The great star in the firmament of Holy Orthodoxy, Saint Seraphim, shone forth within 100 years of the great persecution at the hands of the godless atheists in 20th Century Russia. An initiate into the fellowship of the Theotokos and the Apostles and blessed with divine visions of their holy band, the Saint was a perfect example of monastic obedience and striving. This led him to pass through all states of the ascetic life as a cenobite, a hesychast, a stylite, and a recluse. From such, he became an instructor to all the world of the acquisition of and life in the Holy Spirit, helping to lead thousands around him to salvation. Foreseeing that he would become an unconquerable foe, the devil ferociously attacked the Saint with vainglorious thoughts, unexplainable sounds meant to distract and disrupt, frightening visions and apparitions in order to defeat him before he became too strong. But the man of God triumphed by prayer – particularly the prayer of the Publican which also inspired the Jesus Prayer – and by making the sign of the cross. Enraged by his failure, the Devil inspired three robbers to beat him so severely that he was near to death. Rejoicing that he had been found worthy to suffer in a manner similar to Christ, Saint Seraphim did not resist. Suffering for more than four months from his wounds, he was miraculously healed by the Mother of God. His glorification in 1903 was perhaps that last manifestation of the Christian unity of Russia before the revolution, and the translation of his relics in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union demonstrated the triumph of the perseverance of faith through the darkest of times. He was then, and remains now, a source of consolation for the Russian land and the wider Church.