St Seraphim of Sarov

Born Prokhor Moshnin to a merchant family of Kursk, he entered the Sarov monastery in 1778 and spent decades in ever-deeper seclusion — years as a forest hermit, a long period of standing prayer upon a rock, and later enclosure in his cell. Around 1815 he opened his door to visitors, and thousands came: he greeted each one, in every season, with the words 'Christ is risen, my joy!' His counsel was simple and radiant — 'Acquire the Spirit of peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved.' His conversation with Nicholas Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, published decades later, became one of the most read spiritual texts of modern Orthodoxy. He guided the Diveyevo women's community with fatherly care and reposed in prayer before the icon of the Mother of God. He was canonized in 1903, with the imperial family present.