Those of us who wish to start the spiritual life, to go out of the wordly things, to go out of Egypt and to fly from Pharaoh, certainly need some Moses as a mediator with God and from God, who, standing between action and contemplation, will raise hands of prayer for us to God, so that guided by Him we may cross the sea of sin and rout the Amalek of the passions.
He who drives away the carnal thought by prayer is like someone fighting with a lion; he who subdues him by his resistance is someone still pursuing his enemy; but he who has once for all reduced its appeal to nothing, even though he is still in the flesh, is as one who has already risen from his coffin.
Greater than baptism itself is the fountain of tears after baptism, even though it is somewhat audacious to say so. For baptism is the washing away of evils that were in us before, but sins committed after baptism are washed away by tears. As baptism is received in infancy, we have all defiled it, but we cleanse it anew with tears. And if God in His love for mankind had not given us tears, few indeed and hard to find would be those in a state of grace.
The man who has come to hate the world has escaped sorrow. But he who has an attachment to anything visible is not yet delivered from grief. For how is it possible not to be sad at the loss of something we love?
Those who have not yet obtained true prayer of the heart, can find help in violence in bodily prayer—I mean stretching out the hands, beating the breast, sincere raising of the eyes to heaven, deep sighing, and frequent prostrations. But often they cannot do this owing to the presence of other people, and so the demons especially choose to attack them just at this very time.
Avarice (“the love of money”) is the worship of idols, the daughter of unbelief, a lying excuse for illness, a foreboder of old age, a harbinger of drought, and a herald of hunger. The lover of money sneers at the Gospel and is a willful transgressor. He who has attained love scatters his money. But he who says that he lives for love and for money has deceived himself.
An ordinary Christian who has a morally dignified behavior becomes a symbol of the Truth manifested on earth and is a censor for the consciences of others. Honest souls will seek him to share his wisdom. The dishonest soul will bypass him and mock him or slander him. Through this treatment, he resembles the Crucified One.
The man who renounces the world from fear is like burning incense that begins with fragrance but ends in smoke. He who leaves the world through hope of reward is like a
The demons of vainglory prophesy in dreams. Being unscrupulous, they guess the future and foretell it to us. When these visions come true, we are amazed; and we are indeed
Love of God extinguishes our love for our parents. And so he who says that he has both deceives himself. He should listen to Him who says: No man can serve two masters. I have
The demons praised one of the most discerning brothers, appearing to him in visible form. But this most wise man said to them: ‘If you
Those who enter the contest of sanctification must renounce all things, despise all things, and shake off all things, that they may lay a firm foundation. A good foundation of three layers and three pillars is
If you see a man who has sinned and you do not pity him, the grace of God will leave you. Whoever curses bad people, and does not pray for them, will never come to know
In union with humility it is impossible that there should be any appearance of hatred, or any kind of dispute, or even
When a foolish person is accused or shouted at he is wounded by it and tries to contradict, or at once makes an apology to his accuser, not out of humility but in order to stop the accusations. But when
As of all foods bread is the most essential, so the thought of death is the most necessary of all works. The remembrance of death amongst those in the midst of society gives
In the very beginning of our renunciation, it is certainly with labor and grief that we practice the virtues. But when we have made progress in them, we no longer feel sorrow, or we feel little sorrow. But as soon as our mortal mind is
To fast is to force nature. It is to do away with whatever pleases the stomach. Fasting ends lust, roots out bad thoughts, frees one from
A characteristic of those who are still progressing in blessed mourning is temperance and silence of the lips; and of those who have made progress, freedom from
What we can say about deification? Here are we who lie in the deepest pit of ignorance, in the dark passions of this body and in the shadow of death, having the temerity to begin to philosophize about heaven on earth. The firmament has the stars for its beauty, and dispassion has the virtues for its adornments; for by dispassion I mean no other than the interior heaven of the mind, which regards the tricks of the demons as mere toys. And so he is truly dispassionate, and is recognized as dispassionate, who has made his flesh incorruptible, who has […]
There is one spirit on which you should keep a vigilant eye; he is the one who assails you…
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…
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 […]
Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me: ‘We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life?’ I replied to them:…
Divine Providence is one thing, Divine help is another, Divine protection is another, Divine mercy is another, and Divine consolation is another. Providence is…
A soul attached to the shepherd (his abbot or elder) with love and faith for Christ’s sake will not leave him even if it were at the price of his blood, and especially if he…
The Fathers state that the active life consists in two virtues of the most general kind: in fasting and obedience. And rightly, for the first destroys…
Simplicity is a constant habit of soul that has become immune to evil thinking. So,…
If you hear that your friend or neighbor is laughing at you to your face or behind your back, show them love and praise them. It’s a great thing to expel human praise from your soul. But it’s ever greater to expel the praise of the demons. “Saint John of the Ladder”
