When the Silent Speak

BOOK REVIEW:

When the Silent Speak

A Novel

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra once said:

“Beginning from childhood, most people spend a

lot of time reading. And today, in the age of science,

literature and progress, you have to read a lot. If you

don’t, it’s like being blind.

Your child, if he goes to school, will read to cultivate

his mind. This is useful. But it is not enough.

face with Christ’s love through a mysterious monk in the

There are books which are required reading, because forest, it melts away every resistance, and dispels their

we need them on our journey to heaven. When you darkness. This book is filled with wisdom, hope, and the

read these books, you sense at once that God is love of Christ for all teenagers who are searching for

speaking to you. They are tools for the spiritual life, direction.

and without them it is impossible to find paradise.

We call these ‘spiritual books.’ “When the Silent Speak” was produced by the Holy

Monastery of St John the Forerunner of Mesa Potamos,

These are books in which you don’t read human Cyprus. This monastery is closely connected to

thoughts, human criteria or human logic, but rather Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol. The Monastery

encounter the judgement and the logic of God, the wrote a beautiful message accompanying the book

Spirit of God. which states that although it is not a “true story” it is

nevertheless entirely true, as many people who are living

You open them up, and right away you realise that or have lived similar situations come to the Monastery

God is talking to you. You feel at once the beating every day, hoping for Christ to resurrect their souls.

of the Spirit’s wings. You feel God answering your

questions. You see him dispersing your darkness, At Christmas time, we search for gifts to bring happiness

clearing away old obstacles, opening up new and delight to our loved ones. What better gift can we

pathways. Then, filled with joy, you cry out, “Behold, I offer than something to “dispel darkness”, as Elder

have begun to speak to the Lord” (Gen. 18.27).” 1 Aimilianos so beautifully said. This book is for those

young adults who are “wrestling” with God; grappling

The book we are discussing today is just such a book. with the role of the Church in their life, their place in

“When the Silent Speak” is about four teenagers who are the world or even their own family; for those who have

certainly in darkness. They have never heard of, much unanswered questions. Spiritual books such as this one

less acted on, the teachings of the Church. They believe allow God to speak to us directly. What better gift can

that Christianity has nothing to do with the realities of there be?

everyday life, or rather, that their lives are incompatible

with Christ’s teachings. Where is Christ in trauma, grief,

1 Elder Aimilianos, sermon on “Spiritual reading”, 1971,

divorce, drugs, step-families, pushy parents or even

Church of St Nicholas in Trikala. As recorded in the book

young love? Yet, when these teenagers come face to “The Church at Prayer.”

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