Mission Statement: ‘Save yourself and thousands around you will be saved.’ – St. Seraphim
Note: The Seraphim Society meetings and original web site have been set aside indefinitely due to changes in the personal lives of participants. The Orthopraxy blog is quite active, however, and houses the archives of the Seraphim Society in the Quotations categories. We were in the process of composing a letter to get formal approval by our Bishop when events in a member’s family sent us in different directions. If you think of us, pray that we may continue in theosis.
- Image by jimforest via Flickr
The Society of St. Seraphim of Sarov is an informal devotional society dedicated to St. Seraphim, but pursuing the teaching of all the Fathers, Saints, and great Ascetics of Holy Orthodoxy.
We take the maxim, “Save yourself, and thousands will be saved.” to be at once our mission for ourselves and our methodology of mission in general. We are dedicated to the one and only purpose for which all things in Orthodoxy exist, namely theosis (or deification).
We are a small group of people who meet weekly to pray Compline or one of the hours, encourage one another during the fasts of the Church, seek to overcome the passions, read and discuss the fathers of the Church, and ultimately make the direction of our lives that of union with God. One might say our twin interests are patristics and the ordinary asceticism of Orthodox living.
We believe in doing “all things together with the bishop,” and so do not really see ourselves as a para-Church society. Rather, each of us is in good standing and communion with Orthodox Churches, united to a bishop, and intends to remain so, seeking always salvation by the prayers of all, and to pray also for our beloved brethren and clergy, and most especially for our beloved hierarch, rightly dividing the word of Truth.
The Seraphim Society web site serves as a point of reference for reflection, a place to share interesting quotations and a few comments, and a means for those who have the care of us to look in on what we’re doing and offer us further wisdom and, if because of it they happen to think of us, pray for mercy and for our salvation.
We refer to ourselves informally as “The Seraphim Society” or simply “4S”. A screen shot of the web site is below:
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Tuesdays
- Compline & Readings: 6:30-9:30pm – We start gathering around 6pm. Holy Compline starts by 6:30pm.
Thursdays
- Matins: carpool 6:30am, starts 7:00am
Sundays
- The Typical Psalms: 9am
- or else Divine Liturgy: carpool 7:15am, hours start at 9:10am
At Other Times
- Family study. Members of the society also study and pray with their own families at various times during the week, which makes for happy unions and orthodox children.
4,468 visits: We’re not experts in anything; mostly we can tell you what we don’t know. We’re just a small group of people trying to follow St. Seraphim’s encouragement to pursue theosis – to save ourselves.
On Our Minds: Asceticism Christology Fasting grace Humility Lives love Marriage Mission Peacemaking People Pieties Prayer Prophesy Simplicity Syngeneia The Bishop The Enemy Theology Theosis The Passions The Poor The World Uncategorized
