Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Beloved Orthodox Faithful,
Today we celebrated with great joy the Feast of Saint Nectarius of Aegina, the Wonderworker on the 100th Year Anniversary of his blessed repose. A great intercessor for us, a Saint renowned for miraculous healings, a great writer of Christian instruction and theology, and a man of great humility filled with the Holy Spirit!
Saint Nectarius instructs us in his writings:
“Prayer is truly a heavenly armour, and it alone can keep safe those who have dedicated themselves to God. Prayer is the common medicine for purifying ourselves from the passions, for hindering sins, and curing our faults. Prayer is an inexhaustible treasure, an unruffled harbour, the foundation of serenity, the root and mother of myriads of blessings.”
–(“St. Nectarius of Aegina”, 1981, by Constantine Cavarnos)
Let us follow his instruction and ask Saint Nectarius to intercede with Our merciful Saviour, that in this time of difficulty, Our Saviour shelter and protect us and keep us in His divine grace.
And recalling the magnificent hymn “O Pure Virgin”, that he wrote, let us also say to the Mother of God:
“O thou my hope deliver me, from harm and all adversity. Rejoice, O unwedded Bride! And by thy prayers show me to be, an heir of immortality. Rejoice, O unwedded Bride!”
In Christ,
Father Anthony