Seraphim Rose

The thing to remember about Fr Seraphim Rose, like any other saint, is that he was speaking to the people of his time and area. In his case, his primary audience was Californians in the 60s and 70s in the throws of the hippie movement, sexual revolution, the Jesus People thing, New Age, and all kinds of weirdness. It's all before my time but from what I've heard all of these movements were quite radical and lumped people into boxes without considering the possibility of treating individuals as individuals. For his Protestant audience I can understand his emphasis on appealing to the saints and the Fathers because a lot of those people do not know that Christianity exists outside of the Bible. Unfortunately, yeah, a lot of times he wasn't specific on which Fathers and we as Orthodox do tend to say "the Fathers say..." without specifying which Fathers just like how Protestants say "the Bible says..." without specifying book, chapter, or verse. It is what it is. Are Fr Seraphim's writings on par with the Gospel? No. But, they're not something to just dismiss automatically either.

Christ's church is alive and well. It's the orthodox church. Pentecostal churches focus too much on the gift of tongues (which is one of the few miracles you can't prove whether they're making it up) the tongues that the pentecostals use is almost unheard of in orthodoxy, while we have very many other miracles. 1 corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Paul clearly condemns all the things pentecostal churches focus on, in 1 corinthians chapters 12 to 14. What's more important to you, pleasing God or all the men around you? This will guide your decision. May God bless you and guide your decision friend.