Govenie: The Path of a Virtuous Life

From chapter 32 of “The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to it” by St. Theophan the Recluse.

(Govenie: the whole of spiritual disciplines in deepening the spiritual life and especially preparing for Holy Communion at the beginning of Lent.)

Glory be to Thee, O Lord! The fast has drawn near. You have brought me pleasure by saying that you intend to begin fasting and attending Divine Services immediately. Do not change your intention. People usually fast and attend services during Holy Week, but do not put it off until then yourself. Those who fast and attend services during Holy Week include people who have already fasted, attended services and taken Communion during the preceding weeks who desire to take Communion a second time; those who are compelled by some sort of necessity; or those for whom it is desirable to hasten the end ofthe labor of the fast, for there are only three days to labor. We will apply only the first case to you.

Lord give the blessing for you to perform govenie in a fitting manner. Each faster must do everything that you intend to do. Fast, go to church, seclude yourself, read, think and study yourself; all of this is necessary. But all of these actions must be directed toward one goal: worthy Communion of the holy Mysteries of Christ. In order to commune worthily, the soul must be cleansed with repentance. All the various actions of govenie—going to church, prayer at home, fasting, and everything else, are undertaken in order to accomplish the repentance as it should be, with sincere contrition and a firm resolution to not offend the Lord anymore.

The first thing to do in making repentance is to go inside yourself. Earthly matters and cares and unrestrained wandering of thoughts all over the place do not allow us to go inside ourselves and to study ourselves. Therefore the faster, to the extent possible during the time of the fast, shuts off his cares, and instead of going about his usual business, stays at home. This cutting off of cares is a matter of extreme importance in govenie. He who does not do so will certainly spend the fast haphazardly. You, too, must cut off your cares. No matter how few these cares are, they do exist and distract us. Set about govenie having laid aside all cares.

Let us suppose that you have cast everything aside and have gone to your room. What is there to do? It is possible to sit around in private, doing nothing. You must take up occupations that are conducive to govenie. What kind of occupations? Prayer, reading, meditation.

Prayer is that which is in addition to prayer in church. That is already self-evident. You know how to pray in church, of course. However, do take it into consideration! Go to church willingly, as to the house of God, your own home; go there without being contemptuous or bored. Go to church not just to be at the service, but in order to pray from your heart. Pray with sincere warmth, with an outpouring before God, with feelings of contrition, humility and reverential fear and with diligent petitions for your vital spiritual needs. To succeed at this, you have to think it out ahead of time, and, having come to church, you must force yourself to it. Do not just consider attendance at the service to be useless; during the course of the service the heart is warmed and calls out warmly to God. That is the main thing. You must also listen to the service, and align your thoughts and feelings with it. Variation, as long as it is directed toward one goal and is not distracting, will maintain the attention’s nourishing and constructive exertion in an agreeable manner. Attend to what is being sung and read, especially during the petitions, for they are the summary of all of the needs for which we turn to God unashamedly.

Usually, however, the thoughts do stray. This is from a lack of prayerful feeling. However, you may deal with straying thoughts in this way: As soon as you notice your thoughts have left church, turn them back and do not ever allow yourself consciously to daydream or to stray in thought during govenie,or at any other time. When the thoughts stray unbeknownst to you, this is also a small sin; but when you begin wandering offin thought purposely while you are in church, this is a sin. The Lord is among those who are in church. He who does not think about the Lord in church, but who daydreams instead, is like a man who has gone to the king in order to ask him for something, who then begins to make faces and fidget in the king’s presence, without paying any attention to him. Perhaps you will not be completely successful in preventing the straying of thoughts while maintaining your effort; but it is possible and it is necessary to not allow yourself to daydream intentionally. With respect to the straying of thoughts there are these two rules:

1) As soon as you notice this straying, turn the thoughts back, and
2) do not consciously allow the thoughts to wander.

A remedy against the straying of thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him. One must place the entire mind in this though tand not deviate from it. The attention is attached to the Lordby the fear of God and by the desire to please God. From these come warmth of the heart, which draws the attention to the One Lord. Work at stirring the heart, and you will see for yourself how it keeps the thought in check. It is necessary to force yourself. Without labor and mental effort, you will notattain anything spiritual. Prostrations help a lot in the warming of the heart. Do these a little more often, performing both bowsfrom the waist and full prostrations to the ground. May the Lord grant that you feel delight in being at churchso that you will rush to it, just as people rush into a warm roomfrom the cold. During the fast, the primary stimulator of action, the reason for which we perform govenie, is worthy attendance at church. Other actions aid and assist this, but they will be discussed another time.

The Sts. Theophan and Ignatius Study Group

We have had a study group before, but it is difficult to proceed through a book sequentially when our schedules get interrupted or are overly busy, and to keep the group in sync. Some of you expressed interest in participating but found the approach too much of a commitment.

I was involved in another Orthodox book club that solved this problem. The approach is to use an online text chat forum, where one can read and respond at one’s convenience, without everyone having to be on the same schedule. Then we can have a “live” meeting every couple of weeks for a more focused discussion, which will be helpful but optional. Occasional in-person meetings can also be had as desired.

If you would like to participate or even lurk, feel free to join the Discord. I will assign readings in the “announcement” channel, along with questions to ponder. I have also created a channel for each book or set of readings, so that comments and discussion can be focused on each reading. It is helpful to keep a journal as you read, writing down useful points from the readings and ideas for applying them to your life.

The main page for the study group is here:
https://stnicholassaratoga.org/sts-theophan-and-ignatius-study-group/

The Discord channel is where discussions take place, live meetings are held, handouts are distributed, and readings are assigned. You can sign in to that here:
https://discord.gg/TwnVnnwKcB

(Note: this Discord is separate from the St. Nicholas online members’ forum - no pledge form required).

St. Nicholas Member’s Forum

For those of you who submitted a pledge form, you are invited to participate in the St. Nicholas Members’ Forum. This includes discussion areas such as:

• announcements
• resources
• general discussion
• 75th anniversary (and other fundraiser) planning
• parish council
• soul-profiting quotes
• a membership directory
• the “beauty will save the world” discussion of soul profiting arts and letters. There is also a theater where we can show soul-profiting films and have poetry readings and such!

If you didn’t fill out a pledge form, you can still do it here:
https://stnicholassaratoga.org/pledge-form/

If you filled out a pledge form but did not receive your invite to the member forum, email Reader John or use the contact form and select “webmaster.”

Here is an article worth repeating!

On January 6th, Orthodox Christians attend the Divine Liturgy and the Great Blessing of the Water service to celebrate the great feast of Theophany, also called the “Feast of Lights.”  It was called the Feast of Lights from ancient times, since on this day many catechumens were “illumined” by the light of Holy Baptism and held their lit candles during the services. The feast commemorates the baptism of Christ and the revelation of God in three persons. That's why the Feast is called “Theophany,” meaning “Revelation of God.” We attend church not only to celebrate the Feast and receive the Holy Eucharist, but we also hope to be blessed by and to receive the special holy water which is blessed following the Liturgy.   Most parishioners bring their own bottles or jars from home in order to fill them up with the blessed water to take home. It is the pious practice of many Orthodox to take a little holy water and some of the blessed bread (antidoron) from church every morning before eating or drinking anything else, as a blessing for the day. In most churches in America the blessing of water is held indoors, in the temple itself, and the water is contained in a large urn. Some communities hold outdoor celebrations by a body of water.

Blessing of the Home

It is customary, to invite your priest to bless your home with holy water within the few weeks following Theophany and before the beginning of the Great Fast (Lent.). Prepare by cleaning the house and opening the doors and turning on the lights in  all the rooms.

What you need for the house blessing:

• An icon corner or wall, or at least an Icon of Christ and the Mother of God
• A small table, preferably covered, in front of your home icon corner.
• A candlestick with a new candle in it, placed on the otherwise cleared table

Using  an aspergelus (a special brush-type sprinkler) the priest will go to each room and sprinkle it in the four corners blessing the home with the grace of the Holy Spirit which also protects you from evil spirits. If you were unable to attend the Theophany Liturgy, the priest will bring extra Holy Water so that you may keep some at home, near your icons. Please have a dedicated jar or vessel prepared for this water. It can only be used for Holy Water thereafter. For House Blessings, it is appropriate that all family members are in attendance, but if this is not possible, at least those who are home should participate in the service. All TV's, electronics, music, etc., should be turned off. House Blessings are a yearly tradition.

Personal Use of Holy Water

According to Orthodox doctrine, holy water has the power to sanctify and heal. Have each family member drink a small amount of the holy water from Theophany. Keep the unused holy water in your home icon corner (krasny ugol) for future use: times of adversity, before starting a new venture or trip, to give thanks, or when someone is ill. You may drink it or anoint yourself when you feel spiritually afflicted. It should be taken when fasting, if at all possible. To rid the house of evil spirits, it should be sprinkled in the four corners of each room, so no one will step on it. In the countryside, the holy water is often sprinkled in the fields and on the animals.

If you would like to have your home blessed, please contact Fr. Basil or use the Sign-up sheet at the candle desk in the Narthex of the church.

If you are ready to grow in your spiritual life and want to share in the study of some practical instruction for doing it, then this group is for you! Why do we study the writings of these two saints? Because they tapped the deepest well in the writings of the Holy Fathers and Mothers of deep spiritual life (St. Theophan translated the Philokalia). Yet while they imbibed the depths of Orthodox tradition, they were also closer to us in time than the ancient fathers. They understood the problems that we contemporary people have, and could adapt ancient wisdom to our way of life. This is practical stuff!

We will meet on Google Meet every two weeks, on Tuesday, beginning on January 20th. You can find the link in the church's online calendar.

If you would like to know more, please read the guidelines and other information on the Sts. Theophan and Ignaty Study Group Page here:

Sts. Theophan and Ignatius Study Group

St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
14220 Elva Avenue
Saratoga, CA, 95070

December 25, 2025

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Nicholas,

Christ is Born!

“Behold a new and wondrous mystery! My ears resound to the Shepherd’s song, piping no soft melody, but chanting full force a heavenly hymn. The Angels sing. The Archangels blend their voices in harmony. The Cherubim hymn their joyful praise. The Seraphim exalt His glory. All join in to praise this holy feast, beholding the Godhead here on earth, and man in heaven. He who is above, now for our redemption dwells here below; and he that was lowly is, by divine mercy, raised up!” (St. John Chrysostom)

As the end of the year draws nigh, our thoughts turn to the many blessings God has bestowed upon us. Thanksgiving and Christmas both compel us to offer our grateful thanks to Him. There is perhaps no better way to show our appreciation than to lay our treasure at the feet of St. Nicholas, just as the earliest Christians laid theirs at the feet of the apostles. Please remember this holy place in your generous end-of-the-year giving. After all, the Lord says, “The year is completed, bring to Me all of your tithes and place them into my treasury; so that there shall be provision in My house: return now for this cause, saith the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not open to you the torrents of heaven, and pour out my blessing upon you!” (Malachi 3:10)

Love in Christ,

Fr Basil & Family

The Parish Council, Choir, and the entire Church Family

(Click here to make your donation online)

On December 28th, the first Sunday after Christmas, we will have an informal "Yolka", with the singing of Christmas Carols, and a chance for anyone to share their talent! Bring your musical instrument or other props, and join in the joy!

More information to come on a flyer soon!

GREAT NEWS! On May 9, 2026, we will celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Saint Nicholas Church!

Liturgy will be celebrated by Bishop Vasily and many clergy at Saint Nicholas Church. Following the service, we will drive to Saint Archangel Michael Serbian Church for a catered lunch in the hall. Please save this date, and be a part of this historic occasion. More information will be forthcoming at the Annual Meeting on January 25, 2026.

Transfiguration is the Only Path to Salvation

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol

solun.gr

Christ is in our midst. Dear readers!

If we were to pose the question to our regular parishioners today as to what we celebrate on this day, they would reply: “The Transfiguration of the Savior”. And they would be correct. The very word “transfiguration” means change. That is, something or someone used to be one way, but now they are another—they were transfigured. But did Christ change? Did He become something other than He was before Mount Tabor? No, no transformation occurred in Him. He simply partially revealed His glory, which He had, has, and will have in Himself forever. This glory is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. If the Divine Logos showed all of His glory as it really is, then not only the apostles but the whole Earth, the entire universe would not have been able to endure this radiance. The Lord lifted the veil slightly to reveal the radiance of His Divinity so that His disciples would not be tempted when they would see Him crucified, mocked, and dead.

The Transfiguration is the vector along which our entire life should go. Every person is by nature created light, having appeared from nothing according to the divine will of the Creator. Everything in the world, both animate and inanimate, is in its essence a form of existence of the originate energy created by God. This energy has no life in and of itself. Only God is the Being that has life in and of Himself. His essence is unfathomable not only for people, but also for the highest angelic powers. And we would have no hope of eternal life had God in His mercy and love not poured out from His own essence the uncreated energies. This form of God’s being is outside of His Essence. The uncreated light of the Godhead is what the Church calls grace. By joining our human spirit with this eternally living and life-creating Divine power, we receive eternity and immortality. But so that this might come to pass, we must remove from ourselves what does not allow Divine Light to live in us. A smoky, grimy mirror cannot reflect the sun’s light. It is the same with our souls—as long as sin lives in us, our souls are unable to partake of the radiance of eternal life. Only after cleansing our souls with repentance and prayer can we not only receive God’s grace in ourselves, but we can also reflect it to other people, becoming ourselves light from Light, gods by grace from God by nature. But for this, we must have the Transfiguration.

Metropolitan Luke (Kovalenko) of Zaporozhye and Melitopol
Translation by OrthoChristian.com

8/26/2022

It is customary during the Dormition Fast to chant/pray (every evening that you can) the Paraklesis service to the Mother of God. Some years we have been able to do this many times during the course of the fast, while other years seem to present obstacles, and we do it only a few times in church. But this should not be an obstacle for you!

Attached here is the service to be done at home with some instructions to do it as a "reader service" embedded. This is a great blessing to be done in the home with the family (or just yourself) gathered around the beautiful icon corner. It can be read simply, or sung as indicated.  If you want to sing and don't know the melodies, come and talk to me!

Reader John

Dormition_Paraklesis (PDF)