Concentrate…

If we would concentrate on divine truth as seen in Christ, all need for a stream of words disappears, until finally the mind enters the realm of profound silence.

- Archimandrite Sophrony

Christ is risen!

Death was terrible to the human race before Christ’s death, but after Christ’s resurrection, man became terrible to death, for One of us has conquered death; He did not remain in the tomb, and did not see corruption. Passover was the freeing of Israel from Egypt. Our Pascha frees us from the slavery of death and corruption. Christ is risen! I now know that my salvation is truly wrought. I know that God truly appeared on earth. There have been great people, conquerors of the elements, conquerors of nature; but death cut them all down and revealed our common nothingness. Who has passed through the doors of death? It can only be God. This means that God was truly incarnate on earth, truly brought the healing cure against the corruption that corrodes and torments me. Incarnation and resurrection are united into one. The incarnation gave meaning to the resurrection, and the resurrection irrefutably convinces us of its truth and reality as something that is not a phantom or a dream.

- New Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verey

The holy freedom of Christ

In truth there is only one freedom - the holy freedom of Christ, whereby He freed us from sin, from evil, from the devil. It binds us to God. All other freedoms are illusory, false, that is to say, they are all, in fact, slavery.

- St. Justin Popovich, Ascetical and Theological Chapters

God is perfect…

God is perfect, He is faultless. And so, when Divine love becomes manifest in us in the fullness of Grace, we radiate this love —- not only on the earth, but throughout the entire universe as well. So God is in us, and He is present everywhere. It is God’s all-encompassing love that manifests itself in us. When this happens, we see no difference between people: everyone is good, everyone is our brother, and we consider ourselves to be the worst of men —- servants of every created thing.

- Elder Thaddeus

Advice on prayer

The Apostle has told us to pray uninterruptedly, without anger or passionate thoughts. And this is excellent advice, for every thought which takes the mind away from God is not merely from the devil but is the devil himself.

- St. John Chrysostom

Through living the love of Christ…

Through life in the Holy Trinity, through communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, man’s being is filled with true joy, which is nothing other than divine blessedness. Without this, man’s being is filled with grief, sorrow, and woe. If not with that, then what can death- and even before death, sin- fill the human being? A current of bitterness, or sinful pleasures that gradually change into bitterness, pours forth into the soul through every sort of sin. In every case, through each sin committed, at least a drop of bitterness falls on the soul and imperceptibly spreads throughout the soul. When the time comes, it grows into an enormous sorrow, and man, very often, does not even know where this grief in his soul and heart comes from. Through communion with Christ and His holy virtues, man’s being is filled with unceasing joy. Through living the love of Christ, man’s being is filled with inexpressible joy, as well as from living the righteousness of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the humility and meekness of Christ. And when man looks into himself- behold, he is completely filled with divine joy, and there is not a trace of grief or fear of death in him. Therefore, the holy Theologian proclaims: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

- Taken from the book: Archimandrite Justin Popovich, Commentary on the Epistles of St. John the Theologian.

When we participate in the sufferings of Christ

When we bravely and quietly endure the afflictions sent to us, we participate a little, albeit not fully, in the sufferings of Christ.

- St. Macarius of Optina

Be without God…

The problem of our life is union with God, and sin completely prevents this; therefore flee from sin as from a terrible enemy, as from the destroyer of the soul, because to be without God is death and not life. Let us therefore understand our destination; let us always remember that our common Master calls us to union with Himself.

- St. John of Kronstadt

Miracles happen through the prayers of children

Miracles happen through the prayers of small children. Whatever they ask of God He gives them because they are guileless and He hears their pure prayer. I remember one time our parents had gone out into the field and had left me in the house with my two younger siblings. The sky suddenly darkened and a torrential rainstorm began. “What will our parents do now?,” we said. “How will they get back home?” The two little ones began crying. “Come here,” I told them, “we will ask Christ to stop the rain.” The three of us knelt down before the family’s icons and prayed. In just a few minutes the rain stopped.

- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

We welcome Christ into our lives

There is a stranger in us - a naked, needy, hungry portion of ourselves - unwanted and neglected whom we must embrace.  In this way, we welcome Christ into our lives, for he is the Unwanted One, “the least of the brethren” within us, the Samaritan. By embracing what is unwanted in us we embrace Him and in this way we become whole. We reach out, but it is the Despised One in use who actually saves.  (Isaiah 53:3)

- Fr. Antony

Whatever you may be seeking…

Whatever you may be seeking, seek it with all your strength, but do not expect your own search and efforts to bear fruit of themselves. Put your trust in the Lord, ascribing nothing to yourself, and He will give you your heart’s desire.

- St. Theophan the Recluse

The gentle name of Jesus

The soul’s true peace lies in the gentle name of Jesus and in its emptying itself of impassioned thoughts.

- St. Hesychios the Priest

Turn to God…

Why do you fall into the destruction of the devil through him and with him? Preserve the sublime nature with which you were born. Persevere just as you were made by God. Establish your soul with the state of your face and body. That you may be able to know God, know yourself first. Abandon the idols which human error invented. Turn to God, and if you implore Him, He comes to your aid. Believe in Christ whom the Father sent to quicken and restore us.

- St. Cyprian of Carthage

On the Jesus Prayer

The heart must gain rest with “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”. The prayer refreshes, it does not weary.

- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos

When are we living in Christ?

When are we living in Christ? When we live according to His Gospel and His Church. For He Himself, and not only His Gospel, is in the Church with all of His perfections and virtues. The Church is the eternally living Body of the God-man Christ. In her we find the medium of the holy mysteries. In her we find the means of holy good deeds. Our Lord Jesus Christ abides inseparable from the Church in this world. He abides with each member of the Church throughout all ages. He has His entire self for us in the Church, and continually gives Himself to us entirely, so that we might be enabled to live in this world as He lived.

- St. Justin Popovich