Justin Appel

Dear Friends in Christ,

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven.” —Matthew 5:44-45

Our Lord taught that our familial duty as children of God involves loving even our enemies.

Saint Silouan, a beloved turn-of-the-century Russian monk, saw the requirement to love our enemies in the larger context of our need to receive the Holy Spirit. Only by the presence of God’s Spirit, and the resulting grace we receive from him, can we manage the needed responses to a potential enemy. Thus, Saint Silouan taught (following the words of Christ) that we should cultivate our love by praying for our enemies—an action which itself required an approach of humility and of penitence.

If “praying for our enemies” seems an overly familiar concept through its frequent repetition, it might be helpful for us to contemplate a list of people, perhaps those with whom we disagree most strongly on substantial issues. People who we think are harming others, expressing damaging idiologies or perpetuating obvious violence—or possibly just somebody who has hurt us deeply. Then we could pray for them. To Saint Silouan, this would likely have also meant doing prostrations. Can we imagine doing prostrations for Vladimir Putin? Imagine the necessary bodily humility and reliance on God’s grace necessary to do such a thing. Imagine the needed conviction that Mr. Putin was the same kind of beloved child of God as you, or even, as your own child! Should one fail to love the enemy, Saint Silouan enjoined turning “with ardent prayers to the Lord, to His Most Pure Mother, and to all the Saints, and the Lord will help us with everything, He whose love for us knows no bounds.”

Clearly loving one’s enemies in this way would demonstrate the “foolishness” of the cross—to quote Saint Paul—in the eyes of those who are perishing (I Corinthians 1:18).

In the context of this Gospel lesson, it is most meaningful to return to Arvo Pärt’s instrumental setting, Silouan's Song, because his music somehow manages to capture the spirit of this saint's teaching. (Both a recording and the text/translation can be found here.)

Yours in Christ,

—Justin