Venerable Serapion of Pskov

Serapion of Pskov was a Russian monastic ascetic of the fifteenth century, remembered as the close disciple and lifelong companion of Saint Euphrosynus of Pskov. According to the synaxarion he was born at Yuriev, the town now known as Tartu, which at that time lay under German rule, where the authorities sought to stamp out Orthodoxy. His parents worshipped at a Russian Orthodox church dedicated to Saint Nicholas.

Drawn to the monastic life, Serapion went to the Tolvsk wilderness near Pskov and placed himself under the guidance of the ascetic Euphrosynus, the founder of the community later known as the Spaso-Eleazar Monastery. The tradition relates that on one occasion he attempted to take up solitary asceticism without his elder's blessing, suffered a serious injury to his leg, and returned to repent of his self-will and disobedience.

After receiving the Great Schema, the highest degree of monastic profession, Serapion dwelt constantly with Saint Euphrosynus for fifty-five years, strictly keeping the vow of silence. The accounts of his life dwell on his humility and his renunciation of possessions, describing him as one dead to the world. He died on September 8, 1480, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos; because that date coincides with a major feast, his commemoration is kept on September 7. He is also commemorated, together with Euphrosynus, on May 15.