welcome… me… just the sinner… a listener, an observer, a thinker, an admirer… I am an Orthodox Catholic Christian interested in computers, electronics, automation, soccer, music, life, love, Truth, Holy Tradition, the Holy Trinity, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the Holy Bible/Holy Scripture, ethics, morality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, asceticism, Creation, and pro-life.Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner. ☦ welcome… me… just the sinner… a listener, an observer, a thinker, an admirer… I am an Orthodox Catholic Christian interested in computers, electronics, automation, soccer, music, freedom, life, love, Truth, Holy Tradition, the Holy Trinity, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the Holy Bible/Holy Scripture, ethics, morality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, asceticism, Creation, and pro-life. The Orthodox Church in America - Archdiocese of Canada received me into membership by Holy Chrismation by priest/monk Fr. Rev. E.A. (Simeon) Weare, memory eternalMemory Eternal, in the parish St. Nicholas the Wonder-Maker in 1992. —the unworthy servant and chief of sinners, th ☦
Orthodoxy [one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church] is the true faith believed by all the Saints, everywhere, at all times.
We are Orthodox… but not Jewish… We are Evangelical… but not Protestant… We are Catholic… but not Papist… We are Pre-Denominational… but not Divided… We are the Christian Church… but not a Church… We have believed, taught, preserved, defended, and died for the Faith of the Apostles since the Day of Pentecost… Saints… We are the HOLY ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH… Est. 33 AD ☦
Favorite Quotations:
“The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.” —Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen (Le Spleen de Paris)
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” —Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present.” —Bill Watterson
“The future is not what it once was.” —Yogi Berra
“I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.” —Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant's Child
“Infomania erodes our capacity for significance. With a mind-set fixed on information, our attention span shortens. We collect fragments. We become mentally poorer in overall meaning. We get into the habit of clinging to knowledge bits and lose our feel for the wisdom behind knowledge. In the information age, some people even believe that literacy or culture is a matter of having the right facts at our fingertips.
We expect access to everything NOW, instantly and simultaneously. We suffer from a logic of total management in which everything must be at our disposal. Eventually out madness will cost us. There is a law of diminishing returns: the more information accessed, the less significance is possible.” —M. Heim, (1994) The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality, OUP
“In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.” —Ray Bradbury
“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” —Albert Einstein
“The only thing we learn from history “When two men [in business] always agree, one of them is that we learn nothing from historyunnecessary.” —Friedrich Hegel—William Wrigley Jr., The American Magazine, 1931
“Those who “Assume the person you're listening to knows something you don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” —Edmund Burke—Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“Those who forget the past, they lose an eye“I often quote myself. Those who dwell on the past, they lose both eyesIt adds spice to my conversation.” —Hungarian Proverb—George Bernard Shaw
“[Behold] I am become death, “Inequality is the destroyer price of worldscivilization.” —J. Robert Oppenheimer (chapter 11 verse 32 of the Bhagavad Gita)—George Orwell
“Power tends to corrupt“When a clown moves into a palace, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad menhe doesn't become a king, the palace becomes a circus.” —John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton—Turkish Proverb
“An eye for an eye will make “During times of universal deceit, telling the whole world blindtruth becomes a revolutionary act.” —Mahatma Gandhi—George Orwell
“Democracy is “The further a society drifts from the dictatorship of truth, the ignorant massesmore it will hate those that speak it.” —Plato—George Orwell
“The price of apathy towards public affairs “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is to be ruled continuing day by evil menday and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” —Plato—George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
“Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” —Henry David Thoreau—George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four
“So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right “We have now sunk to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind – it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing depth at which restatement of the laws I have helped to enact – I can only submit to obvious is the edict first duty of othersintelligent men.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—George Orwell
“Having heard “If liberty means anything at all of this, you may choose it means the right to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did tell people what they do not knowwant to hear.” —William Wilberforce—George Orwell
“He who strikes terror in others is himself continually in fear“People will never come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” —Claudius Claudianus—Aldous Huxley
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is the first and only object of good governmentto make sure he never knows he's in prison.” —Thomas Jefferson—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect - Mis-shapes the beauteous forms “Censorship reflects a society's lack of things:-- We murder to dissectconfidence in itself.” —William Wordsworth— Potter Stewart
“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time“Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.” —Terry Pratchett—Mark Twain
“Only two things are infinite“Where they burn books, so too will they in the universe and end burn human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the formerbeings.” —Albert Einstein—Heinrich Heine
“The universe only thing we learn from history is change; our life is what our thoughts make itthat we learn nothing from history.” —Marcus Aurelius—Friedrich Hegel
“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” —Fred Astaire—Edmund Burke
“Political correctness is tyranny with manners“Those who forget the past, they lose an eye. Those who dwell on the past, they lose both eyes.” —Charlton Heston—Hungarian Proverb
“In the time of heroes “According to Hegel, man will be completely free only ‘by surrounding himself with a world entirely created by himself.’ But this is precisely what he has done, and tyrantsman has never been so enchained, the true heroes are the small menso much a slave as now.” —unknown—E. M. Cioran
“All such action would cease if those powerful elemental forces were to cease stirring within us“Hard men make good times, good times make soft men, soft men make bad times.” —Albert Einstein—Alex Jones, Tucker on X, Ep. 46
“It doesn't take an expert to be an expert on experts“[Behold] I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” —Dr—J. Bruce DoveyRobert Oppenheimer, the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 11 verse 32
“In the genius lies the defect“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” —Imposter (2001)—John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
“You were born an original. Don't die “The urge to save humanity is almost always only a copyfalse-face for the urge to rule it.” —John Mason—H. L. Mencken
“Here is “An eye for an eye will make the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn'twhole world blind.” —unknown—Mahatma Gandhi
“And in “Kindness is the end, it's not language which the years in your life that countdeaf can hear, it's and the life in your yearsblind can see.” —Abraham Lincoln—Mark Twain
“One today is worth two tomorrows“There's nothing that divides nations like a common language.” —Benjamin Franklin—George Bernard Shaw
“Life “Democracy is the art dictatorship of drawing without an eraserthe ignorant masses.” —John W. Gardner—Plato
“Nobody can go back and start “The biggest argument against Democracy is a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending5 minute conversation with the average voter.” —Maria Robinson—Sir Winston Spencer Churchill
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage “The price of apathy towards public affairs is to lose sight of the shorebe ruled by evil men.” —André Gide—Plato
“Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. Let us never negotiate out of the earth, are fear. But let us never alone or weary of lifefear to negotiate.” —Rachel Carson—John F. Kennedy
“You“We've got to love life to have lifere losing our way as a society. If we don't stand up, if we don't say what we think those rights should be, and youif we don've got to t protect them, we will very soon find out that we do not have life to love lifethem.”—Thornton Wilder (Our Town, Act II, Part I)” —Edward Snowden
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why“Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.” —Mark Twain—Henry David Thoreau
“The true meaning of life is “So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to plant trees, under whose shade you vote I do not expect possess myself. I cannot make up my mind – it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact – I can only submit to sitthe edict of others.” —Nelson Henderson—Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“One “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who can laugh at himself will never merely happen to be without entertainmentwalking around.” —Chinese Proverb—G. K. Chesterton
“Blood “That the dead are as much a part of the present as the unborn is thicker than watera fundamental conservative idea.” —German Proverb—Armin Mohler
“Birds “Having heard all of a feather flock togetherthis, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” —English Proverb—William Wilberforce
“You can want a women for her body, but you can only love her for her character“He who strikes terror in others is himself continually in fear.” —Spanish Proverb—Claudius Claudianus
“If all you have “Ignorance is a hammer, everything looks like a nailthe cause of fear.” —English Proverb—Lucius Annaeus Seneca
“One picture is worth a thousand words“Who feareth to suffer suffereth already, because he feareth.” —Traditional Proverb—Michel de Montaigne
“Silence speaks volumes“…the brain, in and of its physical self, does not think, any more than a musical instrument can give forth melody without the touch of the musician's hand. The brain is indeed the instrument of thinking, but the mind is the skillful player that makes it give forth the beautiful harmony of thought… … It is because of the disastrous results of fear thought not only on the individual but on the nation, that it becomes the duty of every sane man and woman to establish quarantine against fear. Fear is a psychic disease which is highly contagious and extraordinarily infectious. Fear though is most dangerous when it parades as forethought. Combat fear by replacing it with faith. Resist worry with confidence.” —Traditional Proverb—William Samuel Sadler (1875-1969), M.D., F.A.C.S. Director of the Chicago Institute of Research and Diagnosis
“Better to remain silent “The care of human life and be thought a fool than to speak out happiness, and remove all doubtnot their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” —Mark Twain—Thomas Jefferson
“The wise speak “You matter because they have something you are you, and you matter to saythe end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, fools because they have but also to say somethinglive until you die.” —Plato—Dame Cicely Saunders (1918-2005), founder of the Hospice Palliative Care movement
“Silence in “Sweet is the face lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect - Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of evil is itself evilthings: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is -- We murder to actdissect.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer—William Wordsworth
“We should pray, flat on our faces, that we never become so craven as to suppress evidence of injustice, for fear of persecution. Ephesians 5:11 commands us, without qualification, to ‘expose the deeds of darkness,’ not to show them only privately, and only as a last resort. Responsibility for the terrible longevity of history’s most horrific slaughter does not rest entirely upon our adversaries. We will be judged for our timidity, perhaps as harshly as they will be judged for their barbarity – by history and by Providence“Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time.” —Gregg Cunningham—Terry Pratchett
“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire “Only two things are infinite, the universe and convictionhuman stupidity, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate convictionand I'm not sure about the former.” —Fulton J. Sheen—Albert Einstein
“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin “There are decades where nothing happens; and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywherethere are weeks where decades happen.” —Thomas Merton—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
“The holocaust has to be thought as “Time is a violent torrent; no sooner is a chapter in the long history of man's inhumanity thing brought to man. One cannot ignore the discrimination inflicted on many people because of race, color, or creed. One cannot ignore slavery. One cannot ignore the burning of witches. One cannot ignore the killing of Christians in the Roman period. The holocaust perhaps sight then it is the culmination of the kind of horror that can occur when man loses his integrityswept by and another takes its place, his belief in the sanctity of human lifeand this too will be swept away.” —Dr. Randolph Braham, Holocaust Survivor—Marcus Aurelius
“You never miss the water 'till the well runs dry“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” —English Proverb—Marcus Aurelius
“Do not judge by appearances“Watch your thoughts; a rich heart may be under a poor coatthey become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habbit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” —Scottish Proverb—Lao Tzu
“Always remember that “For everything you are absolutely uniquehave missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. Just like everyone elseIt is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice.” —Margaret Mead—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“A fool “Men are, unfortunately generally more careful of the breed of their horses and his money are soon parteddogs than of their children.” —English Proverb—William Penn
“The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide foodhardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” —Russian Proverb—Fred Astaire
“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich“Like father, like son.” —Napoleon Bonaparte—Traditional Proverb
“Before managing to make poverty history, we have to consider the history of poverty“Politeness has become so rare that people mistake it for flirtation.” —Vandana Shiva—unknown
“In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread“Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” —Anatole France—Charlton Heston
“First “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the man takes a drinkmost oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; then but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the drink takes same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a drinklevel of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; then the drink takes the manto be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” —Japanese Proverb—C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)
“Better to be slapped with “All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the truth than kissed with a liefraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.” —Russian Proverb—George Orwell
“During times “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of universal deceit, telling tyrants; it is the truth becomes a revolutionary actcreed of slaves.” —George Orwell—William Pitt the Younger
“The further a society drifts from “In the truthtime of heroes and tyrants, the more it will hate those that speak ittrue heroes are the small men.” —George Orwell—unknown
“Sometimes people don't want “All such action would cease if those powerful elemental forces were to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyedcease stirring within us.” —Friedrich Nietzsche—Albert Einstein
“Many people, especially ignorant people, want “It doesn't take an expert to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being yoube an expert on experts. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth” —Dr.” —Mahatma GandhiBruce Dovey
“It has been said that for “In the truth to exist it takes two people… one to speak it and another to hear itgenius lies the defect.” —The Outer Limits —Imposter (19952001)
“Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil“You were born an original. Don't die a copy.” —Plato—John Mason
“A liberal “Here is someone who only wants the test to be free from the consequences of freedomfind whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.” —Mike Adams—unknown
“The sins ye “Don't try to do by two things at once and two, ye must pay for one by one!expect to do justice to both.” —Rudyard Kipling—Traditional Proverb
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do “And in the end, it's not the years in your life thatcount, it's the life in your years.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—Abraham Lincoln
“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light“One today is worth two tomorrows.” —Bruce Lee—Benjamin Franklin
“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has “Life is the courage to admit themart of drawing without an eraser.” —Bruce Lee—John W. Gardner
“Simplicity is “Art like morality, consists of drawing the key to brillianceline somewhere.” —Bruce Lee—G. K. Chesterton
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add“A painter paints pictures on canvas, but when there is nothing left to take awaymusicians paint their pictures on silence.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupery—Leopold Stokowski
“To err is human; to forgive“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, divinebut anyone can start today and make a new ending.” —Alexander Pope—Maria Robinson
“When “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the solution is simple, God is answeringcourage to lose sight of the shore.” —Albert Einstein—André Gide
“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side“Those who dwell, for God is always rightas scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life.” —Abraham Lincoln—Rachel Carson
“If “You've got to love life to have life, and you want 've got to make God laughhave life to love life.”—Thornton Wilder (Our Town, tell Him your plans.” —Woody AllenAct II, Part I)
“Loneliness belongs to all “The two most important days in your life are the things of day you are born and the pastday you find out why.” —unknown—Mark Twain
“Two purposes in human nature rule. Self-love to urge, and reason “He who has a why to restrainlive for can bear almost any how.” —Alexander Pope—Friedrich Nietzsche
“There is no task more difficult “Things turn out best for human beings than those who make the victory over themselvesbest of the way things turn out.” —Bulgakov—John Wooden
“To learn who rules over you“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, simply find out who under whose shade you are do not allowed expect to criticizesit.” —Voltaire—Nelson Henderson
“A man is still a slave “One who is afraid to speak his heartcan laugh at himself will never be without entertainment.” —Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953)—Chinese Proverb
“Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt, you pour yourself into things that can't hurt back“Blood is thicker than water.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947)—German Proverb
“Do not allow the pain “Birds of loss, to stop the process of livinga feather flock together.” —Trent Thomas—English Proverb
“Hope springs eternal in the human breast;Man never is, but always to be blest:The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,Rests and expatiates in “Misery acquaints a life to comeman with strange bedfellows.” —Alexander Pope (An Essay on Man—William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Epistle IAct 2, 1733)Scene 2
“They knew that the tree is known by its fruit and that injustice corrupts “You can want a tree, that its fruit withers and shrivels and falls at last to that dark ground of history where other great hopes have rotted and diedwomen for her body, where equality and freedom remains still the but you can only choice love her for wholeness and soundness in a man or in a nationher character.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947)—Spanish Proverb
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves“If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” —Abraham Lincoln—English Proverb
“A coward “One picture is incapable of showing love, it is reserved for the braveworth a thousand words.” —Mahatma Gandhi—Traditional Proverb
“Only the courteous can love, but it is love that makes them courteous“Silence speaks volumes.” —C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love—Traditional Proverb
“How long “Silence is love blind? Love has eyes and sees. And if love can see, and seeing, you love anyway, that's lovegolden.” —Gertrude Berg (The Goldbergs, s1e10, 1955)—Traditional Proverb
“You never receive love until you learn how “Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to accept itrule.” —Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s4e7)—Thomas Carlyle
“You never deny love until you learn how “Better to reject itremain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” —th—Mark Twain
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well “It's easier to remember from time fool people then to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taughtconvince them they have been fooled.” —Oscar Wilde—Mark Twain
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery“The wise speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something.” —Charles Caleb Colton—Plato
“Fallacies do “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not cease hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to be fallacies because they become fashionsspeak. Not to act is to act.” —G. K. Chesterton—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Truth can “We should pray, flat on our faces, that we never be told become so craven as to be understood suppress evidence of injustice, for fear of persecution. Ephesians 5:11 commands us, without qualification, to ‘expose the deeds of darkness,’ not to show them only privately, and only as a last resort. Responsibility for the terrible longevity of history’s most horrific slaughter does not rest entirely upon our adversaries. We will be judged for our timidity, perhaps as harshly as they will be believedjudged for their barbarity – by history and by Providence.” —William Blake—Gregg Cunningham
“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough “The refusal to nourish take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a man's growth without destroying his rootssilent acquiescence to evil. The Tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” —Frank A—Fulton J. ClarkSheen
“When we are securely rooted in personal intimacy with “We must always takes sides. Neutrality helps the source of lifeoppressor, it will be possible to remain flexible without being relativisticnever the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, convinced without being rigid, willing to confront without being offensive, gentle and forgiving without being soft, and true witnesses without being manipulativenever the tormented.” —Henri Nouwen—Elie Wiesel
“The beginning of wisdom reason it is difficult is that we have been conditioned to call things laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public ridicule by their right namesadvocating them. On the other hand, to endorse the accidental view is absurd. Almost all of history is an unbroken trail of one conspiracy after another. Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)—G. Edward Griffin
“If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things“Facts don't care about feelings.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)—Ben Shapiro
“They must often change, who would be constant “There's nothing in happiness or wisdomthe middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)—Jim Hightower
“The superior man thinks always “People are funny, they want the front of virtue; the common man thinks bus, the middle of comfortthe road, and the back of the church.” ——K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)—Debbie Macomber, Call Me Mrs. Miracle
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it“Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)—Edward Snowden
“And she “[AthensThe best solution to offensive speech is] has brought it about that the name "Hellenes" suggests no longer a race but an intelligencemore speech, and that the title "Hellenes" is applied rather to those who share our culture then to those who share a common bloodnot enforced silence.” —Isocrates—Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice
“He who has a thousand friends has not a friend “I may disagree with what you have to spare; and he who has one enemy will meet him everywheresay, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson—Voltaire
“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven“The holocaust has to be thought as a chapter in the long history of man't yet mets inhumanity to man. One cannot ignore the discrimination inflicted on many people because of race, color, or creed. One cannot ignore slavery. One cannot ignore the burning of witches. One cannot ignore the killing of Christians in the Roman period. The holocaust perhaps is the culmination of the kind of horror that can occur when man loses his integrity, his belief in the sanctity of human life.” —William Butler Yeats—Dr. Randolph Braham, Holocaust Survivor
“I teach them all “You never miss the good I can, and recommend them to others from whom I think they will get some moral benefit. And water 'till the treasures that the wise men of old have left us in their writings I open and explore with my friends. If we come on any good thing, we extract it, and we set much store on being useful to one anotherwell runs dry.” —Socrates—English Proverb
“Art like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere“Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” —G. K. Chesterton—Scottish Proverb
“What “Don't talk to me of female beauty, rather virtues of her soul. A beautiful woman who has not decorated herself with virtue is like a lot painted coffin.” —St. John Chrysostom “A wife is appealing not in the beauty of her body, rather for the virtues of things her soul, neither in creams and cosmetics, nor gold and expensive clothes, rather chastity, meekness, and abiding awe before God.” —St. John Chrysostom “The beauty of woman is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing! For we should not accuse the objects, but ourselves, and our own carelessness. Nor should we say, ‘Let there be no women’, but ‘Let there be no adulteries’. We should not say, ‘Let there be no beauty’, but ‘Let there be no fornication’. We should not say, ‘Let there be no belly’, but ‘Let there be no gluttony’; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness. Thus the devil neither ate nor drank, and yet he fell! Paul ate and drank, and ascended up to heaven!” —St. John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on the Statues, 10 “Always remember that you are a man can do withoutabsolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” —Socrates—Margaret Mead
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts“A fool and his money are soon parted.” —Aristotle—English Proverb
“We walk by “The rich would have to eat money if the light we are givenpoor did not provide food.” —Frank Shaeffer—Russian Proverb
“Beware “Religion is what keeps the wrath of a patient manpoor from murdering the rich.” —John Dryden—Napoleon Bonaparte
“Heaven has no rage like love “Before managing to hatred turnedmake poverty history,Nor hell a fury like a woman scornedwe have to consider the history of poverty.” —William Congreve (The Mourning Bride, spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII)—Vandana Shiva
“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee“In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread.” —Epictetus—Anatole France
“Give me that “First the man takes a drink; then the drink takes a drink; then the drink takes the manThat is not passion's slave, and I will wear himIn my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,As I do thee.” —William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, Page 3)—Japanese Proverb
“You are never too old “Better to set another goal or to dream be slapped with the truth than kissed with a new dreamlie.” —C. S. Lewis—Russian Proverb
“There are more things “Lies written in heaven and earth, …Than are dreamt of ink can never disguise facts written in your philosophyblood.” —William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5, Page 8)—Lu Xun
“A philosophical vogue is as irresistible as a gastronomic one: an idea is no better refuted than a sauce“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” —E. M. Cioran—Friedrich Nietzsche
“No man is an island“Many people,Entire of itselfespecially ignorant people,Every man is a piece of want to punish you for speaking the continenttruth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct,A part or for being years ahead of the mainyour time.If a clod be washed away by the seayou’re right and you know it,Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory werespeak your mind.As well as Even if you are a manor minority of thy friend'sOr of thine own were:Any man's death diminishes meone,Because I am involved in mankind,And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;It tolls for theetruth is still the truth.” —John Donne—Mahatma Gandhi
“All men are born brothers, “It has been said that for the truth to exist it takes two people… one to speak it and anything that hurts my brother hurts me.If my brother commits a crime, I am a criminal; if he sings, there is music in my heart.Before you have dealings with any man, ask yourself: ‘Am I my brother's keeper?’The answer is ‘Yesanother to hear it.’” —Henry Hassett Browne” —The Outer Limits (1995)
“Compared to what we ought to be“Ignorance, we are half awakethe root and stem of all evil.” —William James—Plato
“It “A liberal is a profitable thing, if one is wise, someone who only wants to seem foolishbe free from the consequences of freedom.” —Aeschylus—Mike Adams
“I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is “The sins ye do by two and how prone to error.two, ye must pay for one by one!” —Descartes—Rudyard Kipling
“If you hear “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously doesn't know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.’” —EpictetusHate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“It is strictly and philosophically true “Those who are unaware they are walking in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, anything that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they signify merely men's ignorance of darkness will never seek the real and immediate causelight.” —Samuel Clark—Bruce Lee
“While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science)“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the scientific method does not allow us courage to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance would violate the very objectivity of science itselfadmit them.” —Werner Von Braun, Ph.D., the father of the NASA space program—Bruce Lee
“Relativity applies “Simplicity is the key to physics, not ethicsbrilliance.” —Albert Einstein—Bruce Lee
“Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit“Perfection is achieved, you would stay out and your dog would go innot when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” —Mark Twain—Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything“The root of all wisdom is knowing what an asshole you are.” —G. K—Tucker Carlson, Tucker on X, Ep. Chesterton46
“If everyone has his own truth“To err is human; to forgive, then where is falsehood?divine.” —Archbishop Stephan (Kalaidjishvili)—Alexander Pope
“Faithful copies “It is through error that man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of a counterfeit original yield only more counterfeitslearning begin in darkness and go out into the light.” —unknown—Hippocrates of Kos
“Faith “When the solution is simple, God is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heartanswering.” —Abraham Joshua Heschel—Albert Einstein
“God tends the pagans too“My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, but the Christian knows the donorfor God is always right.” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh—Abraham Lincoln
“This I give “If you want to sharemake God laugh, and to defend all tell Him your life, the one Godhead and power, found in the three in unit, and comprising the three separately; not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities nor inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of three infinite ones, each God when considered in himself; as the Father, so the Son; as the Son, so the Holy Spirit; the three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of anyone of the three I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided lightplans.” —St. Gregory the Theologian (Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nazianzus), Orations 40.41, as quoted by Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 378—Woody Allen
“The Lord calls the Holy Spirit the 'voice of a gentle breeze'. For God is breath, and “Loneliness belongs to all the breath things of the wind is shared by allpast.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—unknown
“We neither call the Holy Spirit unbegotten, for we know but one unbeggoten and one source of all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do we call Him begotten, for we are taught by the tradition of the faith that there is one only“Two purposes in human nature rule. Self-begotten. Ratherlove to urge, we have been taught that the Spirit of Truth proceeds from the Father and confess that He comes from God in an uncreated fashionreason to restrain.” —St. Basil the Great (Letter 125, PG 32.549c) —Alexander Pope
“In the history of the “There is no task more difficult for human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, that of Judas, and that of beings than the popevictory over themselves.” —St. Justin Popovich—Bulgakov
“They [Rome] do not know and do “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not wish to know the truth; they argue with those who proclaim the truth allowed to them, and assert their heresycriticize.” —St. Basil the Great—Voltaire
“Even if the whole universe holds communion with the [heretical] patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know from the writings of the holy Apostle Paul: the Holy Spirit declares that even the angels would be anathema if they should begin “A man is still a slave who is afraid to preach another Gospel, introducing some new teachingspeak his heart.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, The Life —Raiders of St. Maximus the ConfessorSeven Seas (1953)
“Chrysostomos loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have communion with them, to be enemies of God“There's no mask for a treacherous heart like an honest face.” —St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot Theophilus—Captain Kidd (1945)
“Some have suffered final shipwreck with regard to “[S]he has an honest face even if it is the faithresult of triumph of plastic surgery. Others, though they have not drowned in their thoughts, are nevertheless perishing through communion with heresy” —The Man from U.N.C.L.” —StE. Theodore the Studite(1964), s2e13
“Guard yourselves from soul-destroying heresy“Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt, communion with which is alienation from Christyou pour yourself into things that can't hurt back.” —St. Theodore the Studite—Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
“All “Do not allow the teachers pain of the Church, and all the Councilsloss, and all the Divine Scriptures advise us to flee from stop the heterodox and separate from their communionprocess of living.” —St. Mark of Ephesus—Trent Thomas
“We do not change the boundaries marked out by our Fathers. We keep the Tradition we have received. If we begin to lay down the Law of the Church even “Hope springs eternal in the smallest thingshuman breast;Man never is, the whole edifice will fall but always to the ground be blest:The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,Rests and expatiates in no short timea life to come.” —St. John of Damascus—Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733
“So mine “Patriotism is as fierce as a little flock? But it is not being carried over a precipice. So mine is a narrow fold? But it is unapproachable by wolves; it cannot be entered by a robberfever, nor overcome by thieves and strangers. I shall yet see itpitiless as the grave, I know well, grow wider… I fear not for the little flock; for it is seen at blind as a glance. I know my sheep and am known of mine. Such are they that know God and are known of God. My sheep hear from my voice that which I have heard from the oracles of God, which I have been taught by the Holy Fathers, which I have taught in like manner on all occasions, not conforming myself to fashionstone, and which I will never cease to teach; in which I was born, and in which I will departirrational as a headless hen.” —St. Gregory the Theologian—Ambrose Bierce
“Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this, lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me “A nation is a certain respect at the burial of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any of his hierarchs or clergy or in general any of those in communion with him in order to take part in prayer or to join the priests invited to it from amongst us, thinking that at some time, or perhaps secretly, I had allowed communion with him. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well society united by a delusion about its ancestry and fully to suspect some kind of conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I do not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not in this life nor after my death, just as (I accept) neither the Union nor Latin dogmas, which he and his adherents have accepted, and for the enforcement a common fear of which he has occupied this presiding place, with the aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church. I am absolutely convinced that the farther I stand from him and those like him, the nearer I am to God and all the saints, and to the degree that I separate myself from them am in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church; and I am likewise convinced that those who count themselves with them stand far away from the Truth and from the blessed Teachers of the Church. And for this reason I say: just as in the course of my whole life I was separated from them, so at the time of my departure, yea and after my death, I turn away from intercourse and communion with them and vow and command that none (of them) shall approach either my burial or my grave, and likewise anyone else from our side, with the aim of attempting to join and concelebrate in our Divine services; for this would be to mix what cannot be mixed. But it befits them to be absolutely separated from us until such time as God shall grant correction and peace to His Churchits neighbors.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, The Example of, [as quoted in The Orthodox Word, June-July, 1967, pp—W. 103ffR.]Inge
“With all our strength let us beware lest we receive Communion from or give it “Patriotism means unqualified and unwavering love for the nation, which implies not uncritical eagerness to heretics. ‘Give serve, not what is holy to the dogssupport for unjust claims,’ says the Lord. ‘Neither cast ye your pearls before swine’but frank assessment of its vices and sins, lest we become partakers in their dishonour and condemnationpenitence for them.” —St. John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, IV, 13—Alexander Solzhenitsyn
“In sum, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in theory embracing almost the whole universe and in fact extending its authority only over several dioceses, and in other places having only a higher superficial supervision and receiving certain revenues for this, persecuted by the government at home and not supported by any governmental authority abroad: having lost its significance as a pillar of truth and having itself become a source of division, and at the same time being possessed by “Patriotism is often an exorbitant love arbitrary veneration of power--represents a pitiful spectacle which recalls the worst periods in the history of the See of Constantinoplereal estate above principles.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, from Orthodox Word, vol. 8, no. 4 (45), July-August 1972, pp. 166-168, 174-175.—George Jean Nathan
"True Christianity “They knew that the tree is glorifying God with our own lives. To glorify God with our own life is possible only when we known by its fruit and that injustice corrupts a tree, that its fruit withers and shrivels and falls at last to that dark ground of history where other great hopes have true faith rotted and when that faith indeed existsdied, we express it where equality and freedom remains still the only choice for wholeness and soundness in words and a man or in deedsa nation.” —St. John —Gentleman's Agreement (Maximovitch1947) of Shanghai and San Francisco
“I will tell you my opinion briefly “Freedom – truthful free speech, open discourse, and without reserve. We ought debate – is the soil for real science to remain in that Church emerge from which was founded by the Apostles and continues we may uncover truth to identify real problems so as to this day. If ever you hear of any that are called Christians taking their name not from the Lord Jesus Christ, but from some other, innovate real solutions for instance, Marcionites, Valentinians, Men of the mountain or the plain, you may be sure that you have there not the Church health of Christour body, but the synagogue of Antichristcommunity and world. For the fact that they took their rise after the foundation of the Church is proof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold” —Dr.Shiva Ayyadurai
And let them “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not flatter for themselves if they think they have Scripture authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted Scripture, and the essence of the Scriptures is not the letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow the letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes and have two coats must not be received into the Church.” —St. Jerome—Abraham Lincoln
“Sometimes Japanese protestants come to me and ask me to clarify some place in “A coward is incapable of showing love, it is reserved for the Holy Scripturesbrave.” —Mahatma Gandhi
"You have your own missionary teachers," I tell them“Only the courteous can love, "Go ask but it is love that makes themcourteous. What do they say?" "We have asked them” —C. They say: understand as you know howS. But I need to know the real thought Lewis, The Allegory of God, not my own personal opinion."Love
…It's not like that with us. Everything “How long is clear, trustworthy love blind? Love has eyes and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition to the Holy Scripturessees. And Holy Tradition is a livingif love can see, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until nowseeing, you love anyway, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the meaning of the Holy Scriptures are preservedthat's love.” —St. Nicholas of Japan—Gertrude Berg, The Goldbergs, s1e10, 1955
“It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, Who is the true Word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit, and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us “You never receive love until you learn how to Himaccept it.” —C—Mr. S. LewisRoarke, Fantasy Island, s4e7
“The humility of Jesus is not a superfluous detail in the gospel narrative. The humility of Jesus is essential “You never deny love until you learn how to the gospel. If Jesus lacked humility, there would be no incarnation, no crucifixion, and no redemptionreject it.” —Jack Wisdom—th
“A false interpretation of Scripture causes “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that the gospel of the Lord becomes the gospel of man, or, which is worse, of the devilworth knowing can be taught.” —St. Jerome—Oscar Wilde
“How long shall we continue in this manner, our intellect reduced to futility, failing to make “Imitation is the spirit sincerest form of the Gospel our own, not knowing what it means to live according to our conscience, making no serious effort to keep it pure?flattery.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Charles Caleb Colton
“The Orthodox confess that SHE IS the One, Holy, Universal (katholikos) and Apostolic Ecclesia! Any other model is gnostic“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” —St—G. Irenaeus of LyonsK. Chesterton
“Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, the apostles preached, “Truth can never be told so as to be understood and the Fathers keptnot be believed.” —St. Athanasius of Alexandria—William Blake
“He is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Orthodox Christians are committed to “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of… We know the truth claim of not only by the Christian Faith not as ideology reason, but as an expression of holinessby the heart.” —Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetriou—Blaise Pascal
“The beginning of theology human heart can see what is not hidden to the card catalogueeyes, but doing battle against and the passions; and heart knows things that the end of theology is mind does not becoming a professor, but becoming a saintbegin to understand.” —Dr. David Fagerberg—They Might Be Giants (1971)
“Only “At the Religion center of Christ unites our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and all by illusion, a point of us must pray that they come pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to thisthe fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. Thus union will occurIt is in everybody, not by believing that all and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of us are light coming together in the same thing face and blaze of a sun that would make all religions are the samedarkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…I have no program for this seeing. They are not It is only given. But the same… our Orthodoxy gate of heaven is not related to other religionseverywhere.” —St. Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite—Thomas Merton
“Orthodoxy “I myself am nothing; all that is life, one must not talk about it, one must live itgood in me is accomplished by the grace of God.” —St. Nektary John of OptinaKronstadt
“Orthodoxy can't “Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be comfortable unless it known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born. When he is completely hidden to himself in himself, he is fakecompletely with God.” —Fr—St. Seraphim RoseIsaac the Syrian
“As for all those who pretend to confess sound Orthodox Faith, but are in communion with people who hold different opinion“Criticism, if they are forewarned and still remain stubbornlike rain, you must not only should be in communion with them, but you must NOT even call them brothersgentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” —St—Frank A. Basil the GreatClark
“Today, while the overall teachings of the Fathers is under attack and the shipwrecks of Faith “When we are numerous, securely rooted in personal intimacy with the mouths source of the faithful are silent. Anyone who is capable of speaking the truth but remains silentlife, it will be heavily judged by Godpossible to remain flexible without being relativistic, convinced without being rigid, especially in this casewilling to confront without being offensive, where the faith gentle and the very foundation of the entire Church of the Orthodox is in danger. To remain silent under these circumstances is to betray theseforgiving without being soft, and the appropriate witness belongs to those that reproach (stand up for the faith)true witnesses without being manipulative.” —St. Basil the Great, ep. 92—Henri Nouwen
“I beseech you to do and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, becoming all things to all men, as the need “The beginning of each wisdom is shown to you; I want and pray you to be wholly harsh and implacable with the heretics only in regard to cooperating with them or in any way whatever supporting call things by their deranged belief. For I reckon it hatred towards man and a departure from Divine love to lend support to error, so that those previously seized by it might be even more greatly corruptedright names.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 91—K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)
“Never, never, never let anyone tell you that“If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius) “I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be Orthodox, you must also be eastern. The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco—Albert Einstein
“Where the bishop is“They must often change, there let the multitude of believers who would be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Churchconstant in happiness or wisdom.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch—K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)
“Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and with the presbyters in the place of the council “The superior man thinks always of virtue; the apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the business common man thinks of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and is at last made manifestcomfort.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 2, 6:1——K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)
“Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which “Everything has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense "Catholic," which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquitybeauty, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which but not everyone sees it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.” —St. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies., Chapter II —K'ung Fu-Tzu (circa 434 ADConfucius)
“The candles lit before icons of saints reflect their ardent love for God for Whose sake they gave up everything that man prizes in life, including their very lives, as did the holy apostles, martyrs and others. These candles also mean that these saints are lamps burning for us and providing light for us by their own saintly living, their virtues and their ardent intercession for us before God through their constant prayers by day and night. The burning candles also stand for our ardent zeal and “All I have seen teaches me to trust the sincere sacrifice we make out of reverence and gratitude to them Creator for their solicitude on our behalf before Godall I have not seen.” —St. John of Kronstadt—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The saints of God live even after their death. Thus, I often hear in church the Mother of God singing her wonderful, heart-penetrating song which “And she said in the house of her cousin Elizabeth, after the Annunciation of the Archangel. At times, I hear the song of Moses; the song of Zacharias--the father of [Athens] has brought it about that the Forerunner; that of Hannahname "Hellenes" suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, the mother of the prophet Samuel; that of the three children; and that of Miriam. And how many holy singers of the New Testament delight until now the ear of the whole Church of God! And the Divine service itself--the sacraments, the rites? Whose spirit title "Hellenes" is there, moving and touching applied rather to those who share our hearts? That of God and of His saintsculture then to those who share a common blood.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ—Isocrates
“Each person is an icon of God, of God in heaven and of God on the cross. Yet, each person is also an icon of the Mother of God, “Those who bears Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our soul, therefore, unites itself in two images; participating in are able to see beyond the principles shadows and realities lies of both Christ and his Mother. These are age old archetypestheir culture will never be understood, symbols let alone believed by which the soul orients itself on the journeymasses.” —St. Maria Skobtsova, On The Imitation of the Mother of God—Plato
“The Christian “He who does has a thousand friends has not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphana friend to spare; and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” —Pope Francis—Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Concerning the charge of idolatry: Icons “There are not idols but symbols. Therefore, when an Orthodox venerates an icon, he is not guilty of idolatry. He is not worshiping the symbol, but merely venerating it. Such veneration is not directed toward wood, or paint or stone, but towards the person depicted. Therefore relative honor is shown to material objects, but worship is due to God aloneno strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.” —St. John of Damascus—William Butler Yeats
“We do not bow before “I teach them all the nature good I can, and recommend them to others from whom I think they will get some moral benefit. And the treasures that the wise men of woodold have left us in their writings I open and explore with my friends. If we come on any good thing, but we revere extract it, and bow before the we set much store on being useful to one who is depictedanother.” —St. John of Damascus—Socrates
“We do shall not make obeisance cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time.Through the nature unknown, remembered gateWhen the last of wood, but we revere and do obeisance earth left to Him who discoverIs that which was crucified on the Cross… When beginning;At the source of the two beams longest riverThe voice of the Cross are joined together I adore hidden waterfallAnd the figure children in the apple-treeNot known, because not looked forBut heard, half-heard, in the stillnessBetween two waves of Christ who was crucified on the Cross, but if the beams are separated, I throw them away and burn themsea.” —St—T. John of DamascusS. Eliot, Four Quartets
“I “What a lot of things there are a man can do not worship matter, but the Creator of matter, who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, who through matter effected my salvation…” —Stwithout. John of Damascus” —Socrates
“That which the word communicates by sound, the painting shows silently by representation“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” St. Basil the Great, on the 40 Martyrs—Aristotle
“We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of His army. The saints constitute the Lord's army. Let the earthly king dismiss his army before he gives up his King and Lord. Let him put off the purple before he takes honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered their passions. For if the saints are heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, (Rom. 8.17) they will be also partakers of “The whole is greater than the divine glory sum of sovereigntyits parts.” —St. John of Damascus—Aristotle
“Our afflictions are well known without my telling; the sound of them has now gone forth over all Christendom. The doctrines of the fathers are despised; apostolical traditions are set at nought; the speculations of innovators hold sway in the churches. Men have learned to be theorists instead of theologians. The wisdom of the world has the place of honour, having dispossessed the boasting of the cross. The pastors are driven away, grievous wolves are brought in instead, and plunder the flock of Christ, Houses of prayer are destitute of preachers; the deserts are full of mourners: the old bewail, comparing what is with what was; more pitiable are “We walk by the young, as not knowing what they light we are deprived of. What has been said is sufficient to kindle the sympathy of those who are taught in the love of Christ, yet compared with the facts, it is far from reaching their seriousnessgiven.” —St. Basil the Great—Frank Shaeffer
“Therefore, brethren, let us stand on “Beware the rock wrath of faith and on the tradition of the Church, and not remove the boundaries which our Holy Fathers have set. Thus, we will not give the opportunity to those who wish to innovate and destroy the edifice of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Goda patient man. For if permission is granted to everyone who wants it, little by little the whole body of the Church will be destroyed. Do not, brethren, do not, oh Christ-loving children of the Church of God …” —Patriarch Jeremias II, prophetic warning of to the Lutheran scholars” —John Dryden
“Unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the guileless and pure of heart discovers God everywhere“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, everywhere discerns HimNor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” —William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, and always unhesitatingly believes spoken by Zara in His existence.” —St. Nectarios of AeginaAct III, Scene VIII
“He who learns must sufferAnd even in our sleep pain that cannot forgetFalls drop by drop upon the heart,And in our own despite, against our will,Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.” —Aeschylus—Epictetus
“The greatest wisdom often emerges from the deepest wounds“Give me that manThat is not passion's slave, and I will wear himIn my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart,As I do thee.” —Jane Lee Logan—William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, Page 3
“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These “You are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men never too old to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. … Where men are forbidden set another goal or to honour dream a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: … For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poisonnew dream.” —C. S. Lewis
“There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles are more things in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere heaven and firm faithearth, miracles …Than are accomplisheddreamt of in your philosophy.” —William Shakespeare, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplishedHamlet, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. 'Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?' (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdomAct 1, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence.” —St. John of KronstadtScene 5, My Life in ChristPage 8
“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man“A philosophical vogue is as irresistible as a gastronomic one: an idea is no better refuted than a sauce.” —unknown—E. M. Cioran
“People “No man is an island,Entire of itself,Every man is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea,Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory were created to be loved. Things As well as if a manor of thy friend'sOr of thine own were created :Any man's death diminishes me,Because I am involved in mankind,And therefore never send to be used. The reason why know for whom the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being usedbell tolls;It tolls for thee.” —unknown—John Donne
“If we could look into each others hearts“All men are born brothers, and understand the unique challenges each of us facesanything that hurts my brother hurts me.If my brother commits a crime, I think we would treat each other much more gentlyam a criminal; if he sings, there is music in my heart.Before you have dealings with more loveany man, patience, tolerance, and care.” —Marvin Jask yourself: ‘Am I my brother's keeper?’The answer is ‘Yes. Ashton’” —Henry Hassett Browne
“The human heart can see “Compared to what is hidden we ought to the eyesbe, and the heart knows things that the mind does not begin to understandwe are half awake.” —They Might Be Giants (1971)—William James
“The greatest “It is a profitable thing a man can do to a woman , if one is wise, to lead her closer to God than to himselfseem foolish.” —unknown—Aeschylus
“God cannot give us happiness “Mankind is made of two kinds of people: wise people who know they're fools, and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thingfools who think they are wise.” —C. S. Lewis—Socrates
“It “I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is hardly complimentary and how prone to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hellerror.” —C. S. Lewis—René Descartes
“If you die before you die“…a…transparent mind, than when you die, you will not die…in no way implies clear thinking.” —written on a cell wall, St. Paul's Monastery, Mt. Athos—Columbo (1971)
“War in the name “If you hear that someone is speaking ill of religion is war against religionyou, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: ‘He obviously doesn't know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned.” —His All Holyness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’” —Epictetus
“Believe me“As I have said so many times, if God revealed to us doesn't play dice with the disasters to which we were exposed and from which He protected us, our whole lives would not suffice to offer Him thanksworld.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda—Albert Einstein
“In heaven“It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, God will not ask us why we have sinnedanything that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; He will ask us why we did not repentbut they signify merely men's ignorance of the real and immediate cause.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda III—Samuel Clark
“Even if all spiritual fathers“While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), patriarchs, hierarchsthe scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and all the people forgive you, you man are unforgiven if you don’t repent based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in actionthe universe happened by chance would violate the very objectivity of science itself.” —St—Werner Von Braun, Ph.D. Kosmas Aitolos, the father of the NASA space program
“Nobody is as gracious and merciful, as “With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the Lord isconvictions of man's mind, but even He does not forgive which has been developed from the sins mind of the man who does not repent; … we lower animals, are being condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repentany value or at all trustworthy.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Charles Darwin
“As a handful “Evolutionary naturalism implies that we should not take any of sand thrown into the oceanour convictions seriously, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with including the mercy of Godscientific world picture on which evolutionary naturalism depends.” —St. Isaac the Syrian
“Just as a strongly flowing fountain That is not blocked up by a handful of earth, so naturalism, and therefore atheism, undermines the compassion foundations of the Creator very rationality that is not overcome by the wickedness needed to construct or understand or believe in any kind of his creaturesargument whatsoever, let alone a scientific one.” —St. Isaac the Syrian—Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos
“Your accumulated offenses do not surpass “Supposing there was no intelligence behind the multitude universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of Godthinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's mercies; your wounds do not surpass like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the great physicianway it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can's skillt trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” —St—C. S. Cyril of JerusalemLewis
“Years “Do not say, ‘this happened by chance, while this came to be of itself.’ In all that exists there is nothing disorderly, nothing indefinite, nothing without purpose, nothing by chance… … How many hairs are on your head? God will not needed for true repentanceforget one of them. Do you see how nothing, and not dayseven the smallest thing, but only an instant.escapes the gaze of God?” —St. Ambrose of OptinaBasil the Great
“There is are no sin which cannot be pardoned except that one which lacks repentancecoincidences in life. All things are providential. They are allowed for our salvation, in correspondence with our inner state and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the portion of the fool is small in his eyesneeds.” —St—Fr. Isaac the SyrianSeraphim Rose of Platina
“When a man abandons his sins and returns “Relativity applies to Godphysics, his repentance regenerates him and renews him entirelynot ethics.” —St. Isaiah the Solitary—Albert Einstein
“And so “Heaven goes by favor; if it is incumbent upon us to strivewent by merit, rather, to correct our faults you would stay out and to improve our behavioryour dog would go in.” —St. John Cassian—Mark Twain
“Let us strive to purify ourselves through repentance and humility, and to unite all our senses as one to the “When people stop believing in God who is good, and transcends the good. Then, truly, everything which I have not quite been able to say or to demonstrate with my many words, you will be taught they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in an instant, all at onceanything. You will hear with your sight, and see with your hearing” —G. You will be taught while seeing and, again, hear what is unveiled.” —StK. Symeon the New TheologianChesterton
“Where there is God“Those who stand for nothing, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment of his own imperfections and humilityfall for everything.” —Alexander Hamilton
When a person accepts anything Godly, then he rejoices in his heart, but when he “Our culture has accepted anything devilishtwo huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, then he becomes tormentedyou must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” —Rick Warren
The devil “Evil preaches tolerance until it is like a lion, hiding in ambush (Ps 10:19, 1Pe 5:8). He secretly sets out nets of unclean and unholy thoughts. Sodominant, then it is necessary tries to break them off as soon as we notice them, by means of pious reflection and prayersilence good.” —Charles J.Chaput
It “If everyone has his own truth, where is necessary that falsehood? Falsehood hides behind the Holy Spirit enter our heartguise of truth. Everything good that They say to us: Every person has his own truth, we do, should respect everyone's opinion and have no right to express any opposition to his error because that would be ‘intolerant’. Then where is Truth? Have we do for Christ, erased it? God is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most absolute Truth.” —Archbishop Stephan (Kalaidjishvili) of allTsageri and Lentekhi, which is always available to us.Georgia
A sign “Tolerance of spiritual life falsehood is the immersion of a person within himself and the hidden workings within his heartintolerance to Truth.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov—th
“The Spirit offers its own light to every mind“Orthodox Christianity is not true because I believe It, to help it in its search for truthI believe It because It is Truth.” —St. Basil the Great—th
“Sometimes “Faithful copies of a man's happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it's there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, an illusioncounterfeit original yield only more counterfeits.” —Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14)—unknown
“If he seeks answers “Seeing, contrary to questions related to his faithpopular wisdom, his purpose in lifeisn't believing. It's where belief stops, he will find happinessbecause it isn't needed any more.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania—Terry Pratchett
“The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created by “To trust Godin the light is nothing, and pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselesslybut to trust Him in the dark – that is faith.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—Charles Spurgeon
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who “Faith is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like usthe clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.'” —St. Anthony the Great—Abraham Joshua Heschel
“Adorn yourself with truth, try to speak truth in all things“For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and do not support a liein every place incense shall be offered unto my name, no matter who asks you.If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at you, don’t be upset, but take comfort in the words of the Lorda pure offering:Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name shall be great among the sake of truthheathen, for theirs is saith the Kingdom Lord of Heaven (Matthosts. 5” —Malachi 1:10).” —St. Gennadius of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 26,211
“You that are strong with all might in “God tends the inner man ought by rights to carry on the struggle against the enemies of the truth, and not to shrink from the taskpagans too, that we fathers may be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this is the prompting of the law of nature: but as you turn your ranks, and send against us the assaults of those darts which are hurled by Christian knows the opponents of the truth, and demand that their hot burning coals and their shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should be quenched with the shield of faith by us old mendonor.” —St. Gregory Tikhon of NyssaVoronezh
“In imitation “We do not worship a created thing, but the Master of created things, the method Word of God made flesh. Although the beeflesh itself, considered separately, I shall make my composition is a part of created things, yet it has become the body of God. We do not worship this body after having separated it from those things which are conformable with the truth and Word. Likewise, we do not separate the Word from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of salvationbody when we wish to worship Him. But I shall reject all knowing that is worthless and falsely labeled ‘the Word was made flesh,’ we recognise the Word existing in the flesh as knowledgeGod.” —St. John of DamascusAthanasius the Great, Ep. ad Adelph., par. 3
“If we have obtained “Take, in the next place, the grace of subjection by which you subject the Son to the Father. What, you say, is He not now subject, or must He, if He is God, be subject to God? You are fashioning your argument as if it concerned some robber, or some hostile deity. But look at it in this manner: that as for my sake He was called a curse, none shall prevail against uswho destroyed my curse; and sin, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.” —Sttaketh away the sin of the world; and became a new Adam to take the place of the old, just so He makes my disobedience His own as Head of the whole body. John Chrysostom
“But As long then as I am disobedient and rebellious, both by denial of God and by my passions, so long Christ also is called disobedient on my account. But when all things shall be subdued unto Him on the one hand by acknowledgment of Him, and on the other by a reformation, then He Himself also will have fulfilled His submission, bringing me whom He has saved to God. For this, according to my view, is the subjection of Christ; namely, the fulfilling of the Father's Will. But as the Son subjects all to the Father, so does the Father to the Son; the One by His Work, the Other by His good pleasure, as we have already said. And thus He Who subjects presents to God that which he has subjected, making our opinion condition His own. Of the same kind, it appears to me, is the expression, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ It was not He who was forsaken either by the Father, or by His own Godhead, as some have thought, as if It were afraid of the Passion, and therefore withdrew Itself from Him in accordance with His Sufferings (for who compelled Him either to be born on earth at all, or to be lifted up on the EucharistCross?) But as I said, He was in His own Person representing us. For we were the forsaken and despised before, but now by the Eucharist Sufferings of Him Who could not suffer, we were taken up and saved. Similarly, He makes His own our folly and our transgressions; and says what follows in turn establishes our opinionthe Psalm, for it is very evident that the 22nd Psalm refers to Christ.” —St. Irenaeus of LyonsGregory the Theologian, On God and Christ, Against HeresiesOration 30, 4:18:5V
“If “The Lord calls the poison Holy Spirit the 'voice of pride a gentle breeze'. For God is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Breadbreath, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever breath of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched is shared by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chasteall.” —St. Cyril of AlexandriaMaximus the Confessor
“Don't be anxious about what you have“We neither call the Holy Spirit unbegotten, for we know but about what you one unbeggoten and one source of all things, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, nor do we call Him begotten, for we aretaught by the tradition of the faith that there is one only-begotten. Rather, we have been taught that the Spirit of Truth proceeds from the Father and confess that He comes from God in an uncreated fashion.” —St. Gregory Basil the Great, Letter 125, PG 32.549c
“The man who cries out against evil menHoly Spirit proceeds from the Father, not in the manner of being begotten, but does not pray for them will never know in the manner of procession (οὐ γεννητῶς, ἀλλ ἐκπορευτῶς). This is a different way of existence as incomprehensible and unknown as the grace generation of Godthe Son.” —St. Silouan John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition on the AthoniteOrthodox Faith, 1, 8, PG 94.816c
“Those who dislike “The Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, whilst the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and reject their fellow-man are impoverished resteth in their beingthe Son. They do But at the same time each Person has Its own particular properties: God the Father is not know begotten, not created, does not proceed; the Son is begotten; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the true GodFather, whilst the substance of the three Persons is one, a Divine, incomplex substance. This similarity is based upon the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who calls Himself the Light of the world, and thus speaks of the Holy Ghost, comparing It in Its actions to the element water: ‘He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ 415 He also compared the Holy Ghost to the air or wind: ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, who but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is all-embracing loveborn of the Spirit.” ’” —St. Silouan the AthoniteJohn of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“If we detect hatred “For the Father only is Unbegotten, the Son only is Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from Father Proceeding, Co-eternal to the Father and the Son, for there is One Work, and there is One Operation of the Will in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Father Unbegotten, the Son Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from the Father Proceeding, Co-Eternal to the Father and Son; but That One [i.e. the Son] is Born, yet This One [i.e. the Holy Ghost] Proceeds, just as in our hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any faultthe Gospel of Blessed John ye read: ‘The Spirit, we are utterly estranged Who Proceeds from love for Godthe Father, He shall announce all things to you.’ Therefore the Holy Ghost is neither to be the Father Unbegotten, nor held to be the Son Begotten; but the Holy Ghost, since love for God absolutely precludes us Who from hating any manthe Father Proceeds.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorMochta of Ireland, "Profession of Faith" of St. Mochta
“One must not harbour anger nor hatred towards a person that “For when we mention the Omnipotent Father, the appelation of this Fatherly Name is directed to the Person of the Son, and when we mention the Eternal Son, He is hostile towards us. On referred to the Person of the contrary. You must love him Eternal Father; and do as much good as possible towards him. Following when we name the Holy Ghost we demonstrate Him to Proceed from the teaching Person of our Lord Jesus Christthe Eternal Father.” —St. Seraphim Mansuetus, Letter of St. Mansuetus (Archbishop of Milan) at 679 Synod of SarovMilan to Emperor Constantine IV
“Do not ask for love from “This I give you to share, and to defend all your neighborlife, the one Godhead and power, found in the three in unit, for if you ask and he does comprising the three separately; not respondunequal, in substances or natures, you will be troubledneither increased nor diminished by superiorities nor inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of three infinite ones, each God when considered in himself; as the Father, so the Son; as the Son, so the Holy Spirit; the three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. Instead show your love for your neighbour When I think of anyone of the three I think of him as the whole, and you will be at restmy eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so will bring your neighbour as to attribute a greater greatness to lovethe rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.” —St. Dorotheos of GazaGregory the Theologian, Orations 40.41, as quoted by Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 378
“Love should “God – who is truly none of the things that exist, and who, properly speaking, is all things, and at the same time beyond them – is present in the logos of each thing in itself, and in all the logoi together, according to which all things exist… God is whole in all things commonly, and in each being particularly, without separation or being subject to division…but on the contrary is truly all things in all, never be sacrificed for the sake going out of some dogmatic differenceHis own indivisible simplicity.” —St. Nektarios of AeginaMaximus the Confessor
“Even “Perhaps you will say: ‘Then tell me, did the slightest thought virgin become the mother of the Godhead?’ And to this we reply: There can be no doubt that the living and enhypostatic Word was begotten from Originator the very essence of God his Father, and has his existence without beginning in time, eternally co-existing with his Begetter. He is conceived of as existing in him and with him, but in these last times of the age since he became flesh, that is was united to flesh endowed with a rational soul, he is also said to have been born of a woman in a fleshly manner. This mystery concerning him is in some ways like the mystery of our own birth, for earthly mothers, assisting nature as regards the birth, have the embryonic flesh in their wombs, which in a short time by certain ineffable workings of God, increases and is perfected into the human form. Then God introduces the spirit to this living creature in a manner known to him alone; for ‘he fashions the spirit of a man within him’ (Zech.12.1), as the prophet says. Nonetheless, the Word is different to the flesh, and equally different to the soul. But even if these mothers have produced only the earthly bodies, nonetheless they are said to have given birth to the whole living creature, I mean that of soul and body, and not to have given birth to just a part. To take an example, surely no one would say that Elizabeth was only the mother of the flesh, but not founded on love destroys peacethe mother of the soul, since she gave birth to the Baptist who was already endowed with a soul? Surely she is the mother of one thing constituted from both realities; that is a man, of soul and body. We take it, then, that something like this happened in the birth of Emmanuel.” —Archimandrite Thaddeus Strabulovich—St. Cyril of Alexandria, the chief opponent of Nestorianism, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy
“What does love look like? It “The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the hands to help othersvery power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. It has For its sake the feet Saviour commanded them not to hasten leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the poor and needySpirit of consolation. It has eyes to see misery and wantAnd this is the Spirit of divine visions. It has ears Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to hear the sighs and sorrows humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of men. That is what love looks likereceiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.” —St. Augustine of HippoIsaac the Syrian, Homily 77
“Your Lord is “‘And my Father will lovehim, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (John 14: love Him and in Him all men, as His Children in Christ23). Your Lord is fire: do not let your heart be coldMy friends, but burn with faith and love. Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness consider the greatness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith. Your Lord is a this solemn feast that commemorates God of mercy and bountifulness: be also 's coming as a source of mercy guest into our hearts! If some rich and bountifulness influential friend were to come to your neighbors. If you will be suchhome, you will find salvation yourself with everlasting glorywould promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend's eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.” —St. John Gregory the Great, on Pentecost in Be Friends of KronstadtGod
“I guard you in advance against beasts “If from one burning lamp someone lights another, then another from that one, and so on in succession, he has light continuously. In the form of mensame way, whom you must not only not receivethrough the Apostles ordaining their successors, but if it is possible not even meetand these successors ordaining others, but only pray for themand so on, if perchance they may repent…” the grace of the Holy Spirit is handed down through all generations and enlightens all who obey their shepherds and teachers.” —St. Ignatius of AntiochGregory Palamas, On how the Holy Spirit was manifested and shared out at Pentecost
“Until “‘And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:3-4). They partook of fire, not of burning but of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, but gives luster to the soul. This is now coming upon you have eradicated evilalso, do not obey and that to strip away and consume your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten yet more that precious possession of your heartsouls, and to give you grace; for He gave it will seek more then to the Apostles. And He sat upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that they might crown themselves with new and spiritual diadems by fiery tongues upon their heads. A fiery sword barred of old the gates of what it already contains within itselfParadise; a fiery tongue which brought salvation restored the gift.” —St. Mark the AsceticCyril of Jerusalem, Book Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem
“Whatever of that which “The Church is best has flowed into without beginning, without end and eternal, just as the heartTriune God, her founder, is without beginning, we should not pour out without need; for that which has been gathered can be free end and eternal. She is uncreated just as God is uncreated. She existed before the ages, before the angels, before the creation of danger from visible the world – before the foundation of the world as the Apostle Paul says. She is a divine institution and invisible enemies only when it in her dwells the whole fullness of divinity. She is guarded in an expression of the interior richly varied wisdom of God. She is the heartmystery of mysteries.” —StShe was concealed and was revealed in the last of times. Seraphim The Church remains unshaken because she is rooted in the love and wise providence of SarovGod.
“No one professing faith sins, nor does does anyone possessing love hate. The tree is known by its fruit; thus those who profess to be Christ's will be recognized by their actions. For the work is a matter not of what one promises now, but three persons of persevering to the end in Holy Trinity constitute the power of faitheternal Church.” —St. Ignatius Porphyrios of Antioch (to the Ephesians)Kavsokalyvia, Wounded by Love
“Indeed“Christ, man wishes invisible to be happy even when he so lives as the bodily eye, manifests Himself on earth clearly through His Church … The Church is the Body of Christ both because its parts are united to make happiness impossibleChrist through His divine mysteries and because through her Christ works in the world.” —St. AugustineJohn (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco
“The confession “How does the Liturgy begin? ‘Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of evil works the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ …What is this kingdom, which is blessed, glorified, honored…? It is the first beginning kingdom of good worksheaven, the kingdom of God. It is paradise, in which Christ has placed us; it is our holy Church.” —StIts king is the God of three suns: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Augustine
“The evil The servants of the king are the angels and archangels, along with the thrones, principalities, authorities, dominions, powers love , the darkness many-eyed cherubim, and tremble at every lightthe six-winged seraphim. The king's generals are the saints. Our Lady the Theotokos is the queen. The faithful soldiers of this kingdom are all those Christians who are ready to follow Christ, especially at that which belongs to God and whatever the cost; all those who are ready to bear His honorable Name, all those who please Himmake up His Church.” —St. Nikolai VelimirovichAll of them… are with us during the celebration of the Liturgy…
“The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated by love makes a lot During the celebration of the religious works Liturgy, Christ is with us exactly as he was when he was teaching, when he performs. But made the lame leap and walk, the blind see, and the one who has been deemed worthy dead return to obtain life. And this says with conviction is not simply having the words which the patriarch Abraham spoke when he was graced with the divine appearancememory of Christ within our thoughts, ‘I am but earth having Christ Himself truly and ashesconcretely present before us.’” —StHe is present – He, the teacher, the prophet, the miracle-worker. Maximus Christ Who was crucified, Who was raised from the Confessordead, Who ascended into heaven, is now before us! …
“Do not say that ‘mere faith in our Lord The priest turns his eyes to heaven, and calls the things of heaven down to earth. He commands the cherubim, the seraphim, even the Holy Trinity, because God gives the priest the power to have rights over Jesus Christ can save me.’ For this Because He is impossible unless you acquire love for him through worksnot visibly present, Christ delegates His work to His priests. For And when the priest is in what concerns mere believingthe sanctuary, he is beyond every earthly ruler, ‘even for he does not govern men, but rather the devils believe choirs of saints and tremble.’” —St. Maximus the Confessorarmies of angels…
“We see …Saint Gregory Palamas said that the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats church ‘resides on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. So does our life. I was an infanthigh, and that time has gone. I was being an adolescent, angelic and that too has passed. I was a young transcendent place’ which ‘raises man, to heaven and that too presents him to the God who is far behind meabove all’ …When we enter church… we are traversing the distance from earth to heaven. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns whiteWe pass beyond the stars, I succumb to agewe leave the angels below us, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go we rise up to the way heights of all flesh. I was born in order to diethe Holy Trinity. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh
“You should look downwardDon't think that when we go to church, we are simply entering and exiting an ordinary building. Remember: you Instead, we go up to, and make our entrance into, the Holy of Holies, into the heavens themselves… we sinners open the doors of heaven and enter! Although we are earth and you will return sinners, when we enter into the Liturgy, we go up to the heavenly Jerusalem… So we have come to the earthchurch… Let nothing disturb the tranquility of your soul.God is present. Wherever we look, God is before us!” —St—Archimandrite Aimilianos, The Church at Prayer, pp. 54, 56-57, 69, 71-72. Ambrose of Optina
“Just as “Whosoever should ever call himself a pauper, seeing the royal treasures, bishop over all bishops or a universal bishop shall be the more acknowledges his own poverty; so also forerunner to the spirit, reading the accounts of Antichrist.” —Pope St. Gregory (I) the great deeds of Great (Gregory the Holy FathersDialogist), involuntarily is all the more humbled in its way of thought.” —St. John ClimacusForty Gospel Homilies
“Do not shun poverty and affliction“And so I, by the fuel that gives wings to prayerwill of God Allmighty the Bishop of Rome, am the Universal Bishop, the Bishop over Bishops, the only Vicar of Christ on Earth.” —Evagrios the Solitary—Pope Gregory VII, Dictatus Papae
“Some suffer much from poverty and sickness“We declare, say, but are not humbleddefine, and so they suffer without profit. But one who pronounce that it is humbled will absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be happy in all circumstances, because subject to the Lord is his riches and joy, and all people will wonder at the beauty of his soulRoman Pontiff.” —St. Silouan the Athonite—Pope Boniface VIII, Bull Unam Sanctam
“My joy“Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, I beg you, acquire the Spirit of Peace. That means to bring oneself we ought not to such a state that raise up our spirit will not be disturbed by anything. For one must go through many sorrows heads against him, but calmly lie down to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the way all righteous men were saved and inherited the Heavenly Kingdom…” —Strest on his bosom. Seraphim of Sarov
“Peace He who rebels against our Father is not absence of strugglecondemned to death, but absence of uncertainty and confusionfor that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope.” —Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh
“Humility is perfect quietness I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: ‘They are so corrupt, and work all manner of heartevil!’ But God has commanded that, it is to expect nothingeven if the priests, the pastors, to wonder at nothing that is done to meand Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, to feel nothing done against me. It is to we be at rest when nobody praises me, obedient and when I am blamed or despised. It is subject to have a blessed home in the Lordthem, not for their sakes, where I can go in and shut but for the doorsake of God, and kneel out of obedience to my Father in secretHim.” —Catherine of Siena, and am at peace as in a deep sea ‘St. Catherine of calmnessSiena’, SCS, pp. 201-202, when all around and above is troublep.” —Andrew Murray222 (‘Canonized’ by the RC ‘Church’ in 1461)
“However great “In the afflictions we sufferhistory of the human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, what are they compared with that of Judas, and that of the promised future rewardpope.” —St. Macarius the GreatJustin Popovich
“Shun “But the praise Church of men God is not subject to a wicked pope; nor even absolutely, and love the on all occasions, to a good one who.” —Archbishop Arnulf of Orléans, in the fear Synod of the LordVerzy, reprimands you.” —St. Pachomius991
“When people begin “They [Rome] do not know and do not wish to praise us, let us hurry know the truth; they argue with those who proclaim the truth to remember the multitude of ours transgressionsthem, and we will see that we are truly unworthy of that which they say and do in our honorassert their heresy.” —St. John ClimacusBasil the Great, letter to Eusebius of Samosata
“…Don“The Greeks [Orthodox]… are not heretics or schismatics but the most Christian people and the best followers of the gospel on earth.” —Martin Luther, Luther, Martin (1999), Luther't be frightened at your burden; our Lord will help you to carry its Works, Vol.” —St32: Career of the Reformer II, J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed. John Vianney, 59, Philadelphia: Fortress Press
“Every tribulation reveals “When we Greeks find fault with the state filioque, they shake Peter's keys at us… … Nevertheless differences of our custom and usage are no sufficient ground for schism. Experience shows that arguing about azyma and Lenten fasts gets nowhere. The Greeks should be accommodating and make concessions to the ignorant western barbarians, hoping that in time they willcorrect their errors to conform to the apostolic tradition stemming from Jerusalem.” —St. Mark —Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid, The Errors of the AsceticLatins in Ecclesiastical Matters
“Every affliction tests our will“For Petra (Rock) is not derived from Peter, showing whether it but Peter from Petra; just as Christ is inclined to good or evilnot called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. That is why an unforeseen affliction is called a testFor on this very account the Lord said, ‘On this Rock will I build my Church, ’ because it enables a Peter had said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On this Rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this Foundation was Peter himself also built. For other foundation can no man to test his hidden desireslay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” —St. Mark the AsceticAugustine of Hippo, Tractate, CXXIV
“Many are “There is nothing more serious than the wiles sacrilege of schism because there is no just cause for severing the enemy to despoil us unity of inner peace, so watch!the Church.” —St. Theophan the RecluseAugustine of Hippo
“In every situation confusion is “Do not fear sorrows, but fear the stubbornness of heretics who try to separate a man from the devilChrist, from whom may the Lord shield which is why Christ commanded us to consider them as pagans and protect uspharisees.” —St. Leo Anatoly of Optina
“It should be noted that when “This is how you have union with the fallen spirit wants to get dominion over Christ's ascetics, he does not act imperiously or domineeringly, but tries to draw a man to consent to the proposed delusion, Roman Catholics and after getting his consent he takes possession of the person who has given his consent. Holy David, in describing his the fallen angel attacks man, has very rightly saidProtestants: "He lurketh in secret as a lion in his den, that he may ravish the poor; to ravish the poor, when he getteth him into his netyou baptize them."” —St. Ignaty Bryanchaninov, The Arena, chapter 11, On the Solitary Life—Bishop Luke of Syracuse
“The devil presents minor sins as insignificant “…anyone joining the Church ought to become renewed [by baptism], in order that within, through the holy elements, he become sanctified… There being but one baptism, and there being but one Holy Spirit, there is also but one Church, founded by Christ our eyesLord… And for this reason whatever they [heterodox] do is false and empty and vain, because otherwise he would not be able lead us into major oneseverything being counterfeit and unauthorized… And to those who from error and crookedness come for knowledge of the true and ecclesiastic faith we ought to give freely the mystery of divine power, of unity as well as of faith, and of truth.” —St. Mark Cyprian of Carthage, Third Holy Council held under St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the AsceticReception of the Heterodox, p. 81
“Do “Holy priests, you must have large baptismal fonts in your churches so that the entire child can be immersed. The child should be able to swim in it so that not leave unobliterated any faulteven an area as large as a tick's eye remains dry. Because it is from there (the dry area) that the devil advances, however smalland this is why your children become epileptics, for it may lead you on to greater sinsare possessed by demons, have fear, suffer misfortune; they haven't been baptized properly.” —St. Mark Kosmas Aitolos, On the Reception of the AsceticHeterodox, p. 49
“He who honours “One Baptism has been handed down to us Orthodox Christians (Ephesians 4:4) by our Lord as well as by the divine Apostles and the holy Fathers; because the Cross and the Death of the Lord does what , in the Lord bids. When he sins type or similitude of which baptism is disobedientcelebrated, he patiently accepts what comes as something he deserveswere but one.” —St. Mark the Ascetic
“It is For this reason the present Apostolic Canon prescribes that any Bishop or Priest will be deposed should he baptize a great error to think that you must undertake important second time anew and great labors, whether for heaven, or, beginning all over again someone who has been truly baptize as the 'progressives' think, in order to make though he were dealing with one's contribution to humanityutterly unbaptized. That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord's commandments.” —St. Theophan the Recluse
“When we are immersed This is in accordance with the order given by the Lord and which was spoken of by the Apostles and divine Fathers. He shall be deposed if he rebaptizes someone who has been baptized in sinsthe very same manner as Orthodox Christians, because with this second baptism he is re-crucifying and publicly ridiculing the Son of God, which St. Paul says is impossible, and our mind he is occupied solely with worldly caresoffering a second death to the Lord, over whom death no longer has dominion (Hebrews 6:4; Romans 6:5), we do not notice according to the state of our soulsame St.” —StPaul. John Maximovitch
“We have Likewise in the event that any Bishop or Priest should refuse to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all baptize with the regular Orthodox baptism of the Catholic Church one piece; it who has been polluted, that is a certain rhythmperson who has been baptized by the impious, or in plain language, baptized by heretics. Such a certain message Bishop is to give usbe deposed, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought since he is mocking the Cross and death of the other world … It is actually an education in atheismLord.” —St. We have to fight back by knowing just what Nikodemos the world is trying to do to us…” —Fr. Seraphim RoseHagiorite
“I saw “This food is called among us the snares Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the one who believes that the enemy spreads out over things we teach are true, and who has been washed with baptism for the world forgiveness of sins, and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humilitywho is living his life as Christ has commanded."” —St. Anthony Justin the GreatMartyr
“Wouldst thou comprehend “Even if the height whole universe holds communion with the [heretical] patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know from the writings of God? First comprehend the lowliness of God. Condescend to holy Apostle Paul: the Holy Spirit declares that even the angels would be humble for thine own sake, seeing that God condescended anathema if they should begin to be humble for thy sake toopreach another Gospel, for it was not for his ownintroducing some new teaching.” —St. AugustineMaximus the Confessor, The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor
“The greatness “Those who do not belong to the Truth do not belong to the Church of a man consisteth Christ either; and all the more so, if they speak falsely of humilitythemselves by calling themselves, or calling each other, holy pastors and hierarchs; [for it has been instilled in proportion as a man descendeth to humilityus that] Christianity is characterized not by persons, he becometh exalted to greatnessbut by the truth and exactitude of Faith.” —Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol—St. 2Gregory Palamas
“It “Faith is easier to measure the entire sea with a tiny cup than to grasp unreserved acceptance of divine revelation and the full conviction that all things preached by the grace of God's ineffable greatness with constitute the human mindonly truth.” —St. Basil the Great, On Faith, PG 31.677D-680A.
“You don't “Chrysostomos loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a bodycommunion with them, to be enemies of God.” —C. S—St. LewisTheodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot Theophilus
“Learn “Some have suffered final shipwreck with regard to love humilitythe faith. Others, though they have not drowned in their thoughts, for it will cover all your sinsare nevertheless perishing through communion with heresy.” —St. All sins are repugnant before God but the most repugnant of all is pride of Theodore the heart.Studite
Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise“Guard yourselves from soul-destroying heresy, all your effort will be destroyed and your boat will reach communion with which is alienation from Christ.” —St. Theodore the harbor empty.Studite
If you “It is better to have great authoritydiscord for piety’s sake, do not threaten anyone with deaththan harmony full of the passions. Know” —St. Gregory the Theologian, that according to natureOration 6, PG 35, you too are susceptible to death and that every soul sheds its body from itself as the final garment.736
In Byzantium there existed an unusual and instructive custom during “All the crowning teachers of the emperors in the Church of the Divine Wisdom [St. Sophia]. The custom was that when the patriarch placed , and all the crown on the emperor's headCouncils, at and all the same time, he handed him a silk purse filled with dirt Divine Scriptures advise us to flee from the graveheterodox and separate from their communion.” —St.Mark of Ephesus
Then“Therefore, even in so far as this is what has been commanded you by the emperor would recall death and Holy Apostles, stand aright, hold firmly to avoid all pride the traditions which you have received, both written and become humbleby word of mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:15), that you be not deprived of your firmness if you are led away by the delusions of the lawless.” —St. Anthony the Great
“Pride more than anything elseMay God, Who is all-powerful, deprives people of both make them also to know their good deeds delusion; and help having delivered us from God. Where there them as from evil tares, may He gather us into His granaries like pure and useful wheat, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, with His Father Who is no humilitywithout beginning, pride takes its placeand His All-holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” —St. Macarius Mark of OptinaEphesus
“This “‘But if,’ they say, ‘we had devised some middle ground between the dogmas (of the Papists and the Orthodox), then thanks to this we would have united with them and accomplished our business superbly, without at all having been forced to say anything except what corresponds to custom and has been handed down (by the Fathers).’ This is precisely the wisdom means by which many, from of old, have been deceived and power persuaded to follow those who have led them off the steep precipice of God: impiety; believing that there is some middle ground between the two teachings that can reconcile obvious contradictions, they have been exposed to be victorious through weakness, exalted through humility, rich through povertyperil.” —St. Gregory PalamasMark of Ephesus, Encyclical Letter, Orthodox Word, March-April-May, 1967
“You “Whoever preserves himself from them (the Latins) and keeps his faith pure will lose nothing stand rejoicing at the right hand of what you have renounced for God, but whoever willfully draws close to them will stand weeping bitterly with them on the Lord’s sakeleft. For there is no eternal life for those living in its own time it will return to you greatly multiplied.” —St. Mark the Asceticfaith of the Latins or the Saracens…
“Where can I flee? A place cannot save My son, it is not appropriate to praise another's faith. Whoever praises an alien faith is like a detractor of his own Orthodox faith. If anyone should praise his own and another's faith, then he is a man of dual faith and is close to heresy. If anyone should say to you because there : ‘Your faith and our faith is no place from God,’ you can flee from yourself.” —St. Nikon , my son, should reply: ‘Who are you, you heretic? Do you consider God to be of Optinatwo faiths? Have you not heard, accursed and perverted as you are by an evil faith that which is written: Thus saith the Lord: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism’ (Ephesians 4:5)?…
“A life lived in the world can be as goodThus they of evil faith, in after holding to the eyes of GodOrthodox faith for so many years, as one spent in a monastery. It is indeed only the keeping of Godhave turned away to an evil faith and to Satan's commandments, love of all, and a true sense of humility that matter, wherever we are.” —Elder Macarius of Optinateaching…
“Those who, because They have renounced the preaching of the rigor apostles and the edification of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealousholy fathers, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish if we rely and have accepted a faith based on theoretical knowledge error and disparage the ignoranta perverted dogma leading to perdition.” Therefore, they have been torn away from us and set apart…” —St. Mark Theodosius of Kiev Caves, Testament to the AsceticGreat Prince Izyaslav of Kiev
“A remedy against straying thoughts “It is mental attention, attention impossible to recall peace without dissolving the fact that cause of the Lord is before us and we are before Himschism – the primacy of the Pope exalting himself equal to God.” —St. Theophan the RecluseMark of Ephesus
“The roots of evil thoughts are Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found among them (the obvious vicesPapists), which we keep trying to justify in our words and actionsbecause their mysteries are graceless.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Dositheos of Jerusalem
“Guard your speech from boasting “Holy Orthodoxy has two eternal enemies: Mecca and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everythingRome.” —St. Mark the AsceticKosmas Aitolos
"The higher a person’s position in society “You should curse the more Pope, because he should help others without ever reminding them of his positionwill be the cause.” —Tsar St—St. Nicholas IIKosmas Aitolos
“If you want your sins “We do not have merely ‘a group of Orthodox that consider Roman Catholics and Protestants to be absolved heretics’ or ‘only pronouncements by Christparticular ecclesiastical writers’, then don't speak to others about any virtue that you may haveas some erroneously contend, because God will treat but the totality of the Saints of our sins the same way we treat Church who dealt with this issue unanimously conclude that Papism is heresy. There is not one Saint of our virtuesChurch – no, not one – who contends that Papism is not a heresy.” —St—Fr. Mark Anastasios Gotsopoulos, On Common Prayer with the AsceticHeterodox
“If any man is able in power to continue in purity“The Anglican Communion ignores the Orthodox Church's dogmas and teachings, such as the invocation of Saints, prayers for the dead, special honor to the honour of Blessed Virgin Mary the flesh Mother of our LordGod, let him continue so without boasting; if he boastsand reverence for sacred relics, he holy pictures and icons. They say of such teaching that it is undone; if he become known apart from ‘a foul thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the bishopword of God’ (Article of Religion, he has destroyed himselfXXII).” —St. Ignatius of Antioch
“Guarding There is a striking variance between their wording of the mouth wakes up Nicene Creed and that of the conscience to GodHoly Orthodox Church; but sadder still, if it is with knowledge that a man keeps silencecontains the heresy of the ‘filioque.” —St. Isaac the Syrian’
“Silence is more profitable than speechI do not deem it necessary to mention all the striking differences between the Holy Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion in reference to the authority of Holy Tradition, the number of the General Councils, for as it etc. Sufficient has already been saidand pointed out to show that the Anglican Communion differs but little from all other Protestant bodies, and, "The words of wise men are heard even in quiettherefore, there cannot be any intercommunion until she returns to the ancient Holy Orthodox Faith and practices, and rejects Protestant omissions and commissions."” —St. Basil the Great
“Never give your opinion if you are Therefore, as the official head of the Syrian Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church in North America and as one who must ‘give an account’ (Hebrews 13:17) before the judgment throne of the ‘Shepherd and Bishop of Souls’ (I St Peter 2:25), that I have fed the ‘flock of God’ (I St. Peter 5:2), as I have been commissioned by the Holy Orthodox Church, and inasmuch as the Anglican Communion (Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States) does not differ in things vital to the well being of the Holy Orthodox Church from some of the most errant Protestant sects, I direct all Orthodox people residing in any community not asked to seek or to accept the ministrations of the Sacraments and rites from any clergy excepting those of the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, for itthe Apostolic command, even if you think that your view the Orthodox should not commune in ecclesiastical matters with those who are not of ‘the same household of Faith’ (Galatians 6:10), is clear: ‘Any Bishop; or presbyter or deacon who will pray with heretics, let him be anathematized; and if he allows them as clergymen to perform any service, let him be deposed’ (Apostolic Canon 45). ‘Any bishop, or presbyter, who accepts baptism or the bestHoly Sacrifice from heretics, we order such to be deposed, for ‘what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?’’ (Apostolic Canon 46).” —St”—St. Josemaria EscrivaRaphael of Brooklyn, On the Anglican Communion
“Somewhere we know “If a Bishop or Priest baptize anew anyone that without silence words lose their meaninghas had a true baptism, or fail to baptize anyone that without listening speaking no longer healshas been polluted by the impious, let him be deposed, on the ground that without distance closeness cannot curehe is mocking the Cross and Death of the Lord and for failing to distinguish priests from pseudo-priests.” —Henri Nouwen—Apostolic Canon 47
“Let your mouth continually administer blessing; then “Your teachers disagree among themselves. But the scorn founders of anyone will never hurt youthe faith did not teach from private opinions, nor differ with one another, nor try to overturn one another. Without arguing, they received from God the knowledge which they also taught to us.” —St. Isaac Justin the SyrianMartyr
“Just as swine run to “Whosoever has fallen from the True Faith cannot be called a place where there is mire, and bees dwell where there are fragrances and incense, likewise demons gather where there are carnal songs and the grace of the Holy Spirit settles where there are spiritual melodies, sanctifying both mouth and soulChristian.” —St. John ChrysostomAthanasius the Great
“A psalm implies serenity of soul“The heretics obey the demons; it is the author of peacethey honor falsehood, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastensat every moment they provoke God to anger. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity” —St. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered Symeon the same prayer to God?New Theologian
So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond“Ecumenism is the common name for the pseudo-Christianity of the pseudo-churches of Western Europe. Within it is the heart of European humanism, with Papism as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union its head. All of one choirpseudo-Christianity, produces also the greatest all of blessingsthose pseudo-churches, charityare nothing more than one heresy after another. Their common evangelical name is: ‘pan-heresy. A psalm ’ Why? This is a city because through the course of refuge from the demons, a means history various heresies denied or deformed certain aspects of inducing help from the angels, a weapon God-Man and Lord Jesus Christ; these European heresies remove Him altogether and put European man in fears by nightHis place. In this there is no essential difference between Papism, a rest from toils by dayProtestantism, a safeguard for infantsecumenism, an adornment for those at the height of their vigorand other heresies, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for womenwhose name is ‘Legion’.” —St.Justin Popovich
It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it “For Western Christendom God is indeed dead, and its leaders only prepare for the elementary exposition advent of beginners, the improvement enemy of those advancingGod, Antichrist. But Orthodox Christians know the solid support of the perfect, living God and dwell within the voice saving enclosure of the His True Church. It brightens is here, in faithful and fervent following of the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is unchanging Orthodox path – and not in accordance the dazzling ‘Ecumenical’ union with Godthe new unbelievers that is pursued by Orthodox modernists – that our salvation is to be found.” —Fr.Seraphim Rose of Platina
For, a psalm “Orthodoxy has one thing to say to the ecumenical movement: here is the work of angelstruth, a heavenly institutionjoin yourself to it; to remain to ‘discuss’ this truth not merely weakens the Orthodox witness, the spiritual incenseit destroys it.” —St—Fr. Basil the GreatSeraphim Rose of Platina
“Through “The Ecumenism is a huge lie; they speak in the name of a love outside of Christ, which excludes you from the Truth. If the Ecumenists really loved the world, they would not disown the truth of the value and the spiritual richness of Church Tradition and of the Holy Spirit comes Fathers. They disown Christianity from the gracious beauty. God has left from them, what remains is only their ego. No, we don’t need You. We lead the world, we rule the world, we give the bread, we give the happiness on this earth. Jesus must be arrested again not to disturb our restoration march. Eliminating God from the world and of the soul in any way – this is the goal of the Ecumenism also repelled by Saint Justin Popovich. The Ecumenism and the globalization are at the forefront of the apocalyptic times. They want to paradiseaccustom the eye and the spirit of the Orthodox with the habit to serve together with these heretics, our ascension into until they get to have Communion from the same chalice. Because this could give them the kingdom of heavenright to build their own churches. But no, our return they want strategically to compromise the shrines and the faint hearted priests who are quick to ‘obedience’. The Ecumenists have the false impression that they will bring something new in the adoption Church of sonsChrist. Let us not forget that the Church is the body whose head is Christ. You can not break it from Christ Who is the Path, our liberty the Truth and the Life. The Ecumenists will not fulfill anything. You can not change the reality according to call the human interests. The divine reality remains the same in every age. The Holy Spirit speaks through the mouths of the bearers of God our Father, our being made partakers not of the grace bearers of Christhuman interests. The Christian Church has never gone after the crowd; not the many lead or hold the truth, but the few, chosen, our being called children as the carriers of lightthe Holy Spirit. We do work only under this Father’s truth, the Gospel of our sharing in eternal glory, Lord and, the Orthodox Church Tradition. All this falsehood which has appeared in a word, our being brought into world has no other purpose than to embarrass and undermine the whole tradition and the beliefs of a state of all "fulness of blessingnation. Questions are not posed and answers are not given," both in this world and people take for granted everything that has been written at the official level. But, by not solving these dogmatic problems the untruth slowly settles in our Orthodox Christian Church. All the world to come, Ecumenical attempts of all unifying the good gifts that are other Christian communities found in store for usheresy, by promise hereofthe dialogues which have developed in our Orthodox Christian Church, through faithsince I know, beholding the reflection of their grace as though haven’t got any result because they were already presenthave false basis, we await they are untrue and do nothing but disturb the full enjoymentauthentic Christian life.” —St. Basil the Great—Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania, Din învățăturile și minunile Părintelui Justin
“Humility consists“We must prepare for martyrdom and beyond this, I would not have to speak if people were not powerless in condemning our consciencespirit and mind to understand. It's not easy to live these days. But if the Lord has so pleased that we should suffer these times, but in recognizing then we must obey and receive with joy all that comes upon us, as from the hand of God's grace , and compassion.” —St. Mark not from the Asceticenemy…
“ChildrenTherefore, I beseech you please stop looking for solutions. Human solutions are not existent, my dears! The solution is to correct your hearts and thoughtsdie for Christ. Fathers will give up their sons, so that you may be pleasing to Godmothers, their daughters, unto death. Consider that although we may reckon ourselves to be righteous and frequently succeed in deceiving menBehold, we can conceal nothing from God. Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of our souls and to guard witness the purity fulfillment of our bodies with all fervorthis prophecy. Ye are If the temple of God, says mother will let the divine Apostle Paul; If any man defile the temple of Godchild be vaccinated, it's as if giving him shall God destroy.” —St. Nicholas of Myraover to die…
“Those who suffer for Therefore I say to you, trust that the sake Lord will give you power to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world, the entire political class is an enemy of true devotion receive help. This must be learnt through obeying God's law Christ and a servant of evil, that is why even living our simple life without abdicating our own conscience.” —StChristian principles is a daily confession and martyrdom. Mark the Ascetic
“When So: do not receive this vaccine or anything that the new political powers bring you are wronged today. The Zionists rule the world and your heart the Americans work for them and feelings they think they have come to own it because they have no shyness. Everything is in sight and they are hardenedaware that they have no opponent to fear and they fight to depopulate the world, do not be distressedwith the few who will remain to worship them. Now they're studying and sorting, for this has happened providentially; but be glad and reject the thoughts that arise within way they're going to distinguish people from each other is the chips. Do you or do younot have a chip? For what is the chip after all? A weapon against Man. And we have no weapons; our youth is weary, knowing that even if they are destroyed at want to rise from the stage when spell in which they are only provocationslive, their evil consequences will be cut off, whereas if the thoughts persist the evil may be expected to developthey have no power.” —St. Mark the Ascetic
“Struggle Our only weapons are spiritual ones: prayer, humility, love, but also confession [of Faith]. You can't love without confession [of Faith]. Love is sacrificial, and if we fear to become immortal from nowconfess the truth, by dying here on the earth what sacrifice do we have? Or if we do not care about our neighbor who is unaware and we do not inform him and we let him fall prey to your bad self. In this waysystem, you won't be sadwhat love do we have? Those who still struggle today to awaken their brother, who have not remained indifferent to the future of a nation and a church, but you'll be very gladthose are the children of the love of God, living together with Christ.” —Elder Porphyrioswho lay their lives down for their brethren…
“I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy It is important to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has oppose all antichrists and die with dignity; not gone beyond the confines of this earthto have a cowardly position.” —Archimandrite Sophrony—Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania
“In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as Transcendental Meditation I am but repeating “Modern man lives on the age-old message dregs of the Church … The way of the Fathers requires firm faith and long patience, whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, including even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, by force and speedilyChristianity, on Christian experience digested and will often draw a parallel between prayer in the Name of Jesus and yoga or Transcendental Meditation and the liketurned into ‘ideas’ for mass consumption. I must stress Hence the danger parody of such errors … He Christianity is deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of all that is transitory and relative be seen in order to cross some invisible thresholdmodern ideas like ‘equality’, to realize his eternal origin‘brotherhood’, his identity with ‘charity.’ … And Christian messianism - the Source coming Kingdom which is not of all this world (Jon 18:36) - has been perverted into the coming Kingdom in this world that exists, practically everyone believes in order to return and merge with him, today. Even those who see through the nameless transpersonal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to suprarational contemplation delusion of being, idealism… fall prey to experience a certain mystical trepidationthe second idea, to know the state of silence of mindidea that Truth can somehow be realized in this world, when mind goes beyond in the boundaries coming age of time and space. In such like states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from ‘spirit,’ or in the continually changing phenomena relation of the visible world, may even have a certain experience of eternity‘man with man. ’ But this world cannot hold the God of Truthin its fullness, any more than it could tolerate the presence in it of the Living God-Man; for man is called upon to be more than man, he is not called to deification, and this can only happen fully in all the ‘other world’ - which, though it constantly impinges on thisworld, never does so more than partially, giving us warnings and indications of what is to come.This world must end, man as we know him must die, must be crucified before that ‘other’ world can come into being.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
It “Let not us, who would be Christians, expect anything else from it than to be crucified. For to be Christian is man’s own beautyto be crucified, created in this time and in any time since Christ came for the image of Godfirst time. His life is the example – and warning – to us all. We must be crucified personally, that mystically; for through crucifixion is contemplated the only path to resurrection. If we would rise with Christ, we must first be humbled with Him – even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and seen as divinityspit forth by the uncomprehending world. And we must be crucified outwardly, whereas he himself still continues within in the confines eyes of his creatureliness. This the world; for Christ’s Kingdom is a vastly important concern. The tragedy not of this world, and the matter lies in the fact that man sees world cannot bear it, even a mirage whichsingle representative of it, in his longing even for eternal lifea single moment. The world can only accept Antichrist, now or at any time. No wonder then, he mistakes for that it is hard to be a genuine oasisChristian – it is not hard, it is impossible. This impersonal form of ascetics leads finally to an assertion No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the divine principle in more truly it is lived, lead the very nature of manmore surely to one’s own destruction. Man And that is then drawn why we constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the idea of self-deification—the cause best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose – our felicity lies in one world or the original Fallother, not in both. The man who is blinded by God give us the imaginary majesty of what he contemplates has in fact set his foot on strength to pursue the path to self-destruction. He has discarded the revelation of a personal God … The movement into the depths of his own being crucifixion; there is nothing else but attraction towards the non-being from which we were called by the will of the Creatorno other way to be Christian.” —Archimandrite Sophrony —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Mount AthosPlatina, from his journal as printed in the biography Father Seraphim Rose: His Life is Mine, 115-116and Works by Hieromonk Damascene
“Christ said, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' and 'division'. Christ summoned us “One who merely knows these truths in the mind will be helpless to war on resist the plane temptations of the spiritthose times, and our weapon is 'many who recognize the sword of the Spirit, which is Antichrist when he comes will nonetheless worship him – only the word power of God.' Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are tied hand and foot. We dare not strike with fire or sword: our sole armament is love, even for enemies. This unique war in which we are engaged is indeed a holy war. We wrestle with Christ given to the last and only enemy of mankind deathheart will have strength to resist him. Our fight is the fight for universal resurrection” —Fr.” —Archimandrite Sophrony Seraphim Rose of Mount Athos, His Life is MinePlatina
“I ask you “A lukewarm clergy lulls the people to try something. If someone grieves you, or dishonors you, or takes something of yours, then pray like this: ‘Lordsleep, we are all your creatures. Pity your servants, and turn leaves them to repentance,’ and then you will perceptibly bear grace in your soultheir former condition so they won't be upset. Induce your heart to love your enemies‘Look’, and the Lord, seeing your good will, shall help you in they say. ‘By all thingsmeans don't say that there'll be a war, and will Himself show you experience. But whoever thinks evil of his enemies does not have love for God and has not known God.” —St. Silouan or the AthoniteSecond Coming, Writing, IXthat one must prepare oneself for death.21We must not make people alarmed!’
“If our purpose is to fight the spiritual fight and to defeat, And others speak with God’s help, the demons of malice, we should take every care to guard our heart from the demon of dejectiona false kindness, just as a moth devours clothing saying: ‘We mustn't expose heretics and a worm devours woodtheir delusions, so dejection devours a man’s soul. It persuades him as to shun every helpful encounter and stops him accepting advice from his true friends or giving show our love for them a courteous and peaceful reply. Seizing the entire soul, it fills it with bitterness and listlessness. Then it suggests to the soul that we should go away from other ’ Today's people, since they are the cause of its agitationwater-soluble. It does not allow the soul to understand that its sickness does not come from without, but lies hidden within, only manifesting itself when temptations attack the soul because of our ascetic effortsThere's no leaven in them.
A man can be harmed by If I avoid upsetting myself to protect my fleshly comfort then I'm indifferent to holiness! Spiritual meekness is one thing, and softness and indifference are quite another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that God, the Creator of all Some say: ‘I'm a Christian and the Doctor of men’s souls, who alone has accurate knowledge of the soul’s wounds, does not tell us therefore I have to forsake the company of men; He tells us to root out the causes of evil within us be joyful and to recognize that the soul’s health is achieved calm.’ But they're not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy menChristian. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstancesThey're simply indifferent.” —StAnd their joy is only a worldly joy. John Cassian
“The whole therapeutic method He in whom these worldly seeds are present is no spiritual person. A spiritual person consists of the Orthodox Church is not aimed simply nothing but pain. In other words, he's in pain at making human beings morally and socially balancedwhat's going on, but at re-establishing their relationship with God and one another. This comes about through the healing of the soulhe's wounds and the cure of the passions through the Sacraments and the Churchin pain for people's ascetic practicecondition. And divine comfort is bestowed upon him for his pain.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The Science —St. Paisios of Spiritual Medicine: Orthodox Psychotherapy in ActionMt. Athos
“A “You have grown soft. So the worthless have risen up against the honourable, the disreputable against the renowned, the foolish against the wise heart can transfer an affliction into a blessing, even sin!! He benefits the young against the aged. Righteousness and peace are far from it: contritionyou, humility, keenness inasmuch as you have abandoned the fear of God and sympathy for sinnersbecome blind in faith.” —H.H—St. Pope Shenouda IIIClement of Rome
“Humility “In our evil time, when the servants of the coming Antichrist are putting forth all their efforts so as to undermine and suffering free replace authentic Orthodoxy with a false ‘Orthodoxy’ - an Orthodoxy only in name, there have appeared not a man from all sin; for few ‘pastors’ also who bear only the name of Orthodox but deny the authentic power and spirit of true Orthodoxy. Precisely such false pastors filled up the ranks of the first cuts out spiritual passions, (Soviet) ‘Living Church’ and the latter bodily‘Renovationist Church’ clergy in our Russia.” —St. Maximus the Confessor
“Hardships often prepare ordinary But the ‘Living Church’ and ‘Renovationalism’ were not recognized by the believing Russian people for an extraordinary destiny, who felt in their hearts their whole falsity; and they brilliantly collapsed on the Russian soil, ceasing their official existence.” —CHowever, the spirit of the ‘Living Church’ and ‘Renovationalism’ has not died, but has continued and up until now continues to live among us also in the Russian homeland, which has been enslaved by the godless, and also abroad among all the Orthodox Local Churches who have become infected with this pestilential spirit, not without, of course, the most strenuous cooperation of those same servants of the coming Antichrist. S. Lewis
“The heart These pseudo-pastors, modernists and ecumenists, in place of true Orthodoxy, preach and insistently propagandize a perfectly healthy false Orthodoxy, flattering all the sinful passions and vices of fallen man becomes weakened for faith and love - striving in everything to God and his neighbor, go in step with the times and easily gives itself up to carnal desires: adapt the Christian to slothfulnessthe ‘world which lies in evil, negligence, coldness, gluttony, avarice, fornication, pride’ under all possible cunning and well sounding pretexts. Whilst Everywhere now they are seizing the heart reigns of a sick man, or a wounded, oppressed, weary heart, is strengthened government in faith, hope, and lovethe contemporary Orthodox Local Churches. They are striving to play everywhere the leading guiding role, and is far removed from carnal passions. This is why the Heavenly Fatheroften they have success, Who careth for our salvation, chastises us by various sicknesses. The oppression they skillfully and afflictions of sickness cunningly make us turn again themselves seem to Godbe zealots of Orthodoxy.” —St. John of Kronstadt
“Suffering reminds But their actual aim is to undermine true Orthodoxy by a false ‘Orthodoxy,’ in order to make it come about, in the wise man expression of GodChrist the Savior, but crushes those who forget Him‘that the salt has lost its savor’ (Matthew 5:13), that it might lose its saltiness - that it might lose its spirit and power.” —St. Mark This is a special kind of battle against the AsceticChurch!
“We must be prepared to accept the will Behold of God. The Lord permits all sorts what a frightful undertaking (of things to happen to us contrary to our will, for if which) we always have it our way, we will not be prepared for are the living and immediate witnesses! By all means there is being conducted in the world a frightful battle against the Kingdom Faith of Heaven.” —Elder Thaddeus Christ, by a path of Vitovnica, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives"falsification and imitations!
“What should not be heard by little ears…(this) truly most frightful and nightmarish phenomenon (is) something more frightful than open atheism and warfare against God, should not be said by big mouths.” —unknown(for it) threatens to destroy our holy Orthodoxy from the root, having corrupted it from within…” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“I am incurably convinced that the object “The fundamental task of opening the mind, as servants of opening the mouth, coming Antichrist is to shut it again destroy the old world with all its former concepts and ‘prejudices’ in order to build in its place a new world suitable for receiving its approaching ‘new owner’ who will take the place of Christ for people and give them on something solid.” —G. K. Chestertonearth that which Christ did not give them…
“What is slander? It is every sort of wicked word we would dare One must be completely blind spiritually, completely alien to true Christianity not speak in front to understand all this!” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of the person whom we are complaining about.” —St. Anthony the GreatSyracuse
“If you want to overcome “Those forces that are preparing the spirit appearance of slander, blame Antichrist will have a leading significance in public life. Antichrist will be a man and not the person who fallsdevil incarnate. … That man wants to be in place of Christ, but the demon to occupy His place and possess that prompted them which Christ ought to sinpossess.” —StHe wants to possess the same attraction and authority over the whole world. John Climacus
“You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment And he will receive that authority before his own destruction and that of each otherthe whole world. JoyHe will have a helper, radiant joya Magus, streams from who, by the face power of him who gives false miracles, will fulfill his will and kindles joy in kill those that do not recognize the heart authority of him who receivesAntichrist. All condemnation is from the devil” —St. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn awayJohn (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, The Antichrist and make much the Signs of the faults End of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silentthe World, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above Homily on the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.” —St. Seraphim of SarovLast Judgement
“A man may seem to “The miracles of Antichrist will be silentchiefly manifested in the aerial realm, but if his heart is condemning others, he is babbling ceaselesslywhere Satan chiefly has dominion. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent, that is, he says nothing that is not profitable” —Fr.” —Abba PoemenSeraphim Rose of Platina
“If your tongue “Without sanctification and illumination from above, our love – if it indeed is within us – lacks Gospel purity and holiness. It is poisoned by our self-love and egoism, which is used so subtle and hard to chatteringgrasp that we do not even notice it. We think that we truly love God and our neighbor, but in reality this is self-love, your heart will remain dim not love for God and foreign to the luminous intuitions of the Holy Spiritneighbor.” —St. John —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of DalyathaSyracuse
“He “The faithful remnant of Christians in the last days, as our Lord has told us, will be very small; the vast majority of those who does call themselves Christians will welcome Antichrist as the Messiah … those who are not control his tongue when he is angrytrue Orthodox Christians belong the ‘new Christianity’, will not control his passions eitherthe ‘Christianity’ of Antichrist.” —Abba Hyperchius
“Firmly purpose in your soul to hate every sin The Pope of thought, word, Rome and deed, and when you are tempted to sin resist it valiantly and with a feeling practically everyone else today speaks of hatred for it; only beware lest your hatred should turn against ‘transforming the person of your brother who gave occasion world’ by Christianity: priests and nuns take part in demonstrations for the sin‘racial equality’ and similar causes. Hate the sin These have nothing to do with all your heart, Christianity: they do nothing but pity your brother; instruct himdistract men from their true goal, and pray for him to which is the Almighty, Who sees all Kingdom of us and tries our hearts and innermost partsHeaven.” —St. John of Kronstadt
“We must consider all evil thingsThe coming age of ‘peace’, even ‘unity’, and ‘brotherhood’, if it comes, will be the passions which war against us, to reign of Antichrist: it will be not our ownChristian in name, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.” —StSatanic in spirit. Nikon of Optina
“A sinful soulΕveryone today seeks happiness on earth, full of passions, cannot have peace and rejoice in they think this is ‘Christianity’; true Orthodox Christians know that the Lordage of persecutions, even if it had charge over all earthly riches, even if it ruled over which began again under the whole world. If it was suddenly said to such a kingBolsheviks, happily feasting and sitting on his throne, 'King, now you will die,' his soul would be troubled and he would tremble is still with fearus, and he would see his powerlessness. But how many beggars there are, whose that only wealth is love for God, by much sorrow and who, if you said to them, 'You will die now,' would answer peacefully, 'Let God's will be done. Glory tribulation are we made fit to enter the Lord, that He has remembered me and wants to take me to HimselfKingdom of Heaven.'” —St—Fr. Silouan the AthoniteSeraphim Rose of Platina
“Man’s “It may be, brethren, that soon you will, out again experience a time of cowardice, tends away from sufferingturmoil, and man, against his own some of you willbe called to take the path of denying those sacred laws and to submit to laws established by mere human authority. Beware of such a path! Beware of the path taken by the thief on the left, remains utterly dominated for by the fear weight of deathblasphemy, andby the weight of reviling Christ he went to his eternal perdition. Those who revile the laws of the Church revile Christ Himself, in his desire to liveWho is the Head of the Church, clings to his slavery for the laws of the Church were given by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. And the laws of local Churches are based on those same laws and canons of the Church. Let us not consider ourselves wiser than those saints and hierarchs who established the rules of the Church; let us not imagine ourselves to pleasurebe great sages.Rather, let us humbly call out together with the wise thief: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!” —St. Maximus John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily on the ConfessorSunday of Orthodoxy
“Sin makes man “Brothers and sisters! Let us aspire towards ascetic labor, in which is expressed precisely the essence of our Orthodox Christian faith, which is the labor of imitating Christ in bearing the cross and self-crucifixion – a coward; but a life in faith of labor and, laboring lawfully as the Word of God teaches, let us suffer all things for the Truth , not moving away from it, as do many because of their poverty of Christ makes Him bold.” —Stspirit or self-interest. John ChrysostomAnd let us remember well: where there is no labor, Homilies on where there is no steadfastness in the Statues, VIIIfaith – there is neither Orthodoxy nor true faith in God and in His Christ. Amen. 2” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“Of all the good things in the world“Being born, life is dearest to menthen, and men love life better than of the light of truth, although there shun division and bad doctrines. Where the shepherd is no life in truth. The highest good, thenthere you, is lifebeing sheep, but truth is the foundation of life. He who loves life must also love truthfollow. But what is the way to truth? 'I am the way'For many wolves there are, says the Lord. 'I am the way'apparently worthy of confidence, that none should think that there is some other way to who with the truth besides the Lord Jesus. It was for that He was born as a man: bait of baneful pleasure seek to show men capture the way. And for this that He was crucified, to make the way plain by His blood.” runners in God's race; but if you stand united they will have no success…” —St. Nikolai VelimirovichIgnatius of Antioch
“The natural passions become good in those who struggle when“We must not mind insulting men, wisely unfastening if by respecting them from the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and sadness into corrective repentance for present evilwe offend God.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorJohn Chrysostom
“How good it “A time is to conquer the passions! After the victory one feels such lightness of heartcoming when men will go mad, such peace and greatness of spirit!” when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” —St. John of KronstadtAnthony the Great
“He who believes, fears; he who fears “There will come a time when corruption and lewdness among the youth will reach the utmost point. There will hardly be any virgin youth left. They will see their lack of punishment and will think that everything is humble; he who is humble becomes gentleallowable for them to satisfy their desires.” —StGod will call them, however, and they will realize that it will not be possible for them to continue such a life. Maximus the Confessor
“For every humble person is gentleThen in various ways they will be led to God… that time will be beautiful. That today they are sinning greatly, and every gentle person is invariably humble. A person is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan will lead them to hima deeper repentance.” —StJust like the candle before it goes out, it shines strongly and throws sparks; with its light, it enlightens the surrounding darkness; thus, it will be the Church’s life in the last age. Maximus the Confessor
“A humble person lives on earth as if in the Kingdom of Heaven - always happy, peaceful and satisfied with everythingAnd that time is near.” —St. Anthony Seraphim of OptinaVyritsa
“Not every quiet man is humble“When I remember the evil sins from which the Lord has delivered me, but every humble man is quietI have imperishable food for salvation.” —St. Isaac the SyrianMary of Egypt
“You wish “We all want God to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass give unity of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is faith to be, the deeper does he dig his foundationworld.” —StBut you are confusing things. Augustine
“A humble person lives on earth as if in The reconciliation of people is one thing, while the Kingdom reconciliation of religions is another. Christianity requires all of Heaven - always happyus to love everyone with all our hearts, peaceful and satisfied with everything.” —Stwhatever faith they may have. Anthony of Optina
“In them [At the Lives of the Saints] it is clearly same time we are ordered to keep our faith and obviously demonstrated: There is no spiritual death from which one cannot doctrines intact. As Christians you must be resurrected by merciful to the Divine power of the risen and ascended Lord Christ; there is no torment, there is no misfortunewhole world, there is no misery, there is no suffering which the Lord will not change either gradually or to all at once into quite, compunctionate joy because of faith in Himpeople.” —StEven your life you should give on their behalf. Justin Popovich
“A servant But you have no right to touch the truths of the Lord Christ. Because they are not yours. The faith of Christ is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven not our property to do with prayerit as we wish.” —St. John ClimacusNikolai Velimirovich
“In “We do not change the Christian East – in fact, in boundaries marked out by our Fathers. We keep the East in general – Tradition we love old age because have received. If we think that it is made for praying. When one is old, and feels begin to lay down the nearness Law of God across the increasingly transparent surface of biological life, one becomes Church even in consciousness a childthe smallest things, returned the whole edifice will fall to the Father, made light ground in spirit by the proximity no short time.” —St. John of death, transparent to another kind of light.Damascus
A civilization in which “At this dawn of modern history, the thirteenth century, all the seeds of modern mentality are present. And modern history follows logically from these seeds. Essentially, it is one no longer prays is thing – the search for a civilization in new Christianity which old age has no meaning. One walks backward towards death, pretending to be young; it’s an agonizing spectacle, because a wonderful possibility is offeredbetter than Orthodoxy, a journey towards ultimate relinquishmentbetter than the Christianity of the Holy Fathers, and it is not taken advantage ofwhich Christ gave to us.
We need old people who prayLater on, this will take forms which go through atheism and all kinds of wild beliefs, but essentially the search remains the same, who smileand in the end the world will be Christian, because it's Antichrist who live with gives them a disinterested lovenew religion, who marvel; they alone can show young people that that living which is worth the effortnot something foreign to Christianity. It will not be some kind of paganism. It will be something which everyone will accept as Christianity, and that oblivion is not but will be anti-christian. A substitute for Christianity which denies the last wordvery essence of Christianity.
Every monk whose spiritual practice has born fruit And that is called in why the main history of the East, whatever his age, 'a beautiful old man.' He rebellion against Christ is beautiful with no less than the beauty that rises from the heartapostasy which St. Paul talks about. In him all the periods It is not by means of his life have come into harmony, persecution as with a symphonyit was in the beginning, one might saybut by means of taking Christianity and changing it so that it will no longer be Christian. And especially the original child this is found again: shining with a transfigured shining, what we can call the beautiful old man has Unfolding of the eyes Mystery of a childIniquity in preparation for Antichrist.” —Olivier Clément—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, excerpt from Orthodox Survival Course
“It is “We who wish to remain in the true tradition of great significance if there is a person who truly prays Orthodoxy will have to be zealous and firm in our Orthodoxy without being fanatics, and without presuming to teach our bishops what they should do. Above all we must strive to preserve the true fragrance of Orthodoxy, being at least a family. Prayer attracts God’s grace and little ‘not of this world’, detached from all the members cares and politics even of the family feel itChurch, even those whose hearts have grown coldnourishing ourselves on the otherworldly food the Church gives us in such abundance. Pray always” —Fr.” —Elder Thaddeus Seraphim Rose of VitovnicaPlatina
“Prayer is “Test your bishops in only one respect: try and find out whether they are Orthodox, whether they teach dogmas contrary to the place of refuge for every worrytrue Faith, and whether they concelebrate with heretics, a foundation for cheerfulnessor schismatics. As far as other things, a source they act out of constant happiness, a protection against sadnessignorance or because the days are evil and they will give an account to God only.” —St. John ChrysostomGennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople
“He who angers “Regarding the affairs of the Church, in the words of the Saviour, one of the most awesome phenomena of the last days is that at that time ‘the stars shall fall from heaven’ (Matt. 24.29). According to the Saviour’s own explanation, these ‘stars’ are the Angels of the Churches, in other words, the Bishops (Rev. 1.20). The religious and moral fall of the Bishops is, therefore, one of the most characteristic signs of the last days. The fall of the Bishops is particularly horrifying when they deviate from the doctrines of the faith, or, as the Apostle put it, when they ‘would pervert the Gospel of Christ’ (Gal. 1.7). The Apostle orders that such people be pronounced ‘anathema’. He said, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto youthan that which ye have received, let him be accursed (anathema)’ (Gal. 1.9). And one must not be slow about this, for he continues, ‘A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, being condemned of himself’ (Titus 3.10-11). Moreover, controls you!may be subject to God’s judgement if you are indifferent to deviation from the truth: ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth’ (Rev. 3.16).” —Bishop Melchisedek Pleska—Archbishop Theophan of Poltava
““The bishops of the end times will be subservient [The desire forobedient and compliant] equality is from to the powerful of the Devilworld, because it comes entirely and they will make decisions according to the gifts they receive from envyeverywhere, and consulting the rational logic of the academics.” —Fr—St. Alexander SchmemannPambo
“Men are converted “Do not show obedience to God not because someone was able bishops who exhort you to give brilliant explanations, but because they saw in him that light, joy, depth, seriousness, do and love which alone reveal the presence to say and power of God to believe in the worldthings which are not to your benefit. What pious man would hold his tongue? Who would remain completely calm? In fact, silence equates to consent.” —Fr—St. Alexander SchmemannMeletios of Antioch
“In your prayer seek only righteousness and “Geronda, is the silence of the kingdom Church an indication of Godapproval?Yes. Someone wrote some blasphemous things about Panaghia and no one spoke up. Then I told someone, ‘Did you see what so-and-so has written?’ And he told me, that is‘Well, virtue and spiritual knowledge; and everything else what can you do with those people? You'will be given ll get soiled if you try to youdeal with them.’ They' (Mattre afraid to speak up. 6:33).” —St. Evagrius of Ponticus
“Virtues are formed by prayerWhat did he have to fear, Geronda?That people might write something about him and ridicule him in the press. Prayer preserves temperanceAnd so he tolerates blasphemous things about Panaghia! We want others to pull the chestnuts out of the fire so that we can have our peace of mind. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions This indicates a lack of pride and envylove. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises Then man begins to Heavenact out of self-interest.” —St”—Elder Paisios of Mt. Ephrem the SyrianAthos, Spiritual Counsels II, Spiritual Awakening, p. 40
“Even “If Christians don't begin to witness their faith, to resist evil, then the destroyers will become even more insolent. But today's Christians are no warriors. If the Church keeps silent, to avoid conflict with the government, if the Metropolitans are silent, if we stand at the very summit of virtuemonks hold their peace, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.then who will speak up?” —St—Elder Paisios of Mt. John ChrysostomAthos
“The goodness of God is so rich in graces“When they are blaspheming your faith, and you stay silent, you become worse than that it seeks a cause to have mercy on a personblasphemer.” —St. Anthimus Gabriel Urgebadze of ChiosGeorgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“The Holy Spirit has accomplishing clergy in each believer the work last years will become an instrument of Christthe Antichrist. Each Christian is They will teach blind obedience as a communicant virtue of the spiritpeace and salvation. This is something so necessaryA satanic obedience, that in fact whoever does not have which will require from the believer ‘ignorance’ and contempt for the Spirit is not teachings of Christthe Saints and indifference to the truth and superficial piety.” —St. Theophan the RecluseNiphon of Constantia (Cyprus)
“The Church “Christian shepherds, that is nothing but , bishops and priests, are going to be filled with vainglory (with some exceptions), utterly failing to distinguish the world on right way from the way left… The Churches of God are going to deification; for be deprived of godly and pious shepherds.” —St. Nilus the Church, the world is no longer a tomb but a wombMyrrhgusher of Mt.” —Olivier ClémentAthos
“The church is an earthly heaven in which “Just as the super-celestial God dwells unskilled doctor sends many people to the gates of Hades [physical death], similarly, the incompetent and walks aboutirresponsible spiritual father sends many souls to Hades. O, what a terrible evil for someone to find [spiritual] death while seeking treatment. ” —St. Germanus Nektarios of ConstantinopleAegina
“Nothing is more abiding than “The time will come when you will be sold by your shepherds. They will watch you being ripped apart by the Church: she is your salvation; she is wild beasts and they will not come to your refugehelp.” —St. John Chrysostom—Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania
“There is no need “In the last days, evil and heresy will have spread so widely that the faithful will not be able to find a priest or shepherd to protect them from delusion and guide them to weep much over salvation. At that time, the destruction faithful will not receive safe guidance from men; but their guide will be the writings of a church; after allthe Holy Fathers. Especially at this time, each every believer will be responsible for the whole fulness of the Church. Brethren, it is time for us, according all to undertake our responsibility to God's mercy, has and to history. Do not tolerate any more foolishness or misguidance from priests or should have his own church archpriests. Do not turn a blind eye for you will be co- the heart - go in there and pray, as much as responsible. The Saints are forewarning you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned ” —St. John (without inward prayerMaximovitch), then the visible church will be of little benefit.” —Archbishop BarlaamShanghai and San Francisco
“Our prayer reflects our attitude towards God. He who is careless of salvation has a different attitude toward God from him who has abandoned sin and is zealous for virtue but has not yet entered within himself and works for the Lord only outwardly“The last days are starting. Finally, he who has entered within and carries the Lord within himself, standing before HimSoon, has yet another attitudethere will be an ecumenical council called ‘holy’. The first man is negligent in prayer, just as he is negligent in life, and he prays in church and at home merely according to But that will be the established custom, without attention or feeling. The second man reads many prayers and goes often to church, trying at very ‘eighth council’ which will be the same time to keep his attention from wandering and to experience feelings in accordance with assembly of the prayers which are read, although he is seldom successfulgodless. The third man, wholly concentrated within, stands with his mind before God, and prays to Him in his heart without distraction, without long verbal prayers, even when standing for a long time All religions will unite into one at prayer in his home or in churchthat council. … Every prayer must come from the heart and any other prayer is no prayer at Then, all. Prayer-book prayersfasts will be canceled, your own prayers and very short prayersmonasticism will be completely destroyed, all must issue forth from bishops will be married. The new calendar will be implimented in the heart to God, seen before youUniversal Church.” —St. Theophan the Recluse
“It is sometimes well during prayer Be vigilant. Try to say a few words of your own, breathing fervent faith and love go to the Lord. Yes, let us not always converse with God in the words of others, not always remain children in faith and hope; we must also show our own mind, indite a good matter from our own heart also's church while they are still ours. MoreoverSoon, we grow too accustomed you won't be able to go there. Everything will change. Only the words of others and grow cold in prayer. And how pleasing chosen will see this lipsing of our own is, coming from a believing, loving, and thankful heart. It is impossible to explain this; it is only needful They will be forcing people to say that when you are praying go to God with your own words the soul trembles with joy, it becomes wholly inflamed, vivified, and beatified. You will utter few wordschurch, but you will experience such blessedness as you would we should not have obtained saying go there under any circumstances. Stand in the Orthodox Faith until the longest most touching prayers of others, pronounced out of habit end and insincerely.you will be saved!” —St. John Kuksha (Velichko) of KronstadtOdessa
“Chastisement through “When the trials imposed on us is a spiritual rodtraces of the past historical order have become extinguished, and the new order has taken ground, teaching us humility when in our foolishness we think too much the Holy Mount will have no peace. Monastic dignity will be destroyed or disposed of ourselvesfor the freedom of the state and the bishops to squander its priceless treasures and relics.” —St—Elder Costas the Caveot and Fool for Christ of Mt. Thalassios the LibyanAthos
“Goodness is not confirmed without trial“But woe to the monks in those days who will be bound with possessions and riches, who because of love of peace will be ready to submit to the heretics. Every Christian is tested by something: one by povertyThey will lull to sleep their conscience, another by illnesssaying, a third by various thoughts, a forth by some calamity or humiliation, while another by various doubts‘We are preserving and saving the monastery and the Lord will forgive us. And, ’ The unfortunate and blind ones do not at all consider that through this, firmness of faithheresy the demons will enter the monastery and then it will no longer be a holy monastery, hope and love of God are testedbut merely walls from which grace will depart.” —St. Ambrose Anatoly the Younger of Optina
“Sometimes men are tested “Let us flee from those who reject patristic interpretations and attempt by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical sufferingthemselves to deduce the complete opposite. By means of His prescriptions While pretending to concern themselves with the Physician literal sense of souls administers the remedy according to passage, they reject its godly meaning. We should run away from them more than we would from a snake, for when a snake bites it kills the cause of body temporarily, separating it from the passions lying hidden immortal soul, but when these evil men get their teeth into a soul, they separate it from God, which is eternal death for that soul. Let us escape as far as we can from such people, and take refuge with those who teach piety and salvation in accordance with the soultraditions of the Fathers.” —St. Maximus Gregory Palamas, Homily 34, On the Confessor, PhilokaliaHoly Transfiguration of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus
“If you want“Brother Christians! Raise your voices in defense of the Church's Apostolic Faith, or rather intendthe holy things of the Church, the Church's heritage. Defend your right to take a splinter out believe and confess your faith as you learned it in days of another personold, then do not hack at as you were taught it with a stick instead by the holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the God-wise fathers of the Church, the Christian ascetics. Take care of the holiness of your souls, the freedom of your consciences. Say loudly that you have been accustomed to pray and save yourselves in the churches, that the holy things of a lancetthe Church are dearer to you than life itself, that without them salvation is impossible. No power can demand from you that which is against your faith, your religious conscience: ‘We must obey God rather than men’, said the holy apostles. That is what we, too, must say. The apostles joyfully suffered for the faith. Be you also ready for sacrifice, for podvig, and remember that physical arms are powerless against those who arm themselves with powerful faith in Christ. Faith moves mountains, ‘the faith of the Christians has conquered the pagan boldness’. May your faith be bold and courageous! Christ destroyed Hades. He will only drive it also destroy the snares of the enemies of our Church. Believe - and the enemy will flee from before your face. Stand in deeper.” defense of your faith and with firm hope say: ‘Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!’” —St. John ClimacusHermogenes, Hieromartyr and Bishop of Tobolsk, response to the Bolshevik tyranny in 1918
“To exalt oneself “The times ahead, more perhaps than ever before in the Church's history, are a time of what St. Gregory the Theologian called ‘suffering Orthodoxy.’ We truly live in apocalyptic times: atheism is one thingconquering the public sphere in the whole world, not to do so anotherfalse religion increases as never before and captures many of those who awaken from the sleep of unbelief, the ecumenical movement draws nearer its goal of a false world church (the harlot of the Apocalypse), and the spirit of the coming Antichrist begins to humble oneself is something less entirelyplace its seal on everywhere. A man may always Those who would be faithful to Christ in these terrible times must be passing judgement on others, while another man passes judgement neither on others nor on himselfprepared for sufferings and trials which will truly test the faithfulness of our hearts to Him. A thirdAnd yet, however, though actually guiltless, may always greater than these sufferings and the prince of this world who will inflict them upon us is He Who has promised to be passing judgement on himselfwith us even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).” —St—Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse, The Apocalypse, translated by Fr. John ClimacusSeraphim Rose of Platina
“If a man accuses himself“Satan has spread 666 traps. His seal will be made not only invisibly but also visibly, he on the forehead and arm. If the seal impression is protected on all sidesmade by force, in God’s sight it will be considered like a virgin disgraced. The hardest trial for Christians will be their relatives who accepted the seal. The seal won’t affect if made against someone's will.” —StBut imagine the trap set by the antichrist for a mother having left with five children. PoemenHow to feed them if she does not accept the seal?
“It is not then wealth that is At first, the foundation seal will be offered to volunteers. However, within the enthronement of pleasure, nor poverty Antichrist everyone will be forced to accept the seal. Disobedience will be claimed a treachery. People will flee to the forests. Precautions should be taken to move in groups of sadnessabout ten-fifteen, but our own judgment and as the fact that demons might try to nudge single people from the eyes of our cliffs. The believers will be protected by the Holy Spirit. Whatever happens, never lose your hope. Help each other. God will clear your mind neither see clearly nor remain fixed in and you will know how to react. The one placewho endures will be saved. No true believer will feel either hunger, but flutter abroador thirst. The believers won't wither in the time of disasters. The Lord will work miracles for them. One leaf of a plant will be enough food for a month. Even the lump of the earth will be changed into the bread by making a sign of the cross over it.” —St. John ChrysostomGabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“One who knows oneself“Everyone is under the influence of a power that masters the mind, the will, and all the powers of the soul. And this power is cunning, because its source is the devil, and his tools are cunning people. Through them work the Antichrist and his forerunners. The Apostle said, ‘Because of that, knows God: delivered them into the spirit of delusion, of deception, because they did not accept the love of the truth’. Something dark and one who knows God scary is worthy to worship Him as is rightcoming over the world. ThereforeThe human will stay more or less under his mastery, my beloveds in and the Lordmore the power of that cunning one has on the human under his mastery, know yourselvesthe less the human will be aware of what he is doing.” —St. Anthony the GreatBarsanuphius
“In whatever state a person is“The servants of Antichrist more than anything else strive to force God out of the life of men, he sometimes finds himself making pure and intense prayers. For even from so that first and lowest sortmen, which has to do satisfied with recalling the future judgmenttheir material comfort, the one who is still subject might not feel any need to turn to God in prayer, might not remember God, but might live as though He did not exist. Therefore, the punishment whole order of terror and today's life in the fear of judgment so-called ‘free’ countries, where there is occasionally so struck with compunction that no open bloody persecution against faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, is filled with no less joy of spirit from an even greater danger for the richness soul of his supplication a Christian (than open persecution), for it chains him entirely to the one whoearth, examining the kindnesses compelling him to forget about heaven. The whole of God contemporary ‘culture’, directed to purely earthly attainments and going over them in the purity frantic whirlpool of his heartlife bound up with it, dissolves into unspeakable gladness keeps a man in a constant state of emptiness and delight. For, according distraction which gives no opportunity for one to the words of the Lordgo at least a little deeper into his soul, and so the one who realizes that more has been forgiven spiritual life in him begins to love moregradually dies out.” —St. John Cassian—Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse, True Orthodoxy and the Contemporary World
“If “They have built a man's self church career for themselves on a false but attractive premise: that the chief danger to the Church today is lack of strictness. No – the chief danger is something much deeper – the loss of the savor of Orthodoxy, a movement in which they themselves are participating, even in their ‘strictness.’… ‘Strictness’ will not kept clean save us if we don't have any more the feeling and bright, his glimpse taste of God will be blurredOrthodoxy.” —C—Fr. S. LewisSeraphim Rose of Platina
“The pure heart sees God “We ourselves have a feeling–based on nothing very definite as yet–that the best hope for preserving true Orthodoxy in the years ahead will lie in such small gatherings of believers, as much as possible ‘one in a mirrormind and soul.’ The history of the twentieth century has already shown us that we cannot expect too much from the ‘Church organization’; there, even apart from heresies, the spirit of the world has become very strong. Archbishop Averky, and our own Bishop Nektary also, have warned us to prepare for catacomb times ahead, when the grace of God may even be taken away from the ‘Church organization’ and only isolated groups of believers will remain. Soviet Russia already gives us an example of what we may expect–only worse, for the times do not get better.” —Abba Philemon—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Hope, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene
“The blessedness of seeing God is justly promised to “In those days the pure remnant of heart. For the eye faithful are to experience in themselves something like that is unclean would not be able to see which was experienced once by the brightness of the true lightLord Himself when He, and what would be happiness to clear minds would be hanging on a torment to those cross, felt Himself so forsaken by His Divinity, that are defiled. ThereforeHe cried out ‘My God, let the mists why hast Thou forsaken me?’ The last Christians will experience in themselves a similar abandonment of worldly vanities be dispelled, and humanity by the inner eye be cleansed Grace of all the filth of wickednessGod, so that the soul's gaze may feast serenely upon the great vision of Godbut only for a short time.” —St. Leo the GreatSeraphim of Sarov
“God rests within gentle hearts“Finally, in the twilight of history, the dictator of the world will come, the son of perdition… whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth (2 Thess. The gentle and merciful shall sit fearless 2:8). And in His regionsall that time of peace, happiness and prosperity, there ‘will be great tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor will ever be after’ (Mat. 24:21). Because of these troubles, many will inherit Heavenly gloryrepent and turn to God the Saviour.” —StAnd in them the Lord will have His last harvest. John Climacus
“Do not call God just, for His justice is not manifest in The countries of the world will lead the things concerning you. And if David calls Him just fight against Christ and upright (cf. Ps. 24:8, 144:17), His Son revealed to us that He is good and kind. ‘He is goodChurch… The Church of Christ will be put outside the law,’ He says, ‘to the evil and to the impious’ (cfpublic commemoration of Christ's name will be proscribed with severe penalties. Luke 6:35). How can you But only those who call God just when you come across upon the Scriptural passage on name of the wage given to the workers? ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong I Lord will give unto this last even as unto theebe saved. Is thine eye evil because I am good?’ (Matt. 20:12-15). How can a man call God just when he comes across the passage on And the prodigal son who wasted his wealth with riotous living, how for the compunction alone which he showed, the father ran and fell upon his neck and gave him authority over all his wealth? (Luke 15:11 ff.). None other but His very Son said these things concerning Himof Man, lest we doubt it; when He suddenly comes and thus He bare witness concerning Himdestroys the ‘son of perdition’ [i. Where, then, is God's justice, for whilst we are sinners Christ died for us! (cfe. Rom. 5:8). But if here He is mercifulAntichrist], we may believe that last tyrant, will He will not change.” —St. Isaac find faith on the Syrian, Homily LXearth?
“God chastises with loveIt will be found, but not for the sake of revenge---far in public. It will be it!---found, but not in seeking to make whole his image. And he does not harbour wrath until magnificent temples, such time as correction is no longer possibleare present, for he does not seek vengeance for himself. This is but in the aim of lovecaves and deserts. Love's chastisement is for correctionIt will be found, but does not aim at retribution. … The man who chooses to consider God as avengerapproved and protected, presuming that in this manner he bears witness but as something tossed to His justiceand fro. It will be found, but not in lavish liturgies and psalmody but in the same accuses Him temples of being bereft of goodnessthe human heart and in whispered speakings. Far be it that vengeance could ever be found For the Church began in that Fountain of love Martyrdom, and Ocean brimming with goodness!in the end there She will find Martyrdom, O holy brethren.” —St. Isaac Nikolai Velimirovich, The Orthodox Church in the Syrian"twilight of history"
“Among all God's actions there is none which is not entirely a matter “During the days of mercyAntichrist, love and compassion: this constitutes the beginning and end strongest temptation will be the anticipation of His dealings salvation coming from the cosmos, from humanoids–that is from extraterrestrials, who are actually demons. One should rarely look up to search the skies with usthe naked eye, since the signs might be deceptive and one might be deceived.” —St. Isaac the SyrianGabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“The world “So mine is the general name for all the passionsa little flock? But it is not being carried over a precipice. When we wish to call the passions So mine is a narrow fold? But it is unapproachable by wolves; it cannot be entered by a common namerobber, we call them the worldnor overcome by thieves and strangers. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special namesI shall yet see it, I know well, we call them grow wider… I fear not for the passionslittle flock; for it is seen at a glance. I know my sheep and am known of mine. The passions Such are they that know God and are known of God. My sheep hear from my voice that which I have heard from the following: love oracles of richesGod, desire for possessionswhich I have been taught by the Holy Fathers, bodily pleasure from which comes sexual passionI have taught in like manner on all occasions, love of honour which gives rise not conforming myself to envy, lust for powerfashion, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothes and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancour and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions I will never cease to be active, there the world is deadteach; for though living in the fleshwhich I was born, they did not live for the flesh. See for and in which of these passions you are alive. Then you I will know how far you are alive to the world and how far you are dead to itdepart.” —St. Isaac Gregory the SyrianTheologian
“We don't understand “If it should happen that happiness a patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop is in eternity a heretic, and such a heretic publicly professes heresy and disseminates heretical opinions boldly and confidently among the people, whoever separates from him will not only not in vanitybe punished, but rather honored, for they deserve recognition for separating from an association with a certain faith.” —Elder Paisios of Mt—Fr. AthosJoannes Zonaras (9th century Byzantine canonist and historian on Canon 15)
“Why do you beat “If every Orthodox Christian is commanded by the air and run in vain? Every occupation has canons to depart from a purposeheretical bishop even before he is officially condemned, or be guilty also of his heresy, obviously. Tell me thenhow much more must we depart from those who are worse (and more unfortunate) than heretics, what is the purpose of all because they openly serve the activity cause of the worldAntichrist? Answer, I challenge you! It is vanity of vanity: all is vanity.” —St—Fr. John ChrysostomSeraphim Rose of Platina, Letter 40, 1970
“The sun shines on all alike“Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instancelest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a certain respect at the burial of this my humble body, I am vainglorious when I fast; and when I relax the fast or to send to my grave any of his hierarchs or clergy or in general any of those in communion with him in order to be unnoticedtake part in prayer or to join the priests invited to it from amongst us, thinking that at some time, or perhaps secretly, I am again vainglorious over had allowed communion with him. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my prudence. When views well-dressed and fully to suspect some kind of conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I am quite overcome by vainglorydo not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and when do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not in this life nor after my death, just as (I put on poor clothes accept) neither the Union nor Latin dogmas, which he and his adherents have accepted, and for the enforcement of which he has occupied this presiding place, with the aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church. I am vainglorious again. When absolutely convinced that the farther I talk stand from him and those like him, the nearer I am defeatedto God and all the saints, and when to the degree that I separate myself from them am silent in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church; and I am again defeated by itlikewise convinced that those who count themselves with them stand far away from the Truth and from the blessed Teachers of the Church. However And for this reason I throw say: just as in the course of my whole life I was separated from them, so at the time of my departure, yea and after my death, I turn away from intercourse and communion with them and vow and command that none (of them) shall approach either my burial or my grave, and likewise anyone else from our side, with the aim of attempting to join and concelebrate in our Divine services; for this pricklywould be to mix what cannot be mixed. But it befits them to be absolutely separated from us until such time as God shall grant correction and peace to His Church.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, The Example of, [as quoted in The Orthodox Word, June-pearJuly, 1967, a spike stands uprightpp.” —St103ff. John Climacus]
"Have you ever observed the life of the heart? Try “With all our strength, therefore, let us beware lest we receive Communion from or give it even for a short time and see to heretics. ‘Give not what you find. Something unpleasant happens, and you get irritated; some misfortune occurs, and you pity yourself; you see someone whom you dislikeis holy to the dogs, and animosity wells up within you; you meet one of your equals who has now outdistanced you on ’ saith the social scale, and you begin to envy him; you think of Lord. ‘Neither cast ye your talents and capabilitiespearls before swine’, lest we become partakers in their dishonour and you begin to grow proud… All this is rottenness: vainglory, carnal desire, gluttony, laziness, malice-one on top of the other, they destroy the heartcondemnation.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San FranciscoDamascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, IV, 13
“As water and fire oppose one another when combined“And, so you see, people are self-justification and humility opposed to one anothernot at all aware that we are living during the signs of the times, that the sealing is already advancing. This is why the Sacred Scripture says that even the elect will be deceived.” —St. Mark the AsceticPaisios of Mt. Athos, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. II, Spiritual Awakening, p. 198
“Fire “The Church is suffering today because Divine illumination is missing and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repentpeople understand things as it suits them. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his deathThe human element gets involved; passions are aroused, pass no judgmentand then, because the judgment of God devil comes and thrashes about. That is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those why people who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in are governed by their eyespassions should not seek to govern others.” —St. John ClimacusPaisios of Mt. Athos
“Christians“In sum, above all menthe Ecumenical Patriarchate, are forbidden to correct in theory embracing almost the stumblings of sinners by force… it is necessary to make whole universe and in fact extending its authority only over several dioceses, and in other places having only a man better not by force but higher superficial supervision and receiving certain revenues for this, persecuted by persuasion. God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, government at home and not supported by forceany governmental authority abroad: having lost its significance as a pillar of truth and having itself become a source of division, but and at the same time being possessed by choicean exorbitant love of power--represents a pitiful spectacle which recalls the worst periods in the history of the See of Constantinople.” —St. John Chrysostom(Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, from Orthodox Word, vol. 8, no. 4 (45), July-August 1972, pp. 166-168, 174-175.
“Do not be surprised “The Lord of all gave to His apostles the power of the gospel, and by them we also have learned the truth, that is, the teaching of the Son of God—as the Lord said to them, ‘He who hears you hears Me, and he who despises you fall every day; do despises Me, and Him Who sent Me’ [Lk.10:16]. For we learned the plan of our salvation from no other than from those through whom the gospel came to us. The first preached it abroad, and then later by the will of God handed it down to us in Scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith. For it is not give upright to say that they preached before they had come to perfect knowledge, but stand your ground courageouslyas some dare to say, boasting that they are the correctors of the apostles. And assuredlyFor after our Lord had risen from the dead, and they were clothed with the power from on high when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were filled with all things and had perfect knowledge. They went out to the angel who guards you will honor your patienceends of the earth, preaching the good things that come to us from God, and proclaiming peace from heaven to all men, all and each of them equally being in possession of the gospel of God.” —St. John ClimacusIrenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III
“The life of “Those that wish to discern the truth may observe the apostolic tradition made manifest in every church throughout the world. We can enumerate those who were appointed bishops in the churches by the righteous was radiantapostles, and their successors (or successions) down to our own day, who never taught, and never knew, absurdities such as these men produce. How did it become radiant For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries which they taught the perfect in private and in secret, they would rather have committed them to those to whom they entrusted the churches. For they wished those men to be perfect and unbelievable whom they laughed as their successors and to whom they handed over their own office of authority. But as it wasn’t would be very tedious, in a book of this sort, to enumerate the successions in all the churches, we can found all those who in any way, whether for self-pleasing, or vainglory, or blindness, or evil mindedness, hold on authorized meetings. This we do by patience? Love patiencepointing to the apostolic tradition and the faith that is preached to men, which has come down to us through the successions of bishops; the tradition and creed of the greatest, and most ancient church, O monkthe church known to all men, as which was founded and set up at Rome by the mother two men most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul. For with this church, because of its position of courageleadership and authority, must needs agree every church, that is, the faithful everywhere; for in her the apostolic tradition has always been preserved by the faithful from all parts.” —St. Ephrem the SyrianIrenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III
“Faintness of heart is a sign of despondency, and negligence is the mother of both. A cowardly man shows that he suffers from two diseases: love of his flesh and lack of faith; “If you wait for love of one’s flesh is a sign of unbelief. But he who despises the love of the flesh proves that he believes in God with his whole heart and awaits the age perfect conditions to come … A courageous heart and scorn of perils comes from one of two causes: either from hardness of heart or from great faith in God. Pride accompanies hardness of heartwork out your salvation, but humility accompanies faith. A man cannot acquire hope in God unless he first does His then you will with exactness. For hope in God and manliness of heart are born of the testimony of the conscience, and by the truthful testimony of the mind we possess confidence towards never begin a God-pleasing life.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 40Nikon of Optina
“I "True Christianity is glorifying God with our own lives. To glorify God with our own life is possible only when we have seen pride lead to humility. And I remembered him who said: Who hath known the mind of the Lord? The pit true faith and offspring of conceit is a fall; but a fall is often an occasion of humility for those who are willing to use when that faith indeed exists, we express it to their advantagein words and in deeds.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder (Maximovitch) of Divine Ascent, Step 15, Section 38Shanghai and San Francisco
“Humility is “When I, while still in Australia, began to receive information from America already post factum that here [in New York City] there had been protests, demonstrations, and even molebens in front of the only thing Soviet consulate, I became quite alarmed and regretted that no devil can imitateI was not here, since I would have decisively opposed much of what took place.” —StIn particular, holding a moleben in such a place. John ClimacusDid they not sing the Lord's song in a strange land? What cause was there to display the holy things of the Church's services before the gaze of the frenzied servants of Antichrist? Was it really not possible to pray in church?
“An angel fell from Heaven without any other passion except prideI must say frankly that I am always seized by dismay when I hear of protests, demonstrations, and the like. In the USSR, life is governed by him (the one with horns) who fears only Christ and His Cross; and who fears nothing else in the world. And he merely chortles over protests and demonstrations. Public opinion? Why, the antichrist regime has nothing but the uttermost contempt for it! They wanted to seize Czechoslovakia and so we may ask whether they seized it is possible , paying no heed to ascend the commotion that was raised. They wanted to Heaven by humility aloneinvade Afghanistan and they invaded it, without any other again paying no attention to the protests and threats of the virtuesvarious Carters & Co.” —St. John ClimacusAll attempts to shape public opinion in the so-called Free World in favor of those suffering from Communism are powerless and fruitless, since the Free World stubbornly closes its eyes and imitates the ostrich, which hides its head under its wing and imagines that it cannot be seen…” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York, A letter from Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) to ROCOR Priest Victor Potapov concerning Father Dimitry Dudko and the Moscow Patriarchate
“Run from pride“That only the canonical Scriptures have infallibility is testified by Blessed Augustine in the words which he writes to Jerome: ‘It is fitting to bestow such honour and veneration only to the books of Scripture which are called 'canonical, ' for I absolutely believe that none of the authors who wrote them erred in anything. … As for other writings, no matter how great was the excellence of their authors in sanctity and learning, in reading them I do not accept their teaching as true solely on the basis that they thus wrote and thought.’ Then, in a letter to Fortunatus [St. Mark continues in his citations of Augustine] he writes the following: ‘We should not hold the judgment of a man, even though this man might have been orthodox and had an high reputation, as the same kind of authority as the canonical Scriptures, to the extent of considering it inadmissible for us, out of the reverence we owe such men, to disapprove and reject something in their writing if we should happen to discover that they taught other than the truth which, with God's help, has been attained by others or by ourselves. This is a passion more treacherous than any how I am with regard to the writings of othermen; and I desire that the reader will act thus with regard to my writings also.” ’” —St. John ChrysostomMark of Ephesus, Second Homily on Purgatorial Fire, chs. 15-16; Pogodin, pp. 127-132
“Pride more than anything else“All who foolishly and proudly reject the Holy Fathers, deprives people of both their good deeds who approach the Gospels directly with foolish brazenness and unclean mind and help from Godheart, fall into lethal self-deception. Where there is no humilityThe Gospel has rejected them, pride takes its placefor it only accepts those who are humble.” —St. Macarius Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of OptinaCaucasus, The Field, Chapter 3
“Day and night I pray the Lord for love, and the Lord gives me tears “The holy scriptures were not given to weep for the whole world. But if I find fault with any manus that we should enclose them in books, or look on him with an unkind eye, my tears will dry up, and my soul sink into despondencybut that we should engrave them in our hearts. Yet do I begin again to entreat forgiveness of the Lord, and the Lord in His mercy forgives me, a sinner” —St.John Chrysostom
Brethren, before “I will tell you my opinion briefly and without reserve. We ought to remain in that Church which was founded by the face of my God I write: Humble your hearts, Apostles and while yet on continues to this earth day. If ever you will see the mercy hear of any that are called Christians taking their name not from the LordJesus Christ, and know your Heavenly Creatorbut from some other, for instance, Marcionites, Valentinians, Men of the mountain or the plain, and your souls will never you may be sure that you have there not the Church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antichrist. For the fact that they took their fill rise after the foundation of love.” —Stthe Church is proof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold. Silouan the Athonite
“He who in his heart And let them not flatter themselves if they think they have Scripture authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted Scripture, and the essence of the Scriptures is proud of his tears and secretly condemns those who do not weep is like a man who asks the king for letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow the letter, we too can concoct a weapon against his enemy new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes and then commits suicide with ithave two coats must not be received into the Church.” —St. John ClimacusJerome
“… One must clean “The key [to interpreting Holy Scripture]… is the royal house from every impurity and adorn it with every beautyTradition of the Church… Now if you want to interpret the way you want, due to your satanic pride, then the king may enter into ityou will most certainly fail. In You will become a similar way one must first cleanse the earth of the heart heretic, and uproot heresy is nothing other than the weeds logical interpretation of sin and the passionate deeds and soften it dogma. When I attempt to interpret things that cannot be interpreted with sorrows logic and the narrow way of lifeintellect, sow in it the seed of virtue, water it with lamentation when I attempt to interpret a deep mystery using my mere mind and tearsmy intellect, and only then does the fruit of dispassion and eternal life growI go astray. For ” —Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, Homiles on the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a man until he has been cleansed from passions Book of the soul and bodyRevelation, Vol.” —StI, p. Paisius Velichkovsky, ‘Field Flowers’46
“When the soul leaves the body, the enemy advances to attack it, fiercely reviling it and accusing it of its sins in a harsh and terrifying manner. The devout soul, however, even though in the past it has often been wounded by sin, is “Christianity did not frightened by the enemy’s attacks and threats. Strengthened by the Lord, winged by joy, filled with courage by the holy angels that guide it, and encircled and protected by the light of faith, it answers the enemy with great boldnesscome from Judaism: ‘Fugitive from heavenrather, wicked slave, what have I to do with you? You have no authority over me; Christ the Son of God has authority over me and over all things. Against Him have I sinned, before Him shall I stand on trial, having His Precious Cross as Judaism is a sure pledge of His saving love towards me. Flee from me, destroyer! You have nothing to do with the servants perversion of Christ.’ When the soul says all this fearlessly, the devil turns his back, howling aloud and unable to withstand the name of Christ. Then the soul swoops down on the devil from above, attacking him like a hawk attacking a crow. After this it is brought rejoicing by the holy angels to the place appointed for it in accordance with its inward stateChristianity.” —St. Theognostos, On the Practice Ignatius of the Virtues, Philokalia, Vol. 2Antioch
“If you wish to be saved, O my soul, to go first on the most sorrowful path which has been indicated here, to enter into the Heavenly Kingdom and receive eternal life – then refine your flesh, taste voluntary bitterness, and endure difficult sorrows, as all the Saints tasted and endured. And when a man “Jesus Christ is preparing himself and gives himself the command to endure for the sake King of God all sorrows and pain which come upon him, then light and painless seem for him all sorrows, unpleasantnesses and attacks of devils and men. He does not fear death, and nothing can separate such a one from the love of ChristIsrael. Have you heard, my beloved soul, how Christians are the Holy Fathers spent their lives? O my soul! Imitate them at least a littleIsraelite race.” —St. Paisius VelichkovskyJustin the Martyr
“If you rebuke yourself, accuse yourself“The synagogue is a refuge for demons, and judge it is more correct to say not only the synagogue but also Jewish souls; if you consider yourself before God for your sins, with a sensitive consciencetrue Jew, even for this then why are you will be justifiedburdening the Church.If you are sorrowful for your sins, or you weep, or sigh, your sigh will not be hidden from Him and, as St” —St. John Chrysostom says, ‘If you only lament for your sinsAgainst the Jews (Adversus Judeos), then He will receive this for your salvation.’” —St. Moses of OptinaHomily 1 IV:2
“Where there “So it is pride there cannot be grace, that I exhort you to flee and if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance in prayershun their gatherings. The soul harm they bring to our weaker brothers is then tormented by evil thoughts not slight; they offer no slight excuse to sustain to the folly of the Jews. For when they see that you, who worship the Christ whom they crucified, are reverently following their rituals, how can they fail to think that the rites they have performed are the best and that our ceremonies are worthless? For after you worship and does adore at our mysteries, you run to the very men who destroy our rites. Paul said: ‘If a man sees you that have knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not understand his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to eat those things which are sacrificed to idols’? And let me say: If a man sees you that she must humble herself have knowledge come into the synagogue and love her enemiesparticipate in the festival of the Trumpets, shall not his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to admire what the Jews do? He who falls not only pays the penalty for there his own fall, but he is also punished because he trips others as well. But the man who has stood firm is no other way rewarded not only because of his own virtue but people admire him for leading others to please Goddesire the same things.” —St. Silouan John Chrysostom, Against the AthoniteJews (Adversus Judeos), Homily 1 V:7
“A good heart produces good thoughts: “But do not be surprised that I called the Jews pitiable. They really are pitiable and miserable. When so many blessings from heaven came into their hands, they thrust them aside and were at great pains to reject them. The morning Sun of Justice arose for them, but they thrust aside its thoughts correspond to what it stores up rays and still sit in itselfdarkness.” —St. Thalassios John Chrysostom, Against the LibyanJews (Adversus Judeos)
“Fasting “Certainly it is the time for me to show that demons dwell in the synagogue, not only in the place itself but also in the souls of the Jews. As Christ said: ‘When an unclean spirit is gone out, he walks through dry places seeking rest. If he does not find it he says: I shall return to my house. And coming he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter into him and the purification last state of that man is made worse than the soul first. So shall it be also to this generation.’ Do you see that demons dwell in their souls and bodythat these demons are more dangerous than the ones of old? And this is very reasonable.” —St. John Chrysostom, Against the Jews (Adversus Judeos)
“Fasting “The teachers of Judaism refuse to admit that the Septuagint is wonderfulcorrect. They attempt to frame another translation of the Scriptures. Observe that they have taken away many Old Testament Scriptures, because it tramples our sins like a dirty weed, while it cultivates and raises truth like a flowerby which the proof of Christ's crucifixion is set forth.” —St. Basil Justin the GreatMartyr
“Fasting is “The Jews are wise only in doing evil, and are thus unable to know the mother hidden plan of health; the friend of chastity; the partner of humilityGod.” —St. Symeon Justin the New theologianMartyr
“As salt “It is needed for all kinds absurd to speak of foodJesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that believes, and every tongue that confesses, so humility is needed for gathered unto God. And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the friend of God and in his seed all kinds of virtuesthose have been blessed who were ordained to eternal life in Christ.” —St. Isaac Ignatius of Antioch, On the Delusion of Being a ‘Jewish’ Christian, Epistle to the SyrianMagnesians, Chapter X
“Let it be known to you that if in your life you have mastered every virtue and every good deed such as mercy“Jews are slayers of the Lord, prayermurderers of the prophets, fastenemies of God, and other virtues but have no humility in youadversaries of Grace, your toil will be in vain. For humility in all these virtues is enemies of their Fathers’ faith, advocates of the solid foundation. Without itdevil, a brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, we cannot master any men of darkened minds, the virtues and all these virtues will become impureleaven of Pharisees, a congregation of demons, filthysinners, and discarded before God because they were not sown with humility and love.wicked men, haters of Goodness!” —St. John ChrysostomGregory of Nyssa
“Fasting “It is true that Muhammad started from the mother of health; east and came to the friend of chastity; west, as the partner of humilitysun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.” —St. Symeon the New theologianGregory Palamas
“What can sin do where there “They furthermore accuse us of being idolaters, because we venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is penitenceit, then, that you rub yourselves against a stone in your Ka'ba and kiss and embrace it? ’ Then some of them say that Abraham had relations with Agar upon it, but others say that he tied the camel to it, when he was going to sacrifice Isaac. And of what use we answer them: ‘Since Scripture says that the mountain was wooded and had trees from which Abraham cut wood for the holocaust and laid it upon Isaac, [108] and then he left the asses behind with the two young men, why talk nonsense? For in that place neither is it thick with trees nor is love where there passage for asses.’ And they are embarrassed, but they still assert that the stone is pride?” —Abba EliasAbraham's. Then we say: ‘Let it be Abraham's, as you so foolishly say. Then, just because Abraham had relations with a woman on it or tied a camel to it, you are not ashamed to kiss it, yet you blame us for venerating the cross of Christ by which the power of the demons and the deceit of the Devil was destroyed.’ This stone that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabár. Even to the present day, traces of the carving are visible on it to careful observers.
“Pride As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous books, to each one of which he set a title. For example, there is poverty of the soulbook On Woman, in which imagines itself he plainly makes legal provision for taking four wives and, if it be possible, a thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, besides the four wives. He also made it legal to be richput away whichever wife one might wish, and being , should one so wish, to take to oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in darknesslove. Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: ‘Oh, by the way, thinks God has commanded me to take your wife.’ The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Do as God has told you and take my wife.’ Rather—to tell the story over from the beginning—he said to him: ‘God has given me the command that you put away your wife.’ And he put her away. Then several days later: ‘Now,’ he said, ‘God has commanded me to take her.’ Then, after he had taken her and committed adultery with her, he made this law: ‘Let him who will put away his wife. And if, after having put her away, he should return to her, let another marry her. For it has lightis not lawful to take her unless she have been married by another. Furthermore, if a brother puts away his wife, let his brother marry her, should he so wish.’ [110] In the same book he gives such precepts as this: ‘Work the land which God hath given thee and beautify it. And do this, and do it in such a manner’ –not to repeat all the obscene things that he did.” —St. John Climacusof Damascus, Fount of Knowledge, Heresies in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin
“Modern society calls the beggar bum “Sometimes Japanese protestants come to me and panhandler and gives him ask me to clarify some place in the bum's rushHoly Scriptures. ‘You have your own missionary teachers,’ I tell them, ‘Go ask them. What do they say?’ ‘We have asked them. They say: understand as you know how. But I need to know the Greeks used to say real thought of God, not my own personal opinion.’ … It's not like that people with us [Orthodox]. Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in need are addition to the Holy Scriptures. And Holy Tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the ambassadors meaning of the godsHoly Scriptures are preserved.” —Peter Maurin—St. Nicholas of Japan, Diary, January 15, 1897
“Who “It is Christ Himself, not the greedy man? One for whom plenty does not suffice. Bible, Who defrauds others? One who keeps for himself what belongs to everyoneis the true word of God. Aren’t you greedyThe Bible, don’t you defraudread in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, when you keep for yourself what was given will bring us to give away? When someone steals Him. We must not use the Bible as a man’s clothes, we call him a thiefsort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons. Shouldn’t we give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?” —St—C. Basil the GreatS. Lewis
“The bread you do not use “If Scripture is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe perfect and sufficient for everything, why is the garment of the person who Church's interpretation necessary? Because, quite plainly, Scripture is naked. The shoes you do not wear are accepted by everyone as having the shoes of one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commitsame meaning.” —St. Basil the GreatVincent of Lérins
“You are “The humility of Jesus is not making a gift superfluous detail in the gospel narrative. The humility of what Jesus is yours essential to the poor mangospel. If Jesus lacked humility, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to there would be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyoneno incarnation, no crucifixion, not to the richand no redemption.” —St. Ambrose of Milan—Jack Wisdom
“Do “When they are refuted by the Scriptures, they take to maligning the Scriptures themselves. … But when we refer them to that tradition which originates with the apostles and which is preserved in the churches through the succession of the presbyters, they attack the tradition, claiming that they themselves are wiser not consider your riches as belonging merely than the presbyters but even than the apostles. [However] anyone who wants to see the truth can look to yourselves alonethe tradition of the Apostles which is clearly manifested throughout the whole world; open wide your hand and we can list those who were set up as bishops in the different churches as well as their successors right down to those our own time, men who neither taught nor knew anything like what these [Gnostics] are raving about. For if the apostles had known secret doctrines which they were in needthe habit of teaching to the “perfect” clandestinely and apart from the rest, they would most certainly have communicated these things to those to whom they were entrusting the churches themselves.” —St. Cyril of Alexandria
“The man who loves his neighbor as himself possesses no more than his neighbor…thusAnd if a dispute should arise over some point or other, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches, in which the apostles were actively interested, and find out from them what is certain and clear with regard to the point at issue? What if, as much as your wealth increasesin fact, so much does your love decrease.the apostles had left us no Writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the line indicated by the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they entrusted the churches?” —St. Basil the GreatIrenaeus of Lyons
“If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will “[Heretics] should not find Him in be admitted to any discussion of the chalice.” —St. John ChrysostomScriptures…
“No one in creation The Lord Jesus sent the apostles to preach. … Now what they actually preached can, as I must here likewise prescribe, be proved only by those very same churches which the apostles themselves founded by preaching to them both viva voce, as they say, and later by letters. Such being the case, it is consequently certain that any doctrine which agrees with [what is rich but he held by] these apostolic churches, moulds and original sources of the faith, must be considered the truth, undoubtedly containing that fears which these churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks any other doctrine must be presumed false, since it smacks of opposition to the truthof the churches, of the apostles, of Christ, of God.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian
“In Come now! Would they all your undertakings have fallen into error? Would the steward of God, the Vicar of Christ [the Holy Spirit] have neglected His duty by allowing the churches to understand and believe otherwise than what He Himself taught the apostles? Is it likely that so many and such outstanding churches would all have strayed into the one [false] faith? No chance happening ever has the same outcome in every way the case of lifemany different individuals. A doctrinal error in so many different churches would of necessity have taken different forms. But when unity exists amid diversity, whether you are living in obediencethis can be the result, or are not submitting your work to anyoneof error, whether in outward or in spiritual matters, let it be your rule and practice to ask yourself: Am I really doing this in accordance with God’s will?” —Stbut only of Tradition. John Climacus
“Those who submit Let us inquire, therefore, whether tradition, unless it be written, should be accepted. Certainly we shall say that it ought not to be accepted if we can allege as precedent no cases of other practices which we justify without any written document, but solely on the grounds of tradition and because of the Lord with simple heart approval of subsequent custom… If you demand scriptural justification for these and other such practices, you will run the good racefind none. If they keep Tradition will be held out to you as their author, custom as their minds on a leashconsolidator, they will not draw the wickedness of the demons onto themselvesand faith as their observer.” —St. John Climacus—Tertullian
“A hypocrite “Since there are many who think they share the mind of Christ and yet some of them think differently from their predecessors, let the preaching of the Church be held fast, that preaching which has been handed down from the apostles through the ranks of succession and perdures in the churches to the present day. That alone is someone who teaches his neighbor something he makes to be believed as the truth which varies in no effort to do himselfwise from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition.” —St. Poemen—Origen
“I prefer “It suffices as proof of our thesis that we have a man who sins and repents tradition coming to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughtsus from the fathers, for he admits that he is sinful. But like a legacy handed down from the apostles through the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteoussaints who followed them in succession.” —Abba Poemen the Great—St. Gregory of Nyssa
“At meals don't speak about food: that's vulgar “Of the beliefs and unworthy of you. Speak about something noble -- of practices [disciplinary regulations] preserved in the Church, some we possess from teaching handed down in written form; others we have received as delivered to us in a mystery from the soul or tradition of the mind -- Apostles, and you will both of these have dignified this dutythe same force as far as religion is concerned.” —St. Josemaria EscrivaBasil the Great
“When someone learns “There is need of tradition also; for not everything can be found in Scripture. That is why the most holy apostles left some things in writing and others in tradition. Paul affirms this very fact as follows: ‘as I handed it on to you.’ Likewise in another passage: ‘This is my teaching and thus have I handed it on to the churches.’ Similarly: ‘If you continue to cling firmly to acknowledge every man it, as being better than himself, then he I preached it to you—unless your faith has attained humilityall been for nothing.” ’” —St. Sisoes the GreatEpiphanius
“It is a spiritual gift from God “Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for a man to perceive his sinsthem.” —St. Isaac the SyrianHippolytus of Rome, The Apostolic Tradition, 21:16
“The man who is deemed worthy to see himself is greater than he who is deemed worthy to see angels“We baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by sins, so they too may be given holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and membership in Him.” —St. Isaac the SyrianJohn Chrysostom
“The truly blessed are “We believe the first man created by God to have fallen in Paradise, when, disregarding the Divine commandment, he yielded to the deceitful counsel of the serpent. And as a result hereditary sin flowed to his posterity; so that everyone who is born after the flesh bears this burden, and experiences the fruits of it in this present world. But by these fruits and this burden we do not understand [actual] sin, such as impiety, blasphemy, murder, sodomy, adultery, fornication, enmity, and whatever else is by our depraved choice committed contrarily to the Divine Will, not from nature. For many both of the Forefathers and of the Prophets, and vast numbers of others, as well of those under the ones who can work miracles shadow [of the Law], as well as under the truth [of the Gospel], such as the divine Precursor, and especially the Mother of God the Word, the ever-virgin Mary, did not experience these [sins], or see angels; such like faults. But only what the truly blessed are Divine Justice inflicted upon man as a punishment for the ones who can see their own sins[original] transgression, such as sweats in labor, afflictions, bodily sicknesses, pains in child-bearing, and, finally, while on our pilgrimage, to live a laborious life, and lastly, bodily death.” —St. Anthony the Great—Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, Decree 6
“The nearer a man draws “We believe Holy Baptism, which was instituted by the Lord, and is conferred in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be of the highest necessity. For without it none is able to be saved, as the Lord says, ‘Whoever is not born of water and of the Spirit, shall in no way enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens.’ {John 3:5} And, therefore, baptism is necessary even for infants, since they also are subject to Godoriginal sin, and without Baptism are not able to obtain its remission. Which the more Lord showed when he sees himself a sinnersaid, not of some only, but simply and absolutely, ‘Whoever is not born [again],’ which is the same as saying, ‘All that after the coming of Christ the Savior would enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens must be regenerated.’ And since infants are men, and as such need salvation, needing salvation they need also Baptism. It was when Isaiah And those that are not regenerated, since they have not received the prophet saw Godremission of hereditary sin, are, of necessity, subject to eternal punishment, and consequently cannot without Baptism be saved. So that even infants should, of necessity, be baptized. Moreover, infants are saved, as is said in Matthew; {Matthew 19:12} but he declared himself ‘a man that is not baptized is not saved. And consequently even infants must of necessity be baptized. And in the Acts {Acts 8:12; 16:33} it is said that the whole houses were baptized, and consequently the infants. To this the ancient Fathers also witness explicitly, and among them Dionysius in his Treatise concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; and Justin in his fifty-sixth Question, who says expressly, ‘And they are guaranteed the benefits of Baptism by the faith of unclean lipsthose that bring them to Baptism.’” —St’ And Augustine says that it is an Apostolic tradition, that children are saved through Baptism; and in another place, ‘The Church gives to babes the feet of others, that they may come; and the hearts of others, that they may believe; and the tongues of others, that they may promise;’ and in another place, ‘Our mother, the Church, furnishes them with a particular heart. Mateos’
“The way Now the matter of Baptism is pure water, and no other liquid. And it is performed by the Priest only, or in a case of unavoidable necessity, by another man, provided he is Orthodox, and has the proper intention to perfection is through Divine Baptism. And the realization that we effects of Baptism are blind, naked to speak concisely, firstly, the remission of the hereditary transgression, and poorof any sins of any kind that the baptized may have committed.” —StSecondly, it delivers him from the eternal punishment, to which he was liable, as well for original sin and for mortal sins he may have individually committed. Theophan Thirdly, it gives to the Recluseperson immortality; for in justifying them from past sins, it makes them temples of God.
“The perfect person does And it cannot be said that there is any sin which may have been previously committed that remains, though not imputed, that is not only try washed away through Baptism, For that were indeed the height of impiety, and a denial, rather than a confession of piety. Indeed, truly, all sin existing, or committed before Baptism, is blotted out, and is to avoid evilbe regarded as never existing or committed. For the forms of Baptism, and on either hand all the words that precede and that perfect Baptism, do indicate a perfect cleansing. Nor does he And the same thing even the very names of Baptism do good signify. For if Baptism is by the Spirit and by fire, {Matthew 3:11} it is obvious that it is in all a perfect cleansing; for fear of punishmentthe Spirit cleanses perfectly. If it is light, {Hebrews 6:4} it dispels the darkness. If it is regeneration, {Titus 3:5} old things are passed away. And what are these except sins? If the baptized puts off the old man, {Colossians 3:9} then sin also. If he puts on Christ, still less {Galatians 3:27} then in order effect he becomes free from sin through Baptism. For God is far from sinners. This Paul also teaches more plainly, saying: ‘As through one [man] we, being many, were made sinners, so through one [are we made] righteous.’ {Romans 5:19} And if righteous, then free from sin. For it is not possible for life and death to qualify for be in the hope same [person]. If Christ truly died, then remission of a promised rewardsin through the Spirit is true also. The perfect person does good Hence it is evident that all who are baptized and fall asleep while babes are undoubtedly saved, being predestinated through lovethe death of Christ. His actions Forasmuch as they are not motivated without any sin; – without that common [to all], because delivered from it by desire for personal benefitthe Divine laver, and without any of their own, so he does not have personal advantage because as his aimbabes they are incapable of committing sin; – and consequently are saved. But Moreover, Baptism imparts an indelible character, as soon does also the Priesthood. For as he has realized it is impossible for any one to receive twice the beauty same order of doing goodthe Priesthood, he does so it with all his energies and in all that he does. He is not interested in fameimpossible for any once rightly baptized, to be again baptized, or a good reputationalthough he should fall even into myriads of sins, or a human or divine rewardeven into actual apostasy from the Faith. The rule of life for a perfect person For when he is willing to be in return unto the Lord, he receives again through the Mystery of Penance the image and likeness adoption of Goda son, which he had lost.” —St. Clement —Confession of Dositheus, Synod of AlexandriaJerusalem, 1672, Decree 16
“Everyday I lay a foundation “A dangerous lie is preached by sectarians when they say that children should not be baptized, but when children grow up and know what faith is, then they should be baptized. Man and son of man, shut your ears from such crazy words. Because if your child dies unbaptized, he will enter the other world as unclean and undone by God. With whom, then, will he be in eternity, and whose name will he be? Look, you don't wait for building my repentanceyour child to grow up and find out what water and milk and honey and bread and medicine are, and again with my own hands I demolish only then can you give him all that. But you give it to him even though he doesn't know it. You know what's good and life saving for her, does she have to know that in the cradle? And if your child has cough, will you treat it, or will you wait until it grows up and find out what cough is? And hereditary sin is an unequally heavier pain than gout. So when you are treating your child from gout, treat him also from that more serious illness, for which the cure is baptism. Don't let your unbaptized child die, because otherwise you will never and anywhere in eternity meet his soul.” —St. Ephrem the SyrianNikolai Velimirovich
“…should we fall, we should not despair “…[T]here were no New Testamental writings for the earliest Christians and so estrange ourselves from yet they possessed the fullness of the Lord's lovetruth and faith of Christianity. For if He so chooses, He can deal mercifully with our weaknessOn the day of Pentecost the Church was born and yet there were no Gospels as we know them today. Only we should It would not cut ourselves off from Him or feel oppressed when constrained by His commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal…let us always be ready a theological exaggeration to make assert that the Church would be the Church in Her fullness even if She did not possess the New Testament. For many raised on the Reformational principle of ‘sola scriptura’ this may seem a new startradical – even heretical – statement. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do …[T]here was a time when the Church did not abandon your Physician, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because possess this corpus of your despair. Wait on Him, inspired writing and He will be mercifulyet the Church existed in Her fullness, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or through some other provision Christians experienced the truth of which you are ignorantthe faith in all its fullness.” —St—Fr. Peter Georges Florovsky, The Byzantine Fathers of Damascusthe Fifth Century
“Every day at nightfall“… Word and sacrament long ago lost touch with each other and became subjects of independent study and definition … I daresay that the gradual ‘decomposition’ of scripture, before sleep comes upon youits dissolution in more and more specialized and negative criticism, excite the judgment is a result of your conscience, demand an account its alienation from it, the Eucharist - and whatever evil counsels you may have taken during practically from the day … pierce themChurch herself - as an experience of a spiritual reality.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann, tear them to piecesThe Eucharist, and do penance for them.” —Stp. John Chrysostom66
“As I became more wretched you drew nearer “Anti-sacramental, anti-ritual evangelicalism emphasizes a personal relationship with God, but tends to meencourage what Anthony Giddens calls ‘pure relationship,’ a relationship that is not tacked down with external anchors and supports. A live-in relationship, without benefit of the rites and legalities of marriage, is a pure relationship. Evangelicalism tends to encourage a live-in relationship with Jesus. This is wrong, a departure from Christian tradition, and unbiblical. It also places unbearable burdens on the soul. Tempted by the devil, Luther slapped his forehead to remind himself of his baptism. His standing before God was anchored in Christ, to whom he had been joined by baptism. For evangelicals, assurance cannot be grounded in anything so external and objective. Spontaneous enthusiasm is the test of sincerity, and the source of assurance. But eternal, self-scrutinizing vigilance is necessary to ensure that the enthusiasm is really spontaneous. Enthusiasm was supposed to liberate the soul from all the dead forms, but it comes with its own set of chains.” —St—Rev. Dr. Peter J. AugustineLeithard
“Sin “In the Orthodox approach to Scripture, it is the fruit job of free willthe individual not to strive for originality in interpretation, but rather to understand what is already present in the traditions of the Church. There was a time when sin did We are obliged not existto go beyond the boundary set by the Fathers and Creeds of the Church, but to faithfully pass on the Tradition just as we have received it. To do this requires a great deal of study and there will be a time when it will not existthought–but even more, if we are to truly understand the Scriptures, we must enter deeply into the mystical life of the Church.” —St—ibid., p. Isaac the Syrian44
“Prove your love “The scriptures and zeal the Church are reduced here to the category of two formal authorities, two ‘sources of faith’ – as they are called in the scholastic treatises, for wisdom in actual deedswhich the only question is which authority is the higher: which ‘interprets’ which…” —Ibid.” —St, p. Callistus Xanthopoulos66
“Without love“For if we proclaim holy scripture to be the supreme authority for teaching the faith in the Church, deedsthen what is the ‘criterion’ of scripture? Sooner or later it becomes ‘biblical science’ – i.e., even in the most brilliantfinal analysis, count as nothingnaked reason…” —Ibid.” —St, p. Thérèse de Lisieux66-67
“Do “It is therefore clear that [the apostles] did not leave unobliterated any faultteach everything in epistolary form, however smallbut that they taught many things besides in unwritten form, for it may lead you on to greater sinsand these things, too, are worthy of acceptance. Wherefore we should consider the tradition of the Church also as worthy of belief. If there is a tradition, look no further.” —St. Mark the AsceticJohn Chrysostom
“Having fulfilled “Certain men who hold different opinions (i.e. heretics) misuse these passages. They essentially destroy free will by introducing ruined natures incapable of salvation and by introducing others as being saved in such a commandment, expect temptations; because love toward Christ is tested by difficultiesway that they cannot be lost.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Origen
“So in every test“A false interpretation of Scripture causes that the gospel of the Lord becomes the gospel of man, let us say: "Thank youor, my Godwhich is worse, because this was needed for my salvationof the devil."” —Elder Paisios of Mount Athos—St. Jerome
“Only “Truth cannot be acquired, the flesh with its passions and lusts cannot be crucified, the benumbed soul doesn't pray. Preserve in yourselves heart cannot be filled with the feeling Light of needChrist and united with Him, and you will always have stimulation for through salvation, unless these are preceded by frequent prayer.” —St. Theophan the Recluse—The Way of a Pilgrim
“Make sure that you do not limit your prayer merely “How long shall we continue in this manner, our intellect reduced to futility, failing to a particular part make the spirit of the day. Turn Gospel our own, not knowing what it means to live according to our conscience, making no serious effort to prayer at anytime.keep it pure?” —St John Chrysostom. Mark the Ascetic
“The Lord knows “It is self evident, however, that I love sincere Christians who are Roman Catholics, or Lutherans, or members of other non-Orthodox confessions, cannot be termed renegades or heretics—i.e. those who knowingly pervert the truth… They have been born and raised and are living according to the creed which they have inherited, just as do the majority of you who are Orthodox; in their lives there has not been a moment of personal and conscious renunciation of Orthodoxy. The Lord, ‘Who will have all, but men to be saved’ (I cannot speak with God Tim. 2:4) and people at ‘Who enlightens every man born into the same timeworld’ (Jn. 1.43), undoubtedly is leading them also towards salvation in His own way.” —St. Arsanius the Great—Metropolitan Philaret of New York
“A Christian…is “You ask, will the heterodox be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have a Saviour Who desires the salvation of every human being. He will take care of them. You and I should not his be burdened with such a concern. Study yourself and your own master; he puts his time at God's disposalsins… I will tell you one thing, however: should you, being Orthodox and possessing the Truth in its fullness, betray Orthodoxy, and enter a different faith, you will lose your soul forever.” —St. Ignatius of AntiochTheophan the Recluse
“Do not seek “The Orthodox confess that SHE IS the perfection of the Law in human virtues … Its perfection One, Holy, Universal (katholikos) and Apostolic Ecclesia! Any other model is hidden in the Cross of Christgnostic.” —St. Mark the AsceticIrenaeus of Lyons
“The knowledge of the Cross “Orthodoxy is concealed in what Christ taught, the sufferings of apostles preached, and the CrossFathers kept.” —St. Isaac Athanasius the SyrianGreat
“God had one son on earth without sin, “He is ‘the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). Orthodox Christians are committed to the truth claim of the Christian Faith not as ideology but never one without sufferingas an expression of holiness.” —St—Rev. AugustineDr. George C. Papademetriou, An Orthodox Reflection on Truth & Tolerance
“Man “The beginning of theology isnot the card catalogue, by nature, afraid of both death and but doing battle against the dissolution of the bodypassions; but there is this most startling fact: that he who has put on and the faith end of the Cross despises even what theology is naturally fearfulnot becoming a professor, and for Christ's sake is not afraid even of deathbut becoming a saint.” —St—Dr. Athanasius the GreatDavid Fagerberg
“Only struggle a little more. Carry your cross without complaining. Don't think you “Men are anything special. Don't justify your sins and weaknessesconverted to God not because someone was able to give brilliant explanations, but see yourself as you really are. Andbecause they saw in him that light, joy, depth, especiallyseriousness, and love one anotherwhich alone reveal the presence and power of God in the world.” —Fr. Seraphim RoseAlexander Schmemann
“Remember that each “When conversion does take place, the process of us has his own crossrevelation occurs in a very simple way: a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The Golgotha of this cross more you are in suffering and difficulties and are desperate for God, the more He is our heart: it is being lifted or implanted through a zealous determination going to live according come to your aid, reveal Who He is, and show you the Spirit of Godway to get out.” —Fr. Just as salvation Seraphim Rose of the world is Platina, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by the Cross of GodHieromonk Damascene, so our salvation is by our crucifixion on our own cross.” —Stp. Theophan the Recluse98
“Everyone carries “We think we know a lot, but what we know is very little. Even all those who have striven all their own cross, both Christians life to bring progress to mankind – learned scientists and non-Christians, believers and pagans. The difference is highly educated people – all realize in the end that for some, all their crosses serve as knowledge is but a means of attaining the Kingdom grain of Heaven, while for sand on the others they bring no such valueseashore. For the Christian, the cross gradually becomes lighter and more joyful, while for the nonbeliever it becomes heavier and more burdensomeAll our achievements are insufficient. Why is this so? Because where the one carries their cross with faith and devotion to God” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, the other carries it with grumbling and anger.Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives
Therefore, Christian, do “Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not shun your lifelong crossthose who are erudite in the sayings and books of the wise men of old, but, on those who have an intelligent soul and can discriminate between good and evil. They avoid what is sinful and harms the contrary, thank Jesus Christ that He honored you soul; and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint of practice to follow what is good and imitate Himbenefits the soul. These men alone should truly be called intelligent.” —St. Innocent Anthony the Great, On the Character of AlaskaMen and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts, Text 1, Indication Of The Way Into Philokalia: The Kingdom Of HeavenComplete Text, Vol. 1
“Everyone has a cross “It is impossible to carry. Why? Since replace the leader of our faith endured spiritual with the cross, we will also endure itemotional. On If anyone tries to forcibly replace one hand, the cross is sweet and light, but, on with the other, it can also be bitter and heavy. It depends on our will. If you bear Christ’s cross with love then it he will be very light; like a sponge or a cork. But if you have a negative attitudeassimilate lies instead of truth, it becomes heavy; too heavy to liftfalsehood masquerading as truth.” —Elder Ephraim —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of KatounakiaCaucasus, The Refuge, 20th Century staretz on MtChapter 9, p. Athos, Suffering; Trials119
“When “Not knowledge that you meet with sufferinglearn, contempt, the Cross, your thought should bebut knowledge that you suffer: what that is this compared with what I deserve?Orthodox spirituality.” —St. Josemaria Escriva—Gerontissa Gabrielia, Sayings of Gerontissa Gabrielia
“Behold“Our religion is founded on spiritual experience, for years seen and generations, the way of God has been leveled by the cross and by deathheard as sure as any physical fact in this world. How is this with theeNot theory, that thou seest the afflictions of the way as if they were out of the way? Doest not thou wish to follow the steps of the saints? Or doest thou wish to go a way which is especially for theephilosophy, without suffering? The way unto God is a daily cross. No one can ascend unto heaven with comfortnot human emotions, we know where the way of comfort leadsbut experience.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Mystic Treatises, Homily LIXNikolai Velimirovich
“Understand two thoughts, “Only the Religion of Christ unites and fear themall of us must pray that they come to this. One saysThus union will occur, 'You not by believing that all of us are a saint,' the other, 'You won't be saved.' Both of these thoughts same thing and that all religions are from the enemy, and there is no truth in themsame. But think this way: I am a great sinner, but They are not the Lord same… our Orthodoxy is merciful. He loves people very much, and He will forgive my sinsnot related to other religions.” —St. Silouan the AthonitePorphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
“He made Him who was righteous to be a sinner“Orthodoxy is life, that He might make sinners righteousone must not talk about it, one must live it.” —St. John ChrysostomNektary of Optina
“Love sinners, but hate their deeds, and do not disdain sinners for their failings, so that you yourself do not fall into the temptation in which they abide… Do not “Orthodoxy can't be angry at anyone and do not hate anyone, neither for their faith, nor for their shameful deeds… Do not foster hatred for the sinner, for we are all guilty… Hate his sins, and pray for him, so that you may be made like unto Christ, who had no dislike for sinners, but prayed for themcomfortable unless it is fake.” —St—Fr. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 57,90Seraphim Rose of Platina
“Love every man “As for all those who pretend to confess sound Orthodox Faith, but are in communion with people who hold different opinion, if they are forewarned and still remain stubborn, you must not only be in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind the sinscommunion with them, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same - the image of Godyou must NOT even call them brothers.” —St. John of KronstadtBasil the Great
“Never confuse the person, formed in the image “It is a commandment of God, with the evil Lord that we should not be silent when the Faith is in him: because evil peril. So, when it is but a chance misfortunematter of the Faith, one cannot say, ‘Who am I? A priest, a ruler, an illnessa soldier, a devilish reveriefarmer, a poor man? I have no say or concern in this matter. But the very essence of the person is the image of God’ Alas! The stones shall cry out, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement.you remain silent and unconcerned?” —St. John of KronstadtTheodore the Studite
“For this reason, “At the man who lives by God's standards and not by man'spresent time of universal wavering, must need be a lover disturbance of the goodminds and corruption, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is evil is evil because especially demanded of a perversion us that we should confess the true teaching of nature, the man who lives by God's standards has a duty Church no matter what might be the person of "perfect hatred" (Psalm 139:22) towards those who are evil; that is listen and despite the unbelief which surrounds us. If for the sake of adaptation to say, he should not hate the person because errors of this age we shall be silent about the faulttruth or give a corrupt teaching in the name of pleasing this world, nor should he love then we would actually be giving to those who seek the fault because truth a stone in place of the personbread. He should hate The higher is the faultstanding of one who acts in this way, but love the man. And when greater the fault has been cured there will remain only what he ought to lovescandal that is produced by him, nothing that he should hateand the more serious can be the consequences.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, The City —Metropolitan Philaret of GodNew York
“Our life “Today, while the overall teachings of the Fathers is under attack and our death the shipwrecks of Faith are numerous, the mouths of the faithful are silent. Anyone who is with our neighborcapable of speaking the truth but remains silent, will be heavily judged by God, especially in this case, where the faith and the very foundation of the entire Church of the Orthodox is in danger. To remain silent under these circumstances is to betray these, and the appropriate witness belongs to those that reproach (stand up for the faith).” —St. Basil the Great, ep.92
If we gain our brother“I beseech you to do and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, we have gained Godbecoming all things to all men, but if we scandalize our brotheras the need of each is shown to you; I want and pray you to be wholly harsh and implacable with the heretics only in regard to cooperating with them or in any way whatever supporting their deranged belief. For I reckon it hatred towards man and a departure from Divine love to lend support to error, so that those previously seized by it might be even more greatly corrupted.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Patrologia Graeca, we have sinned against ChristVol.91
This is the great work “Be aware not to be corrupted from love of a man: always to take the blame heretics; for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breaththis reason do not accept any false belief (dogma) in the name of love.” —St. Anthony the GreatJohn Chrysostom
“Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there “If anyone prays with heretics, he is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distortedheretic. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute, at the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty” — Pope St.” —Metropolitan Anthony of SourozhAgatho I
“He who busies himself with “Genuine love is displayed, not by the sins of otherscommon table, nor by lofty addresses or judges his brother on suspicionflattering words, but by the correcting and the seeking of the benefit of one's neighbour and the lifting up of the one who has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sinsfallen.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorJohn Chrysostom
“As long as we pay attention to “It is not the case that there is one church at Rome and another in all the negative sides of various people we meetworld beside. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, we will not find peace India and the East worship one Christ and repentanceobserve one rule of truth. As long as we keep in ourselves If you ask for authority, the thought of offenseworld outweighs its capital. Wherever there is a bishop, caused to us by enemieswhether it be at Rome or at Engubium, friendswhether it be at Constantinople or at Rhegium, family and neighbourswhether it be at Alexandria or at Zoan, we will not find peace his dignity is one and quiet and we will live in his priesthood is one. Neither the command of wealth nor the lowliness of poverty makes him more a bishop or less a hellish statebishop. All alike are successors of the apostles.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica—St. Jerome, Letter CXLVI to Evangelus
“If “Never, never, never let anyone tell you are offended by anythingthat, whether intended or unintendedin order to be Orthodox, you do not know the way of peacemust also be eastern. The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, which through love brings the lovers of divine knowledge to the knowledge and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of Godher heresies.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorJohn (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco
“In hell “Where the bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is democracy and in Heaven , there is a Kingdomthe Catholic Church.” —St. John Ignatius of KronstadtAntioch
“We shall not “Take care what people think of usto do all things in harmony with God, or how they treat us. We shall cease to be afraid of falling out of favour. We shall love our fellow men without thought of whether they love us. Christ gave us with the commandment to love others but did not make it a condition of salvation that they should love us. Indeed, we may positively be disliked for independence of spirit. It is essential bishop presiding in these days to be able to protect ourselves from the influence place of those God, and with whom we come the presbyters in contact. Otherwise we risk losing both faith and prayer. Let the whole world dismiss us as unworthy place of attention, trust or respect – it will not matter provided that the Lord accept us. And vice versa: it will profit us nothing if council of the whole world thinks well of us apostles, and sings our praiseswith the deacons, if the Lord declines who are most dear to abide me, entrusted with us. This is only a fragment the business of the freedom Jesus Christ meant when He said, ‘Ye shall know who was with the Father from the truth, beginning and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8is at last made manifest.32)” —St. Our sole care will be to continue in the word Ignatius of ChristAntioch, Letter to become His disciples and cease to be servants of sin.” —His Life is Minethe Magnesians 2, Archimandrite Sophrony6:1
“When you are depressed“Moreover, bear in mind the Lord’s command to Peter Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic,’ which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to forgive a sinner seventy times seven. And you may be sure that He Who gave this command true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to another will Himself do very much morethe consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.” —St. John ClimacusVincent of Lérins, Commonitory, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies., Chapter II (circa 434 AD)
“The time “‘Shun profane novelties of this present life is a time for harvestingwords, ’ which to receive and each person gathers spiritual food - as pure as possible - and stores it up for follow was never the other lifepart of Catholics; of heretics always was. It is not the cleverIn truth, what heresy ever burst forth save under a definite name, the nobleat a definite place, at a definite time? Who ever originated a heresy that did not first dissever himself from the polished speakers, or consentient agreement of the rich who win, but whoever is insulted universality and forbears, whoever antiquity of the Catholic Church? That this is wronged and forgives, whoever so is slandered and enduresdemonstrated in the clearest way by examples. For who ever before that profane Pelagius attributed so much antecedent strength to Free-will, whoever becomes a sponge and mops up whatever they might say as to deny the necessity of God's grace to him. Such a person aid it towards good in every single act? Who ever before his monstrous disciple Cœlestius denied that the whole human race is cleansed and polished even more. He reaches great heights. He delights involved in the theoria guilt of mysteriesAdam's sin?” —St. And finallyVincent of Lérins, it is he who is already inside paradiseCommonitory, while still in this life.” —Elder Joseph the Hesychast and Cave-dweller62
“When you "But if neither injunctions nor ecclesiastical decrees may be violated, by which, in accordance with the sacred consent of universality and antiquity, all heretics always, and, last of all, Pelagius, Cœlestius, and Nestorius have been rightly and deservedly condemned, then assuredly it is incumbent on all Catholics who are ready anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of Mother Church, to adhere henceforward to stand in the presence holy faith of the Lordholy Fathers, let your soul wear a garment woven from to be wedded to it, to die in it; but as to the cloth profane novelties of your forgiveness of others. Otherwiseprofane men— to detest them, abhor them, oppose them, your prayer will be of give them no value whatsoeverquarter.” —St. John ClimacusVincent of Lérins, Commonitory, 86
“Forgiveness “Roman Catholics teach that original sin robbed Adam of the original righteousness, grace-filled perfection, but did not harm his very nature. And the original righteousness, according to their teachings, was not an organic part of the spiritual and moral nature of man, but an external gift of grace, a special addition to the natural forces of man. Hence the sin of the first man, which consists in rejecting this purely external, supernatural grace, separating man from God, is better nothing more than revengedepriving a person of this grace, depriving a person of primitive righteousness and returning man to a purely natural state, a state of grace.” —StThe very same human nature remained after the fall as it was before the fall. Tikhon Before sin, Adam was like a royal courtier, from whom external glory was taken away because of Zadonska crime, and he returned to the original state in which he had been before.
“When The decrees of the Council of Trent concerning original sin state that the progenitor sin consisted in the loss of the holiness and righteousness granted to them, but it did not define exactly what kind of holiness and righteousness they were. There it is stated that there is absolutely no trace of sin or anything in a regenerated person that would be unpleasant to God forgave you. Only lust remains, which, due to its motivation of a person to fight, is more useful than harmful to people. In any case, it is not sin, although it itself from sin and entails sin. The fifth decree says: ‘The Holy Council confesses and knows that lust remains among baptized persons; but she, as left to fight, cannot bring harm to those who disagree with her, and those who bravely fight by the grace of Jesus Christ, but, on the contrary, crowns the one who will gloriously struggle. The Holy Council declares that this lust, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin, the Universal Church never called sin in the sense that it is true and proper to the regenerated, but that it means He forgave you for eternityis from sin and entails sin.” —Elder Arsenios Papacioc’
“Love alone harmoniously joins all This Roman Catholic teaching is unfounded, since it represents the original righteousness and perfection of Adam as an external gift, as an advantage, which is added to nature from the outside and from nature separable. Meanwhile, it is clear from the ancient apostolic-church doctrine that this primitive righteousness of Adam was not an external gift and advantage, but an integral part of his divinely-created things with nature. The Holy Scripture claims that sin has shaken and upset human nature so deeply that a person is weak for good and when he wants, he cannot do good ( Romans 7: 18-19 ), but he cannot commit it just because sin has a strong influence on the nature of man. In addition, if sin did not damage human nature so much, there would be no need for the Only Begotten Son of God to incarnate, come into the world as the Savior and with each otherdemand from us a complete bodily and spiritual rebirth ( John 3: 3, 3: 5-6 ).” —St. Thalassios In addition, Roman Catholics can not give the correct answer to the question: how can the intact nature carry lust in itself? What is the relation between this lust and the Libyanhealthy nature?
“A monk In the same way, there is an inaccurate Roman Catholic statement that in a regenerated person nothing remains sinful and unpleasant to God and that all this gives way to that which is immaculate, holy and pleasing to God. For we know from Holy Revelation and the teachings of the ancient Church that the grace given to a fallen man through Jesus Christ does not act mechanically, does not give sanctification and salvation immediately, in the blink of an eye, but gradually penetrates all the psychophysical powers of man, in proportion to his personal feat in the new thus he who withdrawing simultaneously heals from all mensinful ailments, and sanctifies in all thoughts, feelings, desires and deeds. It is united with all mankindan unreasonable exaggeration to think and argue that the regenerated have absolutely no remnants of sinful ailments when the mystery beloved by Christ clearly teaches: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’ ( 1 John 1: 8 ); and the great Apostle of the Nations writes: ‘I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want. … A monk But if I do what I do not want, it is he no longer I who regards himself as existing with all men and sees himself do it, but the sin that lives in each manme’ ( Romans 7: 19-20, Romans 8: 23-24 ).” —St. Nilus Justin Popovich, Orthodox philosophy of truth (Dogma of Sinaithe Orthodox Church)
“Love towards Christ is without limits“In all the Eastern Churches, and candles are lit even in the same daytime when one is true of love towards our neighbour. It should radiate everywhere, to read the ends of the earthGospels, in truth not to every person. I wanted to go and live with dispel the hippies at …… in darkness, but as a sign of joy…in order under that factual light to show them feel that Light of which we read in the love of Christ and how great it Psalms (119:105): Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and how it could transfigure thema light to my path.” —St. Love is above everythingJerome, Works, part IV, 2nd ed.” —Wounded by Love, Elder PorphyriosKiev, 1900, pg 188pp.301-302
“So “The candles lit before icons of saints reflect their ardent love for God created for Whose sake they gave up everything that man prizes in His life, including their very lives, as did the holy apostles, martyrs and others. These candles also mean that these saints are lamps burning for us and providing light for us by their own image; in saintly living, their virtues and their ardent intercession for us before God through their constant prayers by day and night. The burning candles also stand for our ardent zeal and the image sincere sacrifice we make out of God He created him; male reverence and female He created gratitude to themfor their solicitude on our behalf before God.” —Genesis 1:27—St. John of Kronstadt
“For “The saints of God knows that live even after their death. Thus, I often hear in church the Mother of God singing her wonderful, heart-penetrating song which she said in the day you eat house of her cousin Elizabeth, after the Annunciation of the Archangel. At times, I hear the song of it your eyes will be openedMoses; the song of Zacharias--the father of the Forerunner; that of Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel; that of the three children; and you will be like that of Miriam. And how many holy singers of the New Testament delight until now the ear of the whole Church of God! And the Divine service itself--the sacraments, the rites? Whose spirit is there, knowing good moving and touching our hearts? That of God and evilof His saints.” —Genesis 3:5—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into “Each person is an angel icon of lightGod, of God in heaven and of God on the cross. Yet, each person is also an icon of the Mother of God, who bears Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our soul, therefore, unites itself in two images; participating in the principles and realities of both Christ and his Mother. These are age old archetypes, symbols by which the soul orients itself on the journey.” —2 Corinthians 11:14—St. Maria Skobtsova, On The Imitation of the Mother of God
“You shall “The Christian who does not murderfeel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan.” —Exodus 20:13—Jorge Mario Bergoglio ("Pope Francis")
“Cursed “Creating man according to his image, God diffused into man's very being the longing for the divine infinitude of life, of knowledge, and of perfection. It is precisely for this reason that the immeasurable longing and thirst of humanity is not able to be completely satisfied by anything or anyone except God. Declaring divine perfection as the one main purpose for humanity's existence in the world – ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father who takes a bribe to slay an innocent personis in heaven is perfect.’ (Matth. 5: 48) – Christ, the Savior, answered the most elemental demand and need of our God-like and God-longing humanity.” —Deuteronomy 27:25—St. Justin Popovich, Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ, Highest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy
“He shall judge between who refuses to give in to his passions does the nations,And rebuke many people;They shall beat their swords into plowshares,And their spears into pruning hooks;Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war anymoresame as he who refuses to bow down and worship idols.” —Isaiah 2:4—St. Theophan the Recluse
“But Jesus said to him“Concerning the charge of idolatry: Icons are not idols but symbols. Therefore, ‘Put your sword in its placewhen an Orthodox venerates an icon, for all who take he is not guilty of idolatry. He is not worshiping the sword will perish by symbol, but merely venerating it. Such veneration is not directed toward wood, or paint or stone, but towards the swordperson depicted.’” —Matthew 26:52Therefore relative honor is shown to material objects, but worship is due to God alone.” —St. John of Damascus
“You know “We do not bow before the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not stealnature of wood,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father but we revere and your motherbow before the one who is depicted.” —St.’” —Luke 18:20John of Damascus
“So when they continued asking Him“We do not make obeisance to the nature of wood, He raised Himself up but we revere and said do obeisance to themHim who was crucified on the Cross… When the two beams of the Cross are joined together I adore the figure because of Christ who was crucified on the Cross, ‘He who is without sin among youbut if the beams are separated, let him I throw a stone at her firstthem away and burn them.” —St.’” —John 8:7John of Damascus
“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer“We do not worship the relics of the martyrs, and you know but honor them in our worship of Him Whose martyrs they are. We honor the servants in order that no murderer has eternal life abiding in himthe respect paid to them may be reflected back to the Lord.” —1 John 3:15—St. Jerome
“And “The whole earth is a living icon of the second commandment face of the Teaching; Thou shalt God. … I do not commit murderworship matter, thou shalt not commit adulterybut the Creator of matter, thou shalt not commit paederastywho for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, thou shalt not commit fornicationwho through matter effected my salvation. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, thou shalt but not stealas God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, thou shalt not practise magicbecause God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.” —St. John of Damascus “That which the word communicates by sound, thou shalt not practise witchcraft, thou shalt not murder a child the painting shows silently by abortion nor kill that which is begottenrepresentation.” —Didache 2:2—St. Basil the Great, On the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste
“The mold in “We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of His army. The saints constitute the Lord's army. Let the womb may not earthly king dismiss his army before he gives up his King and Lord. Let him put off the purple before he takes honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered their passions. For if the saints are heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, (Rom. 8.17) they will be destroyedalso partakers of the divine glory of sovereignty.” —Tertullian—St. John of Damascus
“The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty “We define that the holy icons should be exhibited in the holy churches of God… and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people… We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed veneration and unformed makes no difference to ushonor… He who venerates the icon, venerates in it the reality for which it stands.” —St. Basil the Great—The Seventh Ecumenical Council
“Those who use abortifacients commit homicide“In the radiance of His light the world is not commonplace. The very floor we stand on is a miracle of atoms whizzing about in space. The darkness of sin is clarified, and its burden shouldered. Death is robbed of its finality, trampled down by Christ's death. In a world where everything that seems to be present is immediately past, everything in Christ is able to participate in the eternal present of God.” —St—Fr. Clement of AlexandriaAlexander Schmemann
“For every argument there “Christ surpasses both ends of the world, where the drama ends and where it began. Of all the mysteries, the greatest mystery is a counter-argumentHe. From His Nativity to His Crucifixion on the Cross, but who can argue against life?From His Crucifixion on the Cross to His Resurrection, He is the true measure of all God's creation.” —St. Gregory PalamasNikolai Velimirovich
“O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship with all living things, our little brothers and sisters to whom in common with us you have given this earth as home. We recall with regret “Let no one think that there is anything interpretive in the past we have acted high-handedly and cruelly in exercising our domain over them. Thus, the voice of the earth which should have risen to you in song has turned into a groan works of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for themselves and for you - not for us alone. They too love the goodness of life, as we do, and serve you better in their way than we do in ours. Amensix days.” —St. Basil Ephrem the GreatSyrian
“We follow “It is [the ways Lord] that sitteth upon the orb (חוּג, γῦρον, gyrum) of wolvesthe earth, and the habits of tigersinhabitants thereof are as locusts: or, rather we are worse than they. To them nature has assigned he that they should be thus fed, while God has honoured us with rational speech stretcheth out the heavens as nothing and spreadeth them out as a sense of equity. And yet we are become worse than the wild beasttent to dwell in.” —St. John Chrysostom—Isaiah 40:22
“The unspeakable “For if the world, being made spherical, is confined within the circles of heaven, and prodigious fire hidden in the essence Creator of the world is above the thingscreated, managing that by His providential care of these, what place is there for the second god, or for the other gods? … Beautiful without doubt is the world, excelling, as well in its magnitude as in the busharrangement of its parts, is both those in the fire of divine love oblique circle and those about the dazzling brilliance of His beauty inside every thingnorth, and also in its spherical form.” —St. Maximus Athenagoras of Athens, A Plea for the ConfessorChristians, Ch. 8 and 16 (Father of the Church, Ante-Nicene Christian apologist, c. 175, E)
“Blessed “Let's start with the earth: you see how big it is and how many every creature is on it – living and soulless. Looking at the earth in all directions, you notice that it seems to be flat; in fact, it is round like a ball: land surveyors have found this out as surely as possible, and we ourselves can be sure of this. You are often by the sea – look into the distance for departing ships or steam ships. At first you see the whole ship, but the farther it goes, the more the bottom of the ship is hidden from you, so that at last you see only the sails or one who observes smoke from the steam ship, and finally this also disappears, as if the ship had sunk into a hole. Why does this happen? Because the earth is spherical. If at first glance it seems flat to us, it is because we are very small in comparison with spiritual understanding the choirs of stars shining with glory earth, and the beauty of the heavens earth is too large and longs , with its size, its sloping is imperceptible to contemplate us, insignificant ones. So, brethren, the Maker of all thingsearth is round.” —St. Ephrem the SyrianJohn of Kronstadt, Diaries of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, 1857–1858
“Look at “You often see, brethren, that the world around you. It supplies all your bodily needs. It feasts your eyes Lord Almighty is mostly written on icons with its beautya ball, on top of which is a cross. And its glory reflects This ball means the glory globe of Godthe earth and is called the power – from the fact that in ancient times the Roman kings had the custom, so on solemn occasions, to hold it feasts your soul alsoin their hands. Look at Our Lord Jesus Christ holds in his hand the globe of the earth, as the plants king of heaven and earth, as the treesAlmighty. Can We say this in order to show you count all that our earth is round like a ball. But how is the different species? Can you describe all sphericity of the different shapes of earth proved by the leaves, phenomena at the color rising and fragrances setting of the flowerssun? LookAs follows: if the earth were not spherical, but flat; then the sun would now hide under the earth, tooor come out from under it, at and immediately leave us either in the animals and full shadow of the insectsearth, or illuminate us with full light. Are you not enthralled by their different sizes and shapesNow, since the earth is round, by we use the remnants of light from the sun even when it illuminates the different colors and textures sloping side of their skin and furthe earth, when the sun, so to speak, by is under the different ways in which they move about mountain and gather food? And produces a dawn for us, as if the wonder why God has created all thisglow of a huge fire. Has he created This dawn happens because the marvelous universe just to supply our needs and to feast our eyes and souls? rays of the setting or rising sun, illuminating the sloping side of the earth, at the same time illuminate the air that is there some other purpose in near the earth and surrounds it all? The answer is that he has created all things--for their own sakelike water, and thus makes the light of dawn. Each creature has its own purpose and destinyWatching the dawn, which God we see from the gradual decrease in his infinite wisdom light – from the way it gradually becomes paler and love has planned. Do not try to understand God’s plans; paler from light pink - that the human mind earth is hardly better than that of an ant in discerning exactly round, and the ways of God. Simply accept all his plans and rejoice sun, as it were, glides, step by step, evenly, in thema circle.” — St—St. John Chrysostomof Kronstadt, Catechetical Talks
“Some people see “How does the houses in which they live as their kingdom; sun rule by day? Because carrying everywhere light with it, it is no sooner risen above the horizon than it drives away darkness and although in their minds they know that death will one brings us day. Thus we might, without self deception, define day force them to leaveas air lighted by the sun, or as the space of time that the sun passes in their hearts they feel they will stay forever. They take pride in our hemisphere… Those who have written about the nature of the universe have discussed at length the size shape of their houses and the fine material with which they are builtearth. They take pleasure in decorating their houses with bright colorsIf it be spherical or cylindrical, if it resemble a disc and is equally rounded in obtaining all parts, or if it has the best forth of a winnowing basket and most solid furniture to fill is hollow in the rooms. They imagine that they can find peace and security middle; all these conjectures have been suggested by owning a house whose walls and roof will last for many generations. Wecosmographers, by contrast, know each one upsetting that we are only temporary guests on earthof his predecessor. We recognize It will not lead me to give less importance to the creation of the universe, that the houses in which we live serve only servant of God, Moses, is silent as hostels on to shapes; he has not said that the road to eternal life. We do earth is a hundred and eighty thousand furlongs in circumference; he has not seek peace or security from measured into what extent of air its shadow projects itself while the material walls sun revolves around us or it, nor stated how this shadow, casting itself upon the roof above our headsmoon, produces eclipses. Rather we want to surround ourselves with a wall of divine grace; and we look upward to heaven He has passed over in silence, as our roof. And the furniture of our lives should be good worksuseless, performed in a spirit of loveall that is unimportant for us.” —St. John ChrysostomBasil the Great, Hexaemeron, Homily 6:8; 9:1
“Worldly glory does “Verily, it is most true what one of heathen culture is recorded to have said, that it is the mind that sees and the mind that hears. Else, if you will not allow this to be true, you must tell me why, when you look at the sun, as you have been trained by your instructor to look at him, you assert that he is not in the breadth of his disc of the size he appears to the many, but that he exceeds by many times the measure of the entire earth. Do you not confidently maintain that it is so, because you have arrived by reasoning through phenomena at the conception of such and such a movement, of such distances of time and space, of such causes of eclipse? And when you look at the waning and waxing moon you are taught other truths by the visible figure of that heavenly body, viz. that it is in itself devoid of light, and that it revolves in the circle nearest to the earth, and that it is lit by light from the sun; just as is the case with mirrors, which, receiving the sun upon them, do not reflect rays of their own, but those of the sun, whose light is given back from their smooth flashing surface. Those who see this, but do not examine it, think that the light comes from the moon herself. But that this is not the case is proved by this; that when she is diametrically facing the sun she has the whole of the disc that looks our way illuminated; but, as she traverses her own circle of revolution quicker from moving in a narrower space, she herself has completed this more than twelve times before the sun has once travelled round his; whence it happens that her substance is not always covered with light. For her position facing him is not lead Godmaintained in the frequency of her revolutions; but, while this position causes the whole side of the moon which looks to us to be illumined, directly she moves sideways her hemisphere which is turned to us necessarily becomes partially shadowed and only that which is turned to him meets his embracing rays; the brightness, in fact, keeps on retiring from that which can no longer see the sun to that which still sees him, until she passes right across the sun's children disc and receives his rays upon her hinder part; and then the fact of her being in herself totally devoid of light and splendour causes the side turned to us to be invisible while the further hemisphere is all in light; and this is called the completion of her waning. But when again, in her own revolution, she has passed the sun and she is transverse to his rays, the side which was dark just before begins to shine a little, for the rays move from the illumined part to heaventhat so lately invisible. You see what the eye does teach; and yet it would never of itself have afforded this insight, without something that looks through the eyes and uses the data of the senses as mere guides to penetrate from the apparent to the unseen. It is needless to add the methods of geometry that lead us step by step through visible delineations to truths that lie out of sight, and countless other instances which all prove that apprehension is the work of an intellectual essence deeply seated in our nature, acting through the operation of our bodily senses.” —St. RaphaelGregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Newly-revealed Martyr of LesvosResurrection
“Satan has no need “As, when the sun shines above the earth, the shadow is spread over its lower part, because its spherical shape makes it impossible for it to tempt those who tempt themselvesbe clasped all round at one and the same time by the rays, and necessarily, on whatever side the sun's rays may fall on some particular point of the globe, if we follow a straight diameter, we shall find shadow upon the opposite point, and so, continuously, at the opposite end of the direct line of the rays shadow moves round that globe, keeping pace with the sun, so that equally in their turn both the upper half and the under half of the earth are continually dragged down by worldly affairsin light and darkness.” —St. John Gregory of KarpathosNyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection
“The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware“Further, some hold that the Earth is in the form of a sphere, those who are close to Godothers that it is in that of a cone. He takes from them trust At all events it is much smaller than the heaven, and suspended almost like a point in God its midst. And it will pass away and begins be changed. But blessed is the man who inherits the Earth promised to afflict them with self-assurancethe meek.” —St. John of Damascus, logicOrthodox Faith, thinkingBook 2, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds.” —Elder Paisios of Mt. AthosCh 10
“Let “Thus, by His transcendent might He established the heavens, and by His incomprehensible understanding He ordered them: the earth He separated from the water now encircling it, and firmly grounded it on the hearing unshakable foundation of worldly tales be to you as a bitter taste in your mouthHis own will … about antipodes: ‘The ocean, impassable for men, but and the worlds beyond it are governed by the discourse same decrees of holy men as a honeycomb.” the Master’…” —St. Basil Clement of Rome, Epistle to the GreatCorinthians
“All “Clement indeed, a disciple of the apostles, mentions those whom the Greeks call ‘people of the things opposite earth’, and speaks of this other parts of the world are no more than earth. Place them in a heap under your feet which none of our people can reach, nor can any of those who live there cross over to us; and you will be so much nearer these parts themselves he called ‘worlds’, when he says, ‘The ocean is impassable to heaven.” —St. Josemaria Escrivamen, and the worlds beyond it are governed by the same ordinances of God the Ruler’…” —Origen, On First Principles
“A man who has dedicated himself once and “But if the light first created enveloped the earth on all sides, whether it was motionless or travelling round, it could not be followed anywhere by night, because it did not vacate any place to make room for night. But was it made on one side, so that as it travelled it would permit the night to follow after from the other? Although water still covered all the earth, there was nothing to God goes through life with prevent the massive watery sphere from having day on one side by the presence of light, and on the other side, night by the absence of light. Thus, in the evening, darkness would pass to that side from which light would be turning to the other … These writers are then asked why Saturn is cold. Its temperature should be higher in proportion to the rapid movement it has by reason of its height in the heavens. For surely when a restful mind.” round mass is rotating, the parts near the center move more slowly, and those near the edge more rapidly, so that the greater and lesser distances may be covered simultaneously in the same circular motion…” —St. Isaac Augustine of Hippo, On the SyrianLiteral Interpretation of Genesis
“Do you seek any further reward beyond that “The prophet David, our Saints, Basil the Great, who wrote about creation, all of them, with the Grace of having pleased God? In truthknew everything about the creation by God. The Holy Spirit took them to the depths of the waters, He showed them and they saw the earth revolving around the sun, and many other things. The Saints, however, you know not how great a good it spoke to people according to the knowledge of their age. This is so that they wouldn't look like fools by revealing everything to please Himtheir age that they saw with the Grace of God.Since simple people were not able to see all those things and understand them, they would not have believed them!” —St. John ChrysostomPaisios of Mt. Athos, «ΣΚΕΥΟΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΗΣ: ΓΕΡΩΝ ΠΑΙΣΙΟΣ», 1924-1994, p. 142
“Faith “Truly, is to believe what you do this necessary? No, not see; at all, for we know that many and great scientists were at the same time great believers. For example, such was the Polish astronomer Copernicus who laid the reward foundation of this faith is to see what you believeall contemporary astronomy. Copernicus was not only a believer but was also a cleric. Another great scientist, Newton, whenever he mentioned the word God, he removed his hat.He was a great believer… Would Haeckel therefore dare say that these men did not have enlightened minds because they believed in God?” —St. AugustineLuke the Surgeon, On Science and Religion
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart“The faithful have little need for scientists now, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second world is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all full of them! They are in need of holy men, of those who live the Law and holy life; of those who can attract the ProphetsGrace of God to them.” —Matthew 22:37-40—Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania
“And Thomas answered “Once, when standing before a window at night, St. Barsanuphius (of Optina) pointed to the moon and said to Him, his spiritual children:"My Lord and my GodLook – what a picture!This is left to us as a consolation. It is no wonder the Prophet David said, ‘Thou hast gladdened me’, he says, although this is only a hint of that wondrous beauty, incomprehensible to human thought, which was originally created. We don't know what kind of moon there was then, what kind of sun, what kind of light… All of this changed after the fall."” —John 20—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Genesis, Creation, and Early Man:28The Orthodox Christian Vision, p. 44
“For “As for the Father judges no one‘scientific’ information given in the book of Genesis – and since it talks about the formation of the world we know, there cannot but has committed all judgment be some scientific information there – contrary to the Sonpopular belief, there is nothing ‘out-of-date’ about it. Its observations, it is true, that are all should honor the Son just made as seen from earth and as affecting mankind; but they honor do not put forth any particular teaching, for example, on the nature of the Fatherheavenly bodies or their relative motions, and so the book can be read by each generation and understood in the light of its own scientific knowledge. He who The discovery in recent centuries of the vastness of space and the immensity of many of its heavenly bodies does not honor nothing but add grandeur in our minds to the simple account of Genesis. When the Holy Fathers talk about Genesis, of course, they try to illustrate it with examples taken from the natural science of their time; we do the same thing today. All this illustrative material is open to scientific criticism, and some of it, in fact, has become out-of-date. But the text of Genesis itself is unaffected by such criticism, and we can only wonder at how fresh and timely it is to each new generation. And the theological commentary of the Son does not honor Holy Fathers on the Father who sent Himtext partakes of this same quality.” —John 5—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Genesis, Creation and Early Man:22-23The Orthodox Christian Vision, p. 87
“But I say to you“One who has the judgment of Christ before his eyes, love your enemies, bless who has seen the great danger that threatens those who curse youdare to subtract from or add to those things which have been handed down by the Spirit, do good must not be ambitious to innovate, but must content himself with those who hate youthings which have been proclaimed by the saints.” —St. Basil the Great, Against Eunomius 2, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…” —Matthew 5:44PG 29.573-652
“The fool “Our afflictions are well known without my telling; the sound of them has said now gone forth over all Christendom. The doctrines of the fathers are despised; apostolical traditions are set at nought; the speculations of innovators hold sway in the churches. Men have learned to be theorists instead of theologians. The wisdom of the world has the place of honour, having dispossessed the boasting of the cross. The pastors are driven away, grievous wolves are brought in his heartinstead, and plunder the flock of Christ, Houses of prayer are destitute of preachers; the deserts are full of mourners: the old bewail,‘There comparing what is no Godwith what was; more pitiable are the young, as not knowing what they are deprived of.’They What has been said is sufficient to kindle the sympathy of those who are corrupttaught in the love of Christ,They have done abominable worksyet compared with the facts,There it is none who does goodfar from reaching their seriousness.” —Psalm 14:1—St. Basil the Great, ep. 90
“Trust “I urge you not to faint in your afflictions, but to be risen by the love of God and to increase every day to your zeal, knowing that it is necessary to preserve in you this relic of the true religion that the Lord with all will find when He comes to the earth. Even if the bishops are trained out of their churches, don't be dismayed. If traitors have appeared among the clergy, do not betray your hearttrust in God. We are saved not by names, but by our mind and by our purpose, and by a true love to our Creator. Think that in the attack of our Lord, the great priests and the scribes and the elders have designed the conspiracy, and that few people have been found getting the Word. Remember that it is not the multitude that is being saved, but the elected ones of God. So don't be scared by the multitude of people who are swept away by the winds like the waters of the sea. If one is saved, as a Lot in Sodom, he must remain in a fair judgment,And lean keeping his hope in Christ steadfast, for the Lord will not on your own understanding;abandon His saints. Say hello to all the brothers in Christ from me. Pray with fervor for my miserable soul.” —Proverbs 3:5—St. Basil the Great
“Hatred stirs up strife“So,But love covers all sinsto the question, ‘Do we believe in conspiracy theories?’, the answer is, ‘We don't believe in them, we have long experience of them.” —Proverbs 10’” —Fr. Peter Heers, On Demonic Methodology, Part II:12Q & A, May 6, 2020
“When pride comes“Let us be firm, then comes shame;But my brothers, on the rock of faith, in the tradition of the Church, and not remove or change the boundaries established by our Holy Fathers. Let us close the road to innovators and not permit them to demolish the structure of the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God. If we allow, however, the introduction of any innovation, we unconsciously support the collapse of the Church. No, my brothers, you who love Christ, no, you children of the Church, you will never want to surround your Mother Church with the humble is wisdomconfusion.” —Proverbs 11:2—St. John of Damascus, Concerning Images, III.41
“The way “Therefore, brethren, let us stand on the rock of a fool faith and on the tradition of the Church, and not remove the boundaries which our Holy Fathers have set. Thus, we will not give the opportunity to those who wish to innovate and destroy the edifice of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God. For if permission is right granted to everyone who wants it, little by little the whole body of the Church will be destroyed. Do not, brethren, do not, oh Christ-loving children of the Church of God …” —Jeremiah II (Jeremias II) Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, letter to the Most Wise Theologians, Residents of the Famous City of Tübingen, in his own eyesthe month of May, 1579, Indiction 7,But he who heeds counsel is wisepp.” —Proverbs 12:15197-8 (prophetic warning of to the Lutheran scholars)
“There “For to err is a way that seems right human, but the correction is angelic and salvific.” —Jeremiah II (Jeremias II) Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, letter to a manthe Most Wise Theologians,But its end is Residents of the Famous City of Tübingen, in the way month of deathMay, 1579, Indiction 7, p.” —Proverbs 14:12210
“Pride goes before destruction“Unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the guileless and pure of heart discovers God everywhere,And a haughty spirit before a falleverywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existence.” —Proverbs 16:18—St. Nectarios of Aegina
“Let another man praise you“He who learns must sufferAnd even in our sleep pain that cannot forgetFalls drop by drop upon the heart, and not your And in our own mouth;despite, against our will,A stranger, and not your own lipsComes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” —Proverbs 27:2—Aeschylus
“Open rebuke is betterThan love carefully concealed“The greatest wisdom often emerges from the deepest wounds.” —Jane Lee Logan
Faithful “Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the wounds men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of a friendthe polyphony,But the kisses of dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an enemy arch. … Where men are deceitfulforbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: … For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” —Proverbs 27:5-6—C. S. Lewis
“If a wise man contends with a foolish man“There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished,Whether such as the miracles of the fool rages sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or laughsunbelieving at the time of its celebration. 'Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?' (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, there is no peacenor our infirmity God's omnipotence.” —Proverbs 29:9—St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“Vanity “The quality of vanities, all mercy is vanitynot strained. … I have seen all It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the works place beneath. It is twice blest:It blesseth him that gives and him that are done under takes.'Tis mightiest in the sunmightiest; it becomesThe thronèd monarch better than his crown.His scepter shows the force of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majestyWherein doth sit the dread and indeedfear of kings;But mercy is above this sceptered sway.It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;It is an attribute to God Himself;And earthly power doth then show likest God'sWhen mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,Though justice be thy plea, consider this:That in the course of justice none of usShould see salvation. We do pray for mercy,And that same prayer doth teach us all is vanity and grasping for to renderThe deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus muchTo mitigate the justice of thy plea,Which, if thou follow, this strict court of VeniceMust needs give sentence 'gainst the windmerchantthere.” Ecclesiastes —William Shakespeare, Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1:2,14
“The work of righteousness will be peace,And human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the effect hand of righteousness, quietness and assurance foreverman.” —Isaiah 32:17—unknown
“Reflect on “People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the statutes of the Lord,and meditate at all times on his commandments.It world is in chaos is he who will give insight to your mind,because things are being loved and your desire for wisdom will be grantedpeople are being used.” —Sirach 6:37—unknown
“Childless with virtue is better than this,For immortality is in its memory;Because it is known both by God and by “No manstands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” —Wisdom of Solomon 4:1—unknown
“Jesus wept“If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.” —John 11:35—Marvin J. Ashton
“Blessed are the poor in spirit“Teach me to feel another's woe,For theirs is to hide the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn,For they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek,For they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousnessfault I see; that mercy I to others show,For they shall be filled.Blessed are the merciful,For they shall obtain that mercy.Blessed are the pure in heart,For they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers,For they shall be called sons of God.Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,For theirs is the kingdom of heavenshow to me.” —Matthew 5:3-10—Alexander Pope
“Therefore submit to God. Resist “Tolerance is the devil and he will flee from youlast virtue of a depraved society. Draw near to God and He will draw near to When you. Cleanse your handshave an immoral society that has blatantly, you sinners; and purify your heartsproudly, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in violated all of the sight commandments of the LordGod, and He will lift you upthere is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality.” —James 4:7-10—Dennis James Kennedy
“But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone “The greatest thing a man can do to whom much a woman is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the morelead her closer to God than to himself.” —Luke 12:48—unknown
“Then Abraham answered and said“A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, ‘Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord.’” —Genesis 18:27look what they can do when they stick together!” —unknown
“The centurion answered “God cannot give us happiness and said, ‘Lord, I am peace apart from Himself because it is not worthy that You should come under my roofthere. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healedThere is no such thing.” —C. S.’” —Matthew 8:8Lewis
“And “The supreme happiness of life is the tax collectorconviction of being loved for yourself, standing afar offor more correctly, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” —Luke 18:13being loved in spite of yourself.” —Victor Hugo
“Pray without ceasing“It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell.” —1 Thessalonians 5:17—C. S. Lewis
“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance“Hell can't be made attractive, so the devil makes attractive the road that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chiefleads there.” —1 Timothy 1:15—St. Basil the Great
“for all have sinned and fall short of “What is hell? I maintain that it is the glory suffering of God…” —Romans 3:23being unable to love.” —Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“And I also say to “If you that die before you are Peterdie, and on this rock I than when you die, you will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against itdie.” —Matthew 16:18—written on a cell wall, St. Paul's Monastery, Mt. Athos
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them “War in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” —Matthew 28:19religion is war against religion.” —His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
“Then Peter said “Believe me, if God revealed to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in us the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; disasters to which we were exposed and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spiritfrom which He protected us, our whole lives would not suffice to offer Him thanks."” —Acts 2:38—H.H. Pope Shenouda
“Jesus said to them“In heaven, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AMGod will not ask us why we have sinned; He will ask us why we did not repent.” —H.H.’” —John 8:58Pope Shenouda III
“But when the Helper comes“Even if all spiritual fathers, patriarchs, whom I shall send to you from the Fatherhierarchs, and all the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Fatherpeople forgive you, He will testify of Meyou are unforgiven if you don’t repent in action.” —John 15:26—St. Kosmas Aitolos
“that they all may be one“Nobody is as gracious and merciful, as You, Fatherthe Lord is, but even He does not forgive the sins of the man who does not repent; … we are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Usbeing condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, that the world may believe that You sent Mebut because we do not want to repent.” —John 17:21—St. Mark the Ascetic
“I and My Father “As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are onethe sins of all flesh as compared with the mercy of God.” —John 10:30—St. Isaac the Syrian
“Then, the same day at evening“Just as a strongly flowing fountain is not blocked up by a handful of earth, being so the first day compassion of the week, when Creator is not overcome by the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear wickedness of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with youhis creatures." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side” —St. Then Isaac the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.Syrian
“So Jesus said “God is loving to them againman, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Meand loving in no small measure. For say not, I also send you." And when have committed fornication and adultery: I have done dreadful things, and not once only, but often: will He forgive? Will He had said thisgrant pardon? Hear what the Psalmist says: ‘How great is the multitude of Your goodness, He breathed on themO Lord!’ Your accumulated offenses surpass not the multitude of God's mercies: your wounds surpass not the great Physician's skill. Only give yourself up in faith: tell the Physician your ailment: say thou also, and like David: ‘I said to them, "Receive I will confess me my sin unto the Lord’: and the Holy Spirit. If same shall be done in your case, which he says immediately: ‘And you forgive forgave the sins wickedness of my heart.’” —St. Cyril of anyJerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 2, they are forgiven them; if you retain On Repentance and Remission of Sins and Concerning the sins of anyAdversary, they are retainedEzekiel xviii."” —John 20:19-23
“After these things “The Lord calls to Him all sinners; He opens His arms wide, even to the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent worst among them. Gladly He takes them two by two before in His face into every city and place where He Himself was about arms, if only they will come to goHim.” —Luke 10:1—St. Macarius of Optina
“Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It “Repentance is not desirable that we should leave the word daughter of God hope and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and refusal to the ministry of the worddespair."” —Acts 6:2-4—St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent
“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, “Years are not needed for they watch out for your soulstrue repentance, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with griefdays, for that would be unprofitable for youbut only an instant.” —Hebrews 13:17—St. Ambrose of Optina
“Now on “There is no sin which cannot be pardoned except that one which lacks repentance, and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the first day portion of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued fool is small in his message until midnighteyes.” —Acts 20:7—St. Isaac the Syrian
“Most assuredly, I say “When a man abandons his sins and returns to youGod, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man his repentance regenerates him and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise renews him up at the last dayentirely. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed” —St. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.“ —John 6:53-56Isaiah the Solitary
“The cup “Through repentance the filth of blessing which our foul actions is washed away. After this, we blessparticipate in the Holy Spirit, is it not automatically, but according to the communion faith, humility and inner disposition of the blood of Christ? The bread repentance in which we break, our soul is engaged. For this reason it not is good to repent each day as the communion act of repentance is unending.” —St. Symeon the body of Christ? For weNew Theologian, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.“ —1 Corinthians 10:16-17The Philokalia
“Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone “There is convinced in himself that he nothing higher than what is Christ’s, let him again consider called repentance and confession. The sacrament is the offering of God's love to mankind. In this in himself, that just as he perfect way a person is Christ’s, even so free of evil. We go and confess and we are Christ’s. For even if I should boast somewhat more about sense our authority, which the Lord gave reconciliation with God; Joy enters us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed…” —2 Corinthians 10:7-8guilt departs. In the Orthodox Church there is no impasse.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
“And have no fellowship with “…confession is such a potent treatment that it immediately neutralizes every poison of pardonable and mortal sin, which is an infinite evil, and causes every invisible illness to disappear, restoring to the unfruitful works soul its initial health and grace. It is such a wondrous treatment that it instantly changes the sinner into a beautiful angel from that which it was before…” —St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Exomologetarion: A Manual of darknessConfession, but rather expose themp.” —Ephesians 5:11234
“What does “And so it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says incumbent upon us to themstrive, “Depart in peacerather, be warmed to correct our faults and filled,to improve our behavior.” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead—St.” —James 2:14-17John Cassian
“Either make “If the tree good and its fruit goodgrace of God doesn't enlighten man, though you say many words, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; they won't be beneficial. The person listens to you for a tree is known by its fruitmoment, but soon after returns to that which holds him captive. Brood of vipers! How can youIf, however, grace works immediately, together with your words, being evilthen a change is effected at that moment, speak good things? For out of corresponding to the abundance of the heart the mouth speaksperson's predisposition. And from that moment on, his life is changed. This happens with those who haven't hardened their hearing and conscience. A good man out of ” —Elder Joseph the good treasure of his heart brings forth good thingsHesychast, and an evil man out Precious Vessels of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” —Matthew 12:33-35Holy Spirit
“For a “Let us strive to purify ourselves through repentance and humility, and to unite all our senses as one to the God who is good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear and transcends the good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do Then, truly, everything which I have not gather figs from thornsquite been able to say or to demonstrate with my many words, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bushyou will be taught in an instant, all at once. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; You will hear with your sight, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evilsee with your hearing. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaksYou will be taught while seeing and, again, hear what is unveiled.” —Luke 6:43-45—St. Symeon the New Theologian
“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing“Where there is God, there is no evil. My brethrenEverything coming from God is peaceful, these things ought not healthy and leads a person to be sothe judgment of his own imperfections and humility.” —James 3:10
“But above allWhen a person accepts anything Godly, my brethrenthen he rejoices in his heart, do not swearbut when he has accepted anything devilish, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oaththen he becomes tormented. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.” —James 5:12
“Let such The devil is like a person consider thislion, that what we are hiding in word by letters when ambush (Ps 10:19, 1Pe 5:8). He secretly sets out nets of unclean and unholy thoughts. So, it is necessary to break them off as soon as we are absentnotice them, such we will also be in deed when we are presentby means of pious reflection and prayer.” —2 Corinthians 10:11
“…but if I am delayedIt is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, I write so that you may know how you ought we do for Christ, is given to conduct yourself in us by the house Holy Spirit, but prayer most of Godall, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truthalways available to us.” —1 Timothy 3:15
“Before I formed you in A sign of spiritual life is the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you immersion of a prophet to person within himself and the nationshidden workings within his heart.” —Jeremiah 1:5—St. Seraphim of Sarov
“Let no one despise your youth“There is nothing better than peace in Christ, but be an example for it brings victory over all the evil spirits on earth and in the air. When peace dwells in a man's heart it enables him to contemplate the believers grace of the Holy Spirit from within. He who dwells in wordpeace collects spiritual gifts as it were with a scoop, and he sheds the light of knowledge on others. All our thoughts, in conductall our desires, in loveall our efforts, in spiritand all our actions should make us say constantly with the Church: ‘O Lord, give us peace!’ When a man lives in faithpeace, in purityGod reveals mysteries to him.” —1 Timothy 4:12—St. Seraphim of Sarov
“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say “The Spirit offers its own light to the handevery mind, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks help it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care its search for one anothertruth.” —St. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all Basil the members rejoice with it.Great
“Now you are the body of Christ“Sometimes a man's happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it's there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, and members individuallyan illusion.” —Mr. And God has appointed these in the church…” —1 Corinthians 12:20-28Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14)
“Do not remove the ancient landmarkWhich your fathers have set“If he seeks answers to questions related to his faith, his purpose in life, he will find happiness.” —Proverbs 22:28—Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania
“For I know this“The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created by God, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flockand pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselessly.” —St. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away Maximus the disciples after themselves.” —Acts 20:29-30Confessor
“Reject “Adorn yourself with truth, try to speak truth in all things; and do not support a divisive man after lie, no matter who asks you.If you speak the first truth and second admonitionsomeone gets mad at you, knowing that such a person don’t be upset, but take comfort in the words of the Lord:Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of truth, for theirs is warped and sinning, being self-condemnedthe Kingdom of Heaven (Matt.” —Titus 35:10-11).” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 26,2
“And whoever will “You that are strong with all might in the inner man ought by rights to carry on the struggle against the enemies of the truth, and not receive to shrink from the task, that we fathers may be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this is the prompting of the law of nature: but as you nor hear turn your wordsranks, and send against us the assaults of those darts which are hurled by the opponents of the truth, when you depart from and demand that house or city, shake off their hot burning coals and their shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should be quenched with the dust from your feetshield of faith by us old men.” —Matthew 10:14—St. Gregory of Nyssa
“And in vain they worship Me“Be the bee and not the fly… The fly only knows where the unclean things are,Teaching as doctrines while the commandments honeybee knows where the beautiful flowers are!” —St. Paisios of menMt.” —Matthew 15:9Athos
“Therefore“I shall set forth the best contributions of the philosophers of the Greeks, because whatever there is of good has been given to men from above by God, since ‘every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights’ (Js. 1.17). If, however, there is anything that is contrary to the truth, then it is a dark invention of the deceit of Satan and a fiction of the mind of an evil spirit, as that eminent theologian Gregory once said (Homily 39.3). In imitation of the method of the bee, I shall make my composition from those things which are conformable with the truth and from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of salvation. But all that is worthless and falsely labeled as knowledge I shall reject. Then, next, after this, I shall set forth in order the absurdities of the heresies hated of God, brethrenso that by recognizing the lie we may more closely follow the truth. Then, stand fast with God's help and hold by His grace I shall expose the traditions truth–that truth which you were destroys deceit and puts falsehood to flight and which, as with golden fringes, has been embellished and adorned by the sayings of the divinely inspired prophets, the divinely taughtfishermen, whether and the God-bearing shepherds and teachers–that truth, the glory of which flashes out from within to brighten with its radiance, when they encounter it, them that are duly purified and rid of troublesome speculations. However, as I have said, I shall add nothing of my own, but shall gather together into one those things which have been worked out by word or our epistlethe most eminent of teachers and make a compendium of them, being in all things obedient to your command.” —2 Thessalonians 2:15—St. John of Damascus, The Fount of Knowledge
“For “If we have obtained the Son grace of Man is Lord even of the SabbathGod, none shall prevail against us, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.” —Matthew 12:8—St. John Chrysostom
“Having wiped out “But our opinion is in accordance with the handwriting of requirements that was against usEucharist, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of and the way, having nailed it to the crossEucharist in turn establishes our opinion.” —Colossians 2:14 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink—St. Irenaeus of Lyons, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbathsAgainst Heresies, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” —Colossians 24:18:16-175
“…where there “The Eucharist is neither Greek nor Jewthe Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, circumcised nor uncircumcisedwhich suffered for our sins, barbarianand which the Father, Scythian, slave nor freein his loving-kindess, but Christ is all and in allraised from the dead.” —Colossians 3—St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnians, 7:111
“For sin shall not have dominion over “If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, for turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are not under law but under gracelazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.” —Romans 6:14—St. Cyril of Alexandria
“One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each “Don't be fully convinced in his own mindanxious about what you have, but about what you are. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it” —St. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to Gregory the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.” —Romans 14:5-6Great
“…and to “Teach your child this lesson: the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jewsrewards of evil are temporary; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who rewards of Godliness (good character) are under the laweternal.” —1 Corinthians 9:20 “For the administration —St. Cyprian of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.” —2 Corinthians 9:12Carthage
“These were more fair-minded “Let everything take second place to our care of our children, our bringing them up to the discipline and instruction of the Lord. If from the beginning we teach them to love true wisdom, they will have greater wealth and glory than those in Thessalonicariches can provide. If a child learns a trade, or is highly educated for a lucrative profession, in that they received all this is nothing compared to the word art of detachment from riches; if you want to make your child rich, teach him this. He is truly rich who does not desire great possessions, or surrounds himself with all readinesswealth, and searched but who requires nothing…Don’t think that only monks need to learn the Scriptures daily Bible; Children about to find go out whether these things were sointo the world stand in greater need of Scriptural knowledge.” —Acts 17:11—St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians, Homily 21
“So Philip ran “If a man really sets his heart upon the will of God, God will enlighten a little child to himtell that man what is His will. But if a man does not truly desire the will of God, and heard him reading even if he goes in search of a prophet, God will put into the heart of the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"a reply like the deception in his own heart.” —Acts 8:30—Abba Dorotheos of Gaza
“So they read distinctly “Learn from small children: if a child is attacked by someone in the presence of his parent, he does not respond to the bookattacker himself, in but looks at the Law of God; parent and they gave cries. He knows that the senseparent will protect him. And how can you not know what the little child knows? Your heavenly Parent is continually beside you. Therefore do not revenge, do not repay evil for evil, but look at the Parent and helped them to understand the readingcry. Only in this way will you secure your victory in a clash with evil people.” —Nehemiah 8:8—St. Nikolai Velimirovich
“And when he had found him“The soul that is in all things devoted to the will of God rests quiet in Him, for she knows of experience and from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much and watches over our souls, he brought him quickening all things by His grace in peace and love. Nothing troubles the man who is given over to Antiochthe will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. So it was He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for a whole year us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not want to surrender to God's will because they assembled with the church like their own way, and taught a great many people. And that is harmful for the disciples were first called Christians in Antiochsoul.” —Acts 11:26—St. Silouan the Athonite (From the Life and Teachings of Elder Siluan by Bishop Alexander and Natalia Bufius translated by Anatoly Shmelev)
“Beloved“The man who cries out against evil men, do but does not believe every spirit, but test pray for them will never know the spirits, whether they are grace of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” —1 John 4:1—St. Silouan the Athonite
“They went out from us“Begin to pray with those whom you love most, for example, but they were not for your children. Then pray for the rest of us; the family. Then for if they had been the people around you, then bless the city in which you live…bless the residents of usother cities… Then ask God to calm the hearts of other countries so that there is no war. Then, they would when you have continued already prayed for the whole world, you only have to pray for enemies. And to not miss them, ask God to fill their hearts with us; but they went kindness, and the mind with wisdom. You see, it turns out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of usyou can pray for enemies too.” —1 John 2:19—St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“…for you are still carnal“True faith is found in one's heart, not mind. People who have faith in their mind will follow the antichrist. But the ones who have it in their heart will recognize him. For where there are envy, strife” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” —1 Corinthians 3:3Fool for Christ
“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized “When people are so steeped in evil that they do not yield to any admonishment and continue doing evil, a Christian cannot and should not take refuge in this teaching of the forgiveness of all, sit indifferently with his arms crossed, and apathetically watch evil abuse good, as it increases and destroys people, his close ones. To indifferently watch the ruin of a close one by one who has lost his senses and become a bearer of evil is nothing other than the breaking of the name commandment of Paul?love for one's neighbor.” —1 Corinthians 1:13—Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, “Those who dislike and every city or house divided against itself will reject their fellow-man are impoverished in their being. They do not standknow the true God, who is all-embracing love.” —Matthew 12:25—St. Silouan the Athonite
“Do you not know that you “If we detect hatred in our hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any fault, we are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of utterly estranged from love for God, since love for God will destroy himabsolutely precludes us from hating any man. For ” —St. Maximus the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” —1 Corinthians 3:16-17Confessor
“Now I plead with you, brethren, by “One must not harbour anger nor hatred towards a person that is hostile towards us. On the contrary. You must love him and do as much good as possible towards him. Following the name teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” —1 Corinthians 1:10—St. Seraphim of Sarov
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God“As fire is not extinguished by fire, let us hold fast our confession. For we do so anger is not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknessesconquered by anger, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sinis made even more inflamed. Let us therefore come boldly to But meekness often subdues even the throne of gracemost beastly enemies, that we may obtain mercy softens them and find grace to help in time of needpacifies them.” —Hebrews 4:14-16—St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
“Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your “For wherever love for all the saintsdisappears, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you hatred immediately appears in my prayers: that the its place. And if God of our Lord Jesus Christis love, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what then hatred is the hope of His callingdevil. Therefore, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saintsat one who has love has God within himself, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us so he who believe, according to has hatred within himself nurtures the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from devil within him.” —St. Basil the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.Great
And He put all things under His feet“Do not ask for love from your neighbor, for if you ask and gave Him to he does not respond, you will be troubled. Instead show your love for your neighbour and you will be head over all things at rest, and so will bring your neighbour to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in alllove.” —Ephesians 1:15-23—St. Dorotheos of Gaza
“…endeavoring to keep “Love should never be sacrificed for the unity sake of the Spirit in the bond of peacesome dogmatic difference.” —St. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope Nektarios of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;” —Ephesians 4:3-5Aegina
“For no other foundation can anyone lay “No term is used–and misused–among the Orthodox people in America more often than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christthe term canonical.” —1 Corinthians 3:11—Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Problems of Orthodoxy in America, The Canonical Problem
“I have been crucified with Christ; it “Even the slightest thought that is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for menot founded on love destroys peace.” —Galatians 2:20—Archimandrite Thaddeus Strabulovich
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the right hand sighs and sorrows of Godmen. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earthThat is what love looks like.” —Colossians 3:1-2—St. Augustine of Hippo
“If the world hates you“Your Lord is love: love Him and in Him all men, you know that it hated Me before it hated youas His Children in Christ. If you were of the worldYour Lord is fire: do not let your heart be cold, the world would but burn with faith and love its own. Yet because you are Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of the worldmind, without reasoning or understanding, but I chose or without faith. Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. If you out of the worldwill be such, therefore the world hates youwill find salvation yourself with everlasting glory.” —John 15:18-19—St. John of Kronstadt
“Thus says the Lord“To love our brothers is a need that is endemic to our nature. Contemporary man does not recognize this need, because it is suppressed and suffocated by egoism.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev), The Struggle for Virtue:Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society, p.54
"Stand in “Many think that love is a feeling, but this is not the ways and see,And ask for case. It is a state of the old pathswill. If love were a feeling it would not be a commandment. Naturally, where the good way love isaccompanied by certain feelings,And walk but in essence it;Then you is a state of the will find rest for your souls.But they said” —Fr. Daniel Sysoev, ‘We will not walk in it.’"” —Jeremiah 6:16How Can I Learn God's Will?
“I pray for them. I do not pray for “Love is – the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yoursbond of life, the mother of the poor and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in themthe teacher of the rich. Now I am no longer in It is the worldnurse of orphans, but these are in the worldattendant of the elderly, the treasure of the indigent and I come to Youthe common port of all the afflicted. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are” —St. ” —John 17:9-11Gregory of Nyssa
“The Lord “I guard you in advance against beasts in the form of men, whom you must not only not receive, but if it is my shepherd;I shall possible not wanteven meet, but only pray for them, if perchance they may repent…” —St.He makes me Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside the still watersSmyrnaeans, A.He restores my soul;He leads me in the paths of righteousnessFor His name’s sakeD.117
Yea“If the Christian recognizes and understands under what condition, under what law he has believed, though I walk through he will know that he must labor more in the valley world than others, as he must carry on a greater struggle against the assault of the shadow devil. Divine Scripture teaches and forewarns, saying: ‘Son, when thou comest to the service of deathGod,I will stand in justice, and in fear no evil;For You , and prepare thyself for temptation’ (Sirach 2:1), and again: ‘in thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience, for gold and silver are with me;Your rod and Your stafftried in the fire’ (Sirach 2:4, they comfort me5).” —St.Cyprian of Carthage, Mortality
You prepare a table before me “The person who has surrendered himself entirely to sin indulges with enjoyment and pleasure in the presence unnatural and shameful passions – licentiousness, unchastity, greed, hatred, guile and other forms of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil;My cup runs overvice – as though they were natural.Surely goodness The genuine and mercy shall follow meAll perfected Christian, on the days of my life;And I will dwell other hand, with great enjoyment and spiritual pleasure participates effortlessly and without impediment in all the virtues and all the house supranatural fruits of the LordForeverSpirit – love, peace, patient endurance, faith, humility and the entire truly golden galaxy of virtue – as though they were natural.” —Psalm 23—St. Symeon Metaphrastis
“The Lord “When a man is near given over to the passions, he does not see them in himself and does not fight against them, because he lives in them and by them. But when the grace of God becomes active in him, he begins to discern the passionate and sinful in himself, acknowledge them, and to repent and decide to those who have a broken heartguard against them. A struggle begins. At first, the struggle begins with deeds, but when released from shameful deeds,then the struggle begins with shameful thoughts and feelings. And saves such as have a contrite spirithere the struggle encounters many steps … The struggle continues. The passions increasingly are torn out of the heart. It even happens that they are entirely torn out … The sign that the passions are torn out of the heart is that the soul begins to feel repulsion and hatred for the passions.” —Psalm 34:18—St. Theophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare, How the Spiritual Life Proceeds
“Be still“Until you have eradicated evil, and know that I am Goddo not obey your heart;I for it will be exalted among seek more of what it already contains within itself.” —St. Mark the nations,I will be exalted in the earth!” —Psalm 46:10Ascetic
“Truly my soul finds rest in God;my salvation comes from him.Truly he “Whatever of that which is my rock and my salvationbest has flowed into the heart, we should not pour out without need;he is my fortress, I will never for that which has been gathered can be shaken.One thing God has spoken,two things I have heard:"Power belongs to you, God,free of danger from visible and with you, Lord, invisible enemies only when it is unfailing love";and, "You reward everyoneaccording to what they have doneguarded in the interior of the heart."” —Psalm 62:1-2,11,12—St. Seraphim of Sarov
“Love suffers long and is kind; love “No one professing faith sins, nor does not envy; anyone possessing love does not parade itself, hate. The tree is not puffed upknown by its fruit; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, thus those who profess to be Christ's will be recognized by their actions. For the work is a matter not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquityof what one promises now, but rejoices of persevering to the end in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all thingspower of faith. Love never fails” —St.” —1 Corinthians 13:4-8Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians
“Greater love has no one than this“Indeed, than man wishes to lay down one’s life for his friendsbe happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.” —John 15:13—St. Augustine of Hippo
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another“The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” —John 13:35—St. Augustine of Hippo
“Then “The evil powers love the King will say darkness and tremble at every light, especially at that which belongs to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty God and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Methose who please Him.’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” —St.’” —Matthew 25:34-36,40Nikolai Velimirovich
“…that you may “There is no benefit to be sons gained from a pure life when one possesses heretical dogma. And likewise the opposite is true. Correct dogma is of your Father in heaven; no benefit when one leads a corrupt life. Let us not think that holding faith alone is alone sufficient for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjustsalvation if we do not also show forth a pure life.” —Matthew 5:45—St. John Chrysostom
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above“The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated by love makes a lot of the religious works he performs. But the one who has been deemed worthy to obtain this says with conviction the words which the patriarch Abraham spoke when he was graced with the divine appearance, ‘I am but earth and comes down from ashes.’” —St. Maximus the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” —James 1:17Confessor
“Most assuredly“Do not say that ‘mere faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can save me’, I say to for this is impossible unless youacquire love for Him through works. For in what concerns mere believing, he who believes ‘even the demons believe and tremble’ (James 2:19). The action of love consists in Me has everlasting lifeheartfelt good deeds towards one's neighbor, magnanimity, patience, and sober use of things.” —John 6:47—St. Maximus the Confessor
“Jesus spoke “Our faith then must be different from the faith of devils. For our faith purifies the heart; but their faith makes them guilty. For they do wickedly, and therefore say they to the Lord, ‘What have we to them againdo with You?’ When you hear the devils say this, do you think that they do not acknowledge Him? ‘We know,’ they say, ‘who You are: You are the Son of God.’ This Peter says, and is commended; the devil says it, and is condemned. Whence comes this, but that though the words be the same, the heart is different? Let us then make a distinction in our faith, and not be content to believe. This is no such faith as purifies the heart. ‘Purifying their hearts,’ it is said, ‘by faith.’ But by what, and what kind of faith, sayingsave that which the Apostle Paul defines when he says, 'I am ‘Faith which works by love.’ That faith distinguishes us from the light faith of devils, and from the worldinfamous and abandoned conduct of men. ‘Faith,’ he says. What faith? ‘That which works by love,’ and which hopes for what God does promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than this definition. There are then in faith these three things. He who follows Me in whom that faith is which works by love, must necessarily hope for that which God does promise. Hope therefore is the associate of faith. For hope is necessary as long as we see not what we believe, lest perhaps through not seeing, and by despairing to see, we fail. That we see not, does make us sad; but that we hope we shall see, comforts us. Hope then is here, and she is the associate of faith. And then charity also, by which we long, and strive to attain, and glow with desire, and hunger and thirst. This then is taken in also; and so there will be faith, hope, and charity. For how shall there not walk in darknessbe charity there, since charity is nothing else but have love? And this faith is itself defined as that ‘which works by love.’ Take away faith, and all you believe perishes; take away charity, and all that you do perishes. For it is the light province of faith to believe, of charity to do. For if you believe without love, you do not apply yourself to good works; or if you do, it is as a servant, not as a son, through fear of punishment, not through love of liferighteousness. Therefore I say, that faith purifies the heart, which works by love.'” —John 8:12—St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon III on the New Testament, Section XI
“Do not love “Refuse to listen to the world or the things in the worldDevil when he whispers to you: ‘Give me now, and you will give tomorrow to God. If anyone loves the world’ No, no! Spend all the love hours of the Father is not your life in hima way pleasing to God. For all that is Keep in your mind the world—the lust of thought that after the fleshpresent hour, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is you will not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing awaybe given another, and the lust of it; but he who does the that you will have to render a strict account for every minute of God abides foreverthis present hour.” —1 John 2:15-17—St. Theophan the Recluse
“I beseech you therefore“Human life is but of brief duration. ‘All flesh is grass, brethrenand all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, by the mercies flower fades; but the word of our God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable serviceshall stand forever’ (Isa. 40:6). And do not be conformed Let us hold fast to this worldthe commandment that abides, but be transformed by and despise the renewing of your mind, unreality that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of Godpasses away.” —Romans 12:1-2—St. Basil the Great
“They are “We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of the worldtrees, all pass by. So does our life. I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. Therefore they speak as of My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the world, end and will go the world hears themway of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live.Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!” —1 John 4:5—St. Tikhon of Voronezh
“For what “You should look downward. Remember: you are earth and you will it profit a man if he gains return to the whole world, and loses his own soul?earth.” —Mark 8:36—St. Ambrose of Optina
“For God “Just as a pauper, seeing the royal treasures, all the more acknowledges his own poverty; so loved also the world that He gave His only begotten Sonspirit, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into reading the accounts of the world to condemn great deeds of the worldHoly Fathers, but that involuntarily is all the world through Him might be savedmore humbled in its way of thought.” —John 3:16-17—St. John Climacus
“For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For 'He has put all things under His feet.' But when He says 'all things are put under Him“Do not shun poverty and affliction,' it is evident the fuel that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject gives wings to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in allprayer.” —1 Corinthians 15:25-28—Evagrios the Solitary
“For our citizenship “Prayer is in heavena refuge for those who are shaken, an anchor for those tossed by waves, from which we also eagerly wait a walking stick for the Saviorinfirm, a treasure house for the Lord Jesus Christpoor, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious bodya stronghold for the rich, a destroyer of sicknesses, according to the working by which a preserver of health. He who can sincerely pray is able richer than everyone else, even to subdue though he is the poorest of all things . On the contrary, he who does not have recourse to Himselfprayer, even though he sit on a king's throne, is the poorest of all…” —St.” —Philippians 3:20-21John Chrysostom
“Therefore “What is the meaning of the exclamation so often sung in church: ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’? It is the lament of the guilty, condemned sinner, imploring forgiveness of an irritated justice. We are all under the eternal curse and doomed to eternal fire for our innumerable sins, and it was not one manis only the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but rather interceding for us before the One Universal ChurchHeavenly Father, that received these 'keys' saves us from eternal punishment. It is the lament of the repentant sinner, expressing his firm intention to amend and begin a new life, becoming for a Christian. It is the lament of the right 'repentant sinner, ready to bind forgive others, as he himself was and loosenis immeasurably forgiven by God, the Judge of his deeds.'” —St. AugustineJohn of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ, pg. 406
“The Lord calls “It seems that we do not understand one thing: it is not good when we return the love of those who love us, yet hate those who hate us. We are not on the Holy Spirit right path if we do this. We are the 'voice sons of a gentle breeze'light and love – the sons of God, his children. For God is breathAs such, we must have His qualities and the breath His attributes of the wind is shared by love, peace, and kindness towards all.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
“Nothing “Pride is so characteristically Christian trying to imagine a world and live in it. Humility receives the world as being a peacemakerGod created it.” —St. Basil the GreatSophrony of Essex
“Now there is “We suffer because we have no more chaos, no more death, no more slaying, no more Hellhumility and we do not love our brother. Now everything is joy, thanks to the resurrection From love of our Christ. Human nature is resurrected with Him. Now we too can rise again that we might live with Him eternally … What bliss is contained in brother comes the Resurrection! In every sorrow, with every failure, in anything that causes you pain, collect yourself for half a minute and slowly say this hymnlove of God. ThenPeople do not learn humility, you will see that the most important thing in your life and in because of their pride cannot receive the life grace of the entire universe has already been accomplished with Holy Spirit, and therefor the resurrection of Christwhole world suffers. It is our salvation” —St. And then, you realize that all our setbacks are so insignificant, that you don’t need to allow them to spoil your mood.” —Elder PorphryiosSilouan the Athonite
“Let no “Some suffer much from poverty and sickness, but are not humbled, and so they suffer without profit. But one fear death; for who is humbled will be happy in all circumstances, because the Lord is his riches and joy, and all people will wonder at the death beauty of the Savior has set us freehis soul.” —St. John ChrysostomSilouan the Athonite
“He who is initiated into “My joy, I beg you, acquire the mystery Spirit of Peace. That means to bring oneself to such a state that our spirit will not be disturbed by anything. For one must go through many sorrows to enter the Resurrection, learns Kingdom of Heaven. This is the end for which God created way all things.” righteous men were saved and inherited the Heavenly Kingdom…” —St. Maximus the ConfessorSeraphim of Sarov
“Since Christ “My will, therefore, He took to Himself has , my grief. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine is the will which He called His Own, for as Man He bore my grief, as Man He spake, and therefore said, "This ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’ Mine was the grief, and mine the heaviness with which He bore it, for no man exults when at the point to die. With me and for me He Suffers, for me He is My Body" who shall dare sad, for me He is heavy. In my stead therefore, and in me He grieved Who had no cause to doubt that It is His Body?” —Stgrieve for Himself. Cyril of Jerusalem
“You freed me from slaveryNot Thy Wound, but mine, hurt Thee, Lord Jesus; not Thy Death, but our weakness, gave me Your Name even as the Prophet saith: ‘For He is afflicted for our sakes’--and marked we, Lord, esteemed Thee afflicted, when Thou grievedst not for Thyself, but for me with Your Blood, so that I would always keep You in my heart.” —St. Augustine
“When someone opens your And what wonder if He grieved for all, Who wept for one? What wonder if, in the hour of death, He is heavy for all, Who wept when at the point to raise Lazarus from the dead? Then, indeed, He was moved by a loving sister's tears, for they touched His human heart, I'd like him --here by secret grief He brought it to find nothing there but Christpass that, even as His Death made an end of death, and His Stripes healed our scars, so also His Sorrow took away our sorrow.” —Elder Amphilochios —St. Ambrose of PatmosMilan, (+397), Ch. 7, Book II, Exposition on the Christian Faith
“To fall in love with God “Peace is the greatest romance; to seek Himnot absence of struggle, the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest achievementbut absence of uncertainty and confusion.” —St. Augustine—Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh
“Love bestows prophecy; love yields miracles; love “Humility is an abyss perfect quietness of illumination; love heart, it is a fountain of fireto expect nothing, in the measure to wonder at nothing that it wells upis done to me, it inflames the thirsty soulto feel nothing done against me. Love It is the state of angelsto be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. Love It is to have a blessed home in the progress Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of eternitycalmness, when all around and above is trouble.” —St. John Climacus—Andrew Murray
“The end of each discovery becomes “However great the starting point for the discovery of something higherafflictions we suffer, and what are they compared with the ascent continues. Thus our ascent is unending. We go from beginning to beginning by way of beginnings without endpromised future reward.” —St. Gregory of NyssaMacarius the Great
“He is with me, He “Shun the praise of men and love the one who left the world behind. He is present in me, He who left His nature. He dwells in me, He who denied Himself. He is wholly for methe fear of the Lord, He who lost His life for mereprimands you.” —St. Ambrose of MilanPachomius
“You brought “When people begin to praise us into being out , let us hurry to remember the multitude of nothingours transgressions, and when we fell, You raised us up againwill see that we are truly unworthy of that which they say and do in our honor.” — St—St. John ChrysostomClimacus
“You did not cease doing everything until You led us “…Don't be frightened at your burden; our Lord will help you to heaven and granted us Your kingdom to comecarry it.” —St. John ChrysostomVianney
“For You are God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always “Every tribulation reveals the samestate of our will.” —St. John ChrysostomMark the Ascetic
“Brethren“Every affliction tests our will, He showing whether it is inclined to good or evil. That is why an unforeseen affliction is near each one called a test, because it enables a man to test his hidden desires.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Many are the wiles of the enemy to despoil usof inner peace, even if unseenso watch!” —St. That Theophan the Recluse “In every situation confusion is why He said to from the devil, from whom may the apostles Lord shield and protect us.” —St. Leo of Optina “It should be noted that when He ascendedthe fallen spirit wants to get dominion over Christ's ascetics, ‘Lohe does not act imperiously or domineeringly, I am with you alwaybut tries to draw a man to consent to the proposed delusion, even unto the end and after getting his consent he takes possession of the world’ (Matt 28:20)person who has given his consent. Every day we should stand Holy David, in awe of Himdescribing his the fallen angel attacks man, has very rightly said: "He lurketh in secret as He is with usa lion in his den, that he may ravish the poor; to ravish the poor, and do what is pleasing before Himwhen he getteth him into his net."” —St. If we are unable now to perceive Him with our physical eyesIgnaty Bryanchaninov, we canThe Arena, if we are watchfulchapter 11, see Him continuously with On the Solitary Life “The devil presents minor sins as insignificant in our eyes of our understanding, and because otherwise he would not be able lead us into major ones.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Do not just see Himleave unobliterated any fault, but reap great benefits from Himhowever small, for it may lead you on to greater sins.” —St. This vision destroys all sinMark the Ascetic “Obedience is necessary not only for monks, demolishes but for all evilpeople. Even the Lord was obedient. The proud and self-regarding do not allow grace to live in them, and drives away everything bad. It yields every virtuetherefore they never have spiritual peace, while in the obedient soul the grace of the Holy Spirit enters easily and gives birth joy and peace. Whoever bears even a little grace in himself joyfully submits himself to purity all direction. He knows that God directs even the heavens and dispassionthe netherworld, and bestows eternal life himself, and his business, and everything in the kingdom without endworld, and therefore he is always at peace. As we attend to this joyful sight” —St. Silouan the Athonite, gazing with our mind's eye on Christ as though He were presentWritings, each XV.2 “The fact that I am a monk and you are a layman is of us will say with David, ‘Though no importance. The Lord listens equally to the monk and to the man of the world provided both are true believer. He looks for a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident’ (Psfull of true faith into which to send his Spirit. For the heart of a man is capable of containing the Kingdom of God. 27:3)The Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God are one.” —St. Gregory of Palamas, Homily 23, The Appearance Seraphim of JesusSarov
“If there “He who honours the Lord does what the Lord bids. When he sins or is any rest for us in this worlddisobedient, then it consists only in purity of the conscience and patiencehe patiently accepts what comes as something he deserves. This is a harbor for us who sail upon the sea of life…” ” —St. Tikhon of ZadonskMark the Ascetic
“There are far“It is a great error to think that you must undertake important and great labors, far better things ahead than anything we leave behindwhether for heaven, or, as the 'progressives' think, in order to make one's contribution to humanity. That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord's commandments.” —C. S—St. LewisTheophan the Recluse
“What“When we are immersed in sins, thenand our mind is occupied solely with worldly cares, is greater than that we do not notice the Father state of the only-begotten Son Himself recognizes in us His members our soul. We are indifferent to who we are inwardly, and finds the very form we persist along a false path without being aware of the Son in our faces?it.” —St. Nicholas CabasilasJohn (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco
“The Son “We have to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all of one piece; it has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of God became manself-worship, that we might become godof relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world … It is actually an education in atheism.” —StWe have to fight back by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us…” —Fr. Athanasius Seraphim Rose of AlexandriaPlatina
“becoming by grace what God is by nature“I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.” ’” —St. Athanasius of AlexandriaAnthony the Great
“Thine own of Thine own we Offer unto Thee“Learn to love humility, in behalf for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repugnant before God but the most repugnant of all and for all!” —Anaphora offering (OCA), Divine Liturgy is pride of Stthe heart. John Chrysostom
“Precious in Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise, all your effort will be destroyed and your boat will reach the sight of the LordIs the death of His saintsharbor empty.” —Psalm 116:15
“…nor can they die anymoreIf you have great authority, for they do not threaten anyone with death. Know, that according to nature, you too are equal susceptible to the angels death and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that every soul sheds its body from itself as the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Himfinal garment.” —Luke 20:36-38
In Byzantium there existed an unusual and instructive custom during the crowning of the emperors in the Church of the Divine Wisdom [St. Sophia]. The custom was that when the patriarch placed the crown on the emperor's head, at the same time, he handed him a silk purse filled with dirt from the grave. Then, even the emperor would recall death and to avoid all pride and become humble.” —St. Anthony the Great, The Prologue of Ochrid “What made our Lord Jesus Christ lay aside His garments, gird Himself with a towel, and, pouring water into a basin, begin to wash the feet of those who were below Him, if not to teach us humility? For it was humility He showed us by the example of what He then did. And indeed those who want to be accepted into the foremost rank cannot achieve this otherwise than through humility; for in the beginning, the thing that caused downfall from heaven was a movement of pride. So, if a man lacks extreme humility, if he is not humble with all his heart, all his mind, all his spirit, all his soul and body – he will not inherit the kingdom of God.” —St. Anthony the Great, Early Fathers from the Philokalia, E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, 1954, pp. 45-46 “People who are filled with egoism and pride because of their education, resemble satellites that orbit in the sky, giving one the impression that they are stars. If, however, you observe them carefully you will see their crooked steps and see that it is all a human sham… Internally-oriented people, on account of their humility, are the true stars that move at dizzying speeds, but noiselessly and humbly, without anyone understanding how they move even though they are immense planets. They hide in the depths of heaven and give men the impression that they are little oil lamps aflame with a humble light.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos “Wouldst thou comprehend the height of God? First comprehend the lowliness of God. Condescend to be humble for thine own sake, seeing that God condescended to be humble for thy sake too, for it was not for his own.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “The greatness of a man consisteth of humility, for in proportion as a man descendeth to humility, he becometh exalted to greatness.” —Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol. 2 “It is easier to measure the entire sea with a tiny cup than to grasp God's ineffable greatness with the human mind.” —St. Basil the Great “You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” —C. S. Lewis “This is the wisdom and power of God: to be victorious through weakness, exalted through humility, rich through poverty.” —St. Gregory Palamas “You will lose nothing of what you have renounced for the Lord’s sake. For in its own time it will return to you greatly multiplied.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “God often isolates those whom He chooses, so that we have nowhere to turn except to Him, then He reveals Himself to us.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Where can I flee? A place cannot save you because there is no place you can flee from yourself.” —St. Nikon of Optina “No one and nothing can harm a man if he does not harm himself; on the contrary, if one does not avoid sin, a thousand means of salvation will not help him. Consequently, the only evil is sin: Judas fell while in the presence of the Savior, but the righteous Lot was saved while living in Sodom.” —St. Nikon of Optina, November 15-16/28-29, 1922, Optina Monastery, The Orthodox Word, 1980, vol. 16, no. 2 (91), March-April “If our purpose is to fight the spiritual fight and to defeat, with God's help, the demons of malice, we should take every care to guard our heart from the demon of dejection, just as a moth devours clothing and a worm devours wood, so dejection devours a man’s soul. It persuades him to shun every helpful encounter and stops him accepting advice from his true friends or giving them a courteous and peaceful reply. Seizing the entire soul, it fills it with bitterness and listlessness. Then it suggests to the soul that we should go away from other people, since they are the cause of its agitation. It does not allow the soul to understand that its sickness does not come from without, but lies hidden within, only manifesting itself when temptations attack the soul because of our ascetic efforts. A man can be harmed by another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that God, the Creator of all and the Doctor of men’s souls, who alone has accurate knowledge of the soul’s wounds, does not tell us to forsake the company of men; He tells us to root out the causes of evil within us and to recognize that the soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstances.” —St. John Cassian “A life lived in the world can be as good, in the eyes of God, as one spent in a monastery. It is indeed only the keeping of God's commandments, love of all, and a true sense of humility that matter, wherever we are.” —Elder Macarius of Optina “Those who, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealous, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorant.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “When you get bitter and annoyed, even if only in thought, you ruin the spiritual atmosphere. You stop the Holy Spirit from working and you allow the devil to increase evil. You should always pray, love and forgive, rejecting each and every bad thought within you.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia “When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected, and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, your own Guardian Angel, and all the Saints of God.” —St. John of Kronstadt “A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “The roots of evil thoughts are the obvious vices, which we keep trying to justify in our words and actions.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything.” —St. Mark the Ascetic "The higher a person’s position in society the more he should help others without ever reminding them of his position.” —Tsar St. Nicholas II “If you want your sins to be absolved by Christ, then don't speak to others about any virtue that you may have, because God will treat our sins the same way we treat our virtues.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “If any man is able in power to continue in purity, to the honour of the flesh of our Lord, let him continue so without boasting; if he boasts, he is undone; if he become known apart from the bishop, he has destroyed himself.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch “Guarding the mouth wakes up the conscience to God, if it is with knowledge that a man keeps silence.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Silence is more profitable than speech, for as it has been said, ‘The words of wise men are heard even in quiet.’” —St. Basil the Great “Never give your opinion if you are not asked for it, even if you think that your view is the best.” —Josemaria Escriva “Not only for every idle word must man give an account, but for every idle silence.” —St. Ambrose of Milan “Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.” —Henri Nouwen “Let your mouth continually administer blessing; then the scorn of anyone will never hurt you.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Just as swine run to a place where there is mire, and bees dwell where there are fragrances and incense, likewise demons gather where there are carnal songs and the grace of the Holy Spirit settles where there are spiritual melodies, sanctifying both mouth and soul.” —St. John Chrysostom “A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, charity. A psalm is a city of refuge from the demons, a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from toils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women. It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with God. For, a psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense.” —St. Basil the Great “Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all ‘fullness of blessing,’ both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment.” —St. Basil the Great “Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “The source of self-delusion and demonic deception is the false thought…” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus “Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus “Knowing the perpetual impurity of our spiritual state must bring us humility of heart.” —Tonia Howell “Where there is pride and at the same time one has a vision – it can not be from God, but by all means – from the evil one.” —Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev “If you are silent in a good way, desiring to be with God, never accept any physical or spiritual appearances, either outside or inside yourself, even if it might be an image of Christ, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, or imprint itself in the mind...Be attentive, that you may not come to believe something, even if it is something good, and be not captivated by it before consulting those who are experienced and are able to analyze the matter, so that you do not suffer harm...God is not displeased with the person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of fear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and testing…” —St. Gregory of Sinai “Children, I beseech you to correct your hearts and thoughts, so that you may be pleasing to God. Consider that although we may reckon ourselves to be righteous and frequently succeed in deceiving men, we can conceal nothing from God. Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of our souls and to guard the purity of our bodies with all fervor. Ye are the temple of God, says the divine Apostle Paul; If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” —St. Nicholas of Myra “Those who suffer for the sake of true devotion receive help. This must be learnt through obeying God's law and our own conscience.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “When you are wronged and your heart and feelings are hardened, do not be distressed, for this has happened providentially; but be glad and reject the thoughts that arise within you, knowing that if they are destroyed at the stage when they are only provocations, their evil consequences will be cut off, whereas if the thoughts persist the evil may be expected to develop.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Struggle to become immortal from now, by dying here on the earth to your bad self. In this way, you won't be sad, but you'll be very glad, living together with Christ.” —Elder Porphyrios “On the one hand He is Being, eternally Being of the Eternal Being, above every cause and word…And on the other hand for our sake he is also Becoming, so that He who gives us our being might also give us our well-being.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 38 “For this He assumed my body, that I may become capable of His Word; taking my flesh, He gives me His Spirit; and so He bestowing and I receiving, He prepares for me the treasure of Life. He takes my flesh, to sanctify me; He gives me His Spirit that He may save me.” —St. John Chrysostom “Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been inplanted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels. Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Nativity “This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world;So let no one threaten.This is the night of the Most Gentle One;Let no one be cruel.This is the night of the Humble One;Let no one be proud.Now is the day of joy;Let us not revenge.Now is the day of good will;Let us not be mean.In this day of peace --Let us not be conquered by anger.Today the Bountiful impoverished Himself for our sake;So, rich one, invite the poor to your table.Today we receive a Gift for which we did not ask;So let us give alms to those who implore and beg us.This present day throws open the doors of heaven to our prayers; Let us open our doors to those who ask our forgiveness.Today the Divinity took upon himself the seal of our humanity,In order for humanity to be decorated by the seal of Divinity.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily on the Nativity “This being He placed in Paradise, whatever the Paradise may have been, having honoured him with the gift of Free Will (in order that God might belong to him as the result of his choice, no less than to Him who had implanted the seeds of it), to till the immortal plants, by which is meant perhaps the Divine Conceptions, both the simpler and the more perfect; naked in his simplicity and inartificial life, and without any covering or screen; for it was fitting that he who was from the beginning should be such. Also He gave him a Law, as a material for his Free Will to act upon. This Law was a Commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not touch. This latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was evil from the beginning when planted; nor was it forbidden because God grudged it to us…Let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that direction, or imitate the Serpent…But it would have been good if partaken of at the proper time, for the tree was, according to my theory, Contemplation, upon which it is only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter; but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy in their habit; just as solid food is not good for those who are yet tender, and have need of milk. (Hebrews 5:12) But when through the Devil's malice and the woman's caprice, to which she succumbed as the more tender, and which she brought to bear upon the man, as she was the more apt to persuade, alas for my weakness! (for that of my first father was mine), he forgot the Commandment which had been given to him; (Genesis 3:5) he yielded to the baleful fruit; and for his sin he was banished, at once from the Tree of Life, and from Paradise, and from God; and put on the coats of skins…that is, perhaps, the coarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. This was the first thing that he learned – his own shame; (Romans 1:22-31) and he hid himself from God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death, and the cutting off of sin, in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus his punishment is changed into a mercy; for it is in mercy, I am persuaded, that God inflicts punishment.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 38, XII, On Theophany, On the Birth of our Saviour (On the Nativity of Christ) “It is no wonder that the shepherds were able to know of the world's redemption before rulers, for the Angels made their announcement not to kings or judges but to countryfolk. It is not to be wondered at, then, if innocence merited to know the Grace of Christ before power did and simple country manners merited to recognize the Truth before proud dominion. For what the Shepherds recognized the rulers were unable to recognize; hence the Blessed Apostle says: 'What none of the rulers of this age recognized,' and so forth. At the Birth of Christ, therefore, the Angels rejoiced together with the Shepherds, giving God high glory, for in close and even joined choruses, so to speak, they preached the glory of God.” —St. Maximus of Turin, Homily on the Nativity, sec. 2 “The Angel-Messenger of the pre-eternal Counsel of the Holy Trinity comes to the earth. This is not an ordinary messenger; it is the Only-begotten Son of God Himself. He brings peace to men. ‘Peace be unto you’, he said more than once to His disciples. ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you’, He says to the apostles at the Mystical Supper, ‘not as the world giveth, give I unto you’. And appearing after His Resurrection, again He says: ‘Peace be unto you’. ‘For he is our peace’, the holy Apostle Paul says concerning Him: ‘He came to the earth to reconcile man unto God by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. And having come, He preached peace to those afar off and to those near, because through Him we both have access unto the Father’. The wall that separated heaven and earth is destroyed; the sword that barred the way to the tree of life disappears. Unto man that had sinned comes his Creator, calling him into His embrace! By the mouths of the apostles, the Holy Spirit cries out: ‘In Christ, be ye reconciled to God’. You that had sinned came not to God, but the Son of God, before Whom you sinned, came to you! He calls everyone to Himself; He gives forgiveness to everyone who merely thirsts for this. For without the desire of man himself, without at least his little effort, God's peace cannot settle in him. The Lord forces no one to come to Him, but calls everyone: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’. Come all ye who are heavy laden with sins, who are exhausted from your labours and who do not find rest! You shall find that inner peace, which you will find nothing on earth more desirable than. The soul will feel unearthly peace and joy.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Epistle on the Nativity, 1962 “I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth.” —Archimandrite Sophrony “The Christian world nowadays presents a terrifying and cheerless picture of profound religious and moral decay. The servants of Antichrist do their utmost to completely displace God from people’s lives, in order that mankind, content with its material well-being, would not feel any need to turn to God in prayer, would not think of God at all, but would live as though God did not exist. Thus the entire structure of contemporary life in the so-called ‘free’ world, where there is no open and bloody persecution of faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, represents a far greater danger to a Christian’s soul by drawing the Christian wholly down to earth and making him forget heaven. The entire modern culture, which is aimed at purely worldly achievements, and the resultant whirlwind of everyday life, keep a person in such a state of constant bustle and absent-mindedness that he has no opportunity for any soul-searching, and spiritual life within him gradually becomes extinguished.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse “In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as Transcendental Meditation I am but repeating the age-old message of the Church … The way of the Fathers requires firm faith and long patience, whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, including even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, by force and speedily, and will often draw a parallel between prayer in the Name of Jesus and yoga or Transcendental Meditation and the like. I must stress the danger of such errors … He is deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of all that is transitory and relative in order to cross some invisible threshold, to realize his eternal origin, his identity with the Source of all that exists, in order to return and merge with him, the nameless transpersonal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to suprarational contemplation of being, to experience a certain mystical trepidation, to know the state of silence of mind, when mind goes beyond the boundaries of time and space. In such like states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from the continually changing phenomena of the visible world, may even have a certain experience of eternity. But the God of Truth, the Living God, is not in all this. It is man's own beauty, created in the image of God, that is contemplated and seen as divinity, whereas he himself still continues within the confines of his creatureliness. This is a vastly important concern. The tragedy of the matter lies in the fact that man sees a mirage which, in his longing for eternal life, he mistakes for a genuine oasis. This impersonal form of ascetics leads finally to an assertion of the divine principle in the very nature of man. Man is then drawn to the idea of self-deification—the cause of the original Fall. The man who is blinded by the imaginary majesty of what he contemplates has in fact set his foot on the path to self-destruction. He has discarded the revelation of a personal God … The movement into the depths of his own being is nothing else but attraction towards the non-being from which we were called by the will of the Creator.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. Athos, His Life is Mine, 115-116 “Blessed is the mind that prays, worships God without imagination, for Christ had no imagination, being God. Adam lost his paradise after falling into imagination, because he imagined, at the instigation of Lucifer, that if he tasted from the forbidden tree, he would never die. The Holy Fathers say that the greatest disease and temptation during prayer is the imagination of the mind, which they called the ‘soul cuttlefish with eight tentacles’ or ‘octopus’. Imagination is also called the ‘bridge for demons’. During the prayer offered from the heart, it is most difficult to preserve the imagination; it is even harder than keeping the mind away from thoughts. Let's not forget that everything limited, represented is not God. In the meantime, if we stop at the images, we are being deceived and we can neither pass through the narrow gate to the heart nor reach God.” —Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie) of Romania “Yes, one must disregard doubts, just like lustful and blasphemous thoughts; pay no attention to them. Disregard them, and your enemy, the devil, will not be able to withstand it; he'll leave you, since he's proud and cannot bear the disdain. But if you enter into conversation with them – since the lustful thoughts, blasphemies and doubts are not yours – he'll bombard you, swamp you, kill you.” —Elder Barsanuphius of Optina “Christ said, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' and 'division'. Christ summoned us to war on the plane of the spirit, and our weapon is 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.' Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are tied hand and foot. We dare not strike with fire or sword: our sole armament is love, even for enemies. This unique war in which we are engaged is indeed a holy war. We wrestle with the last and only enemy of mankind death. Our fight is the fight for universal resurrection.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. Athos, His Life is Mine “But since our discourse has now turned to the subject of blasphemy, I desire to ask one favour of you all, in return for this my address, and speaking with you; which is, that you will correct on my behalf the blasphemers of this city. And should you hear anyone in the public thoroughfare, or in the midst of the forum, blaspheming God; go up to him and rebuke him; and should it be necessary to inflict blows, spare not to do so. Smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify your hand with the blow; and if they are accused, and be brought to court, go. And if a judge before the court demands an answer, boldly say that he blasphemed the King of angels, for if those who blaspheme the earthly king are to be punished, how much more insulting is it to Him (the King)…” —St. John Chrysostom, Conversations on Statues, address to the people of Antioch, Conversation 1, pt. 1 12 “I ask you to try something. If someone grieves you, or dishonors you, or takes something of yours, then pray like this: ‘Lord, we are all your creatures. Pity your servants, and turn them to repentance,’ and then you will perceptibly bear grace in your soul. Induce your heart to love your enemies, and the Lord, seeing your good will, shall help you in all things, and will Himself show you experience. But whoever thinks evil of his enemies does not have love for God and has not known God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite, Writing, IX.21 “Where there is pride there cannot be grace, and if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil thoughts and does not understand that she must humble herself and love her enemies, for there is no other way to please God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “The whole therapeutic method of the Orthodox Church is not aimed simply at making human beings morally and socially balanced, but at re-establishing their relationship with God and one another. This comes about through the healing of the soul's wounds and the cure of the passions through the Sacraments and the Church's ascetic practice.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The Science of Spiritual Medicine: Orthodox Psychotherapy in Action “The acquisition of of holiness is not the exclusive business of monks, as certain people think. People with families are also called to holiness, as are those in all kinds of professions, who live in the world, since the commandment about perfection and holiness is given not only to monks, but to all people.” —Hieromartyr Onuphry Gagaluk “Many passions are hidden in our souls; they can be brought to light only when the objects that rouse them are present.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love “What is holiness? Freedom from every sin and the fullness of every virtue. This freedom from sin and this virtuous life are only attained by a few zealous persons, and that not suddenly, but gradually, by prolonged and manifold sorrows, sicknesses, and labors, by fasting, vigilance, prayer, and that not by their own strength, but by the grace of Christ…” —St. John of Kronstadt “A wise heart can transfer an affliction into a blessing, even sin!! He benefits from it: contrition, humility, keenness and sympathy for sinners.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda III “Humility and suffering free a man from all sin; for the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” —C. S. Lewis “Christ did not come into the world to eliminate suffering, Christ has not even come into the world to explain it. Rather, He came to fill human suffering with His presence.” —Fr. George Calciu “The soul of man is not impure at birth, but pure.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos “By nature the soul is passionless… so you must believe that the passions do not belong to the soul by nature.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Just as in legal marriage, the pleasure derived from procreation cannot exactly be called a gift of God, because it is carnal and constitutes a gift of nature and not of grace (even though that nature has been created by God); even so the knowledge that comes from profane education, even if well used, is a gift of nature, and not of grace-a gift which God accords to all without exception through nature, and which one can develop by exercise. This last point-that no one acquires it without effort and exercise-is an evident proof that it is a question of a natural, not a spiritual, gift. It is our sacred wisdom that should legitimately be called a gift of God and not a natural gift, since even simple fishermen who receive it from on high become, as Gregory the Theologian says, sons of Thunder, whose word has encompassed the very bounds of the universe. By this grace, even publicans are made merchants of souls; and even the burning zeal of persecutors is transformed, making them Pauls instead of Sauls, turning away the earth to attain ‘the third heaven’ and ‘hear ineffable things’. By this true wisdom we too can become conformed to the image of God and continue to be such after death.” —St. Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts, Philosophy does not save, pages 29-30 “We know that even the facts that a marriage means relations between a man and a woman and that a choice of gender is not an intellectual and volitional one, but a Divine choice, are now being disputed. Children are already being taught this. They are told: ‘You should choose yourself whether you are a boy or a girl’; that is, what was founded by God is being destroyed by people, ostensibly for the sake of freedom. But then, what is freedom like? If freedom ruins the Divine plan of the world and of mankind, then it is not freedom, but slavery. And we know that the devil enslaves a man, because the most dangerous captivity is to be not free from sin, when a person cannot live in accordance with his or her calling.” —His Holiness Patriarch Kirill “Fiery lust, the desire for marriage, sexual union … and all the other things that, as most people think, the body seeks for - it is not the body as such … but the soul, which through the body seeks pleasure by their means… Let no one think he is being driven towards these things and compelled by his own body… the body cannot be moved to anything apart from the soul.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian “Often this demon [of lust] goes away altogether for a while, and one can have a false sense of security that one is ‘above’ this passion; but all the Holy Fathers warn that one cannot consider this passion conquered before the grave. Continue your struggle and take refuge in humility, seeing what base sins you are capable of and how you are lost without the constant help of God Who calls you to a life above these sins.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, p. 803 “Pornography is the devil's iconography.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Just as the virtues are begotten in the soul, so are the passions. But the virtues are begotten in accordance with nature, the passions in a mode contrary to nature. For what produces good or evil in the soul is the will's bias… For our inner disposition is capable of operating in one way or another, since it bears within itself both virtue and vice, the first as its natural birthright, the second as the result of the self-incurred proclivity of our moral will.” —St. Gregory of Sinai “Afflictions, illness, ill health and the pains that our bodies experience are counted for the remission of our trespasses. They are the furnace in which we are purified…” —St. John Chrysostom “The heart of a perfectly healthy man becomes weakened for faith and love to God and his neighbor, and easily gives itself up to carnal desires: to slothfulness, negligence, coldness, gluttony, avarice, fornication, pride. Whilst the heart of a sick man, or a wounded, oppressed, weary heart, is strengthened in faith, hope, and love, and is far removed from carnal passions. This is why the Heavenly Father, Who careth for our salvation, chastises us by various sicknesses. The oppression and afflictions of sickness make us turn again to God.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Gluttony says that her child is war against chastity.” —St. John Climacus “You can't stop smoking tobacco? What is impossible for man is possible with God's help. Just firmly decide to quit, realizing how harmful it is for the soul and the body, since tobacco weakens the soul, and increases and strengthens the passions, darkens the mind, and destroys physical health with a slow death.” —St. Ambrose of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina, pg. 70 “If you wish to live long on the earth, do not hurry to live in a carnal manner, to satiate yourself, to get drunk, to smoke, to commit fornication, to live in luxury, to indulge yourself. The carnal way of life constitutes death, and therefore, in the Holy Scripture, our flesh is called mortal, or, ‘the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.’ If you wish to live long, live through the spirit; for life consists in the spirit: ‘If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,’ both here on earth and there in heaven. One cannot eat and drink and smoke continually. One cannot turn human life into constant eating, drinking, and smoking, although there are men who do eat, drink, and smoke almost uninterruptedly; and thus the spirit of evil has turned life into smoking, and made the mouth, which ought to be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a smoking furnace. The less and lighter the food and drink you take, the lighter and more refined your spirit will become. Smoking is a whim. From this comes foot pain and depression. That the devil is the father of the cigarette I especially figured out today: something impacted negatively upon me from head to toe. I felt that the enemy nested in my sides and in my heart and he opposed me strongly, preventing me from saying the prayer, scaring me, paralyzing me and saddening me to the point of sin. By smoking an unclean spirit enters a person. Last night after smoking the devil made his presence felt through continuous hiccups which pestered me from the time of the Cherubic Hymn until a little before Holy Communion. My nerves were stretched, my voice was ‘escaping’ me, I was shivering and I was exhausted. That's why smoking is futile. It is a silly whim, a desecration of the lips, a large and unnecessary irritation, a fog that covers voluntarily. The taste of a cigarette I cannot compare to anything but something diabolical. And how do I know this smoking? How do I allow myself to do something like this? I came to church, falling on my knees with a contrite heart before the Holy Altar. How could I serve my enemy every day and not the Lord with zeal? Lord, help me to be free from all evil, because I am an evil man, dirty, full of sins. The Lord knows our weaknesses. He is ready to forgive us everything, as long as we repent and seek forgiveness. The essential thing is that our hearts not become petrified, that is to stop hesitating to think of our committed sin, to immediately repent, and to leave ourselves to the mercy of God.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ “Suffering is an indication of another Kingdom which we look to. If being a Christian meant being ‘happy’ in this life, we wouldn't need the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Suffering reminds the wise man of God, but crushes those who forget Him.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “God permits tribulations and adversities to befall people – even the saintly – so that they may persist in humility. But if we harden our hearts against adversities and tribulations, He also hardens these tribulations against us. On the other hand if we accept them in humility and with a contrite heart, God will mingle tribulation with mercy.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “But do not be troubled or sad. The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this is in order to prevent them from falling into a still greater sin – pride. Your temptation will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov “We must be prepared to accept the will of God. The Lord permits all sorts of things to happen to us contrary to our will, for if we always have it our way, we will not be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives" “Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, Who created and arranged all things for your benefit--to have you know, love, and praise their Creator.” —St. Basil the Great “The Lord gives Himself freely, for His mercy's sake alone. I did not know this before but now every day and every hour every minute, I see clearly the mercy of God. The Lord gives peace even in sleep, but without God there is no peace in the soul.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “What should not be heard by little ears, should not be said by big mouths.” —unknown “I am incurably convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” —G. K. Chesterton “What is slander? It is every sort of wicked word we would dare not speak in front of the person whom we are complaining about.” —St. Anthony the Great “If you want to overcome the spirit of slander, blame not the person who falls, but the demon that prompted them to sin.” —St. John Climacus “You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov “A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others, he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent, that is, he says nothing that is not profitable.” —Abba Poemen “If your tongue is used to chattering, your heart will remain dim and foreign to the luminous intuitions of the Holy Spirit.” —St. John of Dalyatha “He who does not control his tongue when he is angry, will not control his passions either.” —Abba Hyperchius “Are you angry? Be angry at your sins, beat your soul, afflict your conscience, be strict in judgement and a terrible punisher of your own sins. This is the benefit of anger, wherefore God placed it in us.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 2 “These eight passions should be destroyed as follows: gluttony by self-control; unchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by goodwill and love for all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, perseverance and offering thanks to God; self-esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite heart; and pride by not judging or despising anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee (cf. Luke 18 : 11–12), and by considering oneself the least of all men. When the intellect has been freed in this way from the passions we have described and been raised up to God, it will henceforth live the life of blessedness, receiving the pledge of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 1 : 22). And when it departs this life, dispassionate and full of true knowledge, it will stand before the light of the Holy Trinity and with the divine angels will shine in glory through all eternity.” —St. John of Damascus, On the Virtues and the Vices, from The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Vol. 2 “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.” —St. Nikon of Optina “To reach satisfaction in alldesire its possession in nothing.To come to possession in alldesire the possession of nothing.To arrive at being alldesire to be nothing.To come to the knowledge of alldesire the knowledge of nothing.To come to the pleasure you have notyou must go by the way in which you enjoy not.To come to the knowledge you have notyou must go by the way in which you know not.To come to the possession you have notyou must go by the way in which you possess not.To come by the what you are notyou must go by a way in which you are not.When you turn toward somethingyou cease to cast yourself upon the all.For to go from all to the allyou must deny yourself of all in all.And when you come to the possession of the allyou must possess it without wanting anything.Because if you desire to have something in allyour treasure in God is not purely your all.” —St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel “How we debase our God-like immortal soul by attaching ourselves to the perishable, tarnishable, fleeting glitter of gold and silver, and by averting our gaze from the higher eternal, all-rejoicing light, or by attaching ourselves to corruptible sweetness that soon passes away, and is harmful and weakening both to soul and body, and turning away our gaze from the eternal, spiritual sweetness; from the sweetness of the intuition of God, or to vain earthly glory, turning away our eyes from the glory of the higher heavenly calling: from the glory of God's children, the heirs of the eternal Kingdom of God. O, earthly vanity! O, attachment to worldly things! Look upwards, Christian!” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ “As in the theater, when the audience departs, and the kings remove their costumes, they are revealed to be what they are; so also when death arrives and the theater of this life is dissolved, everyone puts off their masks of wealth or poverty and departs. Some are revealed as truly wealthy, others poor.” —St. John Chrysostom “A sinful soul, full of passions, cannot have peace and rejoice in the Lord, even if it had charge over all earthly riches, even if it ruled over the whole world. If it was suddenly said to such a king, happily feasting and sitting on his throne, 'King, now you will die,' his soul would be troubled and he would tremble with fear, and he would see his powerlessness. But how many beggars there are, whose only wealth is love for God, and who, if you said to them, 'You will die now,' would answer peacefully, 'Let God's will be done. Glory to the Lord, that He has remembered me and wants to take me to Himself.'” —St. Silouan the Athonite “Sometimes in the affliction of your soul you wish to die. It is easy to die, and does not take long; but are you prepared for death? Remember that after death the Judgment of your whole life will follow. You are not prepared for death, and if it were to come to you, you would shudder all over. Therefore do not waste words in vain. Do not say: ‘It is better for me to die,’ but say rather, ‘How can I prepare for death in a Christian manner?’ By means of faith, by means of good works, and by bravely bearing the miseries and sorrows that happen to you, so as to be able to meet death fearlessly, peacefully, and without shame, not as a rigorous law of nature, but as a fatherly call of the eternal, heavenly, holy, and blessed Father unto the everlasting kingdom.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Nevertheless one who regards only the dissolution of the body is greatly disturbed, and makes it a hardship that this life of ours should be dissolved by death; it is, he says, the extremity of evil that our being should be quenched by this condition of mortality. Let him, then, observe through this gloomy prospect the excess of the Divine benevolence.”” —St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, §VIII “Man is, by nature, afraid of both death and the dissolution of the body; but there is this most startling fact: that he who has put on the faith of the Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and for Christ's sake is not afraid even of death.” —St. Athanasius the Great “Limitless and without consolation would have been our sorrow for close ones who are dying, if the Lord had not given us eternal life. Our life would be pointless if it ended with death. What benefit would there then be from virtue and good deed? Then they would be correct who say: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’ But man was created for immortality, and by His resurrection Christ opened the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, of eternal blessedness for those who have believed in Him and have lived righteously. Our earthly life is a preparation for the future life, and this preparation ends with our death. ‘It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment’ (Heb 9:27). Then a man leaves all his earthly cares; the body disintegrates, in order to rise anew at the General Resurrection. Often this spiritual vision begins in the dying even before death, and while still seeing those around them and even speaking with them, they see what others do not see.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily on Life After Death “Let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch “Man’s will, out of cowardice, tends away from suffering, and man, against his own will, remains utterly dominated by the fear of death, and, in his desire to live, clings to his slavery to pleasure.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues, VIII. 2 “Of all the good things in the world, life is dearest to men, and men love life better than truth, although there is no life in truth. The highest good, then, is life, but truth is the foundation of life. He who loves life must also love truth. But what is the way to truth? 'I am the way', says the Lord. 'I am the way', that none should think that there is some other way to the truth besides the Lord Jesus. It was for that He was born as a man: to show men the way. And for this that He was crucified, to make the way plain by His blood.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich “See how many and great the evils it has brought on us – this self-justification, this holding fast to our own will, this obstinacy in being our own guide. All this was the product of that hateful arrogance towards God. Whereas the products of humility are self-accusation, distrust in our own sentiments, hatred of our own will. By these one is made worthy of being redeemed, of having his human nature restored to its proper state, through the cleansing operation of Christ's holy precepts. Without humility it is impossible to obey the Commandments or at any time to go towards anything good. As Abba Mark says: without a contrite heart it is impossible to be free from wickedness or to acquire virtue.” —St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings “Begin gradually, do not trust yourself. Do not depend on your own understanding, reject your will, and the Lord will give you true understanding.” —St. Macarius of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy “If you deny yourself and constantly renounce your own opinions, your own will, your own righteousness-or what amounts to the same thing: the knowledge, understanding, will, and righteousness of fallen nature-in order to plant within you the knowledge of God, the will of God, and the righteousness of God taught us in the holy Gospel by God Himself, then fallen nature will open fire within you and declare a savage war against the Gospel and against God. Fallen spirits will come to the help of fallen nature. Do not fall into despondency on this account. By your firmness in the struggle, show the tenacity of your purpose and the stability of your free will. When thrown down, get up. When duped and disarmed, rearm yourself afresh. When defeated, again rush to the fight. It is extremely good for you to see within yourself both your own fall and the fall of the whole of mankind. It is essential for you to recognize and study this fall in your own experience, in your heart and mind. It is essential for you to see the infirmity of your knowledge and intellect, and the weakness of your will.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, The Arena, chapter 8 “Do not fall into despair because of stumbling. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for them, but that you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be bruised than dead. There is, indeed, a Healer for the man who has stumbled, even He Who on the Cross asked that mercy be shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murders while He hung on the Cross. ‘All manner of sin’, He said, ‘and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men’, that is, through repentance.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Do not say: ‘I have sinned much, and therefore I am not bold enough to fall down before God.’ Do not despair. Simply do not increase your sins in despair and, with the help of the All-merciful One, you will not be put to shame. For He said, ‘he who comes to Me I will not cast out.’ (John. 6:37) And so, be bold and believe that He is pure and cleanses those who draw near to Him. If you want to accomplish true repentance, show it with your deeds. If you have fallen into pride, show humility; if into drunkenness, show sobriety; if into defilement, show purity of life. For it is said, ‘Turn away from evil and do good.’ (I Pet. 3:11)” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, The Golden Chain, 87-89 “The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them from the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and sadness into corrective repentance for present evil.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “How good it is to conquer the passions! After the victory one feels such lightness of heart, such peace and greatness of spirit!” —St. John of Kronstadt “He who believes, fears; he who fears is humble; he who is humble becomes gentle.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “For every humble person is gentle, and every gentle person is invariably humble. A person is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan to him.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “A humble person lives on earth as if in the Kingdom of Heaven - always happy, peaceful and satisfied with everything.” —St. Anthony of Optina “Not every quiet man is humble, but every humble man is quiet.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “If you wish to be truly humble, then consider yourself lower than all, worthy of being trampled on by all; for you yourself daily, hourly trample upon the law of the Lord, and therefore upon the Lord Himself.” —St. John of Kronstadt “You wish to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is to be, the deeper does he dig his foundation.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “In them [the Lives of the Saints] it is clearly and obviously demonstrated: There is no spiritual death from which one cannot be resurrected by the Divine power of the risen and ascended Lord Christ; there is no torment, there is no misfortune, there is no misery, there is no suffering which the Lord will not change either gradually or all at once into quite, compunctionate joy because of faith in Him.” —St. Justin Popovich “A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer.” —St. John Climacus “In the Christian East – in fact, in the East in general – we love old age because we think that it is made for praying. When one is old, and feels the nearness of God across the increasingly transparent surface of biological life, one becomes in consciousness a child, returned to the Father, made light in spirit by the proximity of death, transparent to another kind of light. A civilization in which one no longer prays is a civilization in which old age has no meaning. One walks backward towards death, pretending to be young; it’s an agonizing spectacle, because a wonderful possibility is offered, a journey towards ultimate relinquishment, and it is not taken advantage of. We need old people who pray, who smile, who live with a disinterested love, who marvel; they alone can show young people that that living is worth the effort, and that oblivion is not the last word. Every monk whose spiritual practice has born fruit is called in the East, whatever his age, 'a beautiful old man.' He is beautiful with the beauty that rises from the heart. In him all the periods of his life have come into harmony, as with a symphony, one might say. And especially the original child is found again: shining with a transfigured shining, the beautiful old man has the eyes of a child.” —Olivier Clément “It is of great significance if there is a person who truly prays in a family. Prayer attracts God's grace and all the members of the family feel it, even those whose hearts have grown cold. Pray always.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica “A Christian should never and for no reason worry, for God's Providence carries him in its arms. Our only care should be that we would ever remain faithful to the Lord.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.” —St. John Chrysostom “He who angers you, controls you!” —Bishop Melchisedek Pleska “[The desire for] equality is from the Devil, because it comes entirely from envy.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann “In your prayer seek only righteousness and the kingdom of God, that is, virtue and spiritual knowledge; and everything else 'will be given to you' (Matt. 6:33).” —St. Evagrius of Ponticus “Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved.” —St. John Chrysostom “The goodness of God is so rich in graces, that it seeks a cause to have mercy on a person.” —St. Anthimus of Chios “The Holy Spirit has accomplishing in each believer the work of Christ. Each Christian is a communicant of the spirit. This is something so necessary, that in fact whoever does not have the Spirit is not of Christ.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “The Church is nothing but the world on the way to deification; for the Church, the world is no longer a tomb but a womb.” —Olivier Clément “The church is an earthly heaven in which the super-celestial God dwells and walks about. ” —St. Germanus of Constantinople “Nothing is more abiding than the Church: she is your salvation; she is your refuge.” —St. John Chrysostom “There is no need to weep much over the destruction of a church; after all, each of us, according to God's mercy, has or should have his own church - the heart - go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned (without inward prayer), then the visible church will be of little benefit.” —Archbishop Barlaam “Our prayer reflects our attitude towards God. He who is careless of salvation has a different attitude toward God from him who has abandoned sin and is zealous for virtue but has not yet entered within himself and works for the Lord only outwardly. Finally, he who has entered within and carries the Lord within himself, standing before Him, has yet another attitude. The first man is negligent in prayer, just as he is negligent in life, and he prays in church and at home merely according to the established custom, without attention or feeling. The second man reads many prayers and goes often to church, trying at the same time to keep his attention from wandering and to experience feelings in accordance with the prayers which are read, although he is seldom successful. The third man, wholly concentrated within, stands with his mind before God, and prays to Him in his heart without distraction, without long verbal prayers, even when standing for a long time at prayer in his home or in church. … Every prayer must come from the heart and any other prayer is no prayer at all. Prayer-book prayers, your own prayers and very short prayers, all must issue forth from the heart to God, seen before you.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “It is very important to know how to pray. Many times even we, the monks in the monasteries, pray, but we only think we pray. It is not enough to attend the church services and just be there like that would be enough. We have to work the prayer from the inside out. No matter how many prayers we say with our mouth, it is nothing if the prayer is not coming from the heart and if we don't apply the teachings of Orthodoxy in our everyday life. Now more than ever, lay people have to pray from the heart, because this will be our only salvation. In the heart is the root of all passions and that is where we need to direct our struggles. If in the later years Christianity became lukewarm and superficial, we have to end all that now, this is not going to be enough anymore. If we will not pray from the heart, we will not be able to sustain the psychological attacks, because the evil one has hidden brainwashing methods that are unknown to us. The greatest sin today is carelessness. We pray carelessly, we repent carelessly, even if we do it. Times will come when only the ones that have the Spirit of God will be able to know good from evil. The human mind itself on its own will not be able to tell the difference. There will be great deceptions and only the Holy Spirit will give us the discernment we need so we can save ourselves. Pray that you will not be deceived! Only through prayer can we receive the Holy Spirit. If we don't pray and just persevere in our laziness and unrepentant ways, we will completely lose the Holy Spirit and His guidance. May it not be that we lose the guidance of the Holy Spirit!” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania, The truth about the times–Spirituality of the end of times, 2010 “It is sometimes well during prayer to say a few words of your own, breathing fervent faith and love to the Lord. Yes, let us not always converse with God in the words of others, not always remain children in faith and hope; we must also show our own mind, indite a good matter from our own heart also. Moreover, we grow too accustomed to the words of others and grow cold in prayer. And how pleasing this lipsing of our own is, coming from a believing, loving, and thankful heart. It is impossible to explain this; it is only needful to say that when you are praying to God with your own words the soul trembles with joy, it becomes wholly inflamed, vivified, and beatified. You will utter few words, but you will experience such blessedness as you would not have obtained saying the longest most touching prayers of others, pronounced out of habit and insincerely.” —St. John of Kronstadt “This is how you pray continually – not by offering prayer in words, but by joining yourself to God through your whole way of life, so that your life becomes one continuous and uninterrupted prayer.” —St. Basil the Great “Chastisement through the trials imposed on us is a spiritual rod, teaching us humility when in our foolishness we think too much of ourselves.” —St. Thalassios the Libyan “Goodness is not confirmed without trial. Every Christian is tested by something: one by poverty, another by illness, a third by various thoughts, a fourth by some calamity or humiliation, while another by various doubts. And, through this, firmness of faith, hope and love of God are tested.” —St. Ambrose of Optina “Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Philokalia “If you want, or rather intend, to take a splinter out of another person, then do not hack at it with a stick instead of a lancet, for you will only drive it in deeper.” —St. John Climacus “To exalt oneself is one thing, not to do so another, and to humble oneself is something less entirely. A man may always be passing judgement on others, while another man passes judgement neither on others nor on himself. A third, however, though actually guiltless, may always be passing judgement on himself.” —St. John Climacus “If a man accuses himself, he is protected on all sides.” —St. Poemen “It is not then wealth that is the foundation of pleasure, nor poverty of sadness, but our own judgment and the fact that the eyes of our mind neither see clearly nor remain fixed in one place, but flutter abroad.” —St. John Chrysostom “One who knows oneself, knows God: and one who knows God is worthy to worship Him as is right. Therefore, my beloveds in the Lord, know yourselves.” —St. Anthony the Great “God is truth and light, God's judgement is nothing else than our coming into contact with truth and light. In the day of the Great Judgement all men will appear naked before this penetrating light of truth. The ‘books’ will be opened. What are these ‘books’? They are our hearts. Our hearts will be opened by the penetrating light of God, and what is in these hearts will be revealed. If in those hearts there is love for God, those hearts will rejoice in seeing God's light. If, on the contrary, there is hatred for God in those hearts, these men will suffer by receiving on their opened hearts this penetrating light of truth which they detested all their life. So that which will differentiate between one man and another will not be a decision of God, a reward or a punishment from Him, but that which was in each one's heart; what was there during all our life will be revealed in the Day of Judgement. If there is a reward and a punishment during this revelation – and there really is – it does not come from God but from the love or hate which reigns in our heart. Love has bliss in it, hatred has despair, bitterness, grief, affliction, wickedness, agitation, confusion, darkness, and all the other interior conditions which compose hell.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian “In whatever state a person is, he sometimes finds himself making pure and intense prayers. For even from that first and lowest sort, which has to do with recalling the future judgment, the one who is still subject to the punishment of terror and the fear of judgment is occasionally so struck with compunction that he is filled with no less joy of spirit from the richness of his supplication than the one who, examining the kindnesses of God and going over them in the purity of his heart, dissolves into unspeakable gladness and delight. For, according to the words of the Lord, the one who realizes that more has been forgiven him begins to love more.” —St. John Cassian “If a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred.” —C. S. Lewis “The pure heart sees God as in a mirror.” —Abba Philemon “The blessedness of seeing God is justly promised to the pure of heart. For the eye that is unclean would not be able to see the brightness of the true light, and what would be happiness to clear minds would be a torment to those that are defiled. Therefore, let the mists of worldly vanities be dispelled, and the inner eye be cleansed of all the filth of wickedness, so that the soul's gaze may feast serenely upon the great vision of God.” —St. Leo the Great “God rests within gentle hearts. The gentle and merciful shall sit fearless in His regions, and will inherit Heavenly glory.” —St. John Climacus “That which the word communicates by sound, the painting shows silently by representation.” —St. Basil the Great, on the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste “Do not call God just, for His justice is not manifest in the things concerning you. And if David calls Him just and upright (cf. Ps. 24:8, 144:17), His Son revealed to us that He is good and kind. ‘He is good,’ He says, ‘to the evil and to the impious’ (cf. Luke 6:35). How can you call God just when you come across the Scriptural passage on the wage given to the workers? ‘Friend, I do thee no wrong I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Is thine eye evil because I am good?’ (Matt. 20:12-15). How can a man call God just when he comes across the passage on the prodigal son who wasted his wealth with riotous living, how for the compunction alone which he showed, the father ran and fell upon his neck and gave him authority over all his wealth? (Luke 15:11 ff.). None other but His very Son said these things concerning Him, lest we doubt it; and thus He bare witness concerning Him. Where, then, is God's justice, for whilst we are sinners Christ died for us! (cf. Rom. 5:8). But if here He is merciful, we may believe that He will not change.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily LX “God chastises with love, not for the sake of revenge---far be it!---but in seeking to make whole his image. And he does not harbour wrath until such time as correction is no longer possible, for he does not seek vengeance for himself. This is the aim of love. Love's chastisement is for correction, but does not aim at retribution. … The man who chooses to consider God as avenger, presuming that in this manner he bears witness to His justice, the same accuses Him of being bereft of goodness. Far be it that vengeance could ever be found in that Fountain of love and Ocean brimming with goodness!” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Among all God's actions there is none which is not entirely a matter of mercy, love and compassion: this constitutes the beginning and end of His dealings with us.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “We must hate avarice, self-esteem and sensual pleasure, as mothers of the vices and stepmothers of the virtues. Because of them we are commanded not to love ‘the world’ and ‘the things that are in the world’ (1 John 2:15); not so that we should hate God's creation through lack of discernment, but so that we should eliminate the occasions for these three passions.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “‘The world’ is the general name for all the passions. When we wish to call the passions by a common name, we call them the world. But when we wish to distinguish them by their special names, we call them the passions. The passions are the following: love of riches, desire for possessions, bodily pleasure from which comes sexual passion, love of honour which gives rise to envy, lust for power, arrogance and pride of position, the craving to adorn oneself with luxurious clothes and vain ornaments, the itch for human glory which is a source of rancour and resentment, and physical fear. Where these passions cease to be active, there the world is dead… Someone has said of the Saints that while alive they were dead; for though living in the flesh, they did not live for the flesh. See for which of these passions you are alive. Then you will know how far you are alive to the world and how far you are dead to it.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Always have the fear of God before your eyes. Remember Him who gives death and lives. Hate the world and all that is in it. Hate the peace that comes from the flesh. Renounce this life, so that you may be alive to God.” —St. Anthony the Great “Thus let us live to Him Who while He dies for us is Life; and let us die to ourselves that we may live to Christ; for we cannot live to Him unless first we die to ourselves, that is, to our wills. Let us be Christ's and not our own; ‘for we are not our own, for we are bought at a Great Price’ (1 Cor. 6. 19-20), and truly a Great One, when the Lord is given for a slave, the King for a servant, and God for man. What ought we to render ourselves, if the Creator of the universe for us ungodly men, yet His creation, is unjustly put to death? Do you think you ought not to die to sin? Certainly you ought. Therefore let us die, let us die for the sake of life, since Life dies for the dead, so that we may be able to say with Paul, ‘I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal. 2. 20), He Who for me has died; for that is the cry of the elect. But none can die to himself, unless Christ lives in him; but if Christ be in him, he cannot live to himself. Live in Christ, that Christ may live in you.” —St. Columbanus of Bobbio, Sermons of Columbanus of Bobbio, Sermon X:2 “Just as a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensation of the world to come.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “We don't understand that happiness is in eternity and not in vanity.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos “Why do you beat the air and run in vain? Every occupation has a purpose, obviously. Tell me then, what is the purpose of all the activity of the world? Answer, I challenge you! It is vanity of vanity: all is vanity.” —St. John Chrysostom “Many times we call ourselves sinners, not in truth, but for showing off and vainglory, so that others will praise us for being humble, for if someone calls us a sinner, we become upset.” —St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite “An evident sinner will turn towards good more easily than a secret sinner hiding under the cloak of visible virtues.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “The sun shines on all alike, and vanity springs out in front of each virtue. When, for example, I keep a fast – I am given over to vanity, and when I in concealing the fasting from others permit myself food, I am again given over to vanity – by my prudence. Dressing up in bright clothing, I am vanquished by love of honour and, having changed over into drab clothing – I am overcome by vanity. If I stand up to speak – I fall under the power of vanity. If I wish to keep silence, I am again given over to it. Wherever this thorn comes up, it everywhere stands with its points upwards. It is vainglorious…, on the surface to honour God, and in deed to strive to please people rather than God… People of lofty spirit bear insult placidly and willingly, but to hear praise and feel nothing of pleasure is possible only for the saints and for the unblameworthy… When thou hearest, that thy neighbour or friend either afront the eyes or behind the eyes slandereth thee, praise and love him… Does this not shew humility, and who can reproach himself, and be intolerant with himself? But who, having been discredited by another, would not diminish in his love for him… Whoever is exalted by natural gifts – a felicitous mind, a fine education, reading, pleasant elocution and other similar qualities, which are readily enough acquired, that person might yet never obtain to supernatural gifts. Wherefore whoever is not faithful in the small things, that one also is not faithful in the large, and is vainglorous. It often happens, that God Himself humbles the vainglorious, sending a sudden misfortune… If prayer does not destroy a proud thought, we bring to mind the leaving of the soul from this life. And if this does not help, we threaten it with the shame of the Last Judgement. ‘Rising up to humble oneself’ even here, before the future age. When praisers, or better – flatterers, start to praise us, immediately we betake ourselves to recollection of all our iniquities and we find, that we are not at all worth that which they impute to us.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 22 “The whole year will be fortunate for you, not if you are drunk on the new-moon [New Year' Day], but if both on [that day] and each day, you do those things approved by God. For days come wicked and good, not from their own nature; for a day differs nothing from another day, but from our zeal and sluggishness. If you perform righteousness, then the day becomes good to you; if you perform sin, then it will be evil and full of retribution. If you contemplate these things, and are so disposed, you will consider the whole year favourable, performing prayers and charity every day; but if you are careless of virtue for yourself, and you entrust the contentment of your soul to beginnings of months and numbers of days, you will be desolate of everything good unto yourself.” —St. John Chrysostom “Let your demeanour, your dress, your walking, your sitting down, the nature of your food, the quality of your being, your house and what it contains, aim at simplicity. And let your speech, your singing, your manner with your neighbour, let these things also be in accord with humility rather than with vanity. In your words let there be no empty pretense, in your singing no excess sweetness, in conversation be not ponderous or overbearing. In everything refrain from seeking to appear important. Be a help to your friends, kind to the ones with whom you live, gentle to your servant, patient with those who are troublesome, loving towards the lowly, comforting those in trouble, visiting those in affliction, never despising anyone, gracious in friendship, cheerful in answering others, courteous, approachable to everyone, never speaking your own praises, nor getting others to speak of them, never taking part in unbecoming conversations, and concealing where you may whatever gifts you possess.” —St. Basil the Great “For what purpose does the Lord add day after day, year after year, to our existence? In order that we may gradually put away, cast aside, evil from our souls, each one his own, and acquire blessed simplicity; in order that we may become, for instance, gentle as lambs, simple as infants; in order that we may learn not to have the least attachment to earthly things, but like loving, simple children, may cling with all our hearts to God alone, and love Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our strength, and all our thoughts, and our neighbor as ourselves. Let us hasten, therefore, to pray to the Lord, fervently and tearfully, to grant us simplicity of heart, and let us strive by every means to cast out the evil from our souls - for instance, evil suspiciousness, malevolence, malignity, malice, pride, arrogance, boastfulness, scornfulness, impatience, despondency, despair, irascibility and irritability, fearfulness and faint-heartedness, envy, avarice, gluttony, and satiety; fornication, mental and of the heart, and actual fornication; the love of money, and in general the passion for acquisition; slothfulness, disobedience, and all the dark horde of sins. Lord, without Thee we can do nothing! Bless us Thyself in this work, and give us the victory over our enemies and our passions. So be it!” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ “If you are a scholar, a student in any educational establishment, or an official in some ministry, an officer in any of the branches of the military service, or a technologist, a painter, a sculptor, a manufacturer, a mechanic – remember that the first science for each one of you is to be a true Christian, to believe sincerely in the Holy Trinity, to converse daily with God in prayer, to take part in the Divine service, to observe the rules and regulations of the Church, and to bear in your heart, before your work, during your work, and after your work, the name of Jesus, for He is our light, our strength, our holiness, and our help.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ: Part II, Holy Trinity Monastery, pg. 286 “Watch your heart during all your life – examine it, listen to it, and see what prevents its union with the most blessed Lord. Let this be for you the science of all sciences, and with God’s help, you will easily observe what estranges you from God, and what draws you towards Him and unites you to Him. It is the evil spirit more than anything that stands between our hearts and God; he estranges God from us by various passions, or by the desire of the flesh, by the desires of the eyes, and by worldly pride.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ “Have you ever observed the life of the heart? Try it even for a short time and see what you find. Something unpleasant happens, and you get irritated; some misfortune occurs, and you pity yourself; you see someone whom you dislike, and animosity wells up within you; you meet one of your equals who has now outdistanced you on the social scale, and you begin to envy him; you think of your talents and capabilities, and you begin to grow proud… All this is rottenness: vainglory, carnal desire, gluttony, laziness, malice – one on top of the other, they destroy the heart.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco “Always to want your own way, becoming accustomed to having it, always to seek the easy path – all this leads straight to depression. But love, quietness, and contemplation of the inner life cleanse our hearts.” —Sayings of the Egyptian Fathers “As water and fire oppose one another when combined, so are self-justification and humility opposed to one another.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes.” —St. John Climacus “Christians, above all men, are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force… it is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, not by force, but by choice.” —St. John Chrysostom “I have seen pride lead to humility. And I remembered him who said: Who hath known the mind of the Lord? The pit and offspring of conceit is a fall; but a fall is often an occasion of humility for those who are willing to use it to their advantage.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 15, Section 38 “Humility is the only thing that no devil can imitate.” —St. John Climacus “It was pride that changed angels into devils.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “An angel fell from Heaven without any other passion except pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to Heaven by humility alone, without any other of the virtues.” —St. John Climacus “Run from pride, for it is a passion more treacherous than any other.” —St. John Chrysostom “Pride more than anything else, deprives people of both their good deeds and help from God. Where there is no humility, pride takes its place.” —St. Macarius of Optina “‘Exile is separation from everything in order to keep the mind inseparable from God. An exile loves and produces continual weeping.’ From Paradise, we must become exiled from the world if we hope to return.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Prayer is superior to all good works. It begets tears of repentance, greatly contributes to peace in one’s thoughts, leads one to think only of God Who is the ultimate Peace, and brings forth the love of God. Prayer alone purifies the rational part of the soul through the vision of God, Who causes the purification of the angels; it also preserves the desiring part of the soul in purity before God.” —St. Kallistos Telikoudes, On the Practice of Hesychasm, The Philokalia, Vol. 5 “Time is continually passing; it is decreasing more and more. Every day that passes is another step toward death. We should know that even one tear of repentance is equivalent to a spiritual bath. Just as the body feels refreshed when it bathes, and just as clothes become clean when they are washed, similarly, the tears of a repentant soul purify the heart, purify the mind, purify the body, purify life, purify speech, and purify a person’s every action. Let us kneel and pray with extreme humility! Every repentant soul is given words: it is granted enlightened prayer.” —Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona “Day and night I pray the Lord for love, and the Lord gives me tears to weep for the whole world. But if I find fault with any man, or look on him with an unkind eye, my tears will dry up, and my soul sink into despondency. Yet do I begin again to entreat forgiveness of the Lord, and the Lord in His mercy forgives me, a sinner. Brethren, before the face of my God I write: Humble your hearts, and while yet on this earth you will see the mercy of the Lord, and know your Heavenly Creator, and your souls will never have their fill of love.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “Here are those of whom I speak and who are called heretics by me. They are the ones who say that in our present age there is no one in our midst who is able to observe the commandments and be like the holy fathers…. Those who declare this is impossible have fallen not into one particular heresy but into all of them, so to speak – a heresy surpassing all others in its impiety and greatest blasphemy. They are buried underneath it…. The one who speaks in such a manner turns all of Scripture upside down…. These antichrists affirm, ‘It is impossible, impossible’. Why then is it impossible? Tell me. In what other way did the saints shine on earth and did they become lamps of the world? If it were impossible, they would never have succeeded in it. For they were men like us, and possessed no more than we do except a will directed toward the good. They had zeal, patience, humility, and love for God. Therefore, acquire all this and your soul which today is as hard as rock shall become a fountain of tears inside you. However, if you refuse to suffer such anguish and affliction, at least do not say that all this is impossible.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian, The Discourses, Discourse XXIX: The Heresy of Pusillanimity “There is yet another special, most terrible and destructive type of sin. This is blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Even the prayers of the Church cannot help one who is found in this condition. The Apostle John the Theologian speaks of this directly when he entreats us to pray for a brother who has sinned, but points out the uselessness of prayer for the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself says that this sin – the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit – is not forgiven and will not be forgiven either in this age or in the future. He pronounced these terrible words against the Pharisees who, though they clearly saw that he worked everything according to the will of God and by God's power, nevertheless distorted the truth. They perished in their own blasphemy and their example is instructive and urgent for all those who would sin mortal sin: by an obdurate and conscious adversity to the undoubted Truth and thereby blaspheming the Spirit of truth – God's Holy Spirit. We must note that even blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ can be forgiven man (according to His own words) since it can be committed in ignorance or temporary blindness. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit could be forgiven, says St Athanasios the Great, only if a man ceased from it and became repentant. But the very nature of the sin is such that it makes it virtually impossible for a man to return to the truth. One who is blind can regain his sight and love the one who revealed the truth to him and one who is soiled with vices and passions can be cleansed by repentance and become a confessor of the Truth, but who and what can change a blasphemer who has seen and known the Truth and who has stubbornly refused and hated it? This horrible condition is similar to the condition of the devil himself who believes in God and trembles but who nevertheless hates Him, blasphemes Him and is in adversity to Him.” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York “…The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts, and exalted office is now publicly known as the prize of impiety. The result is, that the worse a man blasphemes, the fitter the people think him to be a bishop. Clerical dignity is a thing of the past. There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord’s flock with knowledge. Ambitious men are constantly throwing away the provision for the poor on their own enjoyment and the distribution of gifts. There is no precise knowledge of canons. There is complete immunity in sinning; for when men have been placed in office by the favour of men, they are obliged to return the favour by continually showing indulgence to offenders. Just judgment is a thing of the past; and everyone walks according to his heart’s desire. Vice knows no bounds; the people know no restraint. Men in authority are afraid to speak, for those who have reached power by human interest are the slaves of those to whom they owe their advancement. And now the very vindication of Orthodoxy is looked upon in some quarters as an opportunity for mutual attack; and men conceal their private ill-will and pretend that their hostility is all for the sake of the truth. Others, afraid of being convicted of disgraceful crimes, madden the people into fratricidal quarrels, that their own doings may be unnoticed in the general distress. Hence the war admits of no truce, for the doers of ill deeds are afraid of a peace, as being likely to lift the veil from their secret infamy. All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls are drenched in ignorance, because adulterators of the word imitate the truth. The mouths of true believers are dumb, while every blasphemous tongue wags free; holy things are trodden under foot; the better laity shun the churches as schools of impiety; and lift their hands in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heaven. Even you must have heard what is going on in most of our cities, how our people with wives and children and even our old men stream out before the walls, and offer their prayers in the open air, putting up with all the inconvenience of the weather with great patience, and waiting for help from the Lord.” —St. Basil the Great, Letter 92, To the Italians and Gaul “He who in his heart is proud of his tears and secretly condemns those who do not weep is like a man who asks the king for a weapon against his enemy and then commits suicide with it.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 7 “Do not grow conceited if you shed tears when you pray. For it is Christ who has touched your eyes.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “And here also we have diligently to consider, that it is far more secure and safe that every man should do that for himself whiles he is yet alive, which he desireth that others should do for him after his death. For far more blessed it is, to depart free out of this world, than being in prison to seek for release: and therefore reason teacheth us, that we should with our whole soul contemn this present world, at least because we see that it is now gone and past: and to offer unto God the daily sacrifice of tears, and the daily Sacrifice of His Body and Blood. For this Sacrifice doth especially save our souls from everlasting damnation, which in mystery doth renew unto us the death of the Son of God: who although being risen from death, doth not now die any more, nor death shall not any further prevail against him: yet living in himself immortally, and without all corruption, he is again sacrificed for us in this mystery of the holy oblation: for there his body is received, there his flesh is distributed for the salvation of the people: there His Blood is not now shed betwixt the hands of infidels, but poured into the mouths of the faithful. Wherefore let us hereby meditate what manner of sacrifice this is, ordained for us, which for our absolution doth always represent the passion of the only Son of God: for what right believing Christian can doubt, that in the very hour of the sacrifice, at the words of the Priest, the heavens be opened, and the quires of Angels are present in that mystery of Jesus Christ; that high things are accompanied with low, and earthly joined to heavenly, and that one thing is made of visible and invisible?” —St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, Book 4, ch. 58 “Reflect, O brother: For this sacred food and drink, which are the Body and Blood of Christ, all our forefathers from the first-created Adam, and all the prophets hungered and thirsted, but did not receive them; but you, so distant from them by your unworthiness, partake of this Divine meal. Thank God for His unspeakable mercy, that He makes you worthy of this. And at the same time understand this also: that even if you had or shall have the purity of angels or the holiness and sanctity of St. John the Baptist– even then, without the special mercy of God, you could not be worthy of this Divine Mystery.” —Abbot Nazarius, Little Russian Philokalia Vol. II, p. 65 “… One must clean the royal house from every impurity and adorn it with every beauty, then the king may enter into it. In a similar way one must first cleanse the earth of the heart and uproot the weeds of sin and the passionate deeds and soften it with sorrows and the narrow way of life, sow in it the seed of virtue, water it with lamentation and tears, and only then does the fruit of dispassion and eternal life grow. For the Holy Spirit does not dwell in a man until he has been cleansed from passions of the soul and body.” —St. Paisius Velichkovsky, ‘Field Flowers’ “God, Who is by nature good and dispassionate, loves all men equally as His handiwork. But He glorifies the virtuous man because in his will he is united to God. At the same time, in His goodness he is merciful to the sinner and by chastising him in this life brings him back to the path of virtue. Similarly, a man of good and dispassionate judgment also loves all men equally. He loves the virtuous man because of his nature and the probity of his intention; and he loves the sinner, too, because of his nature and because in his compassion he pities him for foolishly stumbling in darkness.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “I do not know how I came into the world; Nor what the things here in it are. What my sight is, O my God, And what the objects that I see, I cannot tell. How all we men are vain, And have no proper judgement of reality! Yesterday at least I came and tomorrow I shall go, And I think to be immortal yonder. That Thee are my God I confess to everyone, and yet deny Thee daily in my deeds. I teach that Thee have made each living thing; And yet without Thee struggle to have all. Thy rule extends above, below And yet I am not feared to strive against Thee. Let me the needy one, me most miserable; Disburden all the sickness of my soul Crushed, alas and broken into bits. By vanity, by foolish arrogance. Grant me to be humble, grant me a hand of help; And cleanse my soul’s pollution. And give me tears of repentance; Love’s tears, tears of liberty; Tears cleansing my mind’s darkness. And filling me with heavenly radiance! For Thee it is, the world’s Light; The Light of my poor eyes, I wish to see – I who fill my heart with life’s evils, Suffering much of affliction and of envy. From those who have worked my exiles: From those, rather, who are my benefactors; Who are my masters, my true friends: To whom, O Christ, instead of ill give blessing: Eternal, rich, divine; Prepared by Thee for all the ages; For those who deeply long for Thee, love Thee.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian, On the right attitude to Life “Ask with tears, seek with obedience, knock with patience. For thus he who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” —St. John Climacus “The passions of the flesh may be described as belonging to the left hand, self-conceit as belonging to the right hand.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “When the soul leaves the body, the enemy advances to attack it, fiercely reviling it and accusing it of its sins in a harsh and terrifying manner. The devout soul, however, even though in the past it has often been wounded by sin, is not frightened by the enemy’s attacks and threats. Strengthened by the Lord, winged by joy, filled with courage by the holy angels that guide it, and encircled and protected by the light of faith, it answers the enemy with great boldness: ‘Fugitive from heaven, wicked slave, what have I to do with you? You have no authority over me; Christ the Son of God has authority over me and over all things. Against Him have I sinned, before Him shall I stand on trial, having His Precious Cross as a sure pledge of His saving love towards me. Flee from me, destroyer! You have nothing to do with the servants of Christ.’ When the soul says all this fearlessly, the devil turns his back, howling aloud and unable to withstand the name of Christ. Then the soul swoops down on the devil from above, attacking him like a hawk attacking a crow. After this it is brought rejoicing by the holy angels to the place appointed for it in accordance with its inward state.” —St. Theognostos, On the Practice of the Virtues, Philokalia, Vol. 2 “If you wish to be saved, O my soul, to go first on the most sorrowful path which has been indicated here, to enter into the Heavenly Kingdom and receive eternal life – then refine your flesh, taste voluntary bitterness, and endure difficult sorrows, as all the Saints tasted and endured. And when a man is preparing himself and gives himself the command to endure for the sake of God all sorrows and pain which come upon him, then light and painless seem for him all sorrows, unpleasantnesses and attacks of devils and men. He does not fear death, and nothing can separate such a one from the love of Christ. Have you heard, my beloved soul, how the Holy Fathers spent their lives? O my soul! Imitate them at least a little.” —St. Paisius Velichkovsky “If you rebuke yourself, accuse yourself, and judge yourself before God for your sins, with a sensitive conscience, even for this you will be justified.If you are sorrowful for your sins, or you weep, or sigh, your sigh will not be hidden from Him and, as St. John Chrysostom says, ‘If you only lament for your sins, then He will receive this for your salvation.’” —St. Moses of Optina “A good heart produces good thoughts: its thoughts correspond to what it stores up in itself.” —St. Thalassios the Libyan “Fasting is for the purification of the soul and body.” —St. John Chrysostom “It is a wonderful thing that, no matter how much we trouble about our health, however much care we take of ourselves, whatever wholesome and pleasant food we eat, whatever wholesome drinks we drink, however much we walk in the fresh air, still, notwithstanding all this, in the end we are subjected to maladies and corruption; whilst the saints, who despised their flesh, and mortified it by continual abstinence and fasting, by lying bare on the earth, by watchfulness, labours, unceasing prayer, have made both their souls and bodies immortal.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ, p. 286 “Fasting is wonderful, because it tramples our sins like a dirty weed, while it cultivates and raises truth like a flower.” —St. Basil the Great “Fasting is the mother of health; the friend of chastity; the partner of humility.” —St. Symeon the New theologian “True fasting lies in rejecting evil, holding one's tongue, suppressing one's hatred, and banishing one's lust, evil words, lying, and betrayal of vows.” —St. Basil the Great “Many fast with body, but do not fast with soul: many fast from food and drink, but do not fast from evil thoughts, actions and words, and what is the benefit of it?! Many fast a day and two more, but from anger, resentment and vengeance will not fast; many refrain from wine, meat and fish, but with their tongue they eat people similar to themselves, and what is the benefit of it?! There are those who do not reach for food with their hands, but provide them for bribery, embezzlement and robbery, and what is the benefit of it?! True and true fasting is abstaining from every evil. If you want, Christian, to benefit from your fasting, fast carnally, fast mentally, and fast always! When you instruct fasting to your stomach, impose it on your evil thoughts and lusts. Let your mind fast from vain thoughts and memory from resentment, and your will from evil wanting, and your eyes from evil looking. Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity, let your ears fast from shameful songs and whispers of slander, let your tongue fast from defamation, condemnation, blasphemy, lies, flattery, filth and every empty and rotten word. Let your hands fast from the robbery of another's goods, and your feet from the clothing of evil work. Repent and, abstaining from every evil word, deed and thought, learn every virtue and you will always fast before God.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk “As salt is needed for all kinds of food, so humility is needed for all kinds of virtues.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Virtue is not the manifestation of many and various works performed by the body, but a heart that is most wise in its hope and unites a right aim to godly works. Often, the mind can accomplish that which is good without bodily works, but the body without wisdom of the heart can gain no profit for all it may do.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 40 “Let it be known to you that if in your life you have mastered every virtue and every good deed such as mercy, prayer, fast, and other virtues but have no humility in you, your toil will be in vain. For humility in all these virtues is the solid foundation. Without it, we cannot master any of the virtues and all these virtues will become impure, filthy, and discarded before God because they were not sown with humility and love.” —St. John Chrysostom “What can sin do where there is penitence? And of what use is love where there is pride?” —Abba Elias “Pride is poverty of the soul, which imagines itself to be rich, and being in darkness, thinks it has light.” —St. John Climacus “Modern society calls the beggar bum and panhandler and gives him the bum's rush. But the Greeks used to say that people in need are the ambassadors of the gods.” —Peter Maurin “Be like gods to the poor, imitating God's mercy. Humanity has nothing so much in common with God as the ability to do good.” —St. Gregory the Theologian “Every family should have a room where Christ is welcome in the person of the hungry and thirsty stranger.” —St. John Chrysostom “Who is the greedy man? One for whom plenty does not suffice. Who defrauds others? One who keeps for himself what belongs to everyone. Aren't you greedy, don't you defraud, when you keep for yourself what was given to give away? When someone steals a man's clothes, we call him a thief. Shouldn't we give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?” —St. Basil the Great “The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.” —St. Basil the Great “You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich.” —St. Ambrose of Milan “Do not consider your riches as belonging to yourselves alone; open wide your hand to those who are in need.” —St. Cyril of Alexandria “The man who loves his neighbor as himself possesses no more than his neighbor…thus, as much as your wealth increases, so much does your love decrease.” —St. Basil the Great “When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him.” —St. John Chrysostom “Do not ever say: ‘These beggars annoy me!’ So many millions of men live on earth and all are beggars before the Lord; emperors as well as laborers, the wealthy as well as servants, all are beggars before the Lord and the Lord never said: ‘These beggars annoy me!’” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice.” —St. John Chrysostom “A rich man is not one who has much, but one who gives much. For what he gives away remains his forever.” —St. John Chrysostom “A poor man when he reaches out to you does not beg, but offers you the kingdom of God.” —Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania “No one in creation is rich but he that fears God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks the truth.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “Be careful not to despise one of the least of these who are scorned and sick in this world. For this contempt and affront of yours doesn’t stop at those unfortunate fellows, but ascends through them to the presence of the Creator and Fashioner, whose image they bear. You will be greatly astonished in that day, if you see the Holy Spirit of God resting in them more than in your heart.” —Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Monastic Wisdom, Seventh Letter, p. 67 “Do you fast? Then feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, do not forget the imprisoned, have pity on the tortured, comfort those who grieve and who weep, be merciful, humble, kind, calm, patient, sympathetic, forgiving, reverent, truthful and pious, so that God might accept your fasting and might plentifully grant you the fruits of repentance.” —St. John Chrysostom “The Lord Himself said in the Gospel: ‘The last shall be first and the first, last’ (Matt 20:16). Thus, may Divine mercy shine forth with His love upon the poor, so that it may make great ones from the little, and that from the weak it may make co-inheritors with His Only Begotten Son. For it exhalts the poverty of this world to Heaven, to which the earthly kingdom cannot rise, so that the rustic comes to the place where he who wears the purple does not merit to come.” —St Gregory of Tours, Via Patrum “In all your undertakings and in every way of life, whether you are living in obedience, or are not submitting your work to anyone, whether in outward or in spiritual matters, let it be your rule and practice to ask yourself: Am I really doing this in accordance with God's will?” —St. John Climacus “Those who submit to the Lord with simple heart will run the good race. If they keep their minds on a leash, they will not draw the wickedness of the demons onto themselves.” —St. John Climacus “A hypocrite is someone who teaches his neighbor something he makes no effort to do himself.” —St. Poemen “I prefer a man who sins and repents to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughts, for he admits that he is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteous.” —Abba Poemen the Great “At meals don't speak about food: that's vulgar and unworthy of you. Speak about something noble -- of the soul or of the mind -- and you will have dignified this duty.” —Josemaria Escriva “When someone learns to acknowledge every man as being better than himself, then he has attained humility.” —St. Sisoes the Great “It is a spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “The man who is deemed worthy to see himself is greater than he who is deemed worthy to see angels.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “The truly blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels; the truly blessed are the ones who can see their own sins.” —St. Anthony the Great “The nearer a man draws to God, the more he sees himself a sinner. It was when Isaiah the prophet saw God, that he declared himself ‘a man of unclean lips.’” —St. Mateos “The condition of peace among men is that each should keep a consciousness of his own wrongdoing.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “The way to perfection is through the realization that we are blind, naked and poor.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “Blessed is the man who knows his own weakness, because this knowledge becomes to him the foundation, root, and beginning of all goodness.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward. The perfect person does good through love. His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does. He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward. The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.” —St. Clement of Alexandria “Every day at nightfall, before sleep comes upon you, excite the judgment of your conscience, demand an account from it, and whatever evil counsels you may have taken during the day … pierce them, tear them to pieces, and do penance for them.” —St. John Chrysostom “As I became more wretched you drew nearer to me.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “Sin is the fruit of free will. There was a time when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Prove your love and zeal for wisdom in actual deeds.” —St. Callistus Xanthopoulos “Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.” —Thérèse de Lisieux “Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, for it may lead you on to greater sins.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Every day I lay a foundation for building my repentance, and again with my own hands I demolish it.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “The Lord is hidden in His commandments, and He is to be found there in the measure that He is sought.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Having fulfilled a commandment, expect temptations; because love toward Christ is tested by difficulties.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “Do not be surprised that when you draw near to virtue, grievous and intense tribulations come to you on all sides: for virtue is not considered virtue, if it does not involve hard work.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Directions on Spiritual Training, The Philokalia “The purpose of temptations is to reveal hidden passions … so that you can battle against them in order to heal the soul. They are examples of divine mercy.” —St. Anatoly of Optina “In one day, brethren, you can gain all eternity. And in one day, brethren, you can lose all eternity. You are given thousands of days on earth to determine your own personal, eternal salvation or your own personal, eternal damnation. But blessed a hundredfold be the day in which you repent of all your unclean deeds, words and thoughts, and return to God crying out for mercy! That day will be worth more to you than a thousand other days.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich “A certain brother had succumbed to the sin of lust, repeating this sin every day, but every day he would also beseech the Lord's mercy, with tears and prayers. By acting this way, his bad habit always fooled him and he would repeat the sin again; but again, after sinning, he would go to the Church and, upon seeing the holy and venerable icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, would fall to his knees and with bitter tears would say: ‘Spare me, Lord, and rid of me this tortuous temptation, because it plagues me terribly and harms me with its bitter pleasures. My face is not worthy to look upon Your holy icon, so that my heart might be consoled.’ That was the sort of thing he would say, but whenever he left the Church, he would again fall in the mire. Yet he never lost his hopes for salvation, and immediately after sinning, he would again return to the Church and say the same things, praying to the benevolent Lord God: ‘Lord, be my warrantor that from now on I won't sin again; but please, Lord, forgive all of my sins, from the beginning, up to now.’ And after making these grandiose promises, he would again return to the same, terrible sin. And one could discern the sweet benevolence and infinite goodness of the Lord, in tolerating and enduring this incorrigible and grave violation and the ingratitude of this man, and how, in His great compassion, the Lord desired the repentance of this man and his definitive return; because this sin was being repeated, not for one, two or three years, but for ten and more. Brothers, can you see the immeasurable tolerance and infinite benevolence of the Lord? How He shows forbearance and kindness every time, by enduring our gross iniquities and sins? What is more staggering and provokes our wonder with regard to God's wealth of compassion, is that although our brother kept promising and would agree to desist from that sin, he proved himself a liar. One day, after our brother had fallen into that sin again, he went running to the Church, mourning and moaning and in tears, beseeching the compassion of the merciful God to spare him and save him from the mire of incontinence. While this brother was begging the benevolent God, the wicked devil, the destruction of our souls, realized that he had achieved nothing, because while he was sewing with sin, the man was fraying it with his repentance. So the devil impudently appeared before him visibly, and, turning his face towards the venerable icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, started to cry out, saying: ‘What ‘s it going to be with us two, Jesus Christ? Your infinite sympathy defeats me and degrades me, whenever you accept this lecher, this wanton, who lies to you every day and disregards your authority. Why then don't you burn him? Why are You so forbearing and tolerant towards him? You are supposed to be the one who will judge the adulterous and the licentious and will eliminate all sinners. In fact, You are not a fair judge, because, wherever Your authority considers it befitting, You judge unfairly and You overlook things. With me, because of the small infraction of pride, you cast me down from heaven, whereas with him, who is a liar, a lecher and a prodigal, because he merely knelt before You, You imperturbably grant him Your favor. So, why do they call You a fair judge? From what I can see, You simply give Yourself to people out of Your great goodness, and You overlook justice.’ As the devil was saying these, all choked up by his bitterness, flames and smoke came out of his nostrils. After the devil had finished speaking, he became silent, and immediately, a voice was heard coming out of the altar saying: ‘You wicked and pestilent dragon, your wickedness wasn't satiated by swallowing the whole world, and now you are trying to grab and swallow this man who found refuge in the infinite mercy of My compassion? Can you present any sins that are heavier than the precious blood which I shed for this man, on the Cross? Mark well, that My crucifixion and My death forgave his sins. Besides, you didn't send him away when he headed towards sin, but you accepted him with joy and you neither abhorred him nor hindered him, because you hoped to win him. Well then, I, Who am so merciful and benevolent, who had instructed my high Apostle Peter to forgive any man who sins daily up to seventy times seven, will I not forgive and spare this man? Yes, I say to you, and because he sought refuge in Me, I will not turn away from him, until I have made him mine. Because I was crucified for the sinners and it was for them that I extended my immaculate arms, so that everyone who wants to be saved, will seek refuge in me and be saved. I do not avoid anyone, nor do I send anyone away, not even if someone sins a thousand times in one day and then comes to Me a thousand times; he won't leave dismayed. Because I did not come to call the righteous to repent, but the sinners.’ As soon as these words were heard, the devil stood fixed in place, trembling, unable to escape. And the voice spoke again: ‘Listen, impostor, with regard to what you said about me being unfair : because I am fair to everyone, and in whichever condition I might find them, I will judge them accordingly. Look at this man, I found him in repentance and returning back, fallen on his knees in front of Me, and your conqueror. I will therefore accept him and save his soul, because he did not despair about his salvation. And you, when seeing the honor that I grant him, will impale yourself out of envy and be put to shame.’ And just as the brother lay there, prone and weeping, he gave up his soul; instantly, a fury as great as a fire fell upon the devil, and it consumed him. Therefore my brothers let us learn from this incident of God's immeasurable compassion and philanthropy, what a kind God we have, and that we must never despair or not tend to our salvation.” —St. Amphilochios, On Masturbation and the Futility of Despair “Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honor your patience. While a wound is still fresh and warm it is easy to heal, but old, neglected and festering ones are hard to cure, and require for their care much treatment, cutting, plastering and cauterization. Many from long neglect become incurable. But with God all things are possible.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 5, Section 30 “The life of the righteous was radiant. How did it become radiant if it wasn’t by patience? Love patience, O monk, as the mother of courage.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “Seek in everything the deep meaning. All the events that take place around us and with us have their meaning. Nothing happens without a cause…” —St. Nektary of Optina “…should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord's love. For if He so chooses, He can deal mercifully with our weakness. Only we should not cut ourselves off from Him or feel oppressed when constrained by His commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal…let us always be ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do not abandon your Physician, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because of your despair. Wait on Him, and He will be merciful, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or through some other provision of which you are ignorant.” —St. Peter of Damascus “Faintness of heart is a sign of despondency, and negligence is the mother of both. A cowardly man shows that he suffers from two diseases: love of his flesh and lack of faith; for love of one's flesh is a sign of unbelief. But he who despises the love of the flesh proves that he believes in God with his whole heart and awaits the age to come … A courageous heart and scorn of perils comes from one of two causes: either from hardness of heart or from great faith in God. Pride accompanies hardness of heart, but humility accompanies faith. A man cannot acquire hope in God unless he first does His will with exactness. For hope in God and manliness of heart are born of the testimony of the conscience, and by the truthful testimony of the mind we possess confidence towards God.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 40 “Within the heart are unfathomable depths. The heart is a small vessel, and yet dragons and lions are there. And there also are poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough and uneven paths are there and gaping chasms. Likewise, God is there; there are angels, there is life and the Kingdom, there is light and the apostles and the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace. All things lie within that little space.” —St. Macarius the Great “Just as the Lord is solicitous about our salvation, so too the murder of men, the devil, strives to lead a man into despair. A lofty and sound soul does not despair over misfortunes, of whatever sort they may be. Our life is as it were a house of temptations and trials; but we will not renounce the Lord for as long as He allows the tempter to remain with us and for as long as we must wait to be revived through patience and secure passionless! Judas the betrayer was fainthearted and unskilled in battle, and so the enemy, seeing his despair, attacked him and forced him to hang himself, but Peter, a firm rock, when he fell into great sin, like one skilled in battle did not despair nor lose heart, but shed bitter tears from a burning heart, and the enemy, seeing these tears, his eyes scorched as by fire, fled far form him wailing in pain. And so brothers, St. Antioch teaches, when despair attacks us let us not yield to it, but being strengthened and protected by the light of faith, with great courage let us say to the evil spirit: ‘What are you to us, estranged from God, a fugitive from heaven and evil servant? You dare do nothing to us. Christ, the Son of God, has authority both over us and over everything. It is against Him that we have sinned, and before Him that we will be justified. And you, destroyer, leave us. Strengthen by His venerable Cross, we trample under foot your serpent's head’ (St. Antioch Discourse 27).” —St. Seraphim of Sarov, Little Russian Philokalia “Modern men have faith in machines, in material well-being, in the substantiality of all that seems obvious to common sense; this is a petty faith, the faith of petty men. The Christian has faith in God and the world to come, in the insubstantiality of all that is obvious, in the passing of this world and the coming of the new, transfigured world; if there is a faith worthy of men, it is surely this.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, The Orthodox Word, No. 128, 1986 “I think it needs to be pointed out with utmost charity that the religion of compromise is self-deception and that there exist today only two absolutely irreconcilable alternatives for man: faith in the world and the religion of self, whose fruit is death; and the faith in Christ the Son of God, in Whom alone is eternal life.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Keep your mind in hell and do not despair.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “Stand at the brink of the abyss of despair, and when you see that you cannot bear it anymore, draw back a little, and have a cup of tea.” —Elder Sophrony of Essex “So in every test, let us say: "Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation."” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos “Only the benumbed soul doesn't pray. Preserve in yourselves the feeling of need, and you will always have stimulation for prayer.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “Make sure that you do not limit your prayer merely to a particular part of the day. Turn to prayer at anytime.” —St John Chrysostom “The Lord knows that I love you all, but I cannot speak with God and people at the same time.” —St. Arsanius the Great “A Christian…is not his own master; he puts his time at God's disposal.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch “Do not seek the perfection of the Law in human virtues, for it is not found perfect in them. Its perfection is hidden in the Cross of Christ.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in the sufferings of the Cross.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “It is impossible to believe that Christ is Risen, while we are afraid of death…” —St. Gregory Palamas “God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “Let us understand that God is a physician, and that suffering is a medicine for salvation, not a punishment for damnation.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “Everything will happen suddenly. It may even happen tonight. Maybe it has begun already? Today you are deprived of one thing, tomorrow of another. God is giving it to us a little at a time, and we stupid people don’t understand. I say this to you and I counsel you, even if the sky were to fall down, even if the earth would rise up, even if the whole world were destroyed, as it is due to do so, today, tomorrow, don’t be concerned with what God is going to do. Let them burn your body, let them fry it, let them take your possessions – don’t concern yourself. Give them away – they are not yours. You need your soul and Christ. Even if the whole world were to fall apart, no one can take these two things away from you against your will. Guard these two, and don’t loose them.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos “Certainly in times of tranquility the cross should give you joy. But maintain the same faith in times of persecution. Otherwise you will be a friend of Jesus in times of peace and his enemy during war.” —St. Cyril of Jerusalem “Only struggle a little more. Carry your cross without complaining. Don't think you are anything special. Don't justify your sins and weaknesses, but see yourself as you really are. And, especially, love one another.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Remember that each of us has his own cross. The Golgotha of this cross is our heart: it is being lifted or implanted through a zealous determination to live according to the Spirit of God. Just as salvation of the world is by the Cross of God, so our salvation is by our crucifixion on our own cross.” —St. Theophan the Recluse “Everyone carries their own cross, both Christians and non-Christians, believers and pagans. The difference is that for some, their crosses serve as a means of attaining the Kingdom of Heaven, while for the others they bring no such value. For the Christian, the cross gradually becomes lighter and more joyful, while for the nonbeliever it becomes heavier and more burdensome. Why is this so? Because where the one carries their cross with faith and devotion to God, the other carries it with grumbling and anger. Therefore, Christian, do not shun your lifelong cross, but, on the contrary, thank Jesus Christ that He honored you to follow and imitate Him.” —St. Innocent of Alaska, Indication Of The Way Into The Kingdom Of Heaven “Everyone has a cross to carry. Why? Since the leader of our faith endured the cross, we will also endure it. On one hand, the cross is sweet and light, but, on the other, it can also be bitter and heavy. It depends on our will. If you bear Christ’s cross with love then it will be very light; like a sponge or a cork. But if you have a negative attitude, it becomes heavy; too heavy to lift.” —Elder Ephraim of Katounakia, 20th Century staretz on Mt. Athos, Suffering; Trials “When you meet with suffering, contempt, the Cross, your thought should be: what is this compared with what I deserve?” —Josemaria Escriva “A Christian without a cross is no Christian at all.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Many people, finding daily life unsatisfying, try to live in a fantasy world of their own. Underlying the whole of modern culture is the common denominator of the worship of oneself and one's own comfort, which is deadly to any idea of spiritual life.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “A Christian should avoid unhealthy religiosity: both the feeling of superiority due to virtue, and the feeling of inferiority due to sinfulness.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia “Understand two thoughts, and fear them. One says, 'You are a saint,' the other, 'You won't be saved.' Both of these thoughts are from the enemy, and there is no truth in them. But think this way: I am a great sinner, but the Lord is merciful. He loves people very much, and He will forgive my sins. Believe in this way, and you will see, the Lord will forgive you. But put no faith in feats of your own, however much you may have striven… Thus God has mercy on us, not for our achievements but gracious, because of His goodness.” —St. Silouan the Athonite “He made Him who was righteous to be a sinner, that He might make sinners righteous.” —St. John Chrysostom “Love sinners, but hate their deeds, and do not disdain sinners for their failings, so that you yourself do not fall into the temptation in which they abide… Do not be angry at anyone and do not hate anyone, neither for their faith, nor for their shameful deeds… Do not foster hatred for the sinner, for we are all guilty… Hate his sins, and pray for him, so that you may be made like unto Christ, who had no dislike for sinners, but prayed for them.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Homilies 57,90 “Love every man in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind the sins, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same - the image of God.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, an illness, a devilish reverie. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Firmly purpose in your soul to hate every sin of thought, word, and deed, and when you are tempted to sin resist it valiantly and with a feeling of hatred for it; only beware lest your hatred should turn against the person of your brother who gave occasion for the sin. Hate the sin with all your heart, but pity your brother; instruct him, and pray for him to the Almighty, Who sees all of us and tries our hearts and innermost parts.” —St. John of Kronstadt “For this reason, the man who lives by God's standards and not by man's, must needs be a lover of the good, and it follows that he must hate what is evil. Further, since no one is evil by nature, but anyone who is evil is evil because of a perversion of nature, the man who lives by God's standards has a duty of ‘perfect hatred’ (Psalm 139:22) towards those who are evil; that is to say, he should not hate the person because of the fault, nor should he love the fault because of the person. He should hate the fault, but love the man. And when the fault has been cured there will remain only what he ought to love, nothing that he should hate.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, 14:6, Penguin ed., transl. Bettenson “As Jesus Christ is my Witness, I profess that I hate heresy, not the heretic; but as is proper, for the present I shun the heretics because of the heresy, since I have both convicted and rebuked him. Let him renounce his heresy and condemn it by word as well as by deed, and he will cling to all men by the bond of brotherhood, because it is written, ‘Bear ye one another's burden and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2).” —Orosius of Braga, Book in Defense Against the Pelagians “Our life and our death is with our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ. This is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.” —St. Anthony the Great “Unless we look at a person and see the beauty there is in this person, we can contribute nothing to him. One does not help a person by discerning what is wrong, what is ugly, what is distorted. Christ looked at everyone he met, at the prostitute, at the thief, and saw the beauty hidden there. Perhaps it was distorted, perhaps damaged, but it was beauty none the less, and what he did was to call out this beauty.” —Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh “He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “As long as we pay attention to the negative sides of various people we meet, we will not find peace and repentance. As long as we keep in ourselves the thought of offense, caused to us by enemies, friends, family and neighbours, we will not find peace and quiet and we will live in a hellish state.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica “The genuineness of a friend is shown at a time of trial, if he shares the distress you suffer.” —St. Thalassios the Libyan “If you are offended by anything, whether intended or unintended, you do not know the way of peace, which through love brings the lovers of divine knowledge to the knowledge of God.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “Especially, do not be disturbed by blasphemous thoughts, which clearly come from the envy of the Enemy. They occur in a person either because of proud self-opinion or the condemnation of others.” —St. Ambrose of Optina “In hell there is democracy and in Heaven there is a Kingdom.” —St. John of Kronstadt “We shall not care what people think of us, or how they treat us. We shall cease to be afraid of falling out of favour. We shall love our fellow men without thought of whether they love us. Christ gave us the commandment to love others but did not make it a condition of salvation that they should love us. Indeed, we may positively be disliked for independence of spirit. It is essential in these days to be able to protect ourselves from the influence of those with whom we come in contact. Otherwise we risk losing both faith and prayer. Let the whole world dismiss us as unworthy of attention, trust or respect – it will not matter provided that the Lord accept us. And vice versa: it will profit us nothing if the whole world thinks well of us and sings our praises, if the Lord declines to abide with us. This is only a fragment of the freedom Christ meant when He said, ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8.32). Our sole care will be to continue in the word of Christ, to become His disciples and cease to be servants of sin.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Essex, His Life is Mine, Chapter 6; pg. 55 “Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross on your forehead, your body, your chest, your heart, your lips, your eyes, your ears. All of you should be sealed with the sign of Christ's victory over hell. Then you will no longer be afraid of charms, evil spirits, or sorcery, because these are dissolved by the power of the Cross like wax before fire and like dust before the wind.” —Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie) of Romania “The Church is a hospital, and not a courtroom, for souls. She does not condemn on behalf of sins, but grants remission of sins. Nothing is so joyous in our life as the thanksgiving that we experience in the Church. In the Church, the joyful sustain their joy. In the Church, those worried acquire merriment, and those saddened, joy. In the Church, the troubled find relief, and the heavy-laden, rest. ‘Come,’ says the Lord, ‘near me, all of you who labor and are heavy-laden (with trials and sins), and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). What could be more desirable than to meet this voice? What is sweeter than this invitation? The Lord is calling you to the Church for a rich banquet. He transfers you from struggles to rest, and from tortures to relief. He relieves you from the burden of your sins. He heals worries with thanksgiving, and sadness with joy. No one is truly free or joyful besides he who lives for Christ. Such a person overcomes all evil and does not fear anything!” —St. John Chrysostom, Homily XV, II Cor. VII VIII, paragraph 6, Themes of Life II, Life Issues II, Holy Monastery of the Paraclete “The goal of human freedom is not in freedom itself, nor is it in man, but in God. By giving man freedom God has yielded to man a piece of His divine authority, but with the intention that man himself would voluntarily bring it as a sacrifice to God, as a most perfect offering.” —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation “When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord’s command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven. And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another will Himself do very much more.” —St. John Climacus “A person who suffers bitterly when slighted or insulted should recognize from this that he still harbours the ancient serpent in his breast. If he quietly endures the insult or responds with great humility, he weakens the serpent and lessens its hold. But if he replies acrimoniously or brazenly, he gives it strength to pour its venom into his heart and to feed mercilessly on his guts. In this way the serpent becomes increasingly powerful; it destroys his soul's strength and his attempts to set himself right, compelling him to live for sin and to be completely dead to righteousness.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian “The time of this present life is a time for harvesting, and each person gathers spiritual food - as pure as possible - and stores it up for the other life. It is not the clever, the noble, the polished speakers, or the rich who win, but whoever is insulted and forbears, whoever is wronged and forgives, whoever is slandered and endures, whoever becomes a sponge and mops up whatever they might say to him. Such a person is cleansed and polished even more. He reaches great heights. He delights in the theoria of mysteries. And finally, it is he who is already inside paradise, while still in this life.” —Elder Joseph the Hesychast and Cave-dweller “Do we refuse to forgive? God, too, will refuse to forgive us. As we treat our neighbours, so also does God treat us. The forgiveness or unforgiveness of your sins, then, and hence also your salvation or destruction, depend on you yourself. For without forgiveness of sins there is no salvation. You can see for yourself how serious it is.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk “When you are ready to stand in the presence of the Lord, let your soul wear a garment woven from the cloth of your forgiveness of others. Otherwise, your prayer will be of no value whatsoever.” —St. John Climacus “Forgiveness is better than revenge.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk “When God forgave you, it means He forgave you for eternity.” —Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania “Love alone harmoniously joins all created things with God and with each other.” —St. Thalassios the Libyan “A monk is he who withdrawing from all men, is united with all mankind. … A monk is he who regards himself as existing with all men and sees himself in each man.” —St. Nilus of Sinai “Love towards Christ is without limits, and the same is true of love towards our neighbour. It should radiate everywhere, to the ends of the earth, to every person. I wanted to go and live with the hippies at …… in order to show them the love of Christ and how great it is and how it could transfigure them. Love is above everything.” —Wounded by Love, Elder Porphyrios, pg 188 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” —Genesis 1:27 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” —Genesis 3:5 “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” —2 Corinthians 11:14 “You shall not murder.” —Exodus 20:13 “Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.” —Deuteronomy 27:25 “He shall judge between the nations,And rebuke many people;They shall beat their swords into plowshares,And their spears into pruning hooks;Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war anymore.” —Isaiah 2:4 “But Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.’” —Matthew 26:52 “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’” —Luke 18:20 “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’” —John 8:7 “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” —1 John 3:15 “And the second commandment of the Teaching; Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not commit paederasty, thou shalt not commit fornication, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not practise magic, thou shalt not practise witchcraft, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is begotten.” —Didache 2:2 “You shall not take the life of the child by obtaining an abortion. Nor, again, shall you destroy him after he is born.” —St. Barnabas, Epistle of St. Barnabas “The mold in the womb may not be destroyed.” —Tertullian “There is no question about that which is bred in the uterus, both growing, and moving from place to place. It remains, therefore, that we must think that the point of commencement of existence is one and the same for body and soul.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa “We acknowledge, therefore, that life begins with conception, because we contend that the soul begins at conception. Life begins when the soul begins. For us, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter when you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one: you have the fruit already in the seed.” —Tertullian, Apology 9:6 “Now the entire process of sowing, forming, and completing the human embryo in the womb is no doubt regulated by some power, which ministers herein to the will of God, whatever may be the method which it is appointed to employ. Even the superstition of Rome, by carefully attending to these points, imagined the goddess Alemona to nourish the foetus in the womb; as well as [the goddesses] Nona and Decima, called after the most critical months of gestation; and Partula, to manage and direct parturition; and Lucina, to bring the child to the birth and light of day. We, on our part, believe the angels to officiate herein for God. The embryo therefore becomes a human being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed (conception). The law of Moses, indeed, punishes with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of a human being, which has imputed to it even now the condition of life and death, since it is already liable to the issues of both, although, by living still in the mother, it for the most part shares its own state with the mother.” —Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul, Ch. XXXVII, On the Formation and State of the Embryo, Its Relation with the Subject of this Treatise “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” —Tertullian “…if we would not kill off the human race born and developing according to God's plan, then our whole lives would be lived according to nature. Women who make use of some sort of deadly abortion drug kill not only the embryo but, together with it, all human kindness.” —St. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator, Volume II, page 10 “Those who use abortifacients commit homicide.” —St. Clement of Alexandria “The woman who aborts her child to hide her immorality, aborts at the same time her own humanity.” —St. Clement of Alexandria “Women who were reputed believers began to resort to drugs for producing sterility. They also girded themselves around, so as to expel what was being gestated. For they did not wish to have a child by either slave or by any common fellow - out of concern for their family and their excessive wealth. See what a great impiety the lawless one has advanced! He teaches adultery and murder at the same time!” —St. Hipploytus, Refutation Of All Heresies “He [Novatian] struck the womb of his wife with his heel and produced a hurried an abortion, thereby causing parricide.” —St. Cyprian of Carthage, Epistle 52 To Cornelius “The wealthy, in order that their inheritance may not be divided among several, deny in the very womb their own progeny. By use of' parricidal mixtures they snuff out the fruit of their wombs in the genital organs themselves. In this way life is taken away before it is born… Who except man himself has taught us ways of repudiating children?” —St. Ambrose of Milan “Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison to produce infertility, and when this is of no avail, they find one means or another to destroy the unborn and flush it from the mother's womb. For they desire to see their offspring perish before it is alive or, if it has already been granted life, they seek to kill it within the mother's body before it is born.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book One, Ch. 16 “A woman who has deliberately destroyed a fetus must pay the penalty for murder… those also who give drugs causing abortions are murderers themselves, as well as those who receive the poison which kills the fetus.” —St. Basil the Great, First Canonical Letter, 188:2 and 188:8 “Women also who administer drugs to cause abortion, as well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children, are murderesses.” —St. Basil the Great, Letter CLXXXVIII: Canonica Prima, to Amphilochius, concerning the Canons, VII “The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us.” —St. Basil the Great “Why do you sow where the field is eager to destroy the fruit? Where there are medicines of sterility? Where there is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlot, but you make her a murderess as well. Indeed, it is something worse than murder and I do not know what to call it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formation. What then? Do you condemn the gifts of God, and fight with His laws? What is a curse you seek as though it were a blessing. Do you make the anteroom of slaughter? Do you teach the women who are given to you for a procreation of offspring to perpetuate killing? Yet such turpitude … the matter still seems indifferent to many men–even to many men having wives. In this indifference of the married men there is greater evil filth; for then poisons are prepared, not against the womb of a prostitute, but against your injured wife. Against her are these innumerable tricks…” —St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, XXIV “Some virgins [unmarried women] go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception. Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when (as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder.” —St. Jerome, Letter to Eustochium, 22:13 “The rich women, to avoid dividing the inheritance among many, kill their own unborn in the womb and with lethal extracts terminate their own offspring while yet in the womb.” —St. Ambrose, On the Hexaemeron “For every argument there is a counter-argument, but who can argue against life?” —St. Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts “If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one.”“I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.”“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”“If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.”“It is a poverty that a child must die, so that you may live as you wish.”“How can you say there are too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”“The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between.”“Any Country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants.”“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”“Do not look for big things, just do small things with great love… The smaller the thing the greater must be our love. “God did not call us to be successful, but to be faithful.”“Go out into the world today and love the people you meet. Let your presence light new light in the hearts of people.”“There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those.”“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”“Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”—Teresa of Calcutta “No one heals himself by wounding another.” —St. Ambrose of Milan “Abortion is the anti-Christ's demonic parody of the Eucharist. That's why it uses the same holy words ‘This is my body’ with the blasphemous opposite meaning.” —Dr. Peter Kreeft “An Irish pro-abortion leader described their vote as a decision to enter the ‘modern’ world. That was extremely well-said. Modernity suggests to us that we are the masters of history, the arbiters of life and death. Our compassion for the suffering is always expressed, ultimately, in our willingness to kill them, without remorse. For many, abortion has become the sacrament of modernity, in which we learn to say in blasphemous irony: ‘This is my body.’” —Fr. Stephen Freeman “Each child with special needs such as this does not come into the world in order to make our lives difficult and make us suffer. They each come into this world for a reason and have their secret inner voice. It remains to us to offer love; to ‘bear one another's burdens’; to experience a collective humbling – to realize, that is, that we are not as powerful and important as we think; and to try to lighten that person's burden and understand their language… These children are better at speaking the language of God.” —Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Labreotiki, When God is Not There, pg. 48 “O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship with all living things, our little brothers and sisters to whom in common with us you have given this earth as home. We recall with regret that in the past we have acted high-handedly and cruelly in exercising our domain over them. Thus, the voice of the earth which should have risen to you in song has turned into a groan of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for themselves and for you - not for us alone. They too love the goodness of life, as we do, and serve you better in their way than we do in ours. Amen.” —St. Basil the Great “We follow the ways of wolves, the habits of tigers: or, rather we are worse than they. To them nature has assigned that they should be thus fed, while God has honoured us with rational speech and a sense of equity. And yet we are become worse than the wild beast.” —St. John Chrysostom “Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water. Lay your bed where the cat sleeps. Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm. Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit. Plant the tree where the mole digs. Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself. Dig your fountain where the birds hide from the heat. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days' golden grains. Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest. Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water. Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear. Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov (Nature is talking to you, are you listening?) “Nothing is without order and purpose in the animal kingdom; each animal bears the wisdom of the Creator and testifies of Him. God granted man and animals many natural attributes, such as compassion, love, feelings… for even animals bewail the loss of one of their own.” —St. John Climacus “…surely we ought to show kindness and gentleness to animals for many reasons, and chiefly because they are of the same origin as ourselves.” —St. John Chrysostom “For animals, man is like God. Just as we ask God for help, they ask man for help.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos “Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall to our knees.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa “…it is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder.” —Kallistos Ware “Why not learn to enjoy the little things! There are so many of them.” —St. John Chrysostom “The unspeakable and prodigious fire hidden in the essence of things, as in the bush, is the fire of divine love and the dazzling brilliance of His beauty inside every thing.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “Blessed the one who observes with spiritual understanding the choirs of stars shining with glory and the beauty of the heavens and longs to contemplate the Maker of all things.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “Leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and non-being, that thou mayest arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is attainable, with Him who transcends all knowledge.” —St. Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology “Supernal Triad, Deity above all essence, knowledge and goodness, Guide of Christians to Divine Wisdom: direct our path to the ultimate summit of Thy mystical Lore, most incomprehensible, most luminous and most exalted, where the pure, absolute and immutable mysteries of theology are veiled in the dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the intensity of their Darkness, and surcharging our blinded intellects with the utterly impalpable and invisible fairness of glories surpassing all beauty.” —St. Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology “We, therefore, so long as we are beset by the corruptions of the flesh, in no wise behold the brightness of the Divine Power, as it abides unchangeable in itself, in that the eye of our weakness cannot endure that which shines above us with intolerable lustre from the ray of His Eternal Being. And so when the Almighty shews Himself to us by the chinks of contemplation, He does not speak to us, but whispers, in that though He does not fully develope Himself, yet something of Himself He does reveal to the mind of man. But then He no longer whispers at all, but speaks, when His appearance is manifested to us in certainty. It is hence that Truth saith in the Gospel, ‘I shall shew you plainly of the Father’ (John 16, 25). Hence John saith, ‘For we shall see Him as He is’ (1 John 3, 2). Hence Paul saith, ‘Then shall I know even as also I am known’ (1 Cor. 13, 12). Now in this present time, the Divine whispering has as many veins for our ears as the works of creation, which the Divine Being Himself is Lord of; for while we view all things that are created, we are lifted up in admiration of the Creator. For as water that flows in a slender stream is sought by being bored for through veins, with a view to increase it, and as it pours forth the more copiously, in proportion as it finds the veins more open, so we, whilst we heedfully gather the knowledge of the Divine Being from the contemplation of His creation, as it were open to ourselves the ‘veins of His whispering’, in that by the things that we see have been made, we are led to marvel at the excellency of the Maker, and by the objects that are in public view, that issues forth to us, which is hidden in concealment. For He bursts out to us in a kind of sound as it were, whilst He displays His works to be considered by us, wherein He betokens Himself in a measure, in that He shews how Incomprehensible He is. Therefore, because we cannot take thought of Him as He deserves, we hear not His voice, yea, scarcely His whispering. For because we are not equal to form a full and perfect estimate of the very things that are created, it is rightly said, Mine ear as it were by stealth received the veins of whispering; in that being cast forth from the delights of paradise, and visited with the punishment of blindness, we scarcely take in ‘the veins of whispering’; since His very marvellous works themselves we consider but hastily and slightly. But we must bear in mind, that in proportion as the soul being lifted up contemplates His Excellency, so being held back it shrinks from His Righteous Perfectness.” —St. Gregory the Great (Gregory the Dialogist), Book V, Sec. 52, Morals on the Book of Job “Look at the world around you. It supplies all your bodily needs. It feasts your eyes with its beauty. And its glory reflects the glory of God, so it feasts your soul also. Look at the plants and the trees. Can you count all the different species? Can you describe all the different shapes of the leaves, the color and fragrances of the flowers? Look, too, at the animals and the insects. Are you not enthralled by their different sizes and shapes, by the different colors and textures of their skin and fur, by the different ways in which they move about and gather food? And the wonder why God has created all this. Has he created the marvelous universe just to supply our needs and to feast our eyes and souls? or is there some other purpose in it all? The answer is that he has created all things--for their own sake. Each creature has its own purpose and destiny, which God in his infinite wisdom and love has planned. Do not try to understand God's plans; the human mind is hardly better than that of an ant in discerning the ways of God. Simply accept all his plans and rejoice in them.” —St. John Chrysostom, On Living Simply, pg 54 “When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God's feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.” —St. Basil the Great “For as long as you are on earth, consider yourself a guest in the Household of Christ. If you are at the table, it is He who treats you. If you breathe air, it is His air you breathe. If you bathe, it is in His water you are bathing. If you are traveling, it is over His land that you are traveling. If you are amassing goods, it is His goods you are amassing. If you are squandering, it is His goods that you are squandering. If you are powerful, it is by His permission that you are strong. If you are in the company of men, you and the others are His guests. If you are out in nature, you are in His garden. If you are alone, He is present.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich “Some people see the houses in which they live as their kingdom; and although in their minds they know that death will one day force them to leave, in their hearts they feel they will stay forever. They take pride in the size of their houses and the fine material with which they are built. They take pleasure in decorating their houses with bright colors, and in obtaining the best and most solid furniture to fill the rooms. They imagine that they can find peace and security by owning a house whose walls and roof will last for many generations. We, by contrast, know that we are only temporary guests on earth. We recognize that the houses in which we live serve only as hostels on the road to eternal life. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or the roof above our heads. Rather we want to surround ourselves with a wall of divine grace; and we look upward to heaven as our roof. And the furniture of our lives should be good works, performed in a spirit of love.” —St. John Chrysostom, On Living Simply, pg 11 “What hinders you from fulfilling Christ’s commandments? The flesh and the world: that is, pleasant food and drink which men like, in which they delight both in thought and in fact, which make the heart gross and hard—a partiality for elegant dress and adornment, or for distinctions and rewards; if the dress or adornments are made of very beautiful coloured and delicate materials, then care and anxiety arise how to avoid staining or soiling them, or getting them dusty or wet, whilst care and anxiety how to please God in thought, word, and deed vanish and the heart lives for dress and adornment, and becomes entirely engrossed in these things, ceasing to care about God and being united to Him; if such is the case with a priest, then he neglects praying for his people, and becomes not soul-loving, but money-loving and ambitious, seeking not the men themselves, but that which appertains to them, that is, money, food, drink, their favour, their good opinion and good word, and flattering them. Therefore fight against every worldly enticement, against every material enticement that hinders you from fulfilling Christ’s commandments, love God with all your heart, and care with all your strength for the salvation of your own soul, and the souls of others, be soul-loving.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Let us be satisfied simply with what sustains our present life, not with what pampers it. Let us pray to God for this, as we have been taught, so that we may keep our souls unenslaved and absolutely free from domination by any of the visible things loved for the sake of the body. Let us show that we eat for the sake of living, and not be guilty of living for the sake of eating. The first is a sign of intelligence, the second proof of its absence.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “[R]eal Orthodox can never be chauvinists. I recall once, in a conversation with me in 1926, the blessedly reposed metropolitan [A. Khrapovitsky] related to me the following: "On Athos there is a custom that a monk who does not forgive offences is punished by being made to omit the words ‘and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ at the reading of the Lord’s Prayer, until such a time when he has forgiven the offence committed against him. And I myself have suggested," added the great saint, "that the chauvinist-nationalists not read the ninth article of the Symbol of Faith." If we were to crystallize this principle of Vladyka, it would read as follows: the Russian, Serbian, and Bulgarian nations can be great only if the goal of their existence be the collective realization of the commandments of the Gospel. Otherwise, "Serbianism", "Russianism", and "Bulgarianism", are reduced to senseless and pernicious chauvinism. If "Serbianism" flourishes not by the power of evangelical podvigs and not to Orthodox catholicity, then it will choke in its own egoistic chauvinism. What is profitable for Serbdom is profitable for other nationalities as well. Nations pass, the Gospel is eternal. Only in so far as a nation is filled with the eternal evangelical truth and righteousness, does it exist, and itself becomes and remains eternal. Only such patriotism can be justified from an evangelical point of view. This is the patriotism of the holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the holy fathers. When the emperor-tormentor asked the holy martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, and Anempodistus where they were from, they answered: "Are you asking us, O Emperor, about our homeland? Our homeland and our life is the most holy, consubstantial and undivided Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one God." (On Met. Anthony Khrapovitsky) The blessed Metropolitan Anthony is the most gifted contemporary representative of Russian Orthodox nationalism, a nationalism consecrated and enlightened by Christ; a nationalism by which all men are brothers in Christ; a nationalism by which the mighty must serve the weak, the wise the unwise, the humble the proud, the first the last. Growing out of patristic Orthodox universal patriotism, the blessed Vladyka can only be appreciated from the same apostolic patristic perspective. We can apply to him what St. Gregory of Nyssa said about his own brother, St. Basil, after his death: "Wherein lies Basil's noble origin? Where is his homeland? His origin is his affinity to divinity, and his homeland is virtue."” —St. Justin Popovich “Worldly glory does not lead God's children to heaven.” —St. Raphael, the Newly-revealed Martyr of Lesvos “Satan has no need to tempt those who tempt themselves, and are continually dragged down by worldly affairs.” —St. John of Karpathos “The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos “The fundamental Christian eschatology has been destroyed by either the optimism leading to the Utopia, or by the pessimism leading to the Escape. If there are two heretical words in the Christian vocabulary, they would be "optimism" and "pessimism." These two things are utterly anti-biblical and anti-Christian.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann “Christ is the only exit from this world; all other exits – sexual rapture, political utopia, economic independence – are but blind alleys in which rot the corpses of the many that have tried them.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Everything in this life passes away – only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Let the hearing of worldly tales be to you as a bitter taste in your mouth, but the discourse of holy men as a honeycomb.” —St. Basil the Great “All the things of this world are no more than earth. Place them in a heap under your feet and you will be so much nearer to heaven.” —Josemaria Escriva “A man who has dedicated himself once and for all to God goes through life with a restful mind.” —St. Isaac the Syrian “Do you seek any further reward beyond that of having pleased God? In truth, you know not how great a good it is to please Him.” —St. John Chrysostom “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” —Matthew 22:37-40 “And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"” —John 20:28 “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” —John 5:22-23 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…” —Matthew 5:44 “The fool has said in his heart,‘There is no God.’They are corrupt,They have done abominable works,There is none who does good.” —Psalm 14:1 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,And lean not on your own understanding;” —Proverbs 3:5 “Hatred stirs up strife,But love covers all sins.” —Proverbs 10:12 “When pride comes, then comes shame;But with the humble is wisdom.” —Proverbs 11:2 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,But he who heeds counsel is wise.” —Proverbs 12:15 “There is a way that seems right to a man,But its end is the way of death.” —Proverbs 14:12 “Pride goes before destruction,And a haughty spirit before a fall.” —Proverbs 16:18 “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth;A stranger, and not your own lips.” —Proverbs 27:2 “Open rebuke is betterThan love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend,But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” —Proverbs 27:5-6 “If a wise man contends with a foolish man,Whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.” —Proverbs 29:9 “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. … I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.” —Ecclesiastes 1:2,14 “For in much wisdom is much grief,And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” —Ecclesiastes 1:18 “The work of righteousness will be peace,And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.” —Isaiah 32:17 “Children’s children are the crown of old men,And the glory of children is their father.” —Proverbs 17:6 “The righteous man walks in his integrity;His children are blessed after him.” —Proverbs 20:7 “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,And he who begets a wise child will delight in him.” —Proverbs 23:24 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;They shall not be ashamed,But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” —Psalm 127:3-5 “The sons of wisdom are the church of the just: and their generation, obedience and love. Children, hear the judgment of your father, and so do that you may be saved. For God hath made the father honourable to the children: and seeking the judgment of the mothers, hath confirmed it upon the children. He that loves God, shall obtain pardon for his sins by prayer, and shall refrain himself from them, and shall be heard in the prayer of days. And he that honours his mother is as one that lays up a treasure. He that honours his father shall have joy in his own children, and in the day of his prayer he shall be heard. He that honours his father shall enjoy a long life: and he that obeys the father, shall be a comfort to his mother. He that fears the Lord, honours his parents, and will serve them as his masters that brought him into the world.” —Sirach 3:1-8 “But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’” —Matthew 19:14 “Reflect on the statutes of the Lord,and meditate at all times on his commandments.It is he who will give insight to your mind,and your desire for wisdom will be granted.” —Sirach 6:37 “Childless with virtue is better than this,For immortality is in its memory;Because it is known both by God and by man.” —Wisdom of Solomon 4:1 “Jesus wept.” —John 11:35 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn,For they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek,For they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,For they shall be filled.Blessed are the merciful,For they shall obtain mercy.Blessed are the pure in heart,For they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers,For they shall be called sons of God.Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 5:3-10 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” —James 4:7-10 “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” —Luke 12:48 “Then Abraham answered and said, ‘Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord.’” —Genesis 18:27 “The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.’” —Matthew 8:8 “And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” —Luke 18:13 “Pray without ceasing.” —1 Thessalonians 5:17 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” —1 Timothy 1:15 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” —Romans 3:23 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” —Matthew 16:18 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” —Matthew 28:19 “Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."” —Acts 2:38 “Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.’” —John 8:58 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” —John 15:26 “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” —John 17:21 “I and My Father are one.” —John 10:30 “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. “So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."” —John 20:19-23 “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.” —Luke 10:1 “Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word."” —Acts 6:2-4 “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” —Acts 20:7 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.“ —John 6:53-56 “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.“ —1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed…” —2 Corinthians 10:7-8 “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” —Ephesians 5:11 “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” —James 2:14-17 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” —Matthew 12:33-35 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” —Luke 6:43-45 “Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” —James 3:10 “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment.” —James 5:12 “Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.” —2 Corinthians 10:11 “So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.” —Acts 8:30-31 “…but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” —1 Timothy 3:15 “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” —John 21:25 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” —Jeremiah 1:5 “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” —1 Timothy 4:12 “But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church…” —1 Corinthians 12:20-28 “Do not remove the ancient landmarkWhich your fathers have set.” —Proverbs 22:28 “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” —Acts 20:29-30 “Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.” —Titus 3:10-11 “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” —Matthew 10:14 “And in vain they worship Me,Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” —Matthew 15:9 “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.” —Hebrews 13:17 “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” —2 Thessalonians 2:15 “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” —Matthew 12:8 “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” —Colossians 2:14 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” —Colossians 2:16-17 “…where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” —Colossians 3:11 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” —Romans 6:14 “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.” —Romans 14:5-6 “…and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law.” —1 Corinthians 9:20 “For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God.” —2 Corinthians 9:12 “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” —Acts 17:11 “So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"” —Acts 8:30 “So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.” —Nehemiah 8:8 “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” —Acts 11:26 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” —1 John 4:1 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” —1 John 2:19 “…for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” —1 Corinthians 3:3 “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” —1 Corinthians 1:13 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” —Matthew 12:25 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” —1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” —1 Corinthians 1:10 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” —Hebrews 4:14-16 “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” —Ephesians 1:15-23 “…endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism;” —Ephesians 4:3-5 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” —1 Corinthians 3:11 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” —Galatians 2:20 “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” —Colossians 3:1-2 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” —John 15:18-19 “Thus says the Lord: "Stand in the ways and see,And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,And walk in it;Then you will find rest for your souls.But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’"” —Jeremiah 6:16 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. ” —John 17:9-11 “The Lord is my shepherd;I shall not want.He makes me to lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside the still waters.He restores my soul;He leads me in the paths of righteousnessFor His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil;My cup runs over.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow meAll the days of my life;And I will dwell in the house of the LordForever.” —Psalm 23 “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,And saves such as have a contrite spirit.” —Psalm 34:18 “O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your wrath,Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!For Your arrows pierce me deeply,And Your hand presses me down.For my iniquities have gone over my head;My wounds are foul and festeringBecause of my foolishness.Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.Do not forsake me, O Lord;O my God, be not far from me!Make haste to help me,O Lord, my salvation!” —Psalm 38:1,2,4,5,21,22 “Be still, and know that I am God;I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth!” —Psalm 46:10 “Truly my soul finds rest in God;my salvation comes from him.Truly he is my rock and my salvation;he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.One thing God has spoken,two things I have heard:"Power belongs to you, God,and with you, Lord, is unfailing love";and, "You reward everyoneaccording to what they have done."” —Psalm 62:1-2,11,12 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” —1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” —John 15:13 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” —John 13:35 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” —Matthew 24:36-39 “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” —Matthew 25:34-36,40 “…that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” —Matthew 5:45 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” —James 1:17 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.” —John 6:47 “Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'” —John 8:12 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” —1 John 2:15-17 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” —Romans 12:1-2 “They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them.” —1 John 4:5 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” —Mark 8:36 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” —John 3:16-17 “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For 'He has put all things under His feet.' But when He says 'all things are put under Him,' it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” —1 Corinthians 15:25-28 “To have faith in Christ means more than simply despising the delights of this life. It means we should bear all our daily trials that may bring us sorrow, distress, or unhappiness, and bear them patiently for as long as God wishes and until He comes to visit us. For it is said, ‘I waited on the Lord and He came to me.’” —St. Symeon the New Theologian “Anyone who truly wants to follow God must be free from the bonds of attachment to this life. To do this we must make a complete break with our old way of life. Indeed, unless we avoid all obsession with the body and with the concerns of this world, we shall never succeed in pleasing God. We must depart as it were to another world in our way of thinking, as the Apostle said: ‘Our citizenship is in heaven’.” —St. Basil the Great, Gateway to Paradise “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.” —Philippians 3:20-21 “Therefore it was not one man, but rather the One Universal Church, that received these 'keys' and the right 'to bind and loosen.'” —St. Augustine of Hippo “The Lord calls the Holy Spirit the 'voice of a gentle breeze'. For God is breath, and the breath of the wind is shared by all.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “Nothing is so characteristically Christian as being a peacemaker.” —St. Basil the Great “Behold, for years and generations, the way of God has been leveled by the cross and by death. How is this with thee, that thou seest the afflictions of the way as if they were out of the way? Doest not thou wish to follow the steps of the saints? Or doest thou wish to go a way which is especially for thee, without suffering? The way unto God is a daily cross. No one can ascend unto heaven with comfort, we know where the way of comfort leads.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Mystic Treatises, Homily LIX “I know of my spiritual poverty, my own nothingness without faith. I am so weak, that it is only by Christ's name that I live and obtain peace, that I rejoice and my heart expands, whilst without Him I am spiritually dead, I am troubled, and my heart is oppressed; without the Lord's Cross I should have been long since the victim of the most cruel distress and despair. Only Christ keeps me alive: and the Cross is my peace and my consolation.” —St. John of Kronstadt “Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him.” —St. Gregory the Theologian “Now there is no more chaos, no more death, no more slaying, no more Hell. Now everything is joy, thanks to the resurrection of our Christ. Human nature is resurrected with Him. Now we too can rise again that we might live with Him eternally … What bliss is contained in the Resurrection! In every sorrow, with every failure, in anything that causes you pain, collect yourself for half a minute and slowly say this hymn. Then, you will see that the most important thing in your life and in the life of the entire universe has already been accomplished with the resurrection of Christ. It is our salvation. And then, you realize that all our setbacks are so insignificant, that you don’t need to allow them to spoil your mood.” —Elder Porphryios “With the Resurrection of the God-Man, the nature of man is irreversibly led toward the road of immortality and man's nature becomes destructive to death itself. For until the Resurrection of Christ, death was destructive for man; from the Resurrection of Christ, man's nature becomes destructive in death. If man lives in the faith of the Resurrected God Man, he lives above death, he is unreachable for her; death is under man's feet. Death where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? And when a man who believes in Christ dies, he only leaves his body as his clothes, in which he will be dressed again on the Day of Last Judgement.” —St. Justin Popovich “Man sentenced God to death; by this Resurrection, He sentenced man to immortality. In return for a beating, He gives an embrace; for abuse, a blessing; for death, immortality. Man never showed so much hate for God as when he crucified Him; and God never showed more love for a man when He arose. Man even wanted to reduce God to a mortal, but God by His Resurrection made man immortal. The crucified God is Risen and has killed death. Death is no more. Immortality has surrounded man and all the world.” —St. Justin Popovich “Let no one fear death; for the death of the Savior has set us free.” —St. John Chrysostom “He who is initiated into the mystery of the Resurrection, learns the end for which God created all things.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “This bread is at first common bread; but when the Mystery sancifies it, It is called, and actually becomes the Body of Christ.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa “Since Christ Himself has said, ‘This is My Body’ who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?” —St. Cyril of Jerusalem “You freed me from slavery, gave me Your Name and marked me with Your Blood, so that I would always keep You in my heart.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “When someone opens your heart, I'd like him to find nothing there but Christ.” —Elder Amphilochios of Patmos “Think nothing and do nothing without a purpose directed to God. For to journey without direction is wasted effort.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him, the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest achievement.” —St. Augustine of Hippo “Love bestows prophecy; love yields miracles; love is an abyss of illumination; love is a fountain of fire, in the measure that it wells up, it inflames the thirsty soul. Love is the state of angels. Love is the progress of eternity.” —St. John Climacus “The end of each discovery becomes the starting point for the discovery of something higher, and the ascent continues. Thus our ascent is unending. We go from beginning to beginning by way of beginnings without end.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa “He who forsakes all worldly desires sets himself above all worldly distress.” —St. Maximus the Confessor “He is with me, He who left the world behind. He is present in me, He who left His nature. He dwells in me, He who denied Himself. He is wholly for me, He who lost His life for me.” —St. Ambrose of Milan “You brought us into being out of nothing, and when we fell, You raised us up again.” — St. John Chrysostom “You did not cease doing everything until You led us to heaven and granted us Your kingdom to come.” —St. John Chrysostom “For You are God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever and always the same.” —St. John Chrysostom “Brethren, He is near each one of us, even if unseen. That is why He said to the apostles when He ascended, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world’ (Matt 28:20). Every day we should stand in awe of Him, as He is with us, and do what is pleasing before Him. If we are unable now to perceive Him with our physical eyes, we can, if we are watchful, see Him continuously with the eyes of our understanding, and not just see Him, but reap great benefits from Him. This vision destroys all sin, demolishes all evil, and drives away everything bad. It yields every virtue, gives birth to purity and dispassion, and bestows eternal life and the kingdom without end. As we attend to this joyful sight, gazing with our mind's eye on Christ as though He were present, each of us will say with David, ‘Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident’ (Ps. 27:3).” —St. Gregory of Palamas, Homily 23, The Appearance of Jesus “Why do men learn through pain and suffering, not pleasure and happiness? Very simply, pleasure and happiness accustom one to satisfaction with things in this world, whereas pain and suffering drive one to seek more profound happiness beyond limitations of this world.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.Enemies have driven me into your embrace more than friends have.Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself.They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.Bless my enemies, O Lord, Even I bless them and do not curse them.Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of your garment.Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:so that my fleeing to You may have no return;so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins, arrogance and anger;so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies.Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and enemies.A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands.For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life.Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prayers by the Lake, For Enemies, Prayer LXXV “For all the sins of men I repent before You, Most Merciful Lord. Indeed, the seed of all sins flows in my blood! With my effort and Your mercy I choke this wicked crop of weeds day and night, so that no tare may sprout in the field of the Lord, but only pure wheat. (Matt. 13:24-30.)I repent for all those who are worried, who stagger under a burden of worries and do not know that they should put all their worries on You. For feeble man even the most minor worry is unbearable, but for You a mountain of worries is like a snowball thrown into a fiery furnace.I repent for all the sick, for sickness is the fruit of sin. When the soul is cleansed with repentance, sickness disappears with sin, and You, my Eternal Health, take up Your abode in the soul.I repent for unbelievers, who through their unbelief amass worries and sicknesses both on themselves and on their friends.I repent for all those who blaspheme God, who blaspheme against You without knowing that they are blaspheming against the Master, who clothes them and feeds them.I repent for all the slayers of men, who take the life of another to preserve their own. Forgive them, Most Merciful Lord, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) For they do not know that there are not two lives in the universe, but one, and that there are not two men in the universe, but one. Ah, how dead are those who cut the heart in half!I repent for all those who bear false witness, for in reality they are homicides and suicides.For all my brothers who are thieves and who are hoarders of unneeded wealth I weep and sigh, for they have buried their soul and have nothing with which to go forth before You.For all the arrogant and the boastful I weep and sigh, for before You they are like beggars with empty pockets.For all drunkards and gluttons I weep and sigh, for they have become servants of their servants.For all adulterers I repent, for they have betrayed the trust. of the Holy Spirit, who chose them to form new life through them. Instead, they turned serving life into destroying life.For all gossipers I repent, for they have turned Your most precious gift, the gift of speech, into cheap sand.For all those who destroy their neighbor’s hearth and home and their neighbor’s peace I repent and sigh, for they bring a curse on themselves and their people.For all lying tongues, for all suspicious eyes, for all raging hearts, for all insatiable stomachs, for all darkened minds, for all ill will, for all unseemly thoughts, for all murderous emotions–I repent, weep and sigh.For all the history of mankind from Adam to me, a sinner, I repent; for all history is in my blood. For I am in Adam and Adam is in me.For all the worlds, large and small, that do not tremble before Your awesome presence, I weep and cry out: O Master Most Merciful, have mercy on me and save me!” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Prayers by the Lake, Repentance for the World, Prayer XXIX “O Lord,Grant me to greet the coming day in peace.Help me in all thingsto rely upon Thy Holy Will.In every hour of the day,reveal Thy will to me.Bless my dealings with all who surround me.Teach me to treat all that comes to methroughout the day with peace of soul,and with firm convictionthat Thy will governs all.In all my deeds and words,guide my thoughts and feelings.In unforeseen events, let me not forgetthat all are sent by Thee.Teach me to act firmly and wisely,without embittering and embarrassing others.Give me strength to bear the fatigueof the coming day with all that it shall bring.Direct my will.Teach me to pray.Pray Thou Thyself in me.Amen.” —St. Philaret (Drozdov), Metropolitan of Moscow, The Morning Prayer of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow “In that anxious and dreadful hour when the heavenly powers are roused, when all the angels, archangels, seraphim and cherubim will stand with fear and trembling before Thy glory, when the foundations of the earth will be shaken, and when all that breathes will be terrified by the incomparable greatness of Thy glory – in that hour mayest Thou take me under Thy wing and may my soul be delivered from the terrible fire and from the gnashing of teeth, from outer darkness and eternal lamentation, that I may bless Thee and say: Glory to Him Who has desired to save a sinner according to the great compassion of His mercy!” —St. Ephrem the Syrian “If there is any rest for us in this world, then it consists only in purity of the conscience and patience. This is a harbor for us who sail upon the sea of life…” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk “I would like to address all believers of our church of Christ. Don't be afraid of anything. Be steadfast in your love for God. Keep the purity of the Holy Orthodox Faith, it is the way that leads man to God! Love one another, tolerate one another, help one another. Evil will pass – and good will live forever. If we endure everything, live in love for all and among ourselves, then no evil will defeat us. God is a God of strength, and evil has no power. We will live with God – and we will be joyful, happy and blessed. I know that Our church of Christ will be till the end of the world because the Lord said the gates of hell will not prevail against Her. Don't be afraid because We are in a church founded by Christ, not by men.” —Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and all Ukraine “As to the fatalism of those who believe that man must be a slave to the spirit of the age, it is disproved by the experience of every Christian worthy of the name, for the Christian life is nothing if it is not a struggle against the spirit of every age for the sake of eternity.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “There are far, far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.” —C. S. Lewis “God and our conscience know our secrets. Let them correct us.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.” —St. Jerome “What, then, is greater than that the Father of the only-begotten Son Himself recognizes in us His members and finds the very form of the Son in our faces?” —St. Nicholas Cabasilas “This, then, is the way in which we interpret the Eighth Day…namely that when the time that is measured in weeks comes to an end, an Eighth Day will come into being…It will remain one day continually, never to be divided by the darkness of night. Another Sun will bring it into being, radiating the true light; embracing all things in it's luminous power, it will produce light continually and will make those who share in that Light into other suns.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on the Psalms “He made Him who was righteous to be a sinner, that He might make sinners righteous.” —St. John Chrysostom “The Word of God became man, that man might become god… becoming by grace what God is by nature.” —St. Athanasius the Great, On the Incarnation “Thine own of Thine own we Offer unto Thee, in behalf of all and for all!” —Anaphora offering (OCA), Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom “Precious in the sight of the LordIs the death of His saints.” —Psalm 116:15 “…nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.” —Luke 20:36-38 “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.” —2 Maccabees 12:46 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” —Philippians 4:13 “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.” —Romans 8:28
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” —Matthew 19:26
“Glory be to God for everything! Glory be to God for having created me to His image and likeness. Glory be to God for having redeemed me, the fallen. Glory be to God for having extended His solicitude to me, the unworthy. Glory be to God for having led me, the sinner, to repentance. Glory be to God for having offered me His holy words, like a lamp in a dark place, thus setting me on the path of righteousness. Glory be to God for having illumined the eyes of my heart. Glory be to God for having made known to me His holy name. Glory be to God for having washed away my sins through the bath of baptism. Glory be to God for having shown me the way to eternal bliss. The way is Jesus Christ, Son of God, Who says of Himself, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’
Glory be to God, that He has not brought me to perdition through my sins, but suffered them because of His kindness. Glory be to God for showing me the vanity and emptiness of the world. Glory be to God for helping me in various temptations, misfortunes, and calamities. Glory be to God for protecting me in accidents and mortal dangers. Glory be to God for defending me against the Devil, who is the enemy. Glory be to God for raising me when I was prostrate. Glory be to God for comforting me in my sorrow. Glory be to God for converting me when I was erring. Glory be to God for punishing me as a father. Glory be to God for announcing to me His last Judgment, that I might fear it and repent of my sins. Glory be to God for revealing to me eternal torment and eternal bliss, that I might flee the one and seek the other. Glory be to God for offering to me, the unworthy one, food, clothing, and shelter.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, from St. Tikhon of Zadonsk's Will, B#26, p. 240
“When I am dead, come to me at my grave, and the more often the better. Whatever is in your soul, whatever may have happened to you, come to me as when I was alive and kneeling on the ground, cast all your bitterness upon my grave. Tell me everything and I shall listen to you, and all the bitterness will fly away from you. And as you spoke to me when I was alive, do so now. For I am living and I shall be forever.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov
“Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man takest thy crown (Revelation 3:11).” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York, the last words of
“«δόξα τῷ θεῷ πάντων ἕνεκεν» (Glory be to God for all things!)” —St. John Chrysostom, the last words of