already hear through the woods.
Our first glimpse did not draw us in. The hermit’s yellowish hair, damp with the sweat of his labour, lay in soft strands on his high forehead. His wrinkled face was speckled with dried blood where forest insects had bitten.
But then he sat down on the ground, brushing aside the grass he had trampled underfoot, and beckoned us over. Little Liza was the first to rush to the old man’s neck, pressing her gentle face to his shoulder, covered in rough cloth.
‘My treasures, my treasures,’ he whispered softly, his frail arms wrapping each of us against his thin chest.
<...>
Later, as we stepped from the forest shadows, Liza squeezed my hand. Looking up, she said: ‘You know, Father Seraphim only seems like an old man. Really, he’s a child, just like us.’ <...>”
Much happened in the seventy years that followed. I saw eyes both wise and kind, many filled with warm, genuine affection. Yet none have matched what I saw that morning, peering through the tall grass: those eyes that held both a child’s pure clarity and an elder’s seasoned grace.
In them was a revelation — a vision of love itself.
The smile that lit up his worn, lined face was unlike any other. It brought to mind the way nurses speak of sleeping infants — how they smile in their dreams, as though angels still linger near, playing with them”.
“Seeing in you a new chosen one of God, the faithful came running to you from afar... and you did not reject those burdened with troubles... granting comfort…” With these words from the Akathist, the Church honours the saint’s gentle yet active involvement in the lives of all who sought him out. His icons reflect this same spirit. Many, even those painted academically, capture through art the peaceful, gentle spirit revealed in his life.
The Hermit Seraphim of Sarov. Vasily Raev. 1830
In 1830, Vasily Egorovich Raev (1807–1870), a serf with an extraordinary gift for art, created a striking portrait after meeting the venerable Seraphim in the Sarov wilderness. His sketch captures the impression he received conversing with this hermit, renowned for his holy life. He preserved for us the familiar features — the eyes, beard, moustache, and hair peeking from beneath the monastic cap. Yet, this is no icon. It is Saint Seraphim alive: clad in a simple, coarse robe, belted with a twisted rag or strap. His eyes hold warmth but also a quiet sadness — the look of someone who longs for solitude, yet welcomes hundreds of pilgrims who come to the monastery specifically to see and talk with him. Raev also left his memories of this encounter:
“Back then, a remarkable hermit named Seraphim lived in the Sarov Desert, renowned for his holy life. He was small and bent with age, his gaze gentle and kind. He lived mostly in the forest and rarely came to the monastery. There, in the depth of the Sarov forest, we found his humble cells — built by his own hands — and nearby were the caves of Father Mark, another ascetic and schema monk who had been Seraphim’s teacher and guide.
<...>
...Two or three years later... the abbot of the Sarov monastery again sent his monk to Alexander Vasilyevich asking him to dispatch an artist to paint a portrait... of His Grace, who, while touring his diocese, promised to visit the Sarov monastery.
This time, Alexander Vasilyevich sent me alone. I set off for Sarov with a heart full of joy. <...> I longed to wander freely in the beautiful Sarov forest, to breathe in its balmy air. I also wished to see Father Seraphim. Every hope of mine was fulfilled: I roamed the magnificent forest until dawn, saw Father Seraphim, and received his blessing…”
Among the many depictions of Saint Seraphim, one stands apart as a foundation for later works: a portrait painted in 1828 by Semyon Serebryakov, an artist who would later take monastic vows at Sarov. This portrait, created just five years before the saint’s repose, became a definitive image of the elder. For decades, it was carefully kept in the abbot’s quarters at Sarov. Yet, during the brutal persecutions of the 20th century, when the monastery was closed, the original was lost. Even so, painted copies of this image grace various locations, including the residence of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Patriarchal chambers of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, the Trinity Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, the Nizhny Novgorod Diocesan Administration, the cathedral of the city of Kursk, and several private collections.
Icon of the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov in the Trinity Cathedral of the Serafimo-Diveyevsky Monastery. A copy of the portrait by monk Joseph (Serebryakov), made at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the sisters of the Diveyevo monastery.
The image conveys to us the true, distinctive features of the saint’s face and his gaze. Depicted in his later years, the elder’s grey hair is uncovered, and he wears a mantle with an epitrachelion draped over it. His right hand, pressed against his heart, signifies spiritual focus, as he prays absorbed in contemplation, a posture familiar to monks practising spiritual watchfulness in 18th-century Russia. It is said that at Venerable Paisius Velichkovsky’s monastery, a contemporary of Saint Seraphim, monks would often walk with one hand pressed to their heart as they prayed.
“Who am I, wretched one, to have my likeness painted? They paint the faces of God and His saints — but we are mere mortals, sinful mortals,” the Sarov elder once responded to a request for his portrait. Yet, out of kindness towards his devoted disciples, he allowed a few images to be created. One such depiction that stands out portrays him full-length in his declining years, a bent-over old man, dressed in a half-mantle, wearing a cowl, and girded with a white towel. The saint leans on a staff with his right hand, and in his left, he holds a prayer rope.
Lifetime portrait of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Novo-Diveevo Convent, USA
During the days of the saint’s glorification in 1903, the Imperial family prayed fervently before this very image. Through divine grace, this precious relic survived the upheavals of the 20th century. A devoted clergyman who had visited Sarov and Diveyevo safeguarded it. Eventually, the icon found its way to Kiev before being taken to Germany in 1943. Archpriest Adrian Rymarenko, then rector of Berlin’s Cathedral of the Resurrection, received the portrait and placed it in the church. After the war, Russian emigrants brought the Diveyevo relic to America, where it found a new home in the Dormition Monastery of Novo-Diveyevo. Only an hour from Manhattan, this radiant image of Father Seraphim still warms the hearts of American Orthodox faithful and countless visitors. This image is a true blessing that the Lord preserved amidst life’s storms for our comfort and strength.
O most wondrous Father Seraphim, great miracle worker of Sarov, quick to hear all who call upon you! In your earthly life, no one left your presence unconsoled. The gifts of healing, insight, and restoration for troubled souls flowed abundantly from you. And when God called you from earthly labours to heavenly rest, your love never ceased from us, and your miracles, multiplying like stars, are beyond number. Behold, throughout all the ends of our land, you appear to people and grant them healing. Therefore, we cry out to you: O most gentle and meek servant of God, bold intercessor before Him, who never rejects those who call upon you, lift up your mighty prayer for us to the Lord of Hosts, that He may grant us all that is good in this life and all that is profitable for the salvation of our souls, that He may protect us from the falls of sin and teach us true repentance, so that we may unhindered enter the eternal Heavenly Kingdom, where you now shine in unsetting glory, and there sing with all the saints to the Life-Creating Trinity unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Material prepared by the team from the website obitel-minsk.ru
Photographs from the Internet
Sources used:
1. The Monastery of Saint Seraphim / Pravoslavie.Ru ([pravoslavie.ru](http://pravoslavie.ru/)).
2. Life Portrait of Seraphim of Sarov the Hermit | Georgy Vesna “The Unhappy Man is Always Waiting for Something... The Happy Man is Glad for What He Has…”
3. Portrait of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. And in the Church of the Assumption... — Interesting Content in the Group Orthodox Monasticism
4. Iconography of Saint Seraphim of Sarov — Professor Alexander Kopirovsky — Yulia Voinova-Zhunich
5. It Can’t Be. Verses to Saint Seraphim, Wonderworker of Sarov | Alexander Petrovich Eremin
