Recent Miracle St Seraphim: bibulous 40yr old rescued

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Barbara
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Recent Miracle St Seraphim: bibulous 40yr old rescued

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"In August of 2007, my wife and I took a tour of the Golden Ring. We travelled to the museums, monasteries, and churches. Not as pilgrims, but just to raise our cultural level. We always regarded the Church with respect, considered ourselves Orthodox, but we had no more than a vague understanding of Christianity, taken mainly from western films.

At forty years of age I thought that Christians believed in a Single God—Jesus Christ. I was even slightly preoccupied with the question: Where did God the Father go after the resurrection of the Son? I heard something about the Trinity, which was mixed up in my head with Andrei Rublev, the angels, and Abraham. I had also heard of the Holy Spirit but it just didn’t fit into my concept of Christianity, although I read the Gospels— three from start to finish and half of John. The last one seemed awfully complicated, and I didn’t have the wherewithal.

Well, of course I knew how to behave in church, just like any Orthodox person. I walked in, crossed myself, and bought some candles—one for the dead, another for the Mother of God, a third for God, and a fourth for the saint. You light a candle, place it in the candle stand, cross yourself, ask the Mother of God for family happiness, God for defense against your enemies, the Crucifix for help for your relatives in the other world, and the saint—something for yourself.

My life at the time was more or less successful. A loving wife, children, a good job, material prosperity, vacations on sunny beaches and in beautiful cities. Everything was fine. My wife unexpectedly got the inclination to skip the Canaries and ride along the Golden Ring instead. We had never been there; let’s go and partake of our own culture. Off we went.

Well, among the other places of interest we were taken to the Monastery of the Resurrection in the town of Uglich. They lead us off the bus, told us about when it was founded, when it was closed, and when it was restored, and then took us to the monastery church. It was a plain building, with whitewashed walls. It looked more like a peasant hut than an Orthodox church.

I looked, and on the wall hung two large icons—one of St. Seraphim of Sarov, and one of some other elderly man. Although I knew nothing about the Holy Trinity I knew and respected St. Seraphim. I looked at the saints and suddenly and unexpectedly felt I could trust them. I wanted to go up and ask a secret wish. An inexplicable conviction arose that if you ask they will give it to you.

Because my life was more or less successful I had allowed myself to grow a respectable beer belly, a double chin, and fat cheeks. I drank a lot of expensive alcohol, chased by an abundance of caloric appetizers—mostly meat. This caused me problems with physical exercise. I dreamt of going to the gym and dropping extra weight but my corpulent body resisted and held me back.

So now I looked at St. Seraphim and the second elder and asked them, “Help me to start going to the gym; I want to get in shape and be strong, I don’t want this oncoming flabbiness. Give me a push, give me the opportunity to make the first step, and I won’t let you down.”

I don’t know how to explain this, but they looked at me sternly and I heard the answer: “Look, young man, you promised not to let me down.”

Young man? At age forty? Why “young man”? “Of course I promise,” I said. “You just give me a push, help me out.”

I left the church fully expecting a wave of unprecedented physical energy, but nothing happened. I did not become stronger or more energetic the next day either, nor the next week, nor the next…

A month later I quit drinking. I woke up one morning after the usual drinking bout and understood that I will not drink anymore. That’s enough. I’d drunk my fill. Of course I was sure that this caprice would pass by evening. It wasn’t the first morning I had resolved to stop drinking, and by that time I had a lot of experience. But it didn’t pass. Two days later, lost in my guesses as to what had happened to me, I suddenly remembered Father Seraphim’s stern look and his demand that I not let him down.

Now I haven’t drunk for six years, I go to the gym and the pool, have a better physique and have shed a number of ailments. I am not drawn to alcohol in the least, and this is without any effort on my part. It’s an ordinary Miracle.

But most importantly, my wife and I now believe in the Trinity One in Essence and Undivided; we know what repentance is, we receive Holy Communion, and after three decades of living together we have been married sacramentally in the church.

Thanks to the prayers of St. Seraphim I now know that my life was not successful at all, but to the contrary I had spent the greater part of it drinking and eating, but I am not offended at the saint for letting me know this.

I thank you Father Seraphim, for your prayers for this forty-year-old teenager, which saved his life! "



http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/76529.htm


Isn't this typical of how the supplicant expects a certain result when he offers a prayer [ here, a burst of energy to exercise and diet ] but receives help in quite another manner. Here, the true goal was accomplished : having this man - only identified as Vladimir S. - drop his addiction to alcohol and pride in consuming the most costly brands which often accompany high living.

Vladimir requested help at the gym [ ! ] primarily for the sake of vanity when he could have asked for anything at all. He felt a certainty that his prayer would be granted.

Instead, he got everything that he and his family REALLY needed : freedom from a dangerous and liver-threatening habit which might have ended his happy sojourn on earth prematurely. An overarching goal which Vladimir hadn't even identified himself yet.
The family learned about the Orthodox faith. Probably the children were given instruction so that they would not grow up like their parents: tepid at best in their religion. That miracle of St Seraphim gave the children a great head start in life as well as healing the root troubles of their father.

PS - The sole drawback to this happy narrative is that we, the readers, never learn who the second Saint was on the Uglich monastery church wall !

We'll have to wait for Vladimir S. to write Part 2 in which he explains the role played by that Saint in his family's life. It seems not by chance that he was drawn like a magnet to the two icons, St Seraphim and the elderly Saint unfamiliar to Vladimir at that time.

Last edited by Maria on Tue 13 June 2017 5:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: edited to remove font colors and add quote tags
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