Consequently, someone with great interest in this subject will rightly pose the crucial question: Well then, how are we to become grateful, given that our hearts are hard and proud? Is there any method that we can follow? This very serious question has, of course, been answered in all that I have hitherto expounded; however, I think it expedient for us to invite our Holy Fathers to enlighten us yet again, and in this way to conclude our stroll in this beautiful garden. St. John Chrysostomos asserts clearly: Let us become grateful by continually turning over in our minds the bounteous gifts of God and remembering the magnitude and multitude of His benefactions.33 And he continues:
For if we constantly call to mind the benefits which God has bestowed upon our nature, we shall be grateful, and this will become for us the greatest incitement to embark on the path of virtue. For, it is evident that he who remembers the benefits of God will be zealous not to prove unworthy thereof, but to display such eagerness and gratitude that he will be vouchsafed other benefits as well. For, our Master is generous, and when He sees that we are grateful for what He has already given us, He lavishes Grace upon us and grants us yet greater gifts.34
But an additional question arises: What exactly does it mean for us to be in constant remembrance of God’s bounties? To this equally serious question, the Saints reply by listing examples of God’s benefactions,35 in an attempt to arouse in us the feeling of gratitude to the Lord. For example, St. Basil the Great, with reference to the verse in which the Holy Prophet David asks, What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He hath rendered unto me?,36 majestically enumerates gifts which we, being more irrational than the irrational animals, habitually forget.
He brought us from non-being in being; He dignified us with reason; He provided us with crafts to help sustain our lives; He causes food to spring up from the earth; He has given us cattle to serve us. For our sake there is rain, for our sake there is the sun; the hills and plains have been adorned for our benefit, affording us refuge from the peaks of the mountains. For our sake rivers flow; for our sake fountains gush forth; the sea is made calm for our trading; riches come from mines and delights from everywhere, and the whole of creation is offered as a gift to us, on account of the rich and abundant Grace of our Benefactor towards us.
But why speak of minor gifts? For our sake God lived among men; for the sake of our corrupt flesh, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.36a To the thankless He was their Benefactor; to those sitting in darkness, the Sun of Righteousness; upon the Cross He was the Impassible One; in death, the Life; in Hades, the Light; the Resurrection for the fallen;36b the spirit of adoption into sonship, bestowals of spiritual gifts, and promises of crowns.
In addition to such great and splendid benefits, or rather, benefits par excellence, the benefits that He promises us in the future life are many times greater: the delight of Paradise, glory in the Kingdom of Heaven, honors equal to those of the Angels, and the vision of God, which, for those counted worthy of it, is the highest of all goods; every rational nature desires this, and may we also attain to it, after we have cleansed ourselves of carnal passions.37
Our Most Reverend Metropolitan and Much-Revered Spiritual Father:
The twenty years of your Episcopacy have prompted us to give a lengthy account of blessed gratitude, since it is through your own teaching that we have come to realize its value and importance. In truth, I must repeat with particular emphasis that we are most profoundly grateful to you, since you have taught us gratitude in word and deed. At this point, I would not want to weary you any further by opening yet another chapter, in order to deal specifically with gratitude towards one’s spiritual Father; for now, I confine myself to stating concisely the content of such a future chapter: A grateful attitude towards God and a grateful attitude towards one’s spiritual Father are two sides of the same coin—that is, of thrice-blessed gratitude, without which it is impossible for us to pass through the gates of Paradise.
Finally, let me close my meager address by conveying the grateful thanks of our entire Brotherhood for all that our Savior, in His love for mankind, has bestowed upon us through your prayers, and especially during these two decades. Our humble, but heartfelt prayer is that our Lord may grant you length of days, so that you might pasture your rational flock for many more years in the verdant meadows of Grace. And may our All-Holy Mother vouchsafe that you always taste the most sweet and exhilarating waters of the thanksgiving and gratitude of those dear to you, so that you might derive courage, hope, and consolation therefrom, to the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
