Dear brothers and sisters,
On Wednesday, 24 September, the Feast of St Silouan the Athonite, our Father and Chief Shepherd, His Eminence Metropolitan Silouan, celebrates his Name Day.
The traditional form of addressing a bishop in the Orthodox Church is “Master”, translated into Arabic as Sayedna, into Greek as Despota, and into Slavonic as Vladyka. So if we want to address the bishop, we would say “Master Silouan” or “Sayedna Silouan.”
Our Sayedna bears the name of a great modern ascetic of the 19th and 20th centuries, St Silouan the Athonite. Originally from Russia, St Silouan excelled in the ascetic life at the Monastery of St Panteleimon on Mount Athos, one of the twenty monasteries of that ancient and autonomous monastic republic.
St Silouan is closely linked to Orthodoxy in Britain and Ireland through his spiritual son, St Sophrony of Essex, who founded the Monastery of St John the Baptist in Essex. This monastery, a dual community of men and women, has become a beacon of prayer and asceticism, drawing people from across Britain, Ireland, and beyond. You can read more about St Silouan’s life in the Synaxarion here: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/…/synaxarion-for-saint…
On this day, we wish our beloved Sayedna Silouan many years in his episcopal ministry, “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 and the words of the Divine Liturgy). May St Silouan intercede for him and for all of us, gathered around our bishop in the sacramental life of the Church, striving to live in love, repentance, and communion in Christ.
As our own patron, St Ignatius of Antioch, reminds us: “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop.” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3:2) The bishop’s ministry is inseparable from the life of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
Here you can listen to a beautiful Polychronion, a solemn encomium chanted at the end of hierarchical services, sung for Metropolitan Silouan by the protopsaltis of our Cathedral in London, Najib Coutya: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHYMn9XDhI
The words of the Polychronion in English:
The Lord God grant many years to the most reverend chief and master, the elect of God, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the British Isles and Ireland, Kyrios Kyrios SILOUAN. O Lord, preserve him for many years. For many years. For many years.