person
Serafim of Sarov
Serafim
also: старец Серафим, Серафим
An 18th-19th century Russian Orthodox monk and mystic (1754-1833), already widely venerated by 1886 though not yet formally canonized (canonization came in 1903); his image is one of a run of cheap popular prints (lubki) hung beside the icon in the inn's travelers' room, brought to leaping life by the stove's firelight.
Reading notes
- During Holy Week §34 the elder Seraphim
St. Seraphim of Sarov (1754-1833), a Russian Orthodox hermit-monk already widely venerated by the 1880s (formal canonization came only in 1903) and popularly associated in devotional prints and folk memory with befriending a bear in the forest; Fedya's post-confession fantasy of feeding bears and living on prosphora in the wilderness draws directly on this popular hagiographic image.