Perhaps the best model for our attitude to Fr Seraphim is Fr Seraphim’s own attitude towards St Augustine. He acknowledged the elements of St Augustine’s doctrine and spirituality that are problematic for the East, but deeply appreciated the warm and deeply Orthodox character of his piety, of his heart. In this Fr Seraphim charted the royal, middle course between the intransigence of say the followers of Romanides, and the uncritical accolades of some Russian spiritual writers.

Likewise in Fr Seraphim, even if we are skeptical or critical of the way he expressed his rather traditional rigorism in his earlier writings, we can appreciate his heart: his pastoral warmth and humility, his genuine longing for humble, filial piety in relation to the saints of the Orthodox Church, his model as a modern who found his way into the tradition’s heart.