The Sweetness of Grace: Stories of Christian Trial and Victory

by Constantina R. Palmer

From the author of "The Scent of Holiness," The Sweetness of Grace is a collection of stories derived from conversations with Orthodox nuns, monks, and laypeople, along with experiences of Orthodox life in South Korea, Greece, and North America. Those who enjoyed Everyday Saints will enjoy these similar stories from other parts of the Orthodox world. The book includes conversations with monastics, priests and laypeople and stories of the sweet and difficult aspects of Christian life. The stories span three continents, including experiences in South Korea, Greece, and North America.

Genres: Spirituality, Christian

288 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 28, 2017

Reviews

[Liza Nahas · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this for our church book club and at first I found the style a bit off-putting as I was expecting more of a cohesive narrative. But once I adjusted to the “snippets” and short essay style, I was able to easily read and gain insight from the book. While the author is quite strict in her Orthodox practices, I found her relatable. I did highlight several passages so that I’m able to go back anytime I need a little inspiration.

[Paterikon Publications · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful follow up to Scent of Holiness. I do wish, however, that Ancient Faith Publishing would give a little more effort towards typesetting practices, as it felt like I was reading a double spaced essay or YA fiction (just based on text formatting).

[Vasilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Presbytera's next book she should share stories from Newfoundland!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sweetness of Grace is by far the favorite book I read in 2020. I had the pleasure of listening to it on Audible and I truly enjoyed hearing Matushka Constantina tell her stories aloud --- and it felt as if you were sitting with her surrounded by Holy Icons as she read. She and her husband have been blessed with being able to travel and have many encounters with monastics over the years during their time in Greece, Korea, and North America. She is a masterful storyteller and relays the experiences, teachings, miracles, and other encounters with holiness and weaves them into a beautiful tapestry and colors them with Scripture and the writings of the church Fathers. The stories are grouped into eight chapters, one for each Beatitude.

These vignettes make one long for holiness and a more intimate knowledge and relationship with Christ. While many of us, especially in North America, do not have easy access to monastics (especially in these most recent days), Constantina gives us a window to look and see that Christ is real and a life of devotion to him is possible both in and outside of a monastery. Her stories also made me realize that we often are to busy to seek the blessings that Christ has to offer us – whether it be the blessing from our own parish priest, visiting clergy or a pilgrimage to a nearby monastery. Miracles, blessings and answers to prayers abound if we are open to acknowledge them and receive them. As I listened to this book, I would very often be reminded of Isaiah 55:6, “Seek the Lord while he may be found..”

This book is written in a very conversational style, which makes it completely approachable for a nice long listen, but I also wound up purchasing the written copy so that I could keep it on my nightstand to read and ponder a specific story or miracle that she relayed.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It beautifully depicts the teachings of the Orthodox Church and offers inspiration to continue the journey toward (and I paraphrase): “attaining holiness, tasting the sweetness of Grace, and living a life of blessedness.”

[Jolie Boulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who listened to and loved The Scent of Holiness, I was beyond excited to start listening to The Sweetness of Grace. The Sweetness of Grace has the familiar, comforting format of short stories that are simultaneously easy to listen to and are full of great spiritual depth. The Beatitudes were used as both the book outline and chapter titles, and this format helped me to focus on how every virtue is a source of a particular grace.

Constantina beautifully shows the simplicity and depth of the Orthodox faith through this book, and the stories she shared have been good reminders and sources of encouragement to keep pursuing the narrow path. I also appreciated Constantina’s openness in the book, sharing her own personal stories and experiences of God’s grace in her life.

Two parts of the book I especially appreciated were (1) the importance of taking your spiritual rule seriously, not doing things outside of that rule without a blessing from your spiritual father and not growing prideful if you have a stricter spiritual rule than someone else and (2) the reality of and to be cautious against spiritual delusion. I appreciated how open Constantina was in talking about these topics and personally learned a lot. As these are just two small pieces out of a book filled with a plethora of nuggets of spiritual wisdom, I believe that anyone who reads this book will be able to learn something.

The Sweetness of Grace is truly a book for everyone. Its short stories make it easy to digest, especially for someone who may not have the time or focus to keep up with one elongated story, Constantina is a wonderful narrator that is both pleasant to listen to and draws you into each of the stories as though you were right alongside her, and most importantly, this book is another tool to aid in spiritual growth by learning through the stories of others and wisdom of many saints.

[Melissa Cleaveland · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who does not come from the Orthodox Church, but loves learning about the ancient faith, these stories are especially moving. Growing up in mostly Baptist churches, there was no sense of the sanctity of objects or matter. There also was very little said about miraculous encounters or healing in the present day world. The resulting effect is that God feels very impersonal and removed. I can testify to God's presence in my life, but the miracles were always minor ones, nothing profound like the stories in this book. Constantina Palmer's personal stories and those that she has encountered in her travels bring enlightenment of the miracles that take place every day around the world in the most moving ways. I also love the emphasis on the inner changes that we should work on as christians. Beautifully written and easy to listen to. I can't wait to listen again and note all the scriptures she sites throughout the book and look them up. Thank you for sharing Constantina!

[Father Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly wonderful spiritual collection of personal stories that remind us that normal lay people living in the world can lead a life of holiness and feel the sweetness of grace in their day to day lives. This book also mystically inflames the hearts of those far away from grace and yet it motivates those on the path to seek God’s grace even more. The author also radiates a immense depth to orthodoxy by the genuine humility that can be felt throughout the book. I highly recommend the book for those wanting to experience the work grace in real life stories.

[Kristen Shipman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. This is a follow up to her book "The Scent of Holiness" which I would read first for chronology. I read this when I was first interested in becoming an Orthodox Christian in 2016. It is a wonderful insight into Orthodox monasteries. I highly recommend reading this book to new Orthodox Christians and those interested in the faith. An easy read, which you can pick up and put down. I love books like this which you can take with you to read while waiting (doctor's appointments, etc).

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredible. Before I even finished it, I had already recommended it to at least five people. It’s a great book to read just a little bit every day. It’s simple stories, always with a beautiful and profound message attached. If you’re someone who doesn’t always have the brainpower to read heavy theological books after a long day of work or school, this book is perfect for you. (And also just perfect for everyone. Just read it)

[Summer Kinard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and its companion are such joys to read. I find myself returning to it often to ponder insights in the stories. There is so much grace all around us at all times in this world that God made, that He is redeeming, and in which He became Incarnate. This book helps us to see with faith so that our lives, too, are filled with the "sweetness of grace."

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another edifying book by Constantina Palmer. Filled with stories that, on the surface, may seem light, even humorous, many contain profound truths of the Orthodox Christian Faith.

[Matthew Penney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christ is Risen! A happy Paschal season to all!

Being the proud brother I am, I will not claim to be unbiased in this review. Way to go, Presvytera!

That said, this is a book filled with wonderful and inspiring stories, seasoned with pearls of wisdom from Holy Scripture, the Holy Fathers and Mothers, and the hymnology of the Church. It is an easy and engaging read, but with depths worth revisiting. Though not quite a sequel, it's certainly a worthy follow-up to "The Scent of Holiness".

Father Matthew Penney

[Byzantine, TX]

An interview with the author!

Question: So what prompted this second book? I know your first publication was well received and it seems to be a staple in many church bookstores that I've visited.

A large impetus for this book was all the "untold stories" that I had mentally compiled even while writing The Scent of Holiness. I felt that I couldn't tell all the stories I would have liked to because they wouldn't necessarily fit in the confines of a book predominantly about women's monasteries. I believe I snuck one story about my theology professor in the first book, and maybe one about my parish priest from Thessaloniki. But even then I was aware that those stories fell a little outside the perimeters I had constructed for the book.

It wasn't until one of the sisters started asking me about writing a second book that I even thought seriously about trying to present various stories of my experiences and conversations not only in Greece but in South Korea and North America.

But to be frank, the honest truth behind why I wrote this book is that I don't like to keep things to myself. I'm excitable and I like to share stories that inspire me because I get excited and inspired all over again when I see that my stories resonate with others. I also felt like after the first book my readers would know me well enough that I could perhaps share some of the more weighty experiences without scaring them off. I hope and believe these stories compliment the light-hearted elements of The Scent of Holiness and bring out another layer of Christian spiritual struggle.

Question: You took a very circuitous path to end up in a mission church in Newfoundland. Can you speak a little about the journeys through Greece, South Korea, to your new home in Canada? How did that all work out and do you feel like a Newfie yet?

In 2006 I finished an amazing undergraduate degree in a Great Books program in New Brunswick (where we're originally from). Around the same time my husband, John (now Fr. John), was finishing his Masters degree in Patristics at Durham University in England. While we have never regretted our choice of studies, they didn't exactly provide us with a means of living right off the bat.

Friends of ours had previously lived in South Korea teaching English and this inspired my brother and sister-in-law to take the leap and move there. For anyone who has ever heard my brother speak you will know his power of persuasion was enough to convince us to do likewise. So we moved to South Korea mostly to pay off student loan debt but also to buy some time while we tried to figure out our next steps in life.

While living in Seoul we heard about the School of Modern Greek Language in Thessaloniki where foreign students would learn Greek and then proceed to study at Aristotle University. At the time my husband wanted to continue his studies so we were looking for a university anyway. While we spoke of different European schools I really wanted us to go to an Orthodox country to further immerse ourselves in Orthodoxy. Our spiritual father agreed that Greece would be a good next step and we headed in that direction just a few months after we finished teaching English in Seoul for one year.

In Greece, as most may know of me, I studied theology as well. My Master's thesis was on the iconographer and the theology of icons more generally. During the nearly six years we lived there we spent significant amounts of time at women's monasteries and I also learned to paint icons and I (somewhat) learned Byzantine chant.

Midway through our Greek adventure we came back to Canada one summer to visit our families and while visiting with an abbess she suggested we meet Bishop Irenee of Quebec City, the OCA bishop responsible for Eastern Canada. (He is now Archbishop Irenee of Ottawa and all of Canada). We began getting to know the bishop and about a year later Fr. John was ordained to the deaconate. However, he continued to serve in Greece until his PhD studies were finished.

It was very important for us to be able to return to the East Coast as Canada is so large you really connect with where you live regionally. Vladyka spoke to us about trying out a few places: St. John's, Newfoundland was one of those places. My father is from Corner Brook (the second largest town on Newfoundland – population 20,000). So I wasn't unfamiliar with Newfoundland and Newfoundland culture or dialect (despite living on the mainland for over 35 years my father still has an accent).

We visited the community here in St. John's after Fr. John's ordination to the priesthood in 2013. We arrived late on Lazarus Saturday and stayed until after St. Thomas Sunday. Fr. John served every single day; very quickly we both felt that this was where we should be.

There has been a OCA mission in St. John's since 2003; the first two years of which there was a priest. In the following eight years the mission had two other priests come, but each only stayed briefly. While the mission now has a permanent priest it still does not have a permanent location for our chapel. We use a chapel at the Anglican seminary here which means we have to set-up and take-down the chapel every weekend. Glory to God, since 2015 we also have a house-chapel that we use for daily services (Matins and Vespers) as well as for vigils when feasts fall during weekdays. [If any reader would like to be the benefactor of a small, but beautiful, Orthodox church on the island of Newfoundland please contact us! J]

When you come to a place where there is only one Orthodox mission on a huge island with no priest it makes it very difficult to turn away and head elsewhere. Through the grace of God we have managed to stay here despite the strong winds (both literally and figuratively). We collected a lot of blessings both in South Korea (with its two Orthodox churches in Seoul) and in Greece and owe a great debt to God. Perhaps I could say just as we moved to South Korea to pay off student loans, we've moved to Newfoundland to pay off spiritual ones.

Question: The book has what I might characterize as a distinctly feminine voice to it. I don't mean that this book would only appeal to women - far from it - but in the same way some religious works come off as inescapably paternal. This text reverberates with a lot of the topics that worked so well in your first book. Has anyone else said something similar?

Like you, I in no way believe this book, nor The Scent of Holiness, should only appeal to women, though I know some think that way. Although my books are written from a woman's perspective I still think there is something for everyone.

I'm not one for thinking we need to categorize everything into male and female. For instance, the Orthodox Church is often seen as a cut-and-dry, male-ruled institution, but I do not see this. I mean, yes, our hierarchs are men, our priests and deacons are men. However, do you walk into a fully adorned Orthodox temple and think, "Wow, this place is rather starkly paternal"? No. You think, "My goodness this is beautiful!" because Orthodoxy speaks to the human person. It is so distinctly human and spiritual at the same time. This is what testifies to it being the Truth. It appeals to the whole person. I've never heard that in the Heavenly Kingdom there will be a women's section and men's section. I've just heard saints will experience grace in proportion to the good works they did in life and their love for God and His Church.

The Sweetness of Grace, as you've noted, contains similar topics as in my first book. I think this is reflective of the experiences and conversations that have meaning for me, whether they involve nuns, monks, priests or laypeople. With my books I am trying to appeal to the whole person. My personal lens is a feminine one, but I don't think it distracts from the message, which is – at its core – an Orthodox Christian message. I came to Orthodoxy as an adult. I learned at the feet of nuns. I try to take in everything my spiritual father has taught me by his words and deeds. I live on an island with a small Orthodox community composed of various Orthodox ethnicities. This is my lived-experience of Orthodoxy. This all has contributed to my desire to live and express Orthodoxy not as a religion but as a faith, a way of life. I try to do this in my personal life just as I do in my books. When people ask me about my "religion" I tell them it is not a religion; it is, as described in the Scriptures, the Way. It is the way of living, the way of thinking, the way of loving and the way of dying.

The things that I value are the things I have noted in my travels. Some of these things stand out to me because I'm a woman, some because of my personality, still others because of my upbringing. But I'm hoping that through prayer and reflection I am able to frame those experiences in a manner consistent with our Orthodox tradition, both written and oral, which is composed of both male and female voices.

Question: This book in no way shrinks from the "mystical" aspects of a life lived inside the Church. While not all the stories touch on that facet of the spiritual life, there are a number of stories about how God and His saints are active in our lives. Thinking about my own pastoral experiences, I think at least anecdotally I can say that such experiences are not common "parish talk" in many of our churches. What accounts for this do you think?

I am hesitant to offer an opinion on this because I genuinely don't know the answer. There are likely a variety of reasons for this. All I can say is the stories about the mystical aspects of Orthodox life were collected over ten years, having lived on three different continents and having recorded such stories when I heard them. These are not all my experiences; they are a collection of experiences.

Having said that I truly believe God and the saints are a lot more active in all our lives than we perhaps perceive. It is God who makes the sun to shine, the grass to grow, the flowers to blossom and the wind to blow. This is our everyday reality. But who reflects thus? Few.

I find our minds are so occupied with our to-do lists, with the cares and concerns of everyday life that we can easily overlook the mystical aspects of life. And that's okay. That happens. I know it happens to me anyway. But life is so much more full, more meaningful, more bearable when we consciously take the time to seek God and the intercession of the saints, to make them apart of our everyday life. Effort is required for us to truly feel the presence of God and the saints in our lives. It's like a friendship; it is two-sided. They will not invite themselves over for coffee unless we make room for that friendship.

We shouldn't place too much value on the miraculous either though. We should look at the dry spells as blessings also. We should see God's presence in our lives even in the most dark, most difficult situations. He is always there, the saints are always there. We just need to call on them more often: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8).

Question: What was your process for in selecting stories and did you have any help in organizing the material?

I first wrote out all the stories I wanted to include but felt I needed a unique way of presenting them to compliment the 33 Knots of the first book. I have always loved the Beatitudes and while writing the book I often found myself singing them so I started playing with the idea of grouping stories into thematic sections within the framework of the Beatitudes. In order to do this I needed to better understand them so I read a few different Patristic interpretations of them. This filled out their deeper meaning for me. So, for example, "blessed are the poor of spirit" not only refers to those who are humble but also obedient, etc.

Once I felt better equipped to see the variety of Christian virtues contained within the Beatitudes I started looking at the content of the stories and figuring out where best they fit. I was happy with the result, though I found it does make that last chapter a bit more weighty as the stories are reflective of "blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake". At the same time, this Christian attribute is the highest form of sacrifice, the pinnacle of expressing our complete love for Christ so it's also fitting to end with that in mind.

Question: Returning a bit to your current home. What does the future of Orthodoxy in Newfoundland look like? Are there any aspects of life up there that make evangelism unique for you both?

I can honestly say I don't know what the future of Orthodoxy in Newfoundland looks like. All we can do is plant the seed. Sometimes it feels like it will never bear fruit and other times I can see the tree budding and find myself holding my breath waiting for it to bloom. I have to constantly remind myself that God measures progress differently than I do. Progress isn't necessarily in church attendance numbers or in owning a beautiful church building. True progress is the amount of confessions that take place, the amount of prayer ropes that not only get given out but used. Before moving here I went to visit a well-known elder and he told me, "If you can save just one soul it will be worth all your effort". I try to remember that.

The thing we've found that makes evangelism a little more challenging here on the Rock is that Newfoundlanders (at least those in St. John's) are hesitant to approach anyone who appears different, so they are not as open to Orthodoxy as people may be who live in a place very open to different cultures and religions. But we keep toiling and praying. It's really important to my husband to offer daily services and it means a lot to both of us that the island of Newfoundland is commemorated in the services: "for this island... and the faithful that dwell therein...". So people are benefited by the prayers of our mission whether or not they even know we exist.

There is one Newfoundland story I'd like to share that occurred last summer. Fr. John and I went hiking near a frequently-visited ocean beach. On our way back we encountered a Russian family. The man, seeing Fr. John's cassock and cross, asked if he were a priest in Newfoundland. It turned out this man had lived in St. John's for over 20 years and had never heard of our mission. We spoke a bit and he asked where we held services. We went on our way, not really expecting to ever see him again as we had met many ethnic Orthodox who always asked where the church was but rarely showed up. To our surprise this man came to church the very next Sunday and has come every single Sunday since. We later found out he had been praying for God to lead him to an Orthodox church as all the years he lived in Newfoundland he had kept his faith, read copious amounts of Orthodox books and would attend Divine Liturgy whenever he visited Russia or places that had churches.

This is one example of many that keeps our hearts at peace with our decision to live and serve Christ in Newfoundland. All of these blessings encourage us to keep planting so God may reap.

Final Thoughts: Thanks so much for the benefit of your time in this interview. It has been a joy to discuss your latest book and evangelical efforts. May God bless your mission work and all your future writing endeavors!