You do not just suddenly leap into heaven…
You do not just suddenly leap into heaven, but you enter it with humility. The worst of all sins is when we are overwhelmed by our pride and our own opinion about everything.
- St. Macarius of Optina
Life without God
Man ate the forbidden fruit, thinking that it would give him life. But life itself outside of and without God is simply communion with death.
- Fr. Alexander Schmemann, O Death, Where is Thy Sting?
This is our purpose on earth…
This is our purpose on earth. To try and live in the Kingdom of God, here. For how can we come and leave without sensing paradise here? We have fallen from paradise, but if we do not return to it here, how will we win it there?
- Mother Gavrilia
God’s mercy and forgiveness
God gives us his mercy and forgiveness whether we want it or not, whether we repent or not. But if we repent and we want it, then that mercy is just glory and happiness and a blessed life. But if we resist it… it’s Hell! In fact, the fire of Hell is not God punishing people. The fire of Hell is the presence of God’s love, His mercy and His compassion on people who don’t want it, don’t accept it, don’t think they need it and don’t even care about it.
- From an interview of Fr. Thomas Hopko
Let us struggle with all our powers
Let us struggle with all our powers to gain Paradise. The gate is very narrow. Don’t listen to those who say that everyone will be saved. This is a trap of Satan so that we won’t struggle.
- Elder Paisios the Athonite
Love giving hospitality
Love giving hospitality, my child, for it opens the gates of Paradise. In this you also offer hospitality to angels. “Entertain strangers so that you won’t be a stranger to God.”
- Father Amphilochios
We need these two loves
If we want to fare well in this life and go to Paradise, and to call our God love and father, we must have two loves: the love for God and the love for our neighbor. It is natural for us to have these two loves, and contrary to nature not to have them. Just as a swallow needs two wings in order to fly in the air, so we need these two loves, because without them we cannot be saved.
- St. Cosmas Aitolos, Modern Orthodox Saints, Vol. I
Ιf I knew how eternal life would be
Ιf I knew back then how eternal life would be and the heavenly beauty the souls enjoy by being next to God, I honestly would have asked for my martyrdom to last for ever, as it was absolutely nothing compared to the gifts of grace of God!
- Saint Euphemia to elder Paisios of Mount Athos, when she mystically appeared to him in his cell
Carry your cross
Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!
– Elder Anthony of Optina
Our Hell and our Paradise are prepared by us, here.
“….No, God does not condemn; it is Man who makes a choice. Man goes off to eternity together with his sins. If you have been a fornicator or a drunkard or had no love in you, that is how you will go there.
Here on earth you can satisfy your passions, and you can even commit murder in order to satisfy yourself.
Man retains every sinful tendency, even in the other world. Except that he will no longer be able to satisfy it there. For the sinner, these will be the “tortures of Hell”. It is not a case of “punishment”; Man is tortured, by his very own choice.
God does not provide us with a “Hell”. God says to us: “Come and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven”; it is Man who carries Hell itself inside him. This means that our hell and our Paradise are both prepared by us, here…”
Thank you…
With this post I just wanted to say something to our Lord.
Thank you for everything! You never abandoned my from my very first moment on the earth till now…
Also I wanted to thank Virgin Mary for her help as well as our Saints.
Please Lord, remember me in Your Kingdom.
I’ll pray for all of us to remember us in our Kingdom. Please pray for me…
The two gates
Paradise
“If you think to find paradise on earth, even in a monastery, then you are very mistaken. Paradise-full blessedness-does not exist on earth, and cannot, because man was not created for earth, but for heaven.”
-Abbess Thaisia of Leushino
Loving Relationship with the World - Elder Paisios
(in this photo you can see a little bird in Elder’s hand)
…A few days after Pascha I decided to take an afternoon walk in the forest outside of Florina… It was a joy to be with the animals, the birds, the trees, and even the smallest blade of grass bursting with life…. I cheerfully spoke to them and they listened to me. I tenderly caressed them and understood their intentions and the movements of their inner beings. I loved them all. This extraordinarily beautiful, peaceful, and loving relationship between man and the world must have characterized the genuine life of Paradise. ”The elder must be in such a state every day,” I thought.
Indeed once he [Elder Paisios] said,
“When I was in Stomio at the little monastery near Konitsa, there were two large bears who would come to the place where I would dispose of the garbage. The poor things were hungry, so I would go and give them some bread. The animals can recognize your disposition when you approach them, if you intend to kill them or if you approach them with genuine love.”
At this point, the elder opened up his hand and called to a red robin that was resting in the branches of a tree, and the little bird came and happily perched on the elder’s finger.
“The animals enjoy being with man and look at him as their king. In Paradise, Adam called the animals one by one and gave them each a name according to its kind. Animals recognized man’s superiority and were happy in his presence. After the fall, however, this relationship was destroyed. Man looked at the beasts with the intention of killing them, and the animals became wild. Nevertheless, the wild animals are still more sincere than man is. If you approach them with love, they return to that pristine state. Man has ruined the animals. Even the dog that lives continually by man’s side has changed, acquiring a police mentality and distrustful character. I used to feed a little kitten around here that would come and rub itself up against my leg and purr. Although it was very tame, when one day, I tossed a piece of bread to it, the animal pulled back in fear. What had happened to it? Someone had thrown stones at it and ruined the animal’s attitude towards people. So you see, this evil state of affairs begins with man.”
From The Grus, The Young Man, and the Elder Paisios, by Dionysios Farasiotis pp 251-252
