Seraphim entered the monastery at Sarov as a young man and withdrew from it into the forest, where he lived alone for years — a period that included, by his own account, a thousand nights of prayer on a stone. He was beaten and crippled by robbers who found nothing to steal, and refused to press charges.
When he finally opened his cell to visitors he became one of the most sought-after spiritual guides in Russia, receiving hundreds a day and greeting each with the same words: 'My joy, Christ is risen.' His conversation with Nikolai Motovilov on the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is among the best-known texts in Russian spirituality. He is one of the most widely loved of all Orthodox saints.