Hieromonk Seraphim Rose was an American Orthodox monk of the Platina monastery in California who translated the Holy Fathers into English and reached seekers from a remote mountain cabin. How does a man who searched for truth in library stacks discover that truth is a Person, and give his remaining years to sharing that discovery with the world?
In 1969, two Orthodox men loaded their belongings into a truck and drove into the mountains of northern California to seek God without running water or electricity. This physical retreat marked the beginning of an extraordinary spiritual labor. At St. Herman of Alaska Monastery, Eugene Rose received his monastic tonsure on October 27, 1970, taking the name Seraphim and dying to his past as a philosopher from San Diego. From a candlelit cabin, he translated the Holy Fathers and produced The Orthodox Word on a mimeograph machine, reaching souls across America and behind the Iron Curtain through samizdat networks. The volume concludes with his sudden illness and repose on September 2, 1982, leaving witnesses with an unexplainable peace and fragrance that signaled a holy end.
- Enduring written works: the genesis and reception of Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future and The Soul After Death.
- Pastoral letters: the weekly correspondence providing spiritual guidance to sons and daughters across continents.
- Interior monastic life: the daily rhythm of the Jesus Prayer on the prayer rope, night vigils and strict fasting.
- Final public lecture: his address at a secular university in Santa Cruz revealing God to the human heart.
Book Two of The Monk of Platina: A Life in Three Books. This volume hands over to the critique of modernity and Orthodox guidance detailed in It Is Later Than You Think, taking up the spiritual groundwork and prior suffering that The Hollow and the Holy left behind.
Readers seeking a reliable guide to the Holy Fathers, the world around the St. Herman of Alaska Monastery, and the realization of truth as a Person.
