Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: St. Seraphim has shown the beauty of Orthodoxy to the world by his life

On January 15^th, 2011, the commemoration day of the second invention of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and rector of Ss Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School of the Russian Orthodox Church, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Beheading of St. John the Baptist at the Moscow Patriarchal Metochion of the Chernigov Wonderworkers. Concelebrating were vice-rector, archpriest Vladimir Shmaliy; archimandrite Seraphin (Shemyatovsky) from the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia; and Rev. Mikhail Nemnonov, a cleric of the church.

After the divine service, Metropolitan Hilarion congratulated archimandrite Seraphim on his Name Day and addressed the worshippers. He congratulated them on the feast of St. Seraphim, the Wonderworker of Sarov, and told them of his life and deeds, calling him a bright ever-shining star in the galaxy of Russian saints. “Although he was not a bishop or eloquent preacher, by his very life and countenance he has shown to the world the beauty of Orthodoxy, which has been the foundation of the life of our people,” Metropolitan Hilarion said.