Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy was born on September 11, 1912, in Cherntsovka, Russia, where his father served as rector of a parish church. Growing up in the Church, Seraphim served as an altar boy, and also became an expert in the art of bell-ringing. His family suffered persecution under Bolshevik rule. Father Alexei, Seraphim’s father, was forced to go into hiding, serving the spiritual needs of his parishioners from the homes of the peasants who housed him. Eventually, Fr Alexei moved to the town of Petushka in the Vladimirskaya province until he was exiled without right of correspondence. He is believed to have died in the gulags, one of the many New Martyrs under the communist regime.
Because his father was a priest and he himself was faithful to the Orthodox Church, Seraphim was denied the privilege of a higher education. Nevertheless, upon graduating from middle school he was allowed to train as a painter. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1939, he entered the military. Sent to the front, he was captured and sent to a German POW camp, where he spent the rest of the war. While in this POW camp, Seraphim began to dream of building a church, should God preserve him. Although he was supposed to be repatriated to the Soviet Union, he managed to avoid returning to Russia, and ended up living in Munich. There, he met Princess Elena Alexeevna Lopukhina, who became his wife. While in Munich he organized a youth group devoted to discussing religion and philosophy from an Orthodox perspective. The popularity of this group led to Archbishop Benedict (Bobkovsky) of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia to encourage him to consider ordination. After prayerful thought, Fr Seraphim was ordained by the Archbishop on April 22, 1951.
Shortly after his ordination, Fr Seraphim was sent to the United States to serve as the second priest at Holy Fathers Church in New York City. A short while later he was transferred to Holy Protection Community in Nyack, New York, a suburb of New York City.
It was here that Fr Seraphim was to fulfill his wartime dream of building a church both physically and spiritually. Physically, Fr Seraphim joined his parishioners in working on the construction, including laying cement blocks and hauling wheelbarrows. More importantly, he devoted his time and energy to nurturing the spiritual needs of his parishioners and the community, especially among the youth.
A zealous pastor, Fr Seraphim rarely took a vacation, and when he did, he was not idle, but worked towards educating youth as the spiritual father of Camp NORR (Association of Russian Explorers Outside of Russia). As the parish grew, he and Matushka Elena developed a parochial school to educate the children and youth as Orthodox Christians and Russian-Americans. The most significant of his endeavors, however, was the writing of his catechetical book Zakon Bozhiy (The Law of God). Working late at night, he described the faith of the Orthodox Church with simple and profoundly lucid explanations. Published in 1966, this was, and remains, an influential catechetical text for Russians both abroad and in the Soviet Union, where numerous copies were smuggled in and copied by hand. Intended originally for youth and children, it became a respected work among adults as well, and was finally translated into English in 1992. According to Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow, “the legacy created in the Diaspora was republished in Russia in enormous editions — Archpriest Seraphim Slobodskoy’s Law of God alone, for instance, is used by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children in Sunday schools, while teenagers use this book to prepare for seminary.” Many believe that it is one of the finest simple overviews of the Orthodox faith written in modern times.
For his work in producing this book, Fr Seraphim was awarded a gold pectoral cross. Elevated to the rank of archpriest, he also received the kamilavka for his pastoral work, followed by a palitsa for 20 years service as a priest.
Constant exertion in the service of his parishioners undercut the strength of Fr Seraphim, and in 1971, at the age of 59, he reposed.
