A new bishop came to Sarov monastery. He heard a lot about the saint Seraphim, but he did not believe the stories of the miracles of the father. Or maybe people didn’t say anything to him.
The monks met the bishop with a bell, honor and honor, they held him in the church, then in the bishop’s chambers. Well, they gave him a drink, as it should. The next day’s service. The bishop looked around and asked, “Where does Father Seraphim live?”
And the father then lived not in the monastery, but in his desert. And it was winter, snow in the forests of Sarov — snowdrifts in what snow!
The bishop barely passed. And that last path and he had to walk…
Father was warned that the bishop himself was coming to visit him. The servant of God went out to meet him without a hat (klobuk) and humbly bowed to the bishop. Bless me, the poor and sinful Lord! Bless you, Father! He called all the bishops: Father and Father.
The bishop blessed and goes ahead to his desert. My father’s got his hands on him. The entourage waited. Come in, pray, sit down. Father says,
My guest is tall, but there is nothing to buy from poor Seraphim.
The bishop, thinking that the father wants to treat him with a seagull, says:
— Don’t worry, I’m full. And that’s not why I came to you and made snow. There are different conversations about you.
— What kind of talk, Father? — Asks the man, as if he did not know.
They say you do miracles.
No, Father, poor Seraphim cannot work miracles. There is only one God who can do miracles. All things are possible for Him, Merciful. He created the world from nothing, Father. He fed Elijah through a crow. He and I, Father, look at what kind of grace he has given us.
The bishop looked into the corner, where the servant pointed, and there a large raspberry bush grew, and it is full of berries ripe.
The bishop is overwhelmed and can say nothing. In winter, a raspberry, but it grew on the bare floor! Like a fairy tale!
And Father Seraphim took a plate of tea and rips a raspberry. Narwhal brings a guest.
— Eat, Father, eat! Don’t be embarrassed. God has a lot of things! And through the wretched Seraphim through his prayer and through His ineffable mercy He can do all things. If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will also say to the mountain, “Move into the sea.” She’ll move. No need to doubt, Father. Eat, eat!
The bishop ate everything, and then suddenly bowed to the father in his legs. And the father was ahead of him and said:
You cannot bow before the poor Seraphim, you are the bishop of God. You have great grace! Bless me, you sinner, and pray!
The bishop listened and stood up. Blessed my father and said only two or three words:
Forgive me, old man of God: I have sinned against you! Pray for me in this world and in the hereafter.
— Listen, Father. Only you do not say anything to anyone until I die, otherwise you will get sick.
The bishop looks, but the bush is no longer there, and on a plate of raspberries the juice remained somewhere – so it was not a ghost. His fingers are stained with raspberries.
The bishop is out. The suite is waiting for him. Why do you think he talked to Father Seraphim for so long? And he, without a hat, again under the handle leads him to the sled. I put him down and bowed again in the snow.
As soon as the bishop left, he said to his own people, “The great saint of God.” The truth about him was that miracles can work.” But I didn’t tell them anything about the raspberries. But all the way he was silent and baptized, and no, no, no, and again he will say: “Great, great man!”
And when the father died, he told everyone about the raspberry.
MITROPOLIT VENIAMIN (FEDCHENKOV)
The Holy Land Charitable Foundation
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Orthodox stories from life
