Cloud of Witnesses
Reviewed entry
Venerable (Monastic)20th century

Seraphim of Vyritsa

1866 – 1949

Also known as Seraphim of Vyritsa · Basil Muraviev

Born Basil Muraviev, a successful merchant who, with his wife's blessing, embraced monastic life and was later ordained. As an elder at Vyritsa near Petrograd he became renowned for spiritual counsel and prayer through the years of Soviet persecution.

March 21New Calendar
Feast Day
April 3Old Calendar
Also commemorated
  • April 3NewApril 16Old
Suggest a correctionContribute
Icon galleryBrowse icons and imagery elsewhere
Commemorated as

Our Venerable Father Seraphim of Vyritsa

Come to them for
A Peaceful Death

Life

Seraphim of Vyritsa, born Vasily Nikolaevich Muraviev, was a Russian merchant who, after a successful business career, entered monastic life and became one of the most widely sought spiritual elders of the early Soviet period. Sources place his birth in the Yaroslavl province in the mid-1860s, with the OCA giving 1865 and the Mystagogy account giving March 31 (Old Style) / April 13 (New Style), 1866.

After being tonsured at the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Petrograd, he served as confessor to the monks and later, settled at the village of Vyritsa, drew large numbers seeking his counsel through years of persecution and the Second World War. He reposed in 1949 and was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000.

Troparion1 hymnReadHide
TroparionTone 8

By a flood of tears you made the desert fertile,
and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance.
By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe!
O our holy father Seraphim, pray to Christ our God to save our souls!

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline7 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 1865–1866Birth in Yaroslavl provinceBorn to a family of peasant background in the Yaroslavl province. The OCA names his parents as Nicholas and Chione and records that, following his father's death when he was about ten, a neighbor brought him to Saint Petersburg, where he worked as a store clerk.
  2. Late 1880sMarriage and business careerAt about twenty-four he married Olga and established himself as a furrier, becoming very wealthy. The couple had children; after the death of their daughter, according to the OCA, Basil and his wife agreed to live together as brother and sister.
  3. 1920Tonsure at the Alexander Nevsky LavraHaving distributed much of his wealth to monasteries, he entered the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg. The Mystagogy account dates his entry to September 13, 1920, and his tonsure, together with his wife Olga, on October 19, 1920, under Archimandrite Nikolay Yarushevich, with the monastic name Barnabas (Varnava); Olga was tonsured Christiana.
  4. 1921Ordination and the Great SchemaHe was ordained a hieromonk in 1921 and later received the Great Schema with the name Seraphim, in honor of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. He served as Father Confessor to the monks of the Lavra, hearing confessions at great length.
  5. 1930sMove to VyritsaSuffering from illness, and with the blessing of Metropolitan Seraphim, he settled at the village of Vyritsa near Petrograd. The OCA records that after returning from the Soviet camps in 1933 he settled there for the remainder of his life.
  6. 1949ReposeHe reposed at Vyritsa, commemorated on March 21 (Old Style) / April 3 (New Style), 1949.
  7. 2000GlorificationHe was glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000, the OCA specifying August of that year.

Contributions & Legacy

3 contributionsReadHide

From Merchant to Monk

Before his monastic life, Vasily Muraviev was a prosperous merchant in Saint Petersburg, working in the fur trade. The OCA records that around the age of thirty he began distributing most of his wealth to monasteries, and that he entered monastic life only once his son had matured.

His tonsure at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra came amid the upheaval that followed the Russian Revolution. He and his wife Olga entered monastic communities together; she was tonsured Christina and later received the schema name Seraphima, while he was tonsured Barnabas and later took the schema name Seraphim.

Ministry as Confessor and Elder

As confessor to the monks of the Lavra, he heard confessions extensively, the Mystagogy account noting that he would sometimes spend two days without any break. This labor, together with the strain of his ascetic life, contributed to the illnesses recorded in his later years, including intercostal neuralgia, rheumatism, and venous congestion of the legs.

The OCA relates that he received the gifts of clairvoyance and healing, and that many people came to him seeking help and advice, including a recorded instance in 1927 in which he counseled Bishop Alexei and foretold his future patriarchate. At Vyritsa he became widely sought as a spiritual elder.

From the mid-1930s he undertook a new ascetic labor (podvig), praying on his knees upon a rock over a period of years in imitation of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a practice the Mystagogy account records he continued daily through the years of the Second World War.

Persecution

His monastic life unfolded under Soviet persecution of the Church. The OCA records that he was arrested fourteen times beginning in 1929 and maintained his ministry through that period, returning from the camps in 1933 to settle at Vyritsa.

Companions3 figuresShowHide
The wonderworker of Sarov, whom he took as his namesake at the Great Schema and whose ascetic prayer on a rock he imitated.
Seraphimof Sarov
Spiritual father at the Gethsemane Skete of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra who guided the young Vasily Muraviev in the years before his own monastic tonsure.
Venerable Barnabasof Gethsemane
Fellow ascetic of Petrograd associated with the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, martyred in 1937.
New Hieromartyr Gregoryof Schlusselburg
Related SaintsShowHide

Browse other saints who share his calling and place.

More Priests383More Russia560More Slavic Saints752More Monastics1353
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints