The Life of Archbishop Seraphim (Ivanov), Second Ruling Hierarch of the Diocese of Chicago & Detroit
1897-1987
Vladika Seraphim, in the world Leonid Georgievich Ivanov, was born in Kursk in 1897, where he attended elementary and secondary school, graduating from the Kursk Classical Gymnasium (High School) in 1915. He then went on to study at Moscow University in the Philosophy Faculty, but his education was interrupted by World War I when the young Leonid joined the Imperial Russian Army. He volunteered for the front with the 1st Siberian Corps, where he took part in the Brusillov Offensive. He was then assigned to the Sergievsky Artillery School in Odessa, and on 15 August 1917 was sent back to the front. After the collapse of the Russian Army, he visited Kursk for a short time for the funeral of his mother in the fall of 1918. He then joined the Volunteer (White) Army, serving in the Markovsky Brigade of the Kornilov Regiment, taking part in the offensives on Kursk and Kharkov. During the retreat of the White Army towards the Crimea, he contracted typhus and spent time in the hospital in Feodosia. Evacuating from Russia with the White Army, he emigrated to Yugoslavia.
In Yugoslavia, the young Leonid continued his education at Belgrade University, where he enrolled in the Philosophy Faculty, but soon switched to the Theology Faculty. After finishing his studies, he served as a teacher of the Law of God in a Serbian High School in Skopje. In 1926, while on summer vacation from his teaching duties, he undertook a pilgrimage to Holy Mount Athos. The previous year, he had heard accounts of the ascetic life of the Russian hermits on the Holy Mountain, and went there to seek guidance from a holy elder in order to decide his future.
He arrived on the Holy Mountain in late June of 1926, and stayed with the Elder Theodossy of Karoulia in order to prepare for monastic tonsure. Elder Theodossy told the young school teacher that if he accepted the monastic tonsure from him, he would have to remain in Karoulia for the rest of his life; the future Vladika Seraphim agreed. Elder Theodossy then sent him to his confessor, the blind Hieroschemamonk Elder Ignaty.
The young Leonid then left with a guide to climb the steep mountain slope to visit Elder Ignaty. The blind Elder twice referred to the young school teacher as a monk; When he explained that he was not a monk, the Elder replied, 'And I tell you, you are a monk...' After confessing his entire life to the elder, and telling him that he desired to become a monk and remain forever in Karoulia, the elder said, 'Let's pray to God."
After the elder recited the prayers of absolution, he told the young Leonid, 'Go back where you came from; you are needed there. Pray to the Great Martyr Panteleimon. You will find an elder in another country."
Returning to Elder Theodossy and relating what Elder Ignaty had said to him, Elder Theodossy then told him that Elder Ignaty's insistence on calling him a monk meant that he blessed his intention to be tonsured; his advice to return to Yugoslavia and pray to the Great Martyr Panteleimon meant that he should not be tonsured by Elder Theodossy, but that he would receive the tonsure at the Holy Monastery of Saint Panteleimon. The prediction that he would find an elder in another country meant that the young Leonid would not stay long in Yugoslavia, but would labor in some other country. Years later, Vladika Seraphim remarked: "Everything happened as the elder had foretold to me." I was tonsured at Saint Panteleimon's Monastery. I spent two more years in Skopje, and then went to Carpatho-Russia, to Vladimirova, to Archimandrite Vitaly, later Archbishop, in whom I found an elder."
The young school teacher was tonsured a monk at the Holy Monastery of Saint Panteleimon on Mount Athos on 1 August 1926 (according to the Church calendar), the day the Holy Church commemorates the Opening of the Relics of Saint Seraphim of Sarov. At his tonsure, he was given the name Seraphim.
Returning to Skopje, he was ordained to the priesthood by Metropolitan Varnava of Skopje, later Patriarch of Serbia. The young hieromonk Seraphim served as a parish priest in Skopje until 1928, when he joined the brotherhood of the Monastery of Saint Job of Pochaev in Ladomirova, Czechoslovakia.
In 1934, the abbot of the Monastery, Archimandrite Vitaly (Maximenko), was consecrated to the episcopate for service in America. At that time, Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky) elevated the future Vladika Seraphim to Archimandrite and appointed him abbot of the Monastery of Saint Job of Pochaev.
In 1938, at the Second All-Diaspora Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in Belgrade, Archimandrite Seraphim delivered a report 'On Monasteries and Monasticism,' which included several recommendations concerning the establishment and activities of Monasteries in the Diaspora.
During the years that Archimandrite Seraphim led the brotherhood of the Monastery of Saint Job of Pochaev, the printing facilities were built up to the point that the Monastery became the most important printing center of the Church Abroad before World War II. During World War 11, the Monastery played an important role in printing Orthodox literature for distribution in the areas of the Soviet Union. The brother- hood printed and distributed Altar Gospels, Psalters, Priest's Service Books, and 200,000 small Gospels in Russian and apologetical leaflets. The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church demonstrated its support and appreciation for the missionary printing labors of the brotherhood in the form a donation of one million leva. In October of 1943, Archimandrite Seraphim delivered a report on the brotherhood's publishing activities to the Council of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad in Vienna, Austria.
In 1944, the brotherhood was forced to flee from the Monastery then went to Switzerland. In February of 1946, Archimandrite Seraphim was consecrated to the episcopate as Bishop of Santiago and Chile. The consecration took place in the Cathedral of the Elevation of the Holy Cross in Geneva, and was presided over by Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky), assisted by Bishop Ieronim (Chernov) of Montreal and Canada (later Archbishop of Detroit and Flint), and Bishop Nafanail (L'vov) of Brussels and Western Europe (later Archbishop of Vienna and Austria). After participating in the Council of Bishops, in May of 1946, Vladika Seraphim, unable to assume the post in Chile, emigrated with the brotherhood to the United States, where they joined the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Vladika Seraphim was named Abbot of the Monastery, and Bishop of Holy Trinity, and was a Vicar of the Diocese of Eastern America. In November of 1946, as an introduction to the turbulent situation of Orthodoxy in America, Vladika Seraphim attended the infamous 'Cleveland Sobor," during which the North American Metropolitan District seceded from the Church Abroad. As a newly arrived Bishop in the United States, Vladika Seraphim attended as a guest observer.
It was on Vladika Seraphim's initiative that the New Kursk Root Hermitage was founded in Mahopac, New York in 1948. The Hermitage served as the home of the Holy Kursk Root Icon and as the headquarters of the Synod of Bishops from 1951 to 1958, when both moved to their present quarters at 75 East 93rd Street in New York City. Vladika Seraphim served as head of the Hermitage from 1951 to 1957; during those years, he also became a permanent member of the Synod.
Upon the repose of Archbishop Gregory (Borishkevitch) of the Diocese of Chicago, Detroit and Midwest America in October of 1957, Vladika Seraphim was appointed to head the Diocese. In 1959, he was elevated to Archbishop. In 1960, in a brotherly effort to aid the Greek Old Calendar Church, Archbishop Seraphim and Bishop Theophil (lonescu), a Romanian hierarch who belonged at that time to the Church Abroad, consecrated Archimandrite Akakios (Pappas) to the episcopate. At that time, the Greek Old Calendar Church was without any hierarchs, and Archimandrite Akakios had been selected as a candidate for the episcopate by a council of 100 Old Calendar priests in Greece. The consecration was not sanctioned by Metropolitan Anastassy and the Synod, but was finally confirmed by Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) and the Synod in the late 1969.
Also in 1960, Vladika Seraphim established the Organization of Russian Orthodox Pathfinders (ORPR), and found and purchased land in a rural area 100 miles west of Chicago for the establishment of a children's summer camp to be operated by the ORPR. The property was named "Vladimirovo," and today is home not only to the ORPR Summer Camp, but also to Saint Vladimir's Parish, and a Russian Village.
Vladika Seraphim had a great love for youth, and for the Summer Camp he founded. With his kellenik, Archimandrite Feofan (Shishmanov), Vladika Seraphim spent every summer at Vladimirovo, celebrating the Divine Services for the Camp, and instructing the children in the Holy Orthodox Faith. Due to his love for and experience in working with youth, Vladika Seraphim was appointed by the Synod to oversee work with youth for the entire Church Abroad. Vladika Seraphim continued to be active at the ORPR Summer Camp until declining health and old age no longer allowed him to do so.
In 1974, Vladika Seraphim requested that Igumen Alypy (Gamanovich) of Holy Trinity Monastery be consecrated to the episcopate as Bishop of Cleveland, Vicar of the Chicago-Detroit Diocese, in order to help administer the Diocese. The consecration took place in the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Chicago in October of 1974.
From 1976, Vladika Seraphim was first deputy to Metropolitan Philaret. In the mid 1980's, Vladika Seraphim and Archimandrite Feofan went to live at the New Kursk Root Hermitage in Mahopac, New York. Although bodily weak and infirm, Vladika Seraphim retained his mental clarity until the very end. He reposed in the Lord at the New Kursk Root Hermitage in Mahopac in 1987, and was buried in the cemetery there. Archimandrite Feofan, who survived him for only a short time, is buried alongside Vladika Seraphim.
Vladika Seraphim authored numerous articles, which appeared in various Church periodicals, and was editor of Pravoslavnaya Rus for several years, beginning in Czechoslovakia and continuing at Jordanville. He also authored several books, among which were Palomichestvo v Svyatuyu Zemlyu (Pilgrimage to the Holy Land), and Odigitria Russkago Zarubezhye (Directress of the Russian Emigration), which is a complete and detailed history of the Holy Kursk Root Icon. Vladika also frequently addressed his flock on the Russian radio program Zarya. Two books of Vladika's radio talks were published in Chicago, one in 1968, one in 1972.
Although remembered as a strict and somewhat stern hierarch, Vladika Seraphim is also remembered as an Archpastor who loved and cared for his flock; those who knew him revere his memory.
May his memory be eternal!
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Bishop Seraphim Ivanov, the founder of Lost Lake, was born Leonid Georgovich Ivanov in 1897 in Kursk, the son of a printer. He served in the White army loyal to the czar during the revolution, and with its defeat by the communists he fled to Serbia. He earned a doctorate in philosophy and theology at the University of Belgrade, and in 1926 he went to a monastery at Mount Athos in Greece, attached to the Church Abroad, where he became a monk. He assumed the name of Seraphim of Sarov, a 19th-century ascetic from his home city.
In 1958 Seraphim became the archbishop of Chicago and Detroit, assuming command of a region that actually extended from Pennsylvania to California and south to the gulf states. The headquarters of this domain was the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral, a brownstone at 2141 W. Pierce. Services were held in the front parlor of the second-floor apartment. Soon Seraphim bought a Protestant church at Kedzie and Dickens.
Fearful that the quickly assimilating offspring of Church Abroad families were forgetting their roots, Seraphim revived an old dream he'd had of organizing a camp in the country. During the summer of 1960, or so the story goes, he drove out north and west of Chicago searching for a site and got lost in a thunderstorm. In the rain he came upon a commercial fishing lake that was up for sale and decided to buy it. The name Lost Lake is said to refer to Seraphim's being lost when he found the land, but at least one newspaper account says the fishing hole was already called Lost Lake Farm.
Seraphim's dream camp opened in 1961, drawing 50 youngsters for a four-week session. There were classes. The kids wore khaki-and-blue uniforms, much as they might have as scouts in prerevolutionary Russia. "We hope to provide a wholesome setting for the youngsters in which to nurture their belief in God," counselor Valentin Schlegowski told the Freeport Journal Standard. "It will also give us a chance to refresh our knowledge of the mother country. We hope to do this in our newly adopted country without forsaking the culture of the old."
In buying and expanding Lost Lake Seraphim had financial help--a bank loan and gifts from Serge Belosselsky-Belozersky, an expatriate Russian prince--and he also sold off lots in the subdivision to members of the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral. (Nick Gladkin paid $400 for his acre.) The cathedral parishioners started putting up cabins and trailers for summer use. They built a rectory and a church, a majestic arch over the entrance to the campground, and a barn that became the gathering place for festivities. John Logwinenko, a church deacon with a summer house at Lost Lake, built the church from a log kit and did the elaborate wood carving inside.
Seraphim and his secretary, an archimandrite (or highly placed monk) named Theophan Shishmanov, who had known his superior since Europe, became fixtures at Lost Lake. Seraphim taught the religion classes at camp, embroidering them with his personal remembrances. Theophan taught the camp courses in music and language, and on Saturdays during the school year he would conduct religious classes in which he'd discourse on the Bible and miracles. When in residence Seraphim occupied the upstairs of the parish house, which featured a private prayer room packed with icons. Theophan lived in a room on the first floor.
Seraphim was fair-skinned, with rosy cheeks, a prominent nose, a long white beard, and blue gray eyes; one eye was mostly blind due to an injury he received picking mushrooms in 1926. Theophan, five years younger, stood five-feet-six, with small hands, a gray beard, a sweet face, and a humble demeanor. The monk practiced his humility by constantly repeating, mostly in silence, what's called the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner."
Seraphim maintained a strict attitude toward his congregation, based on his interpretation of doctrine and his belief that followers of orthodoxy should, above all, be obedient to their superiors. "He was an old-soldier bishop, a tough cookie," says Nicolas Victorov, a longtime camper. There was no candy allowed at camp, or radios. In church Seraphim, austere in his black robe and hat, would reproach anyone who so much as whispered; women, instructed by church teaching to be subservient and decorous, were in danger of being tossed out for wearing a short skirt or a sleeveless dress.
Seraphim displayed a fierce temper. "He could tell anyone off in no uncertain terms if he had reason," says Father Gabriel, a monk who tended to the archbishop in his later years. He was hardest on Theophan, frequently chastising his attendant in public for his failings. According to Gabriel, Theophan accepted the fits of temper "as his daily bread, since in the Orthodox church monks are supposed to remain humble and absolutely pious." In truth Theophan and Seraphim were extraordinarily close, to the extent that they heard each other's confessions.
Gabriel describes the relationship between Theophan and Seraphim as that of a stern father paired with a loving mother, with positive effects for their offspring. "Such a father will slap the children around, and so they will turn to the mother," says Gabriel. "She smooths everything out and makes it right, and makes the children understand what the father is trying to say." To the parishioners at Saint Vladimir's and the residents of Lost Lake, Theophan was the mother, and Gabriel says they turned to him for comfort and interpretation.
Church Abroad priests couldn't go swimming, because they weren't allowed to expose their bodies. But one summer some campers tossed the bishop into the lake fully clothed. "He enjoyed that immensely," recalls Gabriel. "He could be strict, to be sure, but above all he loved the children, with their bright faces and their innocent pranks."
In 1971 Seraphim suffered a series of strokes, which affected his ability to speak and forced him to walk with a cane. Three years later Alypy Gamamovich, a monk at the Church Abroad's main monastery in Jordanville, New York, came out to Chicago to help Seraphim. Alypy, an accomplished icon painter, contributed many of the statues that grace Saint Vladimir's today. In 1983, shortly after Seraphim received chemotherapy for bladder cancer, Alypy assumed the role of archbishop--but not the title. "He [Seraphim] never actually resigned," recalls Alypy. "He told me I could take over, but that I should ask him about important cases."
Seraphim had permanently moved out to Lost Lake with Theophan, though the rural surroundings failed to blunt the bishop's health problems. In November 1985 Seraphim's intestines were found to be ridden with cancer. He provided for his succession by anointing Sykaluk, the parish choir director, a priest in a special ceremony at Saint Vladimir's. "I was scared because I was taking on such a big responsibility," Sykaluk remarks of his ascendancy, "but in time you take on more knowledge and experience and like everything else it works out."
Even as he grew sicker, Seraphim insisted on conducting services at Saint Vladimir's. When the worshipers could no longer hear his voice from the altar, he took to using a tiny microphone. He raised the possibility of being buried near the church, but local officials reportedly vetoed the idea for sanitary reasons; anyway, says Gabriel, the Church Abroad wanted the archbishop to be buried near church headquarters in Manhattan. Seraphim elected to die at the church's hermitage in Mahopac, New York. He had established that hermitage himself after the war; it was his first significant assignment in the U.S.
He arrived at Mahopac on February 19, 1987. On July 17 he attended services marking the murder of Czar Nicholas and his family in 1918, then went into seclusion, reading only the Gospels. On July 25 he didn't ring for breakfast and was found dead. He was 89 years old. Theophan, his companion for nearly 30 years, died the following November.
In 1958 Seraphim became the archbishop of Chicago and Detroit, assuming command of a region that actually extended from Pennsylvania to California and south to the gulf states. The headquarters of this domain was the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral, a brownstone at 2141 W. Pierce. Services were held in the front parlor of the second-floor apartment. Soon Seraphim bought a Protestant church at Kedzie and Dickens.
Fearful that the quickly assimilating offspring of Church Abroad families were forgetting their roots, Seraphim revived an old dream he'd had of organizing a camp in the country. During the summer of 1960, or so the story goes, he drove out north and west of Chicago searching for a site and got lost in a thunderstorm. In the rain he came upon a commercial fishing lake that was up for sale and decided to buy it. The name Lost Lake is said to refer to Seraphim's being lost when he found the land, but at least one newspaper account says the fishing hole was already called Lost Lake Farm.
Seraphim's dream camp opened in 1961, drawing 50 youngsters for a four-week session. There were classes. The kids wore khaki-and-blue uniforms, much as they might have as scouts in prerevolutionary Russia. "We hope to provide a wholesome setting for the youngsters in which to nurture their belief in God," counselor Valentin Schlegowski told the Freeport Journal Standard. "It will also give us a chance to refresh our knowledge of the mother country. We hope to do this in our newly adopted country without forsaking the culture of the old."
In buying and expanding Lost Lake Seraphim had financial help--a bank loan and gifts from Serge Belosselsky-Belozersky, an expatriate Russian prince--and he also sold off lots in the subdivision to members of the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral. (Nick Gladkin paid $400 for his acre.) The cathedral parishioners started putting up cabins and trailers for summer use. They built a rectory and a church, a majestic arch over the entrance to the campground, and a barn that became the gathering place for festivities. John Logwinenko, a church deacon with a summer house at Lost Lake, built the church from a log kit and did the elaborate wood carving inside.
Seraphim and his secretary, an archimandrite (or highly placed monk) named Theophan Shishmanov, who had known his superior since Europe, became fixtures at Lost Lake. Seraphim taught the religion classes at camp, embroidering them with his personal remembrances. Theophan taught the camp courses in music and language, and on Saturdays during the school year he would conduct religious classes in which he'd discourse on the Bible and miracles. When in residence Seraphim occupied the upstairs of the parish house, which featured a private prayer room packed with icons. Theophan lived in a room on the first floor.
Seraphim was fair-skinned, with rosy cheeks, a prominent nose, a long white beard, and blue gray eyes; one eye was mostly blind due to an injury he received picking mushrooms in 1926. Theophan, five years younger, stood five-feet-six, with small hands, a gray beard, a sweet face, and a humble demeanor. The monk practiced his humility by constantly repeating, mostly in silence, what's called the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner."
Seraphim maintained a strict attitude toward his congregation, based on his interpretation of doctrine and his belief that followers of orthodoxy should, above all, be obedient to their superiors. "He was an old-soldier bishop, a tough cookie," says Nicolas Victorov, a longtime camper. There was no candy allowed at camp, or radios. In church Seraphim, austere in his black robe and hat, would reproach anyone who so much as whispered; women, instructed by church teaching to be subservient and decorous, were in danger of being tossed out for wearing a short skirt or a sleeveless dress.
Seraphim displayed a fierce temper. "He could tell anyone off in no uncertain terms if he had reason," says Father Gabriel, a monk who tended to the archbishop in his later years. He was hardest on Theophan, frequently chastising his attendant in public for his failings. According to Gabriel, Theophan accepted the fits of temper "as his daily bread, since in the Orthodox church monks are supposed to remain humble and absolutely pious." In truth Theophan and Seraphim were extraordinarily close, to the extent that they heard each other's confessions.
Gabriel describes the relationship between Theophan and Seraphim as that of a stern father paired with a loving mother, with positive effects for their offspring. "Such a father will slap the children around, and so they will turn to the mother," says Gabriel. "She smooths everything out and makes it right, and makes the children understand what the father is trying to say." To the parishioners at Saint Vladimir's and the residents of Lost Lake, Theophan was the mother, and Gabriel says they turned to him for comfort and interpretation.
Church Abroad priests couldn't go swimming, because they weren't allowed to expose their bodies. But one summer some campers tossed the bishop into the lake fully clothed. "He enjoyed that immensely," recalls Gabriel. "He could be strict, to be sure, but above all he loved the children, with their bright faces and their innocent pranks."
In 1971 Seraphim suffered a series of strokes, which affected his ability to speak and forced him to walk with a cane. Three years later Alypy Gamamovich, a monk at the Church Abroad's main monastery in Jordanville, New York, came out to Chicago to help Seraphim. Alypy, an accomplished icon painter, contributed many of the statues that grace Saint Vladimir's today. In 1983, shortly after Seraphim received chemotherapy for bladder cancer, Alypy assumed the role of archbishop--but not the title. "He [Seraphim] never actually resigned," recalls Alypy. "He told me I could take over, but that I should ask him about important cases."
Seraphim had permanently moved out to Lost Lake with Theophan, though the rural surroundings failed to blunt the bishop's health problems. In November 1985 Seraphim's intestines were found to be ridden with cancer. He provided for his succession by anointing Sykaluk, the parish choir director, a priest in a special ceremony at Saint Vladimir's. "I was scared because I was taking on such a big responsibility," Sykaluk remarks of his ascendancy, "but in time you take on more knowledge and experience and like everything else it works out."
Even as he grew sicker, Seraphim insisted on conducting services at Saint Vladimir's. When the worshipers could no longer hear his voice from the altar, he took to using a tiny microphone. He raised the possibility of being buried near the church, but local officials reportedly vetoed the idea for sanitary reasons; anyway, says Gabriel, the Church Abroad wanted the archbishop to be buried near church headquarters in Manhattan. Seraphim elected to die at the church's hermitage in Mahopac, New York. He had established that hermitage himself after the war; it was his first significant assignment in the U.S.
He arrived at Mahopac on February 19, 1987. On July 17 he attended services marking the murder of Czar Nicholas and his family in 1918, then went into seclusion, reading only the Gospels. On July 25 he didn't ring for breakfast and was found dead. He was 89 years old. Theophan, his companion for nearly 30 years, died the following November.
Anniversary of the Repose of Archbishop Seraphim
On July 12/25, 2018, at the ORPR Camp which he himself founded, and in the presence of this year’s ORPR campers, the 31st anniversary of the repose of His Eminence, Archbishop Seraphim of Chicago & Detroit was marked by the serving of a pannykhida. In the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Peter, Priest Leonty Naidzions (spiritual father of ORPR camp) led the Divine Service, sung by gathered clergy and ORPR camp staff. At the intoning of “Eternal Memory” the American the Russian flags were lowered for night, according to the established custom of the camp. Together with Archbishop Seraphim were commemorated reposed ORPR camp clergymen, staff, campers, and those who were otherwise significant in the life of the camp. This year marks the 57th continuous session of ORPR camp in Vladimirovo. Before the pannykhida, Archbishop Peter spoke to the gathered campers, all of whom were born after Archbishop Seraphim’s repose, about the Archpastor: his life, his work for our diocese, and his repose. May his memory truly be eternal!
панихида по владыке Серафиму
Архимандрит Серафим, ставший впоследствии Архиепископом Чикагским и Детройтским, родился 1-го августа 1897 г. Родители его – Георгий и Вера позаботились о хорошем образовании сына, который окончил Курскую классическую гимназию и затем учился год в Московском университете. В 1916 г. он пошел добровольцем на фронт и участвовал в составе 1-го Сибирского корпуса. В дальнейшем он был участником Добровольческой армии – сначала в составе Корниловского полка, а затем в Марковской артиллерийской бригаде. После эвакуации будущий Владыка Серафим оказался в Белграде, где стал интересоваться богословием. Здесь он окончил сначала философский, а затем и богословский факультеты. В 1926 г. во время посещения Святой Афонской горы, в русском Пантелеимоновском монастыре, в день памяти преподобного Серафима Саровского, он был пострижен в монашество. В том же году будущий Святейший Патриарх Сербский Варнава (+ 1937 г.) рукоположил его во иеродиаконы и вскоре во иеромонахи. В 1928 г. иеромонах Серафим был принят в число ладомировского братства.
Под руководством отца Серафима братство много потрудилось на миссионерском поприще, печатало богослужебные книги, религиозно-просветительную литературу, церковные календари и другие книги, а также и газету «Православная Русь», редактором которой и был архимандрит Серафим. Во время Второй мировой войны архимандрит Серафим напечатал огромное количество книг. Собирая средства на это дело, он ездил в Болгарию. Он надеялся, что со временем ему удастся доставить богослужебные книги и, вообще, всякую церковную и просветительную литературу в Россию. Труды братства способствовали развитию церковной жизни в трудных беженских условиях, ибо все новооткрывшиеся церкви в беженских лагерях и других местах снабжались напечатанными ладомировским монастырем книгами. Многих трудов стоила и эвакуация братства преподобного Иова Почаевского из Ладомировой на Карпатах; сначала пришлось остановиться в Германии, а после войны братия перебралась в Швейцарию. Здесь в начале 1946 г. отец Серафим на основании указа Архиерейского Синода Русской Зарубежной Церкви был хиротонисан во епископы Блаженнейшим митрополитом Анастасием и архиепископом Иеронимом.
В том же году монашеская братия во главе с епископом Серафимом прибыла в США в Свято-Троицкий монастырь. Единогласным решением объединенной монастырской братии и утверждением архиепископа Виталия, настоятелем Свято-Троицкой обители был избран епископ Серафим. Им же было восстановлено печатание церковно-общественного органа «Православная Русь» и возглавлена монастырская типография. Вскоре же по сем в монастырь прибыл иеромонах Константин (Зайцев; + 1975 г.), ставший редактором «Православной Руси» и проявивший себя на этом послушании как «бескомпромиссный ревнитель церковной правды» («Прав. Русь», Ь 22, 1954 г.).
В 1948 г. архиепископ Виталий возглавил монастырь, а епископ Серафим стал заниматься подготовлением точки опоры для Архиерейского Синода в США. Владыка Серафим выхлопотал у князя Белосельского в дар Русской Зарубежной Церкви загородное имение в Магопаке и переехал туда, устроив Ново-Коренную Пустынь, и собрал там свою небольшую братию. Таким образом, когда митрополит Анастасий с Архиерейским Синодом прибыл в США, у него была готова база для дальнейшей деятельности.
Под руководством отца Серафима братство много потрудилось на миссионерском поприще, печатало богослужебные книги, религиозно-просветительную литературу, церковные календари и другие книги, а также и газету «Православная Русь», редактором которой и был архимандрит Серафим. Во время Второй мировой войны архимандрит Серафим напечатал огромное количество книг. Собирая средства на это дело, он ездил в Болгарию. Он надеялся, что со временем ему удастся доставить богослужебные книги и, вообще, всякую церковную и просветительную литературу в Россию. Труды братства способствовали развитию церковной жизни в трудных беженских условиях, ибо все новооткрывшиеся церкви в беженских лагерях и других местах снабжались напечатанными ладомировским монастырем книгами. Многих трудов стоила и эвакуация братства преподобного Иова Почаевского из Ладомировой на Карпатах; сначала пришлось остановиться в Германии, а после войны братия перебралась в Швейцарию. Здесь в начале 1946 г. отец Серафим на основании указа Архиерейского Синода Русской Зарубежной Церкви был хиротонисан во епископы Блаженнейшим митрополитом Анастасием и архиепископом Иеронимом.
В том же году монашеская братия во главе с епископом Серафимом прибыла в США в Свято-Троицкий монастырь. Единогласным решением объединенной монастырской братии и утверждением архиепископа Виталия, настоятелем Свято-Троицкой обители был избран епископ Серафим. Им же было восстановлено печатание церковно-общественного органа «Православная Русь» и возглавлена монастырская типография. Вскоре же по сем в монастырь прибыл иеромонах Константин (Зайцев; + 1975 г.), ставший редактором «Православной Руси» и проявивший себя на этом послушании как «бескомпромиссный ревнитель церковной правды» («Прав. Русь», Ь 22, 1954 г.).
В 1948 г. архиепископ Виталий возглавил монастырь, а епископ Серафим стал заниматься подготовлением точки опоры для Архиерейского Синода в США. Владыка Серафим выхлопотал у князя Белосельского в дар Русской Зарубежной Церкви загородное имение в Магопаке и переехал туда, устроив Ново-Коренную Пустынь, и собрал там свою небольшую братию. Таким образом, когда митрополит Анастасий с Архиерейским Синодом прибыл в США, у него была готова база для дальнейшей деятельности.