The life of St Silouan of Mount Athos
Church tradition holds that in these early years he was granted a vision of Christ radiant with light, and that its withdrawal left him in a desolation that lasted fifteen years. Out of that trial came the word he later passed to others: keep your mind in hell, and do not despair. He received the great schema in 1911 and remained a simple monk for the rest of his life, never ordained deacon or priest, giving himself instead to unceasing prayer for the living and the dead, and especially, he taught, for those who do one harm. In 1930 a Russian emigre and former painter, Sophrony Sakharov, sought him out and became his spiritual son. Before Silouan's death in 1938, he entrusted Sophrony with his handwritten notebooks, which Sophrony later shaped into the book that carried Silouan's teaching to the wider Church. Canonized by Constantinople in 1987 and by the Russian Church in 1992, he is remembered for a life spent almost entirely hidden, in obedience and ceaseless prayer for the world.
