By St. Nektarios of Pentapolis
Faith! Divine Gift, fruit of Divine Revelation, knowledge of mysteries, heavenly wisdom, teacher of divine truths, ladder of heaven and earth, link of God and man, evidence of divine friendship and love, expression of the transmission of heavenly gifts.
With what words can I describe your power? With what terms can I express your energies? Your power is truly divine, as a divine gift, and your energy is unfathomable, equal to the divine will, because it operates with divine power, and however much people think with their mind will consider it inadequatly.
As light you illumine those who have a darkened intellect, you lead those who seek truth in the Scriptures, and you become a secure guide to knowledge. You are heated with divine eros in the hearts and ignite in them divine love.
You generate true hope, that rebukes in a secret way and reveals those things in which we hope. You don in the garments of a son of a king those who were enlightened by you. You grace them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You fill the faithful with the spirit of the fear of God. You generously grace them with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. You fill the heart of the believer with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, meekness and temperance.
Your power has refashioned the person that has been worn away by sin, and restore them to their ancient beauty and present them as an image of God. Your energy, that moves by divine power, convinces the mind to obey you, and informs the heart of the truths that are revealed by your truths. Your Divine Light is poured out on the believer and illumines their mind to understand the Scriptures.
You open the eyes of the intellect, and you knock on the strings of the heart to worship the Divine, and to sing hymns of praise to the Divine without ceasing. You teach people to be obedient to God.
You teach those things spoken of by the Holy Prophets, teaching people to understand their meanings. You illumine people to understand the teachings of the Holy Apostles. You operate on perfect ethics. You put philosophical thoughts in the believer. You reveal by your divine power and energy the divine character even of unbelievers. You attracted the nations to salvation. You conquered the entire world. You looted the synagogues of people. You overcame atheism.
You set up the Honorable Cross as a trophy on the earth. To you kings became subject. To you ran the princes and rulers of the people. You showed the philosophers to be unwise. You proved the poor in spirit to be wise and eloquent orators. You were declared to the people and enlightened the world. You sanctified the nations since you overcame them. You showed to the ancient world grown old by sin to be new by your divine power.
You abolished the harsh laws. You restored justice. You condemned wars. You awarded the world with peace. You led to equality. You gave true freedom. You abolished the dominion of the devil. You installed the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. You exiled bitter sadness from the world. You lavishly gave inexpressible joy to the world. Therefore we deservedly honor you.
We follow you and have you in our hearts, and with courage hope to acquire the Kingdom of God and eternal goods. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
