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The man who knows the delight of the love of God – when the soul warmed by Grace, loves both God and her brother- knows in part that ‘the kingdom of God is within us.’ Blessed is the soul that loves her brother, for our brother is our life.
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Saint Silouan
Wisdom from Mount Athos
on Love
The best thing of all is to surrender to God’s Will and bear all affliction having confidence in God
+Saint Silouan the Athonite
The Lord wants us to love one another, in this, in love, towards God and our fellow man, lies freedom.
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Grace proceeds from brotherly love, and by brotherly love is grace preserved; but if we do not love our brother the grace of God will not come into our souls.
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Saint Silouan the Athonite
Some there are who spend their whole lives trying to find out about the sun, or the moon, or in seeking like knowledge; yet this is of no profit to the soul.
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The Merciful Lord gave the Holy Spirit on earth, and by the Holy Spirit was the Holy Church established. The Holy Spirit unfolded to us not only the things of the earth, but those too which are of heaven.
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Both in heaven and earth, the Lord is made known only by the Holy Spirit and not through ordinary learning.
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Even children who have no learning at all, come to know the Lord by the Holy Spirit… There are some who spend their whole lives in trying to find out about the sun, or the moon or in seeking like knowledge; yet this is no profit to the soul.
Saint Silouan the Athonite
The Words Require Faith
What is that you say? Taking dust from the earth he shaped the human being? Yes, it says; it did not simply say ‘earth’ but ‘dust,’ something more lowly and substantial even than earth, so to say.
You think the saying amazing and incredible; but if you recall who is the creator in this case, you will no longer withhold faith in the event but marvel at the Creator’s power and bow your knee to it. If, on the other hand, you chanced to put your mind to these matters in light of the limitations of your powers of reason, you would likely get this strange idea into your head, namely, that a body could never be made from earth a brick or a pot, yes, but never could such a body be made. Do you see that unless we take into account the Creator’s power and suppress our own reasoning which betrays such limitations, we will be unable to accept the sublimity of the message? After all, the words require the eyes of faith, spoken as they are with such great considerateness and with our limitations in mind…
“God shaped the human being, and breathed,”
Saint John Chrysostom
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Great is this Mystery
Man was formed of the dust of the ground – what good thing can there be in him?
Behold, God in His goodness adorned man with the grace of the Holy Spirit,
and he became after the likeness of Jesus Christ, Son of God.
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Great is this mystery, and great is the mercy of God towards man.
Saint Siouan the Athonite
O ye peoples of the earth, fashioned by God, know your Creator and His love for us!
Know the love of Christ, and live in peace and thereby rejoice in the Lord,
Who in His mercy waits for all men to come unto Him.
Saint Silouan
We do not need riches or learning in order to know the Lord, we must simply be obedient and sober, have a humble spirit and love our fellow-men. The Lord will love a soul that does this, and of His own accord make Himself manifest to her and instruct her in love and humility, and give her all things necessary to find rest in God.
Saint Silouan the Athonite
Christ is our Friend, our Brother; He is whatever is beautiful and good. He is everything. In Christ there is no gloom, melancholy or introversion, whereas man suffers from various temptations and situations that make him suffer. Christ is joy, life, light, the true light, which makes man glad, makes him fly, makes him see all things, see all people suffer for all people and want all people to be with him, close to him.
Man is made of the dust of the earth, but God so loved him, that He adorned him with His grace and fashioned him in the likeness of the Lord.
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