March: Day 21: Teaching 3: Venerable Serapion the Sindonite

March: Day 21: Teaching 3:*
Venerable Serapion the Sindonite
 
(On the Means That Awaken Love for One’s Neighbor)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Serapion, an ascetic of the late 4th and early 5th century, whose memory is celebrated today, lived in Egypt. His entire life was devoted to care for his neighbors. In his youth, Serapion distributed all his possessions to the poor and, keeping only the necessary clothing and the Gospel, embraced monasticism. He did not have a fixed residence in any monastery, but went from place to place, striving everywhere to help those in need and to comfort them with the word of God. Venerable Serapion usually stayed wherever night overtook him, and in the morning he went on further.

Once, seeing in Alexandria a beggar trembling from cold, Serapion said to himself: “What kind of monk am I, if I have sufficient clothing, while this layman has none?” — and he gave him his garment. Then, seeing another beggar asking for alms, Serapion gave him his Gospel. When the Venerable one was asked where his Gospel and clothing were, he replied: “The Gospel told me: give your possessions to the poor — and I gave it; and the garment I gave to Him Who will give me in its place something far better.”

Serapion considered the greatest benefit to his neighbors to be their conversion to God. For this cause he spared nothing; for it he even sacrificed his freedom. Thus, once he sold himself into slavery to a pagan, and by his life and exhortations influenced him so greatly that the pagan, together with his whole household, was converted to Christ. On another occasion he hired himself out as a servant to a city official who adhered to heresy, served him for two years, and succeeded in persuading him by example and instruction to embrace Orthodoxy.

Venerable Serapion reposed in the Egyptian desert, having reached great old age.

II. Reading the life of Venerable Serapion, who was distinguished by his fervent love for his neighbor, we involuntarily ask ourselves: “By what means can we awaken in ourselves such love for people, such ardent compassion for their poverty and misfortune, as was in the heart of Venerable Serapion?”

a) The first means that can awaken love for one’s neighbor is self-compulsion. Suppose that you cannot burn with heartfelt love for your neighbor — but you can behave politely toward him, speak kindly, enter into his needs, listen patiently to his explanations, offer him advice, or at least wish him well. Begin with this the work of the great art of loving one’s neighbor; compel yourself to act generously toward those you do not love, and little by little you will see in yourself a change of a hard heart into a soft one. You will feel, instead of coldness and aversion toward your neighbor, if not love, then at least a disposition toward love. Further deeds may awaken in you higher, delightful, grace-filled feelings — and, being drawn by such pleasant impressions for our nature, you may become gentle, kind, and warm-hearted — in a word, loving toward your neighbor, experiencing in practice your ability to fulfill the holy commandment of God: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

b) If self-compulsion proves insufficient to awaken love for one’s neighbor, then for success in this matter another means may be used — namely, more frequent reading of the lives of those who were distinguished by love for others. Examples strongly affect our soul. Perhaps, by reading or listening to the lives of people who left behind a memory of love for their neighbor, we will understand the value of love, feel the sweetness of the blessings that come from love of mankind, and thus awaken in ourselves zeal and the desire to imitate those who were distinguished by love for others.

c) For the same reason, it is also beneficial, for awakening love for one’s neighbor, to associate with those who are distinguished by love of mankind, compassion, and mercy — in a word, love for their neighbor. A living example close at hand is stronger than one distant and lifeless. With whom we associate, we may imperceptibly become like them ourselves. Therefore, parents who are compassionate often have children who are compassionate. The same may be expected for anyone who draws near to people filled with love for others, in order to awaken in himself love for his neighbor.

d) But if neither self-compulsion nor examples of love awaken in us love for our neighbor, then we must resort to the most effective means of all: prayer. “Ask, and it shall be given unto you” (Matt. 7:7), says Jesus Christ. Therefore, ask — you who lack love — and love will be given to you. “Ask without doubting” (James 1:6), and you will receive what you desire. God commands us to have love for our neighbor, and therefore there is no doubt that He will give love to those who ask for it, since it accords with His holy will. It may be that, in His ineffable wisdom, God will not immediately grant what we ask, lest we become proud through the power of our prayer; but if we, with humility and patience, continue to knock at the door of God’s mercy and ask for love, then sooner or later the Gospel word will surely be fulfilled in us: “Seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matt. 7:7).

III. Through the prayers of Venerable Serapion, may the Lord — Who does not desire our destruction, but seeks our salvation — grant us a beneficent love for our neighbor.

(Compiled from the Menaion and from the book “Words and Speeches” by Jacob, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, Part 3, 4th edition, 1853.)

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

Notes:

* Venerable Serapion is commemorated in the Slavic calendar on May 14th and in the Greek calendar on March 21st, for this reason he is placed under March 21st in this translation, though in the original text it is under May 14th.