good works are by grace

Leave a comment January 16, 2019 nourishinggrace

“It is for us to confess with contrition of heart that all the good words are done by the grace and help of God. We people, without God can do nothing. Whatever we have, our being, our life, health, strength, wisdom, and riches are gifts of God. We ourselves are nothing, for out of nothing were we created. Every good thing, therefore that we do is by the grace of God. The Apostle Paul, who worked and suffered greatly said in humility, not me but the grace of God that is in me. We may labor, but if we do not have the Grace of God or the intercessions of the Saints our labors will amount to nothing.

Let us then humble ourselves and ask the Lord to give us true and fervent faith…

“Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos” Translated by Archimandrite Polycarpos Rameras

with boldness and courage

Leave a comment January 14, 2019 nourishinggrace

Every good work, every God pleasing deed will have its obstacles and temptations. This is why the Holy Fathers had the concern that every virtue which is not received through obstacles and struggles, suffering, temptations and fears is not a true virtue.

This does not mean that we should become frightened by these obstacles, but moving forward with boldness and courage, calling for the help of God and the Saints, over-come and destroy these obstacles. From now on, when you are confronted with such temptations immerse yourself in prayer to God and the Saints.

I pray that the Grace of our Good God and the help of the Theotokos enable you worthily to fulfill your good work in these evil days.

And let us not have hope in our strength but only in God.

“Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos” Translated by Archimandrite Polycarpos Rameras

the cure of the soul

Leave a comment January 12, 2019 nourishinggrace

As sickness is to the physical body, so sin is to the soul. Just as a person becomes sick in his body and goes to a doctor and reveals to him all his symptoms and pains in order to be treated by the doctor with necessary medicine to effect a cure so it is also with sins. These are the ills of the soul. and one must go to a spiritual physician similarly revealing to him all their sins in order to receive the necessary medicine and treatments for the healing of the soul.

The sickness of the body a doctor can not always heal because there are diseases that are incurable, while ALL the sickness of the soul can be cured and restored to righteousness.

I advise you to look for a good and competent doctor to take care of your physical ills so do the same in choosing a spiritual physician.

“Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos” Translated by Archimandrite Polycarpos Rameras

words of salvation

Leave a comment January 11, 2019 nourishinggrace

My first word, or rather the command of God, is to love God with all your soul, your heart, your mind and strength. To be able to love God we must strive with ourselves, for all the good things are acquired by work and suffering… Be thankful to God for all the good that you have, especially that He has enlightened you with divine knowledge and has saved you from evil delusions.

My second word is to love your neighbor as yourself. Love according to the law of the Lord, your enemies also, and do good to those who do you wrong. Love and help the poor according to your strength.

My third word is that you judge no one who sins, because our Lord told us not to judge so that we will not be judged. If you see someone sinning and you know that he will listen to you then admonish that person to leave their sin…

My fourth word is that you go often to church services, and pray regularly, especially pray in your heart when you are walking or working, remember God by praying, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”, or “Glory be to God”, or “Most Holy Theotokos help me”, and other prayers that you know. Study the Holy Scriptures, the life and writings of the Holy Fathers. Always remember God, your own mortality, God’s righteous judgement, Paradise and Hell. These thoughts and remembrances help us not to sin so easily.

“Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos” Translated by Archimandrite Polycarpos Rameras

life is like the sea

Leave a comment January 10, 2019 nourishinggrace

The temporal life of man is like the sea, and we are like the ships. Just as a boat sails the sea, it does not all the time have favorable waters, but it is now and then tossed into the waters experiencing danger. So it is with us in this worldly life, we come upon dangers, and storms, scandals, temptations, sickness, sorrows, worries, persecutions and dangers. We must not be overcome by fear.

We must have courage, strength of purpose, and faith. And if as men, we become faint-hearted, and weak in faith and timid before dangers, then call out as Peter did before Christ, our most sweet God who is everywhere. Lord save us from danger. And immediately our sweet Jesus will extend His right hand to you and say, “Oh you of little faith, why are you afraid. I am by your side and will not leave you.”

The ship when it is anchored safely in port gives no cause of fear or danger. So also with us when we reach the port of eternal life, we will not experience fear or danger, but rather we will be safe for all eternity. There solace is without disturbance, peace without war, health without sickness, happiness without fears, joy without sorrow, life without death. May the All Good and Heavenly Father, who desires that all men may be saved, and come to the knowledge of truth, make us worthy of the Eternal Blessings and the Heavenly Kingdom.

Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos (1884 – 1980)

Saint John the Baptist Church – Skopelos Greece

what we can do in our everyday life

Leave a comment January 8, 2019 nourishinggrace

“What we can do in our everyday life is something very simple. First, we should be careful not to disturb or upset our relations with others, even a little. We should not allow ourselves to be swayed by how much we like or dislike a person, which indicates the degree to which our stance is dependent on that person. For example someone might might speak to me rudely and I ignore him. Or someone else might speak to me kindly and I embrace him. In both cases my responses are determined by the other person, which means that at any moment I can be troubled, become angry, lose my inner peace, or otherwise be thrown off balance, because I have no control over what people say or do to me.

+ Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra

fasting for a jealous God

Leave a comment February 24, 2018 nourishinggrace

We have walked almost one week in this time of the great abstinence for Orthodox Christians. Coming from a family that is not Orthodox and having many friends outside the faith, I have often been asked, why this mindless rote mechanical endeavor?” Many outside the Faith question the validity of fasting for spiritual purposes – yet embrace it for health, beauty, weight loss and the like.

My answer is, why not come, taste and see what is the Fast. I assure you that the answer is no – it is not mindless endeavor but rather the most mindful one.

Fasting is hearts seeking the God seeking our hearts.

Our fast begins with a feast of forgiveness where we literally ask forgiveness of our brothers and sisters.

The Church sets aside the fast In the understanding that life is so interrupted frenzied and discombobulated and we are easily distracted and need a time set aside for this very purpose.

Why fast? Because what nourishes the soul is just as important as what nourishes the body. I was reminded that fasting gives us greater awareness of our spiritual situation but only when balanced by prayer. The purpose of that awareness is healing – reconciliation – wholeness – ultimately Confession.

And so, we are fortified and sustained not on the little we omit but on the abundance we add.

We increase our devotion to Scripture : nourishing on the Word of God.

We add greater Almsgiving : charity nourishing the heart of the giver and feeding heart and body of the receiver.

We make every effort to immerse ourselves in the Lenten cycle of services – and expecting to be tired – we receive the healing Grace poured into our hearts expressed in the poetic hymnody of the Church and the Mysteries of the Sacraments.

Great Lent is laying aside our earthly cares. It is placing God first – where He belongs and jealously longs to be.

enchanting meadow

Leave a comment February 22, 2018 nourishinggrace

+ + +

“… we cross a threshold… a shift occurs, the atmosphere changes and all the essential elements are transformed. And all of this happens in order to prepare us for the greatest and most wonderful period of the year: Great Lent. The Triodion opens up a door which leads directly to heaven. The Triodion is an enchanting meadow, where Christ is the shepherd and God feeds His spiritual flock.”

Elder Aemilianos

+ + +

moving within

Leave a comment February 15, 2018 nourishinggrace

“Just as a child within its mother’s womb kicks and makes its presence known, so too does God move about within me. Sometimes He makes my eyes sparkle with joy, and sometimes he fills them with tears. Sometimes I cry aloud and other times I say to myself “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”

Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra : The Way of the Spirit

the beginning middle and end

Leave a comment February 13, 2018 nourishinggrace

We are approaching a beautiful time of repentance set aside for us in the life of the Orthodox Church.

It is a time of reconciliation and spiritual growth

Already the Church has been priming us with the beautiful Sunday’s of preparation… the humility of the tax collector, the coming to his senses of the Prodigal Son. Judgement Sunday is a great call bringing us to our senses that we are not saved alone, our lives are not our own and the least of our brethren is Christ – the beggar, the prisoner, the crippled man. That to pass by their suffering is to pass by Christ Rejection.

These are but a little leaven softening the lump of our hearts.

It’s my favorite season of the Church – but I know I say that about all of the seasons set aside in the Church – I guess they all are my favorite, really.

As a mom I have tried to explain this word repentance to my daughters. I want them so comfortable with it that they could cuddle up with it like a blanket.

I want them to nestle in the Truth of Faith and embrace the timeless wisdom and Grace of the Church and live their lives in it. Because what I have noted is that in today’s relative everything goes world many ears have hardened to this word making it sound more like a punishment than a healing holistic way.

Repentance as a word and a way looks like an angry wagging finger rather than an inviting outstretched Hand.

The reality for most of us us that life happens. We get mired in the muck of it and the muck of it gets all over us. And so the Church guides us gently into Repentance.

The fruit of it is a heart returning to innocence – something like that of a child. Another helpful explanation I have heard is that it is a cure or return to wholeness. A monk, older than me, once told me that after years of not seeing a childhood friend who had entered Orthodox monasticism he made the journey to visit her and saw in her all of the qualities of innocence he remembered from when they were children playing together and this innocence, for me is now the image of repentance.

I suppose that’s why monastics also say that repentance is gift and our task.

It’s a heart given entirely over to Christ. A struggle.

Faith like a child, love like a child, forgiveness and innocence like a child.

I want that – I need that. don’t you?