This particular teaching of Saint Silouan the Athonite on seeing oneself as the worst of all sinners leads into what is perhaps the most important and best-known aspect of his teaching on humility. 'Keep Thy Mind In Hell, And Despair Not'. The fact that this phrase is linked directly to the context of humility is made clear by Saint Silouan himself. He explains how this teaching arose from his own intense striving for this virtue, "Lord shew me what I must think on that my soul may be humbled'. And in my soul came the answer: 'Keep thy mind in Hell, and despair not.' Elder (Geronda) Sophrony acknowledges that this phrase stems directly from Saint Silouan's struggle to acquire humility.

According to Patristic (Holy Fathers of the Church) understanding of human nature, man is seen as a psychosomatic being, that is to say, that man is by nature comprised of both a body and a soul. Man is both spiritual and physical by nature. This is what gives us our unique position within all of creation. We as human beings, we're composed of both a spiritual soul, much like the Angels, as well as material and biological bodies, just like the other creatures of the physical world. This is why man is the high priest of creation: we can offer the creation back to God, "thine own of thine own."

THE HOLY APOSTLE PETER

The son of Jonah and brother of Saint Andrew the First-Called, of the tribe of Simeon and the town of Bethsaida, he was a fisherman and was at first called Simon, but the Lord was pleased to call him Cephas, or Peter (St. John 1:42). He was the first of the disciples to give clear expression to his faith in the Lord Jesus, saying: "Thou art the Chist, the Son of the Living God" (St. Matthew 16:16). His love for the Lord was very strong, and his faith in Him went from strength to strength.

According to tradition, it was Christ, of course, who re-named both His Disciples and various other in the New Testament (St. Mary Magdalene, for example). (See "Orthodox Tradition," Vol. XV, No. 4, pp. 26-27) "Scripture and Tradition"). Christians were also exhorted to take the name of Prophets and Saints by the authors of the first Catechetical texts of the primitive Church. It was also at this time that Liturgies were universally celebrated in honor of the Martyrs, Apostles, and Saints, when those having their names would commemorate them.

Christ's victory is the only victory in which all humanity can rejoice, from the first-created to the last. Every other victory on earth has divided, and still divides, men from one another. When an earthly king gains the victory over another king, one of them rejoices and the other laments. When a man is victorious over his neighbor, there is singing under one roof and weeping under the other. There is no joyful victory on earth that is not poisoned by malice: the ordinary, earthly victor rejoices both in his laughter and in the tears of his conquered enemy. He does not even notice how evil cuts through joy.

For someone to speak of Orthodox Theology and the currents that exist in our time, both in Greece and beyond Greece - that there are Orthodox theologians, I think one should begin with the Creed, where we declare "I believe in One, Holy, Catholic, Church". That is, we believe in a Church that is One, Holy, Overall and Apostolic.