Life and Emigration
Born Nicholas Borisovich Sobolev in 1881 in the province of Ryazan, he pursued theological studies, completing seminary in 1904 and the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy in 1908. As a hieromonk he held a succession of teaching and pastoral appointments in the years before the Revolution, including the rectorship of the seminary at Voronezh.
He was consecrated a bishop on 14 October 1920, during the turmoil that followed the Russian Revolution. Like many clergy of his generation, he left Russia, and for a time taught theology under the Patriarchate of Constantinople before being assigned to Bulgaria in 1921.
In Sofia he was appointed bishop of the Russian Church of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker and was given charge of governing the Russian parishes throughout Bulgaria, bearing the title Bogucharski. He was elevated to archbishop in 1934 and remained the shepherd of the Russian community in Bulgaria until his repose.
Theological Work and Witness
Saint Seraphim was a prolific preacher and author, leaving valuable theological works and sermons. Sources record that he composed an akathist hymn in honour of Saint John of Rila, the great Bulgarian ascetic.
He was known in his own lifetime as a defender of Orthodox doctrine, opposing currents he regarded as foreign to the faith and upholding the traditional liturgical practice, including the Julian (Old) Calendar.
Relics & Shrines
Saint Seraphim was buried in the crypt of the Russian Church of Saint Nicholas in Sofia, which became a focus of veneration for the faithful in the decades after his death.
His principal feast is kept on 26 February, the day of his repose. A second commemoration on 26 November is associated with the translation of his relics.
Veneration and Glorification
Archbishop Seraphim was venerated by Bulgarian Orthodox believers for some sixty-five years before his formal canonization, and numerous miracles were attributed to his intercession both during his life and after his death.
He was canonized by the Holy Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in February 2016. The solemn glorification took place on 26 February 2016 at the Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Sofia, with the participation of Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte and metropolitans of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, together with a Russian Orthodox delegation led by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. He is glorified as Saint Seraphim of Sofia the Wonderworker, a saint shared by the Russian and Bulgarian Churches.
