Archimandrite Zacharias

The Saints are the continuation of the epistle of the Word of God to their generation. Having trodden the path of Christ to the end, they received knowledge of the mysteries of His Kingdom. For this reason, in their own person, the word of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, which was given as the power of God for the renewal of the world and which testifies to the truth of His Resurrection, is ‘known and read’ experientially. Saint Sophrony was a pioneer in the way he wrote the life of Saint Silouan, and also an equally genuine descendant of Holy Tradition. Elder Sophrony describes the life of the Saint and analyses his teaching, while at the same time maintaining a dialogue with his time, not only in the style, structure and mode of expression, but rather in opening new horizons for the dark impasses of tribulation wherewith this world is stricken. God bestowed upon Saint Silouan a pure and simple word of life in a direct, concise manner, and chose his disciple, Elder Sophrony, who had followed the path of the Saint and was vouchsafed similar experiences, to transmit this word and shed light on it for the people of an age which has been conquered by a wisdom deprived of all wisdom and by intellectual pride. The dialogue of these holy men with their generation had its beginning in a monastic cell or in a dark cave, where, for long years, with uncontainable weeping, they let rivers of tears flow for the fate of a humanity which ignores or is indifferent to the love of its Creator and Father, walking with steadfast steps towards self-destruction, in time and, alas, in eternity as well.

‘Israel fought with God and which of us does not so fight. The world even to this day is plunged in despair, nowhere is there any solution… Our spirit would have a direct dialogue with Him, the One Who called me from nothingness.’¹

Christ is the ‘sign’ of God for all generations. When the Jews erroneously asked the Lord for a ‘sign from heaven’,² he set forth the ‘sign of Jonah’3 that foreshadowed his death and Resurrection that would give life and salvation to all mankind.

In the Person of Christ, through his life and example, an answer was given to every question and tragic impasse of man. The descent of Christ into the nethermost