The Seraphinians

Book Review

by Joanna Higginbotham

The Seraphinians: '"Blessed Seraphim Rose" and His Axe-Wielding Western Converts, 

          by CJS Hayward

I've always said that anyone who has a problem with Fr. Seraphim Rose has a problem with the Church.

CJS Hayward goes way beyond having a problem with the Church.  He hates God.  He reveals his hatred for God by his hatred of Fr. Seraphim.  Who else do we know who hates God so much and hates His servants and His friends also?

CJS Hayward calls himself an Orthodox Author.  I might admit the Author part.  But he is not Orthodox.

"Not everything that calls itself Orthodox is Orthodox."

 He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despisedth you despisetheth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me. 

 They hate you because the hated Me first 

 Crucify Him! 

From Law Of God by St. Philaret of New York, chapter two, "On the Nature of Sin":

. . . There is yet another special, most terrible and destructive type of sin.  This is a mortal sin.  Even the prayers of the Church cannot help one who is found in this condition.  The apostle John the Theologian speaks of this directly when he entreats us to pray for a brother which has sinned, it points out the uselessness of prayer for mortal sin (IJohn5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.  There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.).

The author has not directly blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  But considering that Fr. Seraphim is a vessel of the Holy Spirit, his words seem awful close ... 

This book seethes with thinly disguised hatred and envy.   My response is two-fold.  First, utter revulsion at the manifest evil.  Second, now I will have love for Fr. Seraphim all the more – to help make up for this guy who does not.