Nikolay Motovilov

According to his notes, he once tried to commit suicide by drowning in Chyornoye Lake near Kazan, but was stopped by an apparition of the Theotokos, whom he claimed to have led him throughout the remainder of his life.

[1] In 1840 Motovilov married Yelena Ivanovna Meliukova, the niece of a pupil of St. Seraphim, schemo-nun Marfa, and settled down on his estate near Simbirsk.

Motovilov wrote numerous letters to important personages, including the Emperor himself, endeavoring to demonstrate the depths of Seraphim's prophetic gift and philosophy.

He also organized large business ventures such as the Svyato-Preobrazhensky Bank, assisting in the migration of "millions of peasants" from Central Russia to Siberia.

In 1903 Motovilov's widow passed the baskets with the manuscripts—by now filled with feathers and chicken droppings—to the religious writer Sergei Nilus.

In one of Nilus’ books "On the banks of God’s river" we find a most extraordinary prediction of Seraphim Sarovsky, carried to us by Nikolay Motovilov.