He was born in the village of Pekhorka near Moscow and aspired to monasticism from a young age. By the will of his parents, he married, accepted the priesthood, but a year later he was widowed and took vows at the Dubensk Assumption Monastery. For his virtuous life, he was elected abbot of the monastery and worked so hard for it that later it became known by his name – the Serapion Desert.
Wishing to indulge in more rigorous exploits, the saint resigns his abbacy and goes to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in which he became abbot in 1495. The saint was highly respected by Grand Duke John Vasilyevich, and it is known that at his request he pardoned three boyars sentenced to death.
Being present at the Council (1504), the saint ardently defended church and monastery estates as a means of charity.
In 1506, he was consecrated Archbishop of Novgorod. During the great fire in Novgorod, in 1508, the saint, with his tearful prayers, implored the Lord to stop it.
Saint Serapion suffered a lot of troubles: in 1509 he was deprived of the pulpit and exiled to the Moscow Andronik monastery. In 1511, St. Serapion moved to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where he spent the last years of his life in an unceasing feat of divine thought and prayer, having been granted the gift of foresight and miracle-working from the Lord.
Having accepted the schema, the saint died peacefully on March 16, 1516. His incorruptible relics were found on April 7, 1517 and still rest under a bushel in the Serapion Chamber at the Trinity Cathedral in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The Lord glorified His saint with the gift of miracle-working both during life and after death: once on the feast of the Assumption, the saint healed a lame man who had been crawling on his feet and hands for many years, leaning on pieces of wood.
In 1608, during the siege of the Lavra by the Poles, many monks and laity saw him in holy vestments, who came to the temple to pray for his monastery.