| 1 |
| What
does "Silouan" mean? |
  My
patron saint, Silouan of Mount Athos was a Russian monk who lived
during the early part of the twentieth century. Some folks know me
by my Christian name, Silouan, rather than my legal name.
Saint
Silouan was born Simeon Ivanovich Antonov in 1866, of godly parents
who came from the village of Sovsk in Russia's Tambov region. At the
age of twenty-seven he left his native Russia and came to the
monastic region of Greece called Mt.
Athos where he became a monk at the Monastery
of St. Panteleimon and was given the name Silouan. (The
Russian version of the Biblical name Silvanus.)
An ardent ascetic, he received the grace of unceasing prayer and was
granted to see Christ. After long years of spiritual trial, he
acquired great humility and hesychia, inner stillness. He
prayed and wept for the whole world as for himself, and he put the
highest value on love for enemies. Thomas Merton has described
Silouan as “the most authentic monk of the twentieth century.” St
Silouan reposed on September 24, 1938. His memory is
celebrated on September 24.
More
on Saint Silouan the Athonite... |
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| 2 |
What
is the Orthodox Church? |
| 3 |
Why
haven't I heard of the Orthodox Church before? |
| 4 |
Is
the Orthodox Church like the Catholics or the Protestants? |
| 5 |
Do
you believe in the Bible? |
| 6 |
Are
you Charismatic? |
| 7 |
Isn't
Orthodoxy only an Eastern European thing? Doesn't the Orthodox Church
believe in missions? |
| 8 |
Isn't
Orthodoxy influenced by Neo-Platonism and other pagan, gnostic philosophy? |
| 9 |
Why
do Orthodox Churches use liturgy? |
| 10 |
How
can you pray the same prayers all the time? Isn't it limiting and
monotonous? |
| 11 |
Why
don't the Orthodox do more evangelism? |
| 12 |
What
do the Orthodox believe about the "Immaculate Conception"? |
| 13 |
Why
do you show Jesus still on the cross? Don't you believe He died once and
rose? |
| 14 |
I've
heard that the Orthodox worship pictures. Isn't that against the
Commandments? |
| 15 |
If
Mary is still a virgin, who are the "Brothers of the Lord"? |
| 16 |
Do
you have to confess your sins to a priest? |
| 17 |
People
talk about converting to Orthodoxy; is that word really appropriate
if you were already a Christian? |
| 18 |
Didn't
Jesus say the Church was anywhere two or three gather in His name? |
| 19 |
Why
do you talk about the Church so much? |
