At an early age, Eugene Rose--the young Fr. Seraphim--rebelled against the superficiality of modern American society and partook of the restlessness, despair, nihilism and lawlessness of the "angry young men" of his generation. He even tried to escape into the exotic realm of Buddhist enlightenment but his soul was still left empty and yearning. His forthright, self-sacrificing "American cowboy" character, however, pulled him back from these self-indulgent escapes, and it was then that God revealed himself to Eugene's sorrowing soul. The conversion from modern American rebellion to ancient, apostolic Orthodoxy was begun. When he did come to Orthodoxy, he cut straight through all the externals--the worldliness and boring organizational mentality--to go right to the essence and heart of otherworldly Christianity. He has blazed the path for other honest, forthright American souls heeding their own American sense of righteousness.
There was another aspect of Fr. Seraphim, one that especially endeared him to the hearts of Orthodox Christians behind the Iron Curtain. As his monastic partner of many years observed: "Fr. Seraphim was a man who knew how to suffer." He knew the value of redemptive suffering, saw it manifested in the Christian martyrs and confessors of his own time, and consciously embraced it--not only outwardly through the hardships of his wilderness monastic life, but also inwardly, in the "pain of heart" that characterizes true Christian love.
NOT OF THIS WORLD traces Fr. Seraphim's passionate search for Truth and his spiritual and philosophical development, setting forth his message and offering a glimpse into the soul of a man not of this world.
