Saint Silouan left us a legacy of wisdom awakened by unselfish love, whereas Saint Sophrony bequeathed to us a love of wisdom that re-envisioned personhood in the light of the three divine persons, revealing thrice-holy love. The consummate legacy of both Russian Orthodox saints is the glory of love revealed by wisdom, uniting ineffable wisdom and profound love in deifying glorification. It was never a question of dividing them or of countering one against the other, because Saint Sophrony was the disciple of Saint Silouan and was utterly devoted to his legacy. Their wisdom and their love were one, and this oneness was the loving oneness of God, highly personal and utterly inspired by love.
It was our destiny to receive this legacy of love and wisdom at a time when Russia itself was about to be plunged into a parody of Orthodoxy which counters Holy Othodoxy by inverting it into Satanic lies, serving Antichrist. Saint Silouan bears witness to divine love rather than ethnic Russianness and Saint Sophrony cuts through heresies of ethnic Russian philetism to the ineffable mysteries of Holy Orthodoxy which invert all satanic inversions. Together, they communicate everything that Orthodoxy needs to heal Satanic perversions and cure lying parodies. Both unite genuine Athonite wisdom at a time when Mount Athos itself is sorely if not fatally tempted by Greek nationalism and Byzantine imperialism.
Russian imperialism was always vulnerable to Satanic parodies of Byzantine imperialism that go back to imperial Rome, a temptation which drove monks into the desert and martyred Christians in many imperial persecutions. Saint Silouan and Saint Sophrony were heirs to the Hesychast wisdom of the desert in Palestine and Egypt that spread to Syria and Turkey, from Persia to India and China. Their wisdom speaks directly and decisively to Holy Russia, not just because they were Russians, but because they were utterly free of idolatrous Russianness. Their wisdom communicates love not war, regenerating Holy Russia with wise love not dictatorial imperialism, turning destruction and suffering into holy martyrdom which bears witness to the power and glory of unselfish love.