By Dimitri Andrault de Langeron
I speak of Dimitri Langeron, who lives with his wife Irene and their son Nicholas. Dimitri is Fr. Seraphim Rose’s godfather and a most pious and God-loving man. Their house is filled with icons, some very old from Russia and in some rooms nearly half of the walls of the rooms are covered in icons. There is something very other-worldly about Dimitri and his family; something I can best describe as Old Worldish; remnants of the types of people who so rarely exist these days. They pray, they fast, they constantly speak about God and His Holy Church and I really don’t know if I’ve ever heard them speak of anything else; besides of things concerning the necessities of life. They have a huge garden in their backyard (the size of a large house) and live in simplicity.
I visited their home often over the course of these three years or so, as their son is mentally challenged and in their old age, they needed help in caring for him. I was paid by Easter Seals for this and the Langerons were pleased as they preferred someone who was Orthodox to help them.
I visited their home often over the course of these three years or so, as their son is mentally challenged and in their old age, they needed help in caring for him. I was paid by Easter Seals for this and the Langerons were pleased as they preferred someone who was Orthodox to help them.
During one of these visits, Dimitri printed for me a text he had written about his godson, Fr. Seraphim Rose. If I remember correctly he had been asked to write it as an introduction for a book; but it either was never submitted by him or the author of the book perhaps chose a different introduction instead. I took this and read it, placing it for safe keeping in a three-ring binder. Now after at least a decade, I just recently rediscovered this work of his. I am sharing it for all those who love Fr. Seraphim Rose. I ask the prayers of all those who read this for Dimitri, Irene and Nicholas, who are all now very old and preparing to pass into eternity.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness …”
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats (1795-1821)
Eugene Rose was born in 1934, into an American Protestant family.
Beauty is what attracted Eugene, the future father Seraphim, to Russian Orthodox Christianity. What he called later “the savor of Orthodoxy.”
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness …”
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
John Keats (1795-1821)
Eugene Rose was born in 1934, into an American Protestant family.
Beauty is what attracted Eugene, the future father Seraphim, to Russian Orthodox Christianity. What he called later “the savor of Orthodoxy.”
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