With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of His Grace Bishop Seraphim (Sigrist), former Bishop of Sendai, an alumnus of St. Vladimir’s Seminary. Bishop Seraphim fell asleep in the Lord on the morning of February 7, 2026.
Bishop Seraphim was born Joseph Sigrist on December 13, 1941, in New York and baptized in a Presbyterian Church. He was brought up in Pleasantville, NY, and studied at Nyack College. While studying at Nyack he began to attend the Orthodox Church and, on completing his degree there, he was received into the Orthodox Church at Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in New York. He then began study at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and, after graduating in 1967, went to Japan to assist the Orthodox Church in that country.
In Japan, working first as a teacher in a church-related school and assisting as a deacon at the Toyohashi Church, he was tonsured a monk with the name Seraphim and served first as a parish priest in the town of Nakanida and then, being consecrated in Tokyo on December 19, 1971, from that time served as Bishop of East Japan living in Sendai.
Bishop Seraphim served in Japan for nineteen years, returning to the United States in 1987. He taught in the graduate department of religion at Drew University, wrote three books, and visited Russia frequently in recent years in support of mission especially to youth in Russia.
May Bishop Seraphim’s memory be eternal!
Article adapted from OCA.org
Top Photo: Bishop Seraphim at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in March 2011
