Hearken, my Beloved Brethren

Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov founded in 1959 a monastic community in Essex. He was already 62 years old and in poor health. Unexpectedly, God preserved his life until 1993, and he was able to depart leaving the monastery established on solid foundations. Part of his legacy to his community is a series of talks he gave during the last decade of his life. These talks were destined primarily for those new to monastic life. With considerable reluctance he acceded to our wish to record and transcribe some of his words for posterity.

— From: Hearken, my Beloved Brethren

It is strange to realise what is happening in the world. To tell the truth, it is enough for us to examine the spirit that moves people today. For two thousand years a spirit reigned which spoke about the divinity of Christ, and it was obvious to everyone. But now, suddenly, they refuse to recognise Christ as God! And this, despite even the fact that the words He pronounced clearly portray that it was God who was with us, and not some kind of crazy fantasist.

After the Fall man became a battleground between God and the enemy, [and the battle is waged] in the presence of man. After the Fall we assimilated many things that are proper to the enemy. We can say, without any risk of falling into deep error, that the entire civilisation around us is a culture of the Fall. As a result, most children receive an education in which they lose the true direction.

We are called to build our salvation within the given conditions of this world at this historical moment. We must not lose prayer. … So to keep it brief, I will say this: our task is to lead a life of prayer, to lead a life which preserves the grace of the Holy Spirit. But also, in parallel, to try to understand things of this life.

— Excerpt from: Hearken, My Beloved Brethren • Chapter 15: The Church in today’s world (p. 262-263)

In human love there is a love which is somehow greater than all other human phenomena: what comes close to the form of kenotic love [mentioned above] is a mother’s love. She tolerates everything from her infant. She is ready for all humiliating forms of service to her infant. This is the kenotic love of a mother. Fathers do the same [serve their children] but in different forms; [kenosis] is more clearly expressed in the situation which the mother of the baby voluntarily accepts. And the Lord humbles himself in front of us like a mother with regard to her baby. If He were to appear to us in His majesty we would be afraid to approach Him. We would be afraid to glance at Him. But He took upon Himself our bodily existence.

— Excerpt from: Hearken, My Beloved Brethren • Chapter 11: Your labour is not in vain (p. 196)