Knowledge of God.

        Silouan's life was focused on seeking personal knowledge of God. Through his spiritual journey he had come to see with absolute clarity that what finally matters in life is just this: who comes to know God and who does not. He taught that the most precious thing in the world is to know God and to understand His will, even if only in part. Nothing is more precious than to know God; nothing is more disastrous than not to know Him. For Silouan, knowledge of God was direct and immediate, a personal communion with Him. One may know about God and still not know Him personally. Many beheld Christ in human form, but not all knew Him as Lord. So it is now. Many may know about Christ but do not know Him by personal experience. Silouan distinguished between believing in Christ and knowing Christ. However, he did not criticize the implicit faith of Christians. To believe in Christ is also a blessed thing, he taught, according to the words of the Lord to Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20:29). Yet there is another “seeing,” not merely a “believing,” open to every Christian. Such knowledge of Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit, not a human achievement. When the soul which yearns for the Lord finds Him through the Holy Spirit, and knows Him, from that hour its love for the Lord is greater than any other love.

        Silouan draws a similar distinction between learning about God through studies, books and research, and knowing Him through the Holy Spirit. Many philosophers and scholars may have arrived at a belief in God, but they have not come to know God. There is a great difference between affirming that God exists, or observing His works in nature, or even understanding His truths in Scripture, and, on the other hand, knowing God through personal communion with Him. No earthly science can adequately teach us about God. Staretz Silouan knew educated men and respected them. He never talked against education. He was not an obscurantist. However, he was convinced that God is not made known through ordinary learning. There are those who spend their whole lives seeking knowledge of the world and the things in it; yet this is of no profit to the soul. A person can even earn a doctorate in theology and know what others have said and have thought about God, yet not know God personally. Sometimes knowledge through books can become an obstacle to knowing God, not because reason and human wisdom are negative in themselves, but because they can lead to pride and a false sense of self‑sufficiency.

        How is the Lord to be known? Silouan does not develop a theoretical answer to this question but simply points to daily Christian living, prayer and deep yearning for the Lord. He especially emphasizes that unless the Lord grants us knowledge of Himself, we cannot know Him as we should. Revelation is personal. Only God reveals God. We may study as much as we will and think as much as we will, but we cannot control or compel God through human skill, ingenuity or wisdom. The Lord makes Himself known to repentant hearts through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, sweet and gracious, draws the soul to love the Lord. Writes Silouan:

If you would know of the Lord's love for us, hate sin and wrong thoughts, and day

and night pray fervently. The Lord will then give you His grace and you will known

Him through the Holy Spirit, and after death, when you enter into paradise, there

too you will know the Lord through the Holy Spirit, as you knew Him on earth.^[110]

 According to Saint Silouan, knowledge of God is not a matter of speculation but of experience:

We are able to truly speak of God only insofar as we have known the grace of

the Holy Spirit. how can a man think on and consider a thing that he has not

seen or heard tell of, and does not know? Now the saints declare that they have seen

they have not known God, but it does not at all mean that He is not. The saints speak of

that which they have actually seen, of that which they know.^[111]

According to the Saint, each Christian should seek personal knowledge of God as his or her primary goal in life. A Christian does not need special learning nor special methods. He needs only to love his neighbor, be humble, obedient to God, and fervent in prayer. How personal knowledge of God occurs cannot be explained but that it does occur is an absolute certainty. The soul, graced by the Holy Spirit, suddenly sees the Lord and knows that it is He. Love and peace flood the soul. “Who shall describe this joy, this gladness?” asks Silouan. The soul experiences the Lord as a dear guest and seeks after Him with great yearning. Abiding in His presence and having daily fellowship with the divine Guest transform life into a spiritual feast in which the believer rejoices every day and every hour.