Sometimes I wish we could rate books with more than five stars. This is such a case. Counsels from the Holy Mountain, Selected from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim, is a collection of writings by Archimandrite Ephraim, a former abbot of the Holy Monastery of Philotheou on Mount Athos. It is a work I know that I will return to again and again.

This book is overflowing with not just counsel, but wise and holy counsel. It covers so much: Salvation and Paradise, Afflictions and Illness, Sin, Repentance and Confession, Monasticism and the World, Obedience, Remembrance of Death and Hell, Spiritual Struggle, Cowardice and Courage, Condemnation and Silence, Pride and Humility, Love and Forgiveness, Thoughts and Distractions, Prayer and Watchfulness, the Departed, and so much more.

One aspect of this work I find particularly helpful is that is not written long ago with archaic language. The examples are often closer to our time than far in the past. Although the book does not include much biographical information, and there is no Library of Congress catalogue information noting the lifespan of Elder Ephraim, there is an allusion to a meeting of the author of the Prologue, remarking that they met in the 1960s. Orthodoxwiki indicates Elder Epraim was born in 1927, but provides no date of repose. That would make him 92 years old.

One passage worth sharing is:

We must guard our conscience on three points--with respect to God, with respect to neighbor, and with respect to things. . . . He guards his conscience with respect to things when he does not cause destruction or damage to material things through carelessness, negligence, or unscrupulousness.

St. Theodore the Studite tells us many things about this "unscrupulousness." When you see something burning or being damaged and you don't pick it up and protect it, this is unscrupulousness. When your clothes get torn and you neglect to mend them, and then they get completely ruined, this is unscrupulousness. When you are able to work but instead of working you wander around here and there, this is also unscrupulousness. When you leave your food out and it goes bad and you throw it away, this is unscrupulousness because you should have taken care to eat it before it went bad. Therefore, unscrupulousness is when one errs in any way with respect to material things, and also when one offends God in any way.

This passage particularly resonates for me in two ways. First, regarding the wandering around without purpose. I would suggest that today, that would include lounging around or being a couch potato, the vegging in front of the television for hours, the scrolling through various media on one's cell phone or tablet. These are things we all do from time to time, I suppose, some more than others. But, as a writer, I know I feel guilty when I am not writing, when I am "wandering around." Now sometimes, I am actually contemplating my work when I engage in such behaviors, or a writing project is percolating. I'm not so sure that is unprofitable wandering, especially when it is prayerful. But the wandering doing absolutely nothing productive, not even in thought or prayer, that certainly qualifies as unscrupulousness. From here on out, I will remember that this is a form of unscrupulousness and an offense against God--and cease such unproductive behavior.

The second way this passage particularly resonates with me is with respect to the treatment of food. Increasingly over the years, I have come to regard wasting food as sinful. Whether it is fruit that spoils before we can finish it, or leftovers that have gone uneaten, or frozen food that has freezer burn to the point of being inedible, I have come to feel more and more guilty about not respecting God's blessings in our life to be able to buy whatever we want for our sustenance. I think this is particularly true when the food is some variety of meat or seafood. An animal gave its life to feed humans, and then is wasted. This must be an especially horrible offense to God--truly an affront to Him.

Our society has such a throw away mentality. Here, in America, I think it is especially a problem. There are countless times we have been in a restaurant and seen tables diners have just left where the plate is literally still loaded with food. In fact, this happened just the other day at one of our favorite breakfast places. Maybe some had to leave in such a hurry that they could not even wait for a box to put in the leftovers. But I doubt that bona fide emergencies occur often--certainly not as often as I see significant amounts of food wastefully left on a restaurant plate. Of course, I cannot do much about the behavior of others. But, I am certainly more cognizant of my own in this regard. And, now that I know it is spiritual unscrupulousness, I will especially guard against such behavior by not ordering more than I know I will eat, or at least always taking home the leftovers. And if a meal comes with an item I know I will not eat (toast at breakfast would be an example), then I will ask for it not to be served to me.

In any event, Counsels from the Holy Mountain will be a spiritually profitable read for you. I highly recommend not only that you read it, but that you buy a copy. It is a book you will return to again and again. ( )