Venerable Silouan Athos

Venerable Silouan of Athos (in the world, Semyon Ivanovich Antonov) was born in 1866 in the village of Shovskoye in Tambov Province to a peasant family. After military service in a sapper battalion in St. Petersburg, he entered the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos in 1892 as a novice and was later tonsured a monk with the name Silouan. He served the monastery in various obediences, including administering its farm work. He experienced a profound encounter with the living Christ, followed by a long period of spiritual abandonment, after which he received in his heart the words that became the foundation of his teaching: "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not." For the rest of his life he devoted himself to unceasing prayer, radical humility, and a love embracing the whole world, even one's enemies. He reposed on 11/24 September 1938 on Athos. His spiritual notes and writings were collected and published in 1952 by his disciple, Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), in the internationally acclaimed book "Saint Silouan the Athonite." He was glorified by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1987, and his name was entered into the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1992.