The severing of communion between us should be the last thing we do, not the first. We must resort to this only
It is difficult to understand the cross of another if we have not experienced it ourselves. Still,…
There is one spirit on which you should keep a vigilant eye; he is the one who assails you…
Don’t criticize or judge other people – regard everyone else as an angel, justify their mistakes and weaknesses, and condemn only yourself as the worst sinner. Also, be constantly…
It is significant how deeply attracted men are by the spectacle of an earthly king and how eagerly they seek after it; and how everyone who lives in a city where the king…
There are a lot of different sources of light in our life and we must find the right one which is from God. Clearly, this source is shown to us by…
If the Lord has left us ignorant of the ordering of many things in this world, then it means…
It is simple to be “complex” according to your own vision about yourself. However, it is quite complex to be simple because usually we have a very big idea about ourselves…
The are many reasons why diligence and work are of benefit to us. For one, work gives us the opportunity to…
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 and raises man to Heaven. The highest form of prayer is…
To be quiet is the fruit of a royal and noble upbringing. Those who’ve learned how to be quiet have…
We are created as an image of God. Hence our fight is to fight against our fight against God. Our effort is not so much to build something but rather to…
The one who says that the righteous man should not have sorrows is like he is saying that…
What does it mean to take up your cross? It means the acceptance of every means of healing, bitter though it may be, that is offered. Do great catastrophes fall on you?…
Every genuine confession humbles the soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it…
If at some time you show mercy to someone, mercy will be shown to you. If you show compassion to one who is suffering (and of course, this is not a great deed) you will be numbered among the martyrs…
Abba Poimen said that Abba John said that the saints are like…
So then, with the Grace of Christ, when you become accustomed to cutting off your own will repeatedly, this…
Both in creation and in compunction there is that which moves itself and that which is moved by something else. When the soul becomes tearful,…
When we have lived a year or two away from our family, and have acquired some piety or contrition or continence, then vain thoughts begin to rise up in us and urge us to go again to our homeland, ‘for the edification of many’, they say, ‘and as an example, and for the profit of those who saw our former lax life’. And if we possess the gift of eloquence and some shreds of knowledge, the thought occurs to us that we could be saviors of souls and teachers in the world—that we may waste in the sea what we […]
If you are overly happy when you receive good news, then you will be…
Because of the Fall of man, the natural order of things has become chaotic. In nature, there is an order for all things, but with man there is chaos,…
The Prophet Elijah (Ilias) is a beloved saint because of his great love for God, leading him to renounce everything for his Lord. This self-emptying allowed…
The Lord sends his enlightenment only to them whose hearts with all their strength endure and thirst for the truth. That’s why…
Stillness helps us by making evil inoperative. If it also takes to itself these four virtues in prayer, it is the most direct support in attaining dispassion. The intellect cannot be still unless…
There is more mercy in God than there are sins in us. Confess your sins at once, whatever they may be…
God is perfect and almighty. This means, among other things, that God isn’t forced to create and/or to do any action which He does God is perfectly free. He transcends everything, including the necessity to create…
Do not let pass any opportunity to pray for anyone, either at his request or at the request of his relatives, friends, of those who esteem him, or of his acquaintances. The Lord…
All those who are glorified in this world are lost with it. But those who are glorified by Christ are glorified through Him. The glory of the world is death, whereas the glory of Christ is…
The present day Monastery of Vatopaidi has produced a multitude of saints throughout its history of over a thousand years, most of them unknown to us. We know with certainty only a few that lived within its walls and precinct – almost 70 – whose…