BLESSED FATHER
SERAPHIM
OF PLATINA
SERAPHIM
OF PLATINA
Certainly there is nothing wrong with reading Scripture and reflecting on it. It would be even better to read also a commentary on the Scripture passages—such as that of St. John Chrysostom, which exists complete in English. 1
St. Seraphim of Platina, the rose of the redlands of Northern California, is the cause of inspiration and endurance of Goldenmouth—a library at the end the world—to present the angelic words of our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom in the context of the heavenly savor preserved on Earth by God-seeing elders and every-day holy ones.
Goldenmouth is no more than a lure to snag fish and bring them aboard the ark of our Holy Orthodox Church. Yet to catch men as fish, one must fashion the meal to disguise the hook, and one must angle in accordance with the pace of the tide. In all these things, Fr. Seraphim is our guide. For in presenting the Golden-mouthed John, we hook noetic fish with our Holy Father Seraphim, for he has taught us how to conduct ourselves at the end of all things.
Father Seraphim is an ascetic of the last times. A consolation to true strugglers. A healer of the abused and neglected. A traditioner of the apostolic life and witness. A noetic beacon leading sons to glory. And a luminary in the path through the Apocalypse.
We are unworthy of Holy Seraphim's witness to us, lowly Americans. We are impoverished in will and conscience, and can hardly lift our eyes to see the burning lamp of his witness in our dying times. While the Orthodox world stands close to our Holy American Father, we unworthy ones are aloof and far off. We are slow to heed his purifying words. We are ignorant to his humility, and dismissive of his God-illumined gaze. We have disdained his testimonies and have not postured our spiritual lives in congruence with the signs of the times.
Behold, the virgins stand ready at their lamps awaiting the Bridegroom.
Hasten, therefore, to do the work of God.
