Friday, January 04, 2013

If he only had a gun.



Once St. Seraphim was beaten so badly by robbers he almost died and had to return to the monastery to recuperate.
While living in his little hermitage, St. Seraphim once suffered greatly at the hands of robbers. Although he was physically very strong and was holding an axe at the time, St. Seraphim did not resist them. In answer to their threats and their demands for money, he lay his axe down on the ground, crossed his arms on his chest and obediently gave himself up to them. They began to beat him on the head with the handle of his own axe. Blood began to pour out of his mouth and ears, and he fell unconscious. After that they began to hit him with a log, trampled him under foot, and dragged him along the ground. They stopped beating him only when they had decided that he had died. The only treasure which the robbers found in his cell was the icon of the Mother of God of Deep Emotion (Ymileniye), before which he always prayed. When, after some time, the robbers were caught and brought to justice, the holy monk interceded on their behalf before the judge. After the beating, St. Seraphim remained hunched over for the rest of his life. - Source

4 comments:

  1. I doubt he would have carried, let alone used a gun. I am holding back and don't want to get started on that topic. BTW, is that your artwork? I like it

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  2. No - it's not one of my works - I like it very much too - Seraphim was so simple and humble.

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  3. St. Seraphim had a martyr's spirit which was a choice that he certainly could make. If he were the father of a family protecting a wife and children from murder and possible sexual assault his actions would be, not only wrong, but cowardly.

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  4. Why even bring up that his choice would be wrong and cowardly if he were protecting his family? He wasn't.

    If he had a family to protect he'd have protected them.

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