When someone we love dies. We LIVE and DIE with the ones we love.

[@davidmaddaford930]

Dear Father - the things you say in your video.....I lost my mother five years ago. It is as though, in your video, you reach deep into my soul and express the way I feel so much more eloquently than I ever could. Her death was indeed part of my death. I'm less alive now, sadder and quieter than before. Thank you and may God bless you always.

[@64Nikolaj]

Thank you. Last Monday we buried our 93 year old father and 2 days later my 26 year old son. Вічная память!

[@mullmonastery]

My dear Nikolaj, I am so sorry! I pray for you and your family. May Christ pour his Love in your hearts, so you may help each other through all of this. I am so sorry, dear one.

[@64Nikolaj]

@@mullmonastery Thank you so much. It is not easy. My son leaves us a 3-year-old grandson, Vincent.

[@dscarson1]

Dear Fr. Seraphim--all of your videos are so full of spiritual wisdom, but this one really touched me very deeply. I lost my parents while I was very young, and as I get older I find I am now losing my friends as well. This has helped me tremendously! I am a permanent deacon for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio, USA, and I will be able to improve my ministry to those who suffer by drawing on this wisdom of yours--thank you so much for your ministry!

[@mullmonastery]

That is so kind of you to say, dear one. Thank you for your encouragement, it helps us go forward. I genuinely see very little 'wisdom' in anything I have ever done, but I try my absolute best to be honest and to speak from a deep place in my heart, where I feel truth hides. I trust that honesty and humility will help more than wisdom, because they are not contaminated by pride (which, at least in my case, always tarnishes any sign of wisdom). Please keep me and the Monastery in your prayers. May we all be blessed.

[@yennguyen-uj3ri]

I’m Catholic but I like listening to your teaching about God. Your talk and thought are deep which help me to follow God.

[@cassaundramariac9075]

Thank you for this Father. I have a mother with a terminal illness and it's difficult to watch her slowly slip away.

[@katkat2340]

They take our hearts with them.

[@RTUvideoproductions]

Father Bless! Once again THANK YOU FOR YOUR EFFORTS! Thank you for keeping this up,it does help,it does make a difference. May God bless you and all the world!

[@mullmonastery]

Dear Petros, thank you for your kindness. I hope to continue to record these videos for at least a few weeks. It all depends on whether or not people would like us to keep doing them (thank you for your input) and if I shall have the strength - once the world returns to its normal rhythm, it will be impossible for me to do these, the services, the fundraising, the correspondence, the pilgrimages, the booklets etc. Let's wait and see - God will show us the way.

[@RTUvideoproductions]

@@mullmonastery absolutely father, 100% understandable! Your prayers alone are helping us so much.

[@MariaCeaMIca]

Mull Monastery Dear Father, yes, please continue making these videos for us, as often as you are able. Your words are very helpful! Praying for you & the monastery! 🙏🏼

[@freeman8128]

As one suffering berevement, this video has been most valuable. Fr Seraphim clearly knows what he is talking about.

[@nensi1972]

...my dearest , friend Dusan has gone there...on the 18th of February 2021...God bless his soul...thank you dear father Seraphim for your words...God bless you, father Seraphim...Please pray for our souls to become full of love for God...🌹♥️...

[@JenniferMaryFox]

This is quite profound. Thank you, Father Seraphim!

[@mihaimarinescu88]

Thank you for this meditation. To meditate on death in an existential manner, not abstractly, to understand the reality of our mortality and the fleeting nature of everything around us is something which humbling and paralyzes especially the passion of pride, delusions of grandeur. One thing I would like to hear you talk about: the fear for that person's soul. Not only for those who have died, but (perhaps even more so) for those who are still alive and have their backs towards God. Here I find that prayer and trust in Christ does not answer the whole predicament; that which I fear the most is their free will and the possibility to reject God to the end. And that is actually what I fear the most about myself too, if I think about it...

[@mullmonastery]

Thank you for your comment, Marian, I shall pray and I shall see if God gives me a word. Take good care.

[@mihaimarinescu88]

@@mullmonastery thank you! Though I have to say, since it is the 2nd time tou do it: the name is Mihai, not Marian :d

[@cathyalexander5504]

Father, I will watch this again. It helps. They say "time heals all things." That was never true. I pray GOD blesses you and the monastery.

[@mullmonastery]

Dear Cathy, that was never true for me, either. It is true that time allows us to find the tools to manage the pain, so that we can continue to function - but time has never taken away the pain for me; and - in all honesty - I don't want it to take the pain away, because that pain is the child of the love I have for those who are no longer here, and I don't want to lose that love. May you be blessed, dear one, may you find the tools to be able to function in this world, while holding on to the love in your heart.

[@debbirhodes7185]

Your hugs are never useless, even if virtual. Your love and faith and grace come shining right through the internet. ❤️

[@mullmonastery]

That is so kind of you, dear Debbi. I know the worth of a real hug, at the right moment, when pain makes you unable to speak or do anything. I pray no one who lost someone during this period of separation has to go through their pain without a hug from someone who loves them.

[@emorfiaryan2339]

Thank God for his mercy and love.

[@bebatouloupis9161]

Father thank you for this beautiful video. I lost my mother in January. Your words brought me comfort. I have felt in my heart that we remain connected for eternity with the ones we love dearly. This was especially clear for me after becoming a parent myself. Sending prayers to you & monastery 🙏☦️

[@jonathanreeve7823]

Dear father working in the funeral industry as I do this teaching and reflection have given me much food for thought. Wonderful to hear our dear brother singing and chanting too. He blessed me so much listening to him on my visit. Your blessing

[@mullmonastery]

May God bless you, dear Jonathan. Take good care of yourself.

[@lenacrang4025]

God is Love - the mystery of love is endless - eternal

[@vickykentrota9031]

Such true,comforting, meaningful words accompanied with magnificent sunrise,sunset colours!! Thank you Fr.Seraphim🙏🙏Early this year my father fell asleep to the Lord,Fr.Miltiadis and in 2011 my beautiful sister Aikaterini.💙💙 Always praying .God bless you🙏🙏

[@mullmonastery]

Dear Vicky, thank you for your kindness and I am so, so sorry for your loss. May Christ rest the souls of your father and sister, and may He give you the strength and love to grow in your faith and hope through this pain. We live between worlds - parts of us still here, parts of us already There. Be blessed, dear one.

[@vickykentrota9031]

Thank you,thank you Fr Seraphim🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@inneryen8073]

Thank you, for this meditation. God bless you!

[@ChristianOrthodoxMiracles]

Amen Father 🙏🙏🙏

[@annasimonepaula3347]

I pray God to bless you and your work, please pray for me and my son. Thank you

[@vicnababa]

Such comforting and beautiful words. Thank you again Father

[@mullmonastery]

Glory be to God that you found a bit of comfort in this, dear one. Death us something we learn to stay away from, not to think about, not to approach in any way, but it can also be an extraordinary source of peace and love, if we understand it according to Christ's revelation.

[@PhoebeK]

Father Bless, You have manged to put into words what I have struggled to express about the journey through dealing with the feelings about the death of my Grandfather last year. I have found that prayer that I can express my love but turn my focus from pain to hope of the resurrection. I have found that focusing my love of Christ helps me to love others but also to deal with the pain of death since my hope and love is founded on an eternal bases not just human relationships.

[@mullmonastery]

May Christ bless you, dear Phoebe. May He give rest to the soul of your Grandfather, and may He also give peace to your own heart.

[@timpeters9965]

Thank you fr. Im so happy to have found your videos.

[@MariaNunes-in3ty]

Thank you, Father Seraphim. Your reflexions on death and love touched me deeply. I think these subjects are for sure the greatest mystery in our lives...May our Lord bless you always! 🌷🌷🌷

[@mullmonastery]

May we all be blessed, dear one. May we remember each other, all of us, as we go - one by one - through these great mysteries.

[@greenhaven-podcast]

I love you, brother! ❤️🙏☦️

[@greenhaven-podcast]

Your "useless digital hugs" aren't useless and are only delivered digitally. They are very real to me indeed.

[@anatoly5877]

I needed this so much

[@larrychampion7964]

Father, thank you so much for sharing this video. My mother reposed in the Lord on Saturday and my sisters and I listened to this video. I believe the timing of this was certainly from above. It was very helpful to us all and we appreciate it very much. Thank you, thank you! God bless you and God bless Mull.

[@mullmonastery]

My dear Larry, I am so, so sorry for your pain. Please give my love in Christ to your sisters, as well. I pray that Christ rests the soul of your mum in the Kingdom, and that He will pour peace and love in your hearts. How beautiful that she went to the Lord the day before the Sunday of All Saints - the countless Saints of the Church, known and unknown to us, but Known to Christ in His Kingdom.

[@maysoonnimri3259]

God bless you father

[@mullmonastery]

By your prayers, dear one.

[@maysoonnimri3259]

Mull Monastery ❤️

[@elioftheforest]

Your prayers Father, and blessing. We just reopened our fish market called St Brendan’s Seafood. The pandemic is proving difficult.

[@mullmonastery]

Stay safe, dear Jacob. Stay safe and keep everyone around you safe. NOT because we are afraid of death, but because our death should come at the will of Christ, not through our carelessness. This pandemic is affecting everyone so badly - at the Monastery, we are all wondering about the future. BUT Christ is the Lord and the future is in His hands.

[@lukasbillis1277]

Thank you father.

[@mullmonastery]

May God bless us all, dear Nico.

[@2oleaves843]

Dear Father Seraphim, thank you so much for sharing your insight into this painful part of life. It is difficult to explain to others the thoughts and feelings one has when losing someone of whom you love very much. I am comforted by the greater picture you've painted from your own prayers and contemplation. May God bless you and your monastery, Father. With love, Philothea (and Paisios).

[@mullmonastery]

Dear Philothea and Paisios, it is even difficult to explain to oneself what we feel when this happens. The death of someone we love is not a 'normal' event, there is no normality, no logic, absolutely no way to reduce this to something that makes sense to our brains or hearts, because it is not an event of this world. It violently exposes this world as a fraud, as an set of empty rules that function when things are 'alright', but which falls to the ground when death sets itself in. But that is not a negative thing, although we experience it as pain - it is a reminder of the Life to come, and that reminder can overturn and give new life to our spiritual life.

[@paisialee294]

Thank you Father for this. And look forward to your further thoughts and words on the matter. At a proper time. Death. Mine. And of our loved ones . And of everyone. Feels like impossible to understand (bible says death is the result of sin), but real, very. For one the pain , of the separation...of the absence. But then, yes, the Lord's compassion and love, He knows... The news of Lazarus death. Mary and others weeping. Bible tells us how Jesus was deeply moved and troubled. And He wept. Before raising Lazarus from the dead. So with us also when we grieve... Thank you again. Your blessing.

[@mullmonastery]

The end of life (the beginning of Life in Oneness with God), as well as the beginning of life (being created out of nothingness) are beyond what we can understand, dear Paisia. We receive the word of Christ as the only way to move forward in these mysteries, and we wait for the time when we shall see clearly what we can only see 'in part' for the time being. May we all, without exception, be found worthy of that blessing, dear one.

[@richardbenitez7803]

Death of humans is very strange , real and frightening. Death oddly opens our hearts and minds so that we are confronted and engaged. I work with federal agency in the States. It is very strange how my fellow workers speak about terminating a benefit record for reason of death. Most co workers can’t say “death or dead” as if they themselves would be affected by it or to shield themselves from the event of death. It is odd my fellow American co worker do this whispering, or a silence with these odd behaviors even in dealing with adjusting records for reason of death.

[@mariesteyn9518]

Give the blessing Father. Dear Father Seraphim. Thank you so much for this wise and comforting words. Lost my dear son last June due to cancer and a very long suffering. He is the one that brought me and many others to into orthodoxy. The night he passed on I had to pray all the Priestly prayers over him seeing that we live more than 200 km away from our beautiful Russian Parish in Midrand Johannesburg. May God forgive me if I did the wrong thing. But Father. He was the rock of our family after his father passed on in 1988. And I miss him so much. Thank you so much for this message. Will listen to it again and again. May our Heavenly Father protect and and keep your work and the Monastery safe. So glad I discovered you. Big hug.

[@helenedragone2532]

Thank you father for these words filled with gravity and joy, reality and great hope .... It is the first time that I hear this relation between the sunset and its rising, which opens in fact towards the Resurrection ! that is to say that these two times become opening towards Eternity! Wonderful ! it will stay in me and give me a lot of joy! What you say about our "displacement" towards the Kingdom, with the dead who are close to us, is infinitely interesting ! What a magnificent movement ! How nice it would be to hear from you more on this subject ! It gives a lot of Hope for now and a lot of very real and dynamic life ! Glory to God, and thank you for continuing to give us such great food ! (Forgive me for bad english because i am french)

[@mullmonastery]

My dear Helene, your English is much better than my French 😊 although I studied French for longer than English (but life has not given me the opportunity to use it much). Thank you for your kind words, they do help and they encourage me and the Monastery to keep making these videos. I hope to share the little that we know, and - God willing - this can be of help to someone. Please keep me and the Monastery in your prayers, dear one.

[@gerrievanderlee4701]

Who is singing Father?

[@jonathanreeve7823]

It’s one of the brothers on the monastery a gifted brother

[@mullmonastery]

Dear one, Jonathan is right - this is one of our brothers. When the sisters feel comfortable being recorded, we shall use their singing, too. I just don't want these videos to be a source of pressure for any of us, so we do things slowly. Take good care, dear one.

[@gerrievanderlee4701]

@@mullmonastery He has a very nice chanting voice.