Christian Pilgrimage Tour to Serafimo-Diveevsky Convent
Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery
Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery (a.k.a. Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery, aka Holy Trinity-Saint Seraphim-Diveyevo Monastery) is a convent 12 km from Sarov. It is located not far from Sarov monastery and Sanaxar monastery.
Diveevo Monastery became world famous after St. Seraphim of Sarov served as elder (starets) for the nuns of this monastery. He was a monk at the nearby monastery of Sarov. After the fall of communism, his relics, which had been feared lost, were discovered in the storeroom of a Museum of Atheism in St. Petersburg and transferred to the Diveyevo Monastery, which was named after him.
The Monastery was founded with the Church of Our Lady of Kazan (Kazanskaya), built in 1773-1780. St. Seraphim blessed the construction of two other churches: The Church of the Nativity of Christ (1829) and the Church of the Nativity of Theotokos (1830). The large Trinity Cathedral with its bell tower was constructed in 1865-1875.
The Transfiguration Cathedral was built in 1907-1916. In 2003-2004 there were significant restoration works in the Monastery celebrating 250 year anniversary of Saint Seraphim.
Angel provides pilgrimage tours to Diveevo Monastery in English from Moscow for foreign and Russian pilgrims. Father Evgeny, with his vast knowledge in Orthodox and Catholic Christianity helps pilgrims. He explains a great variety of traditions, beliefs and context of pilgrimage to Diveevo Monastery.
You can take a pilgrimage tour to Diveevo from Moscow within one day.
Angel provided its first pilgrimage tour to Diveevo Monastery on May 4, 2015. Even though the day was cloudy and took almost 20 hours, the pilgrims were very happy.
To ask re the pilgrimage tour to Diveevo Monastery in 2019 pls call\text via phone\ whatsapp\ viber\ telegram +7.9.ANGEL.TOUR or online chats.
Read what our guests say about the pilgrimage tour to Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery and about the pilgrimage tour to Sergiev Posad:
I would like to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for organizing the two wonderful excursions. We learned so many things and we had the most amazing time. It was a real blessing. Thank you for making our dream to visit St. Seraphim true and discovering the treasure that is Sergiev Posad. Words fail me in order to describe Father Evgeny's, Valentina's and your kindness. It was wonderful meeting you all and spending time with you. Many thanks to Ilarion and our Diveevo driver and our apologies for keeping them up so late!!! Please tell Father Evgeny that we will always remember him when looking upon the beautiful Saint Seraphim icon and keep him in our prayers. Let me tell you that I have checked your Serafimo-Diveevsky pilgrimage page and I was very impressed by the text and your photo skills! The photos were really beautiful and captured the essence of this place. I was very happy to find out that tomorrow you are going to go again there! I think that St. Seraphim will bless your efforts because many people wanted to go there but were afraid due to the distance and inability to communicate in Russian language. You, offering the means to go there and also a guide such as Father Eugene, will speak to many hearts to go through with the pilgrimage…
Ricky, Greece, 22.05.2015
About St. Seraphim of Sarov
Future St. Seraphim (named as Prohor Moshnin at birth) was born in 1759 in a family of a merchant in Kursk. When he was 10, he got seriously ill and once he saw the Mother of God in his sleep, who promised to heal him.
A few days later there was a religious procession in the town with the miracle-working icon of the Mother of God and it passed the house of the future St. Seraphim. His mother took took him to the miracle-working image and he recovered.
St. Seraphim helped his parents with their shop when he was a boy, but most of all he loved to attend church and to pray – as future St. Sergius did when he was a boy, and to read about saints’ lives.
When he was 18, St. Seraphim decided to become a monk and entered the Sarov monastery as a novice.
From the very beginning at the Sarov monastery, he lived a very ascetic life and often prayed in solitude in the forest.
Because of frequent and long fasting, St. Seraphim became ill and spent most of the three next years in bed.
And again St. Seraphim was healed by the Mother of God, having appeared to him with several saints.
St. Seraphim took his monastic vows in 1786, at the age of 27. The name Seraphim, which he was given, in Hebrew means ‘burning’ or ‘zealos’ or ‘very enthusiastic’.
Soon after St. Seraphim was appointed a hierodeacon. And zealous he was indeed. He spent all of his time in the Monastery’s churches. Through prayer and religious services, St. Seraphim saw angels.
In 1793 St. Seraphim was ordained a hieromonk, after which he served every day and received Holy Communion for a year.
St. Seraphim then began to withdraw into his hermitage in the forest 5 km from Sarov Monastery (the place where the first St. Spring above is located). Wild animals came to St. Seraphim’s hut. Once St. Seraphim was severely beaten by robbers in the forest. Although he was physically strong and was holding an axe at the time, St. Seraphim did not resist. In answer to their threats and demands for money, he lay his axe on the ground. They beat him on the head with the handle of his own axe and trampled him underfoot until he fell unconscious and they thought he had died. The only valuable thing which they found in his cell was the icon of the Mother of God of Deep Emotion (Ymileniye), before which he always prayed. St. Seraphim remained hunched for the remaining life and sometimes portrayed hunched even on icons.
Sometime after he was injured, a new period began in the life of St. Seraphim. He spent a thousand days staying on a big stone not far from his hermitage and praying with his arms raised to heaven.
Through prayers St. Seraphim was given vision of the Mother of God. Later as an elder (starets) he began to admit everyone who came to him for advice. And they were thousands and thousands of people. St. Seraphim greeted all of them with the words: ‘My joy!’. Whoever came to him, St. Seraphim bowed to the ground and in blessing kissed their hands. He could see what visitors had on their soul without any explanations.
He used to teach that joy is not a sin as it drives away weariness, and weariness can result in dejection.
St. Seraphim Sarovsky is commemorated on August 1 and January 15.
The spring in Tsyganovka marks a place where St. Seraphim of Sarov lived in Sarov forest in solitude for 3,5 years. It is located not far from Diveevo Monastery.
