Philokalia Ministries The Evergetinos: Book Two - Chapter XLVII, Part III
The fathers did not endure silence.
They loved it.
This is the difference between a man who is forcing himself to be quiet and a man who has discovered God.
One clenches his teeth and calls it discipline.
The other falls silent because he has found Someone worth listening to.
Abba Or never lied, never cursed, never spoke unnecessarily. Not because he was following rules. Because he had seen the damage words do when they are born from ego. He had watched how speech leaks the life out of the soul. How it dissipates grace. How it feeds the illusion that we exist by asserting ourselves.
Every unnecessary word strengthens the false self.
Every unnecessary word delays repentance.
Every unnecessary word postpones intimacy.
The fathers were not minimalists. They were realists.
They had learned that most of what we say does not come from truth but from anxiety. We speak to control. We speak to secure ourselves. We speak to make sure we exist in the minds of others.
We are afraid to disappear.
Silence terrifies the ego because silence exposes that we do not sustain ourselves.
God does.
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St Ephraim says that he who speaks much multiplies quarrels and hatred. This is not moralism. This is anatomy. Words inflame the passions. Words solidify judgment. Words give form to resentment that would otherwise dissolve in the presence of God.
A garden without a fence is trampled.
A soul without silence is plundered.
Every idle conversation opens the gate to distraction. Every irrelevant word invites the demon of listlessness. Antiochos names this with terrifying clarity. Loquacity does not merely waste time. It hands the mind over to the enemy.
Because God is not found in noise.
God is found where nothing of the ego remains to obscure Him.
This is why silence is not empty.
Silence is full.
It is full of Presence.
It is full of Light.
It is full of a Word that cannot be manufactured by human thought.
St Isaac the Syrian says that silence is the mystery of the age to come. Words belong to this age. Silence belongs to eternity. Because in eternity, God is not explained. He is known.
Not through concepts.
Through union.
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When the fathers entered silence, they did not enter absence.
They entered encounter.
They discovered that beneath the constant internal narration of the mind there was Another Voice. A Voice that did not shout. A Voice that did not argue. A Voice that did not flatter or condemn.
A Voice equal to God Himself.
Because it was God Himself.
The Logos.
The Word through whom all things were made.
This Word does not force Himself upon us.
He waits.
He waits for the noise to stop.
He waits for the ego to weaken.
He waits for the endless commentary to exhaust itself.
He waits for the man to become poor enough to listen.
And when He speaks, He does not merely inform.
He creates.
His Word heals what sin has disfigured.
His Word restores what pride has shattered.
His Word brings into existence a new heart.
This is why the fathers guarded silence with ferocity.
They were protecting the place where God is born in the soul.
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Antiochos says that those who possess the Holy Spirit do not speak when they wish but when moved by the Spirit.
This is freedom.
Not the freedom to speak.
The freedom to remain silent.
The ego must speak to survive.
The Spirit does not.
The ego is restless.
The Spirit is still.
The ego needs witnesses.
The Spirit is its own witness.
This is why the saints speak few words. Not because they have nothing to say. But because they see the cost of speech. They know that every word must pass through fire.
They have seen the devastation caused by words spoken without God.
They have seen how words born from self obscure the Word who gives life.
So they wait.
They remain in silence until speech itself becomes obedience.
Until speech is no longer self-expression but revelation.
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We resist this silence because it feels like death.
And it is death.
It is the death of the self that must assert, explain, defend, and secure itself.
It is the death of the self that believes it exists by speaking.
In silence, this self collapses.
And something else begins to appear.
Something quiet.
Something uncreated.
Something that does not depend on being seen or heard.
Christ Himself begins to live where the false self once ruled.
This is why silence is not endured.
It is loved.
Because in silence we discover that we were never sustained by our words.
We were sustained by Him.
And when every unnecessary word falls away, when every inner argument dissolves, when every effort to secure ourselves finally collapses, there remains only this:
God speaking His Word in the depths of the heart.
And this Word is life.
And this Word is light.
And this Word is love.
And this Word is enough.
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Text of chat during the group:
00:03:08 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026
00:03:37 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.youtube.com/@philokaliaministries/videos
00:04:06 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 355 number 11
00:10:00 Janine: Father…still sick..but here…thank you for prayers
00:12:40 Mary and Al: Albert
00:16:30 Andrew Adams: Will the Lenten retread be on the podcast feed?
00:47:12 Jessica McHale: Interesting---I discerned contemplative monastic life at two different monasteries. In both experiences, the nuns were too social for me. They spoke during two meals during the day, and most of the talk was politics. Since I was discerning, I imagine they wanted my opinion on political topics to see if I would "fit in" with the community. They let me know that socialization and speaaking was part of commnity life. It just wasn't for me. It is hard to find a "community" tha understands the importance of silence. For me, silence is essential. It's a prayerful existence centered on God.
00:47:37 Maureen Cunningham: If someone is quiet , the mind can be in constant thought. How do you combine the silence and. Empty out the mind
00:51:22 Erick Chastain: Clear creek monks didn't know who Trump was not too long ago (after he ran for president)
01:00:49 John ‘Jack’: Silence ultimately brought me back to the Church.
About 15 years ago my wife asked what I wanted for a birthday gift? After listening to an elderly freind speak so lovingly of her time spent at the Abbey of the Genesee, I decided to ask for a weekend retreat. She gave it to me, best gift ever.
The first evening I thought I was going to lose my mind. I’ve grown to love silence!
01:01:21 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Silence ultimately..." with ❤️
01:02:04 Carol Nypaver: Reacted to "Silence ultimately b..." with 👍
01:04:33 John ‘Jack’: That’s where I was!
01:05:16 John ‘Jack’: Closer to 20 monks now
01:06:13 John ‘Jack’: No it was Kathee when I started.
01:19:28 Danny Moulton (Lakeside, Ohio): My wife and I are approaching our 48th anniversary. I find there are two kinds of silence: that which erodes relationship and that which magnifies gratitude.
01:19:49 Carol Nypaver: Reacted to "My wife and I are ap..." with ❤️
01:21:06 Erick Chastain: I have found it easier to be silent when there is someone in my heart to talk with. To love. To truly pray rather than talk at God.
01:21:47 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "I have found it ea..." with ❤️
01:22:58 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing
01:23:42 Joan Chakonas: Thank you Father
01:24:17 Jessica McHale: Thank you!!! Always consoling to hear you and the Desert Fathers! Many, many, many prayers!
01:24:20 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️
01:24:22 Joan Chakonas: Reacted to "Thank you!!! Always …" with ❤️
01:24:29 Andrew Adams: Thanks be to God! Thank you, Father!
01:24:30 Jennifer Dantchev: Thank you!
01:24:39 Sheila Applegate: Night! Thanks!