Archbishop Athanasius on St. John Jacob the Jesuit: We need this living model of mystery and silencetranslated

"Today, more than ever, we need this living model of mystery and silence, of purity and discernment," Archbishop Athanasius of Great Britain and Northern Ireland emphasized on Wednesday at the dedication of the Romanian monastery in Stanbridge, Great Britain.

The service was attended by believers from London and the surrounding area. His Eminence presented Saint John Jacob as a model of spiritual life, emphasizing that he is "the light of the Hesychast prayer lit on Romanian soil and placed, according to the mysterious order of divine providence, in the candelabrum of the desert of Palestine".

Referring to the beginnings of the saint's life, Archbishop Athanasius recalled that "lost from his mother at just a few months and from his father at the age of childhood, he grew up under the protection of his pious grandmother, learning from an early age the secret of tears, fasting and prayer".

Spiritual path His Holiness Father Athanasius presented the spiritual journey of Saint John, from the Neamț Monastery to the Holy Land and the wilderness of Hozeva.

"Hozeva - that desert scorched by the sun, but sheltering under its rocks the moisture of prayer and the coolness of the Spirit's presence - was his last...