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What does “keep thy mind in hell, and despair not” mean?
Fr. Rafail Noica
I asked, and many asked me what the saying “Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not” means. That uneducated peasant [Silouan] understood it at once, and he did as the Lord told him. And it is an extraordinary saying whose dimensions I understand more and more, and I spoke about this. In two words, if you would like: “Keep thy mind in hell” I paraphrase as “be realistic.” You see yourself as sinful, well that is what you are. Do not compare yourself to someone else, do not comfort yourself with anything, do not try to not be sinful, but confess: “This is what I am.” “Despair not” means that [this state of sinfulness] does not signify that God has forsaken or will forsake you, but that you can begin from where you are and not from somewhere else. God takes you from there, and you must be aware of what you are so that God can begin to work out your salvation, that is, for you to do it by praying—we do not have the power [to do it] because we are created, and God gives us the power through our prayer, and this is how the road to salvation begins: from where we are.
Saints. Silouan and Sophrony
And Saint Sophrony told someone in the West—with all her Western mentality and mannerisms—who asked him “How should I pray to God?” and Saint Sophrony responded: “You do not need to be polite with God. Pour out your heart to Him just as it is, and let Him work.” That person discovered a prayer, it seems at the beginning, of such intensity that she would put her head on the floor at night and would weep all night in prayer. And she would weep—I am not talking about whimpering, but an intensity of prayer that took hold of her all night sometimes. And she became Orthodox.
Fr. Timothy’s comment: I find many people attempting to attain a certain level of spirituality on their own efforts, as if they need to be at a certain place in their spiritual journey circumventing what is most necessary, and that is to be as you are and where you are at this given moment and to simply speak in truth to God about it. No formality needed, just be “real” and speak from your current place of life in all your mire. This goes back to speaking to God without having a mask on, presenting to Him something or someone we’re not. Think of the many people we read about in Scripture who approached Christ in their despair, their fear, their weakness and wretchedness. It is there where Christ met them and also healed them. So too must it be with all of us.
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