Compassion for others and sympathy for their failings will bring the heart closer to the heart of God than any form of judging.

St. Hesychius the Presbyter
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Know that there is nothing the enemy fears like prayer.

Tito Colliander
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We must have self-denial. Self-denial will bring transformation, tears, humility; it will bring everything. God can't help but fill that soul with His grace. When we don't have grace, we don't struggle, and we immediately say improper things, talk back, get angry, shout and make gestures, and have inappropriate sadness at the slightest thing.

Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)
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The Holy Fathers say that there are only four things we may think about during prayer. We are not exactly to think of them but to bear them in mind. These are death, the Judgment, heaven, and hell.

Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
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And so, it is clear that without zeal a Christian is a poor Christian. He is drowsy, feeble, lifeless, neither hot nor cold—and this kind of life is not life at all. Knowing this, let us strive to manifest ourselves as true zealots of good deeds, so that we might truly be pleasing to God, having neither stain nor spot, nor any of these things.

St. Theophan the Recluse, bishop of Tambov
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It follows that a distracted person cannot in any way be depended upon: he is an unreliable, unfaithful, light-minded person. He is inclined to let down, be unfaithful to or betray even those people by whom he is considered a close friend.

Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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The saints have also found that selfish thoughts, left unchecked, lead a person to sinful acts, passions, habits, and eventually alienation from God and neighbor; whereas godly thoughts, when cultivated, guide a person by the grace of God to virtuous actions, habits, and ultimately purification from the passions, illumination by the Holy Spirit, and deification in Christ.

Bishop Alexis (Trader)
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Grief has an opposite effect to pleasure; that is why it counteracts our fallen state and promotes our restoration. Because of these properties, sorrow is necessary for our salvation.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
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Do you know what communication with God means? Communicating all day long with God is an awesome thing! Just begin speaking with God and do not let go of His name. How do you think of your mother, your father, or some dear person? What does a betrothed girl do? She is captivated by thinking of her betrothed all day long. She sits and knits and remembers him. So, should we not remember Christ, our betrothed?

Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)
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When you are slandered, and therefore grow disturbed and sick at heart, it shows that pride is in you, and that it must be wounded and driven out by outward dishonour. Therefore do not be irritated by derision, and do not bear malice against those who hate you and slander you, but love them as your physicians, whom God has sent you to instruct you and to teach you humility, and pray to God for them.

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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If there is no evil will, there will be no evil works. This means that the main thing is not works but man's inner disposition, the good or evil will of his soul and the virtuous or depraved condition of his heart, from which good or evil works are born naturally.

Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Distracted prayer is not prayer at all, even though the Lord does accept it initially from those who are learning to pray. But there comes a time when one must begin to pray without distraction!

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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As the Holy Trinity, our God is One Being, although Three Persons, so, likewise, we ourselves must be one. As our God is indivisible, we also must be indivisible, as though we were one man, one mind, one will, one heart, one goodness, without the smallest admixture of malice - in a word, one pure love, as God is Love. "That they may be one, even as We are One" (John 17:22).

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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We need to have more prayer, more prostrations, and more self-control for God to have mercy on us.

Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)

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Concerning hypocritical prayer. Did the Pharisees think that they prayed hypocritically? They did not think so; they considered themselves to be right in their hypocrisy itself! It had become their habit; it had become, so to say, their nature; and they thought they were serving God by their prayer. Do the Christian hypocrites of the present day think that they pray and live hypocritically? They do not think so.

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt

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Under no circumstances should you become despondent or lose hope; this is worse than any sin. Such states lead one to spiritual death and even suicide. “There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, except the sin which is not repented of.”

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

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Under no circumstances should you become despondent or lose hope; this is worse than any sin. Such states lead one to spiritual death and even suicide. “There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, except the sin which is not repented of.”

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

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An overwhelming majority of people, have absolutely no understanding of Christianity; they are searching not for the path to salvation, not for eternal life, but for someone who can help them ‘do’ something, who can instantly rescue them from whatever troubles them.

Abbot Nikon Vorobiev

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When a thought bothers us and drives us so crazy that we cannot stand it any longer, we must remind ourselves that it will pass. Do we feel discouraged? We should say to the thought, Listen, get out of here, be on your way. You're not for me.

Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)

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When you are praying, watch over yourself so that not only your outward man prays, but your inward one also. Though you be sinful beyond measure, still pray.

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt

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If you want to conquer vainglory, love not praise, nor honor, nor fine clothes, nor precedence, nor favor; but on the contrary, cherish occasions when you are reprimanded and dishonored, when false charges are brought against you—and reproach yourself for being more sinful than any sinner.

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian

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What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue. To acquire it, a man must always think of himself with contrition, self-belittlement and painful self-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.

Venerable Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh

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The first passion that takes root in a person is egotism and pride. Take anyone, from infant to elder. Pride is like a medallion that we wear continually and cannot take off.

Gerondissa Makrina (Vassopoulou)

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Thus the present state of our souls foreshadows the future. The future will be a continuation of the present inward condition, only in a modified form as to its degree: for the righteous it will be turned into the fulness of eternal glory; for sinners, into the fulness of everlasting torment.

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt

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One must struggle and strive so as to become of Christ, lest he believe in Christ in vain, in which case Christ is of no benefit to him whatever. All his striving and all his struggle must be directed to acquiring the Spirit of Christ, and in this way to bring forth the fruits of the Holy Spirit: for in this consists the spiritual law and the blessed state.

Venerable Symeon the New Theologian

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King David, the holy prophet, the Godseer Moses and the saint and prophet Daniel pleased God amidst a multitude of activities and a diversity of entertainments. St John of the Ladder describes venerable saints living in the monastic communities of Egypt who told him acquire stillness of mind among the noise of human chatter and that is glorious.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Bishop of the Caucasus and the Black Sea

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How will it be with us in the future life, when everything that has gratified us in this world: riches, honours, food and drink, dress, beautifully furnished dwellings, and all attractive objects—how will it be, I say, when all these things leave us — when they will all seem to us a dream, and when works of faith and virtue, of abstinence, purity, meekness, humility, mercy, patience, obedience, and others will be required of us?

Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt

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Do not refuse to learn, even though you may be very intelligent. For what God provides has more value than our own intelligence.

St Mark the Ascetic

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