Knowing God, According to St Silouan the Athonite

St Silouan the Athonite

"We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning, but by the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars have arrived at a belief in the existence of God, but they have not come to know God. To believe in God is one thing, to know God another." St Silouan the Athonite p.354

How does this happen?
"The soul suddenly sees the Lord and knows that it is He.

Who shall describe this joy, this gladbess?
The Lord is made known in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit pervades the entire man - soul, mind and body.

After this wise is God known in heaven and on earth.

The Lord in His boundless mercy accorded this grace to me, a sinner, that others might come to know God and turn to Him." p.353

"I went into church, to Vespers, and looking at the icon of the Saviour, I cried: 'Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me, a sinner. ' And as I uttered these words, I saw the living Lord in the place where the icon was, and the grace of the Holy Spirit flooded my soul and my whole body. And so it was I came to know through the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ is God; and I was filled with a sweet longing to endure sufferings for His sake." p. 458

"Pride is the root of unbelief. ...the Lord reveals Himself only to the lowly in heart....If we take pains to explore the human heart, this is what we shall see: the Kingdom of Heaven in the heart of the saint, but in the soul of the sinner darkness and torment. And it is good to know this because we shall dwell eternally either in the Kingdom or in torment." p.355

"Many martyrs came to know the Lord...
The grace of God teaches them to love their enemies, since the man who has no love for his enemies cannot come to know the Lord, Who died on the cross for His enemies, and gave us an example in Himself with the commandment to love our enemies (The Gospel of St John 13:15)"

"The man to whom the Lord is known through the Holy Spirit  (the man to whom the Lord has appeared alive and visible as stated above- emphasis mine) becomes like unto the Lord, as St John the Divine said, 'We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is' 1 John 3:2, and we shall behold His glory." p.356

"But the man who cries out against evil men but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God." p.357

"O ye peoples of the earth, fashioned by God, know your Creator and His love for us!
...Turn to Him, all ye peoples of the earth, and lift up your prayers to God...
Know, all ye peoples, that we are created for the glory of God in the heavens. Cleave not to the earth, for God is our Father and He loves us like dear children." p.358-359

Selections from the book, St Silouan the Athonite by Archimandrite Sophrony, translated by Rosemary Edmonds, St Vladimir Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York 10707. ISBN 0-88141-195-7

Love your Enemies by Hieromonk Gregorios

 This book is available from Amazon

Hieromonk Gregorio is a Priest-monk from the Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou, Mount Athos, Greece.

The Lord Jesus Christ commands what only He is in the position to ask of us. We could not possibly accept this Word from anyone else.
He speaks to us saying,

"But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what
credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."Luke 6:27-36 NASB

Hard words indeed! But if we obey the commandment,  the doors of eternal life will be open to us,  we will become like unto God Himself and His very Life and nature will be communicated to us,  because we would have learned to love the way He loves.

Can you imagine? To be forgiven everything, even our most serious offenses,  because we strive to show kindness to the one who is unpleasant to us,  the one who is trying to hurt us.

Hieromonk Gregorios writes,  "St John Chrysostom appeals to each of us, saying,
'He (God) has made you the judge of the forgiveness of your own sins: if you forgive only a few sins,  only a few will be forgiven you: if you forgive many,  then many will be forgiven you. If you forgive sincerely from the heart, that is how God will forgive you. And if after forgiving your enemy you make him your friend, God will do the same for you. " page 15,
quoting St John Chrysostom's Homilies on the Statues,  20, 6, PG 49, 206 (Note)

I do not yet possess this kind of love but I am determined to behave as if I had it. This is a struggle which is froth with difficulty, but in the end,  if we persevere,  it will leads us into
eternal life!

For more on the love of enemies please read my post,  The Foolishness of the Cross: Love your Enemies.

Note:
from 'Love your Enemies' page 15, by Hieromonk Gregorios, published by the Cell of St John the Theologian, Holy Monastery of Koutloumousiou, Karyes, Mount Athos, Greece
2008

"Love Your Enemies" says Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel According to St Luke 6:35

Judas Betrays the Master - Icon in the Church of Panagia Dexia,

Thessaloniki, Greece

Please listen to Fr Phillip Hall's video podcast, 'Come And See'

in Ancient Faith Radio. In this occasion a wonderful homily

on the words of our Lord, Love Your Enemies.

Humility leads to Perfect Rest in God

St Silouan the Athonite and behind him Archimandrite Sophrony
of Essex (Αγιορειτική Φωτοθηκή)Source

"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart...
and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; 
I am the Lord"
Brenton's Septuagint Leviticus 19:17-18, p.154


"Prayer is the best of all activities for the soul. Prayer
is the path to God. Through prayer we obtain humility,
patience and every good gift...

The Lord showed great pity on me and made me 
understand that I must weep all my life. Such is the way
of the Lord. And so I write now out of pity for those who
like me, are puffed up with pride, and therefore suffer. I
write that they may learn humility and find rest in God...

Only to the humble does the Lord reveal Himself in the
Holy Spirit, and if we do not humble ourselves we shall
not see God. Humility is the light in which we may behold
the Light which is God - in the words of the Psalmist:
'In thy light shall we see light' Psalm 36:9...

The humility of Christ dwells in the lowly ones - they are 
glad to be the least of men. The Lord gave me understanding
of this...

Be obedient, submit with a good conscience to those in 
authority. Be content with all things, and your mind will be 
cleansed of vain thoughts. Remember that the Lord sees 
you, and be fearful lest anywise you offend your brother.
Neither dispraise nor grieve him, even by a glance, an
expression on your face, and the Holy Spirit will love you
and Himself be your help in all things...

If you have upbraided, or passed judgment on, or 
vexed your brother, your peace is lost. If you have
been boastful, or have exalted yourself above your fellow,
you have lost grace. If you did not drive away forthwith
(immediately) that wanton (merciless and capricious) 
thought that came to you, your soul will lose love for God
and boldness in prayer.

If you are fond of power, or money, you will never know the
love of God. If you have followed your own will, then you are
vanquished by the enemy and despondency will come upon
your soul. If you detest your brother, it means that
you have fallen away from God, and an evil spirit
has taken possession of you...

The grace of God is not in the man who does not love his
enemies...

There are people who desire the destruction, the torment
in hell-fire of their enemies, or the enemies of the Church.
They think like this because they have not learnt divine love
from the Holy Spirit, for he who has learned the love of God
will shed tears for the whole world...

But if you will do good unto your brother, you will
gain quiet for your conscience. If you subdue your own
will, your enemies will be driven off and you will receive
peace in your soul. If you forgive your brother the affronts
he puts upon you, and love your enemies, then you will 
receive forgiveness for your sins and the Lord will give you
to know the love of the Holy Spirit...
And when you have entirely humbled yourself, you
will find perfect rest in God. 

The Lord reveals His mysteries to the humble soul. But if the
soul has not yet learned but is only learning humility, she will
be subject to vicissitudes; at times she will find herself in 
conflict with intrusive thoughts, and know no rest, while at
others she is released from such thoughts, and can 
contemplate the Lord and perceive His love. Wherefore the 
Lord said: 'Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls' Matthew 11:29...


Oh Lord. grant me Thy spirit of humility that I lose not Thy
grace again, and weep for it as Adam wept for paradise and
for God....

Therefore brethren, with all your might preserve the peace
of God which is freely given to us, and when any man vexes
us, if needs be let us constrain ourselves to love him, and
the Lord, seeing our pains, will help us with His grace..."

With St Silouan, let us pray:

"O Lord in Thy manifold mercy bestow on us
a humble spirit, that our souls may find rest in Thee.

Most holy and gracious Mother of God, beseech God
to make us lowly in spirit.

All ye saints who dwell in heaven
and behold the glory of the Lord
and your spirits rejoice -
pray that we also may be with you,
for my soul, too, would fain see the Lord,
and yearns after Him humbly,
knowing herself unworthy of such blessing.

O merciful Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit
teach us Thy humility."


St. Silouan the Athonite in St Silouan the Athonite by 
Archimandrite Sophrony, Selections from p.269-p.504, 
St Vladimir Seminary Press 1991.

St Silouan sited, and holding a prayer rope
Source

The Foolishness of the Cross - Love your Enemies!

Icon of Christ carrying His cross, Church of Panagia Dexia,
Thessaloniki, Greece

"For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
NASB BibleGateway.com

I have always read the following passage from the Gospel according to St Luke,  with a sense of astonishment;
"“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your
coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what
credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the
same.If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father
is merciful."Luke 6:27-36 NASB Source-BibleGateway.com 
The commandment has a sense of absoluteness. It demands total and unconditional surrender of oneself. And I have to confess that I did not understand it. What Christ is asking seems inhumane!

Does He mean this literally?, I continually asked myself. What kind of a person behaves in this way and is able to survive? And I thought, "there is no way I can fulfill this commandment!"

I read St Silouan, "Blessed is the soul that loves her brother, for our brother is our life. Blessed is the soul that loves her brother: the Spirit of the Lord lives manifest within her, affording peace and gladness, and she weeps for the whole world." From 'St Silouan the Athonite' by Archimandrite Sophrony p.371, St Vladimir Seminary Press 1991

Such words sound so simple but it takes a heart full of the Holy Spirit to understand. I thought, "Alright, maybe finding out what St Silouan means by 'love' will help, and immediately recalled 
1 Corinthians 13, where it reads,

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek it's own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” NASB 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 And I despaired of ever been
able to live and experience this love.

Then I read this passage from St Silouan;
"The soul cannot know peace unless she prays for her enemies...The Lord taught me to love my enemies. Without the grace of God we cannot love our enemies. Only the Holy Spirit teaches love,..."
And I realized that my feelings of impotence are warranted, that is, if I  think I am called to have this love in the power of my human strength. The beloved Elder knows this and he has words of
encouragement for us, "To begin with, constrain your heart to love enemies, and the Lord,
seeing your good will, will help you in all things, and experience itself will show you the way. But the man who thinks with malice of his enemies has not God's love within him, and does not know God."

"If you cannot love, then at least do not revile or curse your enemies, and things will already be better; but if a man curses and abuses his
enemies, it is plain that an evil spirit lives in him, and if he does not repent, when he dies he will go to the place where evil spirits dwell.

May the Lord preserve every soul from such adversity!"  
From, 'St Silouan the Athonite', p377 to p.378


The words are comforting but also bring fear, hopefully the fear of God. It is this fear that moves me to constrain myself and struggle towards God and not away from Him. God loves us so much, that His Providence makes a plan for us. How, you may ask? 

The beloved Bishop of Zicha knows very well how, as revealed by his prayer,

"LORD, BLESS MY ENEMIES, A Prayer by St. Nikolai of Ochrid

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have.
Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from Earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world. Enemies have
made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter
than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Your
tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.
They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.
They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.
They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself. They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.
Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf. Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background. Whenever I have rushed
to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand. 

Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep. Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out. Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment.

Bless my enemies, Ο Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitter against me: so that my fleeing to You may have no return;
so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs; so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul; so that my heart may
become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger; so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven; ah, so that I may for
once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life. Enemies have taught me to know what
hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself. One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize
that they are not enemies, but cruel friends. It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies. Therefore bless, Ο Lord, both
my friends and my enemies. A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands. For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them. Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them."
From 'Prayer LXXV, Prayers by the Lake p.142-144, Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, Trans. by Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Todor Mitka, 1999 ORTHODOX HERITAGE. APRIL 2005. BROTHERHOOD OF ST. POIMEN Source

Immediately two things seem very clear, I must pray to God with perseverance to be able to learn to love my enemies, and I must trust in, and submit to God's Providence as revealed in the 
circumstances of my life.

Father Zacharias Zacharou explains, "God's commandments are beyond man's conception and power to fulfill. We are humbled from the moment we come in contact with them. The commandments of God have the specific effect of crushing the arrogance of our darkened minds and hearts as to clear the way for grace to dwell 
within us. They shed light on our imperfection, on our spiritual poverty and weakness, so that we cry out to God from the heart, asking Him to come and fulfill His own commandments in us. This
is the only way, as He Himself said, "Without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5
From 'Remember Thy First Love' p.318, by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou, Stravopegic Monastery of St John the Baptist, Essex, England, 2010

"The very greatness of loving our enemies is obvious from this simple example: if we have a misunderstanding with someone and we ourselves are to blame, how difficult we find it to humble ourselves and say, 'Forgive me, I made a mistake' But how much greater the crucifixion of ourselves if we are to love someone who has provoked us, even as our conscience tells us that we are blameless. This, however is the way of Christ, Who loved us unto the end even while
we were His enemies. ..

Love for one's enemies, then, is the 'madness' of our faith, 'the foolishness of the cross'. And woe unto him who does not accept this foolishness! His is foolishness of a different kind: 'The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God' Psalm 14:1. There is indeed no God for him, for he is unmoved at seeing Christ-God with arms outstretched
upon the cross in love for His enemies. Such a fool is so  hardened that the word of life, the word of the cross, no longer penetrates his heart.
And this word is the one that speaks most eloquently to us of what love for our enemies truly is." Ibid p.320-321

I am speechless! With pain of heart I acknowledge that I do not yet possess this love. But I can pray, I can ask, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! Transform my heart of stone. I believe, help my unbelief!"

And while I pray, there is also something else I can do, I can start to act as if I had this love...