Venerable Silouan the Athonite (†1938) — September 11 / September 24 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, September 11 according to the Julian Calendar (September 24 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates Venerable Silouan the Athonite.

Venerable Silouan the Athonite (in the world Simeon) was born in 1866 in the village of Shovskoye in the Tambov Province, into the family of a peasant, John Antonov. Already in his youth the blessed one expressed a desire to renounce the world and become a monk at the Kiev Caves Lavra, but he did not receive a blessing. His father insisted that his son first serve in the army and only then choose his path in life.

Simeon began his service in St. Petersburg and became an exemplary, conscientious soldier. In the army the wisdom and meekness of the blessed one were revealed with particular clarity. During this time the place of his future ascetic labors, the Holy Mountain of Athos, was also miraculously revealed to him. Shortly before completing his military service, Simeon decided to seek the blessing of Father John of Kronstadt, but not finding him, he left a letter: “Father, I wish to become a monk; pray that the world may not hold me back.” The very next day, in the barracks, the saint seemed to feel vividly the horror of hell, and from that time on, wherever he went, this sense never left him.

In the autumn of 1892 the venerable father arrived on Athos and entered the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon as a novice. At first he was assigned to the mill, and this was followed by the laborious duties of steward of the workshops and the provisions storehouse. After his period of probation, in 1896 he was clothed in the great schema.

From the first to the last day of his ascetic life, Venerable Silouan gave an example of the complete cutting off of one’s own will. “Here is the shortest and easiest way to salvation: be obedient, be self-restrained, do not judge, and guard your mind and heart from evil thoughts; hold on to the thought that every person is good and that the Lord loves them all. Then the grace of the Holy Spirit will dwell in you, and you will say: ‘The Lord is merciful.’ But if you judge, murmur and are self-willed, then however much you pray, your soul will become empty, and you will say: ‘The Lord has forgotten me.’ Yet it is not the Lord who has forgotten you; it is you who have forgotten that you must be obedient. That is why the grace of God has left you and does not abide in you. In an obedient soul it readily dwells and brings with it peace and rest in the Lord,” he used to say.

The prayer of the holy father was ever more accompanied by sorrow for this world, which did not know the Lord.

Saint Silouan the Athonite reposed on September 11, 1938. His holy relics rest on Athos, in the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon.

On the thousandth anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, the Orthodox Church of Constantinople numbered this God-pleaser among the choir of the saints.