"Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved." St. Seraphim of Sarov gave the world these words - and in them, an entire theology of the Christian life. What did he truly teach? What did he see coming? And why do pilgrims, monastics, and ordinary believers still encounter his presence as something living, not merely historical?
This book follows where that sentence leads. Written from inside the Orthodox tradition, Acquire a Peaceful Spirit opens the teaching, the prophecies, the relics, and the continuing presence of one of the most beloved saints of the Christian East.
What This Book ContainsThe sentence that contains everything - its full theological weight, and the life that earned the right to speak itThe great conversation with Motovilov - what the question finally was, what happened in that winter clearing, and why it remains one of the most extraordinary documents in Christian historyThe teaching given in the snow - how Seraphim spoke, and what he actually said about the goal of the Christian lifeThe prayer that never stops - Seraphim's transmission of the hesychast tradition to all who came to him"My Joy " as a way of life - the greeting that was also a doctrineHis prophecies - what Seraphim saw concerning Russia, the Church, and the times aheadThe relics: taken, hidden, and returned - the glorification, the Soviet confiscation, the walk out of the museum, and the river that crossed every borderIcons and presence - why an icon is not a portrait, and how Seraphim continues to act among the faithful nowMost readers first encounter St. Seraphim as a quotation or a golden image in a corner. Acquire a Peaceful Spirit refuses to leave him there.
Book Three of The Wonderworker of Sarov: A Life in Three Books.