Every pilgrim who arrives at the Monastery for the first time is astonished by the silence — not merely the absence of noise, but a kind of gravity that inhabits the courtyard.,Saint Isaac the Syrian writes: “Guard your silence as a treasure, for from it is born prayer.”,It is not the silence of isolation. It is cenobitic — we chant together, we eat together, we work together. But between the words we leave room, so that the other voice may be heard — the one the prophet hears at Horeb.
