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“The power to bear Mysteries“God – who is truly none of the things that exist, which the humble man has receivedand who, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toilproperly speaking, this is all things, and at the very power which the blessed apostles received same time beyond them – is present in the form logos of fire. For its sake each thing in itself, and in all the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on highlogoi together, that is according to say, the Paraclete, whichall things exist… God is whole in all things commonly, and in each being interpretedparticularly, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is without separation or being subject to division…but on the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it contrary is said truly all things in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit all, never going out of revelations Who teaches mysteriesHis own indivisible simplicity.” —St. Isaac Maximus the Syrian, Homily 77Confessor
“We“Perhaps you will say: ‘Then tell me, therefore, so long as we are beset by did the virgin become the corruptions mother of the flesh, in Godhead?’ And to this we reply: There can be no wise behold doubt that the brightness living and enhypostatic Word was begotten from Originator the very essence of the Divine PowerGod his Father, as it abides unchangeable and has his existence without beginning in itselftime, in that the eye of our weakness cannot endure that which shines above us eternally co-existing with intolerable lustre from the ray of His Eternal Beinghis Begetter. And so when the Almighty shews Himself to us by the chinks He is conceived of contemplation, He does not speak to usas existing in him and with him, but whispers, in that though He does not fully develope Himself, yet something these last times of Himself He does reveal to the mind of man. But then He no longer whispers at allage since he became flesh, but speaksthat is was united to flesh endowed with a rational soul, when His appearance he is manifested also said to us have been born of a woman in certaintya fleshly manner. It This mystery concerning him is hence that Truth saith in some ways like the Gospel, ‘I shall shew you plainly mystery of the Father’ (John 16our own birth, 25). Hence John saithfor earthly mothers, ‘For we shall see Him assisting nature as He is’ (1 John 3regards the birth, 2). Hence Paul saithhave the embryonic flesh in their wombs, ‘Then shall I know even as also I am known’ (1 Cor. 13, 12). Now which in this present a short timeby certain ineffable workings of God, increases and is perfected into the human form. Then God introduces the Divine whispering has as many veins spirit to this living creature in a manner known to him alone; for our ears as ‘he fashions the works spirit of creationa man within him’ (Zech.12.1), which as the Divine Being Himself is Lord of; for while we view all things that are createdprophet says. Nonetheless, we are lifted up in admiration of the Creator. For as water that flows in a slender stream Word is sought by being bored for through veins, with a view different to increase itthe flesh, and as it pours forth equally different to the soul. But even if these mothers have produced only the more copiouslyearthly bodies, in proportion as it finds nonetheless they are said to have given birth to the veins more openwhole living creature, I mean that of soul and body, so weand not to have given birth to just a part. To take an example, whilst we heedfully gather surely no one would say that Elizabeth was only the knowledge mother of the Divine Being from flesh, but not the contemplation mother of His creationthe soul, as it were open since she gave birth to ourselves the ‘veins Baptist who was already endowed with a soul? Surely she is the mother of His whispering’one thing constituted from both realities; that is a man, of soul and body. We take it, then, that something like this happened in that by the things that we see have been madebirth of Emmanuel.” —St. Cyril of Alexandria, we are led to marvel at the excellency chief opponent of the MakerNestorianism, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and by the objects that are in public viewChristological Controversy “The power to bear Mysteries, that issues forth to uswhich the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is hidden the very power which the blessed apostles received in concealmentthe form of fire. For He bursts out its sake the Saviour commanded them not to us in a kind of sound as it were, whilst He displays His works to be considered by usleave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, wherein He betokens Himself in a measure, in that He shews how Incomprehensible He is. Thereforeto say, because we cannot take thought of Him as He deservesthe Paraclete, we hear not His voicewhich, yeabeing interpreted, scarcely His whisperingis the Spirit of consolation. For because we are not equal to form a full and perfect estimate And this is the Spirit of the very things that are created, divine visions. Concerning this it is rightly said, Mine ear as it were by stealth received the veins of whispering; in that being cast forth from divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the delights of paradise, and visited with the punishment humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of blindness, we scarcely take receiving in ‘the veins themselves this Spirit 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 Perfectnessrevelations Who teaches mysteries.” —St. Gregory the Great (Gregory Isaac the Dialogist), Book V, Sec. 52Syrian, Morals on the Book of JobHomily 77
“Orthodoxy has one thing to say to “You should curse the ecumenical movement: here is the truthPope, join yourself to it; to remain to ‘discuss’ this truth not merely weakens because he will be the Orthodox witness, it destroys itcause.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose of PlatinaKosmas Aitolos
“That only the canonical Scriptures “We do not have infallibility is testified merely ‘a group of Orthodox that consider Roman Catholics and Protestants to be heretics’ or ‘only pronouncements by Blessed Augustine in particular ecclesiastical writers’, as some erroneously contend, but the totality of the words which he writes to Jerome: ‘It Saints of our Church who dealt with this issue unanimously conclude that Papism is heresy. There is not one Saint of our Church – no, not one – who contends that Papism is fitting to bestow not a heresy.” —Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos, On Common Prayer with the Heterodox “The Anglican Communion ignores the Orthodox Church's dogmas and teachings, such honour and veneration only as the invocation of Saints, prayers for the dead, special honor to the books Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of Scripture which are called 'canonicalGod,' and reverence for I absolutely believe sacred relics, holy pictures and icons. They say of such teaching that none it is ‘a foul thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of the authors who wrote them erred in anything. … As for other writingsScripture, no matter how great was but rather repugnant to the excellence word of God’ (Article of Religion, XXII). There is a striking variance between their authors in sanctity wording of the Nicene Creed and learningthat of the Holy Orthodox Church; but sadder still, in reading them it contains the heresy of the ‘filioque.’ I do not accept their teaching as true solely on 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 basis General Councils, etc. Sufficient has already been said and pointed out to show that they thus wrote the Anglican Communion differs but little from all other Protestant bodies, and thought.’ Then, in a letter therefore, there cannot be any intercommunion until she returns to Fortunatus [Stthe ancient Holy Orthodox Faith and practices, and rejects Protestant omissions and commissions. Mark continues Therefore, as the official head of the Syrian Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church in his citations North America and as one who must ‘give an account’ (Hebrews 13:17) before the judgment throne of Augustine] he writes the following‘Shepherd and Bishop of Souls’ (I St Peter 2: ‘We should not hold 25), that I have fed the judgment ‘flock of a manGod’ (I St. Peter 5:2), even though this man might as I have been orthodox commissioned by the Holy Orthodox Church, and had an high reputation, inasmuch as the same kind 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 authority as the canonical Scripturesmost errant Protestant sects, I direct all Orthodox people residing in any community not to seek or to accept the ministrations of the extent Sacraments and rites from any clergy excepting those of considering it inadmissible the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, for usthe Apostolic command, out that 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 reverence Holy Sacrifice from heretics, we owe order such mento be deposed, for ‘what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?’’ (Apostolic Canon 46).”—St. Raphael of Brooklyn, On the Anglican Communion “If a Bishop or Priest baptize anew anyone that has had a true baptism, or fail to disapprove baptize anyone that has been polluted by the impious, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is mocking the Cross and reject something in their writing if we should happen Death of the Lord and for failing to discover that distinguish priests from pseudo-priests.” —Apostolic Canon 47 “Whosoever has fallen from the True Faith cannot be called a Christian.” —St. Athanasius the Great “The heretics obey the demons; they honor falsehood, and at every moment they taught other than provoke God to anger.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian “Ecumenism is the common name for the pseudo-Christianity of the pseudo-churches of Western Europe. Within it is the truth whichheart of European humanism, with God's helpPapism as its head. All of pseudo-Christianity, all of those pseudo-churches, has been attained by others or by ourselvesare nothing more than one heresy after another. Their common evangelical name is: ‘pan-heresy. ’ Why? This is how I am with regard to because through the writings course of history various heresies denied or deformed certain aspects of the God-Man and Lord Jesus Christ; these European heresies remove Him altogether and put European man in His place. In this there is no essential difference between Papism, Protestantism, ecumenism, and other men; heresies, whose name is ‘Legion’.” —St. Justin Popovich “For Western Christendom God is indeed dead, and its leaders only prepare for the advent of the enemy of God, Antichrist. But Orthodox Christians know the living God and dwell within the saving enclosure of His True Church. It is here, in faithful and fervent following of the unchanging Orthodox path – and I desire that not in the reader will act thus dazzling ‘Ecumenical’ union with regard the new unbelievers that is pursued by Orthodox modernists – that our salvation is to my writings alsobe found.’” —St” —Fr. Mark Seraphim Rose of EphesusPlatina “Orthodoxy has one thing to say to the ecumenical movement: here is the truth, Second Homily on Purgatorial Firejoin yourself to it; to remain to ‘discuss’ this truth not merely weakens the Orthodox witness, chsit destroys it. 15-16; Pogodin, pp” —Fr. 127-132Seraphim Rose of Platina
“Regarding the affairs “At this dawn of the Churchmodern history, in the words of the Saviourthirteenth century, one of all the most awesome phenomena seeds of the last days is that at that time ‘the stars shall fall modern mentality are present. And modern history follows logically from heaven’ (Matt. 24.29)these seeds. According to the Saviour’s own explanationEssentially, these ‘stars’ are the Angels of the Churches, in other words, the Bishops (Rev. 1.20). The religious and moral fall of the Bishops it is, therefore, one of thing – the most characteristic signs of the last days. The fall of the Bishops search for a new Christianity which is particularly horrifying when they deviate from better than Orthodoxy, better than the doctrines Christianity 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 saidHoly Fathers, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than 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, you may be subject to God’s judgement if you are indifferent Christ gave to deviation from the truth: ‘So them because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth’ (Revus. 3.6).” —Archbishop Theophan of Poltava
“We ourselves have a feeling–based Later on nothing very definite as yet–that the best hope for preserving true Orthodoxy in the years ahead , this will lie in such small gatherings take forms which go through atheism and all kinds of believerswild beliefs, as much as possible ‘one in mind and soul.’ The history of but essentially the twentieth century has already shown us that we cannot expect too much from search remains the ‘Church organization’; there, even apart from heresiessame, and in the spirit of end the world has become very strong. Archbishop Averkywill be Christian, and our own Bishop Nektary alsobecause it's Antichrist who gives them a new religion, have warned us which is not something foreign to prepare for catacomb times ahead, when the grace Christianity. It will not be some kind of God may even paganism. It will be taken away from the ‘Church organization’ and only isolated groups of believers something which everyone will accept as Christianity, but will remainbe anti-christian. Soviet Russia already gives us an example of what we may expect–only worse, A substitute for Christianity which denies the times do not get bettervery essence of Christianity.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Hope, His Life and Works
“In those days And that is why the remnant main history of the faithful are to experience in themselves something like that rebellion against Christ is no less than the apostasy which St. Paul talks about. It is not by means of persecution as it was experienced once by in the Lord Himself when Hebeginning, hanging on a cross, felt Himself but by means of taking Christianity and changing it so forsaken by His Divinity, that He cried out ‘My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ The last Christians it will experience in themselves a similar abandonment no longer be Christian. And this is what we can call the Unfolding of humanity by the Grace Mystery of God, but only Iniquity in preparation for a short timeAntichrist.” —St—Fr. Seraphim Rose of SarovPlatina, excerpt from Orthodox Survival Course
“Finally, “We who wish to remain in the twilight of history, the dictator true tradition of the world Orthodoxy will comehave to be zealous and firm in our Orthodoxy without being fanatics, the son of perdition… whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth (2 Thessand without presuming to teach our bishops what they should do. 2:8). And in Above all that time we must strive to preserve the true fragrance of peaceOrthodoxy, happiness and prosperitybeing at least a little ‘not of this world’, there ‘will be great tribulation such as was not detached from all the beginning cares and politics even of the worldChurch, nor will ever be after’ (Matnourishing ourselves on the otherworldly food the Church gives us in such abundance. 24:21)” —Fr. Because Seraphim Rose of these troubles, many will repent and turn to God the Saviour. And in them the Lord will have His last harvest.Platina
The countries of the world will lead the fight against Christ “Test your bishops in only one respect: try and His Church… The Church of Christ will be put outside find out whether they are Orthodox, whether they teach dogmas contrary to the lawtrue Faith, and public commemoration of Christ's name will be proscribed whether they concelebrate with severe penaltiesheretics, or schismatics. But only those who call upon the name As far as other things, they act out of ignorance or because the Lord days are evil and they will be savedgive an account to God only.” —St. And the Son of ManGennadios (II) Scholarios, when He suddenly comes and destroys the ‘son Patriarch of perdition’ [i.e. Antichrist], that last tyrant, will He find faith on the earth?Constantinople
It will be found“Regarding the affairs of the Church, but not in publicthe 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). It will be foundAccording to the Saviour’s own explanation, but not in magnificent temples, such as these ‘stars’ are presentthe Angels of the Churches, but in other words, the caves Bishops (Rev. 1.20). The religious and desertsmoral fall of the Bishops is, therefore, one of the most characteristic signs of the last days. It will be foundThe fall of the Bishops is particularly horrifying when they deviate from the doctrines of the faith, or, but not as approved and protectedthe Apostle put it, but as something tossed to and frowhen they ‘would pervert the Gospel of Christ’ (Gal. 1.7). It will The Apostle orders that such people be foundpronounced ‘anathema’. He said, but ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed (anathema)’ (Gal. 1.9). And one must not in lavish liturgies be slow about this, for he continues, ‘A man that is an heretic, after the first and psalmody but in the temples second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, being condemned of the human heart and in whispered speakingshimself’ (Titus 3.10-11). For Moreover, you may be subject to God’s judgement if you are indifferent to deviation from the Church began in Martyrdomtruth: ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and in the end there She neither cold not hot, I will find Martyrdom, O holy brethrenspew thee out of My mouth’ (Rev. 3.16).” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Orthodox Church in the "twilight —Archbishop Theophan of history"Poltava
“During the days “The bishops of Antichrist, the strongest temptation end times will be subservient [obedient and compliant] to the anticipation powerful of salvation coming from the cosmosworld, and they will make decisions according to the gifts they receive from humanoids—that is from extraterrestrialseverywhere, who are actually demons.One should rarely look up to search and consulting the skies with the naked eye, since rational logic of the signs might be deceptive and one might be deceivedacademics.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze, Confessor and Fool for ChristPambo
“So mine is a little flock? But it is “Do not being carried over a precipice. So mine is a narrow fold? But it is unapproachable by wolves; it cannot be entered by a robber, nor overcome by thieves show obedience to bishops who exhort you to do and strangers. I shall yet see it, I know well, grow wider… I fear not for the little flock; for it is seen at a glance. I know my sheep to say and am known of mine. Such to believe in things which 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 fashionyour benefit. What pious man would hold his tongue? Who would remain completely calm? In fact, and which I will never cease silence equates to teach; in which I was born, and in which I will departconsent.” —St. Gregory the TheologianMeletios of Antioch
“Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this“Geronda, lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a certain respect at is the burial silence of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any the Church an indication 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 himapproval?Yes. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well and fully to suspect Someone wrote some kind of conciliation, I hereby state blasphemous things about Panaghia and testify before the many worthy men here present that no one spoke up. Then I do not desiretold someone, in any manner ‘Did you see what so-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 -so has written?’ And he and his adherents have acceptedtold me, and for the enforcement of which he has occupied this presiding place‘Well, what can you do 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 people? You'll get soiled if you try 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 deal 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 ’ They're afraid to His Church.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, The Example of, [as quoted in The Orthodox Word, June-July, 1967, pp. 103ffspeak up.]
“With all our strength let us beware lest we receive Communion from or give it What did he have to hereticsfear, Geronda?That people might write something about him and ridicule him in the press. ‘Give not what is holy And so he tolerates blasphemous things about Panaghia! We want others to pull the dogs,’ says chestnuts out of the Lordfire so that we can have our peace of mind. ‘Neither cast ye your pearls before swine’, lest we become partakers in their dishonour and condemnationThis indicates a lack of love.” —StThen man begins to act out of self-interest. John ”—Elder Paisios of DamascusMt. Athos, Exposition of the Orthodox FaithSpiritual Counsels II, IVSpiritual Awakening, 13p. 40
“And“If Christians don't begin to witness their faith, you seeto resist evil, people then the destroyers will become even more insolent. But today's Christians are not at all aware that we are living during no warriors. If the signs of Church keeps silent, to avoid conflict with the timesgovernment, that if the sealing is already advancing. This is why Metropolitans are silent, if the Sacred Scripture says that even the elect monks hold their peace, then who will be deceived.speak up?” —St. —Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. II, Spiritual Awakening, p. 198
“In sum“When they are blaspheming your faith, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in theory embracing almost the whole universe and in fact extending its authority only over several diocesesyou stay silent, 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 you become a source of division, and at the same time being possessed by an exorbitant love of power--represents a pitiful spectacle which recalls the worst periods in the history of the See of Constantinopleworse than that blasphemer.” —St. John (Maximovitch) Gabriel Urgebadze of Shanghai Georgia, Confessor and San Francisco, from Orthodox Word, vol. 8, no. 4 (45), July-August 1972, pp. 166-168, 174-175.Fool for Christ
“Those “Christian shepherds, 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 is, bishops in the churches by the apostles, and their successors (or successions) down to our own day, who never taught, and never knewpriests, absurdities such as these men produce. 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 are going 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 would be very tedious, in a book of this sortfilled with vainglory (with some exceptions), utterly failing to enumerate distinguish the successions in all the churches, we can found all those who in any right way, whether for self-pleasing, or vainglory, or blindness, or evil mindedness, hold on authorized meetings. This we do by pointing to the apostolic tradition and from the faith that is preached to men, which has come down to us through the successions of bishops; the tradition and creed left… The Churches of the greatest, and most ancient church, the church known God are going to all men, which was founded and set up at Rome by the two men most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul. For with this church, because be deprived of its position of leadership godly 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 partspious shepherds.” —St. Irenaeus Nilus the Myrrhgusher of Lyons, Against Heresies, IIIMt. Athos
"True Christianity is glorifying God with our own lives“Just as the unskilled doctor sends many people to the gates of Hades [physical death], similarly, the incompetent and irresponsible spiritual father sends many souls to Hades. To glorify God with our own life is possible only when we have true faith and when that faith indeed existsO, we express it in words and in deedswhat a terrible evil for someone to find [spiritual] death while seeking treatment.” —St. John (Maximovitch) Nektarios of Shanghai and San FranciscoAegina
“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 time will come when you will be sold by your shepherds. They will watch you being ripped apart by the Soviet consulate, I became quite alarmed wild beasts and regretted that I was not here, since I would have decisively opposed much of what took place. In particular, holding a moleben in such a place. Did they will not sing the Lord's song in a strange land? What cause was there come to display the holy things your help.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of the Church's services before the gaze of the frenzied servants of Antichrist? Was it really not possible to pray in church?Romania
I must say frankly that I am always seized by dismay when I hear of protests, demonstrations“In the last days, evil and heresy will have spread so widely that the likefaithful will not be able to find a priest or shepherd to protect them from delusion and guide them to salvation. In the USSRAt that time, life is governed by him (the one with horns) who fears only Christ and His Crossfaithful will not receive safe guidance from men; and who fears nothing else in but their guide will be the writings of the world. And he merely chortles over protests and demonstrationsHoly Fathers. Public opinion? WhyEspecially at this time, every believer will be responsible for the antichrist regime has nothing but whole fulness of the uttermost contempt Church. Brethren, it is time for it! They wanted us all to undertake our responsibility to seize Czechoslovakia God and they seized it, paying no heed to the commotion that was raisedhistory. They wanted to invade Afghanistan and they invaded it, again paying no attention to the protests and threats of the various Carters & CoDo not tolerate any more foolishness or misguidance from priests or archpriests. All attempts to shape public opinion in the soDo not turn a blind eye for you will be co-called Free World in favor of those suffering from Communism responsible. The Saints 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 forewarning you.” —St. John (VoznesenskyMaximovitch) to ROCOR Priest Victor Potapov concerning Father Dimitry Dudko of Shanghai and the Moscow PatriarchateSan Francisco
“I “The last days are starting. Soon, there will tell you my opinion briefly and without reservebe an ecumenical council called ‘holy’. We ought to remain in But that Church will be the very ‘eighth council’ which was founded by will be the Apostles and continues to this dayassembly of the godless. If ever you hear of any All religions will unite into one at that are called Christians taking their name not from the Lord Jesus Christcouncil. Then, but from some otherall fasts will be canceled, for instancemonasticism will be completely destroyed, Marcionites, Valentinians, Men of the mountain or the plain, you may bishops will be sure that you have there not the Church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antichristmarried. For the fact that they took their rise after the foundation of The new calendar will be implimented in the Universal Church is proof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold.
And let them not flatter themselves if Be vigilant. Try to go to God's church while they think they have Scripture authority for their assertionsare still ours. Soon, since you won't be able to go there. Everything will change. Only the devil himself quoted Scripturechosen will see this. They will be forcing people to go to church, and the essence of the Scriptures is but we should not go there under any circumstances. Stand in the letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow Orthodox Faith until the letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes end and have two coats must not you will be received into the Church.saved!” —St. JeromeKuksha (Velichko) of Odessa
“Sometimes Japanese protestants come “When the traces of the past historical order have become extinguished, and the new order has taken ground, the Holy Mount will have no peace. Monastic dignity will be destroyed or disposed of for the freedom of the state and the bishops to me squander its priceless treasures and ask me to clarify some place in relics.” —Elder Costas the Holy ScripturesCaveot and Fool for Christ of Mt.Athos
"You have your own missionary teachers“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. They will lull to sleep their conscience," I tell themsaying, "Go ask them‘We are preserving and saving the monastery and the Lord will forgive us. What ’ The unfortunate and blind ones do they say?" "We have asked themnot at all consider that through heresy the demons will enter the monastery and then it will no longer be a holy monastery, but merely walls from which grace will depart. They say: understand as you know how” —St. But I need to know Anatoly the real thought Younger of God, not my own personal opinion."Optina
…It's not like that with “Let usflee from those who reject patristic interpretations and attempt by themselves to deduce the complete opposite. Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition While pretending to concern themselves with the literal sense of the Holy Scripturespassage, they reject its godly meaning. And Holy Tradition is We should run away from them more than we would from a snake, for when a livingsnake bites it kills the body temporarily, unbroken voice of our Church separating it from the time of Christ and His Apostles until nowimmortal soul, but when these evil men get their teeth into a soul, they separate it from God, and which will exist until the end of the worldis eternal death for that soul. In it all 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 meaning traditions of the Holy Scriptures are preservedFathers.” —St. Nicholas Gregory Palamas, Homily 34, On the Holy Transfiguration of JapanOur Lord and God and Savior Jesus
“It is Christ Himself“Brother Christians! Raise your voices in defense of the Church's Apostolic Faith, not the Bibleholy things of the Church, Who is the true word Church's heritage. Defend your right to believe and confess your faith as you learned it in days of old, as you were taught it by the holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the God-wise fathers of the Church, the Christian ascetics. The BibleTake care of the holiness of your souls, read the freedom of your consciences. Say loudly that you have been accustomed to pray and save yourselves in the right spirit and with churches, that the guidance holy things of good teachersthe Church are dearer to you than life itself, will bring us to Himthat 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. We That is what we, too, must not use 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 also destroy the Bible as a sort snares of encyclopedia out the enemies of which texts can be taken for use as weaponsour Church.” —CBelieve - and the enemy will flee from before your face. SStand in defense of your faith and with firm hope say: ‘Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!’” —St. LewisHermogenes, Hieromartyr and Bishop of Tobolsk, response to the Bolshevik tyranny in 1918
“When they are refuted by the Scriptures, they take to maligning the Scriptures themselves“Satan has spread 666 traps. … 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 His seal will be made not merely than the presbyters only invisibly but even than also visibly, on the apostlesforehead and arm. [However] anyone who wants to see the truth can look to If the tradition of the Apostles which seal impression is clearly manifested throughout the whole world; and we can list those who were set up as bishops made by force, in the different churches as well as God’s sight it will be considered like a virgin disgraced. The hardest trial for Christians will be their successors right down to our own time, men relatives who neither taught nor knew anything like what these [Gnostics] are raving aboutaccepted the seal. For The seal won’t affect if made against someone's will. But imagine the apostles had known secret doctrines which they were in trap set by the habit of teaching antichrist for a mother having left with five children. How to feed them if she does not accept 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.seal?
And if At first, the seal will be offered to volunteers. However, within the enthronement of Antichrist everyone will be forced to accept the seal. Disobedience will be claimed a dispute treachery. People will flee to the forests. Precautions should arise over some point or otherbe taken to move in groups of about ten-fifteen, should we not have recourse as the demons might try to nudge single people from the most ancient churches, in which cliffs. The believers will be protected by the apostles were actively interestedHoly Spirit. Whatever happens, never lose your hope. Help each other. God will clear your mind and find out from them what is certain and clear with regard you will know how to the point at issue? What ifreact. The one who endures will be saved. No true believer will feel either hunger, or thirst. The believers won't wither in fact, the apostles had left us no Writings? Would it not 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 necessary to follow changed into the line indicated bread by making a sign of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they entrusted the churches?cross over it.” —St. Irenaeus Gabriel Urgebadze of LyonsGeorgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“[Heretics] should “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, God delivered them into the spirit of delusion, of deception, because they did not accept the love of the truth’. Something dark and scary is coming over the world. The human will stay more or less under his mastery, and the more the power of that cunning one has on the human under his mastery, the less the human will be admitted to any discussion aware of the Scriptures…what he is doing.” —St. Barsanuphius
The Lord Jesus sent “The servants of Antichrist more than anything else strive to force God out of the apostles to preach. … Now what they actually preached canlife of men, so that men, as I must here likewise prescribesatisfied with their material comfort, be proved only by those very same churches which the apostles themselves founded by preaching might not feel any need to turn to them both viva voceGod in prayer, might not remember God, but might live as they saythough He did not exist. Therefore, and later by letters. Such being the casewhole order of today's life in the so-called ‘free’ countries, it where there is consequently certain that any doctrine which agrees with [what is held by] these apostolic churches, moulds and original sources of the no open bloody persecution against faith, must be considered where everyone has the truthright to believe as he wishes, undoubtedly containing that which these churches received from is an even greater danger for the apostlessoul of a Christian (than open persecution), for it chains him entirely to the apostles from Christearth, and Christ from God; but any other doctrine must be presumed falsecompelling him to forget about heaven. The whole of contemporary ‘culture’, since it smacks of opposition directed to purely earthly attainments and the truth frantic whirlpool of the churcheslife bound up with it, keeps a man in a constant state of emptiness and distraction which gives no opportunity for one to go at least a little deeper into his soul, and so the apostles, spiritual life in him gradually dies out.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of ChristSyracuse, of God.True Orthodoxy and the Contemporary World
Come now! Would they all “They have fallen into error? Would built a church career for themselves on a false but attractive premise: that the steward of God, chief danger to the Vicar Church today is lack 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? strictness. No chance happening ever has – the same outcome in chief danger is something much deeper – the case loss of many different individuals. A doctrinal error in so many different churches would the savor of necessity have taken different forms. But when unity exists amid diversityOrthodoxy, this can be the resulta movement in which they themselves are participating, even in their ‘strictness.’… ‘Strictness’ will not save us if we don't have any more the feeling and taste of error, but only Orthodoxy.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Tradition.Platina
Let “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 mind and soul.’ The history of the twentieth century has already shown us inquirethat we cannot expect too much from the ‘Church organization’; there, thereforeeven apart from heresies, whether traditionthe spirit of the world has become very strong. Archbishop Averky, unless it be writtenand our own Bishop Nektary also, should be accepted. Certainly we shall say that it ought not have warned us to be accepted if we can allege as precedent no cases of other practices which we justify without any written documentprepare for catacomb times ahead, but solely on when the grounds grace of tradition God may even be taken away from the ‘Church organization’ and because only isolated groups of the approval believers will remain. Soviet Russia already gives us an example of subsequent custom… If you demand scriptural justification what we may expect–only worse, for these and other such practices, you will find nonethe times do not get better.” —Fr. Tradition will be held out to you as their authorSeraphim Rose of Platina, custom as their consolidatorHope, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and faith as their observer.” —TertullianWorks by Hieromonk Damascene
“Since there are many who think they share “In those days the mind of Christ and yet some remnant of them think differently from their predecessors, let the preaching of faithful are to experience in themselves something like that which was experienced once by the Church be held fastLord Himself when He, hanging on a cross, felt Himself so forsaken by His Divinity, that preaching which has been handed down from the apostles through He cried out ‘My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ The last Christians will experience in themselves a similar abandonment of humanity by the ranks Grace of succession and perdures in the churches to the present dayGod, but only for a short time. That alone is to be believed as the truth which varies in no wise from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition” —St.” —OrigenSeraphim of Sarov
“It suffices as proof “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 our thesis His mouth (2 Thess. 2:8). And in all that we have a tradition coming to us from the fatherstime of peace, happiness and prosperity, like a legacy handed down there ‘will be great tribulation such as was not from the apostles through beginning of the saints who followed them in successionworld, nor will ever be after’ (Mat.” —St24:21). Gregory Because of Nyssathese troubles, many will repent and turn to God the Saviour. And in them the Lord will have His last harvest.
“Of The countries of the beliefs world will lead the fight against Christ and practices [disciplinary regulations] preserved in His Church… The Church of Christ will be put outside the Churchlaw, some we possess from teaching handed down in written form; others we have received as delivered to us in a mystery from and public commemoration of Christ's name will be proscribed with severe penalties. But only those who call upon the tradition name of the ApostlesLord will be saved. And the Son of Man, when He suddenly comes and both destroys the ‘son of these have the same force as far as religion is concernedperdition’ [i.” —Ste. Basil Antichrist], that last tyrant, will He find faith on the Greatearth?
“There is need of tradition also; for It will be found, but not everything can in public. It will be found , but not in magnificent temples, such as are present, but in Scripture. That is why the most holy apostles left some things in writing caves and others in traditiondeserts. Paul affirms this very fact It will be found, but not as approved and protected, but as follows: ‘as I handed it on something tossed to youand fro.’ Likewise It will be found, but not in another passage: ‘This is my teaching lavish liturgies and thus have I handed it on to psalmody but in the temples of the churcheshuman heart and in whispered speakings.’ Similarly: ‘If you continue to cling firmly to itFor the Church began in Martyrdom, and in the end there She will find Martyrdom, as I preached it to you—unless your faith has all been for nothingO holy brethren.’” ” —St. EpiphaniusNikolai Velimirovich, The Orthodox Church in the "twilight of history"
“It is therefore clear that [“During the apostles] did not teach everything in epistolary formdays of Antichrist, but that they taught many things besides in unwritten formthe strongest temptation will be the anticipation of salvation coming from the cosmos, and these things, toofrom humanoids–that is from extraterrestrials, who are worthy of acceptanceactually demons. Wherefore we One should consider rarely look up to search the tradition of skies with the Church also as worthy of belief. If there is a traditionnaked eye, look no furthersince the signs might be deceptive and one might be deceived.” —St. John ChrysostomGabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ
“A false interpretation “So mine is 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 robber, nor overcome by thieves and strangers. I shall yet see it, I know well, grow wider… I fear not for the little flock; for it is seen at a glance. I know my sheep and am known of Scripture causes 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 gospel oracles of God, which I have been taught by the Lord becomes the gospel of manHoly Fathers, which I have taught in like manner on all occasions, ornot conforming myself to fashion, and which I will never cease to teach; in which is worseI was born, of the deviland in which I will depart.” —St. JeromeGregory the Theologian
“How long shall we continue in this manner“If it should happen that a patriarch, our intellect reduced to futilitymetropolitan, failing to make or bishop is a heretic, and such a heretic publicly professes heresy and disseminates heretical opinions boldly and confidently among the spirit of the Gospel our ownpeople, whoever separates from him will not knowing what it means to live according to our conscienceonly not be punished, but rather honored, making no serious effort to keep it pure?for they deserve recognition for separating from an association with a certain faith.” —St—Fr. Mark the AsceticJoannes Zonaras (9th century Byzantine canonist and historian on Canon 15)
“It “If every Orthodox Christian is self evident, however, that sincere Christians who are Roman Catholicscommanded by the canons to depart from a heretical bishop even before he is officially condemned, or Lutherans, or members be guilty also of other non-Orthodox confessionshis heresy, cannot be termed renegades or heretics—i.e. how much more must we depart from those who knowingly pervert the truth… They have been born are worse (and raised and are living according to the creed which more unfortunate) than heretics, because they have inherited, just as do openly serve the majority cause of you who are Orthodox; in their lives there has not been a moment of personal and conscious renunciation Antichrist?” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Orthodoxy. The LordPlatina, ‘Who will have all men to be saved’ (I Tim. 2:4) and ‘Who enlightens every man born into the world’ (Jn. 1.43)Letter 40, undoubtedly is leading them also towards salvation in His own way.” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York1970
“You ask“Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this, will the heterodox be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a Saviour Who desires certain respect at the salvation burial of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any of every human beinghis 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. He will take care And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well and fully to suspect some kind of them. You conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I should do not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not be burdened 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 of which he has occupied this presiding place, with such a concernthe aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church. Study yourself I am absolutely convinced that the farther I stand from him and your own sins… those like him, the nearer I will tell you one thingam to God and all the saints, however: should youand to the degree that I separate myself from them am in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, being Orthodox the Theologians of the Church; and possessing 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 its fullnessthe course of my whole life I was separated from them, betray Orthodoxyso at the time of my departure, yea and enter a different faithafter 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, you will lose your soul foreverwith 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 Church.” —St. Theophan the RecluseMark of Ephesus, The Example of, [as quoted in The Orthodox Word, June-July, 1967, pp. 103ff.]
“The Orthodox confess that SHE IS “With all our strength, therefore, let us beware lest we receive Communion from or give it to heretics. ‘Give not what is holy to the Onedogs, Holy’ saith the Lord. ‘Neither cast ye your pearls before swine’, Universal (katholikos) lest we become partakers in their dishonour and Apostolic Ecclesia! Any other model is gnosticcondemnation.” —St. Irenaeus John of Damascus, Exposition of Lyonsthe Orthodox Faith, IV, 13
“Orthodoxy is what Christ taught“And, you see, people are not at all aware that we are living during the signs of the apostles preachedtimes, and that the sealing is already advancing. This is why the Sacred Scripture says that even the Fathers keptelect will be deceived.” —St. Athanasius Paisios of AlexandriaMt. Athos, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. II, Spiritual Awakening, p. 198
“He “The Church is ‘the same yesterday and suffering today because Divine illumination is missing and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8)people understand things as it suits them. Orthodox Christians The human element gets involved; passions are committed to aroused, and then, the truth claim of the Christian Faith devil comes and thrashes about. That is why people who are governed by their passions should not as ideology but as an expression of holinessseek to govern others.” —Rev—St. DrPaisios of Mt. George C. Papademetriou, An Orthodox Reflection on Truth & ToleranceAthos
“The beginning of theology is not “In sum, the card catalogueEcumenical Patriarchate, but doing battle against in theory embracing almost the passions; 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 end government at home and not supported by any governmental authority abroad: having lost its significance as a pillar of theology is not becoming truth and having itself become a professorsource of division, but becoming and at the same time being possessed by an exorbitant love of power--represents a saintpitiful spectacle which recalls the worst periods in the history of the See of Constantinople.” —Dr—St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, from Orthodox Word, vol. 8, no. 4 (45), July-August 1972, pp. 166-168, 174-175. David Fagerberg
“Men are converted “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 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 because someone was able right to say that they preached before they had come to give brilliant explanationsperfect knowledge, but because as some dare to say, boasting that they saw in him that lightare the correctors of the apostles. For after our Lord had risen from the dead, joyand they were clothed with the power from on high when the Holy Spirit came upon them, depththey were filled with all things and had perfect knowledge. They went out to the ends of the earth, seriousnesspreaching the good things that come to us from God, and love which alone reveal the presence proclaiming peace from heaven to all men, all and power each of God them equally being in possession of the worldgospel of God.” —Fr—St. Alexander SchmemannIrenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III
“Men are often called intelligent wrongly“Those that wish to discern the truth may observe the apostolic tradition made manifest in every church throughout the world. Intelligent men are not We can enumerate those who are erudite were appointed bishops in the sayings churches by the apostles, and books of their successors (or successions) down to our own day, who never taught, and never knew, absurdities such as these men produce. 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 wise 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 oldauthority. But as it would be very tedious, but in a book of this sort, to enumerate the successions in all the churches, we can found all those who have an intelligent soul and can discriminate between good and in any way, whether for self-pleasing, or vainglory, or blindness, or evilmindedness, hold on authorized meetings. They avoid what This we do by pointing to the apostolic tradition and the faith that is sinful and harms preached to men, which has come down to us through the soulsuccessions of bishops; the tradition and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint creed of practice the greatest, and most ancient church, the church known to what is good all men, which was founded and benefits set up at Rome by the soul. These two men alone should truly be called intelligentmost glorious apostles, Peter and Paul.” —St. Anthony the GreatFor with this church, On the Character because of its position of Men leadership and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Textsauthority, Text 1must needs agree every church, The Philokalia: The Complete Textthat is, Volthe faithful everywhere; for in her the apostolic tradition has always been preserved by the faithful from all parts.” —St. 1Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III
“Only “If you wait for the Religion of Christ unites and all of us must pray that they come perfect conditions to this. Thus union work out your salvation, then you will occur, not by believing that all of us are the same thing and that all religions are the same. They are not the same… our Orthodoxy is not related to other religionsnever begin a God-pleasing life.” —St. Porphyrios the KapsokalyviteNikon of Optina
“Orthodoxy "True Christianity is glorifying God with our own lives. To glorify God with our own lifeis possible only when we have true faith and when that faith indeed exists, one must not talk about it, one must live we express itin words and in deeds.” —St. Nektary John (Maximovitch) of OptinaShanghai and San Francisco
“Orthodoxy can't be comfortable unless it is fake“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 Soviet consulate, I became quite alarmed and regretted that I was not here, since I would have decisively opposed much of what took place.” —FrIn particular, holding a moleben in such a place. Seraphim Rose Did they not sing the Lord's song in a strange land? What cause was there to display the holy things of Platinathe Church's services before the gaze of the frenzied servants of Antichrist? Was it really not possible to pray in church?
“As for all those who pretend to confess sound Orthodox FaithI must say frankly that I am always seized by dismay when I hear of protests, demonstrations, and the like. In the USSR, but are in communion life is governed by him (the one with people horns) who fears only Christ and His Cross; and who hold different 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 they seized it, if paying no heed to the commotion that was raised. They wanted to invade Afghanistan and they invaded it, again paying no attention to the protests and threats of the various Carters & Co. All attempts to shape public opinion in the so-called Free World in favor of those suffering from Communism are forewarned powerless and fruitless, since the Free World stubbornly closes its eyes and still remain stubbornimitates the ostrich, you must not only which hides its head under its wing and imagines that it cannot be in communion with themseen…” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York, but you must NOT even call them brothers.” —St. Basil A letter from Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) to ROCOR Priest Victor Potapov concerning Father Dimitry Dudko and the GreatMoscow Patriarchate
“Today, while “That only the overall teachings of canonical Scriptures have infallibility is testified by Blessed Augustine in the Fathers words which he writes to Jerome: ‘It is under attack fitting to bestow such honour and veneration only to the shipwrecks books of Faith Scripture which are numerouscalled 'canonical, ' for I absolutely believe that none of the mouths 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 faithful are silentbasis that they thus wrote and thought.’ Then, in a letter to Fortunatus [St. Anyone who is capable Mark continues in his citations of speaking Augustine] he writes the truth but remains silent, will be heavily judged by Godfollowing: ‘We should not hold the judgment of a man, especially in even though this caseman might have been orthodox and had an high reputation, where as the same kind of authority as the faith and canonical Scriptures, to the very foundation extent of the entire Church considering it inadmissible for us, out of the Orthodox is reverence we owe such men, to disapprove and reject something in dangertheir 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. To remain silent under these circumstances This is how I am with regard to betray these, the writings of other men; and I desire that the appropriate witness belongs reader will act thus with regard to those that reproach (stand up for the faith)my writings also.” ’” —St. Basil the GreatMark of Ephesus, Second Homily on Purgatorial Fire, chs. 15-16; Pogodin, eppp. 92127-132
“I beseech you to do “All who foolishly and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, becoming all things to all menproudly reject the Holy Fathers, as who approach the need of each is shown to you; I want Gospels directly with foolish brazenness and pray you to be wholly harsh unclean mind and implacable with the heretics only in regard to cooperating with heart, fall into lethal self-deception. The Gospel has rejected them or in any way whatever supporting their deranged belief. For I reckon , for it hatred towards man and a departure from Divine love to lend support to error, so that only accepts those previously seized by it might be even more greatly corruptedwho are humble.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorIgnatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, Patrologia GraecaThe Field, Vol. 91Chapter 3
“Be aware “The holy scriptures were not given to be corrupted from love of the heretics; for this reason do not accept any false belief (dogma) us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them in the name of loveour hearts.” —St. John Chrysostom
“If anyone prays with heretics“I will tell you my opinion briefly and without reserve. We ought to remain in that Church which was founded by the Apostles and continues 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, for instance, Marcionites, Valentinians, he Men of the mountain or the plain, 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 rise after the foundation of the Church is a heretic.” — Pope Stproof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold. Agatho I
“Genuine love 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 displayed, not by the common tableletter, nor by lofty addresses or flattering wordsbut the meaning. Otherwise, but by if we follow the correcting letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and the seeking of the benefit of one's neighbour assert that such persons as wear shoes and have two coats must not be received into the lifting up of the one who has fallenChurch.” —St. John ChrysostomJerome
“Never, never, never let anyone tell “The key [to interpreting Holy Scripture]… is the Tradition of the Church… Now if you want to interpret the way you thatwant, in order due to be Orthodoxyour satanic pride, then you must also be easternwill most certainly fail. The West was Orthodox for You will become a thousand yearsheretic, and her venerable liturgy heresy is far older nothing other than any the logical interpretation of her heresiesdogma. When I attempt to interpret things that cannot be interpreted with logic and intellect, when I attempt to interpret a deep mystery using my mere mind and my intellect, then I go astray.” —St—Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, Homiles on the Book of the Revelation, Vol. I, p. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco46
“Where the bishop “Christianity did not come from Judaism: rather, Judaism is, there let the multitude a perversion of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic ChurchChristianity.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch
“Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place “Jesus Christ is King of God, and with the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and with the deacons, who Israel. Christians are most dear to me, entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and is at last made manifestIsraelite race.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to Justin the Magnesians 2, 6:1Martyr
“Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that “The synagogue is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholica refuge for demons,’ which, as the name itself and it is more correct to say not only the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality synagogue but also Jewish souls; if we confess that one faith to be you consider yourself a trueJew, which then why are you burdening 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 the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.” —St. Vincent of Lérins, CommonitoryJohn Chrysostom, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies., Chapter II Jews (circa 434 ADAdversus Judeos), Homily 1 IV:2
“Roman Catholics teach “So it is that original sin robbed Adam I exhort you to flee and shun their gatherings. The harm they bring to our weaker brothers is not slight; they offer no slight excuse to sustain to the folly of the original righteousness, grace-filled perfectionJews. For when they see that you, but did not harm his very nature. And who worship the original righteousnessChrist whom they crucified, according to are reverently following their teachingsrituals, was not an organic part of how can they fail to think that the rites they have performed are the spiritual best and that our ceremonies are worthless? For after you worship and moral nature of manadore at our mysteries, but an external gift of grace, a special addition you run to the natural forces of manvery men who destroy our rites. Hence the sin of the first Paul said: ‘If a man, which consists sees you that have knowledge sit at meat in rejecting this purely externalthe idol's temple, supernatural graceshall not his conscience, separating man from Godbeing weak, is nothing more than depriving be emboldened to eat those things which are sacrificed to idols’? And let me say: If a person man sees you that have knowledge come into the synagogue and participate in the festival of this gracethe Trumpets, depriving a person of primitive righteousness and returning man shall not his conscience, being weak, be emboldened to a purely natural state, a state of grace. The very same human nature remained after admire what the Jews do? He who falls not only pays the penalty for his own fall , but he is also punished because he trips others as it was before well. But the fall. Before sin, Adam was like a royal courtier, from whom external glory was taken away man who has stood firm is rewarded not only because of a crime, and he returned his own virtue but people admire him for leading others to desire the original state in which he had been beforesame things.” —St.John Chrysostom, Against the Jews (Adversus Judeos), Homily 1 V:7
The decrees of the Council of Trent concerning original sin state “But do not be surprised that I called the progenitor sin consisted in the loss of the holiness Jews pitiable. They really are pitiable and righteousness granted to miserable. When so many blessings from heaven came into their hands, they thrust them, but it did not define exactly what kind of holiness aside and righteousness they wereat great pains to reject them. There it is stated that there is absolutely no trace The morning Sun of sin or anything in a regenerated person that would be unpleasant to God. Only lust remainsJustice arose for them, which, due to but they thrust aside 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 rays and entails sinstill sit in darkness. 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” —St. The Holy Council declares that this lust, which the Apostle sometimes calls sinJohn Chrysostom, Against the Universal Church never called sin in the sense that it is true and proper to the regenerated, but that it is from sin and entails sin.’Jews (Adversus Judeos)
This Roman Catholic teaching “Certainly it is unfounded, since it represents the original righteousness and perfection of Adam as an external gift, as an advantage, which is added time for me to nature from show that demons dwell in the outside and from nature separable. Meanwhilesynagogue, it is clear from not only in the place itself but also in the ancient apostolic-church doctrine that this primitive righteousness souls of Adam was not the Jews. As Christ said: ‘When an external gift and advantageunclean spirit is gone out, but an integral part of his divinely-created naturehe walks through dry places seeking rest. The Holy Scripture claims that sin has shaken and upset human nature so deeply that a person is weak for good and when If he wants, does not find it he cannot do good ( Romans 7says: 18-19 )I shall return to my house. And coming he finds it empty, swept, but and garnished. Then he cannot commit it just because sin has a strong influence on goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter into him and the nature last state of that manis made worse than the first. In addition, if sin did not damage human nature so much, there would So shall it be no need for also to this generation.’ Do you see that demons dwell in their souls and that these demons are more dangerous than the Only Begotten Son ones of God to incarnateold? And this is very reasonable.” —St. John Chrysostom, come into the world as Against the Savior and demand from us a complete bodily and spiritual rebirth Jews ( John 3: 3, 3: 5-6 Adversus Judeos). 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 healthy nature?
In the same way, there is an inaccurate Roman Catholic statement that in a regenerated person nothing remains sinful and unpleasant “The teachers of Judaism refuse to God and admit that all this gives way to that which the Septuagint is immaculate, holy and pleasing to Godcorrect. For we know from Holy Revelation and the teachings of the ancient Church that the grace given They attempt 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 frame another translation of man, in proportion to his personal feat in the new thus he simultaneously heals from all sinful ailments, and sanctifies in all thoughts, feelings, desires and deedsScriptures. It is an unreasonable exaggeration to think and argue Observe that the regenerated they have absolutely no remnants of sinful ailments when the mystery beloved taken away many Old Testament Scriptures, by Christ clearly teaches: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and which the truth is not in us’ ( 1 John 1: 8 ); and the great Apostle proof of the Nations writes: ‘I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want. But if I do what I do not want, it Christ's crucifixion is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me’ ( Romans 7: 19-20, Romans 8: 23-24 )set forth.” —St. Justin Popovich, Orthodox philosophy of truth (Dogma of the Orthodox Church)Martyr
“In all the Eastern Churches, candles “The Jews are lit even wise only in the daytime when one is to read the Gospelsdoing evil, in truth not and are thus unable to dispel know the darkness, but as a sign of joy…in order under that factual light to feel that Light hidden plan of which we read in the Psalms (119:105): Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my pathGod.” —St. Jerome, Works, part IV, 2nd ed., Kiev, 1900, pp.301-302Justin the Martyr
“The candles lit before icons “It is absurd to speak 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 Jesus Christ with the holy apostlestongue, martyrs and othersto cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. These candles also mean For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that these saints are lamps burning for us believes, and providing light for us by their own saintly livingevery tongue that confesses, their virtues and their ardent intercession for us before is gathered unto God through their constant prayers by day and night. The burning candles also stand for our ardent zeal and And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the sincere sacrifice we make out friend of reverence God and gratitude in his seed all those have been blessed who were ordained to them for their solicitude on our behalf before Godeternal life in Christ.” —St. John Ignatius of KronstadtAntioch, On the Delusion of Being a ‘Jewish’ Christian, Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter X
“The saints “Jews are slayers of God live even after their death. Thusthe Lord, I often hear in church murderers of the Mother prophets, enemies of God singing her wonderful, heart-penetrating song which she said in the house adversaries of her cousin ElizabethGrace, after the Annunciation enemies of the Archangel. At timestheir Fathers’ faith, I hear the song advocates of Moses; the song devil, a brood of Zacharias--the father vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, the Forerunner; that leaven of HannahPharisees, the mother a congregation 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 sacramentsdemons, sinners, the rites? Whose spirit is therewicked men, moving and touching our hearts? That haters of God and of His saints.Goodness!” —St. John Gregory of Kronstadt, My Life in ChristNyssa
“Each person “It is an icon of Godtrue that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, of God in heaven and of God on as the crosssun travels from east to west. YetNevertheless he came with war, each person is also an icon of the Mother of Godknives, pillaging, who bears Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our soulforced enslavement, thereforemurders, unites itself in two images; participating in the principles and realities of both Christ and his Mother. These acts that are age old archetypes, symbols not from the good God but instigated by which the soul orients itself on chief manslayer, the journeydevil.” —St. Maria Skobtsova, On The Imitation of the Mother of GodGregory Palamas
“The Christian who does not feel “They furthermore accuse us of being idolaters, because we venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is it, 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 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 there passage for asses.’ And they are embarrassed, but they still assert that the Virgin Mary stone is his Abraham'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 her mother 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 an orphana 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.” —Pope Francis
“Creating man according As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous books, to his imageeach one of which he set a title. For example, God diffused into man's very being there is the longing book On Woman, in which he plainly makes legal provision for the divine infinitude of lifetaking four wives and, if it be possible, of knowledgea thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, and of perfectionbesides the four wives. It is precisely for this reason that the immeasurable longing He also made it legal to put away whichever wife one might wish, and thirst of humanity is not able , should one so wish, to take to be completely satisfied oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in love. Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: ‘Oh, by anything or anyone except the way, Godhas commanded me to take your wife.’ The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Declaring divine perfection Do as God has told you and take my wife.’ Rather—to tell the main purpose for humanity's existence in story over from the beginning—he said to him: ‘God has given me the world – ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as command that you put away your father who is in heaven is perfectwife.’ (MatthAnd he put her away. 5Then several days later: 48) – Christ‘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 is 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 Savior, answered same book he gives such precepts as this: ‘Work the most elemental demand land which God hath given thee and need of our God-like beautify it. And do this, and God-longing humanitydo it in such a manner’ –not to repeat all the obscene things that he did.” —St. Justin PopovichJohn of Damascus, Fount of Knowledge, Orthodox Faith and Life Heresies in Christ, Highest Value Epitome: How They Began and Last Criterion in OrthodoxyWhence They Drew Their Origin
“He who refuses “Sometimes Japanese protestants come to give me and ask me to clarify some place in the Holy 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 his passions does know the same as he who refuses real thought of God, not my own personal opinion.’ … It's not like that with us [Orthodox]. Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition to bow down the Holy Scriptures. And Holy Tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and worship idolsHis Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the meaning of the Holy Scriptures are preserved.” —St. Theophan the RecluseNicholas of Japan, Diary, January 15, 1897
“Concerning “It is Christ Himself, not the charge of idolatry: Icons are not idols but symbols. Therefore, when an Orthodox venerates an iconBible, he Who is not guilty the true word of idolatryGod. He is not worshiping The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the symbolguidance of good teachers, but merely venerating itwill bring us to Him. Such veneration is We must not directed toward wood, or paint or stone, but towards use the person depictedBible as a sort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons. Therefore relative honor is shown to material objects, but worship is due to God alone” —C.” —StS. John of DamascusLewis
“We do not bow before “If Scripture is perfect and sufficient for everything, why is the nature of woodChurch's interpretation necessary? Because, quite plainly, but we revere and bow before Scripture is not accepted by everyone as having the one who is depictedsame meaning.” —St. John Vincent of DamascusLérins
“We do “The humility of Jesus is not make obeisance to a superfluous detail in the nature gospel narrative. The humility of wood, but we revere and do obeisance Jesus is essential to Him 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 Crossgospel. If Jesus lacked humility, there would be no incarnation, but if the beams are separatedno crucifixion, I throw them away and burn themno redemption.” —St. John of Damascus—Jack Wisdom
“The whole earth “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 a living icon preserved in the churches through the succession of the face of God. … I do presbyters, they attack the tradition, claiming that they themselves are wiser not worship matter, merely than the presbyters but even than the apostles. [However] anyone who wants to see the truth can look to the Creator tradition of matter, the Apostles which is clearly manifested throughout the whole world; and we can list those who for my sake became material and deigned were set up as bishops in the different churches as well as their successors right down to dwell in matterour own time, men who through matter effected my salvationneither taught nor knew anything like what these [Gnostics] are raving about. Never will I cease honoring For if the matter apostles had known secret doctrines which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because they were in the habit of this I salute all remaining matter with reverenceteaching to the “perfect” clandestinely and apart from the rest, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come they would most certainly have communicated these things to those to me.” —Stwhom they were entrusting the churches themselves. John of Damascus
“That And if a dispute should arise over some point or other, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches, in which the word communicates by soundapostles were actively interested, and find out from them what is certain and clear with regard to the point at issue? What if, in fact, the painting shows silently apostles had left us no Writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the line indicated by representation.the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they entrusted the churches?” —St. Basil the Great, On the 40 Martyrs Irenaeus of SebasteLyons
“We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do “[Heretics] should 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 admitted to any discussion of the divine glory of sovereignty.” —St. John of DamascusScriptures…
“One who has The Lord Jesus sent the judgment of Christ before his eyesapostles 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, who has seen and later by letters. Such being the great danger case, it is consequently certain that threatens those who dare to subtract from or add to those things any doctrine which have been handed down agrees with [what is held by ] these apostolic churches, moulds and original sources of the Spiritfaith, must not be ambitious to innovateconsidered the truth, undoubtedly containing that which these churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God; but any other doctrine must content himself with those things which have been proclaimed by be presumed false, since it smacks of opposition to the truth of the saints.” —St. Basil churches, of the Greatapostles, Against Eunomius 2of Christ, PG 29of God.573-652
“Our afflictions are well known without my telling; Come now! Would they all have fallen into error? Would the sound steward of them has now gone forth over all Christendom. The doctrines God, the Vicar of Christ [the fathers are despised; apostolical traditions are set at nought; Holy Spirit] have neglected His duty by allowing the speculations of innovators hold sway in churches to understand and believe otherwise than what He Himself taught the apostles? Is it likely that so many and such outstanding churches. Men would all have learned to be theorists instead of theologians. The wisdom of strayed into the world one [false] faith? No chance happening ever has the place of honour, having dispossessed same outcome in the boasting case of the crossmany different individuals. The pastors are driven away, grievous wolves are brought A doctrinal error in instead, and plunder the flock so many different churches would of Christnecessity have taken different forms. But when unity exists amid diversity, Houses of prayer are destitute of preachers; this can be the deserts are full of mourners: the old bewail, comparing what is with what was; more pitiable are the youngresult, as not knowing what they are deprived of. What has been said is sufficient to kindle the sympathy error, but only of those who are taught in the love of Christ, yet compared with the facts, it is far from reaching their seriousness.” —St. Basil the Great, epTradition. 90
“I urge you not to faint in your afflictionsLet us inquire, therefore, whether tradition, but to unless it be risen by the love of God and to increase every day to your zealwritten, knowing should be accepted. Certainly we shall say that it is necessary ought not to preserve in you this relic of the true religion that the Lord will find when He comes to the earth. Even be accepted if the bishops are trained out we can allege as precedent no cases of their churches, don't be dismayed. If traitors have appeared among the clergy, do not betray your trust in God. We are saved not by namesother practices which we justify without any written document, but by our mind and by our purpose, and by a true love to our Creator. Think that in solely on the attack grounds of our Lord, the great priests tradition and because of the scribes approval of subsequent custom… If you demand scriptural justification for these and the elders have designed the conspiracyother such practices, and that few people have been found getting the Wordyou will find none. Remember that it is not the multitude that is being saved, but the elected ones of God. So don't Tradition will be scared by the multitude of people who are swept away by the winds like the waters of the sea. If one is savedheld out to you as their author, custom as a Lot in Sodomtheir consolidator, he must remain in a fair judgment, keeping his hope in Christ steadfast, for the Lord will not abandon His saints. Say hello to all the brothers in Christ from me. Pray with fervor for my miserable souland faith as their observer.” —St. Basil the Great—Tertullian
“So“Since there are many who think they share the mind of Christ and yet some of them think differently from their predecessors, to let the preaching of the questionChurch be held fast, ‘Do we believe that preaching which has been handed down from the apostles through the ranks of succession and perdures in conspiracy theories?’, the answer churches to the present day. That alone is, ‘We don't believe to be believed as the truth which varies in them, we have long experience of themno wise from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition.’” —Fr. Peter Heers, On Demonic Methodology, Part II: Q & A, May 6, 2020” —Origen
“Let us be firm, my brothers, on the rock “It suffices as proof of faith, in the our thesis that we have a tradition of the Church, and not remove or change the boundaries established by our Holy Fathers. Let coming to us close the road to innovators and not permit them to demolish the structure of from the holyfathers, catholic, and apostolic Church of God. If we allow, however, the introduction of any innovation, we unconsciously support like a legacy handed down from the collapse of apostles through the Church. No, my brothers, you saints who love Christ, no, you children of the Church, you will never want to surround your Mother Church with confusionfollowed them in succession.” —St. John Gregory of Damascus, Concerning Images, III.41Nyssa
“Therefore, brethren, let us stand on “Of the rock of faith beliefs and on the tradition of practices [disciplinary regulations] preserved in the Church, and not remove the boundaries which our Holy Fathers some we possess from teaching handed down in written form; others we have set. Thus, we will not give the opportunity received as delivered to those who wish to innovate and destroy us in a mystery from the edifice tradition of the holyApostles, catholic and apostolic Church both of God. For if permission these have the same force as far as religion is granted to everyone who wants it, little by little the whole body of the Church will be destroyedconcerned. 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 the month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, pp” —St. 197-8 (prophetic warning of to Basil the Lutheran scholars)Great
“For to err “There is need of tradition also; for not everything can be found in Scripture. That is human, but why the correction is angelic most holy apostles left some things in writing and salvificothers in tradition. Paul affirms this very fact as follows: ‘as I handed it on to you.” —Jeremiah II (Jeremias II) Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch ’ Likewise in another passage: ‘This is my teaching and Archbishop of Constantinople, letter thus have I handed it on to the Most Wise Theologianschurches.’ Similarly: ‘If you continue to cling firmly to it, Residents of the Famous City of Tübingen, in the month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, pas I preached it to you—unless your faith has all been for nothing.’” —St. 210Epiphanius
“Unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for “Baptize first the guileless children, and pure of heart discovers God everywhereif they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, everywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existencelet their parents or other relatives speak for them.” —St. Nectarios Hippolytus of AeginaRome, The Apostolic Tradition, 21:16
“He who learns must sufferAnd “We baptize even in our sleep pain that cannot forgetFalls drop infants, though they are not defiled by drop upon the heartsins,And in our own despiteso they too may be given holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, against our willbrotherhood with Christ,Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of Godand membership in Him.” —Aeschylus—St. John Chrysostom
“The greatest wisdom often emerges “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 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 such like faults. But only what the Divine Justice inflicted upon man as a punishment for the deepest wounds[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.” —Jane Lee Logan—Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, Decree 6
“Monarchy can easily be debunked“We believe Holy Baptism, but watch which was instituted by the facesLord, mark well and is conferred in the name of the debunkersHoly Trinity, to be of the highest necessity. These are For without it none is able to be saved, as the Lord says, ‘Whoever is not born of water and of the men whose taproot Spirit, shall in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour way enter into the Kingdom of the polyphonyHeavens.’ {John 3:5} And, the dancetherefore, baptism is necessary even for infants, can reach - men since they also are subject to whom pebbles laid in a row original sin, and without Baptism are more beautiful than an archnot able to obtain its remission. Which the Lord showed when he said, 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. … Where ’ And since infants are men , and as such need salvation, needing salvation they need also Baptism. And those that are forbidden not regenerated, since they have not received the remission of hereditary sin, are, of necessity, subject to honour a king they honour millionaireseternal punishment, and consequently cannot without Baptism be saved. So that even infants should, of necessity, athletes or film stars instead: … For spiritual naturebe baptized. Moreover, like bodily natureinfants are saved, will as is said in Matthew; {Matthew 19:12} but he that is not baptized is not saved. And consequently even infants must of necessity be servedbaptized. And in the Acts {Acts 8:12; deny 16:33} it food is said that the whole houses were baptized, and it will gobble poisonconsequently the infants.” —CTo 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 those that bring them to Baptism. S’ 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. Lewis’
“There Now the matter of Baptism is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively pure water, and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles 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 Divine Baptism. And the twinkling effects of an eye. BesidesBaptism are, even without our sincere and firm faithto speak concisely, miracles are accomplishedfirstly, such as the miracles remission of the sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplishedhereditary transgression, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at and of any sins of any kind that the time of its celebrationbaptized may have committed. 'Shall their unbelief make Secondly, it delivers him from the faith of God without effect?' (Rometernal punishment, to which he was liable, as well for original sin and for mortal sins he may have individually committed. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower Thirdly, it gives to the unspeakable goodness and mercy of Godperson immortality; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdomfor in justifying them from past sins, nor our infirmity it makes them temples of God's omnipotence.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“The quality of mercy And it cannot be said that there is any sin which may have been previously committed that remains, though not imputed, that is not strainedwashed away through Baptism, For that were indeed the height of impiety, and a denial, rather than a confession of piety.It droppeth Indeed, truly, all sin existing, or committed before Baptism, is blotted out, and is to be regarded as never existing or committed. For the gentle rain from heavenUpon forms of Baptism, and on either hand all the place beneath. It is twice blest:It blesseth him words that gives precede and him that takesperfect Baptism, do indicate a perfect cleansing.'Tis mightiest in And the mightiest; it becomesThe thronèd monarch better than his crown.His scepter shows same thing even the force very names of temporal power,The attribute to awe and majestyWherein doth sit Baptism do signify. For if Baptism is by the dread Spirit and fear of kingsby fire, {Matthew 3:11} it is obvious that it is in all a perfect cleansing;But mercy is above this sceptered swayfor the Spirit cleanses perfectly.It If it is enthronèd in light, {Hebrews 6:4} it dispels the hearts of kings;It darkness. If it is an attribute to God Himself;regeneration, {Titus 3:5} old things are passed away. And earthly power doth what are these except sins? If the baptized puts off the old man, {Colossians 3:9} then sin also. If he puts on Christ, {Galatians 3:27} then show likest in effect he becomes free from sin through Baptism. For God'sWhen mercy seasons justiceis far from sinners. ThereforeThis Paul also teaches more plainly, saying: ‘As through one [man] we, Jewbeing many,Though justice be thy pleawere made sinners, consider thisso through one [are we made] righteous.’ {Romans 5:That 19} And if righteous, then free from sin. For it is not possible for life and death to be in the course same [person]. If Christ truly died, then remission of justice none sin through the Spirit is true also. Hence it is evident that all who are baptized and fall asleep while babes are undoubtedly saved, being predestinated through the death of usShould see salvationChrist. We do pray for mercy,And Forasmuch as they are without any sin; – without that same prayer doth teach us common [to all to renderThe deeds ], because delivered from it by the Divine laver, and without any of their own, because as babes they are incapable of mercycommitting sin; – and consequently are saved. Moreover, Baptism imparts an indelible character, as does also the Priesthood. I have spoke thus muchTo mitigate For as it is impossible for any one to receive twice the justice same order of thy pleathe Priesthood, so it is impossible for any once rightly baptized, to be again baptized,Whichalthough he should fall even into myriads of sins, if thou followor even into actual apostasy from the Faith. For when he is willing to return unto the Lord, this strict court he receives again through the Mystery of VeniceMust needs give sentence 'gainst Penance the merchantthereadoption of a son, which he had lost.” —William Shakespeare—Confession of Dositheus, Portia, The Merchant Synod of VeniceJerusalem, Act 41672, Scene 1Decree 16
“The human spirit needs places where nature has “A dangerous lie is preached by sectarians when they say that children should not been rearranged 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 your child to grow up and find out what water and milk and honey and bread and medicine are, and 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 hand of mancure is baptism. Don't let your unbaptized child die, because otherwise you will never and anywhere in eternity meet his soul.” —unknown—St. Nikolai Velimirovich
“People “…[T]here were created to be lovedno New Testamental writings for the earliest Christians and yet they possessed the fullness of the truth and faith of Christianity. Things On the day of Pentecost the Church was born and yet there were created no Gospels as we know them today. It would not be a theological exaggeration to assert that the Church would be usedthe 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 radical – even heretical – statement. The reason why …[T]here was a time when the Church did not possess this corpus of inspired writing and yet the Church existed in Her fullness, Christians experienced the truth of the world is faith in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being usedall its fullness.” —unknown—Fr. Georges Florovsky, The Byzantine Fathers of the Fifth Century
“No man stands so tall “… 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, its dissolution in more and more specialized and negative criticism, is a result of its alienation from the Eucharist - and practically from the Church herself - as when he stoops to help an experience of a childspiritual reality.” —unknown—Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist, p. 66
“If we could look into each others hearts“Anti-sacramental, anti-ritual evangelicalism emphasizes a personal relationship with God, but tends to encourage what Anthony Giddens calls ‘pure relationship,’ a relationship that is not tacked down with external anchors and understand supports. A live-in relationship, without benefit of the unique challenges each rites and legalities of us facesmarriage, is a pure relationship. Evangelicalism tends to encourage a live-in relationship with Jesus. This is wrong, I think we would treat each other much more gentlya departure from Christian tradition, and unbiblical. It also places unbearable burdens on the soul. Tempted by the devil, with more loveLuther slapped his forehead to remind himself of his baptism. His standing before God was anchored in Christ, patienceto whom he had been joined by baptism. For evangelicals, toleranceassurance cannot be grounded in anything so external and objective. Spontaneous enthusiasm is the test of sincerity, and carethe 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.” —Marvin —Rev. Dr. Peter J. AshtonLeithard
“Teach me “In the Orthodox approach to Scripture, it is the job of the individual not to feel another's woestrive for originality in interpretation, but rather to hide understand what is already present in the fault I see; that mercy I traditions of the Church. We are obliged not to others showgo beyond the boundary set by the Fathers and Creeds of the Church, that mercy show but to mefaithfully pass on the Tradition just as we have received it. To do this requires a great deal of study and thought–but even more, if we are to truly understand the Scriptures, we must enter deeply into the mystical life of the Church.” —Alexander Pope—ibid., p. 44
“Tolerance is “The scriptures and the Church are reduced here to the last virtue category of a depraved society. When you have an immoral society that has blatantlytwo formal authorities, proudly, violated all two ‘sources of faith’ – as they are called in the commandments of Godscholastic treatises, there for which the only question is which authority is one last virtue they insist uponthe higher: tolerance for their immoralitywhich ‘interprets’ which…” —Ibid., p.” —Dennis James Kennedy66
“The greatest thing a man can do “For if we proclaim holy scripture to a woman be the supreme authority for teaching the faith in the Church, then what is to lead her closer to God than to himselfthe ‘criterion’ of scripture? Sooner or later it becomes ‘biblical science’ – i.e., in the final analysis, naked reason…” —Ibid., p.” —unknown66-67
“A snowflake “It is one therefore clear that [the apostles] did not teach everything in epistolary form, but that they taught many things besides in unwritten form, and these things, too, are worthy of acceptance. Wherefore we should consider the tradition of God's most fragile creationsthe Church also as worthy of belief. If there is a tradition, but look what they can do when they stick together!no further.” —unknown—St. John Chrysostom
“God cannot give us happiness “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 peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no by introducing others as being saved in such thinga way that they cannot be lost.” —C. S. Lewis—Origen
“The supreme happiness “A false interpretation of life is Scripture causes that the gospel of the Lord becomes the conviction gospel of being loved for yourselfman, or more correctly, being loved in spite which is worse, of yourselfthe devil.” —Victor Hugo—St. Jerome
“It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell“Truth cannot be acquired, the flesh with its passions and lusts cannot be crucified, the heart cannot be filled with the Light of Christ and united with Him, through salvation, unless these are preceded by frequent prayer.” —C. S. Lewis—The Way of a Pilgrim
“Hell can't be made attractive“How long shall we continue in this manner, so our intellect reduced to futility, failing to make the devil makes attractive spirit of the road that leads there.Gospel our own, not knowing what it means to live according to our conscience, making no serious effort to keep it pure?” —St. Basil Mark the GreatAscetic
“If you die before you die“It is self evident, however, that sincere Christians who are Roman Catholics, or Lutherans, or members of other non-Orthodox confessions, than when you diecannot 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 will who are Orthodox; in their lives there has not diebeen a moment of personal and conscious renunciation of Orthodoxy.” —written on a cell wallThe Lord, St‘Who will have all men to be saved’ (I Tim. 2:4) and ‘Who enlightens every man born into the world’ (Jn. 1. Paul's Monastery43), Mtundoubtedly is leading them also towards salvation in His own way. Athos” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York
“War in “You ask, will the heterodox be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have a Saviour Who desires the name salvation of religion is war against religionevery human being. He will take care of them. You and I should not be burdened with such a concern. Study yourself and your own sins… 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.” —His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew—St. Theophan the Recluse
“Believe me“The Orthodox confess that SHE IS the One, if God revealed to us the disasters to which we were exposed Holy, Universal (katholikos) and from which He protected us, our whole lives would not suffice to offer Him thanksApostolic Ecclesia! Any other model is gnostic.” —H.H—St. Pope ShenoudaIrenaeus of Lyons
“In heaven“Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, God will not ask us why we have sinned; He will ask us why we did not repentthe apostles preached, and the Fathers kept.” —H.H—St. Pope Shenouda IIIAthanasius the Great
“Even if all spiritual fathers, patriarchs, hierarchs, “He is ‘the same yesterday and today and all forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). Orthodox Christians are committed to the truth claim of the people forgive you, you are unforgiven if you don’t repent in actionChristian Faith not as ideology but as an expression of holiness.” —St—Rev. Dr. Kosmas AitolosGeorge C. Papademetriou, An Orthodox Reflection on Truth & Tolerance
“Nobody “The beginning of theology is as gracious and merciful, as not the Lord iscard catalogue, but even He does not forgive the sins of doing battle against the man who does not repentpassions; … we are being condemned not because of and the multitude end of our evilstheology is not becoming a professor, but because we do not want to repentbecoming a saint.” —St—Dr. Mark the AsceticDavid Fagerberg
“As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean“Men are converted to God not because someone was able to give brilliant explanations, but because they saw in him that light, joy, depth, seriousness, so are and love which alone reveal the sins presence and power of all flesh as compared with God in the mercy of Godworld.” —St—Fr. Isaac the SyrianAlexander Schmemann
“Just as “When conversion does take place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way: a strongly flowing fountain person is not blocked in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up by a handful of earth. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are desperate for God, so the compassion of the Creator more He is going to come to your aid, reveal Who He is not overcome by , and show you the wickedness of his creaturesway to get out.” —St—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, p. Isaac the Syrian98
“God is loving to man, and loving in no small measure. For say not, I have committed fornication and adultery: I have done dreadful things, and not once only“We think we know a lot, but often: will He forgive? Will He grant pardon? Hear what the Psalmist says: ‘How great we know is the multitude of Your goodness, O Lord!’ Your accumulated offenses surpass not the multitude of God's mercies: your wounds surpass not the great Physician's skillvery little. Only give yourself up in faith: tell the Physician your ailment: say thou also, like David: ‘I said, I will confess me my sin unto the Lord’: Even all those who have striven all their life to bring progress to mankind – learned scientists and the same shall be done highly educated people – all realize in your case, which he says immediately: ‘And you forgave the wickedness end that all their knowledge is but a grain of my heartsand on the seashore.’” —StAll our achievements are insufficient. Cyril ” —Elder Thaddeus of JerusalemVitovnica, Catechetical Lecture 2, On Repentance and Remission of Sins and Concerning the Adversary, Ezekiel xviii. 20-23Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives
“Years “Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not needed for true repentance, those who are erudite in the sayings and not daysbooks of the wise men of old, but only those who have an instantintelligent soul and can discriminate between good and evil. They avoid what is sinful and harms the soul; and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint of practice to what is good and benefits the soul. These men alone should truly be called intelligent.” —St. Ambrose Anthony the Great, On the Character of OptinaMen and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts, Text 1, The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Vol. 1
“There “It is no sin which cannot be pardoned except that impossible to replace the spiritual with the emotional. If anyone tries to forcibly replace one which lacks repentancewith the other, and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the portion then he will assimilate lies instead of the fool is small in his eyestruth, falsehood masquerading as truth.” —St. Isaac the SyrianIgnatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, The Refuge, Chapter 9, p. 119
“When a man abandons his sins and returns to God“Not knowledge that you learn, his repentance regenerates him and renews him entirelybut knowledge that you suffer: that is Orthodox spirituality.” —St. Isaiah the Solitary—Gerontissa Gabrielia, Sayings of Gerontissa Gabrielia
“And so it “Our religion is incumbent upon us to strivefounded on spiritual experience, ratherseen and heard as sure as any physical fact in this world. Not theory, to correct our faults and to improve our behaviornot philosophy, not human emotions, but experience.” —St. John CassianNikolai Velimirovich
“Let “Only the Religion of Christ unites and all of us strive must pray that they come to purify ourselves through repentance and humilitythis. Thus union will occur, and to unite not by believing that all our senses as one to of us are the God who is good, same thing and transcends that all religions are the goodsame. Then, truly, everything which I have They are not the same… our Orthodoxy is not quite been able related to say or to demonstrate with my many words, you will be taught in an instant, all at once. You will hear with your sight, and see with your hearing. You will be taught while seeing and, again, hear what is unveiledother religions.” —St. Symeon the New TheologianPorphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
“Where there “Orthodoxy is Godlife, there is no evilone must not talk about it, one must live it.” —St. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment Nektary of his own imperfections and humility.Optina
When a person accepts anything Godly, then he rejoices in his heart, but when he has accepted anything devilish, then he becomes tormented“Orthodoxy can't be comfortable unless it is fake.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
The devil is like a lion“As for all those who pretend to confess sound Orthodox Faith, hiding but are in ambush (Ps 10:19communion with people who hold different opinion, 1Pe 5:8). He secretly sets out nets of unclean if they are forewarned and unholy thoughts. Sostill remain stubborn, it is necessary to break you must not only be in communion with them off as soon as we notice , but you must NOT even call them, by means of pious reflection and prayerbrothers.” —St.Basil the Great
It “It is necessary a commandment of the Lord that we should not be silent when the Holy Spirit enter our heartFaith is in peril. Everything good that we do, that we do for ChristSo, when it is given to us by a matter of the Holy SpiritFaith, but prayer most of allone cannot say, ‘Who am I? A priest, a ruler, a soldier, a farmer, a poor man? I have no say or concern in this matter.’ Alas! The stones shall cry out, which is always available to usand you remain silent and unconcerned?” —St.Theodore the Studite
A sign “At the present time of universal wavering, disturbance of spiritual life minds and corruption, it is especially demanded of us that we should confess the true teaching of the Church no matter what might be the person of those who listen and despite the unbelief which surrounds us. If for the sake of adaptation to the immersion errors of this age we shall be silent about the truth or give a person within himself corrupt teaching in the name of pleasing this world, then we would actually be giving to those who seek the truth a stone in place of bread. The higher is the standing of one who acts in this way, the greater the scandal that is produced by him, and the hidden workings within his heartmore serious can be the consequences.” —St. Seraphim —Metropolitan Philaret of SarovNew York
“There is nothing better than peace in Christ“Today, for it brings victory over all while the overall teachings of the evil spirits on earth Fathers is under attack and in the air. When peace dwells in a man's heart it enables him to contemplate shipwrecks of Faith are numerous, the grace mouths of the Holy Spirit from withinfaithful are silent. He Anyone who dwells is capable of speaking the truth but remains silent, will be heavily judged by God, especially in peace collects spiritual gifts as it were with a scoopthis case, where the faith and he sheds the light very foundation of the entire Church of knowledge on othersthe Orthodox is in danger. All our thoughts, all our desires, all our effortsTo remain silent under these circumstances is to betray these, and all our actions should make us say constantly with the Church: ‘O Lord, give us peace!’ When a man lives in peace, God reveals mysteries appropriate witness belongs to himthose that reproach (stand up for the faith).” —St. Seraphim of SarovBasil the Great, ep. 92
“The Spirit offers its own light “I beseech you to every minddo and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, becoming all things to all men, as the need of each is shown to you; I want and pray you to help 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 in its search for truthhatred 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. Basil Maximus the GreatConfessor, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 91
“Sometimes a man's happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it's there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, an illusion“Be aware not to be corrupted from love of the heretics; for this reason do not accept any false belief (dogma) in the name of love.” —Mr—St. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14)John Chrysostom
“The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created “Genuine love is displayed, not by the common table, nor by Godlofty addresses or flattering words, but by the correcting and pursues such knowledge ardently the seeking of the benefit of one's neighbour and ceaselesslythe lifting up of the one who has fallen.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorJohn Chrysostom
“A time “It is coming when men will go madnot the case that there is one church at Rome and another in all the world beside. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, India and when they see someone who the East worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If you ask for authority, the world outweighs its capital. Wherever there is not mada bishop, whether it be at Rome or at Engubium, they will attack himwhether it be at Constantinople or at Rhegium, sayingwhether it be at Alexandria or at Zoan, ‘You his dignity is one and his priesthood is one. Neither the command of wealth nor the lowliness of poverty makes him more a bishop or less a bishop. All alike are mad; you are not like ussuccessors of the apostles.’” ” —St. Anthony the GreatJerome, Letter CXLVI to Evangelus
“Adorn yourself with truth“Never, try to speak truth in all things; and do not support a lienever, no matter who asks you.If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at never let anyone tell youthat, don’t in order to be upsetOrthodox, but take comfort in the words of the Lord:Blessed are those who are persecuted you must also be eastern. The West was Orthodox for the sake of trutha thousand years, for theirs and her venerable liturgy is the Kingdom far older than any of Heaven (Matt. 5:10)her heresies.” —St. Gennadius John (Maximovitch) of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 26,2Shanghai and San Francisco
“You that are strong with all might in “Where the inner man ought by rights to carry on the struggle against bishop is, there let the enemies multitude of the truth, and not to shrink from the task, that we fathers may believers be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this even as where Jesus 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 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 there is the shield of faith by us old menCatholic Church.” —St. Gregory Ignatius of NyssaAntioch
“I shall set forth the best contributions of the philosophers of the Greeks, because whatever there is of good has been given “Take care to men from above by do all things in harmony with God, since ‘every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from with the bishop presiding in the Father place of lights’ (Js. 1.17). If, however, there is anything that is contrary to the truthGod, 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 presbyters in order the absurdities place of the heresies hated council of God, so that by recognizing the lie we may more closely follow the truth. Thenapostles, and with God's help and by His grace I shall expose the truth–that truth which destroys deceit and puts falsehood deacons, who are most dear to flight and whichme, as entrusted with golden fringes, has been embellished and adorned by the sayings business of the divinely inspired prophetsJesus Christ, who was with the divinely taught fishermen, and the God-bearing shepherds and teachers–that truth, the glory of which flashes out Father 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 the most eminent of teachers beginning and make a compendium of them, being in all things obedient to your commandis at last made manifest.” —St. John Ignatius of DamascusAntioch, The Fount of KnowledgeLetter to the Magnesians 2, 6:1
“If “Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we have obtained hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic,’ which, as the grace name itself and the reason of Godthe thing declare, none comprehends all universally. This rule we shall prevail against usobserve if we follow universality, but antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we shall confess that one faith to be stronger than 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 the consentient definitions and determinations of all who oppose us, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.” —St. John ChrysostomVincent of Lérins, Commonitory, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies., Chapter II (circa 434 AD)
“But our opinion “‘Shun profane novelties of words,’ which to receive and follow was never the part of Catholics; of heretics always was. In truth, what heresy ever burst forth save under a definite name, at a definite place, at a definite time? Who ever originated a heresy that did not first dissever himself from the consentient agreement of the universality and antiquity of the Catholic Church? That this is so is demonstrated in accordance with the Eucharistclearest way by examples. For who ever before that profane Pelagius attributed so much antecedent strength to Free-will, and as to deny the necessity of God's grace to aid it towards good in every single act? Who ever before his monstrous disciple Cœlestius denied that the Eucharist whole human race is involved in turn establishes our opinion.the guilt of Adam's sin?” —St. Irenaeus Vincent of LyonsLérins, Against HeresiesCommonitory, 4:18:562
“If "But if neither injunctions nor ecclesiastical decrees may be violated, by which, in accordance with the poison sacred consent of pride is swelling up in youuniversality and antiquity, turn to the Eucharist; and that Breadall heretics always, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever last of selfish greed rages in youall, Pelagius, Cœlestius, and Nestorius have been rightly and deservedly condemned, feed then assuredly it is incumbent on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind all Catholics who are anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of coveting withers youMother Church, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come adhere henceforward to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch holy faith of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christholy Fathers, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual thingsto be wedded to it, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Foodto die in it; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by but as to the fever profane novelties of impurityprofane men— to detest them, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chasteabhor them, oppose them, give them no quarter.” —St. Cyril Vincent of AlexandriaLérins, Commonitory, 86
“Don't be anxious about what you have“Roman Catholics teach that original sin robbed Adam of the original righteousness, grace-filled perfection, but about what you aredid 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 nothing more than depriving 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. Gregory Before sin, Adam was like a royal courtier, from whom external glory was taken away because of a crime, and he returned to the Greatoriginal state in which he had been before.
“If a man really sets his heart upon The decrees of the Council of Trent concerning original sin state that the progenitor sin consisted in the loss of the will 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. Only lust remains, which, God will enlighten due to its motivation of a little child person to tell that man what fight, is His willmore useful than harmful to people. But if a man does In any case, it is not truly desire 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 will grace of GodJesus Christ, but, even if he goes in search of a propheton the contrary, God crowns the one who will put into gloriously struggle. The Holy Council declares that this lust, which the heart of Apostle sometimes calls sin, the Universal Church never called sin in the prophet a reply like sense that it is true and proper to the deception in his own heartregenerated, but that it is from sin and entails sin.” —Abba Dorotheos of Gaza’
“The soul that This Roman Catholic teaching is in all things devoted to unfounded, since it represents the will original righteousness and perfection of God rests quiet in HimAdam as an external gift, as an advantage, for she knows of experience and which is added to nature from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much outside and watches over our soulsfrom nature separable. Meanwhile, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love. Nothing troubles the man who it is given over to clear from the will ancient apostolic-church doctrine that this primitive righteousness of GodAdam was not an external gift and advantage, be it illness, poverty or persecutionbut an integral part of his divinely-created nature. He knows The Holy Scripture claims that sin has shaken and upset human nature so deeply that the Lord in His mercy a person is solicitous weak for usgood 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. The Holy SpiritIn addition, if sin did not damage human nature so much, whom there would be no need for the soul knowsOnly Begotten Son of God to incarnate, is witness therefore. But come into the world as the proud Savior and demand from us a complete bodily and the selfspiritual rebirth ( John 3: 3, 3: 5-willed do 6 ). In addition, Roman Catholics can not want give the correct answer to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, and that is harmful for the soul.” —St. Silouan question: how can the Athonite (From intact nature carry lust in itself? What is the Life relation between this lust and Teachings of Elder Siluan by Bishop Alexander and Natalia Bufius translated by Anatoly Shmelev)the healthy nature?
“The 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 who cries out against evil menthrough Jesus Christ does not act mechanically, does not give sanctification and salvation immediately, in the blink of an eye, but does gradually penetrates all the psychophysical powers of man, in proportion to his personal feat in the new thus he simultaneously heals from all sinful ailments, and sanctifies in all thoughts, feelings, desires and deeds. It is an 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 pray for them will never know in us’ ( 1 John 1: 8 ); and the grace great Apostle of Godthe Nations writes: ‘I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want. But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me’ ( Romans 7: 19-20, Romans 8: 23-24 ).” —St. Silouan Justin Popovich, Orthodox philosophy of truth (Dogma of the AthoniteOrthodox Church)
“Those who dislike and reject their fellow-man “In all the Eastern Churches, candles are impoverished lit even in the daytime when one is to read the Gospels, in their being. They do truth not know to dispel the true Goddarkness, who but as a sign of joy…in order under that factual light to feel that Light of which we read in the Psalms (119:105): Thy word is all-embracing lovea lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” —St. Silouan the AthoniteJerome, Works, part IV, 2nd ed., Kiev, 1900, pp.301-302
“If we detect hatred “The candles lit before icons of saints reflect their ardent love for God for Whose sake they gave up everything that man prizes in our hearts against any man whatsoever 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 committing any faultus by their own saintly living, we are utterly estranged from love their virtues and their ardent intercession for us before God, since love through their constant prayers by day and night. The burning candles also stand for our ardent zeal and the sincere sacrifice we make out of reverence and gratitude to them for their solicitude on our behalf before God absolutely precludes us from hating any man.” —St. Maximus the ConfessorJohn of Kronstadt
“One must not harbour anger nor hatred towards a person that is hostile towards us“The saints of God live even after their death. On Thus, I often hear in church the Mother of God singing her wonderful, heart-penetrating song which she said in the house of her cousin Elizabeth, after the contraryAnnunciation of the Archangel. You must love him At times, I hear the song of Moses; the song of Zacharias--the father of the Forerunner; that of Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel; that of the three children; and do as much good as possible towards himthat of Miriam. Following And how many holy singers of the New Testament delight until now the ear of the teaching whole Church of God! And the Divine service itself--the sacraments, the rites? Whose spirit is there, moving and touching our Lord Jesus Christhearts? That of God and of His saints.” —St. Seraphim John of SarovKronstadt, My Life in Christ
“Do not ask for love from your neighbor“Each person is an icon of God, for if you ask of God in heaven and he does not respondof God on the cross. Yet, each person is also an icon of the Mother of God, you will be troubledwho bears Christ through the Holy Spirit. Instead show your love for your neighbour Our soul, therefore, unites itself in two images; participating in the principles and realities of both Christ and you will be at resthis Mother. These are age old archetypes, and so will bring your neighbour to lovesymbols by which the soul orients itself on the journey.” —St. Dorotheos Maria Skobtsova, On The Imitation of the Mother of GazaGod
“Love should never be sacrificed for “The Christian who does not feel that the sake of some dogmatic differenceVirgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan.” —St. Nektarios of Aegina—Jorge Mario Bergoglio ("Pope Francis")
“No term “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 used–and misused–among not able to be completely satisfied by anything or anyone except God. Declaring divine perfection as the main purpose for humanity's existence in the Orthodox people world – ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father who is in America more often than heaven is perfect.’ (Matth. 5: 48) – Christ, the term canonicalSavior, answered the most elemental demand and need of our God-like and God-longing humanity.” —Fr—St. Alexander SchmemannJustin Popovich, The Problems of Orthodoxy Orthodox Faith and Life in AmericaChrist, The Canonical ProblemHighest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy
“Even “He who refuses to give in to his passions does the slightest thought that is not founded on love destroys peacesame as he who refuses to bow down and worship idols.” —Archimandrite Thaddeus Strabulovich—St. Theophan the Recluse
“What does love look like? It has “Concerning the hands to help otherscharge of idolatry: Icons are not idols but symbols. Therefore, when an Orthodox venerates an icon, he is not guilty of idolatry. It has He is not worshiping the feet to hasten to symbol, but merely venerating it. Such veneration is not directed toward wood, or paint or stone, but towards the poor and needyperson depicted. It has eyes Therefore relative honor is shown to see misery and want. It has ears material objects, but worship is due to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks likeGod alone.” —St. Augustine John of HippoDamascus
“Your Lord is love: love Him and in Him all men, as His Children in Christ. Your Lord is fire: “We do not let your heart be coldbow before the nature of wood, but burn with faith we revere and love. Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith. Your Lord bow before the one who is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. If you will be such, you will find salvation yourself with everlasting glorydepicted.” —St. John of KronstadtDamascus
“To love our brothers is a need that is endemic “We do not make obeisance to our the nature. Contemporary man does not recognize this needof wood, but we revere and do obeisance to Him who was crucified on the Cross… When the two beams of the Cross are joined together I adore the figure because it is suppressed of Christ who was crucified on the Cross, but if the beams are separated, I throw them away and suffocated by egoismburn them.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev), The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society, p—St.54John of Damascus
“Many think that love is a feeling, but this is “We do not worship the case. It is a state relics of the will. If love were a feeling it would not be a commandment. Naturally, love is accompanied by certain feelingsmartyrs, but honor them in essence it is a state our worship of Him Whose martyrs they are. We honor the servants in order that the respect paid to them may be reflected back to the willLord.” —Fr—St. Daniel Sysoev, How Can I Learn God's Will?Jerome
“I guard you in advance against beasts in “The whole earth is a living icon of the form face of men, whom you must not only God. … I do not receiveworship matter, but if the Creator of matter, who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, who through matter effected my salvation. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it is possible not even meet, but only pray for them, if perchance they may repent…” —Stnot as God. Ignatius Because of Antiochthis I salute all remaining matter with reverence, Letter because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to the Smyrnaeans, Ame.D” —St. 117John of Damascus
“Until you have eradicated evil“That which the word communicates by sound, do not obey your heart; for it will seek more of what it already contains within itselfthe painting shows silently by representation.” —St. Mark Basil the Great, On the Ascetic40 Martyrs of Sebaste
“Whatever “We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of that which is best has flowed into 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 heartpurple 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, we should not pour out without need; for that which has been gathered can (Rom. 8.17) they will be free also partakers of danger from visible and invisible enemies only when it is guarded in the interior divine glory of the heartsovereignty.” —St. Seraphim John of SarovDamascus
“No one professing faith sins“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, 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 of the work is a matter not venerable angels and those of what one promises now, but all saintly people… We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of persevering to veneration and honor… He who venerates the end icon, venerates in it the power of faithreality for which it stands.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch (to the Ephesians)—The Seventh Ecumenical Council
“Indeed“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, man wishes trampled down by Christ's death. In a world where everything that seems to be happy even when he so lives as present is immediately past, everything in Christ is able to make happiness impossibleparticipate in the eternal present of God.” —St—Fr. AugustineAlexander Schmemann
“The confession “Christ surpasses both ends of evil works the world, where the drama ends and where it began. Of all the mysteries, the greatest mystery is He. From His Nativity to His Crucifixion on the Cross, From His Crucifixion on the Cross to His Resurrection, He is the first beginning true measure of good worksall God's creation.” —St. AugustineNikolai Velimirovich
“The evil powers love “Let no one think that there is anything interpretive in the works of the darkness and tremble at every light, especially at that which belongs to God and to those who please Himsix days.” —St. Nikolai VelimirovichEphrem the Syrian
“The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated by love makes a lot of “It is [the religious works he performs. But Lord] that sitteth upon the one who has been deemed worthy to obtain this says with conviction orb (חוּג, γῦρον, gyrum) of the words which earth, and the patriarch Abraham spoke when inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he was graced with that stretcheth out the divine appearance, ‘I am but earth heavens as nothing and ashes.’” —Stspreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Maximus the Confessor” —Isaiah 40:22
“Do not say “For if the world, being made spherical, is confined within the circles of heaven, and the Creator of the world is above the things created, managing that ‘mere faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can save me.’ For this by His providential care of these, what place is impossible unless you acquire love there for him through works. For the second god, or for the other gods? … Beautiful without doubt is the world, excelling, as well in its magnitude as in what concerns mere believingthe arrangement of its parts, ‘even both those in the devils believe oblique circle and tremblethose about the north, and also in its spherical form.’” ” —St. Maximus Athenagoras of Athens, A Plea for the Christians, Ch. 8 and 16 (Father of the ConfessorChurch, Ante-Nicene Christian apologist, c. 175, E)
“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 do “Let's start with You?’ When you hear the devils say this, do earth: you think that they do not acknowledge Him? ‘We know,’ they say, ‘who You are: You are the Son of God.’ This Peter says, see how big it is and how many every creature is commended; the devil says on it, – living and is condemnedsoulless. Whence comes thisLooking at the earth in all directions, but you notice that though the words it seems to be the sameflat; in fact, the heart it is different? Let us then make round like a distinction in our faithball: land surveyors have found this out as surely as possible, and not we ourselves can be content to believesure of this. This is no such faith as purifies You are often by the sea – look into the heartdistance for departing ships or steam ships. ‘Purifying their heartsAt first you see the whole ship,’ but the farther it is saidgoes, ‘by faith.’ But by what, and what kind the more the bottom of faiththe ship is hidden from you, save so that which at last you see only the Apostle Paul defines when he says, ‘Faith which works by love.’ That faith distinguishes us sails or one smoke from the faith of devilssteam ship, and from finally this also disappears, as if the infamous and abandoned conduct of men. ‘Faith,’ he saysship had sunk into a hole. What faith? ‘That which works by love,’ and which hopes for what God Why does promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than this definition. There are then in faith these three things. He in whom that faith is which works by love, must necessarily hope for that which God does promise. Hope therefore happen? Because the earth is the associate of faithspherical. For hope is necessary as long as we see not what we believe, lest perhaps through not seeing, and by despairing If at first glance it seems flat 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 it is the associate of faith. And then charity also, by which because we long, and strive to attain, and glow are very small in comparison with desirethe earth, and hunger and thirst. This then the earth is taken in also; too large and so there will be faith, hope, and charity. For how shall there not be charity there, since charity is nothing else but love? And this faith is itself defined as that ‘which works by love.’ Take away faith, and all you believe perishes; take away charitywith its size, and all that you do perishes. For it its sloping is the province of faith imperceptible to believeus, of charity to doinsignificant ones. For if you believe without loveSo, you do not apply yourself to good works; or if you dobrethren, it the earth is as a servant, not as a son, through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Therefore I say, that faith purifies the heart, which works by loveround.” —St. Augustine John of HippoKronstadt, Sermon III on the New TestamentDiaries of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, Section XI1857–1858
“Human life “You often see, brethren, that the Lord Almighty is but mostly written on icons with a ball, on top of brief durationwhich is a cross. ‘All flesh This ball means the globe of the earth and is grasscalled the power – from the fact that in ancient times the Roman kings had the custom, on solemn occasions, to hold it in their hands. Our Lord Jesus Christ holds in his hand the globe of the earth, as the king of heaven and all earth, as the goodliness thereof Almighty. We say this in order to show you that our earth is round like a ball. But how is as the flower sphericity of the earth proved by the phenomena at the rising and setting of the sun? As follows: if the earth were not spherical, but flat; then the sun would now hide under the earth, or come out from under it, and immediately leave us either in the full shadow of the fieldearth, or illuminate us with full light. The grass withersNow, since the flower fades; but earth is round, we use the remnants of light from the sun even when it illuminates the sloping side of the earth, when the sun, so to speak, is under the mountain and produces a dawn for us, as if the word glow of our God shall stand forever’ (Isaa huge fire. 40:6)This dawn happens because the rays of the setting or rising sun, illuminating the sloping side of the earth, at the same time illuminate the air that is near the earth and surrounds it like water, and thus makes the light of dawn. Let us hold fast to Watching the dawn, we see from the gradual decrease in light – from the commandment way it gradually becomes paler and paler from light pink - that abidesthe earth is exactly round, and despise the unreality that passes awaysun, as it were, glides, step by step, evenly, in a circle.” —St. Basil the GreatJohn of Kronstadt, Catechetical Talks
“We see “How does the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly sun rule by day? Because carrying everywhere light with it, it is no sooner risen above the horizon than it drives away darkness and passing awaybrings us day. Thus we might, without self deception, and all that floats on its surfacedefine day as air lighted by the sun, rubbish or beams as the space of trees, all pass by. So does time that the sun passes in our lifehemisphere… Those who have written about the nature of the universe have discussed at length the shape of the earth. I was an infantIf it be spherical or cylindrical, if it resemble a disc and that time has gone. I was an adolescentis equally rounded in all parts, and that too or if it has passed. I was the forth of a young man, winnowing basket and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man hollow in the middle; all these conjectures have been suggested by cosmographers, each one upsetting that I was is no moreof his predecessor. My hair turns white, I succumb It will not lead me to give less importance to agethe creation of the universe, but that too passesthe servant of God, Moses, is silent as to shapes; I approach he has not said that the end earth is a hundred and will go eighty thousand furlongs in circumference; he has not measured into what extent of air its shadow projects itself while the sun revolves around it, nor stated how this shadow, casting itself upon the way of all fleshmoon, produces eclipses. I was born He has passed over in order to die. I die silence, as useless, all that I may liveis unimportant for us. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!” —St. Tikhon of VoronezhBasil the Great, Hexaemeron, Homily 6:8; 9:1
“You should “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 downwardat 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. Remember: 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 maintained 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 disc and you will return 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 that 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 earthoperation of our bodily senses.” —St. Ambrose Gregory of OptinaNyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection
“Everything in this life passes away – only God remains“As, when the sun shines above the earth, only He the shadow is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: spread over its lower part, because its spherical shape makes it impossible for it to be 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 way opposite point, and so, continuously, at the opposite end of this world, the direct line of the society rays shadow moves round that surrounds usglobe, keeping pace with the sun, so that equally in their turn both the upper half and thereby find ourselves outside the under half of God; or to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us earth are in light and for Whom our heart is searchingdarkness.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose Gregory of PlatinaNyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection
“Just as a pauper“Further, seeing some hold that the royal treasures, all the more acknowledges his own poverty; so also the spirit, reading Earth is in the accounts form of the great deeds of the Holy Fathersa sphere, involuntarily others that it is in that of a cone. At all events it is much smaller than the more humbled heaven, and suspended almost like a point in its way of thoughtmidst. And it will pass away and be changed. But blessed is the man who inherits the Earth promised to the meek.” —St. John Climacusof Damascus, Orthodox Faith, Book 2, Ch 10
“Do not shun poverty “Thus, by His transcendent might He established the heavens, and afflictionby His incomprehensible understanding He ordered them: the earth He separated from the water now encircling it, and firmly grounded it on the fuel that gives wings unshakable foundation of His own will … about antipodes: ‘The ocean, impassable for men, and the worlds beyond it are governed by the same decrees of the Master’…” —St. Clement of Rome, Epistle to prayer.” —Evagrios the SolitaryCorinthians
“What is the meaning “Clement indeed, a disciple of the exclamation so often sung in church: ‘Lordapostles, have mercy upon us’? It is mentions those whom the lament Greeks call ‘people of the guiltyopposite earth’, condemned sinner, imploring forgiveness and speaks of other parts of an irritated justice. We are all under the eternal curse and doomed to eternal fire for world which none of our innumerable sinspeople can reach, and it is only the Grace nor can any of Our Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for those who live there cross over to us before the Heavenly Father; and these parts themselves he called ‘worlds’, that saves us from eternal punishment. It is the lament of the repentant sinner, expressing his firm intention to amend and begin a new lifewhen he says, becoming for a Christian. It ‘The ocean is the lament of the repentant sinner, ready impassable to forgive othersmen, as he himself was and is immeasurably forgiven the worlds beyond it are governed by the same ordinances of God, the Judge of his deeds.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in ChristRuler’…” —Origen, pg. 406On First Principles
“It seems that we do “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 understand vacate any place to make room for night. But was it made on one thing: side, so that as it is not good when we return travelled it would permit the night to follow after from the other? Although water still covered all the earth, there was nothing to prevent the massive watery sphere from having day on one side by the love presence of those who love uslight, yet hate those who hate us. We are not and on the right path if we do thisother side, night by the absence of light. We 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 sons rapid movement it has by reason of light and love – its height in the sons of Godheavens. For surely when a round mass is rotating, his children. As suchthe parts near the center move more slowly, we must have His qualities and His attributes of love, peacethose near the edge more rapidly, so that the greater and kindness towards alllesser distances may be covered simultaneously in the same circular motion…” —St.” —Elder Thaddeus Augustine of Hippo, On the Literal Interpretation of VitovnicaGenesis
“We suffer because we have no humility and we do not love “The prophet David, our brother. From love Saints, Basil the Great, who wrote about creation, all of our brother comes them, with the love Grace of God knew everything about the creation by God. People do not learn humilityThe Holy Spirit took them to the depths of the waters, He showed them and because of their pride cannot receive they saw the grace of earth revolving around the Holy Spiritsun, and therefor many other things. The Saints, however, spoke to people according to the knowledge of their age. This is so that they wouldn't look like fools by revealing everything to their age that they saw with the whole world suffersGrace of God.Since simple people were not able to see all those things and understand them, they would not have believed them!” —St. Silouan the AthonitePaisios of Mt. Athos, «ΣΚΕΥΟΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΗΣ: ΓΕΡΩΝ ΠΑΙΣΙΟΣ», 1924-1994, p. 142
“Some suffer much from poverty and sickness“Truly, is this necessary? No, but are not humbledat all, for we know that many and so they suffer without profitgreat scientists were at the same time great believers. But one For example, such was the Polish astronomer Copernicus who is humbled will be happy in laid the foundation of all circumstancescontemporary astronomy. Copernicus was not only a believer but was also a cleric. Another great scientist, because Newton, whenever he mentioned the Lord is his riches and joyword God, and all people will wonder at the beauty of he removed his soulhat.He was a great believer… Would Haeckel therefore dare say that these men did not have enlightened minds because they believed in God?” —St. Silouan Luke the AthoniteSurgeon, On Science and Religion
“My joy“The faithful have little need for scientists now, I beg youthe world is full of them! They are in need of holy men, acquire of those who live the Spirit holy life; 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 those who can attract the Kingdom Grace of Heaven. This is the way all righteous men were saved and inherited the Heavenly Kingdom…” —StGod to them. Seraphim ” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of SarovRomania
“My will“Once, thereforewhen standing before a window at night, He took St. Barsanuphius (of Optina) pointed to the moon and said to his spiritual children:"Look – what a picture! This is left to Himself, my griefus as a consolation. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine It is no wonder the will which He called His OwnProphet David said, for as Man He bore my grief‘Thou hast gladdened me’, as Man He spakehe says, and therefore saidalthough this is only a hint of that wondrous beauty, ‘Not as I willincomprehensible to human thought, but as Thou wiltwhich was originally created.’ Mine We don't know what kind of moon there was the griefthen, and mine the heaviness with which He bore itwhat kind of sun, for no man exults when at what kind of light… All of this changed after the point to diefall."” —Fr. With me and for me He SuffersSeraphim Rose of Platina, for me He is sadGenesis, for me He is heavy. In my stead thereforeCreation, and in me He grieved Who had no cause to grieve for HimselfEarly Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision, p.44
Not Thy Wound“As for the ‘scientific’ information given in the book of Genesis – and since it talks about the formation of the world we know, there cannot but minebe some scientific information there – contrary to popular belief, hurt Theethere is nothing ‘out-of-date’ about it. Its observations, it is true, Lord Jesusare all made as seen from earth and as affecting mankind; but they do not Thy Deathput forth any particular teaching, for example, on the nature of the heavenly 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. The discovery in recent centuries of the vastness of space and the immensity of many of its heavenly bodies does nothing but add grandeur in our weaknessminds to the simple account of Genesis. When the Holy Fathers talk about Genesis, even as of course, they try to illustrate it with examples taken from the natural science of their time; we do the Prophet saith: ‘For He same thing today. All this illustrative material is afflicted for our sakes’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 wecan only wonder at how fresh and timely it is to each new generation. And the theological commentary of the Holy Fathers on the text partakes of this same quality.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, LordGenesis, esteemed Thee afflicted, when Thou grievedst not for ThyselfCreation and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision, but for mep.87
And what wonder if He grieved for all, Who wept for one? What wonder if, in “One who has the hour judgment of death, He is heavy for allChrist before his eyes, Who wept when at who has seen the point great danger that threatens those who dare to raise Lazarus subtract from or add to those things which have been handed down by the dead? ThenSpirit, indeedmust not be ambitious to innovate, He was moved but must content himself with those things which have been proclaimed by a loving sister's tears, for they touched His human heart,--here by secret grief He brought it to pass that, even as His Death made an end of death, and His Stripes healed our scars, so also His Sorrow took away our sorrowthe saints.” —St. Ambrose of MilanBasil the Great, (+397)Against Eunomius 2, ChPG 29. 7, Book II, Exposition on the Christian Faith573-652
“Peace “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 the young, as not absence knowing what they are deprived of struggle. What has been said is sufficient to kindle the sympathy of those who are taught in the love of Christ, but absence of uncertainty and confusionyet compared with the facts, it is far from reaching their seriousness.” —Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh—St. Basil the Great, ep. 90
“Humility is perfect quietness “I urge you not to faint in your afflictions, but to be risen by the love of heartGod and to increase every day to your zeal, knowing that it is necessary to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing preserve in you this relic of the true religion that is done the Lord will find when He comes to methe earth. Even if the bishops are trained out of their churches, don't be dismayed. If traitors have appeared among the clergy, to feel nothing done against medo not betray your trust in God. It is to be at rest when nobody praises meWe are saved not by names, but by our mind and by our purpose, and when I am blamed or despisedby a true love to our Creator. It is to have a blessed home Think that in the attack of our Lord, where I can go in the great priests and the scribes and shut the doorelders have designed the conspiracy, and kneel to my Father 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 secretSodom, and am at peace as he must remain in a deep sea of calmnessfair judgment, keeping his hope in Christ steadfast, when for the Lord will not abandon His saints. Say hello to all around and above is troublethe brothers in Christ from me. Pray with fervor for my miserable soul.” —Andrew Murray—St. Basil the Great
“However great “So, to the afflictions question, ‘Do we sufferbelieve in conspiracy theories?’, what are they compared with the promised future rewardanswer is, ‘We don't believe in them, we have long experience of them.” —St’” —Fr. Macarius the GreatPeter Heers, On Demonic Methodology, Part II: Q & A, May 6, 2020
“Shun “Let us be firm, my brothers, on the rock of faith, in the praise tradition of men the Church, and love 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 one Church. No, my brothers, you wholove Christ, in the fear no, you children of the LordChurch, reprimands youwill never want to surround your Mother Church with confusion.” —St. PachomiusJohn of Damascus, Concerning Images, III.41
“When people begin to praise us“Therefore, brethren, let us hurry to remember stand on the rock of faith and on the multitude tradition of ours transgressionsthe Church, and not remove the boundaries which our Holy Fathers have set. Thus, we will see that we are truly unworthy not give the opportunity to those who wish to innovate and destroy the edifice of that which they say the holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God. 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 …” —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 our honorthe month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, pp.” —St. John Climacus197-8 (prophetic warning of to the Lutheran scholars)
“…Don't be frightened at your burden; our Lord will help you “For to carry iterr is human, but the correction is angelic and salvific.” —St—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 the month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, p. John Vianney210
“Every tribulation reveals “Unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the state guileless and pure of our willheart discovers God everywhere, everywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existence.” —St. Mark the AsceticNectarios of Aegina
“Every affliction tests “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, showing whether it is inclined Comes wisdom to good or evil. That is why an unforeseen affliction is called a test, because it enables a man to test his hidden desiresus by the awful grace of God.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Aeschylus
“Many are “The greatest wisdom often emerges from the wiles of the enemy to despoil us of inner peace, so watch!deepest wounds.” —St. Theophan the Recluse—Jane Lee Logan
“In every situation confusion is from “Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the devilfaces, from mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom may no rumour of the polyphony, the Lord shield dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. … Where men are forbidden 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 protect usit will gobble poison.” —St—C. Leo of OptinaS. Lewis
“It should be noted that when “There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the fallen spirit wants to get dominion over Christtwinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God's asceticsMystery is always accomplished, he does not act imperiously even though we were incredulous or domineeringly, but tries to draw a man to consent to unbelieving at the proposed delusion, and after getting his consent he takes possession time of its celebration. 'Shall their unbelief make the person who has given his consentfaith of God without effect?' (Rom. Holy David, in describing his the fallen angel attacks man, has very rightly said3: "He lurketh in secret as a lion in his den, that he may ravish 3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the poorunspeakable goodness and mercy of God; to ravish the poorour dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, when he getteth him into his netnor our infirmity God's omnipotence."” —St. Ignaty Bryanchaninov, The Arena, chapter 11John of Kronstadt, On the Solitary My Lifein Christ
“We have to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all of one piece; it “The human spirit needs places where nature has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world … It is actually an education in atheism. We have to fight back not been rearranged by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us…” —Frhand of man. Seraphim Rose of Platina” —unknown
“I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over “People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’” —Stpeople are being used. Anthony the Great” —unknown
“Learn “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to love humility, for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repugnant before God but the most repugnant of all is pride of the hearthelp a child.” —unknown
Do not consider yourself learned “If we could look into each others hearts, and wise; otherwiseunderstand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, all your effort will be destroyed and your boat will reach the harbor emptycare.” —Marvin J.Ashton
If you have great authority, do not threaten anyone with death. Know“Teach me to feel another's woe, to hide the fault I see; that according mercy I to natureothers show, you too are susceptible that mercy show to death and that every soul sheds its body from itself as the final garmentme.” —Alexander Pope
In Byzantium there existed an unusual and instructive custom during “Tolerance is the crowning last virtue of the emperors in the Church of the Divine Wisdom [Sta depraved society. Sophia]. The custom was When you have an immoral society that when the patriarch placed the crown on the emperor's headhas blatantly, proudly, at violated all of the same timecommandments of God, he handed him a silk purse filled with dirt from the gravethere is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality.” —Dennis James Kennedy
Then, even the emperor would recall death and “The greatest thing a man can do to avoid all pride and become humblea woman is to lead her closer to God than to himself.” —St. Anthony the Great, Prologue of Ochrid—unknown
“Wouldst thou comprehend the height “A snowflake is one 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's most fragile creations, for it was not for his own.but look what they can do when they stick together!” —St. Augustine—unknown
“The greatness of a man consisteth of humility, for in proportion as a man descendeth to humility, he becometh exalted to greatness“God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.” —Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol—C. S. 2Lewis
“It “The supreme happiness of life is easier to measure the entire sea with a tiny cup than to grasp God's ineffable greatness with the human mindconviction of being loved for yourself, or more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself.” —St. Basil the Great—Victor Hugo
“You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body“It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell.” —C. S. Lewis
“This is the wisdom and power of God: to “Hell can't be victorious through weaknessmade attractive, exalted through humility, rich through povertyso the devil makes attractive the road that leads there.” —St. Gregory PalamasBasil the Great
“You will lose nothing “What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of what you have renounced for the Lord’s sake. For in its own time it will return being unable to you greatly multipliedlove.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Where can I flee? A place cannot save “If you because there is no place die before you can flee from yourselfdie, than when you die, you will not die.” —St—written on a cell wall, St. Paul's Monastery, Mt. Nikon of OptinaAthos
“If our purpose is to fight the spiritual fight and to defeat, with God's help, “War in the demons name 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 effortsreligion is war against religion.” —His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
A man can be harmed by another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that “Believe me, if 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 revealed to us to forsake the company of men; He tells us disasters to root out the causes of evil within us which we were exposed and to recognize that the soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellowswhich He protected us, 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 whole lives would not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstancessuffice to offer Him thanks.” —St—H.H. John CassianPope Shenouda
“A life lived in the world can be as good“In heaven, 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 will not ask us why we have sinned; He will ask us why we aredid not repent.” —Elder Macarius of Optina—H.H. Pope Shenouda III
“Those who“Even if all spiritual fathers, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practicepatriarchs, hierarchs, despise and all the less zealouspeople forgive you, think that they you are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish unforgiven if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorantyou don’t repent in action.” —St. Mark the AsceticKosmas Aitolos
“A remedy against straying thoughts “Nobody is mental attentionas gracious and merciful, attention to the fact that as the Lord is before us and , but even He does not forgive the sins of the man who does not repent; … we are before Himbeing condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repent.” —St. Theophan Mark the RecluseAscetic
“The roots “As a handful of evil thoughts sand thrown into the ocean, so are the obvious vices, which we keep trying to justify in our words and actionssins of all flesh as compared with the mercy of God.” —St. Mark Isaac the AsceticSyrian
“Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned “Just as a strongly flowing fountain is not blocked up by a handful of earth, so the compassion of the Creator is not overcome by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help wickedness of God, who sees everythinghis creatures.” —St. Mark Isaac the AsceticSyrian
"The higher a person’s position “God is loving to man, and loving in society no small measure. For say not, I have committed fornication and adultery: I have done dreadful things, and not once only, but often: will He forgive? Will He grant pardon? Hear what the more Psalmist says: ‘How great is the multitude of Your goodness, O 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, like David: ‘I said, I will confess me my sin unto the Lord’: and the same shall be done in your case, which he should help others without ever reminding them says immediately: ‘And you forgave the wickedness of his positionmy heart.’” —St.” —Tsar StCyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 2, On Repentance and Remission of Sins and Concerning the Adversary, Ezekiel xviii. Nicholas II20-23
“If you want your sins “The Lord calls to be absolved by ChristHim all sinners; He opens His arms wide, then don't speak even to others about any virtue that you may havethe worst among them. Gladly He takes them in His arms, because God if only they will treat our sins the same way we treat our virtuescome to Him.” —St. Mark the AsceticMacarius of Optina
“If any man “Repentance is able in power to continue in purity, to the honour daughter of hope and 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 himselfrefusal to despair.” —St. Ignatius John Climacus, The Ladder of AntiochDivine Ascent
“Guarding the mouth wakes up the conscience to God“Years are not needed for true repentance, if it is with knowledge that a man keeps silenceand not days, but only an instant.” —St. Isaac the SyrianAmbrose of Optina
“Silence “There is more profitable than speechno sin which cannot be pardoned except that one which lacks repentance, for as it has been said, "The words and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the portion of wise men are heard even the fool is small in quiethis eyes."” —St. Basil Isaac the GreatSyrian
“Never give your opinion if you are not asked for it“When a man abandons his sins and returns to God, even if you think that your view is the besthis repentance regenerates him and renews him entirely.” —Josemaria Escriva—St. Isaiah the Solitary
“Not only for every idle word must man give an account“Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but for every idle silenceaccording to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.” —St. Ambrose of MilanSymeon the New Theologian, The Philokalia
“Somewhere “There is nothing higher than what is called repentance and confession. The sacrament is the offering of God's love to mankind. In this perfect way a person is free of evil. We go and confess and we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking sense our reconciliation with God; Joy enters us and guilt departs. In the Orthodox Church there is no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cureimpasse.” —Henri Nouwen—St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
“Let your mouth continually administer blessing; then “…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 scorn of anyone will never hurt yousoul 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. Isaac Nikodemos the SyrianHagiorite, Exomologetarion: A Manual of Confession, p. 234
“Just as swine run “And so it is incumbent upon us to a place where there is mire, and bees dwell where there are fragrances and incensestrive, likewise demons gather where there are carnal songs and the grace of the Holy Spirit settles where there are spiritual melodiesrather, sanctifying both mouth to correct our faults and soulto improve our behavior.” —St. John ChrysostomCassian
“A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is “If the author grace of peaceGod doesn't enlighten man, though you say many words, they won't be beneficial. The person listens to you for a moment, but soon after returns to that which calms bewildering and seething thoughtsholds him captive. ForIf, it softens however, grace works immediately, together with your words, then a change is effected at that moment, corresponding to the wrath of the soulperson's predisposition. And from that moment on, and what his life is unbridled it chastenschanged. A psalm forms friendships, unites This happens with those separated, conciliates those at enmitywho haven't hardened their hearing and conscience. Who” —Elder Joseph the Hesychast, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered Precious Vessels of the same prayer to God?Holy Spirit
So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond“Let us strive to purify ourselves through repentance and humility, and to unite all our senses as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also to the greatest of blessings, charity. A psalm God who is a city of refuge from the demonsgood, a means of inducing help from and transcends the angelsgood. Then, a weapon in fears by nighttruly, a rest from toils by dayeverything which I have not quite been able to say or to demonstrate with my many words, a safeguard for infantsyou will be taught in an instant, an adornment for those all at the height of their vigoronce. You will hear with your sight, and see with your hearing. You will be taught while seeing and, a consolation for the eldersagain, a most fitting ornament for womenhear what is unveiled.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian
It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it “Where there is the elementary exposition of beginnersGod, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfectthere is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the voice judgment of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with Godhis own imperfections and humility.
ForWhen a person accepts anything Godly, a psalm is the work of angelsthen he rejoices in his heart, a heavenly institutionbut when he has accepted anything devilish, the spiritual incense.” —Stthen he becomes tormented. Basil the Great
“Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradiseThe devil is like a lion, our ascension into the kingdom of heavenhiding in ambush (Ps 10:19, our return to the adoption 1Pe 5:8). He secretly sets out nets 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, unclean andunholy thoughts. So, in a word, our being brought into a state of all ‘fullness of blessing,’ both in this world and in the world it is necessary to comebreak them off as soon as we notice them, by means of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the pious reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment.” —Stand prayer. Basil the Great
“Humility consistsIt is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, not in condemning our consciencethat we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion.” —Stprayer most of all, which is always available to us. Mark the Ascetic
“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 A sign of spiritual life is the holiness immersion of our souls a person within himself 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 destroyhidden workings within his heart.” —St. Nicholas Seraphim of MyraSarov
“Those who suffer “There is nothing better than peace in Christ, for it brings victory over all the evil spirits on earth and in the sake of true devotion receive helpair. This must be learnt through obeying GodWhen peace dwells in a man's law heart it enables him to contemplate the grace of the Holy Spirit from within. He who dwells in peace collects spiritual gifts as it were with a scoop, and he sheds the light of knowledge on others. All our thoughts, all our desires, all our efforts, and all our own conscienceactions should make us say constantly with the Church: ‘O Lord, give us peace!’ When a man lives in peace, God reveals mysteries to him.” —St. Mark the AsceticSeraphim of Sarov
“When you are wronged and your heart and feelings are hardened, do not be distressed“The Spirit offers its own light to every mind, to help it in its search 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 developtruth.” —St. Mark Basil the AsceticGreat
“Struggle to become immortal from now, by dying here on the earth to your bad self. In this way, you won“Sometimes a man't be sad, but yous happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it'll be very glads there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, living together with Christan illusion.” —Elder Porphyrios—Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14)
“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 “If he seeks answers to him as the result of his choice, no less than to Him who had implanted the seeds of it), questions related 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 lifefaith, 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 purpose in that direction, or imitate the Serpent…But it would have been good if partaken of at the proper timelife, 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 contradictorywill find happiness. This was the first thing that he learned – his own shame; ” —Elder Justin (Romans 1:22-31Pârvu) 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)Romania
“I saw that there was no tragedy in “The person who loves God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes values knowledge of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earthGod more than anything created by God, and pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselessly.” —Archimandrite Sophrony—St. Maximus the Confessor
“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 “Adorn yourself with its material well-beingtruth, would not feel any need to turn try to God speak truth in prayerall things; and do not support a lie, would not think of God no matter who asks you.If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at allyou, don’t be upset, but would live as though God did not exist. Thus take comfort in the entire structure words of contemporary life in the so-called ‘free’ worldLord:Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of truth, where there for theirs is no open and bloody persecution the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5:10).” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of faithConstantinople, The Golden Chain, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes26, represents a far greater danger to a Christian’s soul by drawing the Christian wholly down to earth and making him forget heaven.2
The entire modern culture“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, which and not to shrink from the task, that we fathers may be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this is aimed at purely worldly achievementsthe 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 the resultant whirlwind opponents of everyday lifethe truth, keep a person in such a state of constant bustle and absent-mindedness demand that he has no opportunity for any soul-searching, their hot burning coals and spiritual life within him gradually becomes extinguishedtheir shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should be quenched with the shield of faith by us old men.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) —St. Gregory of SyracuseNyssa
“In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as Transcendental Meditation I am but repeating “Be the age-old message of bee and not the Church … fly… 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 fly only knows where the Source of all that exists, in order to return and merge with himunclean things are, while 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 honeybee knows where the continually changing phenomena of the visible world, may even have a certain experience of eternitybeautiful flowers are!” —St. But the God Paisios of Truth, the Living God, is not in all thisMt.Athos
It “I shall set forth the best contributions of the philosophers of the Greeks, because whatever there is man's own beauty, created in the image of good has been given to men from above by God, that since ‘every best gift and every perfect gift is contemplated and seen as divinityfrom above, whereas he himself still continues within coming down from the confines Father of his creaturelinesslights’ (Js. 1.17). This If, however, there is anything that is contrary to the truth, then it is a vastly important concern. The tragedy dark invention of the matter lies in deceit of Satan and a fiction of the fact mind of an evil spirit, as that man sees a mirage which, in his longing for eternal life, he mistakes for a genuine oasiseminent theologian Gregory once said (Homily 39.3). This impersonal form In imitation of ascetics leads finally to an assertion the method of the divine principle in bee, I shall make my composition from those things which are conformable with the truth and from our enemies themselves gather the very nature fruit of mansalvation. Man But all that is then drawn to worthless and falsely labeled as knowledge I shall reject. Then, next, after this, I shall set forth in order the idea absurdities of self-deification—the cause the heresies hated of God, so that by recognizing the original Falllie we may more closely follow the truth. The man who is blinded Then, with God's help and by His grace I shall expose the imaginary majesty of what he contemplates has in fact set his foot on the path truth–that truth which destroys deceit and puts falsehood to self-destruction. He flight and which, as with golden fringes, has discarded been embellished and adorned by the revelation sayings of a personal the divinely inspired prophets, the divinely taught fishermen, and the God … The movement into -bearing shepherds and teachers–that truth, the depths glory of his 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 being is nothing else , but attraction towards the non-being from shall gather together into one those things which we were called have been worked out by the will most eminent of teachers and make a compendium of the Creatorthem, being in all things obedient to your command.” —Archimandrite Sophrony —St. John of Mt. AthosDamascus, His Life is Mine, 115-116The Fount of Knowledge
“Christ said, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' and 'division'. Christ summoned us to war on “If we have obtained the plane grace of the spiritGod, and our weapon is 'the sword of the Spiritnone shall prevail against us, 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 but 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 resurrectionshall be stronger than all who oppose us.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt—St. Athos, His Life is MineJohn Chrysostom
“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 “But our opinion is in your soul. Induce your heart to love your enemiesaccordance with the Eucharist, and the Lord, seeing your good will, shall help you Eucharist 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 Godturn establishes our opinion.” —St. Silouan the AthoniteIrenaeus of Lyons, WritingAgainst Heresies, IX.214:18:5
“Where there “The Eucharist is pride there cannot be gracethe Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance which the Father, in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil thoughts and does not understand that she must humble herself and love her enemieshis loving-kindess, for there is no other way to please Godraised from the dead.” —St. Silouan Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the AthoniteSmyrnians, 7:1
“The whole therapeutic method “If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Orthodox Church Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is not aimed simply at making human beings morally your God humbling and socially balanceddisguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, but at re-establishing their relationship with God feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and one anothercharity will come to blossom in your heart. This comes about through If you feel the healing itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the soul's wounds 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 by the cure fever of impurity, go to the passions through banquet of the Sacraments Angels; and the Church's ascetic practicespotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The Science —St. Cyril of Spiritual Medicine: Orthodox Psychotherapy in ActionAlexandria
“Many passions are hidden in our souls; they can “Don't be brought to light only when the objects that rouse them anxious about what you have, but about what you are present.” —St. Maximus Gregory the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on LoveGreat
“What is holiness? Freedom from every sin and “Teach your child this lesson: the fullness rewards of every virtue. This freedom from sin and this virtuous life evil 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 temporary; the grace rewards of Christ…” Godliness (good character) are eternal.” —St. John Cyprian of KronstadtCarthage
“A wise heart “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 riches can transfer an affliction into provide. If a child learns a trade, or is highly educated for a blessinglucrative profession, all this is nothing compared to the art of detachment from riches; if you want to make your child rich, even sin!! teach him this. He benefits from it: contritionis truly rich who does not desire great possessions, humilityor surrounds himself with wealth, keenness and sympathy for sinnersbut who requires nothing…Don’t think that only monks need to learn the Bible; Children about to go out into the world stand in greater need of Scriptural knowledge.” —H—St.H. Pope Shenouda IIIJohn Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians, Homily 21
“Humility and suffering free “If a man from all sin; for really sets his heart upon the first cuts out spiritual passionswill of God, and God will enlighten a little child to tell that man what is His will. But if a man does not truly desire the will of God, even if he goes in search of a prophet, God will put into the heart of the latter bodilyprophet a reply like the deception in his own heart.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—Abba Dorotheos of Gaza
“Hardships often prepare ordinary “Learn from small children: if a child is attacked by someone in the presence of his parent, he does not respond to the attacker himself, but looks at the parent and cries. He knows that the parent 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 cry. Only in this way will you secure your victory in a clash with evil people for an extraordinary destiny.” —C. S—St. LewisNikolai Velimirovich
“By nature the soul is passionless… so you must believe that the passions do “The man who cries out against evil men, but does not belong to pray for them will never know the soul by naturegrace of God.” —St. Isaac Silouan the SyrianAthonite
“Just as in legal marriage“Begin to pray with those whom you love most, for example, for your children. Then pray for the pleasure derived from procreation cannot exactly be called a gift rest of Godthe family. Then for the people around you, because it is carnal and constitutes a gift then bless the city in which you live…bless the residents of nature and not other cities… Then ask God to calm the hearts of grace (even though that nature has been created by God); even other countries so the knowledge that comes from profane educationthere is no war. Then, even if well usedwhen you have already prayed for the whole world, is a gift of natureyou only have to pray for enemies. And to not miss them, and not of grace-a gift which ask God accords to all without exception through naturefill their hearts with kindness, and which one can develop by exercisethe mind with wisdom. This last point-that no one acquires You see, it without effort and exercise-is an evident proof turns out that it is a question you can pray for enemies too.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of a naturalGeorgia, not a spiritual, gift.Confessor and Fool for Christ
It “True faith is our sacred wisdom that should legitimately be called a gift of God and found in one's heart, not a natural gift, since even simple fishermen mind. People who receive it from on high become, as Gregory have faith in their mind will follow the Theologian says, sons of Thunder, whose word has encompassed the very bounds of the universeantichrist. By this grace, even publicans are made merchants of souls; and even But 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 deathones who have it in their heart will recognize him.” —St. Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defence Gabriel Urgebadze of the Holy HesychastsGeorgia, Philosophy does not save, pages 29-30Confessor and Fool for Christ
“Fiery lust“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 desire for marriageforgiveness of all, sit indifferently with his arms crossed, sexual union … and all the other things thatapathetically watch evil abuse good, as most it increases and destroys people think, his close ones. To indifferently watch the body seeks for - it is not the body as such … but the soul, which through the body seeks pleasure ruin of a close one by their means… Let no one think he who has lost his senses and become a bearer of evil is being driven towards these things and compelled by his own body… nothing other than the body cannot be moved to anything apart from breaking of the soulcommandment of love for one's neighbor.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian—Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“Pornography “Those who dislike and reject their fellow-man are impoverished in their being. They do not know the true God, who is the devil's iconographyall-embracing love.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose of PlatinaSilouan the Athonite
“Just as the virtues are begotten “If we detect hatred in the soulour hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any fault, so we 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 anotherutterly estranged from love for God, 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 willlove for God absolutely precludes us from hating any man.” —St. Gregory of SinaiMaximus the Confessor
“The heart of “One must not harbour anger nor hatred towards 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, prideperson that is hostile towards us. Whilst On the heart of a sick man, or a wounded, oppressed, weary heart, is strengthened in faith, hope, and contrary. You must love, him and is far removed from carnal passionsdo as much good as possible towards him. This is why Following the Heavenly Father, Who careth for teaching of our salvation, chastises us by various sicknesses. The oppression and afflictions of sickness make us turn again to GodLord Jesus Christ.” —St. John Seraphim of KronstadtSarov
“If you wish to live long on the earth, do “As fire is 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 Scriptureextinguished by fire, our flesh so anger is called mortal, ornot conquered by anger, ‘the old man, which but is corrupt according to the deceitful lustsmade even more inflamed.’ 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 But meekness often subdues even the bodymost beastly enemies, ye shall live,’ both here on earth softens them and there in heavenpacifies them.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
One cannot eat and drink and smoke continually“For wherever love disappears, hatred immediately appears in its place. One cannot turn human life into constant eatingAnd if God is love, drinkingthen hatred is the devil. Therefore, and smokingat one who has love has God within himself, although there are men so he who do eat, drink, and smoke almost uninterruptedly; and thus the spirit of evil has turned life into smoking, and made hatred within himself nurtures the mouth, which ought to be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a smoking furnacedevil within him.” —St. The less and lighter the food and drink you take, Basil the lighter and more refined your spirit will become.Great
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 “Do not ask for love from head to toe. I felt that the enemy nested in my sides and in my heart your neighbor, for if you ask and he opposed me stronglydoes not respond, preventing me from saying the prayeryou will be troubled. Instead show your love for your neighbour and you will be at rest, scaring me, paralyzing me and saddening me so will bring your neighbour to the point love.” —St. Dorotheos of sin.Gaza
By smoking an unclean spirit enters a person. Last night after smoking “Love should never be sacrificed for the devil made his presence felt through continuous hiccups which pestered me from the time sake 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 exhaustedsome dogmatic difference. That's why smoking is futile” —St. It is a silly whim, a desecration Nektarios of the lips, a large and unnecessary irritation, a fog that covers voluntarily.Aegina
I came to church, falling on my knees with a contrite heart before “Even the Holy Altar. How could I serve my enemy every day and slightest thought that is not the Lord with zeal? Lord, help me to be free from all evil, because I am an evil man, dirty, full of sinsfounded on love destroys peace.” —Archimandrite Thaddeus Strabulovich
The Lord knows our weaknesses“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. He is ready It has the feet to hasten to forgive us everything, as long as we repent the poor and seek forgivenessneedy. The essential thing is that our hearts not become petrified, that is to stop hesitating to think of our committed sin, It has eyes to immediately repent, see misery and want. It has ears to leave ourselves to hear the mercy sighs and sorrows of Godmen. That is what love looks like.” —St. John Augustine of KronstadtHippo
“Suffering reminds the wise man “Your Lord is love: love Him and in Him all men, as His Children in Christ. Your Lord is fire: do not let your heart be cold, but burn with faith and love. Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith. Your Lord is a Godof mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. If you will be such, but crushes those who forget Himyou will find salvation yourself with everlasting glory.” —St. Mark the AsceticJohn of Kronstadt
“God permits tribulations and adversities “To love our brothers is a need that is endemic to befall people – even the saintly – so that they may persist in humilityour nature. But if we harden our hearts against adversities Contemporary man does not recognize this need, because it is suppressed and tribulationssuffocated by egoism.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev), He also hardens these tribulations against us. On the other hand if we accept them The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in humility and with a contrite heartModern Secular Society, God will mingle tribulation with mercy.” —Stp. Isaac the Syrian54
“But do “Many think that love is a feeling, but this is not the case. It is a state of the will. If love were a feeling it would not be troubled or sada commandment. The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this Naturally, love is accompanied by certain feelings, but in order to prevent them from falling into essence it is a still greater sin – pride. Your temptation state of the will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.” —St—Fr. Seraphim of SarovDaniel Sysoev, How Can I Learn God's Will?
“We must be prepared to accept “Love is – the will bond of Godlife, the mother of the poor and the teacher of the rich. The Lord permits all sorts It is the nurse of things to happen to us contrary to our willorphans, for if we always have it our waythe attendant of the elderly, we will not be prepared for the Kingdom treasure of Heaventhe indigent and the common port of all the afflicted.” —Elder Thaddeus —St. Gregory of Vitovnica, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives"Nyssa
“Similarly, when “I guard you in advance against beasts in the sun goes down and when it risesform of men, when whom you are asleep or awakemust not only not receive, give thanks to Godbut if it is possible not even meet, Who created and arranged all things but only pray for your benefit--them, if perchance they may repent…” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to have you knowthe Smyrnaeans, love, and praise their CreatorA.” —StD. Basil the Great117
“The Lord gives Himself freely“If the Christian recognizes and understands under what condition, for His mercy's sake aloneunder what law he has believed, he will know that he must labor more in the world than others, as he must carry on a greater struggle against the assault of the devil. I did not know this before but now every day Divine Scripture teaches and every hour every minuteforewarns, saying: ‘Son, I see clearly when thou comest to the mercy service of God. The Lord gives peace even , stand in justice, and in fear, and prepare thyself for temptation’ (Sirach 2:1), and again: ‘in thy sorrow endure, and in sleepthy humiliation keep patience, but without God there is no peace for gold and silver are tried in the soulfire’ (Sirach 2:4,5).” —St. Silouan the AthoniteCyprian of Carthage, Mortality
“What should not be heard by little ears“The person who has surrendered himself entirely to sin indulges with enjoyment and pleasure in unnatural and shameful passions – licentiousness, should not be said by big mouthsunchastity, greed, hatred, guile and other forms of vice – as though they were natural. The genuine and perfected Christian, on the other hand, with great enjoyment and spiritual pleasure participates effortlessly and without impediment in all the virtues and all the supranatural fruits of the Spirit – love, peace, patient endurance, faith, humility and the entire truly golden galaxy of virtue – as though they were natural.” —unknown—St. Symeon Metaphrastis
“I am incurably convinced that “When a man is 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 object grace of opening God becomes active in him, he begins to discern the mindpassionate and sinful in himself, as acknowledge them, and to repent and decide to guard 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 here 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 opening the mouth, heart is that the soul begins to shut it again on something solidfeel repulsion and hatred for the passions.” —G—St. K. ChestertonTheophan the Recluse, Unseen Warfare, How the Spiritual Life Proceeds
“What is slander? It is every sort of wicked word we would dare “Until you have eradicated evil, do not speak in front obey your heart; for it will seek more of the person whom we are complaining aboutwhat it already contains within itself.” —St. Anthony Mark the GreatAscetic
“If you want to overcome “Whatever of that which is best has flowed into the spirit of slanderheart, blame we should not pour out without need; for that which has been gathered can be free of danger from visible and invisible enemies only when it is guarded in the person who falls, but interior of the demon that prompted them to sinheart.” —St. John ClimacusSeraphim of Sarov
“You cannot be too gentle“No one professing faith sins, too kindnor does anyone possessing love hate. Shun even The tree is known by its fruit; thus those who profess to appear harsh in your treatment of each otherbe Christ's will be recognized by their actions. Joy, radiant joy, streams from For the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation work 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 awaymatter not of what one promises now, and make much but of persevering to the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above end in the deadly arrows power of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evilfaith.” —St. Seraphim Ignatius of SarovAntioch, Epistle to the Ephesians
“A “Indeed, man may seem wishes to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others, happy even when he is babbling ceaselesslyso lives as to make happiness impossible. 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” —St.” —Abba PoemenAugustine of Hippo
“If your tongue “The confession of evil works is used to chattering, your heart will remain dim and foreign to the luminous intuitions first beginning of the Holy Spiritgood works.” —St. John Augustine of DalyathaHippo
“He “The evil powers love the darkness and tremble at every light, especially at that which belongs to God and to those who does not control his tongue when he is angry, will not control his passions eitherplease Him.” —Abba Hyperchius—St. Nikolai Velimirovich
“Are you angry? Be angry at your sins, beat your soul, afflict your conscience, “There is no benefit to be strict in judgement and gained from a terrible punisher of your own sinspure life when one possesses heretical dogma. And likewise the opposite is true. This Correct dogma is the of no benefit of anger, wherefore God placed it in when one leads a corrupt life. Let usnot think that holding faith alone is alone sufficient for salvation if we do not also show forth a pure life.” —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 “The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated 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 makes a contrite heart; and pride by not judging or despising anyone in the manner lot of the boastful Pharisee (cfreligious works he performs. Luke 18 : 11–12), and by considering oneself But the least of all men. When the intellect one who has been freed in deemed worthy to obtain this way from the passions we have described and been raised up to God, it will henceforth live the life of blessedness, receiving says with conviction the pledge of words which the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 1 : 22). And patriarch Abraham spoke when it departs this life, dispassionate and full of true knowledge, it will stand before the light of the Holy Trinity and he was graced with the divine angels will shine in glory through all eternityappearance, ‘I am but earth and ashes.” ’” —St. John of Damascus, On Maximus the Virtues and the Vices, from The Philokalia: The Complete Text (Vol. 2)Confessor
“We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be “Do not say that ‘mere faith in our ownLord Jesus Christ can save me’, for this is impossible unless you acquire love for Him through works. For in what concerns mere believing, but of our enemy ‘even the devildemons believe and tremble’ (James 2:19). This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part The action of love consists in heartfelt good deeds towards one's neighbor, magnanimity, patience, and sober use of youthings.” —St. Nikon of OptinaMaximus the Confessor
“A sinful soul, full “Our faith then must be different from the faith of passionsdevils. For our faith purifies the heart; but their faith makes them guilty. For they do wickedly, cannot have peace and rejoice in therefore say they to the Lord, even if ‘What have we to do 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 had charge over all earthly riches, even if it ruled over 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 whole worldheart. If ‘Purifying their hearts,’ it was suddenly is said to such a king, happily feasting ‘by faith.’ But by what, and sitting on his thronewhat kind of faith, 'Kingsave that which the Apostle Paul defines when he says, now you will die‘Faith which works by love.’ That faith distinguishes us from the faith of devils,' his soul would be troubled and from the infamous and abandoned conduct of men. ‘Faith,’ he would tremble with fearsays. What faith? ‘That which works by love, ’ and he would see his powerlessnesswhich hopes for what God does promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than this definition. But how many beggars there There are, whose only wealth then in faith these three things. He in whom that faith is which works by love , must necessarily hope for that which Goddoes 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 whoby despairing to see, we fail. That we see not, if you said 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 themattain, and glow with desire, 'You and hunger and thirst. This then is taken in also; and so there will die nowbe faith,' would answer peacefullyhope, 'Let God's will and charity. For how shall there not be donecharity there, since charity is nothing else but 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. Glory For it is the province of faith to the Lordbelieve, that He has remembered me and wants of charity to take me do. For if you believe without love, you do not apply yourself to Himselfgood works; or if you do, it is as a servant, not as a son, through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Therefore I say, that faith purifies the heart, which works by love.'” —St. Silouan Augustine of Hippo, Sermon III on the AthoniteNew Testament, Section XI
“To reach satisfaction in alldesire its possession in nothing.To come “Refuse to possession in alldesire the possession of nothing.To arrive at being alldesire to be nothing.To come listen to the knowledge of alldesire the knowledge of nothing.To come Devil when he whispers to the pleasure you have notyou must go by the way in which : ‘Give me now, and you enjoy not.To come will give tomorrow to the knowledge you have notyou must go by the way in which you know notGod.To come to ’ No, no! Spend all the possession you have notyou must go by the way hours of your life 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 pleasing to cast yourself upon the allGod.For to go from all to the allyou must deny yourself of all Keep in all.And when you come to your mind the possession of thought that after the allpresent hour, you must possess it without wanting anything.Because if will not be given another, and that you desire will have to have something in allyour treasure in God is not purely your allrender a strict account for every minute of this present hour.” —St. John of Theophan the Cross, Ascent of Mount CarmelRecluse
“Man’s will, out “Human life is but of cowardice, tends away from sufferingbrief duration. ‘All flesh is grass, and manall the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, against his own will, remains utterly dominated by the fear flower fades; but the word of deathour God shall stand forever’ (Isa. 40:6). Let us hold fast to the commandment that abides, and, in his desire to live, clings to his slavery to pleasuredespise the unreality that passes away.” —St. Maximus Basil the ConfessorGreat
“Sin makes “We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, 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 a coward, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; but a life in I approach the end and will go the Truth way of Christ makes Him boldall flesh.” —StI was born in order to die. I die that I may live. John ChrysostomRemember me, Homilies on the StatuesO Lord, VIIIin Thy Kingdom!” —St. 2Tikhon of Voronezh
“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 “You should think that there is some other way to the truth besides the Lord Jesuslook downward. It was for that He was born as a manRemember: you are earth and you will return to show men the way. And for this that He was crucified, to make the way plain by His bloodearth.” —St. Nikolai VelimirovichAmbrose of Optina
“See how many and great “Just as a pauper, seeing the evils it has brought on us – this self-justificationroyal treasures, this holding fast to our all the more acknowledges his own willpoverty; so also the spirit, this obstinacy in being our own guide. All this was reading the product accounts of that hateful arrogance towards God. Whereas the products great deeds of humility are self-accusationthe Holy Fathers, distrust involuntarily is all the more humbled 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 way 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 virtuethought.” —St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and SayingsJohn Climacus
“Begin gradually, do “Do not trust yourself. Do not depend on your own understandingshun poverty and affliction, reject your will, and the Lord will give you true understandingfuel that gives wings to prayer.” —St. Macarius of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy—Evagrios the Solitary
“If you deny yourself and constantly renounce your own opinions“Prayer is a refuge for those who are shaken, your own willan anchor for those tossed by waves, your own righteousness-or what amounts to a walking stick for the same thing: infirm, a treasure house for the knowledgepoor, understandinga stronghold for the rich, will, and righteousness of fallen nature-in order to plant within you the knowledge a destroyer of Godsicknesses, the will a preserver of Godhealth. He who can sincerely pray is richer than everyone else, and even though he is the righteousness poorest of God taught us in all. On the holy Gospel by God Himselfcontrary, he who does not have recourse to prayer, then fallen nature will open fire within you and declare even though he sit on a savage war against the Gospel and against God. Fallen spirits will come to king's throne, is the help poorest of fallen natureall…” —St.John Chrysostom
Do not fall into despondency on this account. By your firmness “What is the meaning of the exclamation so often sung in the strugglechurch: ‘Lord, show have mercy upon us’? It is the tenacity lament of your purpose and the stability guilty, condemned sinner, imploring forgiveness of your free willan irritated justice. When thrown downWe are all under the eternal curse and doomed to eternal fire for our innumerable sins, get up. When duped and disarmedit is only the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, rearm yourself afresh. When defeatedinterceding for us before the Heavenly Father, again rush to the fightthat saves us from eternal punishment. It is extremely good for you to see within yourself both your own fall and the fall lament of the whole of mankind. It is essential for you repentant sinner, expressing his firm intention to recognize amend and study this fall in your own experiencebegin a new life, in your heart and mindbecoming for a Christian. It is essential for you to see the infirmity lament of your knowledge the repentant sinner, ready to forgive others, as he himself was and intellectis immeasurably forgiven by God, and the weakness Judge of your willhis deeds.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) John of CaucasusKronstadt, The ArenaMy Life in Christ, chapter 8pg. 406
“The natural passions become “It seems that we do not understand one thing: it is not good in when we return the love of those who struggle whenlove us, wisely unfastening them from yet hate those who hate us. We are not on the things right path if we do this. We are the sons of light and love – the fleshsons of God, use them to gain heavenly thingshis children. For example they can change appetite into the movement As such, we must have His qualities and His attributes 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 love, peace, and sadness into corrective repentance for present evilkindness towards all.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
“How good it “Pride is trying to conquer imagine a world and live in it. Humility receives the passions! After the victory one feels such lightness of heart, such peace and greatness of spirit!world as God created it.” —St. John Sophrony of KronstadtEssex
“He who believes“We suffer because we have no humility and we do not love our brother. From love of our brother comes the love of God. People do not learn humility, fears; he who fears is humble; he who is humble becomes gentleand because of their pride cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, and therefor the whole world suffers.” —St. Maximus Silouan the ConfessorAthonite
“For every humble person is gentle“Some suffer much from poverty and sickness, but are not humbled, and every gentle person so they suffer without profit. But one who is invariably humble. A person humbled will be happy in all circumstances, because the Lord is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan to himriches and joy, and all people will wonder at the beauty of his soul.” —St. Maximus Silouan the ConfessorAthonite
“A humble person lives on earth as if in “My joy, I beg you, acquire the 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 Kingdom of Heaven - always happy, peaceful . This is the way all righteous men were saved and satisfied with everything.” inherited the Heavenly Kingdom…” —St. Anthony Seraphim of OptinaSarov
“Not every quiet man “My will, therefore, He took to Himself, my grief. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine is humblethe will which He called His Own, for as Man He bore my grief, as Man He spake, and therefore said, ‘Not as I will, but every humble 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 sad, for me He is quietheavy.” —StIn my stead therefore, and in me He grieved Who had no cause to grieve for Himself. Isaac the Syrian
“If you wish to be truly humbleNot Thy Wound, then consider yourself lower than allbut mine, worthy of being trampled on by allhurt Thee, Lord Jesus; not Thy Death, but our weakness, even as the Prophet saith: ‘For He is afflicted for you yourself dailyour sakes’--and we, hourly trample upon the law of the Lord, and therefore upon the Lord Himself.” —Stesteemed Thee afflicted, when Thou grievedst not for Thyself, but for me. John of Kronstadt
“You wish to be greatAnd what wonder if He grieved for all, Who wept for one? What wonder if, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation hour of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above itdeath, He is heavy for all, Who wept when at the greater point to raise Lazarus from the building is dead? Then, indeed, He was moved by a loving sister's tears, for they touched His human heart,--here by secret grief He brought it to bepass that, even as His Death made an end of death, and His Stripes healed our scars, the deeper does he dig his foundationso also His Sorrow took away our sorrow.” —St. AugustineAmbrose of Milan, (+397), Ch. 7, Book II, Exposition on the Christian Faith
“A humble person lives on earth as if in the Kingdom “Peace is not absence of Heaven - always happystruggle, peaceful but absence of uncertainty and satisfied with everythingconfusion.” —St. —Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of OptinaSourozh
“In them [the Lives “Humility is perfect quietness of the Saints] heart, 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 tormentto expect nothing, there to wonder at nothing that is no misfortunedone to me, there to feel nothing done against me. It is no miseryto be at rest when nobody praises me, there and when I am blamed or despised. It is no suffering which to have a blessed home in the Lord will not change either gradually or all , where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at once into quitepeace as in a deep sea of calmness, compunctionate joy because of faith in Himwhen all around and above is trouble.” —St. Justin Popovich—Andrew Murray
“A servant of “However great the Lord is he who in body stands before menafflictions we suffer, but in mind knocks at Heaven what are they compared with prayerthe promised future reward.” —St. John ClimacusMacarius the Great
“In “Shun the Christian East – in fact, in the East in general – we praise of men and 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 Fatherwho, made light in spirit by the proximity fear of deaththe Lord, transparent to another kind of lightreprimands you.” —St.Pachomius
A civilization in which one no longer prays is a civilization in which old age has no meaning. One walks backward towards death“When people begin to praise us, pretending let us hurry to be young; it’s an agonizing spectacle, because a wonderful possibility is offered, a journey towards ultimate relinquishmentremember the multitude of ours transgressions, and it is not taken advantage we will see that we are truly unworthy ofthat which they say and do in our honor.” —St.John Climacus
We need old people who pray, who smile, who live with a disinterested love, who marvel“…Don't be frightened at your burden; they alone can show young people that that living is worth the effort, and that oblivion is not the last wordour Lord will help you to carry it.” —St. John Vianney
Every monk whose spiritual practice has born fruit is called in “Every tribulation reveals the East, whatever his age, 'a beautiful old manstate of our will.' 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” —St. And especially the original child is found again: shining with a transfigured shining, the beautiful old man has Mark the eyes of a child.” —Olivier ClémentAscetic
“It “Every affliction tests our will, showing whether it is inclined to good or evil. That is of great significance if there why an unforeseen affliction is called a person who truly prays in test, because it enables a familyman to test his hidden desires.” —St. Prayer attracts God's grace and all the members of Mark the family feel it, even those whose hearts have grown cold. Pray always.” —Elder Thaddeus of VitovnicaAscetic
“Prayer is “Many are the place wiles of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source the enemy to despoil us of constant happinessinner peace, a protection against sadness.so watch!” —St. John ChrysostomTheophan the Recluse
“He who angers you“In every situation confusion is from the devil, controls you!from whom may the Lord shield and protect us.” —Bishop Melchisedek Pleska—St. Leo of Optina
“[The desire for] equality is from “It should be noted that when 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, 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 said: "He lurketh in secret as a lion in his den, that he may ravish the poor; to ravish the Devilpoor, because it comes entirely from envywhen he getteth him into his net."” —Fr—St. Alexander SchmemannIgnaty Bryanchaninov, The Arena, chapter 11, On the Solitary Life
“In your prayer seek only righteousness and the kingdom of God, that is“The devil presents minor sins as insignificant in our eyes, virtue and spiritual knowledge; and everything else 'will because otherwise he would not be given to you' (Matt. 6:33)able lead us into major ones.” —St. Evagrius of PonticusMark the Ascetic
“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“Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, and raises man for it may lead you on to Heavengreater sins.” —St. Ephrem Mark the SyrianAscetic
“Even if we stand at “Obedience is necessary not only for monks, but for all people. Even the Lord was obedient. The proud and self-regarding do not allow grace to live in them, and therefore they never have spiritual peace, while in the obedient soul the very summit grace of virtuethe Holy Spirit enters easily and gives joy and peace. Whoever bears even a little grace in himself joyfully submits himself to all direction. He knows that God directs even the heavens and the netherworld, and himself, and his business, and everything in the world, it and therefore he is by mercy that we shall be savedalways at peace.” —St. John ChrysostomSilouan the Athonite, Writings, XV.2
“The Holy Spirit has accomplishing in each believer “He who honours the work of Christ. Each Christian is a communicant of Lord does what the spiritLord bids. This When he sins or is disobedient, he patiently accepts what comes as something so necessary, that in fact whoever does not have the Spirit is not of Christhe deserves.” —St. Theophan Mark the RecluseAscetic
“The Church “It is nothing but the world on the way a great error to deification; think that you must undertake important and great labors, whether for heaven, or, as the Church'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 world is no longer a tomb but a wombLord's commandments.” —Olivier Clément—St. Theophan the Recluse
“The church “When we are immersed in sins, and our mind is an earthly heaven in which occupied solely with worldly cares, we do not notice the super-celestial God dwells state of our soul. We are indifferent to who we are inwardly, and walks aboutwe persist along a false path without being aware of it. ” —St. Germanus John (Maximovitch) of ConstantinopleShanghai and San Francisco
“Nothing “We have to be aware that what is more abiding than the Church: she being pounded in upon us is your salvationall of one piece; she it has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world … It is your refugeactually an education in atheism.” —StWe have to fight back by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us…” —Fr. John ChrysostomSeraphim Rose of Platina
“There is no need to weep much “I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the destruction of world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a church; after all, each of us, according voice saying to God's mercyme, has or should have his own church - the heart - go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time‘Humility.’” —St. If this church is not well made and is abandoned (without inward prayer), then Anthony the visible church will be of little benefit.” —Archbishop BarlaamGreat
“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 “Learn to the established customlove humility, without attention or feelingfor it will cover all your sins. 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 All sins are read, although he is seldom successful. The third man, wholly concentrated within, stands with his mind repugnant 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 but the heart and any other prayer most repugnant of all is no prayer at all. Prayer-book prayers, your own prayers and very short prayers, all must issue forth from pride of 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 Do not coming from the heart consider yourself learned and if we don't apply the teachings of Orthodoxy in our everyday life. Now more than everwise; otherwise, 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 your effort 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 destroyed and only the Holy Spirit will give us the discernment we need so we can save ourselves. Pray that you your boat will not be deceived! Only through prayer can we receive reach the Holy Spiritharbor empty. 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. YesIf you have great authority, let us do not always converse threaten anyone 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 alsodeath. MoreoverKnow, we grow too accustomed that according to the words of others and grow cold in prayer. And how pleasing this lipsing of our own is, coming from a believing, lovingnature, and thankful heart. It is impossible to explain this; it is only needful to say that when you too are praying susceptible to God with your own words the death and that every soul trembles with joy, it becomes wholly inflamed, vivified, and beatified. You will utter few words, but you will experience such blessedness sheds its body from itself as you would not have obtained saying the longest most touching prayers of others, pronounced out of habit and insincerely.” —Stfinal garment. John of Kronstadt
“Chastisement through In Byzantium there existed an unusual and instructive custom during the trials imposed on us is a spiritual rod, teaching us humility when crowning of the emperors in our foolishness we think too much the Church of ourselvesthe Divine Wisdom [St.” —StSophia]. Thalassios The custom was that when the patriarch placed the Libyancrown on the emperor's head, at the same time, he handed him a silk purse filled with dirt from the grave.
“Goodness is not confirmed without trial. Every Christian is tested by something: one by povertyThen, 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 even the emperor would recall death and to avoid all pride and love of God are testedbecome humble.” —St. Ambrose Anthony the Great, The Prologue of OptinaOchrid
“Sometimes men are tested by pleasure“What made our Lord Jesus Christ lay aside His garments, gird Himself with a towel, and, pouring water into a basin, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions begin to wash the Physician feet of souls administers the remedy according those who were below Him, if not to teach us humility? For it was humility He showed us by the cause example of what He then did. And indeed those who want to be accepted into the passions lying hidden 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 souland body – he will not inherit the kingdom of God.” —St. Maximus Anthony the ConfessorGreat, Early Fathers from the Philokalia, E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, 1954, pp. 45-46
“If you want“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, or rather intendhowever, to take you observe them carefully you will see their crooked steps and see that it is all a splinter out human sham… Internally-oriented people, on account of another persontheir humility, then do not hack are the true stars that move at it 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 stick instead of a lancet, for you will only drive it in deeperhumble light.” —St. John ClimacusPaisios of Mt. Athos
“To exalt oneself is one thing, not “Wouldst thou comprehend the height of God? First comprehend the lowliness of God. Condescend to do so anotherbe humble for thine own sake, and seeing that God condescended to be humble oneself is something less entirely. A man may always be passing judgement on othersfor thy sake too, while another man passes judgement neither on others nor on himself. A third, however, though actually guiltless, may always be passing judgement on himselffor it was not for his own.” —St. John ClimacusAugustine of Hippo
“If “The greatness of a man accuses himselfconsisteth of humility, for in proportion as a man descendeth to humility, he is protected on all sidesbecometh exalted to greatness.” —St—Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol. Poemen2
“One who knows oneself, knows God: and one who knows God is worthy to worship Him as is right“You don't have a soul. Therefore, my beloveds in the Lord, know yourselvesYou are a Soul. You have a body.” —St—C. S. Anthony the GreatLewis
“God “This 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 wisdom and another will not be a decision power 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 : to 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, agitationvictorious through weakness, confusionexalted through humility, darkness, and all the other interior conditions which compose hellrich through poverty.” —St. Symeon the New TheologianGregory Palamas
“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 “You will lose nothing of God and going over them in what you have renounced for the purity of his heart, dissolves into unspeakable gladness and delightLord’s sake. For, according to the words of the Lord, the one who realizes that more has been forgiven him begins in its own time it will return to love moreyou greatly multiplied.” —St. John CassianMark the Ascetic
“If a man's self is not kept clean and bright“God often isolates those whom He chooses, his glimpse of God will be blurredso that we have nowhere to turn except to Him, then He reveals Himself to us.” —C—Fr. S. LewisSeraphim Rose of Platina
“The pure heart sees God as in a mirror“Where can I flee? A place cannot save you because there is no place you can flee from yourself.” —Abba Philemon—St. Nikon of Optina
“The blessedness of seeing God is justly promised to “No one and nothing can harm a man if he does not harm himself; on the pure of heart. For the eye that is unclean would contrary, if one does not be able to see the brightness of the true lightavoid sin, and what would be happiness to clear minds would be a torment to those that are defiledthousand means of salvation will not help him. ThereforeConsequently, let the mists of worldly vanities be dispelled, and only evil is sin: Judas fell while in the inner eye be cleansed presence of all the filth of wickednessSavior, so that but the soul's gaze may feast serenely upon the great vision of Godrighteous Lot was saved while living in Sodom.” —St. Leo the GreatNikon of Optina, November 15-16/28-29, 1922, Optina Monastery, The Orthodox Word, 1980, vol. 16, no. 2 (91), March-April
“God rests within gentle hearts“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. The gentle It persuades him to shun every helpful encounter and merciful shall sit fearless in His regionsstops 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 will inherit Heavenly glorylistlessness. Then it suggests to the soul that we should go away from other people, since they are the cause of its agitation.” —StIt 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. John Climacus
“That 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 word communicates by soundsoul’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 painting shows silently soul’s health is achieved not by representationa 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. Basil the Great, on the 40 Martyrs of SebasteJohn Cassian
“Do not call God just, for His justice is not manifest “A life lived 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 world can be as good,’ He says, ‘to in the evil and to the impious’ (cf. Luke 6:35). How can you call eyes of 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 theeone spent in a monastery. Is thine eye evil because I am good?’ (Matt. 20:12-15). How can a man call It is indeed only the keeping of 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's commandments, the father ran and fell upon his neck and gave him authority over love of 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. Wherea true sense of humility that matter, then, is God's justice, for whilst wherever 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—Elder Macarius of Optina
“God chastises with love“Those who, not for because of the sake rigor 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 possibletheir own ascetic practice, for he does not seek vengeance for himself. This is despise the aim of love. Love's chastisement is for correctionless zealous, but does not aim at retributionthink that they are made righteous by physical works. … The man who chooses to consider God as avenger, presuming that in this manner he bears witness to His justice, But we are even more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the same accuses Him of being bereft of goodnessignorant. Far be it that vengeance could ever be found in that Fountain of love and Ocean brimming with goodness!” —St. Isaac Mark the SyrianAscetic
“Among all God's actions there is none which is not entirely a matter of mercy“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 compassion: this constitutes the beginning forgive, rejecting each and end of His dealings with usevery bad thought within you.” —St. Isaac the SyrianPorphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
“We must hate avarice“A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, self-esteem and sensual pleasure, as mothers of attention to the fact that the vices Lord is before us 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 passionsbefore Him.” —St. Mark Theophan the AsceticRecluse
“‘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 “The roots of evil thoughts are the following: love of richesobvious vices, desire for possessions, bodily pleasure from which comes sexual passion, love of honour which gives rise we keep trying 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; for though living justify 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 our words and how far you are dead to itactions.” —St. Isaac Mark the SyrianAscetic
“Just as a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose “Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts are plunged from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into the cares of this world sin. For man cannot absorb do anything good without the sensation help of the world to comeGod, who sees everything.” —St. Isaac Mark the SyrianAscetic
“We don't understand that happiness is "The higher a person’s position in eternity and not in vanitysociety the more he should help others without ever reminding them of his position.” —Elder Paisios of Mt—Tsar St. AthosNicholas II
“Why do “If you beat the air and run in vain? Every occupation has a purposewant your sins to be absolved by Christ, obviously. Tell me thendon't speak to others about any virtue that you may have, what is the purpose of all the activity of because God will treat our sins the world? Answer, I challenge you! It is vanity of vanity: all is vanitysame way we treat our virtues.” —St. John ChrysostomMark the Ascetic
“The sun shines on all alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance, I am vainglorious when I fast; and when I relax the fast “If any man is able in order power to be unnoticedcontinue in purity, I am again vainglorious over my prudence. When well-dressed I am quite overcome by vaingloryto the honour of the flesh of our Lord, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeatedlet him continue so without boasting; if he boasts, and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly-pearhe is undone; if he become known apart from the bishop, a spike stands uprighthe has destroyed himself.” —St. John ClimacusIgnatius of Antioch
“Watch your heart during all your life — examine it, listen to it, and see what prevents its union with “Guarding the most blessed Lord. Let this be for you mouth wakes up the science of all sciences, and with God’s help, you will easily observe what estranges you from conscience to God, and what draws you towards Him and unites you to Him. It if it is the evil spirit more than anything with knowledge 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 pridea man keeps silence.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in ChristIsaac the Syrian
"Have you ever observed the life of the heart? Try “Silence is more profitable than speech, for as 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 scalebeen said, and you begin to envy him; you think ‘The words 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 heartwise men are heard even in quiet.” ’” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San FranciscoBasil the Great
“As water and fire oppose one another when combined“Never give your opinion if you are not asked for it, so are self-justification and humility opposed to one anothereven if you think that your view is the best.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Josemaria Escriva
“Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a “Not only for every idle word must man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his deathgive an account, 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 eyesfor every idle silence.” —St. John ClimacusAmbrose of Milan
“Christians“Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, above all menthat without listening speaking no longer heals, 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 choicethat without distance closeness cannot cure.” —St. John Chrysostom—Henri Nouwen
“I have seen pride lead to humility. And I remembered him who said: Who hath known the mind of “Let your mouth continually administer blessing; then the Lord? The pit and offspring of conceit is a fall; but a fall is often an occasion scorn of humility for those who are willing to use it to their advantageanyone will never hurt you.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 15, Section 38Isaac the Syrian
“Humility “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 only thing that no devil can imitategrace of the Holy Spirit settles where there are spiritual melodies, sanctifying both mouth and soul.” —St. John ClimacusChrysostom
“An angel fell from Heaven without any other passion except pride“A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and so we may ask whether seething thoughts. For, it is possible to ascend to Heaven by humility alone, without any other softens the wrath of the virtuessoul, and what is unbridled it chastens.” —StA psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. John ClimacusWho, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God?
“Run 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 pridetoils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for it is the elders, a passion more treacherous than any other.” —Stmost fitting ornament for women. John Chrysostom
“Pride more than anything elseIt 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, deprives people the voice of both their good deeds and help from Godthe Church. Where there It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is no humility, pride takes its placein accordance with God.” —St. Macarius of Optina
“‘Exile For, a psalm is separation from everything in order to keep the mind inseparable from God. An exile loves and produces continual weeping.’ From Paradisework of angels, a heavenly institution, we must become exiled from the world if we hope to returnspiritual incense.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose of PlatinaBasil the Great
“Prayer is superior “Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to all good works. It begets tears paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of repentanceheaven, greatly contributes our return to peace in one’s thoughtsthe adoption of sons, leads one our liberty to think only call God our Father, our being made partakers of God Who is the ultimate Peacegrace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and brings forth the love , in a word, our being brought into a state of all ‘fullness of God. Prayer alone purifies blessing,’ both in this world and in the rational part world to come, of all the soul good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the vision reflection of Godtheir grace as though they were already present, Who causes we await the purification of the angels; it also preserves the desiring part of the soul in purity before Godfull enjoyment.” —St. Kallistos Telikoudes, On Basil the Practice of Hesychasm, The Philokalia, Vol. 5Great
“Day and night I pray the Lord for love“Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and the Lord gives me tears to weep for the whole worldcompassion. 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” —St. Yet do I begin again to entreat forgiveness of the Lord, and Mark the Lord in His mercy forgives me, a sinner.Ascetic
Brethren, before the face “The source of my God I write: Humble your hearts, self-delusion and while yet on this earth you will see demonic deception is the mercy of the Lord, and know your Heavenly Creator, and your souls will never have their fill of love.” false thought…” —St. Silouan the AthoniteIgnatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus
“Here are those “Spiritual deception is the state of whom I speak all men without exception, and who are called heretics it has been made possible by me. They are the ones who say that in fall of our present age there is no one in our midst who is able to observe the commandments and be like the holy fathers…original parents. Those who declare this is impossible have fallen not into one particular heresy but into all All of them, so us are subject to speak – a heresy surpassing all others in its impiety and greatest blasphemyspiritual deception. They are buried underneath it…. The one who speaks in such a manner turns all Awareness of Scripture upside down…. These antichrists affirm, ‘It is impossible, impossible’. Why then this fact 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 greatest protection against it. For they were men like usLikewise, 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 greatest spiritual deception of 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 impossibleconsider oneself free from it.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian, The Discourses, Discourse XXIX: The Heresy Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of PusillanimityCaucasus
“…The ambition of men, who have no fear of God, rushes into high posts, and exalted office is now publicly known as “Knowing the prize perpetual impurity 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 our spiritual state must bring us humility of the past. There is a complete lack of men shepherding the Lord’s flock with knowledgeheart.” —Tonia Howell
Ambitious men are constantly throwing away the provision for the poor on their own enjoyment “Where there is pride and at 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 same time one has 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 speakvision – it can not be from God, for those who have reached power but 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 means – from 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 infamyevil one.” —Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev
All the while unbelievers laugh; men of weak faith are shaken; faith is uncertain; souls “If you are drenched silent in ignorancea good way, because adulterators 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 the word imitate the truth. The mouths of true believers are dumbChrist, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, 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 or imprint itself in the deserts with sighs and tears to their Lord in heavenmind... Even Be attentive, that you must have heard what may not come to believe something, even if it is going on in most of our citiessomething good, how our people with wives and children and even our old men stream out be not captivated by it before the walls, consulting those who are experienced and offer their prayers in are able to analyze the open airmatter, putting up so that you do not suffer harm...God is not displeased with all the inconvenience person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of the weather with great patiencefear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and waiting for help from the Lord.” testing…” —St. Basil the Great, Letter 92, To the Italians and GaulGregory of Sinai
“He who “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 his heart is proud deceiving men, we can conceal nothing from God. Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of his tears our souls and secretly condemns those who do not weep is like a to guard the purity of our bodies with all fervor. Ye are the temple of God, says the divine Apostle Paul; If any man who asks defile the king for a weapon against his enemy and then commits suicide with ittemple of God, him shall God destroy.” —St. John ClimacusNicholas of Myra
“Do not grow conceited if you shed tears when you pray“Those who suffer for the sake of true devotion receive help. For it is Christ who has touched your eyesThis must be learnt through obeying God's law and our own conscience.” —St. Mark the Ascetic
“And here also we have diligently to consider, that it is far more secure “When you are wronged and your heart and safe that every man should do that for himself whiles he is yet alivefeelings are hardened, 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 corruptionbe distressed, 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, has happened providentially; but poured into be glad and reject the mouths of the faithful. Wherefore let us hereby meditate what manner of sacrifice this isthoughts that arise within you, ordained for us, which for our absolution doth always represent the passion of knowing that if they are destroyed at the stage when they are only Son of God: for what right believing Christian can doubtprovocations, that in the very hour of the sacrificetheir evil consequences will be cut off, at whereas if the words of the Priest, thoughts persist the heavens evil may 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 expected to heavenly, and that one thing is made of visible and invisible?develop.” —St. Gregory the Great, Dialogues of St. Gregory Mark the Great, Book 4, ch. 58Ascetic
“… One must clean the royal house “Struggle to become immortal from every impurity and adorn it with every beautynow, then by dying here on the king may enter into itearth to your bad self. In a similar this 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 virtueyou won't be sad, but you'll be very glad, water it living together 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 bodyChrist.” —St. Paisius Velichkovsky, ‘Field Flowers’—Elder Porphyrios
“God, Who is by nature good and dispassionate, loves all men equally as His handiwork. But “On the one hand He glorifies the virtuous man because in his will he is united to God. At the same timeBeing, in His goodness he is merciful to eternally Being of the sinner and by chastising him in this life brings him back to the path of virtue. SimilarlyEternal Being, a man of good and dispassionate judgment also loves all men equally. He loves the virtuous man because of his nature above every cause and word…And on the probity of his intention; and other hand for our sake he loves the sinneris also Becoming, too, because of his nature and because in his compassion he pities him for foolishly stumbling in darknessso that He who gives us our being might also give us our well-being.” —St. Maximus Gregory the ConfessorTheologian, Oration 38
“I do not know how I came into the world; Nor what the things here in it are. What “For this He assumed my sight isbody, O my God, And what the objects that I see, I cannot tell. How all we men are vain, And have no proper judgement may become capable of reality! Yesterday at least I came and tomorrow I shall go, And I think to be immortal yonder. That Thee are His Word; taking my God I confess to everyoneflesh, He gives me His Spirit; and so He bestowing 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 onereceiving, He prepares for me most miserable; Disburden all the sickness treasure of Life. He takes my soul Crushed, alas and broken into bits. By vanityflesh, by foolish arrogance. Grant me to be humble, grant sanctify me a hand of help; And cleanse my soul’s pollution. And give He gives me tears of repentance; Love’s tears, tears of liberty; Tears cleansing my mind’s darkness. And filling His Spirit that He may save 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 LifeJohn Chrysostom
“Ask with tears“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, seek angels communicate with obediencemen without fear, knock and men now hold speech with patienceangels. For thus he who asks receivesWhy is this? Because God is now on earth, and he who seeks findsman in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, and to him so that knocketh it shall be openedHe Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive.” —St. John ClimacusChrysostom, Homily on the Nativity
“The passions “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 flesh may day of good will;Let us not be mean.In this day of peace --Let us not be described as belonging 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 left handDivinity took upon himself the seal of our humanity, self-conceit as belonging In order for humanity to be decorated by the right handseal of Divinity.” —St. Maximus Isaac the Syrian, Homily on the ConfessorNativity
“When “This being He placed in Paradise, whatever the soul leaves Paradise may have been, having honoured him with the gift of Free Will (in order that God might belong to him as the bodyresult of his choice, no less than to Him who had implanted the enemy advances seeds of it), to attack ittill 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, fiercely reviling it and accusing 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 its sins in a harsh , and terrifying mannerwhich one he might not touch. The devout soulThis latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, even though 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 past Serpent…But it has often would have been wounded by singood 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 frightened by good for those who are yet tender, and have need of milk. (Hebrews 5:12) But when through the enemy’s attacks Devil's malice and threats. Strengthened by the Lordwoman's caprice, winged by joy, filled with courage by to which she succumbed as the holy angels that guide itmore tender, and encircled and protected by which she brought to bear upon the light of faithman, it answers as she was the enemy with great boldness: ‘Fugitive from heavenmore apt to persuade, wicked slavealas for my weakness! (for that of my first father was mine), what have I he forgot the Commandment which had been given to do with you? You have no authority over mehim; Christ (Genesis 3:5) he yielded to the Son of God has authority over me baleful fruit; and over all things. Against Him have I sinnedfor his sin he was banished, before Him shall I stand on trialat once from the Tree of Life, having His Precious Cross as a sure pledge of His saving love towards me. Flee and from meParadise, destroyer! You have nothing to do with and from God; and put on the servants coats of Christ.’ When skins…that is, perhaps, the soul says all this fearlesslycoarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. This was the devil turns first thing that he learned – his backown shame; (Romans 1:22-31) and he hid himself from God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death, howling aloud and unable to withstand the name cutting off of Christ. Then the soul swoops down on the devil from abovesin, attacking him like a hawk attacking a crowin order that evil may not be immortal. After this it Thus his punishment is brought rejoicing by the holy angels to the place appointed changed into a mercy; for it is in accordance with its inward statemercy, I am persuaded, that God inflicts punishment.” —St. TheognostosGregory the Theologian, Oration 38, XII, On Theophany, On the Practice Birth of our Saviour (On the Virtues, Philokalia, Vol. 2Nativity of Christ)
“If you wish “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 savedwondered at, O my soulthen, if innocence merited to go first on know the most sorrowful path which has been indicated here, Grace of Christ before power did and simple country manners merited to enter into recognize the Heavenly Kingdom and receive eternal life – then refine your flesh, taste voluntary bitterness, and endure difficult sorrows, as all Truth before proud dominion. For what the Saints tasted and endured. And when a man is preparing himself and gives himself Shepherds recognized the command rulers were unable to endure for recognize; hence the Blessed Apostle says: 'What none of the sake rulers of God all sorrows and pain which come upon himthis age recognized, then light ' and painless seem for him all sorrows, unpleasantnesses and attacks of devils and menso forth. He does not fear death, and nothing can separate such a one from At the love Birth of Christ. Have you heard, my beloved soultherefore, the Angels rejoiced together with the Shepherds, giving God high glory, for in close and even joined choruses, so to speak, how they preached the Holy Fathers spent their lives? O my soul! Imitate them at least a littleglory of God.” —St. Paisius VelichkovskyMaximus of Turin, Homily on the Nativity, sec. 2
“If “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 rebuke yourself, accuse yourselfmy peace I give unto you’, He says to the apostles at the Mystical Supper, and judge yourself before God for your sins‘not as the world giveth, with a sensitive consciencegive I unto you’. And appearing after His Resurrection, even for this you will again He says: ‘Peace be justifiedunto you’.If you are sorrowful for your sins‘For he is our peace’, or you weep, or sigh, your sigh will not be hidden from the holy Apostle Paul says concerning Him and: ‘He came to the earth to reconcile man unto God by the cross, as Sthaving slain the enmity thereby. John Chrysostom saysAnd having come, ‘If you only lament for your sinsHe preached peace to those afar off and to those near, then He will receive this for your salvationbecause through Him we both have access unto the Father’.’” —St. Moses of Optina
“A good heart produces good thoughtsThe 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: its thoughts correspond ‘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 what it stores up 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 itselfhim. 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. Thalassios John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Epistle on the LibyanNativity, 1962
“Fasting “I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is for to be found solely in the purification fortunes of the soul and bodyman whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth.” —St. John Chrysostom—Archimandrite Sophrony
“Fasting “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 wonderfulno open and bloody persecution of faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, because it tramples our sins like represents a dirty weed, while it cultivates far greater danger to a Christian’s soul by drawing the Christian wholly down to earth and raises truth like a flowermaking him forget heaven.” —St. Basil the Great
“Fasting The entire modern culture, which is aimed at purely worldly achievements, and the mother resultant whirlwind of health; the friend of chastity; the partner everyday life, keep a person in such a state of humilityconstant bustle and absent-mindedness that he has no opportunity for any soul-searching, and spiritual life within him gradually becomes extinguished.” —St. Symeon the New theologian—Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“Many fast with body, “In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as Transcendental Meditation I am but do not fast with soul: many fast from food repeating the age-old message of the Church … The way of the Fathers requires firm faith and drinklong patience, whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, but do not fast from evil thoughtsincluding even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, actions by force and wordsspeedily, and what 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 the benefit deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of it?! Many fast a day all that is transitory and two morerelative in order to cross some invisible threshold, but from angerto realize his eternal origin, resentment and vengeance will not fast; many refrain from winehis identity with the Source of all that exists, meat in order to return and fish, but merge with their tongue they eat people similar to themselveshim, and what is the benefit nameless transpersonal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to suprarational contemplation of it?! There are those who do not reach for food with their handsbeing, but provide them for briberyto experience a certain mystical trepidation, embezzlement and robberyto know the state of silence of mind, and what is when mind goes beyond the benefit boundaries of it?! True time and true fasting is abstaining from every evilspace. If you want, Christian, to benefit In such like states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from your fastingthe continually changing phenomena of the visible world, fast carnallymay even have a certain experience of eternity. But the God of Truth, fast mentallythe Living God, and fast always!is not in all this.
When you instruct fasting to your stomachIt is man's own beauty, impose it on your evil thoughts and lusts. Let your mind fast from vain thoughts and memory from resentmentcreated in the image of God, that is contemplated and your will from evil wantingseen as divinity, and your eyes from evil lookingwhereas he himself still continues within the confines of his creatureliness. This is a vastly important concern. Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity, let your ears fast from shameful songs and whispers The tragedy of slander, let your tongue fast from defamation, condemnation, blasphemy, the matter liesin the fact that man sees a mirage which, flatteryin his longing for eternal life, filth and every empty and rotten wordhe 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. Let your hands fast from Man is then drawn to the robbery idea of another's goods, and your feet from self-deification—the cause of the original Fall. The man who is blinded by the clothing imaginary majesty of evil workwhat he contemplates has in fact set his foot on the path to self-destruction. Repent and, abstaining 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 every evil word, deed and thought, learn every virtue and you which we were called by the will always fast before Godof the Creator.” —St—Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. Tikhon of ZadonskAthos, His Life is Mine, 115-116
“As salt “Blessed is needed the mind that prays, worships God without imagination, for all kinds 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 foodthe mind, so humility which they called the ‘soul cuttlefish with eight tentacles’ or ‘octopus’. Imagination is needed also called the ‘bridge for all kinds of virtuesdemons’. 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.” —StLet's not forget that everything limited, represented is not God. Isaac In the meantime, if we stop at the images, we are being deceived and we can neither pass through the Syriannarrow gate to the heart nor reach God.” —Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie) of Romania
“Virtue is not the manifestation of many and various works performed by the body“Yes, one must disregard doubts, but a heart that is most wise in its hope just like lustful and unites a right aim blasphemous thoughts; pay no attention to godly worksthem. OftenDisregard them, and your enemy, the mind can accomplish that which is good without bodily worksdevil, but will not be able to withstand it; he'll leave you, since he's proud and cannot bear the body without wisdom of disdain. But if you enter into conversation with them – since the heart can gain no profit for all it may dolustful thoughts, blasphemies and doubts are not yours – he'll bombard you, swamp you, kill you.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 40—Elder Barsanuphius of Optina
“Let it be known “Christ said, 'I came not to you that if in your life you have mastered every virtue send peace, but a sword' and every good deed such as mercy, prayer, fast'division'. Christ summoned us to war on the plane of the spirit, and other virtues but have no humility in you, your toil will be in vain. For humility in all these virtues our weapon is 'the solid foundation. Without it, we cannot master any sword of the virtues and all these virtues will become impure, filthySpirit, which is the word of God.' Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are tied hand and discarded before God because they were foot. We dare not sown strike with humility 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 loveonly enemy of mankind death. Our fight is the fight for universal resurrection.” —St—Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. John ChrysostomAthos, His Life is Mine
“Fasting “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 mother public thoroughfare, or in the midst of healththe 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 friend of chastityface; 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 partner court demands an answer, boldly say that he blasphemed the King of humility.” angels, for if those who blaspheme the earthly king are to be punished, how much more insulting is it to Him (the King)…” —St. Symeon John Chrysostom, Conversations on Statues, address to the New theologianpeople of Antioch, Conversation 1, pt. 1 12
“What can sin do where there is penitence? And “I ask you to try something. If someone grieves you, or dishonors you, or takes something of what use is 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 where there is pride?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.” —Abba Elias—St. Silouan the Athonite, Writing, IX.21
“Pride “Where there is poverty of the soul, which imagines itself to pride there cannot be richgrace, and being if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance in darknessprayer. The soul is then tormented by evil thoughts and does not understand that she must humble herself and love her enemies, thinks it has lightfor there is no other way to please God.” —St. John ClimacusSilouan the Athonite
“Modern society calls “The whole therapeutic method of the beggar bum Orthodox Church is not aimed simply at making human beings morally and panhandler socially balanced, but at re-establishing their relationship with God and gives him one another. This comes about through the healing of the bumsoul's rush. But wounds and the cure of the Greeks used to say that people in need are passions through the ambassadors of Sacraments and the godsChurch's ascetic practice.” —Peter Maurin—Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The Science of Spiritual Medicine: Orthodox Psychotherapy in Action
“Every family should have a room where Christ “The acquisition of of holiness is welcome 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 person of world, since the hungry commandment about perfection and thirsty strangerholiness is given not only to monks, but to all people.” —St. John Chrysostom—Hieromartyr Onuphry Gagaluk
“Who is the greedy man? One for whom plenty does not suffice. Who defrauds others? One who keeps for himself what belongs “Many passions are hidden in our souls; they can be brought to everyone. Aren’t you greedy, don’t you defraud, light only when you keep for yourself what was given to give away? When someone steals a man’s clothes, we call him a thiefthe objects that rouse them are present. Shouldn’t we give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?” —St. Basil Maximus the GreatConfessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love
“The bread you do not use “What is holiness? Freedom from every sin and the bread fullness of the hungryevery virtue. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do 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 wear are by their own strength, but by the shoes grace of one who is barefootChrist…” —St. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts John of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.” —St. Basil the GreatKronstadt
“You are not making “A wise heart can transfer an affliction into a gift of what is yours to the poor manblessing, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be even sin!! He benefits from it: contrition, humility, keenness and sympathy for the common use of everyonesinners. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich” —H.” —StH. Ambrose of MilanPope Shenouda III
“Do not consider your riches as belonging to yourselves alone“Humility and suffering free a man from all sin; open wide your hand to those who are in needfor the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.” —St. Cyril of AlexandriaMaximus the Confessor
“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“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” —St—C. Basil the GreatS. Lewis
“If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at “Christ did not come into the church doorworld to eliminate suffering, you will Christ has not find Him in even come into the chaliceworld to explain it. Rather, He came to fill human suffering with His presence.” —St—Fr. John ChrysostomGeorge Calciu
“A rich “The soul of man is not one who has muchimpure at birth, but one who gives much. For what he gives away remains his foreverpure.” —St. John Chrysostom—Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos
“A poor man when he reaches out to “By nature the soul is passionless… so you does must believe that the passions do not beg, but offers you belong to the kingdom of Godsoul by nature.” —Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania—St. Isaac the Syrian
“No one “Just as in creation legal marriage, the pleasure derived from procreation cannot exactly be called a gift of God, because it is rich but he carnal and constitutes a gift of nature and not of grace (even though that fears 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 truly poor but he an evident proof that lacks the truthit is a question of a natural, not a spiritual, gift.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian
“Do you fast? Then feed the hungryIt 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, give drink to as Gregory the thirstyTheologian says, visit the sicksons of Thunder, do not forget whose word has encompassed the imprisoned, have pity on very bounds of the tortureduniverse. By this grace, comfort those who grieve even publicans are made merchants of souls; and who weepeven the burning zeal of persecutors is transformed, be mercifulmaking them Pauls instead of Sauls, humble, kind, calm, patient, sympathetic, forgiving, reverent, truthful turning away the earth to attain ‘the third heaven’ and pious, so that ‘hear ineffable things’. By this true wisdom we too can become conformed to the image of God might accept your fasting and might plentifully grant you the fruits of repentancecontinue to be such after death.” —St. John ChrysostomGregory Palamas, Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts, Philosophy does not save, pages 29-30
“The Lord Himself said in “We know that even the Gospel: ‘The last shall be first facts that a marriage means relations between a man and a woman and that a choice of gender is not an intellectual and the first, last’ (Matt 20:16). Thusvolitional one, may but a Divine mercy shine forth with His love upon the poor, so that it may make great ones from the littlechoice, and that from the weak it may make co-inheritors with His Only Begotten Sonare now being disputed. For it exhalts the poverty of Children are already being taught this world to Heaven. They are told: ‘You should choose yourself whether you are a boy or a girl’; that is, to which the earthly kingdom cannot risewhat was founded by God is being destroyed by people, so that ostensibly for the rustic comes to the place where he who wears the purple does not merit to comesake of freedom.” —St Gregory of Tours, Via Patrum
“In all your undertakings But then, what is freedom like? If freedom ruins the Divine plan of the world and in every way of lifemankind, whether you are living in obedience, or are then it is not submitting your work to anyonefreedom, whether in outward or in spiritual mattersbut slavery. And we know that the devil enslaves a man, let it because the most dangerous captivity is to be your rule and practice to ask yourself: Am I really doing this not free from sin, when a person cannot live in accordance with God's will?his or her calling.” —St. John Climacus—His Holiness Patriarch Kirill
“Those who submit to “Fiery lust, the Lord with simple heart will run desire for marriage, sexual union … and all the good race. If they keep their minds on a leashother things that, as most people think, they will the body seeks for - it is not draw the wickedness of 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 demons onto themselvesbody cannot be moved to anything apart from the soul.” —St. John ClimacusSymeon the New Theologian
“A hypocrite “Often this demon [of lust] goes away altogether for a while, and one can have a false sense of security that one is someone who teaches his neighbor something he makes no effort ‘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 do himselfa life above these sins.” —St—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene, p. Poemen803
“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 “Pornography is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteousdevil's iconography.” —Abba Poemen the Great—Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
“At meals don't speak about food: that“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 vulgar bias… For our inner disposition is capable of operating in one way or another, since it bears within itself both virtue and unworthy of you. Speak about something noble -- of vice, the first as its natural birthright, the second as the soul or result of the mind self-- and you incurred proclivity of our moral will have dignified this duty.” —Josemaria Escriva—St. Gregory of Sinai
“When someone learns to acknowledge every man as being better than himself“Afflictions, then he has attained humilityillness, 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. Sisoes the GreatJohn Chrysostom
“It is “The heart of a spiritual gift from perfectly healthy man becomes weakened for faith and love to God for 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 perceive his sinsGod.” —St. Isaac the SyrianJohn of Kronstadt
“The man who “Gluttony says that her child is deemed worthy to see himself is greater than he who is deemed worthy to see angelswar against chastity.” —St. Isaac the SyrianJohn Climacus
“The truly blessed are not “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 ones who can work miracles or see angels; body, since tobacco weakens the soul, and increases and strengthens the truly blessed are passions, darkens the ones who can see their own sinsmind, and destroys physical health with a slow death.” —St. Anthony Ambrose of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the GreatHoly Elders of Optina, pg. 70
“The nearer “If you wish to live long on the earth, do not hurry to live in a man draws carnal manner, to satiate yourself, to get drunk, to smoke, to commit fornication, to Godlive in luxury, the more he sees himself a sinnerto indulge yourself. It was when Isaiah The carnal way of life constitutes death, and therefore, in the prophet saw GodHoly Scripture, that he declared himself ‘a 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 unclean lips.’” —Stthe body, ye shall live,’ both here on earth and there in heaven. Mateos
“The condition 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 peace among men is that each should keep evil has turned life into smoking, and made the mouth, which ought to be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a consciousness of his own wrongdoingsmoking furnace.” —StThe less and lighter the food and drink you take, the lighter and more refined your spirit will become. Silouan the Athonite
“The way to perfection Smoking is a whim. From this comes foot pain and depression. That the devil is through the realization father of the cigarette I especially figured out today: something impacted negatively upon me from head to toe. I felt that we are blindthe enemy nested in my sides and in my heart and he opposed me strongly, naked preventing me from saying the prayer, scaring me, paralyzing me and poor.” —Stsaddening me to the point of sin. Theophan the Recluse
“The perfect By smoking an unclean spirit enters a person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear Last night after smoking the devil made his presence felt through continuous hiccups which pestered me from the time of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of Cherubic Hymn until a promised reward. The perfect person does good through lovelittle before Holy Communion. His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefitMy nerves were stretched, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing goodmy voice was ‘escaping’ me, he does it with all his energies I was shivering and in all that he doesI was exhausted. That's why smoking is futile. He It is not interested in fame, or a good reputationsilly whim, or a human or divine reward. The rule desecration of life for the lips, a perfect person is to be in the image large and likeness of Godunnecessary irritation, a fog that covers voluntarily.” —St. Clement of Alexandria
“Every day at nightfall, before sleep comes upon you, excite the judgment The taste of your conscience, demand an account from it, and whatever evil counsels you may have taken during the day … pierce them, tear them a cigarette I cannot compare to anything but something diabolical. And how do I know this smoking? How do I allow myself to pieces, and do penance for them.” —St. John Chrysostomsomething like this?
“As I became more wretched you drew nearer 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 meto be free from all evil, because I am an evil man, dirty, full of sins.” —St. Augustine
“Sin The Lord knows our weaknesses. He is the fruit 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 free will. There was a time when our committed sin did not exist, to immediately repent, and there will be a time when it will not existto leave ourselves to the mercy of God.” —St. Isaac the SyrianJohn of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
“Prove your love and zeal for wisdom “Suffering is an indication of another Kingdom which we look to. If being a Christian meant being ‘happy’ in actual deedsthis life, we wouldn't need the Kingdom of Heaven.” —St—Fr. Callistus XanthopoulosSeraphim Rose of Platina
“Without love, deeds, even “Suffering reminds the most brilliantwise man of God, count as nothingbut crushes those who forget Him.” —Thérèse de Lisieux—St. Mark the Ascetic
“Do not leave unobliterated any fault“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, however smallHe also hardens these tribulations against us. On the other hand if we accept them in humility and with a contrite heart, for it may lead you on to greater sinsGod will mingle tribulation with mercy.” —St. Mark Isaac the AsceticSyrian
“Everyday I lay “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 foundation for building my repentance, still greater sin – pride. Your temptation will pass and again with my own hands I demolish ityou will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.” —St. Ephrem the SyrianSeraphim of Sarov
“Having fulfilled a commandment“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, expect temptations; because love toward Christ is tested by difficultieswe will not be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven.” —St. Mark the Ascetic—Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives"
“Do not be surprised that “Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you draw near are asleep or awake, give thanks to virtueGod, grievous Who created and intense tribulations come arranged all things for your benefit--to have you on all sides: for virtue is not considered virtueknow, love, if it does not involve hard workand praise their Creator.” —St. Isaac Basil the Syrian, Directions on Spiritual Training, The PhilokaliaGreat
“A certain brother had succumbed to the sin of lust“The Lord gives Himself freely, repeating this sin every day, but every day he would also beseech the Lordfor His mercy's mercy, with tears and prayerssake alone. By acting I did not know this way, his bad habit always fooled him and he would repeat the sin again; before but again, after sinning, he would go to the Church now every day andevery hour every minute, upon seeing I see clearly the holy and venerable icon mercy of our God. The Lord Jesus Christgives peace even in sleep, 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 pleasuresbut without God there is no peace in the soul. My face is not worthy to look upon Your holy icon, so that my heart might be consoled” —St.’Silouan the Athonite
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, “What should not 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 repeatedheard by little ears, should not for one, two or three years, but for ten and morebe said by big mouths.” —unknown
Brothers, can you see “I am incurably convinced that the immeasurable tolerance and infinite benevolence object of opening the Lord? How He shows forbearance and kindness every timemind, by enduring our gross iniquities and sins? What is more staggering and provokes our wonder with regard to God's wealth as of compassionopening the mouth, is that although our brother kept promising and would agree to desist from that sin, he proved himself a liarshut it again on something solid.” —G. K.Chesterton
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 “What is slander? It is every sort 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 word we would dare not speak in front 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 person whom we 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 favorcomplaining about. 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” —St.’ As Anthony the devil was saying these, all choked up by his bitterness, flames and smoke came out of his nostrils.Great
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 “If you are trying want to grab and swallow this man who found refuge in overcome the infinite mercy spirit of My compassion? Can you present any sins that are heavier than the precious blood which I shed for this manslander, on blame not the Cross? Mark well, that My crucifixion and My death forgave his sins. Besides, you didn't send him away when he headed towards sinperson who falls, 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 demon that prompted 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 dismayedsin. Because I did not come to call the righteous to repent, but the sinners” —St.’John Climacus
As soon as these words were heard“You cannot be too gentle, the devil stood fixed too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in placeyour treatment of each other. Joy, tremblingradiant joy, unable to escapestreams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. And All condemnation is from the voice spoke again: ‘Listen, impostor, with regard to what you said about me being unfair : devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because I am fair to everyonewe shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, and we see such a swamp that nothing in whichever condition I might find them, I will judge them accordinglyanother can equal it. Look at this manThat is why we turn away, I found him in repentance and returning back, fallen on his knees in front make much of the faults of others. Instead of Mecondemning others, and your conquerorstrive to reach inner peace. I will therefore accept him and save his soulKeep silent, because he did not despair about his salvationrefrain from judgment. And This will raise you, when seeing above the honor that I grant himdeadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will impale yourself out shield your glowing hearts against all evil.” —St. Seraphim of envy and be put to shame.’Sarov
And just as the brother lay there“A man may seem to be silent, prone and weepingbut if his heart is condemning others, he gave up his soul; instantly, a fury as great as a fire fell upon the devil, and it consumed himis babbling ceaselessly. Therefore my brothers let us learn But there may be another who talks from this incident of God's immeasurable compassion morning till night and philanthropyyet he is truly silent, what a kind God we havethat is, and he says nothing that we must never despair or is not tend to our salvationprofitable.” —St. Amphilochios, On Masturbation and the Futility of Despair—Abba Poemen
“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand “If your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honor your patience. While a wound tongue is still fresh and warm it is easy used to healchattering, but old, neglected your heart will remain dim and festering ones are hard foreign 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 possiblethe luminous intuitions of the Holy Spirit.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 5, Section 30Dalyatha
“The life of the righteous was radiant. How did it become radiant if it wasn’t by patience? Love patience“He who does not control his tongue when he is angry, O monk, as the mother of couragewill not control his passions either.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian—Abba Hyperchius
“Seek “Are you angry? Be angry at your sins, beat your soul, afflict your conscience, be strict in everything the deep meaningjudgement and a terrible punisher of your own sins. All This is the events that take place around benefit of anger, wherefore God placed it in us and with us have their meaning. Nothing happens without a cause…” ” —St. Nektary of OptinaJohn Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 2
“…should we fall, we “These eight passions should not despair be destroyed as follows: gluttony by self-control; unchastity by desire for God and so estrange ourselves from longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the Lord's poor; anger by goodwill and love. For if He so choosesfor all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, He can deal mercifully perseverance and offering thanks to God; self-esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with our weakness. Only we should a contrite heart; and pride by not cut ourselves off from Him judging or feel oppressed when constrained despising anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee (cf. Luke 18 : 11–12), and by His commandmentsconsidering 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, nor should we lose heart when we fall short receiving the pledge of our goal…let us always be ready to make a new startthe Holy Spirit (cf. If you fall, rise up2 Cor. If you fall again, rise up again1 : 22). Only do not abandon your PhysicianAnd when it departs this life, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because dispassionate and full of your despair. Wait on Himtrue knowledge, it will stand before the light of the Holy Trinity and He with the divine angels will be merciful, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or shine in glory through some other provision of which you are ignorantall eternity.” —St. Peter John of Damascus, On the Virtues and the Vices, from The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Vol. 2
“Faintness of heart is a sign of despondency“We must consider all evil things, and negligence is even 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 passions which war against us, 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 heartbe not our own, but humility accompanies faithof our enemy the devil. A man cannot acquire hope in God unless he first does His will with exactnessThis is very important. For hope in God and manliness You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of heart are born of the testimony of the conscience, and by the truthful testimony of the mind we possess confidence towards Godyou.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 40Nikon of Optina
“Within “To reach satisfaction in alldesire its possession in nothing.To come to possession in alldesire the heart are unfathomable depthspossession of nothing. The heart is a small vessel, and yet dragons and lions are thereTo arrive at being alldesire to be nothing. And there also are poisonous creatures and To come to the knowledge of all desire the treasures knowledge of wickedness; rough and uneven paths are there and gaping chasmsnothing. Likewise, God is there; there are angels, there is life and To come to the Kingdom, there is light and pleasure you have notyou must go by the apostles and way in which you enjoy not.To come to the heavenly cities and knowledge you have notyou must go by the treasures of graceway in which you know not. All things lie within that little spaceTo come to the possession you have notyou must go by the way in which you possess not.” —StTo 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. Macarius For to go from all to the Greatallyou must deny yourself of all in all.“Just as And when you come to the possession of the Lord allyou must possess it without wanting anything.Because if you desire to have something in allyour treasure in God is solicitous about our salvation, so too the murder not purely your all.” —St. John of men, the devilCross, strives to lead a man into despair.Ascent of Mount Carmel
A lofty and sound “How we debase our God-like immortal soul does not despair over misfortunesby attaching ourselves to the perishable, tarnishable, fleeting glitter of whatever sort they may be. Our life 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 as it were a house of temptations harmful and weakening both to soul and body, and trialsturning away our gaze from the eternal, spiritual sweetness; but we will not renounce from the Lord for as long as He allows sweetness of the tempter intuition of God, or to remain with us and for as long as we must wait 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 be revived through patience and secure passionlessworldly things! Look upwards, Christian!” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
Judas “As in the theater, when the betrayer was fainthearted and unskilled in battleaudience departs, and so the enemykings remove their costumes, seeing his despair, attacked him and forced him they are revealed to hang himself, but Peter, a firm rock, be what they are; so also 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, death arrives and the enemytheater of this life is dissolved, seeing these tears, his eyes scorched everyone puts off their masks of wealth or poverty and departs. Some are revealed as by firetruly wealthy, fled far form him wailing in painothers poor.” —St.John Chrysostom
And so brothers“A sinful soul, Stfull 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. Antioch teaches, when despair attacks us let us not yield If it was suddenly said to itsuch a king, but being strengthened happily feasting and protected by the light of faithsitting on his throne, 'King, with great courage let us say to the evil spirit: ‘What are now you to uswill die, estranged from God' his soul would be troubled and he would tremble with fear, a fugitive from heaven and evil servant? You dare do nothing to ushe would see his powerlessness. ChristBut how many beggars there are, the Son of whose only wealth is love for God, has authority both over us and over everything. It is against Him that we have sinnedwho, and before Him that we will be justified. And if yousaid to them, destroyer'You will die now, leave us. Strengthen by His venerable Cross' would answer peacefully, we trample under foot your serpent'Let God's head’ (Stwill be done. Antioch Discourse 27)Glory to the Lord, that He has remembered me and wants to take me to Himself.'” —St. Seraphim of Sarov, Little Russian PhilokaliaSilouan the Athonite
“I think it needs to be pointed out with utmost charity that “Sometimes in the religion affliction of compromise your soul you wish to die. It is self-deception easy to die, and does not take long; but are you prepared for death? Remember that there exist today only two absolutely irreconcilable alternatives after death the Judgment of your whole life will follow. You are not prepared for mandeath, 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 in , by means of good works, and by bravely bearing the world miseries and the religion of selfsorrows that happen to you, whose fruit is so as to be able to meet death; fearlessly, peacefully, and the faith in Christ the Son without shame, not as a rigorous law of Godnature, in Whom alone is but as a fatherly call of the eternal life, heavenly, holy, and blessed Father unto the everlasting kingdom.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose John of PlatinaKronstadt
“Keep your mind in hell “Nevertheless one who regards only the dissolution of the body is greatly disturbed, and do not despairmakes 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. Silouan the AthoniteGregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, §VIII
“Stand at “Man is, by nature, afraid of both death and the brink dissolution of the abyss body; but there is this most startling fact: that he who has put on the faith of despair, and when you see that you cannot bear it anymore, draw back a littlethe Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and have a cup for Christ's sake is not afraid even of teadeath.” —Elder Sophrony of Essex—St. Athanasius the Great
“So in every test“Limitless and without consolation would have been our sorrow for close ones who are dying, let 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: "Thank you‘Let us eat and drink, my Godfor tomorrow we die!’ But man was created for immortality, because 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 was needed for my salvationpreparation 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."” —Elder Paisios —St. John (Maximovitch) of Mt. AthosShanghai and San Francisco, Homily on Life After Death
“Only “Let the benumbed soul doesn't pray. Preserve in yourselves the feeling crowds of needwild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and you will always have stimulation for prayerdislocations 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. Theophan the RecluseIgnatius of Antioch
“Make sure that you do not limit your prayer merely to a particular part “Man’s will, out of cowardice, tends away from suffering, and man, against his own will, remains utterly dominated by the day. Turn fear of death, and, in his desire to live, clings to his slavery to prayer at anytimepleasure.” —St John Chrysostom. Maximus the Confessor
“The Lord knows that I love you all, “Sin makes man a coward; but I cannot speak with God and people at a life in the same timeTruth of Christ makes Him bold.” —St. Arsanius John Chrysostom, Homilies on the GreatStatues, VIII. 2
“A Christian…is not his own master; he puts his time at God“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? 's disposalI 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. Ignatius of AntiochNikolai Velimirovich
“Do not seek “See how many and great the perfection 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 Law 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 virtuesnature restored to its proper state, for through the cleansing operation of Christ's holy precepts. Without humility it is not found perfect in themimpossible to obey the Commandments or at any time to go towards anything good. Its perfection As Abba Mark says: without a contrite heart it is hidden in the Cross of Christimpossible to be free from wickedness or to acquire virtue.” —St. Mark the AsceticDorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings
“The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in “Begin gradually, do not trust yourself. Do not depend on your own understanding, reject your will, and the sufferings of the CrossLord will give you true understanding.” —St. Isaac the SyrianMacarius of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy
“It is impossible “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 believe that Christ is Risenplant within you the knowledge of God, the will of God, while we are afraid 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 death…” —Stfallen nature. Gregory Palamas
“God had one son Do not fall into despondency on earth without sinthis 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, but never one without sufferingin 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. AugustineIgnatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, The Arena, chapter 8
“Nevertheless one who regards only the dissolution “Do not fall into despair because of the body is greatly disturbedstumbling. I do not mean that you should not feel contrition for them, and makes it a hardship but that this life of ours you should not think them incurable. For it is more expedient to be dissolved by death; it bruised than dead. There is, he saysindeed, a Healer for the man who has stumbled, even He Who on the extremity of evil Cross asked that our being should mercy be quenched by this condition shown to His crucifiers, He Who pardoned His murders while He hung on the Cross. ‘All manner of mortality. Let himsin’, He said, ‘and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men’, thenthat is, observe through this gloomy prospect the excess of the Divine benevolencerepentance.”” ” —St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, §VIIIIsaac the Syrian
“Man is“Do not say: ‘I have sinned much, by natureand therefore I am not bold enough to fall down before God.’ Do not despair. Simply do not increase your sins in despair and, afraid of both death and with the dissolution help of the body; but there is this most startling factAll-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 He is pure and cleanses those who has put on the faith 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 the Cross despises even what life. For it is naturally fearfulsaid, ‘Turn away from evil and for Christ's sake is not afraid even of deathdo good.’ (I Pet.3:11)” —St. Athanasius the GreatGennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, The Golden Chain, 87-89
“Let “The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them from the crowds things of wild beasts; let tearingsthe flesh, breakings, and dislocations use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of bonesa spiritual longing for divine things; let cutting off of members; let shatterings pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the whole bodymind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christsadness into corrective repentance for present evil.” —St. Ignatius of AntiochMaximus the Confessor
“Everything will happen suddenly. It may even happen tonight. Maybe “How good it has begun already? Today you are deprived of is to conquer the passions! After the victory one thing, tomorrow feels such lightness of another. God is giving it to us a little at a timeheart, such peace and we stupid people don’t understandgreatness of spirit!” —St.John of Kronstadt
I say this to you and I counsel you“He who believes, even if the sky were to fall down, even if the earth would rise up, even if the whole world were destroyed, as it fears; he who fears is due to do so, today, tomorrow, don’t be concerned with what God humble; he who is going to do. Let them burn your body, let them fry it, let them take your possessions – don’t concern yourselfhumble becomes gentle. Give them away – they are not yours” —St. Maximus the Confessor
You need your soul “For every humble person is gentle, and Christevery gentle person is invariably humble. Even if the whole world were A person is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan to fall apart, no one can take these two things away from you against your will. Guard these two, and don’t loose themhim.” —St. Kosmas AitolosMaximus the Confessor
“Certainly “A humble person lives on earth as if 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 Kingdom of peace Heaven - always happy, peaceful and his enemy during warsatisfied with everything.” —St. Cyril Anthony of JerusalemOptina
“Only struggle a little more. Carry your cross without complaining. Don't think you are anything special. Don't justify your sins and weaknesses“Not every quiet man is humble, but see yourself as you really are. And, especially, love one anotherevery humble man is quiet.” —Fr—St. Seraphim Rose of PlatinaIsaac the Syrian
“Remember that each of us has his own cross. The Golgotha “If you wish to be truly humble, then consider yourself lower than all, worthy of this cross is our heart: it is being lifted or implanted through a zealous determination to live according to trampled on by all; for you yourself daily, hourly trample upon the Spirit of God. Just as salvation law of the world is by Lord, and therefore upon the Cross of God, so our salvation is by our crucifixion on our own crossLord Himself.” —St. Theophan the RecluseJohn of Kronstadt
“Everyone carries their own cross“You wish to be great, both Christians and non-Christians, believers and pagansbegin from the least. The difference is that for You are thinking to construct some, their crosses serve as a means mighty fabric in height; first think of attaining the Kingdom foundation of Heaven, while for the others they bring no such valuehumility. For the ChristianAnd how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the cross gradually becomes lighter and more joyful, while for greater the nonbeliever it becomes heavier and more burdensome. Why building is this so? Because where the one carries their cross with faith and devotion to Godbe, the other carries it with grumbling and angerdeeper does he dig his foundation.” —St.Augustine of Hippo
Therefore“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, Christianthere is no misfortune, do not shun your lifelong cross, butthere is no misery, on there is no suffering which the contraryLord will not change either gradually or all at once into quite, thank Jesus Christ that He honored you to follow and imitate compunctionate joy because of faith in Him.” —St. Innocent of Alaska, Indication Of The Way Into The Kingdom Of HeavenJustin Popovich
“Everyone has a cross to carry. Why? Since the leader “A servant of our faith endured the cross, we will also endure it. On one hand, the cross Lord is sweet and lighthe who in body stands before men, but, on the other, it can also be bitter and heavy. It depends on our will. If you bear Christ’s cross in mind knocks at Heaven 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 liftprayer.” —Elder Ephraim of Katounakia, 20th Century staretz on Mt—St. Athos, Suffering; TrialsJohn Climacus
“When you meet with suffering“In the Christian East – in fact, contemptin the East in general – we love old age because we think that it is made for praying. When one is old, and feels the Crossnearness of God across the increasingly transparent surface of biological life, your thought should be: what is this compared with what I deserve?” —Josemaria Escrivaone becomes in consciousness a child, returned to the Father, made light in spirit by the proximity of death, transparent to another kind of light.
“Many peopleA civilization in which one no longer prays is a civilization in which old age has no meaning. One walks backward towards death, finding daily life unsatisfyingpretending to be young; it’s an agonizing spectacle, try to live in because a fantasy world of their own. Underlying the whole of modern culture wonderful possibility is the common denominator of the worship of oneself offered, a journey towards ultimate relinquishment, and one's own comfort, which it is deadly to any idea not taken advantage of spiritual life.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
“BeholdWe need old people who pray, for years and generationswho smile, the way of God has been leveled by the cross and by death. How is this who live with theea disinterested love, who marvel; they alone can show young people that that thou seest the afflictions of the way as if they were out of the way? Doest not thou wish to follow living is worth the steps of the saints? Or doest thou wish to go a way which is especially for theeeffort, without suffering? The way unto God and that oblivion is a daily cross. No one can ascend unto heaven with comfort, we know where not the way of comfort leadslast word.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Mystic Treatises, Homily LIX
“I know of my Every monk whose spiritual povertypractice has born fruit is called in the East, whatever his age, my own nothingness without faith'a beautiful old man. I am so weak, that it ' He is only by Christ's name beautiful with the beauty that I live and obtain peace, that I rejoice and my rises from the heart expands. In him all the periods of his life have come into harmony, whilst without Him I am spiritually deadas with a symphony, I am troubledone might say. And especially the original child is found again: shining with a transfigured shining, and my heart is oppressed; without the Lord's Cross I should have been long since beautiful old man has the victim eyes of the most cruel distress and despair. Only Christ keeps me alive: and the Cross is my peace and my consolationa child.” —St. John of Kronstadt—Olivier Clément
“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“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.” —St. Gregory the Theologian—Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
“Understand two thoughts, “A Christian should never and fear them. One saysfor no reason worry, for God'You are a saint,' the other, 'You won't be saved.' Both of these thoughts are from the enemy, and there is no truth s Providence carries him in themits arms. But think this way: I am a great sinner, but Our only care should be that we would ever remain faithful to 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 AthoniteIgnatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus
“He made Him who was righteous to be “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a sinnersource of constant happiness, that He might make sinners righteousa protection against sadness.” —St. John Chrysostom
“Love sinners, but hate their deeds, and do not disdain sinners for their failings, so that “He who angers 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 controls 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—Bishop Melchisedek Pleska
“Love every man in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind “[The desire for] equality is from the sinsDevil, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same - the image of Godbecause it comes entirely from envy.” —St—Fr. John of KronstadtAlexander Schmemann
“Never confuse “In your prayer seek only righteousness and the person, formed in the image kingdom of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, an illness, a devilish reverievirtue and spiritual knowledge; and everything else 'will be given to you' (Matt. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement6:33).” —St. John Evagrius of KronstadtPonticus
“Firmly purpose in your soul to hate every sin “Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of thought, word, pride 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 envy. Prayer draws into the person of your brother who gave occasion for soul the sin. Hate the sin with all your heart, but pity your brother; instruct himHoly Spirit, and pray for him raises man to the Almighty, Who sees all of us and tries our hearts and innermost partsHeaven.” —St. John of KronstadtEphrem the Syrian
“For this reason, “Even if we stand at the man who lives by God's standards and not by man's, must needs be a lover very summit of the goodvirtue, 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; mercy 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 hatewe shall be saved.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, 14:6, Penguin ed., transl. BettensonJohn Chrysostom
“As Jesus Christ “The goodness of God is my Witnessso rich in graces, 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 seeks a cause 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’ (Galhave mercy on a person. 6:2)” —St.” —Orosius Anthimus of Braga, Book in Defense Against the PelagiansChios
“Our life and our death “The Holy Spirit has accomplishing in each believer the work of Christ. Each Christian is with our neighbora 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
If we gain our brother, we have gained God“The Church is nothing but the world on the way to deification; for the Church, the world is no longer a tomb but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christa womb.” —Olivier Clément
This “The church is an earthly heaven in which the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before super-celestial God dwells and to expect temptation to his last breathwalks about.” —St. Anthony the GreatGermanus of Constantinople
“He “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicionis without sin among you, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins.” —Stlet him throw a stone at her first. Maximus the Confessor’” —John 8:7
“As long as we pay attention to the negative sides of various people we meet“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, we will not find peace and repentance. As long as we keep you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding 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 statehim.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica—1 John 3:15
“If you are offended by anything“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, whether intended or unintendedthou shalt not practise magic, you do thou shalt not know the way of peacepractise witchcraft, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which through love brings the lovers of divine knowledge to the knowledge of Godis begotten.” —St. Maximus the Confessor—Didache 2:2
“Especially, do “You shall not be disturbed by blasphemous thoughts, which clearly come from take the envy life of the Enemychild by obtaining an abortion. They occur in a person either because of proud self-opinion or the condemnation of othersNor, again, shall you destroy him after he is born.” —St. Ambrose Barnabas, Epistle of OptinaSt. Barnabas
“In hell there is democracy and “The mold in Heaven there is a Kingdomthe womb may not be destroyed.” —St. John of Kronstadt—Tertullian
“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 “There is no question about that they should love us. Indeed, we may positively be disliked for independence of spirit. It which is essential bred in these days to be able to protect ourselves from the influence of those with whom we come in contact. Otherwise we risk losing uterus, both faith growing, and prayermoving from place to place. Let the whole world dismiss us as unworthy of attentionIt remains, therefore, trust or respect – it will not matter provided that we must think that the Lord accept us. And vice versa: it will profit us nothing if the whole world thinks well point of commencement of us and sings our praises, if the Lord declines to abide with us. This existence is only a fragment of the freedom Christ meant when He said, ‘Ye shall know the truth, one 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 same for body and cease to be servants of sinsoul.” —Archimandrite Sophrony —St. Gregory of Essex, His Life is Mine, Chapter 6; pg. 55Nyssa
“The Church is a hospital“We acknowledge, and not a courtroomtherefore, for souls. She does not condemn on behalf of sins, but grants remission of sins. Nothing is so joyous in our that 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 (begins with trials and sins)conception, 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 because we contend that the Church for a rich banquetsoul begins at conception. He transfers you from struggles to rest, and from tortures to relief. He relieves you from Life begins when the burden of your sins. He heals worries with thanksgiving, and sadness with joysoul begins. 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 For us, we may not destroy even the fetus in freedom itselfthe 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 it in manborn, but in Godor destroy one that is coming to birth. By giving That is a man freedom God has yielded which is going to man a piece of His divine authority, but with be one: you have the fruit already in the intention that man himself would voluntarily bring it as a sacrifice to God, as a most perfect offeringseed.” —St. Theophan the Recluse—Tertullian, The Path to SalvationApology 9:6
“When you are depressed“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, bear imagined the goddess Alemona to nourish the foetus in mind the Lord’s command 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 Peter the birth and light of day. We, on our part, believe the angels to forgive officiate herein for God. The embryo therefore becomes a sinner seventy times sevenhuman being in the womb from the moment that its form is completed (conception). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command 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 another will Himself do very much morethe issues of both, although, by living still in the mother, it for the most part shares its own state with the mother.” —St—Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul, Ch. John ClimacusXXXVII, On the Formation and State of the Embryo, Its Relation with the Subject of this Treatise
“A person who suffers bitterly when slighted or insulted should recognize from this that he still harbours “The blood of martyrs is the ancient serpent in his breast. If he quietly endures the insult or responds with great humility, he weakens seed of 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 righteousnessChurch.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian—Tertullian
“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 “…if we would not kill off the clever, the noble, the polished speakers, or the rich who win, but whoever is insulted human race born and forbearsdeveloping according to God's plan, whoever is wronged and forgives, whoever is slandered and endures, whoever becomes a sponge and mops up whatever they might say then our whole lives would be lived according to himnature. Such a person is cleansed and polished even more. He reaches great heights. He delights in Women who make use of some sort of deadly abortion drug kill not only the theoria of mysteries. And finallyembryo but, together with it is he who is already inside paradise, while still in this lifeall human kindness.” —Elder Joseph —St. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Hesychast and Cave-dwellerEducator, Volume II, page 10
“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“Those who use abortifacients commit homicide.” —St. John ClimacusClement of Alexandria
“Forgiveness is better than revenge“The woman who aborts her child to hide her immorality, aborts at the same time her own humanity.” —St. Tikhon Clement of ZadonskAlexandria
“When God forgave you“Women who were reputed believers began to resort to drugs for producing sterility. They also girded themselves around, it means He forgave you 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 eternitytheir family and their excessive wealth.See what a great impiety the lawless one has advanced! He teaches adultery and murder at the same time!” —Elder Arsenie (Papacioc) of Romania—St. Hipploytus, Refutation Of All Heresies
“Love alone harmoniously joins all created things “He [Novatian] struck the womb of his wife with God his heel and with each otherproduced a hurried an abortion, thereby causing parricide.” —St. Thalassios the LibyanCyprian of Carthage, Epistle 52 To Cornelius
“A monk is he who withdrawing from all men“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 united with all mankind. … A monk taken away before it is he who regards born… Who except man himself as existing with all men and sees himself in each man.has taught us ways of repudiating children?” —St. Nilus Ambrose of SinaiMilan
“Love towards Christ is without limits“Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison to produce infertility, and the same when this is true of love towards our neighbour. It should radiate everywhereno avail, they find one means or another to destroy the ends of unborn and flush it from the earth, to every personmother's womb. I wanted For they desire to go and live with the hippies at …… in order see their offspring perish before it is alive or, if it has already been granted life, they seek to show them kill it within the love of Christ and how great it is and how mother's body before it could transfigure them. Love is above everythingborn.” —Wounded by Love—St. Augustine of Hippo, Elder PorphyriosThe City of God, pg 188Book One, Ch. 16
“So God created man in His own image; in “A woman who has deliberately destroyed a fetus must pay the image of God He created him; male and female He created thempenalty for murder… those also who give drugs causing abortions are murderers themselves, as well as those who receive the poison which kills the fetus.” —Genesis 1—St. Basil the Great, First Canonical Letter, 188:2 and 188:278
“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened“Women also who administer drugs to cause abortion, and you will be like Godas well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children, knowing good and evilare murderesses.” —Genesis 3—St. Basil the Great, Letter CLXXXVIII:5Canonica Prima, to Amphilochius, concerning the Canons, VII
“And “The woman who purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty of murder. The hair-splitting difference between formed and unformed makes no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of lightdifference to us.” —2 Corinthians 11:14—St. Basil the Great
“You shall “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 murderand 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.” —Exodus 20:13John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, XXIV
“Cursed is “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 one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent personlower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder.” —Deuteronomy 27—St. Jerome, Letter to Eustochium, 22:2513
“He shall judge between “The rich women, to avoid dividing the nationsinheritance among many,And rebuke many people;They shall beat kill their swords into plowshares,And own unborn in the womb and with lethal extracts terminate their spears into pruning hooks;Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,Neither shall they learn war anymoreown offspring while yet in the womb.” —Isaiah 2:4—St. Ambrose, On the Hexaemeron
“But Jesus said to him“For every argument there is a counter-argument, ‘Put your sword but who can argue against life?” —St. Gregory Palamas, Triads in its place, for all who take Defence of the sword will perish by the sword.’” —Matthew 26:52Holy Hesychasts
“You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery“If you can't feed a hundred people,’ ‘Do not murderfeed 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,’ ‘Do not stealpeople may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest,’ ‘Do not bear false witnesspeople may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness,’ ‘Honor your father 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 motherbest anyway.’” —Luke 18:20 “So when they continued asking HimFor you see, in the end, He raised Himself up it is between you and God. It was never between you and said to themanyway.”“If you are honest and frank, ‘He who people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.”“It is without sin among a poverty that a child must die, so that you, let him throw a stone at her firstmay live as you wish.’” —John 8:7”“How can you say there are too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”“Whoever hates his brother “The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a murderermother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you know 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 murderer 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 eternal life abiding in himnot 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.” —1 John 3:15—Teresa of Calcutta
“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 “No one heals himself by abortion nor kill that which is begottenwounding another.” —Didache 2:2—St. Ambrose of Milan
“You shall not take “Abortion is the life anti-Christ's demonic parody of the child by obtaining an abortionEucharist. Nor, again, shall you destroy him after he That's why it uses the same holy words ‘This is bornmy body’ with the blasphemous opposite meaning.” —St. Barnabas, Epistle of St—Dr. BarnabasPeter Kreeft
“The mold “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 the womb may not be destroyedour willingness to kill them, without remorse.” —Tertullian
“There is no question about that which is bred in For many, abortion has become the uterussacrament of modernity, both growing, and moving from place in which we learn to place. It remains, therefore, that we must think that the point of commencement of existence say in blasphemous irony: ‘This is one and the same for my body and soul.” —St’” —Fr. Gregory of NyssaStephen Freeman
“We acknowledge“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, thereforethat is, that life begins with conception, because we contend 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 soul begins at conceptionlanguage of God. Life begins when the soul begins” —Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Labreotiki, When God is Not There, pg.48
For “O God, grant usa 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 may not destroy even the fetus have acted high-handedly and cruelly in the wombexercising our domain over them. Thus, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts voice of the body 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 its sustenanceus alone. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter when you take away a They too love the goodness of life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one: as we do, and serve you have the fruit already better in their way than we do in the seedours. Amen.” —Tertullian, Apology 9:6—St. Basil the Great
“Now “We follow the entire process ways of sowingwolves, forming, and completing the human embryo in the womb is no doubt regulated by some power, which ministers herein to the will habits of Godtigers: or, whatever may rather we are worse than they. To them nature has assigned that they should 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 Partulathus fed, 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 while 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 has honoured us with due penalties the man who shall cause abortion, inasmuch as there exists already the rudiment of rational speech and a human being, which has imputed to it even now the condition sense 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 equity. And yet we are become worse than the motherwild beast.” —Tertullian, Treatise on the Soul, Ch—St. XXXVII, On the Formation and State of the Embryo, Its Relation with the Subject of this TreatiseJohn Chrysostom
“The blood “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 martyrs is the seed days' golden grains. Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the Churchforest. 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.” —Tertullian—St. Seraphim of Sarov (Nature is talking to you, are you listening?)
“…if we would not kill off “Nothing is without order and purpose in the human race born animal kingdom; each animal bears the wisdom of the Creator and developing according to testifies of Him. God's plangranted man and animals many natural attributes, then our whole lives would be lived according to nature. Women who make use such as compassion, love, feelings… for even animals bewail the loss of some sort one of deadly abortion drug kill not only the embryo but, together with it, all human kindnesstheir own.” —St. Clement of Alexandria, Christ the Educator, Volume II, page 10John Climacus
“Those who use abortifacients commit homicide“…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. Clement of AlexandriaJohn Chrysostom
“The woman who aborts her child “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 hide her immoralityevery question, aborts at 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 same time her own humanitylittle things! There are so many of them.” —St. Clement of AlexandriaJohn Chrysostom
“Women who were reputed believers began to resort to drugs for producing sterility. They also girded themselves around“The unspeakable and prodigious fire hidden in the essence of things, 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 in the bush, is the fire of concern for their family divine love and their excessive wealththe dazzling brilliance of His beauty inside every thing. See what a great impiety the lawless one has advanced! He teaches adultery and murder at the same time!” —St. Hipploytus, Refutation Of All HeresiesMaximus the Confessor
“He [Novatian] struck “Blessed the womb one who observes with spiritual understanding the choirs of his wife stars shining with his heel glory and the beauty of the heavens and produced a hurried an abortion, thereby causing parricidelongs to contemplate the Maker of all things.” —St. Cyprian of Carthage, Epistle 52 To CorneliusEphrem the Syrian
“The wealthy“Leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, in order that their inheritance may not be divided among severaland all things sensible and intellectual, deny and all things in the very womb their own progeny. By use world of' parricidal mixtures they snuff out being and non-being, that thou mayest arise by unknowing towards the fruit of their wombs in the genital organs themselvesunion, as far as is attainable, with Him who transcends all knowledge. 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 MilanDionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology
“Sometimes their sadistic licentiousness goes so far that they procure poison “Supernal Triad, Deity above all essence, knowledge and goodness, Guide of Christians to Divine Wisdom: direct our path to produce infertilitythe ultimate summit of Thy mystical Lore, most incomprehensible, most luminous and when this is of no availmost exalted, they find one means or another to destroy where the unborn pure, absolute and flush it from immutable mysteries of theology are veiled in the dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the mother's womb. For they desire to see intensity of their offspring perish before it is alive orDarkness, if it has already been granted life, they seek to kill it within and surcharging our blinded intellects with the mother's body before it is bornutterly impalpable and invisible fairness of glories surpassing all beauty.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, Book OneDionysius the Areopagite, Ch. 16Mystical Theology
“A woman who “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 deliberately destroyed a fetus must pay as many veins for our ears as the works of creation, which the penalty Divine Being Himself is Lord of; for murder… those also who give drugs causing abortions while we view all things that are created, we are murderers themselveslifted 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 well 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 those who receive 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 poison objects that are in public view, that issues forth to us, which kills 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 fetussoul being lifted up contemplates His Excellency, so being held back it shrinks from His Righteous Perfectness.” —St. Basil Gregory the Great(Gregory the Dialogist), Book V, First Canonical LetterSec. 52, 188:2 and 188:8Morals on the Book of Job
“Women “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 who administer drugs . 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 cause abortionsupply 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, as well as those who take poisons which God in his infinite wisdom and love has planned. Do not try to destroy unborn children, are murderessesunderstand 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. Basil the GreatJohn Chrysostom, Letter CLXXXVIII: Canonica Prima, to Amphilochius, concerning the CanonsOn Living Simply, VIIpg 54
“The woman “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 purposely destroys her unborn child is guilty 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 murderthe stars, throw yourself at God's feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. The hair-splitting difference between formed Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and unformed makes no difference arranged all things for your benefit, to ushave you know, love and praise their Creator.” —St. Basil the Great
“Why do “For as long as you sow where are on earth, consider yourself a guest in the field is eager to destroy Household of Christ. If you are at the fruit? Where there are medicines of sterility? Where there table, it is murder before birth? You do not even let a harlot remain only a harlotHe who treats you. If you breathe air, but it is His air you make her a murderess as wellbreathe. IndeedIf you bathe, it is something worse than murder and I do not know what to call in His water you are bathing. If you are traveling, it; for she does not kill what is formed but prevents its formationover His land that you are traveling. What then? Do If you condemn the gifts of Godare amassing goods, and fight with it is His laws? What goods you are amassing. If you are squandering, it is a curse His goods that you are squandering. If you seek as though are powerful, it were a blessingis by His permission that you are strong. Do If you make are in the anteroom company of slaughter? Do men, you teach and the women who others are His guests. If you are given to out in nature, 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 wivesare in His garden. In this indifference of the married men there is greater evil filth; for then poisons If you are preparedalone, not against the womb of a prostitute, but against your injured wifeHe is present. Against her are these innumerable tricks…” ” —St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, XXIVNikolai Velimirovich
“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“What hinders you from fulfilling Christ’s commandments?
“For every argument there 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 counterpriest, then he neglects praying for his people, and becomes not soul-argumentloving, but who can argue against life?” —St. Gregory Palamasmoney-loving and ambitious, Triads in Defence of seeking not the Holy Hesychastsmen themselves, but that which appertains to them, that is, money, food, drink, their favour, their good opinion and good word, and flattering them.
“If you can't feed a hundred peopleTherefore fight against every worldly enticement, 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 against every material enticement that hinders you are kindfrom fulfilling Christ’s commandments, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honestlove God with all your heart, 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 care with all your best anyway. For you see, in strength for 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 salvation of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her your own childsoul, 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 successfulsouls of others, 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 peoplesoul-loving.”“There are no great things, only small things with great love—St. 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 John of CalcuttaKronstadt
“No one heals himself “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 wounding anotherany 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. Ambrose of MilanMaximus the Confessor
“Abortion “[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 anti-Christ's demonic parody words ‘and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,’ at the reading of the EucharistLord’s Prayer, until such a time when he has forgiven the offence committed against him. That's why it uses And I myself have suggested," added the same holy words ‘This is my body’ with great saint, "that the chauvinist-nationalists not read the ninth article of the blasphemous opposite meaning.” —DrSymbol of Faith. Peter Kreeft"
“An Irish pro-abortion leader described 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 vote 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 decision to enter nation is filled with the ‘modern’ worldeternal evangelical truth and righteousness, does it exist, and itself becomes and remains eternal. That was extremely well-saidOnly such patriotism can be justified from an evangelical point of view. Modernity suggests to us that we are This is the masters patriotism of historythe holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the arbiters of 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 death. Our compassion for undivided Trinity: the suffering is always expressedFather, ultimatelythe Son, in our willingness to kill themand the Holy Spirit, without remorsethe one God." (On Met.Anthony Khrapovitsky)
For many, abortion has become The blessed Metropolitan Anthony is the sacrament most gifted contemporary representative of modernityRussian Orthodox nationalism, a nationalism consecrated and enlightened by Christ; a nationalism by which all men are brothers in Christ; a nationalism by which we learn 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 say in blasphemous ironyhim what St. Gregory of Nyssa said about his own brother, St. Basil, after his death: ‘This "Wherein lies Basil's noble origin? Where is his homeland? His origin is his affinity to divinity, and his homeland is my bodyvirtue.’” —Fr"” —St. Stephen FreemanJustin Popovich
“Each child with special needs such as this “Worldly glory does not come into the world in order lead God's children to make our lives difficult and make us sufferheaven. They each come into this world for a reason and have their secret inner voice” —St. It remains to us to offer love; to ‘bear one another's burdens’; to experience a collective humbling – to realize, that isRaphael, 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 Newly-revealed Martyr of Mesogaia and Labreotiki, When God is Not There, pg. 48Lesvos
“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 “Satan has no need to you in song has turned into a groan of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for tempt those who tempt 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. Amenare continually dragged down by worldly affairs.” —St. Basil the GreatJohn of Karpathos
“We follow the ways of wolves, the habits of tigers: or“The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, rather we those who are worse than theyclose to God. To He takes from them nature has assigned that they should be thus fed, while trust in God has honoured us and begins to afflict them with rational speech and a sense of equityself-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. And yet Therefore we are become worse than the wild beastshould not trust our logical minds.” —St. John ChrysostomPaisios of Mt. Athos
“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 “The fundamental Christian eschatology has been touched destroyed by a worm. Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit. Plant the tree where the mole digs. Build your house where either the snake sits optimism leading to warm itself. Dig your fountain where the birds hide from Utopia, or by the heat. Go pessimism leading to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days' golden grainsEscape. 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 If there are two heretical words in the water. Look at the sky as often as possible Christian vocabulary, they would be "optimism" and your thoughts will become light and clear"pessimism. Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm " These two things are utterly anti-biblical and full of peaceanti-Christian.” —St—Fr. Seraphim of Sarov (Nature is talking to you, are you listening?)Alexander Schmemann
“Nothing “Christ is without order and purpose in the animal kingdomonly exit from this world; each animal bears all other exits – sexual rapture, political utopia, economic independence – are but blind alleys in which rot the wisdom corpses 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 ownthat have tried them.” —St—Fr. John ClimacusSeraphim Rose of Platina
“…surely we ought “Everything in this life passes away – only God remains, only He is worth struggling towards. We have a choice: to show kindness follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us, and gentleness thereby find ourselves outside of God; or to animals for many reasonschoose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and chiefly because they are of the same origin as ourselvesfor Whom our heart is searching.” —St—Fr. John ChrysostomSeraphim Rose of Platina
“Concepts create idols; only wonder comprehends anything. People kill one another over idols. Wonder makes us fall “Let the hearing of worldly tales be to our kneesyou as a bitter taste in your mouth, but the discourse of holy men as a honeycomb.” —St. Gregory of NyssaBasil the Great
“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 “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 “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.” —Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos “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 “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
“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
“Since Christ Himself has said“This bread is at first common bread; but when the Mystery sancifies it, "This is My Body" who shall dare to doubt that It is His called, and actually becomes the Body?of Christ.” —St. Cyril Gregory of JerusalemNyssa
“The Son of God became man“He made Him who was righteous to be a sinner, that we He might become godmake sinners righteous.” —St. Athanasius of AlexandriaJohn Chrysostom
“becoming “The Word of God became man, that man might become god… becoming by grace what God is by nature.” —St. Athanasius of Alexandriathe Great, On the Incarnation
"And “And we know that to them that love God, all things work together for unto good , to those who love Godsuch as, according to those who his purpose, are the called according to His purposebe saints." ” —Romans 8:28
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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
“Assume the person you're listening to knows something you don't.” —Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
“I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.” —George Bernard Shaw
“Inequality is the price of civilization.” —George Orwell
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king, the palace becomes a circus.” —Turkish Proverb
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” —George Orwell
“People will never come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” —Aldous Huxley
“The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison.” —Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” — Potter Stewart
“Those who forget the past, they lose an eye. Those who dwell on the past, they lose both eyes.” —Hungarian Proverb
“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 man has never been so enchained, so much a slave as now.” —E. M. Cioran “Hard men make good times, good times make soft men, soft men make bad times.” —Alex Jones, Tucker on X, Ep. 46 “[Behold] I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” —J. Robert Oppenheimer (, the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 11 verse 32 of the Bhagavad Gita)
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” —John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can see.” —Mark Twain
“There's nothing that divides nations like a common language.” —George Bernard Shaw
“Democracy is the dictatorship of the ignorant masses.” —Plato
“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 merely happen to be walking around.” —G. K. Chesterton
“That the dead are as much a part of the present as the unborn is a fundamental conservative idea.” —Armin Mohler
“Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” —William Wilberforce
“Who feareth to suffer suffereth already, because he feareth.” —Michel de Montaigne
“…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.” —William Samuel Sadler (1875-1969), M.D., F.A.C.S. Director of the Chicago Institute of Research and Diagnosis
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson
“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” —Albert Einstein
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” —Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
“Time is a violent torrent; no sooner is a thing brought to sight then it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.” —Marcus Aurelius
“The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” —Marcus Aurelius
“Watch your thoughts; they 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.” —Lao Tzu
“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. It is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Men are, unfortunately generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.” —William Penn
“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” —Fred Astaire
“Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” —Charlton Heston
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most 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; 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 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 level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” —C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology)
“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.” —George Orwell
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” —William Pitt the Younger
“In the time of heroes and tyrants, the true heroes are the small men.” —unknown
“Birds of a feather flock together.” —English Proverb
“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” —William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2
“You can want a women for her body, but you can only love her for her character.” —Spanish Proverb
“We must always takes sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” —Elie Wiesel
“The reason it is difficult is that we have been conditioned to laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public ridicule by advocating 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.” —G. Edward Griffin
“Facts don't care about feelings.” —Ben Shapiro
“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.” —Edward Snowden
“[The best solution to offensive speech is] more speech, not enforced silence.” —Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice
“I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.” —Voltaire
“The holocaust has to be thought as a chapter in the long history of man's 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.” —Dr. Randolph Braham, Holocaust Survivor
“Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” —Scottish Proverb
“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 painted coffin.” —St. John Chrysostom
“A wife is appealing not in the beauty of her body, rather for the virtues of 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 absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” —Margaret Mead
“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“The root of all wisdom is knowing what an asshole you are.” —Tucker Carlson, Tucker on X, Ep. 46
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” —Alexander Pope
“It is through error that man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light.” —Hippocrates of Kos
“When the solution is simple, God is answering.” —Albert Einstein
“There's no mask for a treacherous heart like an honest face.” —Captain Kidd (1945)
“[S]he has an honest face even if it is the result of triumph of plastic surgery.” —The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), s2e13
“Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt, you pour yourself into things that can't hurt back.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin 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 everywhere.” —Thomas Merton
“I myself am nothing; all that is good in me is accomplished by the grace of God.” —St. John of Kronstadt
“Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be 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 completely with God.” —St. Isaac the Syrian
“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” —Frank A. Clark
“While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not allow us 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 itself.” —Werner Von Braun, Ph.D., the father of the NASA space program
“With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” —Charles Darwin
“Evolutionary naturalism implies that we should not take any of our convictions seriously, including the scientific world picture on which evolutionary naturalism depends.
That is, naturalism, and therefore atheism, undermines the foundations of the very rationality that is needed to construct or understand or believe in any kind of argument whatsoever, let alone a scientific one.” —Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos
“Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. 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 like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't 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.” —C. S. Lewis
“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 forget one of them. Do you see how nothing, even the smallest thing, escapes the gaze of God?” —St. Basil the Great
“There are no coincidences in life. All things are providential. They are allowed for our salvation, in correspondence with our inner state and needs.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
“Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.” —Albert Einstein
“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything.” —G. K. Chesterton
“Those who stand for nothing, fall for everything.” —Alexander Hamilton
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you 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
“If everyone has his own truth, where is falsehood? Falsehood hides behind the guise of truth. They say to us: Every person has his own truth, we 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 erased it? God is absolute Truth.” —Archbishop Stephan (Kalaidjishvili) of Tsageri and Lentekhi, Georgia
“Tolerance of falsehood is intolerance to Truth.” —th
“Orthodox Christianity is not true because I believe It, I believe It because It is Truth.” —th
“Faithful copies of a counterfeit original yield only more counterfeits.” —unknown
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” —Abraham Joshua Heschel
“For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” —Malachi 1:11
“God tends the pagans too, but the Christian knows the donor.” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh
“We do not worship a created thing, but the Master of created things, the Word of God made flesh. Although the flesh itself, considered separately, 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 the Word. Likewise, we do not separate the Word from the body when we wish to worship Him. But knowing that ‘the Word was made flesh,’ we recognise the Word existing in the flesh as God.” —St. Athanasius of Alexandriathe Great, Ep. ad Adelph., par. 3
“Take, in the next place, the 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, who destroyed my curse; and sin, who taketh 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.
“This I give you to share, and to defend all 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 light.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Orations 40.41, as quoted by Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 378
“‘And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (John 14:23). My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God's coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would 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. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost in Be Friends of God
The three persons of the Holy Trinity constitute the eternal Church.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Wounded by Love
“Christ, invisible to 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 Christ through His divine mysteries and because through her Christ works in the world.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco
“How does the Liturgy begin? ‘Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ …What is this kingdom, which is blessed, glorified, honored…? It is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. It is paradise, in which Christ has placed us; it is our holy Church. Its king is the God of three suns: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The servants of the king are the angels and archangels, along with the thrones, principalities, authorities, dominions, powers, the many-eyed cherubim, and the 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, whatever the cost; all those who are ready to bear His honorable Name, all those who make up His Church. All of them… are with us during the celebration of the Liturgy…
During the celebration of the Liturgy, Christ is with us exactly as he was when he was teaching, when he made the lame leap and walk, the blind see, and the dead return to life. And this is not simply having the memory of Christ within our thoughts, but having Christ Himself truly and concretely present before us. He is present – He, the teacher, the prophet, the miracle-worker. Christ Who was crucified, Who was raised from the dead, Who ascended into heaven, is now before us! …
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. Because He is not visibly present, Christ delegates His work to His priests. And when the priest is in the sanctuary, he is beyond every earthly ruler, for he does not govern men, but rather the choirs of saints and the armies of angels…
…Saint Gregory Palamas said that the church ‘resides on high, being an angelic and transcendent place’ which ‘raises man to heaven and presents him to the God who is above all’ …When we enter church… we are traversing the distance from earth to heaven. We pass beyond the stars, we leave the angels below us, and we rise up to the heights of the Holy Trinity.
Don't think that when we go to church, we are simply entering and exiting an ordinary building. 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 sinners, when we enter into the Liturgy, we go up to the heavenly Jerusalem… So we have come to the church… Let nothing disturb the tranquility of your soul. God is present. Wherever we look, God is before us!” —Archimandrite Aimilianos, The Church at Prayer, pp. 54, 56-57, 69, 71-72.
“Whosoever should ever call himself a bishop over all bishops or a universal bishop shall be the forerunner to the Antichrist.” —Pope St. Gregory (I) the Great (Gregory the Dialogist), Forty Gospel Homilies
“And so I, by the will of God Allmighty the Bishop of Rome, am the Universal Bishop, the Bishop over Bishops, the only Vicar of Christ on Earth.” —Pope Gregory VII, Dictatus Papae
“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” —Pope Boniface VIII, Bull Unam Sanctam
“Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom.
He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for 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.
I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: ‘They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!’ But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him.” —Catherine of Siena, ‘St. Catherine of Siena’, SCS, pp. 201-202, p. 222 (‘Canonized’ by the RC ‘Church’ in 1461)
“In the history of the human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, that of Judas, and that of the pope.” —St. Justin Popovich
“They [Rome] do not know and do not wish to know the truth; they argue with those who proclaim the truth to them, and assert their heresy.” —St. Basil the Great, letter to Eusebius of Samosata
“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's Works, Vol. 32: Career of the Reformer II, J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed., 59, Philadelphia: Fortress Press
“When we Greeks find fault with the filioque, they shake Peter's keys at us… … Nevertheless differences of 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 will correct their errors to conform to the apostolic tradition stemming from Jerusalem.” —Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid, The Errors of the Latins in Ecclesiastical Matters
“For Petra (Rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from Petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, ‘On this Rock will I build my Church,’ because 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 lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, Tractate, CXXIV
“There is nothing more serious than the sacrilege of schism because there is no just cause for severing the unity of the Church.” —St. Augustine of Hippo
“Do not fear sorrows, but fear the stubbornness of heretics who try to separate a man from Christ, which is why Christ commanded us to consider them as pagans and pharisees.” —St. Anatoly of Optina
“This is how you have union with the Roman Catholics and Protestants: you baptize them.” —Bishop Luke of Syracuse
“…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 Lord… And for this reason whatever they [heterodox] do is false and empty and vain, everything 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. Cyprian of Carthage, Third Holy Council held under St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Reception of the Heterodox, p. 81
“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 even an area as large as a tick's eye remains dry. Because it is from there (the dry area) that the devil advances, and this is why your children become epileptics, are possessed by demons, have fear, suffer misfortune; they haven't been baptized properly.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos, On the Reception of the Heterodox, p. 49
“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, in the type or similitude of which baptism is celebrated, were but one.
For this reason the present Apostolic Canon prescribes that any Bishop or Priest will be deposed should he baptize a second time anew and beginning all over again someone who has been truly baptize as though he were dealing with one utterly unbaptized.
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 the 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 he is offering a second death to the Lord, over whom death no longer has dominion (Hebrews 6:4; Romans 6:5), according to the same St. Paul.
Likewise in the event that any Bishop or Priest should refuse to baptize with the regular Orthodox baptism of the Catholic Church one who has been polluted, that is a person who has been baptized by the impious, or in plain language, baptized by heretics. Such a Bishop is to be deposed, since he is mocking the Cross and death of the Lord.” —St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite
“This food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the one who believes that the things we teach are true, and who has been washed with baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and who is living his life as Christ has commanded.” —St. Justin the Martyr
“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 to preach another Gospel, introducing some new teaching.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor
“Those who do not belong to the Truth do not belong to the Church of Christ either; and all the more so, if they speak falsely of themselves by calling themselves, or calling each other, holy pastors and hierarchs; [for it has been instilled in us that] Christianity is characterized not by persons, but by the truth and exactitude of Faith.” —St. Gregory Palamas
“Faith is the unreserved acceptance of divine revelation and the full conviction that all things preached by the grace of God constitute the only truth.” —St. Basil the Great, On Faith, PG 31.677D-680A.
“Chrysostomos loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have communion with them, to be enemies of God.” —St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot Theophilus
“All the teachers of the Church, and all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures advise us to flee from the heterodox and separate from their communion.” —St. Mark of Ephesus
“Therefore, in so far as this is what has been commanded you by the Holy Apostles, stand aright, hold firmly to the traditions which you have received, both written and by 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.
May God, Who is all-powerful, make them also to know their delusion; and having delivered us from 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 without beginning, and His All-holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” —St. Mark of Ephesus
“‘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 means by which many, from of old, have been deceived and persuaded to follow those who have led them off the steep precipice of impiety; believing that there is some middle ground between the two teachings that can reconcile obvious contradictions, they have been exposed to peril.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, Encyclical Letter, Orthodox Word, March-April-May, 1967
“Whoever preserves himself from them (the Latins) and keeps his faith pure will stand rejoicing at the right hand of God, but whoever willfully draws close to them will stand weeping bitterly with them on the left. For there is no eternal life for those living in the faith of the Latins or the Saracens…
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 someone says anyone should say to you: ‘Both your ‘Your faith and our faith are is from God’God, ’ you child, must my son, should reply to him as follows: ‘Who are you, you heretic? Do you think that consider God has to be of two faiths? Have you not heard, accursed and perverted as you are by an evil faith that which is written: Thus saith the Lord: one One Lord, one faithOne Faith, one baptism…’One Baptism’ (Ephesians 4:5)?…
Thus they of evil faith, after holding to the Orthodox faith for so many years, have turned away to an evil faith and to Satan's teaching…
They have renounced the preaching of the apostles and the edification of the holy fathers, and have accepted a faith based on error and a perverted dogma leading to perdition. Therefore, they have been torn away from us and set apart…” —St. Theodosius of Kiev Caves, Testament to the Great Prince Izyaslav of Kiev
“It is impossible to recall peace without dissolving the cause of the schism – the primacy of the Pope exalting himself equal to God.” —St. Mark of Ephesus
“Holy Orthodoxy has two eternal enemies: Mecca and Rome.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos
“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 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 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 accustom the eye and the spirit of the Orthodox with the habit to serve together with these heretics, until they get to have Communion from the same chalice. Because this could give them the right to build their own churches. But no, 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 Church of Christ. 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, the Truth and the Life. The Ecumenists will not fulfill anything. You can not change the reality according to the human interests. The divine reality remains the same in every age. The Holy Spirit speaks through the mouths of the bearers of God, not of the bearers of human interests. The Christian Church has never gone after the crowd; not the many lead or hold the truth, but the few, chosen, as the carriers of the Holy Spirit. We do work only under this Father’s truth, the Gospel of our Lord and the Orthodox Church Tradition. All this falsehood which has appeared in our world has no other purpose than to embarrass and undermine the whole tradition and the beliefs of a nation. Questions are not posed and answers are not given, 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 Ecumenical attempts of unifying the other Christian communities found in heresy, the dialogues which have developed in our Orthodox Christian Church, since I know, haven’t got any result because they have false basis, they are untrue and do nothing but disturb the authentic Christian life.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania, Din învățăturile și minunile Părintelui Justin
It is important to oppose all antichrists and die with dignity; not to have a cowardly position.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania
“Modern man lives on the dregs of Christianity, on Christian experience digested and turned into ‘ideas’ for mass consumption. Hence the parody of Christianity is to be seen in modern ideas like ‘equality’, ‘brotherhood’, ‘charity.’ … And Christian messianism - the coming Kingdom which is not of this world (Jon 18:36) - has been perverted into the coming Kingdom in this world that practically everyone believes in today. Even those who see through the delusion of idealism… fall prey to the second idea, the idea that Truth can somehow be realized in this world, in the coming age of the ‘spirit,’ or in the relation of ‘man with man.’ But this world cannot hold the Truth in its fullness, any more than it could tolerate the presence in it of the God-Man; for man is called upon to be more than man, he is called to deification, and this can only happen fully in the ‘other world’ - which, though it constantly impinges on this world, 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
“Let not us, who would be Christians, expect anything else from it than to be crucified. For to be Christian is to be crucified, in this time and in any time since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example – and warning – to us all. We must be crucified personally, mystically; for through crucifixion is 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 spit forth by the uncomprehending world. And we must be crucified outwardly, in the eyes of the world; for Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, and the world cannot bear it, even a single representative of it, even for a single moment. The world can only accept Antichrist, now or at any time. No wonder then, that it is hard to be a Christian – it is not hard, it is impossible. No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the more truly it is lived, lead the more surely to one’s own destruction. And that is why we constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose – our felicity lies in one world or the other, not in both. God give us the strength to pursue the path to crucifixion; there is no other way to be Christian.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, from his journal as printed in the biography Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene
“One who merely knows these truths in the mind will be helpless to resist the temptations of those times, and many who recognize the Antichrist when he comes will nonetheless worship him – only the power of Christ given to the heart will have strength to resist him.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina
“A lukewarm clergy lulls the people to sleep, leaves them in their former condition so they won't be upset. ‘Look’, they say. ‘By all means don't say that there'll be a war, or the Second Coming, that one must prepare oneself for death. We must not make people alarmed!’
He in whom these worldly seeds are present is no spiritual person. A spiritual person consists of nothing but pain. In other words, he's in pain at what's going on, he's in pain for people's condition. And divine comfort is bestowed upon him for his pain.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos
“You have grown soft. So the worthless have risen up against the honourable, the disreputable against the renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against the aged. Righteousness and peace are far from you, inasmuch as you have abandoned the fear of God and become blind in faith.” —St. Clement of Rome
“In our evil time, when the servants of the coming Antichrist are putting forth all their efforts so as to undermine and replace authentic Orthodoxy with a false ‘Orthodoxy’ - an Orthodoxy only in name, there have appeared not a 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 (Soviet) ‘Living Church’ and the ‘Renovationist Church’ clergy in our Russia.
Behold of what a frightful undertaking (of which) we are the living and immediate witnesses! By all means there is being conducted in the world a frightful battle against the Faith of Christ, by a path of falsification and imitations!
…(this) truly most frightful and nightmarish phenomenon (is) something more frightful than open atheism and warfare against God, (for it) threatens to destroy our holy Orthodoxy from the root, having corrupted it from within…” —Vladyka —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of JordanvilleSyracuse “The fundamental task of the servants of the coming Antichrist is to 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 earth that which Christ did not give them… One must be completely blind spiritually, completely alien to true Christianity not to understand all this!” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse “Those forces that are preparing the appearance of Antichrist will have a leading significance in public life. Antichrist will be a man and not the devil incarnate. … That man wants to be in place of Christ, to occupy His place and possess that which Christ ought to possess. He wants to possess the same attraction and authority over the whole world. And he will receive that authority before his own destruction and that of the whole world. He will have a helper, a Magus, who, by the power of false miracles, will fulfill his will and kill those that do not recognize the authority of Antichrist.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, The Antichrist and the Signs of the End of the World, Homily on the Last Judgement “The miracles of Antichrist will be chiefly manifested in the aerial realm, where Satan chiefly has dominion.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina “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 so subtle and hard to grasp that we do not even notice it. We think that we truly love God and our neighbor, but in reality this is self-love, not love for God and neighbor.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse
“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 call themselves Christians will welcome Antichrist as the Messiah … those who are not true Orthodox Christians belong the ‘new Christianity’, the ‘Christianity’ of Antichrist.
“Being born, then, of the light of truth, shun division and bad doctrines. Where the shepherd is, there you, being sheep, must follow. For many wolves there are, apparently worthy of confidence, who with the bait of baneful pleasure seek to capture the runners in God's race; but if you stand united they will have no success…” —St. Ignatius of Antioch
“We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.” —St. John Chrysostom
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” —St. Anthony the Great
“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 allowable for them to satisfy their desires. God will call them, however, and they will realize that it will not be possible for them to continue such a life.
Then in various ways they will be led to God… that time will be beautiful. That today they are sinning greatly, will lead them to a deeper repentance. Just 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.
And that time is near.” —St. Seraphim of Vyritsa
“When I remember the evil sins from which the Lord has delivered me, I have imperishable food for salvation.” —St. Mary of Egypt
“We all want God to give unity of faith to the world. But you are confusing things.
“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 in the smallest things, the whole edifice will fall to the ground in no short time.” —St. John of Damascus
“The Lord of all gave to His apostles clergy in the power last years will become an instrument of the gospel, and by them we also have learned the truth, that is, the teaching Antichrist. They will teach blind obedience as a virtue of the Son of God—as the Lord said to them, ‘He who hears you hears Me, peace and he who despises you 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 abroadA satanic obedience, and then later by the which will of God handed it down to us in Scriptures, to be require from the foundation believer ‘ignorance’ and pillar of our faith. For it is not right to say that they preached before they had come to perfect knowledge, as some dare to say, boasting that they are contempt for the correctors teachings of the apostles. For 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 Saints and had perfect knowledge. They went out indifference to the ends of the earth, preaching the good things that come to us from God, truth and proclaiming peace from heaven to all men, all and each of them equally being in possession of the gospel of Godsuperficial piety.” —St. Irenaeus Niphon of Lyons, Against Heresies, IIIConstantia (Cyprus)
“The humility times ahead, more perhaps than ever before in the Church's history, are a time of Jesus what St. Gregory the Theologian called ‘suffering Orthodoxy.’ We truly live in apocalyptic times: atheism is not conquering the public sphere in the whole world, false 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 superfluous detail false world church (the harlot of the Apocalypse), and the spirit of the coming Antichrist begins to place its seal on everywhere. Those who would be faithful to Christ in these terrible times must be prepared for sufferings and trials which will truly test the gospel narrativefaithfulness of our hearts to Him. The humility And yet, greater than these sufferings and the prince of Jesus this world who will inflict them upon us is essential He Who has promised to be with us even to the end of the gospelage (Matt. If Jesus lacked humility28:20).” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse, there would be no incarnation, no crucifixionThe Apocalypse, and no redemptiontranslated by Fr.” —Jack WisdomSeraphim Rose of Platina
“If he seeks answers to questions related to his faith, his purpose in lifeanyone prays with heretics, he will find happinessis a heretic.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania— Pope St. Agatho I
“The devil presents minor sins as insignificant in our eyes, because otherwise he would quality of mercy is not be able lead us into major onesstrained.” —St. Mark It droppeth as the Asceticgentle rain from heavenUpon the place beneath. It is twice blest:“Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, for it may lead you on to greater sinsIt blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” —St. Mark 'Tis mightiest in the Asceticmightiest; it becomesThe thronèd monarch better than his crown.“He who honours His scepter shows the Lord does what the Lord bids. When he sins or is disobedientforce of temporal power, he patiently accepts what comes as something he deserves.” —St. Mark the Ascetic “It is a great error The attribute to think that you must undertake important awe and great labors, whether for heaven, or, as majestyWherein doth sit the 'progressives' think, in order to make one's contribution to humanity. That dread and fear of kings;But mercy is not necessary at allabove this sceptered sway. It is necessary only to do everything enthronèd in accordance with the Lordhearts of kings;It is an attribute to God Himself;And earthly power doth then show likest God's commandmentsWhen mercy seasons justice.” —St. Theophan the RecluseTherefore, Jew,Though justice be thy plea, consider this:“When we are immersed That in sins, and our mind is occupied solely with worldly cares, we do not notice the state course of justice none of our soulusShould see salvation. We are indifferent do pray for mercy,And that same prayer doth teach us all to who we are inwardlyrenderThe deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus muchTo mitigate the justice of thy plea, and we persist along a false path without being aware Which, if thou follow, this strict court of itVeniceMust needs give sentence 'gainst the merchantthere.” —St. John (Maximovitch) —William Shakespeare, Portia, The Merchant of Shanghai and San FranciscoVenice, Act 4, Scene 1
“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, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love. Nothing troubles the man who is given over to the will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not impure at birthwant to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, but pureand that is harmful for the soul.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos—St. Silouan the Athonite (From the Life and Teachings of Elder Siluan by Bishop Alexander and Natalia Bufius translated by Anatoly Shmelev)
“No term is used–and misused–among the Orthodox people in America more often than the term canonical.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The taste Problems 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?Orthodoxy in America, The Canonical Problem
“The goodness fact that I am a monk and you are a layman is of God is so rich in graces, that it seeks 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 cause heart full of true faith into which to have mercy on send his Spirit. For the heart of a personman is capable of containing the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God are one.” —St. Anthimus Seraphim of ChiosSarov
“It is not then wealth that is easier to measure the foundation of pleasure, nor poverty of sadness, but our own judgment and entire sea with a tiny cup than to grasp God's ineffable greatness with the fact that the eyes of our human mind neither see clearly nor remain fixed in one place, but flutter abroad.” —St. John ChrysostomBasil the Great
“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 “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 “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
“Some virgins [unmarried women] go so far 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 potions, that pride in the size of their houses and the fine material with which they may insure barrennessare built. They take pleasure in decorating their houses with bright colors, and thus murder human beings almost before their conceptionin obtaining the best and most solid furniture to fill the rooms. Some, when They imagine that they can find themselves with child through their sinpeace and security by owning a house whose walls and roof will last for many generations. We, use drugs to procure abortionby contrast, and when (know that we are only temporary guests on earth. We recognize that the houses in which we live serve only as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter hostels on the road to eternal life. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or the lower world laden 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 guilt not only furniture of adultery against Christ but also our lives should be good works, performed in a spirit of suicide and child murderlove.” —St. JeromeJohn Chrysostom, Letter to EustochiumOn Living Simply, 22:13pg 11
“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. Augustineof 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
“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
“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
“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
“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 festering
Because 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;
“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. Augustineof 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
“He who is initiated into the mystery of the Resurrection, learns the end for which God created all things.” —St. Maximus the Confessor
“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. Augustineof 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. Augustineof 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
“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.
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,
“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
“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 Eight 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
“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
“…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
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” —Matthew 19:26
“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