Question
Where can the account of St. Seraphim of Sarov's "thousand days of prayer" be found?
Answer
The account of the "thousand days of prayer" is contained in most editions (if not all) of St. Seraphim's life.
The understanding of the reason why St. Seraphim prayed in this remarkable way comes from St. Sophrony the Athonite - relayed to us by Archimandrite Zacharias in (I believe) his book, Remember Thy First Love. I myself never heard St. Sophrony talking about this, but I do remember being told about it by Fr. Raphael Noica, one of St. Sophrony's closest disciples.Â
The insight that St. Sophrony gives to this remarkable event in the life of the great Seraphim is itself remarkable. And it underlines for us what a great gift from God it is to have a Saint writing about a Saint, such as we have in St. Athanasius' Life of St. Antony the Great and indeed (in our own times) in St. Sophrony's book on St. Silouan the Athonite.Â