Seraphim the Wonderworker of Sarov

Reading from the Synaxarion:

Saint Seraphim was born in the town of Kursk in 1759. From tender
childhood he was under the protection of the most holy Mother of God, who,
when he was nine years old, appeared to him in a vision, and through
her icon of Kursk, healed him from a grave sickness from which he had
not been expected to recover. At the age of nineteen he entered the
monastery of Sarov, where he amazed all with his obedience, his lofty
asceticism, and his great humility. In 1780 the Saint was stricken with a
sickness which he manfully endured for three years, until our Lady the
Theotokos healed him, appearing to him with the Apostles Peter and John. He
was tonsured a monk in 1786, being named for the holy Hieromartyr
Seraphim, Bishop of Phanarion (Dec. 4), and was ordained deacon a year
later. In his unquenchable love for God, he continually added labours to
labours, increasing in virtue and prayer with titan strides. Once, during
the Divine Liturgy of Holy and Great Thursday, he was counted worthy
of a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who appeared encompassed by
the heavenly hosts. After this dread vision, he gave himself over to
greater labours.In 1794, Saint Seraphim took up the solitary life in a
cell in the forest. This period of extreme asceticism lasted some
fifteen years, until 1810. It was at this time that he took upon himself
one of the greatest feats of his life. Assailed with despondency and
a storm of contrary thoughts raised by the enemy of our salvation,
the Saint passed a thousand nights on a rock, continuing in prayer
until God gave him complete victory over the enemy. On another
occasion, he was assaulted by robbers, who broke his chest and his head
with their blows, leaving him almost dead. Here again, he began to
recover after an appearance of the most holy Theotokos, who came to him
with the Apostles Peter and John, and pointing to Saint Seraphim,
uttered those awesome words, "This is one of my kind."In 1810, at the age
of fifty; weakened with his more than human struggles, Saint
Seraphim returned to the monastery for the third part of his ascetical
labours, in which he lived as a recluse until 1825. For the first five
years of his reclusion, he spoke to no one at all, and little is known
of this period. After five years, he began receiving visitors little
by little, giving counsel and consolation to ailing souls. In 1825,
the most holy Theotokos appeared to the Saint and revealed to him
that it was pleasing to God that he fully end his seclusion; from this
time the number of people who came to see him grew daily. It was also
at the command of the holy Virgin that he undertook the spiritual
direction of the Diveyevo Convent. He healed bodily ailments, foretold
things to come, brought hardened sinners to repentance, and saw clearly
the secrets of the heart of those who came to him. Through his utter
humility and childlike simplicity, his unrivalled ascetical travails, and
his angel-like love for God, he ascended to the holiness and
greatness of the ancient God-bearing Fathers and became like Anthony for
Egypt, the physician for the whole Russian land. In all, the most holy
Theotokos appeared to him twelve times in his life. The last was on
Annunciation, 1831, to announce to him that he would soon, enter into his rest.
She appeared to him accompanied by twelve virgins-martyrs and
monastic saints-with Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Theologian.
With a body ailing and broken from innumerable hardships, and an
unspotted soul shining with the light of Heaven, the Saint lived less than
two years after this, falling asleep in peace on January 2, 1833,
chanting Paschal hymns. On the night of his repose, the righteous Philaret
of the Glinsk Hermitage beheld his soul ascending to Heaven in
light. Because of the universal testimony to the singular holiness of
his life, and the seas of miracles that he performed both in life and
after death, his veneration quickly spread beyond the boundaries of the
Russian Empire to every corner of the earth. See also July 19.

Kontakion in the Second Tone
Having left the beauty of the world and what is corrupt therein, O
Saint, thou didst settle in the Monastery of Sarov. And having lived
there an angelic life, thou wast for many the way unto salvation.
Wherefore, Christ hath glorified thee, O Father Seraphim, and hath enriched
thee with the gift of healing and miracles. And so we cry to thee:
Rejoice, O Seraphim, our holy Father.