This past Sunday morning I was driving to church to go to Orthros and the Divine Liturgy when my car suddenly and unexpectedly broke down in the middle of the road. Thankfully I was not on the highway and there were no cars directly in front or behind me, so no accident occurred. I first tried restarting the engine, thinking that perhaps the engine stalled and that there was some basic mechanical issue that was going on, but this effort proved fruitless. I then called my dad and asked him if he could come and give my car a jump start, thinking that the battery may have died, but that did not work either. My car was stuck in the middle of the road, I did not know what was wrong with it, and I had no option but to get it towed. And I knew that in all likelihood I was going to miss (at the very least) most of Orthros that morning. I was extraordinarily frustrated and upset, particularly at God. In my mind I was doing the right things: I had gotten up early to go to church and I had tried to prepare for the liturgy as best as I could, and I felt like God had punished me for this by allowing my car to break down. How could He let this happen to me?
It was precisely at this moment of frustration and anger that I realized God’s purpose for allowing my car to break down (at least partially, I think). I saw myself justifying my own sin of anger without realizing or thinking about the deeper problem that was keeping me from thanking God for His great plan for humanity: the issue of pride. My pride had blinded me from seeing this unexpected event as part of God’s great mercy and goodness and instead had caused me to question what God was doing, insisting that I knew better and that God was somehow being unjust or unfair in His treatment of me. God allowed my car to break down to call me to repent from my arrogance and to show me how to trust Him, giving glory to Him for all things and not relying on my own insight (see Proverbs 3:5).
And despite my own poor reaction to God’s mercy, He still allowed me to get to church that day. My mom was gracious enough to give me a ride to church after the car was towed, and I ended up making half of Orthros and the entirety of the Divine Liturgy. God was good to me even when I was not good to Him.
This is precisely what our recent holiday of Thanksgiving is about: giving thanks and praise to God in all things, whether good or evil, knowing that all things come from the One who is without beginning and is greatly merciful. We give thanks to God in times of abundance, joy and happiness, thanking Him for His blessings richly bestowed upon us as well as in times of sorrow, pain, and anguish, knowing that there is a larger purpose to His plan, for, “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28).
As I sit here writing this article on Thanksgiving day after eating a large meal, I feel that it is both necessary and useful for me to reflect on the things in my own life that I should be thankful for and appropriately give thanks to God and those who love and take care of me. This is a topic I could write about at length, but I would like to write about one thing that I am particularly thankful for: Ionian Village.
For those who are unaware, Ionian Village (IV for short) is a part of the camping ministry of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America that allows Orthodox teens to go to Greece for three weeks where they primarily pray, participate in the worship of God through the divine services and mysteries, and visit many different churches and monasteries to venerate the relics of saints and experience the grace of God, evident in His great, “cloud of witnesses” that He has granted to humanity as examples of faith and piety to follow in the footsteps of (Hebrews 12:1). As is the case for almost any international travel, the cost can be rather expensive (though scholarships are available), and I will forever be thankful to my parents for allowing me to go and for paying the cost of the trip for me.
Words cannot describe how beneficial IV was to my spiritual life and refreshing it was to spend three weeks in prayer and communion with other Orthodox Christians also seeking union with Christ through the life of the Church. When I first arrived, I was fearful that I would not be accepted by others there because, as a convert to the Orthodox faith, I was one of a very small number of people on the trip who was not ethnically Greek. Thankfully, this was not the case at all; I found that I was accepted and loved by both the staff members and fellow campers at Ionian Village as a fellow brother of Christ and that my lack of cultural knowledge and heritage was not a barrier to experiencing the friendship and love of others.
It would take me hundreds of pages to describe my entire experience at Ionian Village, so instead of doing that I will describe a few moments that stick out in my mind that I am especially thankful for.
I remember visiting the relics of St. Dionysios of Zakynthos, the patron saint of Ionian Village who forgave the murderer of his own brother, whose entire body is still intact even though he fell asleep in the year 1622. His skin is still fresh and his beard is still on his face. Such a miracle cannot be attributed to anything but the grace of God, which is present in His saints to such a degree that their lifeless bodies can be sanctified and made holy, being preserved against the passage of time and the rotting of flesh. When I approached to venerate the relics of St. Dionysios by kissing his feet, I began to weep. I wept because I knew that as he forgave and protected the man who murdered his brother, I too needed to forgive and show mercy to those who had wronged me. I wept because I knew I needed to ask the saint to intercede for me to Christ for the forgiveness of my own sins, which are too numerous for me to know in their entirety. I wept because I knew I could only see the things I was seeing by God’s mercy, which guided me to the Orthodox faith and ever calls me to Himself. For all these things and more, I wept. It is the type of weeping that remains ever present in one’s memory despite what may have happened before or afterwards.
I also recall the various Orthodox Life (OL) sessions with my cabin, Kerkyra, and Fr. Mario, the priest who led us in prayer and discussion both in the divine services at the camp and during OL. I remember the compassion that he showed to me and to my cabin. When we cried, he cried with us. When we laughed, he laughed with us. When we asked for advice, he offered the best that he could. He was there for us when we needed him, even in off moments during the day when we had the most random and stupid things to ask him. Fr. Mario has served as an inspiration to me, and I still recall the advice he gave me while I was at IV for inspiration in daily living. I hope and pray to one day be like him.
Finally, I also remember the words of one of the campers during our Night with God activity, where we lit candles before the holy icons (seen as symbolic of prayer in traditional Orthodox life) and gave thanks to God for the things He has given us. One of the campers thanked God for those who had hurt him in his life, stating that he knows God sent him those people to make him into the man he is today. I pray to one day have the same humility that man has.
There are many other experiences at IV that I am thankful for, but these events should provide you with a snapshot of the totality that I am thankful for known as Ionian Village. But my thank you would not be complete without thanking all of the priests, staff members, and benefactors of IV who made my trip and experience possible. I would first like to thank Fr. Evagoras, the director of Ionian Village who organized the trip and made sure everything ran smoothly through his tireless effort. I would like to thank all of the clergy present there, especially Fr. Mario for the compassion he showed to me and the entire Kerkyra cabin. I would like to thank all of the counselors and staff members, particularly Peter, who gave me valuable life advice and encouraged me to continue in the Orthodox faith through daily prayer and faithfulness, D. Coke, who gave an aura of leadership and security to the cabin through his own example, Tony, who kept everything fun through his lively personality, invention of stavs down (you would only understand if you were there), and attentiveness to prayer he brought to the camp, and to Marissa, the first IV counselor I met and who continued to talk to me and show me friendship, attentiveness, and compassion throughout the trip. I would also like to thank all of the campers there who encouraged me through their example of faithful Orthodox lives, particularly the Kerkyra cabin, who will remain my lifelong friends and brothers in Christ. I hope to one day return to Ionian Village and see you all again. Know that I keep you in my prayers and long for that day to come.
Fr. Alexander Schmemann once said, “Everyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation and eternal joy.” So let us all give thanks to God, who richly bestows blessings unimaginable upon His whole creation both in this life and in the life to come. Through the prayers of St. Dionysios of Zakynthos and all of the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
*The Ionian Village camp site was hit by a tornado in early September, destroying many of the buildings campers have known and loved over the past several decades. If you are interested in donating to IV, please click here.