Seraphim the Anchorite

Saint Seraphim the Anchorite was a devout young man from Athens, from a rich family, who lost his mother after a grave illness and then, suddenly, his father also. The death of his parents shook him and made him reflect on the vanity of the world. He gave away his property to the poor, left his large store to his employees and came to the Holy Mountain. At the New Skete he met Father Neophytos at the Cell of Saint Demetrius, from whom he heard about the hermits on the peak of Athos. Neophytos accepted him as a disciple but kept him five years as a layman, preparing him spiritually in silence, then tonsured him a monk with the name Seraphim and gave him a blessing to struggle high on Athos, without seeing anyone.

After three years he came down once and told Father Dionysios, his fellow monk, of the temptations of the beginning: the demons threatened him constantly. One night they threw down an old sheet of metal he had put in front of the cave to keep out the wind and rain. Seraphim was not troubled, but smiled and said to the demons: "God forgive you. You did well, for I had spoiled the cave with the sheet of metal." He appeared once more, after five years, when Father Neophytos gave him an artophorion with the Holy Communion, and he returned to the peak of Athos, from where he was never seen again. The story is preserved by Saint Paisios the Athonite. He is honoured by the faithful, without synodal canonization.