The Monk Siluan hears the requests of everyone who, with sincere faith in God, asks for his intercession. Why is Saint Silouan the Athonite so loved by the people

There lived a man named Silouan the Athonite. He prayed daily and desperately, asking God to have mercy on him. But his prayers remained unanswered. Several months passed, and his strength was exhausted. Silouan despaired and shouted to the heavens: "You are unforgiving." With these words something broke in his soul. For a moment he saw the living Christ before him. Fire filled his heart and body - with such force that if the vision had lasted a couple more seconds, the monk would have simply died. Throughout his life, Silouan remembered the inexpressibly meek, joyful, infinitely loving look of Jesus and told those around him that God is an incomprehensible and immeasurable love. We will talk about this saint in this article.

Siluan Afonsky (real name - Semyon Antonov) was born in the Tambov province in 1866. For the first time, the boy heard about God at the age of four. Once his father, who liked to receive guests and ask them about something interesting, invited a bookseller to his house. During the meal, a "hot" conversation about the existence of God ensued, and little Semyon sat next to him and listened attentively. The scribe persuaded his father that the Lord did not exist. The boy especially remembered his words: "Where is he, God?" Semyon then said to his father: "You teach me prayers, and this man denies the existence of the Lord." To which he replied: “Don't listen to him. I thought he was smart, but it turned out the opposite. " But his father's answer sowed doubts in the boy's soul.

Youth

Fifteen years have passed. Semyon grew up and got a job as a carpenter on the estate of Prince Trubetskoy. There also worked a cook, who regularly went to pray at the grave of John Sezenevsky. She always talked about the life of the hermit and about the miracles that happened at his grave. Some of the workers present confirmed these stories and also considered John a saint. After hearing the future Reverend Silouan Athos clearly felt the presence of the Most High, and his heart lit up with love for the Lord.

From that day on, Semyon began to pray a lot. His soul and character changed, awakening in the young man a desire for monasticism. The prince had very beautiful daughters, but he looked at them as sisters, and not as women. At that time, Semyon even asked his father to send him to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. He allowed, but only after the young man finished military service.

Extraordinary strength

Elder Silouan the Athonite possessed tremendous physical strength in his youth. Once one of the prince's guests was going to harness a horse. But in the night, severe frosts hit, and all her hooves were in ice, and she did not give it back. Semyon tightly grabbed the horse's neck with his hand and said to the peasant: "Fight back." The animal could not even move. The lodger knocked the ice off the hooves, harnessed the horse and drove off.

Also, Semyon could take a vat of boiling cabbage soup with his bare hands and transfer it to the table. With a blow of his fist, the young man interrupted the thick board. In the heat and cold, he lifted and carried weights for several hours without rest. By the way, he ate and drank as he worked. Once, after a hearty meat dinner on Easter, when everyone went home, his mother offered Semyon eggs. He did not refuse and gladly ate the fried eggs, in which, as they say, there were at least fifty eggs. It's the same with booze. On holidays in the tavern, Semyon could easily drink two and a half liters of vodka and not even get drunk.

The first big sin

The strength of the young man, which was useful to him in the future for accomplishing feats, became the reason for the first great sin, which Silouan the Athonite for a long time prayed for.

On one of the holidays, when all the villagers were on the street, Semyon walked with his comrades and played the harmonica. They were met by two brothers working as shoemakers in the village. The eldest was of great height and strength, and besides, he loved to scandal. He began to take the accordion away from Semyon. He handed it over to his friend, and asked the shoemaker to calm down and go his own way. It did not help. A pood fist flew towards Semyon.

This is how Saint Silouan the Athonite himself recalled this incident: “At first I wanted to give in, but then I felt ashamed that the inhabitants would laugh at me. So I stabbed him hard in the chest. The shoemaker was thrown several meters away, and blood and foam gushed out of his mouth. I thought I killed him. Thank God everything worked out. For about half an hour, they pumped it out, watering cold water... Then, with difficulty, they lifted me up and took me home. He finally recovered only after two months. After that I had to be very careful, because two brothers were constantly on the street with knives and truncheons. But the Lord saved me. "

First vision

Semyon's young life was in full swing. He had already forgotten about the desire to serve God and just spent his time unchastely. After another binge with friends, he dozed off and in a dream saw how a snake crawled inside him through his mouth. Feeling the strongest disgust, Semyon woke up and heard the words: “Don't you feel disgusted by what you saw? I also hate to watch what you do with your life. "

There was no one near, but the voice that uttered these words was unusually pleasant and amazing. Silouan the Athonite was convinced that the Mother of God herself spoke to him. Until the end of his days, he thanked her for guidance on the true path. Semyon felt ashamed of his past life, and he strengthened his desire to serve God after the end of military service. A sense of sin awoke in him, which completely changed his attitude towards everything around him.

Military service

Semyon was sent to serve in St. Petersburg, to the Life Guards. The army loved him because he was a good, calm and efficient soldier. Once he, along with three companions, went to the city to celebrate a holiday in a tavern. Everyone drank and talked, and Semyon sat and was silent. One of the soldiers asked him: “Why are you silent? What are you thinking about?" He replied: "Here we are sitting, having fun, and now they are praying on Athos!"

Throughout his service in the army, Semyon constantly thought about this Holy Mountain and even sent the salary he received there. Once he went to the nearest village to transfer money. On the way back he met a mad dog who wanted to pounce on him. Bound by fear, Semyon only said: "Lord, have mercy!" The dog seemed to run into an invisible obstacle and ran to the village, where it harmed livestock and people. After this incident, he became even more strengthened in his desire to serve the Lord. When the service was over, Semyon came home, packed his things and went to the monastery.

Arrival to the Holy Mountain

Silouan the Athonite, whose teaching is relevant to this day, came to the Holy Mountain in 1892. He began his new ascetic life in the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon.

According to Athonite customs, the new novice had to be in complete peace for several days, remembering his own sins. Then present them in writing and repent to the confessor. Siluan's sins were forgiven, and his ministry to the Lord began: prayers in a cell, lengthy church services, vigils, fasts, communion, confessions, labor, reading, obedience ... Over time, he learned the Jesus Prayer from a rosary. Everyone in the monastery loved him and regularly praised him for his good character and good work.

Monastic exploits

During the years of serving God on the Holy Mountain, the monk accomplished many ascetic deeds, which will seem impossible to most. The monk's sleep was intermittent - he slept several times a day for 15-20 minutes, and he did it on a stool. He had no bed at all. The prayer of Silouan the Athonite lasted all night. During the day, the monk worked like a worker. He adhered to inner obedience, cutting off his own will. Was abstinent in movement, conversation and food. In general, he was a role model.

Conclusion

Silouan the Athonite, whose life was described in this article, literally slept for a few minutes until the end of his life. And this in spite of illness and fading forces. This freed him up a lot of time for prayer. He did it especially vigorously at night, until matins. In September 1938, the monk died peacefully. Through his life the Monk Silouan the Athonite set an example of humility, meekness and love for one's neighbors. Fifty years after his death, the elder was canonized.

Memory Saint Silouan the Athonite takes place in Orthodox Church September 24 in a new style.

Biography of Elder Silouan the Athonite
The elder Siluan of Athos was called Semyon Ivanovich Antonov in the world and was from the Tambov province. Although he lived a fairly long life and died at an old age, his biography was not rich in external events. He was born in 1866 into a peasant family in the Lebedyansky district. Big influence his spiritual development was influenced by the hermit John Sezenevsky, who lived nearby, later glorified as a locally revered saint.
Semyon Antonov, from his youth distinguished by great religiosity, wanted to go to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to take monastic tonsure there, but his father insisted that he first do military service. In 1892, the young man came to Athos to the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon and spent the rest of his life on the Holy Mountain. The Monk Silouan died in 1938 and half a century later was canonized in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and soon the veneration of the saint began in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The spiritual path of the Monk Silouan the Athonite
We know about the spiritual path of the Monk Silouan thanks to his disciple, Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov, who wrote about his spiritual father a book in which he told not only about the biography of the elder, but also about the deeds and temptations that the monk faced during his monastic life. According to the story of Archimandrite Sophrony, the future monk, even during his novice, attained unceasing prayer. However, having no spiritual experience, he fell into temptation. Various thoughts began to visit the young novice, which either told him that he had already attained holiness, then suggested the impossibility of salvation. Demons began to appear to Siluan, and he talked with them and asked why they inspired him with different thoughts. As a result of these temptations, the novice reached an extreme degree of despair, and he was given to experience a complete state of Godforsakenness, which, although it did not last more than an hour, but deeply shocked him and left the memory of this terrible experience for the rest of his life. However, on the same day, Silouan was honored with a vision of Christ during a divine service. Telling about this later to his disciples, the elder said that it was impossible to describe the state of bliss that he experienced in those moments. The spiritual experience received that day and the touch of hellish torment and bliss of the Kingdom of Heaven drastically changed the life of the young novice. From that time on, he devoted his whole life to the struggle to preserve the grace given to him.

Elder Siluan's Teachings
The literary heritage left by Silouan the Athonite is small: during his monastic life, he wrote only a small number of letters, and besides, there are small notes he made in the margins of books. The main part of his rich spiritual experience was passed on to his close disciples orally and later collected and recorded in the book of Archimandrite Sofrony Sakharov "Elder Siluan". The monk, having passed through terrible temptations, often repeated the revelation given to him from the Lord: "Keep your mind in hell and do not despair." The elder also spoke a lot about repentance and the need to remember his sins, even those that had already been confessed. Based on his experience, he emphasized that only such memory and repentance can save a person from vanity and will not allow him to deviate from the faithful spiritual path... The elder also taught that pride is the cause of unbelief in a person, and only a humble person to whom the love of God is revealed by the Holy Spirit can cognize God.

Troparion, voice 2:
Seraphim love for the Lord, a fiery jealous man / and Jeremiah, for a crying people, / zealous imitator, / All-blessed Father Siluan, / you, heed the call of the Mother of the Lord of Forces, / you vomited the serpent of a sinful man / and into Mount Athos / from the vanity where in labor and prayers with tears / the grace of the Holy Spirit abundantly gains. / With her, kindle our hearts / and with you tenderly cry out to strengthen: / My Lord, my life and Holy Joy, / save the world and us from all fierce ones.

Kontakion, voice 2:
Confessing humility and love of the Holy Spirit, kindness warmed by the Holy Spirit, / beloved to God, Silouana, / about your labors, the Russian Church rejoices, / the monks of Mount Athos and all Christian people, / rejoicing, aspire to God with filial love. / For him, pray for us, equal to the divine wisdom, / in the hedgehog will be saved to us, in the burning of love imitating you.

Magnification:
We humor you, / Venerable Father Siluan, / and honor your holy memory, / mentor of monks / and interlocutor of Angels.

Prayer:
O wondrous servant of God, Father Siluan! By the grace given to you from God, pray tearfully for the whole universe, the dead, the living and the coming, do not keep silent for us to the Lord, who are zealously leaning towards you and are affectionately asking for your intercession (names). Move, O all-blessed, to prayer the Zealous Intercessor of the Christian clan, the Most Blessed Mother of God and the Ever-Virgin Mary, who miraculously called you to be a faithful worker in Her earthly helipad, where the chosen one of God pleads for our sins, our merciful and long-suffering life of our God, in the hedgehog and unrighteousness , but according to the ineffable goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to harbor and save us according to His great mercy. She, the saint of God, with the Most Blessed Lady of the world - the Most Holy Abbess of Athos and the holy ascetics of Her earthly lot, ask the saints for the most holy Word holy grief She will be saved from all the troubles and slander of the enemy in the world as a god-loving hermitage. Yes, the Angels are delivered by the saints from evils and strengthened by the Holy Spirit in faith and brotherly love, until the end of the century for the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostles of the Church, prayers and show everyone the way of salvation, but the Earthly and Heavenly Church ceaselessly praises the Creator and the Father of Lights, enlightening and illuminating peace in the eternal truth and goodness of God. For the people of the earth, ask for a prosperous and peaceful life, the spirit of humility and brotherly love, good nature and salvation, the spirit of the fear of God. May it not be malice and lawlessness that harden the hearts of men, who can destroy the love of God in men and cast them into godly enmity and fratricide, but in the power of Divine love and righteousness, as in heaven and on earth, may the name of God be holy, may His holy will be done in men , and may peace and the Kingdom of God reign on earth. Likewise, for your earthly Fatherland - ask for the land of Russia, God's servitor, the longed-for peace and heavenly blessing, in the all-powerful omophorion of the Mother of God, to get rid of him from gladness, destruction, cowardice, fire, sword, invasion of foreigners and internecine strife and from all visible enemies and invisible and tacos the holiest home The Most Blessed Mother of God until the end of the century, he will remain, the Life-giving Cross by power, and in the love of God, the inexhaustible will be affirmed. For all of us, who are immersed in the darkness of sins and repentance of warmth, lower than the fear of God to those who do not have and to those of the Lord who loves us immeasurably, who incessantly offend us, ask, about all-blessedness, from our All-Blessed God, and divinely visit and revive our souls with His All-Powerful Grace, and revive our souls. and put away the pride of life, despondency and neglect in our hearts. We also pray for the hedgehog and us, by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit strengthened and warmed by the love of God, in love of mankind and brotherly love, humble crucifixion for each other and for all, to be affirmed in the truth of God, and in the grace-filled love of God to become well-deserved, and to be close to Him. Yes, tako, doing His all holy will, in all piety and purity of temporary living, we will not shamefully pass the path and with all the saints of the Heavenly Kingdom and His Lamb marriage we will be honored. To Him, from all earthly and heavenly, let there be glory, honor and worship, with His Originless Father, His Most Holy and Good and Life-giving His Spirit, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

Years of life and date of memory

The Monk Siluan (in the world - Semyon) was born in Russia in 1866 in the village of Tovskoye, Tombovskaya province. He died on Mount Athos in 1938. The day of his death (September 11, old style and 24th, new) is celebrated by the Church as a day of remembrance.

One of the most revered saints of the 20th century

The Monk Silouan was not a martyr, and we do not know that he performed miracles and healed the sick who came to him. He did not have a flock of many thousands, as, for example, the recently glorified Venerable Porfiry of Kavsokalivitsky, and he did not leave behind a multivolume collected works. Silouan the Athonite, perhaps, was generally known only thanks to his student, Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), who wrote a book about him. However, he is one of the most famous saints of the 20th century.

Why? His path is a landmark and good science modern man in the fact that salvation does not take place through external action, but through humility. His life is an example of how the Lord chooses for Himself not the wise of this world, but the simple ones. A semi-literate young man from Russia, he dreamed of monasticism all his life, reached Athos himself, and on the Holy Mountain acquired such strength, grace, love for Christ and humility that even during his lifetime there were those who said: here he is, a true saint.

We were tempted even before leaving for the monastery

As such, there are practically no facts about the life of the Monk Silouan. From his biography, one can only get a general idea of ​​the saint. For example, although the father raised his son in love for God (and he himself was an example of a Christian attitude towards people), he asked him first to serve in the army and only then, if he wanted to, leave the world.

For the future ascetic, this was the first test. Jealousy for monastic life began to fade away. Semyon was young and handsome, and from a well-to-do family. And in front of the army, he "tasted a lot of what is commonly called sin," and, it seemed, even forgot about his desire.

Admonition of the Theotokos and prayers of the holy righteous John of Kronstadt

Athos monks. Venerable Siluan - sitting on the far left

According to the recollections of the saint himself, she brought him to his senses Holy Mother of God... Once, in a “thin” dream, he fancied that he was swallowing a snake, and waking up from disgust, he heard a woman's voice: “You swallowed a snake in a dream, and you are disgusted; so it is not good for me to look at what you are doing. " This marked the beginning of his repentance.

And the trip to the holy righteous John of Kronstadt finally confirmed Semyon in his desire for a new life. He went to ask for blessings and prayers so that the world would not hold him back. He did not find the saint, but left a note and, as it is said in his biography, “the very next day he felt around him a 'hellfire', which since then has not ceased everywhere, wherever he is”.
And a week later he went on his own to Athos, where he ended up in 1892 at the age of 26.

Was tempted by demons for many years

At the beginning of the spiritual path, the Lord reveals himself to a person in order to “direct”, inspire and give strength, and then “departs” for a while to teach him to walk on his own. Both that, and another was experienced by Siluan with special depth and poignancy.

According to the life, at the very beginning of his monastic life, he was honored with the grace of such a power that was unknown to other experienced monks. And then for several years he was plunged into such an abyss of despondency and God-forsakenness that in these states he reached complete despair. Silouan himself explained what was happening not so much by "spiritual laws" as by his own vanity, which due to inexperience he could not track.

For many years the Lord allowed him to be susceptible to the attacks of demons. This was also expressed in difficult moral states: the demons tried to exalt Siluan, instilling the thought that he had already become a saint, then they plunged into the abyss of despair, saying that with his sins he would never be saved.

They appeared to him both physically and even in the form of "miraculous phenomena": once his cell was all filled with wondrous light, but then this light became so powerful that the monk could see all his insides.

Was vouchsafed to see Christ

Silouan the Athonite

After spending many years in this state, he came to almost complete exhaustion, until miraculously was not saved by the One to whom he gave his body and life.

This moment is best described in the book "Elder Siluan" by Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) at its very beginning. We will quote this passage:
“He prayed for a long time with uncontrollable crying:“ Have mercy on me, ”but God did not listen to him. Many months of such prayer passed, and the strength of his soul was exhausted; he came to despair and exclaimed: "You will not beg!" And when, with these words, something broke in his soul, exhausted from despair, he suddenly for a moment saw the living Christ; fire filled his heart and whole body with such force that if the vision had lasted another moment, he would have died. After that, he could never forget the inexpressibly meek, infinitely loving, joyful, incomprehensible world filled with the glance of Christ, and subsequent long years his life he tirelessly testified that God is love, love immeasurable, incomprehensible. "

Had the most fussy obedience in a monastery

The experience of the Monk Silouan should also inspire for the reason that the monk knew how to keep in himself unceasing prayer, despite the fact that he lived in one of the most numerous monasteries on Mount Athos (Russian, Panteleimon) and performed one of the most “non-monastic” fussy obediences - the steward, that is, he was responsible for all the work that is carried out in the monastery by worldly people or is related to the worldly: in particular, he supervised the team of builders. Things seemingly incompatible with hesychasm ...

Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) - his disciple

Archimandrite Sofrony Sakharov

As already mentioned, the Monk Silouan became famous largely thanks to his disciple Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), who was 30 years younger than him. He also had Russian roots, lived for many years on Athos, and there his spiritual connection with the elder was born. Later Sophronius left the Holy Mountain and lived in Great Britain, where he founded male monastery with the strictest charter. However, we know him better for his books, in which he describes his vision of the Christian experience. In the descriptions of the spiritual struggle and various experiences, Archimandrite Sophrony came close to the line beyond which words disappear, despite the fact that the syllable itself remains quite simple.

And the book “Elder Siluan”, written by him, is perhaps the main Orthodox book of the XX century. On the one hand, the external and internal world of the monk is revealed in its entirety. On the other hand, the life of the elder became an occasion to tell about the spiritual warfare of a Christian. Struggle with passions, struggle with thoughts, humility, repentance, love, contemplation of the Uncreated Light. Archimandrite Sophrony in this book made an amazing journey through the inner world of man.

Left behind notes

One of the unspoken rules of Athos is not to speak of a person as a saint while he is alive. When this rule is remembered, they often mean the situation when everyone has already recognized the monk as a saint, but are humbly silent. This rule concerned Saint Silouan in a different way: the majority of the brethren could not discern a saint in him during his lifetime. Silouan, in their opinion, was too simple and devoid of apparent sophistication to seem like the chosen one.

They say that many of the brethren believed that he was a great ascetic only after his death, when his personal records were discovered. The monk wrote them for himself from time to time.

It is surprising in itself that they were written by a man who received two classes of education and taught literacy in Holy Scripture and Lives. However, first of all, these short texts are striking in their depth and sincerity. They are endlessly reissued on different languages... Their leitmotif is: repentance, love for God and God's love for man.

Here, take a look:

“Love is independent of time and always has power. And when the soul cognizes the love of God, then it clearly feels that the Lord is our Father, the dearest, closest, dearest, best, and there is no greater happiness than to love God with all your mind and heart, with all your soul, as the Lord commanded, and your neighbor as yourself. And when this love is in the soul, then everything pleases the soul, and when it is lost, then the person does not find peace, and is embarrassed, and accuses others of having offended him, and does not understand that he himself is to blame - he has lost love for God and condemned or hated brother. "

“He who loves the Lord always remembers Him, and the memory of God gives birth to prayer. If you do not remember the Lord, then you will not pray, and without prayer the soul will not abide in the love of God, for through prayer comes the grace of the Holy Spirit. "

"Let us surrender to the will of God and then we will see the Providence of God, and the Lord will give us what we do not expect."

His most famous teaching

Like the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, he did not deliberately reflect and did not formulate any "his" teaching, but still remained in the memory of the Church as a monk who created his own teaching. It can be reduced to one single sentence-admonition, which Siluan himself received during the next period of demonic temptations: "Keep your mind in hell and do not despair."

Only by realizing ourselves worthy of hell and realizing how sinful in its essence human nature is (and without losing hope and love for God), this is the only way we burn out passions in ourselves. “And only in this way,” concluded the monk, “the enemies are conquered. And when I leave this fire with my mind, my thoughts gain strength again ”...

Glorified in 1988

In the year of the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus', the Holy Synod of the Constantinople Orthodox Church canonized the blessed elder. And with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the name of the Monk Silouan the Athonite was included in the month of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Troparion of the Monk Silouan the Athonite
voice 2

Seraphim of love to the Lord, a fiery jealous
and Jeremiah, for the mourning people,
zealous imitator,
All blessed Father Siluan,
listen to the call of the Mother of the Lord of Forces,
the serpent of a sinful husband
and you have retired to Mount Athos from the bustle of the world, / where in labor and prayers with tears
having abundantly acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit,
Ignite our hearts
and with you tenderly cry out to strengthen:
My Lord, my life and holy joy,
save the world and us from all fierce ones.

Kontakion of the Monk Silouan the Athonite
voice 2

Humility of mind, the most faithful confessor
and love for mankind by the Holy Spirit warmed by kindness,
Beloved to God Siluan,
the Russian Church rejoices over your labors,
monks of Mount Athos and all Christianity people,
rejoicing, they strive with filial love for God.
Pray for us, equal to the angels of God,
in a hedgehog, save us, in the burning of love imitating you.