Letters of Spiritual Direction to a Young Soul - Letter Twenty-three Part I

Tonight we started letter 23. Saint Theophan had just spoken to Anastasia about what it is to rise from the fallen state of sin and what has been revealed to us in Christ. It is for this that we must have a strong zeal and embrace it with true joy. 

In this letter St. Theophan maps out for Anastasia the different kinds of zeal. Spiritual zeal is focused on pleasing God and the pursuit of salvation. Intellectual zeal is the pursuit of any number of temporal goods and works. These are not evil but rather a part of life.  Yet we can give them disordered attention and energy that takes away from our relationship with God. More dangerous still is the zeal for Vanity and for Evil itself. These must be rejected altogether for they entrench a person in sin and darken the conscience. Zeal is not simply an emotion but rather the fervor of the Saints driven by the grace of God which is the fruit of their baptism. So it must be for us.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:44:24 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: The biblical account calls Barnabas “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24).   In the Byzantine tradition when the priest reunites the Body of Christ with the Blood of Christ in the chalice as a sign of the Resurrection, he says "Fullness of the Holy Spirit" as he drops a portion of the Lamb-the Body into the Blood.  And then  the priest blesses hot water (which the deacon will pour into the chalice) with the words which are intentionally of a double meaning in Greek or Old Slavonic but in English it's either "Blessed is the warmth/zeal/fervor of your "holies" (saints)."  and then when the deacon pours it the priest says, "the warmth/zeal/fervor of faith, full of the Holy Spirit."  And so the Holy Spirit restores life where there is death, and our risen Lord Himself is the source of zeal/fervor in the saints, ie the baptized.  "Without me you can do nothing" John 15:5 
00:45:57 Carol Nypaver: Thank you for the insight Fr. Ivan!
01:23:23 Eric Williams: One of the hardest things for me, with respect to maintaining zeal, is separation from fellow faithful, orthodox Christians. Even before COVID-19, it seemed like we were few in number and scattered. I've found this especially challenging as a father. It's hard to raise children in the faith when they're not surrounded by good examples. Those examples, ideally, would be around in every aspect in life, and not just at liturgies.
01:24:15 Fr. John (Ivan) Chirovsky: Eric, agreed