Serafim Vyritsky (1866-1949), venerable

Categories / Religion. Church/Personalia
SERAFIM VYRITSKY (lay name Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyev) (1866-1949), a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. In boyhood he moved to St. Petersburg where he worked in the Gostiny Dvor (merchant's court), by the age of 30 he possessed his own fur stall in Apraksin Dvor, was married and had children. Under the influence of Monk Varnava (Merkulov) from the Gethsemane hermitage of the St. Sergius Trinity Lavra he started the life of an ascetic. In 1920, he took monastic vows under the name of Varnava in Alexander Nevsky Monastery (his wife also became a nun) and became a hierodeacon (deacon of monks). In 1921, he was a celibate priest; in 1927, he was a celibate priest in scheme under the name of Seraphim and confessor of the community of the Lavra. In the summer of 1930, he left for the village of Vyritsa near Leningrad where he lived for the rest of his life (from 1931 to 1945, at 7 Pilnoy Avenue). At the time of the Great Patriotic War he prayed on a stone slate for the salvation of his homeland (the stone is still preserved). He became famous for his prophetic ability and gift of spiritual healing. He was canonized in 2000, his relics rest in the chapel near the altar of the Kazan Church in Vyritsa.

References: Филимонов В. П. Старец иеросхимонах Серафим Вырицкий и Русская Голгофа. СПб., 1999; Соколова Л. И. Несение скорбей: Семья Муравьевых: (К жизнеописанию прп. Серафима Вырицкого) // С.-Петерб. епарх. ведомости. 2003. № 28/29. С. 149-164.

V. V. Antonov. Serafim Vyritsky (Vasily Nikolaevich Muraviev)
Varnava (Merkulov)
Филимонов В. П. Старец иеросхимонах Серафим Вырицкий и Русская Голгофа. СПб., 1999 Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor
Apraksin Yard
Alexander Nevsky Lavra