Our Story
The life of Saint Seraphim of Sarov is one riddled by trials, temptations and tribulations. While striving to live a life of holy asceticism in the wilderness by prayer and labor, Saint Seraphim was attacked by thieves who broke his back, his body, and his head, leaving him on the brink of death. Yet instead of giving in to despair over his physical ruin, the Saint’s faith was only strengthened and because of his resiliency and devotion to God, he was crowned worthy to take his place among the saints in heaven.
Our parish of Saint Seraphim of Sarov set in the countryside of Hanover County, Virginia began, as many Orthodox parishes do, with a couple of icons in a devout family’s living room where a handful of the faithful gathered to pray. After a few years and as the community began to take root and grow, Father Nicodemos and his wife, Presbytera Lydia, sought out a suitable place for their parishioners to worship. There were many trials that went along with raising funds and procuring the property. However, with the help of God, generous donations poured in and everything seemed to fall quickly into place. In 1994, a small country house with aging siding and a rusty tin roof was chosen as the new house of God for our church family.
After ten years, an excited group of parishioners gathered to watch the much anticipated renovations transform the old country house: new siding went up, the building was expanded and a modest, sky blue onion dome was erected over the roof of the church. The parish flourished. Perhaps God took this time to test the faith of his people as he did to our patron, Saint Seraphim. In the saint’s life, malicious thieves destroyed Saint Seraphim’s physical body. In our life, it would be flames that would destroy the physical building of the church.
Deep into an October night in 2007, neighbors saw the smoke and the flames and called for help. Among those who responded to the call was Father Nicodemos who arrived at 1:00 a.m. to stand and watch his temple burn. “I felt crushed,” he recalls, “I had the breath knocked out of me.” No one could have anticipated such a tragedy. What had become such a constant in our lives could disappear in a cloud of smoke overnight. The sun rose that Sunday over a smoking skeleton, a pile of ash where once there had seemed so much growth and hope. Yet it isn’t just a structure that comprises a church. In the field beside the remains, even as the smoke still lingered, the parishioners held a readers service in the open air.
Despite the immediate devastation, there blossomed a host of miracles. Everything in the church was destroyed, yet in the Altar, although the floorboards had collapsed, the Holy Table with the Gospel and the antimension were untouched. The holy vessels and Father Nicodemos’ vestments too remained unharmed. And where the flames had burned the hottest, the beautiful icon of Saint Seraphim of Sarov stood untouched, save for a faint bubbling of paint from the heat.
Often where there is fire, there is new life. This church is now spacious and beautiful, built solely for the practice of the true Orthodox faith. A new onion dome stands resurrected above the trees, sky blue as before but bigger, crowned with a gold cross that catches the sun as it rises in the mornings. Inside, as parishioners and visitors enter the temple, the story of the life of Saint Seraphim is told, painted across the back wall. The iconography project continues along the nave as beautiful scenes from the Life of Christ have been carefully composed. The parishioners, who take meticulous care of the sanctuary, have doubled in size, welcoming newcomers, oldcomers, and strangers into their arms from across the United States. The parish has added two deacons, Father Joseph and Father Andrew, to the clergy. Father Andrew has since been ordained to priesthood by Metropolitan Demetrius of America on the feast of St. Seraphim in 2024, and now both Father Nicodemos and Father Andrew serve the parish. The parishioners are deeply involved in church events such as St. Xenia’s youth camp. They are also involved in church life and have built a brotherhood who care for the church property and local community needs. The past few years have seen the beginnings of a cemetery built on the church property where those who have passed may rest. And the children of the parish, the newest generation, attend Sunday School every week where they learn the principles of our faith to carry into their spiritual lives and into our futures.
Yet inside, when you walk through the double doors into the narthex, the icon of Saint Seraphim hangs, slightly scarred. Our faith is woven with triumphant stories of those who have been tried by fire and only shone more brightly because of it. Our icon, untouched by flames and made brilliant by fire, is a symbol of our Lord’s test, of His hand in all things. It is a reminder that no matter how the enemy seeks to destroy, the power of our Lord Jesus Christ vanquishes all.
