St Silouan the Athonite
My soul has come to know Thee, O Lord, and I write of Thy mercy to Thy people.
Do not lose heart, O peoples, that life is hard for you. Only fight against sin, ask the Lord for help, and He will give it, for He is merciful and loves you.
— O peoples... I write these lines to you with tears. My soul longs for you to come to know the Lord and to behold His mercy and glory. I am 72 years old; soon I shall die, and I write to you of the mercy of God, which He has given me to know by the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit has taught me to love people. I would set you on a high mountain, so that from its height you might see the meek and merciful face of God, and then your souls would rejoice. Truly I say to you: I see nothing good in myself, I have a multitude of sins, but the grace of the Holy Spirit has blotted out many of them; and I know that whoever fights against sin, the Lord will not only forgive him but will also give him the grace of the Holy Spirit, which gladdens the soul and gives it a deep and sweet peace.
O God, Thou lovest Thy creation; who can fathom Thy love or delight in it, if Thou Thyself dost not teach it by the Holy Spirit?
I beseech Thee, O Lord, send down the grace of the Holy Spirit upon men, that they may come to know Thy love. Warm the sorrowing hearts of men; let them glorify Thee with joy and forget their earthly sorrows.
Gracious Comforter, I beseech Thee with tears: soothe the sorrowing hearts of the men Thou hast made; let men hear Thy sweet voice: “Your sins are forgiven you.” Yea, O Lord, Thou canst work miracles, and there is no miracle greater than to love a fallen sinner. To love a saint is easy: he is worthy. Yea, O Lord, hear the prayer of the earth. All the peoples are in sorrow; all are sunk in sin; all have lost Thy grace and live in darkness.
O peoples, let us cry out to the Lord with the whole earth, and our prayer will be heard, for the Lord rejoices in the repentance of men; all the heavenly powers are waiting for us, that we too may rejoice in the sweetness of the love of God and behold the beauty of His face.
When men have the fear of God, then life on earth is quiet and sweet. But now people have begun to live by their own will and their own reason; they have abandoned the holy commandments and want joy on earth without God; and they do not understand that God alone is our joy, that only in the Lord does the soul of man rejoice. He warms the soul as the sun warms the flowers of the field, sways them like the wind and gives them life. The Lord has given us everything, that we may glorify Him; but the world does not understand this; and who can understand what he has not seen or tasted? When I was in the world, I thought that happiness was on earth: I am healthy, handsome, rich, and people love me; and I was proud of this. But when I came to know the Lord by the Holy Spirit, then I began to look upon all the happiness of the world as smoke that the wind carries away. But the grace of the Holy Spirit gladdens and cheers the soul, and it forgets the earth and contemplates the Lord in deep peace.
O Lord, turn men to Thee, that they may come to know Thy love, that they may behold Thy beautiful face by the Holy Spirit; let them delight in all Thy good things here, on earth, and when they see Thee as Thou art, they will become like Thee.
Glory to God, that He has given us repentance, by which all of us without distinction are saved. The only ones not saved are those who do not want repentance; in this I see their despair, and I weep much, because I pity them. They have not come to know by the Holy Spirit how great is the mercy of God. If every soul came to know the Lord, they would know how greatly He loves us; and then not only would no one give himself up to despair, but they would never even murmur.
Every soul that has lost its peace must repent, and the Lord will forgive its sins; then joy and peace will make their dwelling in the soul; no other witnesses are needed — the Holy Spirit Himself bears witness that the sins are forgiven. Here is the sign that sins are forgiven: if you have come to hate sin, then the Lord has forgiven you your transgressions. What more, then, are we waiting for? For someone from heaven to sing us a heavenly song? But in heaven everything lives by the Holy Spirit, and on earth the Lord has given us that same Holy Spirit. In the churches of God too the services are performed by the Holy Spirit; and in the deserts, in the mountains, in the caves — the ascetics of Christ everywhere live by the Holy Spirit; and if we keep the Lord within us, we shall be free of all darkness, and eternal life will make its dwelling in our souls.
If everyone repented and kept the commandments of God, the Kingdom would be here on earth, for “the kingdom of heaven is within us.” The Kingdom of Heaven is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is one in heaven and on earth.
