From these two nightmares, from pride and despair, we are freed by humility. As salt preserves and flavours food, so humility preserves love and makes it ever new. It makes the heart well pleasing to God so that it may be built up as the temple of God and the dwelling place of His Spirit. “Very Rev. Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)”
A Christian must not be fanatical; he must have love for and be sensitive towards all people. Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm. “Saint Paisios the Athonite”
Nobody can say exactly when and how tears come. They well up suddenly. Of course, you shouldn’t weep so that people will see you. Profound repentance is tears unseen. You suddenly feel such a sinner and immediately the tears start from your eyes. “Elder Arsenie Boca (of Romania)”
The Lord revealed, through the lives of the Apostles and of all the Saints, that it is not possible for the Holy Spirit to reside in us without us bearing Its fruit. He expressly stressed that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control’. Therefore, we ought to look for such fruit inside ourselves, which indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. Then we may assess where we stand spiritually. Such critical assessment is necessary and lifesaving. If we embark on this exercise during this festive season, then it will be truly […]
If you comply with the words of God and have no regrets in your conscience, and if you’re calm and perform good works, then you’ll gradually feel your way into prayer, smoothly, until grace comes. “Venerable Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
For us, Christians, who are illumined and enlightened in Christ, everything in this world has value and meaning only insofar as it’s a means and path to eternity. Because we see what’s not apparent and gaze upon the invisible. We regulate the whole of our lives in time on the basis of that which is eternal, what is human on the basis of the God/human. As long as there is something eternal within the sphere of the temporal, that’s what we live off. But when that’s missing, we’ll seek it beyond time, in the kingdom of the unending and invisible. […]
There’s more grace in one of God’s little flowers that in a whole bunch of artificial paper ones. In the same way, the immaterial [aïlon] differs greatly from the nylon. “Venerable Païsios the Athonite”
The regenerated man has another mind, ‘the mind of Christ’, another understanding, ‘that which is in Christ Jesus’[, another heart, in which ‘dwells Christ by faith’. He becomes like unto Christ and fulfills his purpose. “Very Rev. Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)”
We shall be blessed if, being conscious of our poverty and our nothingness, we take refuge in God, trusting in the honour He bestowed on us through His commandments and promises towards us. As the eternal Gospel of Christ affirms, ‘as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.’ Man’s rebirth occurs through his acceptance of the word of Christ. This word, as the ‘seed’ of God, remains in him as the law of life and does not allow him to sin ‘because he has been born […]
The Gospel of Christ was not received of man and is not after man. He Himself assures us that ‘without Him’ no good work is able to be completed. This is why He says imperatively to Nicodemus that he must be ‘born again’ from above, in order to understand His mysteries, to enact His commandments and thus to become ‘fit for the Kingdom of God’ “Very Rev. Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)”
It’s defamation to speak about others when they’re not present with the aim of attacking them, even if what you say is true. “Saint Basil the Great”
Prayer, especially the Jesus Prayer (‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me’), through which we are united to God, is initially on the lips, since we say and express it orally and listen to it with our ears. It then ascends to the brain and after being there for some time, God willing, it descends and settles in the heart, and then wells up from the innermost depths. People who experience this become bearers of light, of the Spirit, resembling Christ and the Trinity. The spiritual guides of the prayer of the heart say that the second way of prayer […]
The wondrous Lord Jesus gave us the commandment to follow His ‘example’, if we want to become His eternal inheritance. He humbled Himself and became the servant of our salvation, giving His life as a ‘ransom’ to redeem all men from the death of sin. “Very Rev. Archimandrite Zacharias (Zacharou)”
Jesus Christ calls upon all of us who love Him to be crucified with Him. Then will follow the resurrection of the soul and spiritual delight. The winter is harsh, the cold painful, but Paradise is sweet. Raise your eyes and look upon Jerusalem Above, where happiness, joy and bliss will reign throughout the ages. What joy, what delight to live with God forever… So let us love one another, my sons, because everything is love there and anyone who doesn’t have love, doesn’t enter. “Elder Ephraim of Arizona”
Confession spells the end of any fraternization with sins. Revulsion at our sins is the mark of true repentance of the soul and a firm decision to live virtuously. “Saint Ignatius Brianchaninoff”
If you gloat, you’re happy to see other people suffer. Those who do so are happy to see an enemy die, forgetting that death comes to all of us. They’re malicious, they scowl, they have a cunning look about them. Their lips are tight and their mouths are full of bitterness. They’re happier with battles than with peace. Their way of life’s warped and they’re on the wrong track. “Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis”
Don’t you see the barren trees, how strong and lovely they are, large, smooth and tall? But if we have an orchard, we’d rather have productive pomegranates and olives than them, because they’re only for enjoyment and don’t bring us the slightest benefit. That’s the way those Christians are who care only about their own affairs. In fact, they’re not even like that, because they’re headed for the fire, whereas as decorative trees are at least used, either for construction or for the security of the owners. “Saint John Chrysostom”
There’s nothing worse than Christians who don’t save other people. Don’t cry poverty, because you’ll be condemned by the widow who put in her two mites. Don’t claim that you come from a humble background, because the Apostles were insignificant and then became important. Don’t go on about your illiteracy, because they were also illiterate. Even if you’re a slave, if you’re a fugitive, you can do your duty, because Onisimos was one such. Yet, look at how Saint Paul calls him and advances him to high office ‘so that he might serve me in these chains’. And don’t claim […]
The path of our life here on earth is deceptive and misleading. To those taking their first steps, it seems endless and full of activity. To those who’ve reached the end, it seems very short and full of hollow dreams. “Saint Païsios the Athonite”
Everybody is made in the image of God. But the ‘likeness’ belongs only to those who, with great love, have subjected their freedom to God. Because when we cease to belong to ourselves, then we’re like Him, Who reconciled us with Himself through love. Nobody can achieve this unless they convince their soul not to be lured by the easy glory of this world. “Saint Diadochus of Photice”
Nothing pleases God so much as when we don’t return evil for evil. “Saint John Chrysostom”
Bodily fasting needs to be accompanied by a spiritual fast. There is, for example, no point in abstaining from certain foods, on the one hand, but, on the other, reviling people. A saintly ascetic once said: ‘It’s better to eat meat and drink wine than to eat the flesh of your brothers and sisters with whispers and censure’. Fasting also loses its meaning when it’s separated from love. Lots of people fast meticulously, they observe the letter of the rules for fasting, but retain hatred for their brothers and sisters in their hearts. They won’t even wish them “Good day” […]
Writing about the Biblical texts, Elder Sophrony Sakharov, one of our leading modern theologians, says that even if they were to be lost in some way, we would be able to re-write them, not in precisely the same words, but certainly in the same spirit. It is quite clear from this that there is no question of making the actual letter and text of the Scriptures into objects of worship in themselves. It is obvious and well enough known, in any case, that the Church preceded the Scriptures, since it already existed, living in its own Tradition, when it established […]
Fasting isn’t an end, but rather a means for purification from the passions. This is why the Fathers liken it to a sword or a knife which cuts off the passions.
It’s God’s will that we be united and bound together by the bond of genuine, true, pure, guileless and sincere Christian divine love. It’s a disgrace, a lie, to pray to the Lord for the peace of the whole world and to be separated from one another. “Elder Philotheos Zervakos”
Even little children are able to sense the Grace of the Holy Spirit. This is why we notice in some saints that when they were children they didn’t much care for games, as their contemporaries did. Rather, they stood out through their introversion and seriousness, something of the outlook of an Elder. This was the case in the life of Saint Athanasios the Athonite, and also in that of Elder Sophrony, who fell asleep in the Lord in 1993. When he was still in his infancy he was visited by the divine light, uncreated and immaterial. “Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi”
You give what God’s given you. If God wants, He will take it all away from you in a couple of minutes. What God’s given to you, in His providence, you pass it on. It’s not yours; God gave it to you; and you won’t take it with you. You’re managing it, you can’t have it with you in eternity. So make sure you make good investments. “Bishop Athanasios of Limassol”
‘I came that they might have life and have it abundantly’. Saint Gregory Palamas interprets ‘abundant life’ as the life of sanctity, our adoption by God through Grace. Those who keep God’s commandments live the virtuous life in accordance with His commandments. They receive Divine Grace from Him and this becomes their inalienable possession. They acquire the divine predicates: love, wisdom, the uncreated light, ontological autonomy, and immortality. All of this is nothing other than a life of sanctity. “Abbot Ephraim of Vatopedi”
For those who are properly prepared, sorrows are spiritual contests and food for the athletes of Christ. They enable them to inherit the glory of the Father. “Saint Basil the Great”
Something similar occurs with our natural gifts: when man puts all his confidence in them, giving them absolute value, then his very gifts obstruct the road that leads to the acquisition of supernatural gifts that are conferred by God in His goodness. In our relationships, we notice the same thing: if they are not founded upon the assurance of our holy relationship with God, they will be weak and brittle, always ready to collapse and in danger of becoming an unending source of grief and torment. That is why the Lord says that every wise man who is taught the […]