Nun Efrema: Preface to the book "God, Where is the Wound?" by Schemanun Siluana Vlad
“God is fascinated by us” Mother Siluana used to say. Her own example, her own joy in the presence of grace instilled the desire to be “on the Way” with the Lord in all people whose lives she touched.
“God, Where is the Wound?” is a therapeutic, healing book, as someone said.
This book is popular with many young people in Romania. They recommend it to each other and they relate to Mother Siluana’s words as to an Alphabet from which they learn what life is, in which they find words that they thirst for: words of comfort and of subtle discernment for the pain they experience. It is surprising and freeing for them to discover that there is someone able to express easily and often humorously the pain that they are not able to talk about.
Mother Siluana knew pain all her life. She didn’t run away from it, but she befriended it and always sought its meaning, which she understood especially after she had the experience of meeting God in her life. “Pain - the verb of individual life. Its field of action is the soul. Physical pain also reverberates in the soul…whatever you do, it is always there. Can it be that such an obvious permanence has no significance? Could I not find meaning in it?” - wrote Mother Siluana in her diary when she was 34 years old.
Mother Siluana’s preoccupation with understanding the meaning of suffering bore fruits of healing for many people. It was a preoccupation and a desire that strongly inspired and animated her: to make accessible the healing power that God has planted in the Church and the created world. Many people gathered these fruits by attending the classes that Mother Siluana taught for 20 years; by listening to the healing words that she imparted on so many occasions, most often at the invitation of young people; by doing the “Forgiveness seminar” (https://sfintiiarhangheli.ro/en ) which “worked miracles” in many people precisely because it helped them find meaning in their pain through prayer. Recordings of tens of conferences that Mother Siluana held can be found on the Internet and thousands of people nourish themselves to this day with the essence of her words full of eternal truth.
The book “God, Where is the Wound?” is the transcription of three conferences held in Germany in 2012, at the invitation of His Eminence Metropolitan Serafim of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Germany and Central and Northern Europe. This transcription was later augmented by Mother Siluana “for enrichment and explanation” of the text. And so, the book is an image of living faith, detailed, easy to understand and to be put into practice. It is very attractive by its clarifications of Christian anthropology and by its subtle descriptions of psychological experiences that readers are surprised to discover they are very familiar with. At the same time, the book shines a light upon living a correct Christian life as co-working with God. It shows surprising possibilities for living this life, possibilities which, however, fit perfectly in ancient Orthodox practices.
“God, Where is the Wound?” is an astonishing unveiling of the living Orthodox faith (a faith whose true meaning has sometimes been lost) in a language that is very accessible to people in today’s world, especially to Orthodox Christians who will joyfully discover a faith that is true and dynamic, perfectly adapted to the needs and experiences of our age, showing a way of life that brings healing.
His Eminence Serafim declares on behalf of the audience how fascinating he finds Mother Siluana’s way of explaining what is distinctive and profound about the Orthodox faith, which is practiced today as it has always been practiced, but whose more hidden meanings have become less accessible over time to our individual experiences. Mother Siluana rediscovers these meanings with much skill and precision.
Mother Siluana’s desire and yearning was for all to be healed, and this yearning is apparent in all her works and her monastic life - it is also the impulse that is woven as a thread through the ideas, words, and images she uses in these conferences for illustrating psychological states and methods of healing, for offering unexpected answers to our pain and suffering. She starts with a clear exposition of elements of Orthodox theology based on the notion of Truth (“the truth will set you free” - John 8:32) as the foundation for healing.
Mother Siluana uses concepts from modern science to facilitate the understanding of common experiences that all readers can identify with. She clarifies the difference between life as survival – which we experience as a consequence of the Fall and for which we are conditioned by internal survival mechanisms – and Life as a gift from God, Life for which He created us, Life which becomes possible when we open ourselves up to God’s grace through prayer and the fulfillment of the commandments. Mother Siluana imparts these ideas in an accessible and energetic way, emphasizing their profound spiritual importance, despite the distorted meanings with which secular thinking imprints them.
Mother Siluana distinguishes herself in contemporary Orthodox thinking through her unmatched capacity of expressing the treasure of Orthodox life and knowledge: the discovery of God as a Living Person, active at every moment in the soul and the life of Orthodox Christians. “God is fascinated by us,” Mother Siluana used to say. Her own example, her own joy in the presence of grace instilled the desire to be “on the Way” with the Lord in all people whose lives she touched.
Thousands of people experienced healing for their souls by utilizing Mother Siluana’s practical methods based on prayer and elements of Orthodox asceticism. Many of these people offered their testimony about the profound change in their lives through notes they left on Mother Siluana’s page https://sfintiiarhangheli.ro/raspunsurile-maicii-siluana .
It will be difficult to fill the void left by Mother Siluana’s passing, especially when it comes to her talent for presenting the Truth of our faith and preserving it intact in its fullness, even while expressing it in a very modern, accessible way.
Mother Siluana experienced profound suffering at an early age; she also experienced the work of God’s grace through prayer and self-knowledge. These experiences, accompanied by a great desire to help and inspire people, gave Mother Siluana the boldness to talk about healing, a healing which is possible for all of us if we know and experience in our spirit the Truth Which is Christ.
May Mother Siluana’s memory be eternal in the Kingdom of Heaven, and may we all keep her in our prayers!
Nun Efrema, Saint Silouan the Athonite Monastery, Iasi, Romania
You can pre-order the book on the website of the publisher, Sebastian Press: