www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Hieromonk Seraphim Rose

I have read quite a lot lately about Blessed Father Seraphim (Rose) from Platina. (May his memory be eternal.) How is he regarded today by Orthodox theologians and also Eastern Catholic theologians? Do the Faithful honor him? Is he truly venerated as a new "Saint" (though not yet glorified) by Eastern Christians? I find his writings about living the Faith to be quite refreshing and challenging. Any thoughts? Comments?
Blessings+
Silouan, monk

Blessed Father Seraphim continues to inspire me. I refer to his writings often, some see him as a ultra orthodox figure.

http://www.sisqtel.net/~williams/

Bless me a sinner, Father Silouan,

Blessed Seraphim Rose has not yet been glorified a saint by any jurisdiction, but his icon is circulated for private devotion and there is an Akathist to him.

Alex

Dear Father Silouan, there are also many within Orthodoxy who believe Fr. Seraphim had some Gnostic tendencies within his works.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The 'many' who believe Fr Seraphim Rose had some gnostic tendencies are few. St John of Shanghai blessed most of his work and Fr Seraphim faithfully followed the path of traditional Orthodoxy. Whether he is a saint, I do not know. He is very popular in Russia. I saw his books in almost every church bookstore. I don't personally want to resurrect the thread on the tollhouses, an image,which is in every liturgical text that I use as an Orthodox priest, but I do know that Fr Seraphim did everything under obedience - a virtue lacking in his critics.

May God grant Hieromonk Seraphim, Eternal Memory!

Yours in Christ,

Fr Serafim
www.fatherserafim.info [fatherserafim.info]

Bless me a sinner, Father Serafim!

Well, I know Seraphim Rose is a saint . . .

The many miracles, the "odour of sanctity" that was present during his funeral, his growing veneration and the popularity of his writings . . .

It's just a matter of time before the Orthodox Church believes as I do!

Kissing your right hand, I again implore your blessing,

Alex

I two believe he is a saint.

Father, bless! Dear Father Seraphim, don't get me wrong, I too love many of his works and believe him to be a holy man, who kept up a true podvig until his untimely death. I pray for his intercession regularly.

His observations on the dangers of nihilism and evolutionary thinking are brilliant. And the last thing I want to do here is enter into the very heated intraorthodox fray regarding the positions of Father Seraphim Rose.

But I think you may be underestimating his detractors. "Many" includes the likes of Bishop Lazar Puhalo, Father Paul O'Callaghan and Father Michael Azkoul among others in the clergy.

Polemic literature has been distributed amongst Orthodox by clergy against Father Seraphim Rose. I personally know a former Antiochian Archdiocese priest who was disciplined by his hierarchy (he later changed jurisdictions) primarily for promoting Father Seraphim and his teachings.

It seems that a not insignificant number of the clergy of the Greek Archdiocese, the OCA and the Antiochian Archdiocese are negative towards Father Seraphim's teachings.

So, it would appear that Seraphim Rose, who was outside the mainstream of established seminaries, gets his main support in the places he was associated with, like ROCOR, and other orthodox groups, not always part of the established churches themselves. This was borne out locally where an OCA seminary-trained priest mentioned Rose's doubtful theological base, and a former HOOM priest, now OCA, supported it.

I wonder how much influence non-mainstream publishers have had in the support for Fr. Seraphim Rose? Published works can give a writer an air of respectability to some, whether it is well founded or not. No disrespect intended.

What is "HOOM?"

Odo

(HOOM was the Holy Order of MANS, which last year changed its corporate name officially to the Christ the Saviour Brotherhood, and is now mostly dispersed among several orthodox jurisdictions.)

Is the Christ the Savior Brotherhood a religious order? If so I had no idea there were religious orders among the EO.

Thanks,
Michael, sinner

No, the CSB was not a religious order. It evolved from a New Age type of cult into a quasi-orthodox group, and many of its followers entered mainstream orthodoxy over the last 10 years or so as in-tact parishes. Their websites are defunct now, as far as I know. There is some information relating to controversies at www.pokrov.org [pokrov.org]

Dear Diak,

I did not take your posting as an ad hominem attack on Fr Seraphim Rose. As I mentioned, there was a problem with the tollhouse imagery, which resulted in Archbishop Averky of ROCOR censuring Deacon Puhalo. The latter left ROCOR and disappeared into some fringe groups for a number of years, reappearing as a hierarch. May be Fr Seraphim's membership of ROCOR is the cause of criticism from modernist jurisdictions such as the Antiochians and GOA. It is very easy to argue over details and miss the underlying disagreement, which I believe to be traditionalists versus modernists. I think you know my position!

Yours in Christ,

Fr Serafim

St. Augustine believed in predestination... the tollhouse imagery may be Fr. Seraphim fault?

Without trying to make a St. Augustine out of Fr. Seraphim Rose we must remember that all Saints are not totally perfect.

I do believe Fr. Seraphim is in heaven and so I ask him to pray for me.

Odo