Venerable
Venerable Serapion
March 21 Old CalendarApril 3 New Calendar
Life
A companion of Saint Anthony the Great. He was in the Nitrian desert the superior of the so-called Arsenoite monasteries, in which there were about eleven thousand monks. Palladius and Sozomen call him the Great. He reposed around the year 366. Saint Serapion wrote: "Do not think that illness is difficult — only sin is difficult... Illness accompanies us only to the grave, but sin follows the sinner even after the grave."
From the Prologue from Ochrid by St. Nikolai Velimirovich, March 21. Translated by Marcian Sakarya, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Also commemorated on March 21
The full reading for March 21 includes the hymn of praise, a reflection, a contemplation and a homily.
Open March 21 in the reader