Seraphim (Rose) of Platina

Saint Seraphim (Rose) of Platina, commonly known as Father Seraphim Rose among both those who venerate him as a saint and those who reject him, was one of the founders of the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in Platina. He was True Orthodox and a member ROCOR during the period when they were on good terms with Greek Old Calendarism and the Russian Catacomb Church, prior to the union of ROCOR-MP with the Moscow Patriarchate. He was a spiritual son of St. John of Shanghai who wrote extensively against the contemporary heresies of ecumenism, Darwinism, Sergianism, and modernism.

St. Seraphim has been glorified by some True Orthodox, although this is not widespread at present. (It is normal for glorification to take place half a century or more after the repose of most saints.) He is also widely considered a saint even in conservative World Orthodoxy. Some True Orthodox groups reject him—especially his later writings—because of his writings on what he called the Royal Path. This ecclesiological opion involved neither accepting communion with World Orthodoxy nor taking a hard position against the presence of grace in at least some of them (OCA excepted). It might be compared to several other positions such as the questionable openness of Met. Cyprian of Fili to grace in the state church, or the initial caution of St. Chrysostom of Florina which contributed to the the schism with the Matthewites.

His letters make it abundantly clear that he rejected communion with unorthodox groups as the OCA (then known as the Metropolia). However, it should also be kept in mind that these letters were written decades ago and some of the World Orthodox patriarchates had not yet gone as far as today.

There has been subtle but insidious alteration of St. Seraphim's works after the Platina monastery apostatized to World Orthodoxy (Patriarchate of Serbia), which contributes to the reservations which some True Orthodox—unaware of the forgeries—have about his sanctity. Specifically, endorsements of the Genuine Orthodox Church in Greece and the True Orthodox Church in Russia have been removed from such works as Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. By selectively removing phrases, the remainder of the text is made to appear as if it endorses a fighting from within position. Conversely, it has no doubt contributed to the popularity of St. Seraphim amongst conservative World Orthodox. In the same vein, later editions of his life have been censored. Apart from changing ecclesiology, some alterations appear to be about changing the spiritual meaning of events and “demythologizing”.

He was called Eugene Rose in the world.

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Writings

• Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
• Genesis, Creation, and Early Man
• The Orthodox Word magazine (as editor)
• The Soul After Death
• The Place of Blessed Augustine in the Orthodox Church
• Nihilism: The Root of the Revolution of the Modern Age