I believe we can all bear witness that it often happens we go on journeys and visit places which are more than mere 'eye-opening experiences' — they become occasions for the soul to be nourished and its thirst for meaning to be quenched.
I too was granted such an occasion, as a young student in Theology in Romania, when I visited the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex, Great Britain, and encountered, for the first time, Orthodoxy in the West and the spiritual legacy of St. Sophrony Sakharov, the founder of that monastery. I did not know then that, years later, I would be called to serve the Church in that same Western world, in the United States. Yet, that visit clearly left a lasting mark on all the aspirations of my youth.
In the Orthodox praxis, reading the lives of the saints serves as a means of spiritual edification. The Synaxarion is an open book, where to the multitude of saints from across the ages, new saints who lived closer to our times are continually added. Perhaps we, the younger generation, feel a special attraction to these recent saints precisely because of our proximity to them, the abundant biographical information, and maybe because we identify more easily with their struggles and trials on the path to holiness.
For this reason, I felt the need to evoke to memory of the newly glorified Saint Sophrony!
Discovering, through reading, the depth of his holiness and his bold teachings—full of truth and Apostolic vitality—I was truly challenged to re-evaluate my own faith and spiritual condition. Here is what Father Sophrony says: We perceive Orthodoxy as living, ‘dynamic’. No reasonable man would call himself fully Orthodox. Only the Church is Orthodox, while we should try to assimilate her teaching in its fulness and inerrancy. To be Orthodox means to be holy in one’s life and perfect in the knowledge of Divine Truth (The Mystery of Christian Life, pg. 69). This was clearly not the definition of Orthodoxy I had in mind up to that point!
By the grace of God, The Ecumenical Patriarchate bestowed a sacred gift upon the entire Orthodox world with its decision to canonize St. Sophrony Sakharov in 2019. His enrolment in the choir of the saints of the Church has caused another prophetic voice—like that of the Holy Prophet Elijah—to be commemorated in the month of July.
He enlightened with his own lamp what was dark in others (St. John Climacus)
He was born in Tsarist Russia on September 22, 1896, in Moscow, into a large and devout Orthodox family. When St. Sophrony lost the faith of his childhood, he remained persistently troubled by existential questions: Was I eternal, was everyone else, or were we all destined for the black night of non-being? Furthermore, as young adult, he was drawn to Oriental mysticism, moving away from prayer, and embracing meditation practices like yoga, which ultimately led him into spiritual ignorance.
In 1921, due to the political situation in Russia, he decided to emigrate and join the Russian community Paris, France. There, he devoted himself especially to the visual arts, particularly painting, while also studying at the newly founded St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. While in Paris, he experiences a luminous and personal revelation of the God of his childhood: Jesus Christ.
In 1925, led by a restless longing for God, he went to Mount Athos to embrace monastic life. There, the meeting with Saint Silouan marked his life, considering the encounter as a gift of divine providence" – Silouan, a perfect teacher of humility and love for enemies, then became his spiritual father for eight years, until the elder’s repose in 1938.
He then entered a period of withdrawal into the Athonite desert to deepen his knowledge of God and to unite with Him, in accordance with the hesychast practice.
Later, he returned to Paris to publish for the first time the life and teaching of Elder Silouan, making him known to the entire world. The translation of his precious teachings into over 20 languages contributed to the growing veneration of Saint Silouan among Orthodox Christians. Thus, in 1987, St. Silouan the Athonite was canonized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Then, in 1959, he founded the well-known Monastery of Saint John the Baptist in Essex, England, which will have a beneficial spiritual influence on the future generations to this day, with his disciples faithfully upholding and passing on the spirit and legacy of St. Sophrony. I would like to briefly mention here the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou.
As his life drew to a close, Fr. Sophrony wrote his spiritual autobiography titled We Shall See Him as He Is. The book has been translated and published in English, along with many other writings of Saint Sophrony, which are offered to all of us as a source of spiritual nourishment.
On July 11, 1993, St. Sophrony, who was 96 years old, fell asleep in the Lord.
Like many saints, St. Sophrony remained a humble and discreet presence throughout his life, yet the impact of his prayers and writings continues to resonate deeply throughout the Orthodox world.
May he always intercede for us!