This first night at the Vatican, Sunday, March 17 was wonderful and unexpected. The location was not so special, rather the meeting with a man who is “great” but also very easygoing in his approach with others. “Great” men, in the functions and roles that they have always put on– or rather, we dress them with– magnificense, grandeur, etc., something that does not cause us to approach such majesty.
All this would change that night for me. This change was important in order for me to find the words that I felt and wanted to express to Pope Francis.
Very simply, during the dinner in the dining room of the “Saint Martha House”, I commented to the pope, to whose right I was sitting in the meeting with the Orthodox bishops from Buenos Aires, that I had a letter from our patriarch His Beautitude John X, as well as a personal gift that I wanted to give him. So he offered to receive me directly after the meeting in his apartment. In reality it was not an apartment, but rather a bedroom that they had assigned him during the Conclave, where he is still residing.
He told me the room’s number and I went up to see him.
Everything that I wanted to say to convey was said– this time in Spanish! Some things that we exchanged will remain in the privacy of this meeting, out of respect for the personal thoughts that were brought up there. This informal papal audience lasted ten minutes. A time outside of time and the protocols that we see in the media: in humility and simplicity. Nothing more.
But I can indeed share some of what we said when I gave him the icon of Saint Silouan. I had written a personal letter to him, thinking that I would not have the occasion to express it personally. I will share it here:
Your Holiness Francis
Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Roman Catholic Church
Your Holiness,
I approach with this very particular “present”: it is not a gift, but rather a saint, always “present”. It is of the one whose name I bear: Saint Silouan of Mount Athos (+ 1938). I hand you a saint with his prayer, “Merciful Lord, I pray that you may cause all the peoples of the world to know You by Your Holy Spirit.” He will accompany you on this path that God’s Providence has chosen for you. “
The icon is “simple”, but written with Argentine hands, from our Church, with much love and prayer. This way you will be able to have it in the cell where you pray. I am also including the book of the writings of Saint Silouan in Spanish and a small cross from the place where Saint Silouan lived. It is something “simple” in form but with deep meaning, which I would like for Your Holiness to have have now. May God grant that it be for your benefit, inspiration, and illumination on the paths of the Lord.
This is the best communion that I can offer in response to the repeated supplications that Your Holiness has never ceased to make from the ministry that you occupied and that you now occupy.
May God bless us for the service of His holy name!
+Metropolitan Siluan
Archbishop of Buenos Aires and all Argentina
Of the Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East