Novaya Lyada, Tambov Province, Russia, August 13, 2026
Photo: foma.ru
A bronze monument to St. Siluoan of Mount Athos now stands in Novaya Lyada, Tambov Province, marking the saint’s ties to the land where he was born.
The unveiling took place on August 10, timed to coincide with the Feast of All Saints of Tambov, which is celebrated on that day, reports Foma.
The monument stands on the grounds of a church dedicated to St. Siluoan. His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensk, head of the administrative affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, consecrated it.
Metropolitan Grigory said every saint serves as a model to follow, and that St. Siluoan, a native of the Tambov land, is a teacher for people today.
The monument was unveiled in the 160th anniversary year of the saint’s birth.
The Russian Military Historical Society and its Tambov regional branch have focused particular attention on preserving the memory of Russian Church ascetics tied to the Tambov Province. In October 2017, as part of the Alley of Russian Glory project, a monument to St. Luke of Crimea (Voyno-Yasenetsky) was unveiled in Tambov, followed by one to St. Seraphim of Sarov in Michurinsk in November 2019.
St. Siluoan of Mount Athos, born Semyon Ivanovich Antonov, was born in 1866 in the village of Shovskoe in the Tambov Province. He arrived at the Russian monastery of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon on Mount Athos in 1892, where he took monastic vows under the name Siluoan. He lived at the monastery for 46 years. Throughout his life, he guarded his mind and heart from outside thoughts, purifying them of passions in order to stand before God in prayer, holding that this was the shortest path to salvation.
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