He is a highly unlikely candidate to become an Orthodox saint but despite his recent death in 1982 he is venerated as one around the world.  Raised a Protestant…once an atheist… once in a homosexual relationship… restless religious seeker…  disciple of an Orthodox saint… Orthodox priest and monk…

Eugene Rose was born in San Diego, California in 1934 in a typical WASP family:  white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant.  He was baptized in the Methodist faith of his family and lived the life of a typical American boy:  school, sports, music.  He was a brilliant student, known by the nickname “Eugenius” and graduated as the valedictorian of his class.  Eugene continued to excel academically in college, majoring in Oriental studies but began to question his earlier Protestant Christian beliefs.  As his niece Cathy Scott recorded:  “It was evident to most everyone who spent any time around Eugene – his classmates, friends, instructors, and family – the he was truly searching for something he could latch onto.”  He rejected the Protestant Christianity of his family and declared himself an atheist.  As he searched for meaning in life, he explored Chinese philosophy, especially in its Buddhist approach and learned ancient Chinese in order to read the Eastern texts in their original language. 

In the summer of 1955 while studying at the Academy of Languages, Eugene met a classmate, Jon Gregerson, a Finish-born Russian Orthodox Christian.  In 1956 at the age of 22,  Eugene and John “came out of the closet” and lived in an open homosexual relationship.  Eugene and Jon immersed themselves in all the best things the world had to offer:  classical music, concerts, restaurants, art museums.  Eugene became known as a bit of a wine connoisseur.  Despite these diversions Eugene continued to struggle with a higher meaning to life.  As he wrote to a friend:

Disease, suffering, death – these are reminders, convenient reminders,
 that man most profoundly is not of this world….
Whatever the “eat, drink, and be merry” school says, self-conscious man must face this problem.

 An Encounter

As Eugene continued his search through various ancient philosophies and religions, his partner Jon suggested that he visit a Russian Orthodox church: 

“When I visited an Orthodox Church, it was only in order to view another ‘tradition’.  However, when I entered an Orthodox Church for the first time (in San Francisco) something happened to me that I had not experienced in any Buddhist or other Eastern temple; something in my heart said this was ‘home’, that all my search was over.  I didn’t really know what this meant, because the service was quite strange to me and in a foreign language.  I began to attend Orthodox services more frequently, gradually learning its language and customs…With my exposure to Orthodoxy and Orthodox people, a new idea began to enter my awareness:  that truth is not just an abstract idea, sought and known by the mind, but something personal – even a Person – sought and loved by the heart.  And that is how I met Christ.”

 Eugene’s conversion was not instantaneous but a seed had been planted that would slowly grow and change his entire life.  Nearly three years would go by from the time he first entered an Orthodox Church until he came to give his life to this Person:  Jesus Christ.  He was received into the Orthodox Church through the Sacrament of Chrismation  in February, 1962, the Sunday of the Prodigal Son.  Like the son in that Parable, Eugene returned to the embrace of the Father and never went back.  His old life was over, a new life had begun.  He and his homosexual partner Jon drifted apart.  Eugene gave his heart to Jesus Christ and lived in sexual chastity for the remainder of his life.  He wrote:

When I became a Christian, I voluntarily crucified my mind, and all the crosses that I bear have been only a source of joy for me, I have lost nothing, and gained everything. 

Participating in the life of Russian Orthodox Cathedral in San Francisco, Eugene attracted the attention of the cathedral’s bishop:  Archbishop John Maximovitch, now venerated around the world as “St. John of San Francisco”.  Archbishop John encouraged and directed the young convert as he grew in the Orthodox Faith.  Eugene wrote his impressions of his mentor:

If you ask anyone who knew Archbishop John what it was that drew people to him….the answer is always the same:  he was overflowing with life; he sacrificed himself for his fellow men out of absolutely unselfish love for God and for them.

 St. Herman of Alaska Monastery

Eugene formed a friendship with a fellow parishioner of the Cathedral – Gleb Podmoshensky and together in 1964 they opened an Orthodox bookstore near the Cathedral on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco.  They acquired a small printing press and in 1965 began publishing an Orthodox periodical “The Orthodox Word” to share the riches of Orthodox spirituality as expressed especially through its holy saints throughout history. 

As Eugene and Gleb continued their publishing of the lives of holy men and women, they began to consider that it is not enough to read and study their lives but that they should try to emulate the way they lived.  In 1967 they purchased property in a remote region of northern California in order to form a brotherhood to practice the Orthodox Faith in its fullness as did the Saints throughout history.  The brotherhood was placed under the patronage of the first Orthodox saint in America and became known as the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in the village of Platina, California.  Eugene as tonsured as a monk with the name “Seraphim” and Gleb with the name “Herman” and both were eventually ordained as priests.  Despite the severity of their lifestyle in the remote location, other men eventually joined them in seeking to live the fullness of the Orthodox Faith.  Imitating the monastic saints, the brothers had no interest in modern comforts.  Their only goal was to purify themselves of their sinful passions and to seek God.  The property had no running water nor electricity and the brothers lived in a series of simple wooden buildings they constructed themselves.  Father Seraphim slept on old wooden planks in a 10 x 10 wooden cabin with a small wood stove for heat.

Here Father Seraphim thrived in the spiritual life:   his days were devoted to manual labor to support himself and the brotherhood, the daily cycle of services and the continued publishing of their periodical “The Orthodox Word”.  From his tiny cabin by candlelight, Father Seraphim began publishing books such as “Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future”; “The Soul After Death”; “Genesis, Creation and Early Man”.  His books have become enormously popular in Russia and Eastern Europe and during Communist times typrewritten copies were distributed underground.

Because of his own story, his down-to-earth style and gentle spirit, he attracted many young American converts to the Orthodox Faith.  His life and his writings inspired thousands towards one end:  to seek Christ without compromise.  From his own spiritual search he discovered the heart of ancient Christianity and his example drew others.  With the American religious landscape confused and constantly changing, Father Seraphim has been described as a “pathfinder” to lead others to the heart of ancient Christianity.  The whole focus of his life, and of the brotherhood of his monastery was expressed in what he wrote: 

“Everything in this life passes away—only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.”

Eternal memory!

After a brief but agonizingly painful illness, Father Seraphim fell asleep in the Lord in a hospital in Redding, California on September 2, 1982 at the age of only 48.  Lying in state in the monastery church, people observed that his unembalmed body did not stiffen nor show any signs of decay.  He was buried in the monastery cemetery where a shrine has been erected over his grave.   In his sermon at the funeral Liturgy, Bishop Nektary proclaimed “Father Seraphim was a righteous man, possibly a saint!”  Pilgrims from around the world visit his grave to ask his prayers before the throne of God and instances of miraculous healings have been reported. 

The current abbot of the St. Herman Monastery, Fr. Damascene, explained the significance of Fr. Seraphim for all:

Let us rejoice, too, the one from our own midst, an offspring of modern America, has reached that eternal Kingdom before us.  Father Seraphim was a lost but searching sinner, and through the grace of Jesus Christ he was transformed into a righteous man who not only found the Way but has led a host of others on it.  He endured to the end, with pain of heart, on the Orthodox path to salvation, and now he beckons us – his contemporaries – to follow him. 

 Father Edward Pehanich