'....and around you thousands will be saved'

St Seraphim of Sarov

According to St Seraphim of Sarov, a Saint of the Russian Orthodox Church (1754-1833):

‘Acquire a peaceful spirit, and around you thousands will be saved’.

In his monastic life he touched the lives of many though he lived much of his life as a hermit. He lived in communion with the Church and by all accounts the gifts of Holy Spirit were showered on him in abundance.  Seventy years after his death he was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. His relics were confiscated by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution but rediscovered in 1991 having been hidden in an anti-religious museum during the Soviet era.

According to one source:

On 15 September 2016, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, presented a relic of St Seraphim to Pope Francis, on behalf of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.  The pope kept the relic by his bedside and venerated it with a daily prayer for unity. [see also here] 

Many of St Seraphim’s teachings on prayer, humility and the Holy Spirit resonate with Christians, East and West.  His life was entirely centred on Christ in prayer and fasting. Following an apparition of Our Lady St Seraphim began to receive pilgrims who came to him for help.  He continued to return regularly to his monastery to participate in the Divine Liturgy and receive Holy Communion.

Tachs

For Orthodox Catholics of the East, the Eucharist is a central part of Christian life – it is part of a living relationship with Christ and leads to transformation or what is referred to as theosis. The fruit of abandoning oneself to Christ is joy in the Holy Spirit and communion with the Blessed Trinity.