At the age of 10, he became seriously ill. During his illness, he saw the St Mary, Mother of God in a dream, who promised to heal him. Several days later there was a religious procession in Kursk, with the locally revered miracle-working icon of the Mother of God. Due to bad weather, the procession took an abbreviated turn and was re-routed through the vicinity of the house of the Moshnin family. His mother put Prochorus up to the miracle-working image of holy Blessed Virgin Mary and he recovered rapidly. While at a young age, he needed to help his parents with their shop, but business had little appeal for him. Instead, young Prochorus loved to read the lives of the saints, to attend Church and to withdraw into seclusion for prayer and showed strong spiritual sensitivity from his childhood.

At the age of 18, Prochorus firmly decided to become a monk. His mother blessed him with a large copper crucifix, which he wore over his clothing all his life. After this, he entered the Sarov monastery as a novice. From day one in the monastery, exceptional abstinence from food and slumber were the distinguishing features of his life. He ate once a day, and little. On Wednesdays and Fridays, he ate nothing. After asking the blessing of his spiritual elders, he withdrew often into the forest for prayer and religious contemplation.

Prochorus was once again healed by the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who appeared to him accompanied by several saints. Pointing to the venerable Prochorus, The Holy Virgin said to the apostle John the Theologian: “He is of our lineage.” Then, by touching his side, she healed him.

He took monastic vows occurred in 1786, when he was 27 years old. He was given the name Seraphim, which in Hebrew means “fiery,” or “burning.” He was soon made a hiero-deacon (deacon monk). He justified his name by his extraordinarily burning prayer. He spent all of his time, save for the very shortest of rests, in Church. Through such prayer and the labors of religious services, Seraphim became worthy to see angels, both serving and singing in Church. During the liturgy on Holy Thursday, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the form of the Son of man, proceeding into the Church with the Heavenly host and blessing those praying. The saint could not speak for a long time after being struck by this vision.

Seraphim attained such spiritual heights that God gifted him with the spirit of Clairvoyance. Many have recorded having seen an uncreated light around him. ~ St. Seraphim’s admirer and disciple Nicholas  Motovilov saw him in heavenly light and said, “I cannot look at you, father, because lightning is pouring from your eyes. Your face has become brighter than sun and my eyes ache.” ~ Before death of Abba Sisoi, monks came to say good-bye to him and suddenly saw his face shining as the sun. ~ Someone met Abba Siluan and prostrated himself because Abba’s face and body were bright as an angel. ~ A brother came to Abba Arsenius’ cell in a secluded monastery, looked through the doorway and saw that the elder was all like fiery. Divine light is mysteriously given to every truly believing Orthodox Christian.

In 1793, St. Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk, after which he served every day and received Holy Communion for a year. St. Seraphim then began to withdraw into his “farther hermitage” — the forest wilderness about five kilometers from Sarov Monastery. He achieved great perfection at this time. Wild animals — bears, rabbits, wolves, foxes and others — came to the hut of the ascetic. St. Seraphim lived in a log cabin in the woods outside Sarov monastery and led a solitary lifestyle as a hermit for 25 years. Sarov’s eating and fasting habits became stricter. He ate bread obtained from the monastery and vegetables from his garden, then only vegetables. For three years, he ate only grass.  

One day, Seraphim was attacked by a gang of thieves while chopping wood. They beat him mercilessly with the handle of his own axe. He did not resist them and they left thinking him to be dead. The robbers never found any money or anything valuable to them. They only the copper crucifix and an icon of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) in his hut. Seraphim had a hunched back for the rest of his life. However, at the thieves’ trial he pleaded to the judge for mercy on their behalf. After this incident Seraphim spent 1,000 successive nights on a rock in continuous prayer with his arms raised to the sky, a feat of asceticism deemed miraculous by the monks of the Orthodox Church.

Seraphim extended his monastic teachings and experiences of meditation self-denial, contemplation to the laypeople. He taught that the purpose of the Christian life was to receive the Holy Spirit. Perhaps his most popular quotation amongst his devotees is “acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.”

As extraordinarily harsh as Seraphim often was to himself, he was kind and gentle toward others – always greeting his guests with a prostration, a kiss, and exclaiming “Christ is risen!”, and calling everyone “My joy”. Seraphim was immensely popular due to his reputation for healing powers and gift of prophecy. Hundreds of pilgrims per day visited him, drawn as well by his ability to answer his guests’ questions before they could ask. Many a times the pilgrims had to return, with asking anything but just seeing the uncreated light around him.

The days of the commemoration of St. Seraphim are August 1 and January 14/15 by various Churches.