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
God is a fire…
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
On judging our neighbor
Even though the Father of Lights has given all judgment to the Son, we fools seize it and judge our neighbor without discernment, without realizing his work and God’s divine providence for him.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast
Like a group of trees…
Abba Poemen said that Abba John said that the Saints are like a group of trees, each bearing different fruit, but watered from the same source. The practices of one Saint differ from those of another, but it is the same Spirit that works in all of them.
He always listens to us
Do you know what a great gift it is that God gave us the right to speak to Him every hour and moment, wherever we are? He always listens to us. This is the greatest honor we have. For this reason we must love God.
- Elder Porphyrios (1906-1991)
How often…
How often have I entered the House of God without fear and trembling, stood there in prayer, frivolous and absent-minded, and left it in the same spirit and disposition! And in prayer at home I have been just as cold and indifferent, praying little, lazily, and indolently, inattentively and impiously, and even completely omitting the appointed prayers!
- St Basil The Great
Repentance is endless
Repentance is endless. All the virtues, by the grace of God, may be perfected by man, but no one can perfect repentance, since we need repentance until our last breath, for we err in the twinkling of an eye.
- Elder Ephraim, “Counsels from the Holy Mountain”
How God is glorified
God is glorified not by mere words, but by works of righteousness, which proclaim the majesty of God far more effectively than words.
- St. Maximos the Confessor
Without prayer and hope
Whatever we do without prayer and without hope in God, turns out afterwards to be harmful and defective.
- St. Mark the Ascetic
I have no fear…
I have not lived so as to be ashamed to live amongst you; neither do I fear to die, for we have a good Lord.
- St. Ambrose
We must choose…
No wonder, then, that it is so hard to be Christian— it is not hard it is impossible. No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the more truly it is lived, leads 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 is the strength to pursue the path of crucifixion; there is not other way to be Christian.
- From the writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose
Many desire virtues…
Many desire virtue, but fear to go forward in the way that leads to it, while others consider that virtue does not even exist. So it is necessary to persuade the former to give up their sloth, and teach the others what virtue really is.
- Abba Isidore of Pelusium
Virtue vs Evilness
Virtue is a natural state, whereas evilness is unnatural, like one who is ill and one who is healthy.
- St. John Chrysostom
Reading the word of God
It is very profitable to occupy oneself with reading the word of God in solitude, and to read the whole Bible intelligently. For one such occupation alone, apart from good deeds, the Lord will not leave a person without His mercy, but will fill him with the gift of understanding.
- St. Seraphim of Sarov
Courage and mercy
… Courage shatters enemies attacking the soul from without, mercy those attacking it from within.
- St. Gregory of Sinai (“The Philokalia”, Vol. 4)
