St Silouan the Athonite

Simeon Antonov, a peasant of Tambov province in Russia, came to the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos in 1892 after a rough village youth and a soldier's service. Early in his monastic life he was granted a vision of the living Christ, full of humility and love; the withdrawal of that grace plunged him into fifteen years of spiritual struggle, until he heard in prayer the word that became his cross and compass: 'Keep your mind in hell, and despair not.' He served as the monastery's steward, praying for the workmen under him as for his own children. Outwardly an unremarkable, barely lettered monk, he attained ceaseless prayer for the whole world — 'for all Adam' — teaching that love of enemies is the surest sign of the Holy Spirit. He reposed in 1938; his notebooks, published by his disciple St Sophrony as 'Saint Silouan the Athonite,' carried his witness across the world. He was canonized in 1987.