St. Silouan's Access to Humility

"Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not."

At one point in prayer, St. Silouan heard God tell him these words. While we may not comprehendt he seeming conundrum, St. Silouan had been shown the depths of the mystery of the fall of man due to sin--and the way of redemption. This directive became the means of humility for the Staretz.

The state Fr. Silouan experienced was not conjured by his imagination. He actually--like many saints--experienced the torments of hell and did so often enough, to have the heart permeated, so as to be able to repeat the movement at will. These saints took refuge in the torments as an antidote to the passions, especially to refute any manifestation of pride. Pride separates the soul from Divine Love and condemns the soul to hell. The flames consume the power of the passions.

"...Staretz Silouan observed that many spiritual warriors despair when they approach this state (an essential condition for the refining of the passions), and progress no further. But the courageous and experienced ascetic, who knows God's love for us, in his wisdom contrives to stand on the brink of despair while the flames of hell do their work. At the same time he does not fall victim to despiar. And despair not."

The Staretz' long life of spiritual struggle consisted in a search for humility. He had this "beloved song" he'd repeat: Soon I shall die, and my accursed soul will descend into hell. There I shall suffer alone in the darkness of hte prison-house, and weep with bitter tears: My soul is weary for the Lord and seeks Him in tears. How should I not seek Him? He first sought me and showed Himself to the sinner."

He actually experienced hell, and that expeirence over the years engraved itself enough so that the burning torment destroyed whatever passionate feeling or thought. Then he would keep at bay the fire by the love of Christ--the saving action--and he despaired not.

"By constant continuing in this ascetic struggle, the soul acquires a certain habit and endurance, and thought of hell becomes so natural that it almost never leaves her....The Staretz declared: 'The Lord Himself taught me the way to humble myself. Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not. Thus the enemy is vanquished; but when my mind emerges from the fire, the suggestions of passion gather strength again."

This is an ascetic exercise or activity that the great desert Fathers inherited from St. Antony and has been passed down the centuries. "At first the experience brings little but personal suffering caused by dwelling in 'outer darkness'. At this stage, the ascetic, too, finds himself more or less in the power of hell. But when he sees in himself the light of deliverance from sin, there awakens in his soul a mighty compassion for all who 'come short of the glory of God,' and prayer for the 'whole Adam' fills his being."

"Man's consciousness that he is unworthy of God, and his condemnation of himself to hell for every sin, in strange fashion makes him kin with the Spirit of Truth, and sets his heart free for Divine love. And with the increase of love and light of truth comes revelation of the mystery of the redeeming descent into hell of the Son of God. Man himself becomes more fully like Christ; and through this likeness to Christ in the 'impoverishment' of His earthly being, he becomes like to Him also in the fullness of Eternal Being. God embraces all things, even the bottomless abysses of hell, for there is no domain outside His read, and the Saints behold and abide in hell, but it has no power over them, and the manner of their abiding differs from the abiding of those who constitute hell."

One may comprehend this construct in prayer. God provides the grace at the proper time, in being able to appreciate and activate the means and the end of this exercise. It would be best (surely, so as to avoid scruples or despair) to be in close contact with a good spiritual director or confessor--a priest--when considering and attempting the practice of the saints. God will provide. Many Catholics and some priests, even, may not comprehend. But God will provide in His will and way.

The Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola contain aspects of the soul condemning itself and then being redeemed by the love of Christ. The and despair not is CRUCIAL to the process. Yet the process is that of following Christ not only to the Cross but after, into the depths of our being among sinners in our sinfulness, and then into our oneness with the Light.