Let us now carefully consider whether God ever allows evil to be forced on his saints, either by himself or by someone else.
Every created nature is far removed from and completely foreign to the divine nature.
Someone who wanted to do evil, prayed Someone wanted to do evil, but first prayed as usual; and finding himself prevented by God, he was then extremely thankful.
There are two basic ways of a cure. The first is for a person to abandon “wealth” of the mind. In speaking of poverty, Saint Niketas Stethatos maintains that poverty is not only the renunciation of material goods, but is also the denial of the “wealth” of the mind.
Even if the rules of iconography insist that the holy image depicted (the saints) should be with black hair and black eyes, however, from tradition and from visions, we are informed from the saints which saw the Mother of God that her hair texture resembles that of ripe wheat with blue eyes.
The devil uses a similar technique with us when we want to attack something. So, we must know how to defend. It depends on us to do it.
You have a spiritual nature. The soul is the image of the Creator. Honor the image of God by being in agreement with all humanity.
We struggle to learn various things and slowly try to understand their meanings in order to gain knowledge.
It was fitting that the Giver of all holiness should enter this world by a pure and holy birth. For He it is that of old formed Adam from the virgin earth,
A certain wise man, when enumerating which blessings are the most important included a wife and husband who live in harmony (Sir. 25:1). In another place he emphasized this:
Many times, God allows children to stay on the archibishop’s throne because the grace of theosis is not made known by lessons but through innocence and purity as that of a child. Brothers and sisters, stop thinking
If Peter had not failed to catch anything during the night’s fishing (cf. Lk 5:5), he would not have caught anything during the day. And if Paul had not suffered physical blindness (cf. Ac 9:8), he would not have been given spiritual sight. And if Stephen had not been slandered as a blasphemer, he would not have seen the heavens opened and have looked on God (cf. Ac 6:15; 7:56). As work according to God is called virtue, so unexpected affliction is called a
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
Suffering cleanses the soul infected with the filth of sensual pleasure and detaches it completely from material things by showing it the
It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death. It was fitting that she,…
Thus as art can also be the fountain of true light, the inexhaustible treasury of life itself, the most fruitful source of blessing, who has won for us and brought us all good things…
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if…
Get rid of two things about yourself: don’t think you’re somebody important and worthy; and don’t think that anybody else is of greater value than you. “Saint Basil the Great”
People should train themselves to recognize immediately, through the feeling in their heart, whether good or evil is coming towards them, in the same way as we identify savory and unsalted things, or sweet and bitter with the tongue. “Saint Nicholas Velimirovich”
Love of pleasure opens the door of our soul to the enemy. If you fight this with firm resolve, then it will be very difficult for any passion to overcome you. “Saint Theophan the Recluse”
Just looking at something isn’t in itself a sin. What is a sin is looking at things with envy, pride and greed. “Saint Anthony the Great”
If you don’t want to be enslaved to the passions and the devil on a daily basis, you have to set yourself an aim that you’ll always bear in mind and that you’ll try to achieve, overcoming all obstacles through the Lord’s assistance. “Saint John of Kronstadt”
The passions cover Divine Grace, just as ash covers the spark. With asceticism and prayer, however, the heart is cleansed of the passions, the spark of divine grace is rekindled and the faithful feel Christ in their heart, which is the centre of their existence. “Abbot Georgios Kapsanis of Gregoriou”
How wounded our natural love is! How deep the wound of strong passion is that it bears. When the heart is engulfed with powerful passion, it’s capable of every kind of injustice, every kind of transgression, as long as it satisfies its sick love. “Saint Ignatius Brianchaninoff”
The passions are serpents. When one of them emanates from the heart, it’s like a snake sticking its head out of a hole. Strike it in the name of Christ. It’ll withdraw at once. As soon as another one manifests itself, hit that as well. Strike them all. “Saint Theophan the Recluse”
In order to have the desired relationship with God, to love Him with all our heart and to remain constantly in His presence, it is necessary to have a pure and free heart. The heart becomes free when repentance uproots from within it the law of sin and all the commandments of God become the unique law of our being. Then a divine state and love is imparted to man which is made manifest in unceasing prayer and through it, love for his fellow man. This prayer shows that man is the image and likeness of God and he loves […]
People divorce because of their sensuality and their egotism. Nothing else. All the other reasons are invented afterwards to justify what they’ve done. “Saint Paisios the Athonite”
We should see God in the faces of children and we should give them His love. Children, too, should learn how to pray. If they are to pray, children need to have the blood of prayerful parents. “Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia”
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”
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”