One day a nun from the nearby convent of Diveyevo, coming to visit St. Seraphim at his hermitage in the woods near Sarov, found the old monk being visited by a bear. Terrified, the nun let out a scream. The staretz responded by patting the bear and sending it away, but when the nun came to sit beside the elder, the bear returned and lay down by Seraphim's feet. I was as terrified as before, the nun later recorded, but when I saw Father Seraphim, quite unconcerned, treating the bear like a lamb, stroking him and giving him bread, I calmed down. Her fear left her entirely.