Amma Syncletica said, “If you start a good work, do not let the enemy discourage you. Your endurance will defeat the enemy. When sailors encounter unfavorable winds they do not toss their cargo overboard or abandon ship. They struggle against the storm for a while and then reestablish their course. If you run into a headwind, raise a cross as a sail and you will continue your voyage in safety.”
Fr. Stephen is a retired Archpriest of the Orthodox Church in America. He is also author of Everywhere Present: Christianity in a One-Storey Universe, and Face to Face: Knowing God Beyond Our Shame, as well as the Glory to God podcast series on Ancient Faith Radio.
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Thank you for this saying Father. I always used to think it’d be much easier to throw the cargo overboard at the beginning of any storm. But now St. Syncletica makes a good point! 😉
Father, I am grateful to God to have read this. I was praying today about whether to cancel the Church School program at our parish altogether since no children showed up for opening day. This answers my prayer to not give up. Thanks be to God.
Christians should be perseverant when they confront a difficult situation, and not “throw in the towel” or just give up.
Moreover, Christians who pray to God while they are in a difficult situation, will find it much easier to successfully resolve that situation.
Is it not a monastery of St. Luke (Hosios Lukas) in Boeotia, Greece?
Fr. Serapheim,
That is quite likely. I found the photo but it did not have identification. Though it is quite striking, and I imagine one of a kind.
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