Serapion

Died 1275. Russian church figure and writer. Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pecherskaia Laura; bishop of Vladimir from 1274.

Serapion is the author of five extant sermons. Three describe the defeat of Rus’ by the Mongol Tatars. Serapion mourned the disaster in his native land and considered it god’s punishment for the princes’ internecine strife and for pagan superstitions among the people. Two sermons attack superstitions. Sera-pion’s sermons are characterized by their simplicity, vivid imagery, and poetic quality.