Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy
On Saturday, November 6, 2021, Holy Virgin Protection Church in Nyack, NY, held celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the death of Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy, at which a congratulatory message from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine was read:
To His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
Your Eminence, Dear Vladyka, Beloved in Christ Bishops, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters:
Today is the 50th anniversary of the day of the repose of Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy of blessed memory, a clergyman who made an enormous contribution to the ecclesiastical education of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people.
Fr Seraphim was a gifted person who burned with the desire of serving the Church, educating people, providing pastoral ministry not only for his own parishioners but many others who wished to commune with the treasure of the Orthodox faith.
The fruit of the efforts of Fr Seraphim became the renowned book The Law of God, with which more than one generation of people grew up in the Church. He was able to relate the history of the Old Testament in simple terms, reveal the wisdom of the New Testament and explain the practical aspects of Orthodox Christianity. In those days, when it was difficult to obtain Holy Scripture and theological literature, Fr Seraphim earnestly preached and wrote copiously, so that through the oral and written word of the priest, the Gospel reached the hearts of men. Even to the present day, Fr Seraphim’s book has not lost its significance, continuing the serve as a dependable guide to Orthodox Christianity. I am deeply convinced that this labor could only have been undertaken by a spiritually lofty person.
The Christian understanding of time is that it is given to mankind to self-actualize on the way of the Lord, to achieve divinity and strive for the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church was established by Christ to illuminate time through witness of God and the guidance of people towards salvation. I think that Fr Seraphim was joyfully a part of this blessed testimony. And we gratefully remember his service to the Church in the field of education.
The way that his memory is kept and the future of parish life in Holy Virgin Protection Church in New York, which he built, and the publication of his literary legacy, including conferences and concerts dedicated to his memory bear witness to the good spiritual harvest sown by Fr Seraphim. May the All-Merciful Lord grant him eternal bliss in His Kingdom, where there is neither sorrow nor sighing but life everlasting.
Eternal blessed memory to him!
ONUPHRY
Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine,
Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
5 November 2021
Kiev
