Akathist to Saint Silouan of Mount Athos

Praise of the saint whose prayer embraces the whole world in love.

Kontakion 1

Chosen ascetic and earthly angel of Christ, all-blessed father Silouan! Excellent imitator of the fathers of Athos in unceasing vigil, fasting, and humility, through thirst for God and burning love for Him you acquired abundant grace for your soul, all-blessed one. Imitating Christ, you shared His crucifixion through tearful prayer for those languishing in Hades, for the living, and for those yet to come. Do not deprive us also of this love of yours, as in the valley of sin we ask your intercession before God and cry with tenderness:

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Ikos 1

The Creator of angels and Lord of hosts chose you beforehand from your mother’s womb and, in the words of the Psalmist, gave you a deep heart, God-bearing father Silouan, that, receiving the uncontainable name of God Most High as in a splendid chamber, you might earnestly follow the angelic life through God’s power and wisdom. Praising the wondrous struggle of your earthly labors, we reverently cry to you:

Rejoice, fruit of your devout parents’ chaste purity;

Rejoice, fragrant flowering of their struggle of faith, of unfading beauty.

Rejoice, you who loved your parents’ devotion with all your soul;

Rejoice, you who desired to imitate their chastity and love of God.

Rejoice, wondrously taught from youth to seek joy in God;

Rejoice, you who hastened like a deer to the spring of God’s grace.

Rejoice, you who sweetened your youthful mind with God’s word as with sweet honey;

Rejoice, you who submitted your heart wholly to God’s will.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 2

The most blessed Theotokos saw you sinking into the depths of sin, when the sweetness of sin entered your youthful body like a foul-smelling serpent. Grieving as a mother, she wondrously called to you: Child, it grieves me to see you defiling yourself in sinful deeds. Understanding her compassion for your fall, you courageously cast out the serpent of sin, overcoming it by repentance and prayer, and always singing a song of thanksgiving to the Lord who loves us, for His most pure Mother: Alleluia.

Ikos 2

Divine understanding overshadowed you when you were granted to hear the voice of the Mother of the Lord of hosts, chosen one of God, Silouan, and the grace of the Holy Spirit filled your heart. By its action, like a gazelle escaping a snare, you hastened from worldly vanity to Mount Athos, the garden of the Mother of God who had wondrously called you, to cling to God with a child’s love. Seeing the wondrous purpose of the Lady of the world for you, we cry with tenderness:

Rejoice, called by the Most Pure One herself from the darkness of sin to the light of Christ’s truth;

Rejoice, wondrously chosen to be a faithful laborer in her earthly garden.

Rejoice, sweet-flowing cluster of the Russian land, grown abundantly on Mount Athos;

Rejoice, wakeful conscience that blunted the sting of sin through penitential prayer.

Rejoice, you who served God like an angel in the holy monastery of Panteleimon;

Rejoice, you who gloriously subdued the enemy fighting against you through labor, fasting, and silence.

Rejoice, you who humbly trampled down all the devil’s devices;

Rejoice, you who gloriously acquired undefiled faith through thirst for God.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 3

The power of the Most High truly guarded you when the spirit of Hades and death threatened you and tossed your soul with sinful temptations, God-loving father Silouan. When, growing faint, you thought God could not be moved by entreaty, the Lord, the Lover of mankind, visited you in the ineffable radiance of Tabor and strengthened you with the fire of the grace of the Holy Spirit, all-blessed one. Receiving a new birth like Paul, you cried to God with fear and joy: Alleluia.

Ikos 3

Possessing the wealth of grace, you were raised by the Spirit to heaven and heard ineffable words there. Who can truly tell of that joy, all-blessed father Silouan? For, beyond the images of the world, in contemplation of the Godhead, you were granted to see the face of Christ God, of ineffable beauty, loving without measure and forgiving all, and were filled with the unspeakable love of God. Marveling at your inexpressible vision of God, we cry:

Rejoice, granted Christ’s visitation and consolation in the struggle of faith;

Rejoice, counted worthy to behold the beauty of His ineffable glory.

Rejoice, raised by the Holy Spirit into the heavenly Eden of wondrous beauty;

Rejoice, abundantly nourished there with the gifts of grace of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.

Rejoice, partaker of the ineffable beauty of Paradise;

Rejoice, beloved by God and endowed by Him with the riches of heavenly beauty.

Rejoice, you who earnestly seek this grace for the whole human race;

Rejoice, wakeful watchman who awakens us to the morning of eternal life.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 4

The devil, a murderer from the beginning, seeking your destruction, raised a storm of fierce temptations against you. But you, father Silouan, instructed by the Holy Spirit to keep your mind in Hades and not despair, overcame him, forestalling his devices through unceasing vigilance and humility. Put to shame by you, he openly told you that he was a liar. Thus God preserved your soul like a gentle dove from the enemy’s snares, while you continually sang to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 4

Hearing that you had been wondrously called from worldly vanity to the monastic struggle and were bearing good fruit by God’s grace, venerable father, not only young monks but also elders greatly experienced in spiritual struggle came to you and delighted in your deeds and words as in honey. Thus, attaining a life equal to the angels, they became like the Lord. Seeing you adorned with humility, we joyfully cry:

Rejoice, inexhaustible well of humility and chastity;

Rejoice, fragrant and unfading lily of the earthly Eden.

Rejoice, you who lovingly bore the good yoke of Christ in your struggle;

Rejoice, you who established your mind, heart, and will in God through prayer.

Rejoice, diligent guardian of purity of soul and body;

Rejoice, you who ascended to freedom from passions through unceasing prayer.

Rejoice, most diligent follower of the rules of the holy fathers;

Rejoice, unceasing herald of our heavenly homeland and of God’s love for us.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 5

The Lord gave you divine grace as a star to show the way and enlighten the mind, God-loving father Silouan, and through it strengthened you for the saving struggle, as He strengthened the prophet Elijah by the brook Cherith. Wondrously nourished from the inexhaustible treasures of the Holy Spirit, in youth and old age, from the morning watch until night, in prayers for the whole world you continually cried to God like a sweetly sounding flute: Alleluia.

Ikos 5

We see you, all-blessed father Silouan, in the good struggle, seeking God’s love as an infant seeks its mother’s milk, burning with love for Him and crying with tears: Remember the Lord’s love, my soul, and my heart grew warm; who will give me such fervor that I may know no rest by day or night from the love of God? Therefore our hearts tremble and our souls are moved at such burning love of yours for the all-compassionate God, and we tenderly cry:

Rejoice, insatiably thirsting for God’s righteousness more than for sweet honey;

Rejoice, imitator of the angels in your love for the Lord.

Rejoice, you who lift the incense of pure prayer like a fiery flame;

Rejoice, you who adorned things above and below with the beauty of angelic reverence.

Rejoice, for your heart became like the fire of the burning bush;

Rejoice, for your hands were stretched before the Lord for everyone, like the hands of Moses for the chosen people.

Rejoice, for you loved to desire God’s judgments at all times and sought His statutes;

Rejoice, for you continually cried to Him: Save Your people, O God, and bless Your inheritance.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 6

You became an unceasing preacher of silence, servant of God, when the Lord, the Lover of mankind, willed to test your love and withdrew from you the visitation of the All-holy Spirit. Realizing that you were deprived of His grace, like Adam lamenting the loss of Paradise, you cried with tears from a contrite heart: Lord, You first sought me and allowed me to delight in Your Holy Spirit, and my soul loved You. Now my soul longs for You. Lamenting thus, yet hoping in God’s mercy, you cried to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 6

You shone forth as a new beholder of mysteries, God-loving father Silouan, when through humility and prayer with tears you again acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit, which filled your heart with ineffable love. Understanding the power of this grace, with the boldness of Elijah you cried: Lord, grant not only me but the whole world to know Your love and be saved! Having you as our tireless intercessor before God, we cry with tenderness:

Rejoice, for through sharing Christ’s crucifixion in prayer for the departed, the living, and those yet to come, you became an open heaven;

Rejoice, for through such love you gained the Kingdom of Heaven for your soul.

Rejoice, wondrous embodiment of purity of faith and freedom from malice;

Rejoice, you who acquired Christ’s forgiveness of all the sins of your neighbors.

Rejoice, faithful fellow ascetic of God’s saints, the wondrous sanctuary of the world;

Rejoice, faithful obedient servant of the most blessed Abbess of Athos and vessel of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Rejoice, sweetly sounding flute of Mount Athos, announcing the life to come;

Rejoice, tireless laborer in her garden, strengthening those who grow faint in their struggle.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 7

Wishing to reveal in you a new and radiant light, venerable father Silouan, the Lord, the Lover of mankind, planted you like an olive branch from the root of the Russian land in the wilderness of Athos. Watering you with the grace of the Holy Spirit, He made you fruitful. For through your deeds and words, like life-giving oil, you taught everyone purity and chastity, devotion and brotherly love; and they, bound together in love, subjecting what is lower to what is higher, sang to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 7

The Lord revealed you as a new fellow ascetic for desert dwellers, a guide and teacher of monks and laypeople, all-blessed Silouan. For while still living in the world, you taught Christ’s forgiveness to a certain soldier who was scandalized by his wife’s sin and raged in anger; and thus the mystery of marriage, the little church, was preserved from destruction. Calling monks who had fallen into despondency to acquire peace of soul and instructing them in the fear of God, you brought them to repentance, preparing everyone to become inhabitants of Paradise. Knowing your care for the salvation of all, we fittingly cry to you with love:

Rejoice, zealous companion of desert lovers in their search for God;

Rejoice, diligent builder of brotherly love and fervent intercessor for all.

Rejoice, faithful companion on life’s journey, in troubles and misfortunes;

Rejoice, sincere servant in illnesses, grief, and sorrows of soul.

Rejoice, herald of God’s love, calling all to reconciliation with God and their neighbor;

Rejoice, you who strengthen souls exhausted by sin in the hope of forgiveness, by witnessing that the Lord is good.

Rejoice, faithful ascetic of the earthly Eden, tearfully seeking salvation for the world;

Rejoice, you who desired to descend into Hades for all unrepentant sinners.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 8

The Lord revealed a wondrous miracle to you, all-blessed father Silouan, when He showed you the spiritual elder Abraham transfigured in His image and shining inexpressibly. Thus He taught us to honor the mystery of Repentance. Seeing you entrust your will to your spiritual father as to the Lord Himself, and so cut off your evil desires through humility and repentance, we learn to entrust ourselves to God’s will through the pastors of Christ’s Church, and thus, before our departure, to escape God’s wrath and the coming Judgment, crying to the Triune God: Alleluia.

Ikos 8

Having acquired Christ’s humility with all your heart and soul, wondrous servant of God, and sharing the crucifixion of the beloved Lord for the world, you cried with tears: Sweetest Jesus! You raised my soul to love You and my neighbor. Grant me therefore to pour out tears for the whole world, that all people may know You, delight in Your peace, and see the light of Your face. We who have spent our lives in sins and receive salvation through your help bless you thus:

Rejoice, tireless fellow laborer of the fervent Protectress in prayers for the world;

Rejoice, you who watered the Holy Mountain with tears like Jeremiah weeping for the people.

Rejoice, wondrous ascetic of Athos, sanctifying the whole world by prayer;

Rejoice, you who, like a father loving his children, tearfully intercede before God for all perishing in sins.

Rejoice, beloved servant of Christ God, joy and wonder of the angels;

Rejoice, bright radiance of the North, pure reflection of Holy Rus in the wilderness of Athos.

Rejoice, you who showed the world an image of angelic beauty through humility and obedience;

Rejoice, you who desire through the warmth of your prayer to make us also a dwelling of the divine Spirit.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 9

All the angelic nature and a multitude of ascetics marveled at your humility and love for mankind, our father Silouan, when, accepting the obedience of stewardship, you became like chaste Joseph in Egypt. Caring not only for the brethren of the holy monastery but also for the lay workers there as children of God, you cried on their behalf to God, who loves every creature of His: Lord, send Your Holy Spirit and console the sorrowful souls of these poor people. Thus, showing the beauty of humility in every obedience, you continually cried to God: Alleluia.

Ikos 9

Eloquent speakers cannot express the power of your love, wondrous father Silouan, for you thirsted with tears to extinguish every enmity and disorder among people and reconcile all things with God, crying to the Master of the world: Lord, I thirst to be Yours and to be crucified with You for the whole world, that all may be saved. And to the brethren you cried: Children, pray for your enemies, for they are your brothers—your life; the only enemy of the world is the devil. Taught by you in this way to love our brethren and all mankind, we cry:

Rejoice, you who became like Christ on Golgotha in your goodness;

Rejoice, you who shared the crucifixion for your enemies, not in your hands but in your heart and soul.

Rejoice, you who cared for your neighbors without losing the beauty of silence filled with grace;

Rejoice, you who acquired the power of unceasing prayer through loving your neighbors.

Rejoice, you who completely repelled the arrows of the evil one through fasting and prayer;

Rejoice, you who taught us to overcome the devil’s snares and schemes.

Rejoice, you who, wearing out your body with labor in Christ’s mill, delighted your heart with prayer as with sacred bread;

Rejoice, you who abundantly nourished the laborers in the garden of the Queen of Heaven with the bread of life.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 10

Seeking your soul’s salvation and desiring to cling to sweetest Christ, you humbly came from the land of your fathers to the Holy Mountain, where through self-restraint and silence, love of work and love of mankind, you acquired angelic beauty, all-blessed one. Thus, on a most blessed morning, while all the desert lovers in the monasteries of Athos sang the midnight hymn to the Creator, you reached a good end and entrusted your soul, nourished by the life-giving Body and Blood of the Lord, into His divine hands, to sing continually with all the saints to the Word, holier than all the saints: Alleluia.

Ikos 10

By your life, faith, and love you were a most zealous servant of the Heavenly King, whom the Cherubim, Seraphim, and assemblies of saints glorify, venerable father. Like a fragrant lily, with all the chosen ones of the Most Pure Theotokos, you stood before the throne of the All-holy Trinity. Be, all-blessed one, an earnest advocate before God for the prosperity and peace of your fathers’ land, and for the Holy Church an angel of tireless prayer and a fervent intercessor, that, delivered from troubles through you, we may gratefully cry:

Rejoice, angel of the Russian land, who labored excellently on the Holy Mountain;

Rejoice, most fervent intercessor, crucified in love for us before God’s throne.

Rejoice, earnest advocate before God for the people of your fathers’ land;

Rejoice, swift intercessor for the brethren of the garden of Athos who grow faint in their struggle.

Rejoice, you who bore the wounds of your Lord on your body without complaint;

Rejoice, you who entrusted your soul to Him, pure and cleansed by tears of repentance.

Rejoice, faithful laborer in Christ’s vineyard, called by the Lord to Zion on high;

Rejoice, for there you converse with saints and angels, crowned with glory and honor.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 11

We bring you a hymn of praise, servant of God, father Silouan. For, faithfully following the Lord with burning love, the Lord who thirsted for the world’s salvation and shamed the devil by His humility, you filled the wilderness of Athos with the fragrance of pure prayer, graciously showing us the image of angelic life adorned with the fruitful gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus, making the Holy Mountain like Paradise, you put the enemy to shame and gained the Kingdom of Heaven for your soul, urging us also to cling to God in love and cry to Him: Alleluia.

Ikos 11

In our days the Lord revealed you to the whole world, in life and after death, as a bearer of the light that gives light and of the grace of the Holy Spirit, venerable father. Beholding you shining with the imperishable beauty of your earthly struggles and praying for us like a Cherub before God’s throne, may we be assured in our hope of salvation, follow a virtuous life with all diligence, and gladly submit our will to God’s love, so that the glorification of the name of the Lord who loves us may be established in our bodies and souls also. Strengthened in faith through you, we cry with love:

Rejoice, you who strengthen us in love for God through the struggle of your virtuous life;

Rejoice, zealous reprover of evil conduct, teaching us to keep the mysteries and rules of the Orthodox faith.

Rejoice, you who diligently followed Peter of Athos in desert dwelling, fasting, and silence;

Rejoice, you who faithfully imitated Abba Athanasius in caring for the good conduct of monks.

Rejoice, new lamp of faith, showing the sure path to God in our days;

Rejoice, you who wondrously testify to all that the grace of the Holy Spirit does not fail in the Orthodox Church.

Rejoice, faithful servant of Christ, worthily standing before the throne of His glory;

Rejoice, you who earnestly ask for us a good end and a good answer before Christ’s dread tribunal.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 12

Christ our God poured upon you the ineffable power of grace, venerable father, to reveal you in heaven, where all things live and move in the joy of the Holy Spirit, among the ascetics of Athos, praying with all the saints for everyone born on earth. Knowing you thus, we pray: Pour out fervent prayer to the Lord, all-blessed one, that in His compassion He may establish His Holy Church for ever for our salvation, and preserve and strengthen in every way the desert lovers of the earthly Eden, that God’s name may be glorified for ever by those on earth and in heaven who sing: Alleluia.

Ikos 12

Praising your glorious memory, God-bearing father Silouan, we fittingly bless the sufferings and labors that you most diligently bore in vigil and fasting with all the chosen ones of the Mother of God. For who can number your labors and sighs, offered with tears in prayers for the world, through which the Lord changed His wrath for our sins into mercy and, in His love for mankind, did not annul the oath He swore that the Holy Church should remain established until the end of the age? Grateful for this intercession of yours, we cry with tenderness:

Rejoice, diligent follower of the guidance of the Holy Spirit;

Rejoice, you who beheld with bodily eyes the face of Christ, the Goodness and Wisdom of God.

Rejoice, humble ascetic of Christ, joy and praise of the Mother of God before all in heaven and on earth;

Rejoice, tireless intercessor for the world, hope and consolation of our salvation.

Rejoice, heir of Christ’s Kingdom, who adorned Mount Athos with your struggle;

Rejoice, faithful helper in our salvation, who sanctified for us the path leading to God.

Rejoice, trumpet fashioned of gold, proclaiming God’s glory with all the saints and angels;

Rejoice, crowned by God with the crown of immortality, never abandoning us in your prayers.

Rejoice, father Silouan, unquenchable flame of love in prayer for the world.

Kontakion 13

O wondrous servant of God, Silouan, gracious offspring of the Russian land, praise and adornment of the desert lovers of Mount Athos! Accept this small supplication from us and ask Christ our God, crucified for the world, to have mercy on all of us, His children, to bind us together in His love through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to bring us to Himself by the ways He knows, that through your prayers we may appear unashamed before the face of His glory on the day of Judgment and be counted worthy, with all the saints and angels, to sing the song of victory: Alleluia.

Read this kontakion three times, then Ikos 1 and Kontakion 1.