Saturday, December 22, 2018

We have received grace for grace.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona.


Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou.
Archimandrite Ephraim of Philotheou is an archimandrite and former abbot of Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos, spiritual guide of several monasteries on Mount Athos and Greece, and the founder of several monasteries in the United States. He resides in Arizona at St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery. Elder Ephraim has been a priest-monk for almost 60 years and has served as an elder for more than 50 years. He was a disciple of Elder Joseph the Hesychast of Mount Athos and lived in monastic obedience to him for 12 years until his Elder's repose in 1959.        



        "Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One." What can I, the unworthy and filthy one, say about the grandeur of the innumerable dispensations of the Most High God!. I am astonished and unable to look directly at it as I contemplate this mystery.
How did God condescend to be an infant in a cave of irra­tional beasts?. How was He wrapped in swaddling clothes and carried in the holy arms of the holy Virgin, He Who was born by the Father without a mother!. "Great art Thou, O Lord, and wondrous are Thy deeds, and no word sufficeth to hymn Thy wonders!" "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"
My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; I shall noetically smother with kisses that most sweet and blessed Infant, so that He may deliver me from my irrational passions.
Christ commanded that we forgive our enemies sev­enty times seven every day. How much more so does He for­give, He Who is the Abyss of forgiveness!.
If you were able to count the drops of rain and the grains of sand, you would be able to measure a small part of the in­finite compassion of the infinite God.
Let us fall down before the heavenly Queen, the im­maculate Theotokos, the Maiden quick-to-hear, that she may help us, for "no one who runs to thee is turned away ashamed, but he asks for a favor and receives the gift from thee; to the profit of his request." After God, only she is able to help us. Let us trust in her, and we shall not be put to shame.
I pray from my heart that you are well and rejoice in peace of soul, for the peace of God is nothing but a place of God, repose, bliss, and divine delight:
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, is given to souls that struggle as a prize and royal gift; it is a property of the children of God. In order for it to dwell in the soul of a Christian, first, godly labor is necessary-labor of a spiritual nature. Then it takes discernment and a blameless, clear conscience shining brighter than the sun, which knows that one has done what he should.
Then this soul receives the precious gift of "the peace of God" and delights in it and converses like a bride with her most beautiful Bridegroom Jesus about their eternal marriage and the spiritual riches of heaven. And while one thinks about these things, the peace increases, and one ends up in very sweet tears.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”.(Luke2: 14).
Fresco of the Nativity of our Lord, in Arakos, Cyprus, 1192.
 We forget that we should bow our heads in veneration of this great God, the most wondrous. Inexpressible, unsearchable, boundless, and most sweet God. If each one of us had thousands of mouths, we would still be unable to extol Him worthily and fittingly for His countless gifts for us!. This is why the Apostle Paul, after repeated ec­stasies and theorias and delights of God, was often overcome with amazement and cried out those immortal words: "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways beyond finding out!".
"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who bas be­come His counselor?". Who can know how the infinite Nous works, not only in the heavenly realm, but also in the earth and the underworld?.
Just think-effortlessly, without toil, He feeds every living thing: men, the animals, the fields, the reptiles, the fish, the microbes, the millions of living creatures. He cares for everything and looks after everything.
"How magnified are Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is filled with Thy creation", "He spake and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created!" Let there be light, and there was light; let there be earth, and there was earth; let there be stars, sun, and moon, and there were these stupendous creations, these colossal, huge bodies, hanging and moving in space, which il­luminate and beautify the sky-all came to be at a single command of God!.
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us", the Word of the Father.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He came and took on flesh and became man, and the world came into being through Him-He made the world! He gave us the right to become children of God. He came to His creatures, and they did not receive Him. Now just think-He made the world and the people, and they were cold and callous and did not receive Him. He came as a stranger; He was given hospitality on the wood of the Cross instead of on a mattress; He was given hos­pitality in a grave; the earth was shaken, the veil was rent, the sun was darkened, the universe was terrified!
The Word became flesh What grandeur this hides!. God became man, He descended from the heavens; the bodiless God, the infinite, incomprehensible Spirit came and dwelt within human nature in order to save it. He became a slave to deliver us from slavery; He became man, so that we may be­come gods by grace; "You are gods, and all of you are the sons of the Most High." We have become a special peo­ple, a holy nation, a priesthood of God, through the advent of the divine Child!. The divine Word-Who lives, reigns, and governs all of creation- the Only-begotten Word of God, the boundless sweetness of God's existence, the glory and hymn of the martyrs, the endurance of the holy monks, the sole Bridegroom of pure souls. And as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God-who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. Those who will be saved are not born of the will of the flesh and desire, but of God, and they will reign beside Him.
"We have received grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." He gave us the Ten Commandments; He gave us pre­cepts in the new grace of the Gospel, and disregarding the gratitude we owed Him, He gave us even more grace!. And from His fullness we have received grace for grace. God was not deprived by giving us His glory, but He gave out of His abundance.
God is perfect, incomprehensible, blessed unto the ages of ages; He came and saved us gratis. We owe him our entire existence- and even if we gave it to him, we would have done nothing, we would have merely done our duty.
He is our Creator; He is our Savior.

Reference:

Counsels from the Holy Mountain. Elder Ephraim of Arizona.1999.


https://orthodoxwiki.org/Ephraim_(Moraitis)_of_Philotheou