We should have always room for one more. Perhaps this should be obvious but the hell of egotism in our minds teaches us that the state of necessity and war is an excuse for domestic tyranny.
Who killed Jesus? Many would say “the Jews” – however, if we look closely at the Gospels we will see that the answer isn’t correct and besides that, such forms of judgment of people based on their ethnic or cultural appurtenance of a certain group have dire consequences, as we saw in history.
If you love the good disciples, no one owes you any thanks on that account. But instead, try to subdue the more troublesome ones with your meekness.
Birds are fooled, and the animals of the forest, by the very charms that bring their destruction. Caves as well as food deceive them. They do not know how to avoid evil, and they are not restrained by the law.
Blessed is the man who knows his own weakness, because this knowledge becomes to him the foundation, root and beginning of all goodness.
A disciple once asked an elder: Well then, if a good man does not only suffer no evil by being killed, but actually gains a reward from his suffering, how can we accuse the man who has done him no harm but good by killing him?
Orthodoxy is a divine-human co-operation in which the Lord Himself will settle any crisis within His Body – the Church – and the most common way is the following one:
It is worth noticing that, after acquiring spiritual understanding, the defects and faults of one’s neighbor begin to seem very slight and insignificant, as redeemed by the Savior and easily cured by repentance—
Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.
Christ said: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
When a person is unable to profit from spiritual knowledge,
Do not judge. You don’t know from what storm the other person has come. You don’t know
Don’t ruin a good today by thinking too much about a bad yesterday. Let it go. It is water under the bridge. So, let your past make you better, not bitter, because–
We should not fear confession because confession is the door to heaven. This is because God won’t cure us from our existential distortions unless we practically
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
The communists took everything from us: they took our physical liberty, they took our wealth, our friends and relatives, our freedom of speech and expression – everything. But they couldn’t enter into
No one can say, “I am poor and hence I have no means of giving alms.” For even if
It’s one thing to give out excellent advice, but quite another to put it into practice personally…
Remember the Blessed Elder’s definition of philotimo: “The reverent distillation of
Abba Sisoes used to say that the way that leads to humility is
In the [Muslim] Saracen encampment they asked St. Cyril [Enlightener of the Slavs]: “How can Christians wage war and at the same time keep Christ’s commandment to pray to God for their enemies?’ To this, St. Cyril replied:
Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because…
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…
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…
So then, with the Grace of Christ, when you become accustomed to cutting off your own will repeatedly, this…
A disciple once asked an elder: – Elder, is true humility to see yourself worse than everyone else?…
People who are stubborn, quarrelsome and cantankerous are vain and empty.
I’m the LIGHT and you don’t see me. I’m the WAY and you don’t follow me. I am the TRUTH and you don’t believe me. I’m LIFE and you don’t seek me. I’m the TEACHER and you don’t listen to me. I’m the LORD and you don’t obey me. I’m your GOD and you don’t pray to me. I’m your best FRIEND and you don’t love me. If you’re unhappy, don’t blame me.
Uprightness is simplicity, innocence and untarnished purity of the soul. It’s virtue of the highest order, because it’s the fruit of Christian perfection. Upright people are interested day and night in learning about the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect, in order to conform to it. They examine their lives and investigate the depths of their hearts. They will not allow anything in there, they eject any evil desire and cast out every passion. “Saint Nectarios of Pentapolis”
