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Ivan was born on [[June 28]], 1885, in a village of Voronok of the Krupetsk volost of the Kursk province into family of a peasants. Little information is available about his early life, since the elder did not say anything due to his modesty. After his graduation from the [[parish]] school and the repose of his parents, Ivan entered the Glinsk monastery.  In 1914-1916, he took part in the World War I where he was wounded. Then he was taken to the hospital. Archbishop Micah (Kharkharov) of Yaroslavl (1921-2005), who later became a spiritual son of Fr. Seraphim, writes that at the same time there was a hypnotist in the hospital among the injured. He could hypnotize almost all other patients but could not do this with Ivan, because he always recited the Jesus prayer. And no matter how much the hypnotist tried to hypnotize, nothing worked. At that time, as Archbishop Micah writes, Ivan got to know from own experience the power of the Jesus prayer and that hypnosis is not just an experiment with the hidden powers in man but is the work of the demons. Following his recovery he Ivan returned to the monastery. In 1919, Ivan was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] with the name Juvenalis. His elder, hieromonk Aristoklis (Veter), taught him a wholehearted daily confession of thoughts and attention to all the movements of the heart. Later, Juvenalis believed that the inner doing is very important for the spiritual growth and salvation.