Serapion of Vladimir

Blessed Serapion of Vladimir (d. 1275) was a bishop of Vladimir. He was Archimandrite of the Kiev Monastery of the Caves from 1247 until 1274, and was bishop of the diocese of Vladimir, Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod from 1274 until his death the following year. The territory of the diocese at the time consisted of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and the principalities of Gorodets, Kostroma, Moscow, Pereslavl, Starodub, Suzdal, Nizhny Novgorod and Yuriev.

Five sermons by Serapion have been preserved. His main theme is the disaster of the Mongol invasion, seen as divine punishment for Russia because if its people's sins. Four of the sermons appear to have been written in 1274/5, when he was bishop. The fifth is presumably older, and was most likely written shortly after the destruction of Kiev in 1240. In one of his late sermons, he denounces the persecution of witches.[1]

He is commemorated on 12 July (25 July N. S.).

References
  1. "Witches were executed at Novgorod in 1227, and after a severe famine in the years 1271-4 Bishop Serapion of Vladimir asked in a sermon: 'you believe in witchcraft and burn innocent people and bring down murder upon earth and the city... Out of what books or writings do you learn that famine in earth is brought about by witchcraft?'", Behringer, "Witches and Witch-hunts: a Global History", p. 56 (2004). Wiley-Blackwell.
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