page_title: Seraphim of Sarov
section_title: Relics, canonization and veneration
hierarchical_section_title: Seraphim of Sarov / Relics, canonization and veneration
caption_attribution_description: English: Hut where he lived
context_page_description: Seraphim of Sarov, born Prokhor Moshnin, is one of the most renowned Russian saints and venerated both in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. He is generally considered the greatest of the 19th-century startsy. Seraphim extended the monastic teachings of contemplation, theoria and self-denial to the layperson. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to acquire the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst Orthodox believers is "Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved."
  Seraphim was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1903. Alongside his veneration in the Catholic calendar, Pope John Paul II also referred to him as a Saint.
context_section_description: There was a widespread popular belief in Russia that a saint's remains were supposed to be incorrupt, which was not the case with Seraphim as was officially ascertained by a commission that researched his grave in January 1903. This, however, did not deter canonisation, spearheaded by archimandrite Seraphim Chichagov as well as popular veneration. At the end of January (O.S.) 1903, the Most Holy Synod, having received approval from Emperor Nicholas II, announced Seraphim's forthcoming glorification. In early July 1903, his relics were transferred from their original burial place to the church of Saints Zosimus and Sabbatius. Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra provided a new cypress coffin to receive the relics. The solemn canonisation (discovery of the relics) festivities took place in Sarov on 19 July (1 August) 1903 and were attended by the Tsar, his wife, his mother Empress Maria Feodorovna, and other senior members of the Imperial Family.
  On 18 July 1903, Metropolitan Anthony Vadkovsky of St. Petersburg officiated at the Last Pannikhida (Memorial Service) in the Dormition Cathedral at Sarov, with the royal family in attendance. These would be the last prayers offered for Seraphim as a departed servant of God; from that time forward, prayers would instead be addressed to him as a saint. On 19 July, Seraphim's birthday, the late liturgy began at 8 o'clock. At the Little Entrance, twelve archimandrites lifted the coffin from the middle of the church and carried it around the Holy Table (altar), then placed it into a special shrine which had been constructed for them.
  The festivities at Sarov ended with the consecration of the first two churches dedicated to St. Seraphim. The first had been constructed over his monastic cell in the wilderness of Sarov. The second church was consecrated on 22 July at the Diveyevo convent.
  Following the Bolshevik Revolution, Soviet authorities severely persecuted religious groups.  As part of their persecution of Christians, they confiscated many relics of saints, including St. Seraphim. Furthermore, his biographer Seraphim Chichagov, who came to become a Metropolitan, was arrested, sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in 1937 (and is also celebrated as a Russian Orthodox saint).
  In 1991, St. Seraphim's relics were rediscovered after being hidden in a Soviet anti-religious museum for seventy years. This caused a sensation in post-Soviet Russia and throughout the Orthodox world. A crucession (religious procession) escorted the relics, on foot, all the way from Moscow to Diveyevo Convent, where they remain to this day.
  On 19 October 2016, relics of Seraphim were launched into space aboard the Soyuz MS-02.
  Seraphim is a patron saint of Russia's nuclear weapons.
caption: Hut where he lived
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