Another Retreat Weekend with Fr. Demetrios

Father Demetrios Carellas will be our guest again for a portion of this weekend. Father is a Protopresbyter and Archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, serving as chaplain to Nativity of the Theotokos Monastery in Saxonburg, PA. A sought-after retreat leader, Fr. Demetri has many spiritual children in the Knoxville and Nashville area.

The theme of the retreat is The Holy Orthodox Faith: Finding True Freedom through Slavery and Total Victory through Surrender.

Friday, July 11

5:30 p.m. — Daily Vespers
6:30 p.m. — Talk #1 by Fr. Demetrios

Saturday, July 12

10:30 a.m. — Talk #2 by Fr. Demetrios
noon — Lunch
1:00 p.m. — Talk #3 by Fr. Demetrios
5:30 p.m. — Vigil and Litya for Sts. Peter and Paul

Published on Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

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11525 Highway 321 North
Lenoir City, TN 37771

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Recent Orthodox Edification Posts

The Church is not a social club
The Fast: Ten Beneficial and Ten Harmful Things
Homily about the Fulfillment of the Great Prophecy
St. Gregory the Theologian: Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us.
Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom
Antiphon XV from the Matins of Holy Friday
Lazarakia (Lazarus Bread)

Approximate Travel Times From the Surrounding Areas

Knoxville (Downtown) - 26 minutes
Knoxville (Cedar Bluff) - 19 minutes

Athens - 44 minutes
Crossville - 48 minutes
Farragut - 15 minutes
Maryville - 34 minutes
Oak Ridge - 23 minutes
Sevierville - 59 minutes
Seymour - 48 minutes

Regular Schedule

Sundays
10:00 am Divine Liturgy (Hours begin at 9:40 am)

Trapeza (Meal) after Divine Liturgy followed by instruction on the Orthodox Faith for both children and adults

Wednesdays
6:30 pm Daily Vespers

Saturdays (every other)
5:30 pm Vigil -- see calendar for next Vigil

Falling Down & Getting Up

"As often as thou fallest arise, and thou shalt be saved."

+ From the Service of Holy Unction, Second Priest's Prayer

“My brethren, do all that is in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall, but, if you do fall, get up again at once, and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times, because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise up again at each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death. For it is written: ‘If a righteous man falls seven times,’ that is, repeatedly throughout his life, ‘seven times shall he rise again’ [Proverbs 24:16].”

+ St. John of Karpathos, from the collection of letters to monks in India

“We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This can not all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that he will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervor will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.”

+ St. Nectarios of Aegina

“People say that if you feel no inclination to pray, it is better not to pray; but this is crafty, carnal sophistry. If you only pray when you are inclined to, you will completely cease praying; this is what the flesh desires. ‘The Kingdom of Heaven Suffereth violence.’ You will not be able to work out your salvation without forcing yourself.”

+ St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

“It is a great art to succeed in having your soul sanctified. A person can become a saint anywhere. He can become a saint in Omonia Square*, if he wants. At your work, whatever it may be, you can become a saint through meekness, patience, and love. Make a new start every day, with new resolution, with enthusiasm and love, prayer and silence — not with anxiety so that you get a pain in the chest.”

* Omonia Square: the commercial center of Athens, also synonymous with vice and corruption

+ St. Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

"Even if we fall a hundred times a day, it does not matter; we must get up and go on walking toward God without looking back."

+ Elder Thaddeus, Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

“…should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord’s love. For if He so chooses, He can deal mercifully with our weakness. Only we should not cut ourselves off from Him or feel oppressed when constrained by His commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal…let us always be ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do not abandon your Physician, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because of your despair. Wait on Him, and He will be merciful, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or through some other provision of which you are ignorant.”

— St. Peter of Damascus

"Are you a sinner? Do not become discouraged, and come to Church to put forward repentance. Have you sinned? Then tell God, 'I have sinned.' What manner of toil is this, what prescribed course of life, what affliction? What manner of difficulty is it to make one statement, 'I have sinned'? Perhaps if you do not call yourself a sinner, you do not have the devil as an accuser? Anticipate this and snatch the honor away from him, because it is his purpose to accuse. Therefore, why do you not prevent him, and why do you not tell your sin and wipe it out, since you know that you have such an accuser who cannot remain silent? Have you sinned? Come to Church. Tell God, 'I have sinned.' I do not demand anything else of you than this. Holy Scripture states, 'Be the first one to tell of your transgressions, so you may be justified.' Admit the sin to annul it. This requires neither labor nor a circuit of words, nor monetary expenditure, nor anything else whatsoever such as these. Say one word, think carefully about the sin and say, 'I have sinned.'"

+ St. John Chrysostom, On Repentance and Almsgiving, Homily 2

Quotes

“Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross on your forehead, your body, your chest, your heart, your lips, your eyes, your ears. All of you should be sealed with the sign of Christ’s victory over hell. Then you will no longer be afraid of charms, evil spirits, or sorcery, because these are dissolved by the power of the Cross like wax before fire and like dust before the wind.”

+ Elder Cleopa

“If you want to serve God, prepare your heart not for food, not for drink, not for rest, not for ease, but for suffering, so that you may endure all temptations, trouble and sorrow. Prepare for severities, fasts, spiritual struggles and many afflictions, for 'by many afflictions is it appointed to us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven' (Acts 14,22); ‘The Heavenly Kingdom is taken by force, and they who use force seize it’ (Matt 11:12).

+ St. Sergius of Radonezh, Life, 10

“We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.”

+ St. Nikon of Optina

“The saints were people like all of us. Many of them came out of great sins, but by repentance they attained the Kingdom of Heaven. And everyone who comes there comes through repentance, which the merciful Lord has given us through His sufferings.”

+ St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, XII.10

“In the Lives of the Saints are shown numerous but always certain ways of salvation, enlightenment, sanctification, transfiguration, ‘christification,’ deification; all the ways are shown by which man conquers sin, every sin; conquers passion, every passion; conquers death; conquers the devil, every devil. There is a remedy there for every sin: from every passion─healing, from every death─resurrection from every devil─deliverance; from all evils─salvation. There is no passion, no sin for which the Lives of the Saints do not show how the passion or sin in question in conquered, mortified, and uprooted.”

+ St. Justin Popovich, Orthodox Faith & Life in Christ, “Introduction to the Lives of the Saints”

“Just as people do not enter a war in order to enjoy war, but in order to be saved from war, so we do not enter this world in order to enjoy this world, but in order to be saved from it. People go to war for the sake of something greater than war. So we also enter this temporal life for the sake of something greater: for eternal life. And as soldiers think with joy about returning home, so also Christians constantly remember the end of their lives and their return to their heavenly fatherland.”

+ St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Thoughts on Good and Evil

St. Nektarios Orthodox Church of Lenoir City, TN

Russian Orthodox Church in Lenoir City, TN in the Knoxville area conviently located only seconds off I-40 Exit 364 (Lenoir City/Oak Ridge Exit)

Another Retreat Weekend with Fr. Demetrios