The Case For Fr. Seraphim Rose’s Canonization

As the late Fr. Thomas Hopko related in one of his lectures back in 2001, the Orthodox practice of canonization always started with the people venerating and elevating someone (1). The Church in Her Bishops then followed suit. There is no one more venerated in America than Fr. Seraphim Rose, you could maybe argue Elder Ephraim but that’s the only one close. May this article, from an irrelevant layman, make the case for Fr. Seraphim’s canonization and address a couple of the arguments used in opposition to it. May God’s will be done and my words blessed with truth, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Fr. Seraphim Rose Already Glorified Around The World

Canonization in the Orthodox Church is not legalistic like some may perceive as in the Roman Catholic Church. You don’t need a certain number of miracles to be a saint, we have saints that performed no miracles. Your body doesn’t have to be incorrupt, there are saints who were burned alive with no body left to be incorrupt. Your bones don’t have to exude fragrant myrrh, there are saints whose bones did not.

All of these things are still indicators, but the point being there is not a one-size specific rigid formula to this process. Except, as noted by Fr. Thomas Hopko (1), the universal constant was simply the people glorifying and recognizing a saint, as the Holy Spirit works collectively in all of us together. Local veneration begins and universal recognition comes afterward. I would make the case, this foundational step of local veneration is already cemented across the world, of the Orthodox faithful declaring “St. Seraphim of Platina.”

Across America, Russia, Georgia, Australia, Greece, Romania, and many more places. Fr. Seraphim Rose is already being glorified, be in it a local diocese in Georgia (2) or privately in homes. His icon as saint is even being displayed in Orthodox Churches currently around the world, such as this one in Australia (3).

And this one in Russia (4).

Metropolitan Nikolozi of Georgia also hangs his icon and has encouraged the people in his jurisdiction to ask for Fr. Seraphim’s intercession (5).

In Serbia, St. Seraphim Rose is memorialized on the ceiling of the Church as a saint (6).

Even in Cyprus, Greece, Metropolitan of Morphou says explicitly “Fr. Seraphim is a saint.” (7). He goes even further to say his sainthood has been confirmed by other saints, but does not go into detail. This is my own foundational and first case for his canonization, simply that the people have resoundingly spoken and await the hierarchy to confirm and speak the same. As has been the case for countless saints throughout history.

This process takes time of course, it usually takes many decades between someone’s death and their canonization. There’s also been claims he has a miracle working icon in Russia, many people have had dreams about him, etc. The validity of these miracle claims are outside anything I could ever attempt to attest to, that’s for people with far greater experience and authority to determine and decide on. I will speak on what I can actually observe myself.

Impact on America

Fr. Seraphim Rose is responsible (by God’s grace first) for mass conversions of Americans, specifically American men, to the Orthodox Church. This is a fruit of his works (Matthew 7:16). He is responsible for my own. His quotes read exactly like any other saint you’ve ever read, striking, powerful, and most importantly pointing you to Christ. There’s a swath of young men even now since 2020 that have their baptismal name as Seraphim, under St. Seraphim of Sarov, but ultimately because they could not choose Fr. Seraphim Rose yet. This began before 2020, but has just been exemplified even more since the pandemic.

It is easy to make jokes about all the Seraphim’s in church, which are humorous, however I think the impact of just how far-reaching Fr. Seraphim has been by God’s power is undervalued, overlooked, or sometimes even ignored purposefully. His words are relevant, displaying a modern way to follow Christ in today’s world. “Christ is the only exit from this world; all other exits-sexual rapture, political utopia, economic independence-are but blind alleys in which rot the corpses of the many who have tried them.”

“Do not be discouraged when you see how some rise up against you. It would be worse if everyone loved you, which means you please people too much. Christ was also hated, He was crucified. Why should we expect universal love if we follow in the footsteps of Christ?”

I could go on and on, lest this devolve into an article full of just quotations. And as I will get to shortly in the objections, he struggled with homosexuality before his conversion to Orthodoxy. On the contrary, this is actually a supporting case in America which has become more depraved, with the increase of those who identify as homosexual, and the open glorification of homosexuality as natural in our country. Fr. Seraphim speaks to a culture that such a temptation exists, and it can be fought against as not natural to human beings. His life, is an example of emulation of Christ, an overcoming of passions by the help of God which marks an incarnational visible change (8). That truly, they can become new, transformed, transfigured in Christ just like him.

His works, Genesis Creation and Early Man, alongside Nihilism, stand as beacons of light amidst the atheistic materialism secular society America has found itself in. The modern criteria and lexicon of science is what Fr. Seraphim answers with, in a language people today can understand especially in America.

I don’t intend to say just because he is popular; that aids to his canonization. There are plenty of popular people who garnered a big influence who were not saints, such as Arius. But at the same time we honor saints like St. Alexis for converting 20,000 Roman Catholics with his impact on America, Fr. Seraphim has at least comparable levels, if not more in my opinion. Just as miracles don’t immediately prove something alone, neither does a mass influence/impact either alone, but his impact is supported (and because of) the rest of the reasons in this article.

A Virtuous Life; An Orthodox Heart

Another theme we see with saints, often times they come in pairs. St. Gregory of Nyssa was a disciple under his brother St. Basil the Great. St. Augustine was the disciple of St. Ambrose of Milan. St. Justin Popovich was the disciple of St. Nikolai Velimirovich. St. Sophrony was the disciple of St. Silouan the Athonite. St. Ephraim was the disciple of St. Joseph the Hesychast. There’s countless more examples. Who was Fr. Seraphim Rose a disciple of? St. John Maximovitch.

Fr. Seraphim exemplified and taught a holy way of life, in what he frequently termed as “Orthodoxy of the Heart.” (9). He spoke of having Christian love, be the living example, and to be kind even with people we disagree with as the overly-rational intellectual spirit plagued Orthodox Christians of his time and even more so today. We must live from the heart, and call out the good we see in others. We must love everyone as God loves us.

“Only struggle a little more. Carry your cross without complaining. Don’t think you are anything special. Don’t justify your sins and weaknesses, but see yourself as you really are. And, especially, love one another.” + Fr. Seraphim Rose (10).

Fr. Seraphim explained it is harmful to call other people heretics just because they’re not Orthodox, and encouraged never to be harsh or polemical except in cases where they were trying to make people renounce the Orthodox Faith. Such as regarding Billy Graham, he didn’t chastise him, he actually said when asked about him, “he is good as far as he goes.” (11). He first operated out of a place of love, where there is agreement and overlap. And only then did he say “but we must go further,” indicating a sense of incompleteness more than outright known error.

He sought the Royal Path away from extremes such as the example of St. Augustine (12). He rejected both one extreme of denouncing everything St. Augustine wrote, refusing to call him a saint and thinking he got everything wrong. He also rejected the other extreme of wholesale endorsing every word of St. Augustine, that glorifies him to a level of basing entire theologies off of him alone as some super saint, ignoring where he did make mistakes. In our day where we are taught either-or options from birth, Fr. Seraphim provides a modern virtuous example of rejecting the dichotomy and embracing a higher option, the Royal Path.

Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), has stated the following while disagreeing about the toll-houses says this about his life, “Father Seraphim Rose was an astonishing ascetic. He had a great ascetic life. He had enormous struggles, enormous inner struggles, and he struggled with them in really great asceticism.” (13).

Even those who disagree with him, recognize the fruits of his life, the humility, the ascetic feats, the constant remembrance of God, the rejection of the world, and the famous quote of his “brothers it is later than you think, hasten therefore to do the work of God.” As notated briefly, Fr. Seraphim is endorsed by many hierarchs including Bishop Maxim (Serbian Orthodox Church), Metropolitan Neophytos (Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Greece), Bishop Gerasim (OCA), Archbishop Gabriel (ROCOR), Metropolitan Nikolozi (Georgian Orthodox Church), Bishop James of Sonora (ROCOR) and many more I don’t have the time afforded to compile.

Fr. Seraphim is also an example of someone who warred against depression and despair, before becoming Orthodox Fr. Seraphim was depressed to the point of suicidal (14). Fr. Damascene says, “When he became Orthodox, he became a new person. Of course he had no suicidal thoughts after he became Orthodox. There’s no record of that, and I certainly would doubt it, knowing of his true rebirth in Christ and the Orthodox Church. He said that he had been reborn in the Lord and he had felt such joy that he had never known.” (15).

America ranks the highest in number of suicides per year among wealthy countries (16), in a nation starving spiritually, Fr. Seraphim’s life is an example of someone who through Christ conquered depression and found joy in God and His Church. Men account for 75-80% of the suicides depending whose statistics you use, and the amount of men resonating with him is not a coincidence in my eyes. God provides and reveals the saints that are needed in His Providence for the time period people are in.

Objections Addressed - Scandal, Toll-Houses, and Homosexuality

There are usually three things I hear, if any, that concern people about Fr. Seraphim Rose and/or his canonization. The first being the scandal at the Platina Monastery by the priest at the time, Gleb Podmoshensky who Fr. Seraphim was close with for many years. Gleb, also known as Fr. Herman who was since defrocked for violating canonical rules, was accused of abusing children. These allegations against Fr. Herman are debated even to this day, to my knowledge he maintained his innocence, for the sake of the argument I will assume they are true while also not levying my own condemnation as I simply do not know.

People question if Fr. Seraphim knew about the alleged abuse since he was close with Gleb. They both worked on the Orthodox Word and they both were under St. John Maximovitch. However, he was defrocked by ROCOR in 1986/1988 (17), Fr. Seraphim Rose died in 1982. These allegations came out after Fr. Seraphim Rose’s death. There is no evidence we have that Fr. Seraphim knew about any abuse happening.

The only mention of it that I can find is in recent editions of His Life and Works and a quotation attributed to Fr. Alexey Young that states Fr. Seraphim’s last words to Gleb at the end of his life were“I’m finished with you. Damn you!” (18). Both of these say it was at the very end of his life that Fr. Seraphim even knew anything about Gleb’s abuse. I can find no sources that indicate anything else. To my knowledge, there is no police reports of the abuse to track either, some attribute this to a failure of ROCOR leadership not filing reports which that situation is not in the scope of this article.

Either way, the point being, there is no evidence that we have at least currently, that states Fr. Seraphim Rose was aware of any abuse during his time with Gleb, there are two brief mentions about finding out on his death bed/end of life that may need to be clarified by the sources involved, what we do have is proven evidence that reports of Gleb did not surface until after Fr. Seraphim’s repose (19), that began in 1985.

Toll-Houses are another main issue raised regarding Fr. Seraphim Rose, specifically in his book Soul After Death. I think this is a relatively simple response, if you think he’s wrong, it doesn’t disqualify sainthood, saints can be wrong.

Even his main opponent, Fr. Michael Azkoul, openly attests that Fr. Seraphim declared this to essentially be Theologoumenon, a theological opinion. “The teaching of toll-houses in Orthodox sources has never been defined as a ‘dogma,’ belonging rather to the tradition of Orthodox piety,” says Fr. Seraphim. (20).

Fr. Thomas Hopko offered his own commentary on the situation, illustrating the reality of toll-houses with some qualifications (21). Demons are not the judge punishing you for sins, Christ is our Judge. The demons may attack you sure, trying to get you to hold onto sin away from Christ. Look at the life of St. Anthony the Great by St. Athanasius. But this is an allegorical teaching that became too literally taken of aerial toll houses in the sky. The concept of a final testing so to speak, to ascend into the presence of God, being purified of sin is certainly real. Personally I believe these are reasonable qualifications made by Fr. Thomas Hopko to find the Royal Path.

As previously quoted from Archbishop Lazar Puhalo (OCA), there’s certainly an open position to disagree with Fr. Seraphim on the topic of the toll-houses and still recognize his ascetic efforts and even sainthood. The entire toll-house debate is beyond what I can write here, the ultimate point being is that a mistake does not disqualify someone from sainthood. Assuming you believe Fr. Seraphim is mistaken.

Archbishop Lazar was a deacon when he first wrote against Fr. Seraphim’s teaching of the toll-houses declaring it a gnostic heresy, these accusations were declared wrong by a synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The archbishop has since clarified that there should still be reverence to Fr. Seraphim. (22).

The last accusation I hear, although less frequently, is the topic of homosexuality. Do we know if Fr. Seraphim Rose struggled with homosexuality after his reception into the Church? No. There is no indication of such. Just as there is no indication despair ruled him as it once did before knowing Christ in Orthodoxy. And this is a witness as previously mentioned which I believe actually aids to his canonization case.

Where did this originate from? Cathy Scott, Fr. Seraphim Rose’s niece, was the one who brought his struggles with homosexuality to public light. Although it is said others already knew of it privately. Fr. Seraphim Rose was actually introduced to the Orthodox Church through his partner when he was younger (23).

It’s important to note the same niece also says this about him following his conversion to Orthodoxy and becoming a monk. “I wasn’t close to him, but I don’t think anyone was. He wouldn’t let any of us in the family hug him, he was so disciplined. I think he was lonely. I think he was close to God.” (24).

Fr. Seraphim once said: “I was in hell. I know what hell is.” He said this in reference to his young adult years before he knew Christ (25), while still living in sin including homosexuality. Therefore we have both Fr. Seraphim himself, and his niece who was the one who brought the homosexual behavior to light; both making a clear transformation to his behavior once becoming Orthodox.

The same people, who are few in number quite frankly, that say his homosexuality bars him from canonization would have to levy the same criteria to St. Paul being a murderer, St. Mary of Egypt being a prostitute, the list of saints are endless.

In my insignificant opinion, Fr. Seraphim Rose is a saint for the modern age, a Protestant converted to Orthodoxy, a homosexual who abandoned his sin for true love in Christ, a suicidal man who found joy in Christ, a holy man who gave himself entirely to the will of God. This is exactly the example America needs, of which America has already shown is responding to from the influx of conversions especially among young men wanting to take the name Seraphim for him. It is easy to mock, but I believe this is a fruit of his works. Fr. Seraphim’s relics being uncovered and attestation to miracles is something left to be assessed by the bishops and those at the brotherhood. I would humbly proclaim that the Orthodox faithful have already spoken, across the world various Churches spanning jurisdictions already declare and venerate, St. Seraphim Rose of Platina.

Pray to God for us.

Sources:

1. Fr. Thomas Hopko. (2001). Lectures on the Holy Trinity. Patristic Nectar Publications.

2. Akhalkalaki, Georgia. (2023). Fr. Seraphim Rose Locally Canonized in One Georgian Diocese. OrthoChristian. https://orthochristian.com/151232.html?fbclid=IwAR2PLLj6HotH_g1SMXVzW76zIxHRolv3-TZ6Z9PUrr1N3nJJh3Vsnk6dZ10

3. Icon of St. Seraphim Rose of Platina. Holy Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church in Homebush, Australia.

4. Fresco of Fr. Seraphim Rose as a saint, Holy Dormition Church in northern Moscow, Russia.

5. Dominick, Jesse. (2023). I Can’t Stop Speaking About Fr. Seraphim! Metropolitan Nikolozi. Georgian Orthodox Church. Orthochristian https://orthochristian.com/153644.html

6. Sabac, Serbia. Holy Trinity Orthodox Church. Fr. Seraphim Memorialized as a Saint on the ceiling of the Church.

7. Metropolitan of Morphou. (September 2022). Cyprus, Greece. Fr. Seraphim is a Saint.https://orthochristian.com/148093.html

8. Fr. Seraphim Rose before he became an Orthodox Christian. Visible comparison of the transformation that Christ brings to us.

9. Hieromonk Damascene. Orthodoxy of the Heart (Chapter 86). Fr. Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works. http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/fsr_86.aspx

10. Martini, Gabe. Quoted from Carrying The Cross And Suffering In Hope. https://pravoslavie.ru/72001.html

11. The Orthodox Word. Volume 38.

12. Fr. Seraphim Rose. (Published 2007). The Place of Blessed Augustine In the Orthodox Church. St. Herman Press.

13. Jim Content. Fr. Seraphim Rose. https://sb04137ae93bee783.jimcontent.com/download/version/1607290101/module/11886895498/name/Seraphim%20Rose.pdf

14. Allen, Kevin & Fr. Damascene. (2010). The Illumined Heart, Fr. Seraphim - The Man, The Struggler.Ancient Faith Ministries. https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/illuminedheart/fr_seraphim_rose_the_man_the_struggler/#:~:text=Stay%20in%20one%20place.,prevalent%20problem%20in%20our%20times.

15. Ibid. Allen, Kevin (2010).

16. Child Welfare League of America. CWLA. Suicide Rates Are The Highest in the U.S. Compared to Wealthy Countries. Commonwealth Fund. https://www.cwla.org/suicide-rates-are-the-highest-in-the-u-s-compared-to-wealthy-countries/#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20it%20was%20found%20that,along%20with%20several%20socioeconomic%20factors.

17. Psarev, Andrei. (2015). Children of an Age of Martyrs. Monk Herman (Podmoshenskii) In Memoriam. ROCOR Studies. https://www.rocorstudies.org/2015/03/14/monk-herman-podmoshenskii-children-of-an-age-of-martyrs/ ROCOR Studies indicates 1986, OrthoChristian and other sites indicate 1988.

18. Fr. Alexey Young, quoted by unknown author under the blog “Fallen Leaves.”   Part 8, Fr. Seraphim Rose. https://fallen-leaves.org/2019/03/07/fr-seraphim-rose-part-8/

19. Russian Orthodox Church. (2002). The 20th Anniversary of the Death of Heiromonk Seraphim (Rose). Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). https://www.russianorthodoxchurch.ws/english/pages/news/serrose20.html

20. Fr. Michael Azkoul. The Toll-House Myth: The Neo Gnosticism of Fr. Seraphim Rose. Published by Thoughts Intrusive. https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/the-tollhouse-myththe-neognosticism-of-fr-seraphim.pdf

21. Fr. Thomas Hopko. Allen, Kevin. (2014). Toll-Houses: After Death Reality or Heresy? Ancient Faith Ministries. https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/illuminedheart/toll_houses_after_death_reality_or_heresy/

22. Ibid. Jim Content.

23. Balchunas, Michael. (April 2001). Lives of a Saint. Pomona College. https://web.archive.org/web/20220425015404/https://www.pomona.edu/news/2001/04/13-lives-saint

24. Ibid. Balchunas, Michael.

25. Ibid. Balchunas, Michael.