Saint Siluanos, the great spiritual figure of the 20th centurytranslated

On the occasion of today's commemoration day of Saint Siluanos of Athonite

By Alexandros Christodoulou, Theologian

Saint Siluanos—born Simeon Ivanovich Antonov—was born in 1866 into a family of peasants in the Tambov region of Russia. From the age of four he wondered: “Where is this God? When I grow up, I will go all over the world looking for him!” In his youth, when he heard about the life of a saintly imprisoned ascetic and the miracles that took place at his tomb, he thought: "If he is a saint, then God is with us and there is no reason for me to go around the world to find him." With this thought his heart burned with love for God.

His mind clung to his uninterrupted memory and he prayed much with tears. He noticed an inner change from this charismatic state, which lasted three months, and he felt a desire for monasticism. Then this grace left him and he returned to worldly life. One day in a fight he would almost kill a fellow villager. Some time after this episode he fell asleep and saw in his sleep a snake crawling into him from the mouth. Along with the disgust he felt, he heard the voice of the Virgin to…