2022/23
Orthodox Quote of the Week (268) | Instead of freedom from sin, people began to strive for freedom to sin. True freedom, freedom of spirit, Christian freedom came to be considered "despotism," "coercion," the oppression of the Church, while the dissipation of one's sinful will, which leads to enslavement of the spirit, was made life's ideal. Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (267) | Let others mock at you, oppose you, when you are under the influence of any passion; do not be in the least offended with those who mock at or oppose you, for they do you good; crucify your self-love and acknowledge the wrong, the error of your heart. Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (266) | Nothing less than the slow, painful, merciless death of the ego is required of those who would enter into watchfulness and prayer in the right spirit. Cut off from its accustomed food, the ego retreats famished into a corner, where it cries out until at last it has no more energy, and it expires. With this, true life begins. Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (265) | A soldier asked Abba Mius if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things he said, "Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?" He replied, "No, I mend it and use it again." The old man said to him, "If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about His creature?" Abba Mius
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (264) | ...the Lord does not seek the monk or the layperson, the scholar or the simpleton, the rich man or the pauper, but only the heart that thirsts for God, full of a sincere desire to be true to Him and His commandments! Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (263) | Christian humility is not in any way a form of weakness, but just the opposite: it is strength in a person, although not human strength, but rather God's strength. Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (262) | Whenever possible, we should always remember death, for this displaces all cares and vanities, allowing us to guard our intellect and giving us unceasing prayer, detachment from our body and hatred of sin. Indeed, it is a source of almost every virtue. We should therefore, if possible, use it as we use our own breathing. St. Hesychius the Theologian of Jerusalem, disciple of St. Gregory the Theologian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (261) | Unless a man hates all the activity of this world, he cannot worship God. Venerable Isaiah the Solitary of Seeds and Palestine
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (260) | If you want to bring someone onto the right path, to teach and advise him, then you must humble yourself first and talk to the person with a lot of love. He will accept your advice, for he will feel that it is given with love. Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (259) | After the resurrection our bodies will be spiritual, and not earthly ones, everything earthly will remain upon earth. Remembering what our future abode will be, Christians, let us, then, gradually detach ourselves from everything earthly. Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (258) | If the Son of God Himself was made guilty of sin, though He was sinless, then you, too, must accept blame for all sins with meekness and love (for you are really sinful of all sins), and accept blame humbly and submissively, even for those sins of which you are not guilty. Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (257) | With comforts, false honours, and niceties there is no salvation or progress. Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (256) | For someone who has love in him, it’s not enough to simply give to anyone who happens to ask for charity; he seeks to find people who have some need in order to support them. Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (255) | In order to achieve concentration in prayer, one must humble oneself before God and man, and practice diligently. Without humility a person will always become distracted. Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (254) | Have we helped by disseminating peace and harmony in the universe, or have we contributed to the existing chaos? For this reason we must always strive to perfect our thoughts. Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (253) | Christians ought to perseveringly study their religion; they ought to read the Gospel more frequently, to study the Divine Service, to fulfil the commandments and the rules of the Church; to read the writings of the Holy Fathers, religious publications, in order to become imbued with the spirit of Christianity, and to live in a Christian manner. Such should be your occupations and recreations. Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (252) | Evil inclinations cannot be peaceful, calm and joyful. The only way to pacify the soul is by suppressing and eradicating bad habits through asceticism, an ascetic way of life. Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (251) | A chatterbox may meet with success in this world, but he will not do so in the next.
St. John of Karpathos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (250) | God of course knows the condition of each person, but because we do not know this condition, He allows that we be tested, so that we come to know ourselves, to find the passions hidden within us, and not have unreasonable expectations on the Day of Judgement.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (249) | The heart is the eye of the human being. The purer it is, the quicker, farther, and clearer it can see.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (248) | When you think that you do not need tears for your sins during prayer, reflect on this: you should always be in God, and yet you are still far from Him. Then you will weep with greater feeling.
Evagrios the Solitary
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (247) | It is important for us to understand that all temptations in general are sent or allowed by God for our benefit.
Fr. Jack Sparks
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (246) | As medicines purge the body from the impurity of bad humours, so grievous afflictions purify the heart from evil passions.
Venerable Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (245) | It is a problem when a child wants this and that and when his parents cater to his every whim. Then, when the children grow up, they still expect everyone to comply with their wishes. Have you ever seen anything like that? Not even kings and queens get this kind of treatment!
Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (244) | When people praise you, be very circumspect, because then you are in a dangerous situation.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (243) | Take care to distinguish between your thoughts, as the Fathers teach. Stop and look, decide which ones are good and which ones are bad. Then, disassociate from any that you find to be bad, believe nothing they tell you, do not believe for an instant that they are a part of who you are. This is of the utmost importance, because if we accept bad thoughts, then they will stay with us and make us believe that they are actually a part of us.
Elder Sergei of Vanves
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (242) | We are not mightier than Samson, wiser than Solomon, more knowledgeable about God than David, and we do not love God better than did Peter, prince of the apostles. So let us not have confidence in ourselves; for he who has confidence in himself will fall headlong.
St. Hesychius the Theologian of Jerusalem
Philokalia, Vol. 1.
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (241) | If one understands the mysteries of spiritual life and the mystical way in which God works, he ceases worrying over what happens to him, because he accepts joyfully the bitter medicines that God gives him for the health of his soul. Such a person considers everything to be the result of his prayer, since he constantly asks from God to purify his soul.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
Spiritual Councils IV: Family Life
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (240) | Provided they live a worthy life, both those who choose to dwell in the midst of noise and hubbub and those who dwell in monasteries, mountains and caves can achieve salvation. Solely because of their faith in Him God bestows great blessings on them. Hence those who because of their laziness have failed to attain salvation will have no excuse to offer on the day of judgment. For He who promised to grant us salvation simply on account of our faith in Him is not a liar.
Venerable Symeon the New Theologian
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2021/22
Orthodox Quote of the Week (239) | When the evil conduct of one person begins to affect others, you should not show long-suffering; and instead of your own advantage you should seek that of the others, so that they may be saved. For virtue involving many people is more valuable than virtue involving only one.
St Mark the Ascetic
Philokalia, Vol. 1
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (238) | Through our anxiety about worldly things we hinder the soul from enjoying divine blessings and we bestow on the flesh greater care and comfort than are good for it. We nourish it with what is harmful and thus make it an adversary, so that it not only wavers in battle but, because of over-indulgence, it fights vigorously against the soul, seeking honours and rewards.
Venerable Nilus the Faster of Sinai
Philokalia, Vol. 1
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (237) | Let us walk the straight path of sorrow, that we might become worthy and have God as our protector.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (236) | Work is a blessing, a gift from God. Work gives vigour to the body and refreshes the mind. If God had not given us work, man would have become mouldy. Those who are diligent continue to work into their old age.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (235) | You can learn much about a person’s spiritual state from what he reads.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (234) | Christian perfection consists of holiness—that is, freedom of the soul from enslavement to sin. It stands to reason that all people without exception, not only priests or monastics, are called to this perfection or holiness that consists of freedom from sin.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (233) | He who restrains his mouth from speech guards his heart from passions.
Venerable Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (232) | Without goodness, knowledge is not good.
St. Paphnutius
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (231) | One must guard against complaining, as though it were a poisonous snake.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (230) | The friendship which can cease has never been real.
Blessed Jerome
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (229) | Do not have Jesus Christ on your lips and the world in your heart.
St. Ignatius of Antioch
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (228) | He who prays for others prays for himself.
St. Basil the Great
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (227) | Don't insist on your own righteousness.
St. Antony the Great
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (226) | Our Lord visibly carried Peter on the sea to teach us that He was also invisibly carrying him on dry land.
St. Ephrem the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (225) | That which a man loves, to which he turns, that he will find. If he loves earthly things, he will find earthly things, and these earthly things will abide in his heart, will communicate their earthliness to him and will find him; if he loves heavenly things, he will find heavenly things, and they will abide in his heart and give him life.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (224) | The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God.
St. John of Damascus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (223) | Do not fear the conflict, do not flee it. Where there is no struggle, there is no virtue; where faith and love are not tempted, it is not possible to be sure whether they are really present. They are proved and revealed in adversity, that is, in difficult and grievous circumstances, both outward and inward – during sickness, sorrow, and privations.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (222) | In the depths of each person’s heart lies the knowledge of his immortality. And he is indeed immortal, and that which we call death is a birth into a new life, a transition from one state of being to another.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (221) | Everyone has the responsibility of understanding the deeper meaning of life... If they did this, then people wouldn’t be mean and petty, nor would they grumble with one another.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (220) | It goes without saying that good works are essential for success in the spiritual life, for they demonstrate the presence of good will in us, without which there is no moving forward; in turn, good works themselves strengthen, develop, and deepen this good will.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (219) | There is not, never has been, nor ever will be a place on the earth without sorrows. A place without sorrows can only be in the heart, when the Lord is in within it.
St. Nikon of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (218) | Love overcomes all obstacles; for it, everything difficult is easy, everything unpleasant is pleasant, and everything heavy is light.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (217) | Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbour comes to you, always have great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses his will through him.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (216) | Humility is the only thing we need; one can still fall having virtues other than humility -- but with humility one does not fall.
Elder Herman of Mt. Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (215) | The first among all evils is ignorance; next comes lack of faith.
Saint Kosmas Aitolos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (214) | Often our knowledge becomes darkened because we fail to put things into practice. For when we have totally neglected to practise something, our memory of it will gradually disappear.
St Mark the Ascetic (Philokalia, Vol. 1)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (213) | Almost everyone feels more or less uneasy most of their life in this earthly existence. This is a part of the cross that we all must bear.
Elder Sergei of Vanves
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2020/21
Orthodox Quote of the Week (212) | Where there are no labors, there are stagnation and the extinction of the sparks of life.
St. Theophan the Recluse
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (211) | In order to test yourself, whether you love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel, pay attention to yourself at the time when others offend you... If you remain calm on such occasions, are not filled with the spirit of enmity, hatred, impatience — if you continue to love these persons as much as previously, before their offences or negligence, then you do love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (210) | Faith and love are inseparable between them and one relates to the other, and confirms one another and defines each other, and wherever one is absent the other is also absent from there and wherever one is found the other is found there too. Amen.
Elder Arsenios Galanopoulos, the Cave-dweller
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (209) | A man becomes entirely human when he comes to self-awareness and independence of mind, when he becomes the complete master and commander of his own ideas and deeds and holds certain ideas not because others have given these to him, but because he himself finds them to be true. A man, when he becomes a Christian, still remains a man, and therefore in his Christianity he must also be rational, only this rationality he should turn to the profit of holy faith. Let him become rationally convinced that the holy faith which he confesses is the only faithful path of salvation, and that all other paths which are not in agreement with it lead to perdition. It is no honor to a man to be a blind confessor; he must be a conscious confessor, so that acting in this way, he acts as he should.
St. Theophan the Recluse, bishop of Tambov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (208) | Even in conversations, we must be careful, because sometimes they begin as spiritual conversations and end up as gossip. And it is not only that we are wasting our time; we are also wasting our souls when condemning someone else, for we have no right to judge other people or other situations.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (207) | Consider yourself worse and more infirm than all others in spiritual respects, and despise, hate yourself for your sins, — this is pious and right— and be indulgent to others, respect and love them in spite of their sins...
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (206) | As a novice, when I read something I liked, I wrote it down so as not to forget it, and I would try to apply it to my life. I didn’t read just to pass my time pleasantly. I had a spiritual restlessness and, when I could not understand something, I would ask for an explanation. I read relatively little, but I checked myself a great deal on what I read. “What point am I at? What must I do?” I would sit myself down and go through such a self-examination.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (205) | Because happiness in both this world and the next consists of doing God's will, the Holy Fathers, as experts in the spiritual life, beckon us to pay careful attention to our conscience. If we do so, they tell us, then it will reliably and precisely show us the clear and direct will of God. They term this the "guarding of one's conscience."
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (204) | One must not demand too much of oneself. It is best to humble oneself before God. Open yourself to Him in all your filthiness and say, like the leper: Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean (Luke 5:12). Do not put time limits on God for this. Do all that is needed according to your strength, and the Lord will do everything necessary for your salvation. Just do not forsake God.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (203) | Rejoice, my brethren, in thinking that together with this short life there will also end all our earthly sorrows, needs, and suffering, which merciful providence sends for our spiritual good.
Protopriest Gregory Dyachenko
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (202) | I constantly think of those who lived a wretched life and are now struggling; I love and cherish them more than those who do not suffer from passions. Even a shepherd will be more compassionate with the injured or sickly sheep and will give it more attentive care until it gets back on its feet again.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (201) | With sincere Christians prayer is continual, because we continually sin; gratitude is perpetual, because every day, every moment we receive fresh mercies from God, besides the old mercies which are numberless. Praise is also perpetual, because we perpetually see the glory of our God’s works in ourselves and in the world, especially the glory of His infinite love to us.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (200) | When someone begins to say, 'What does it matter if I say that word, eat that little morsel, feast my eyes on that?' he falls into bad habits and runs the risk of gradually falling into insensibility. For both virtues and vices start from slight things and lead to greater ones, either good or bad.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (199) | Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty, and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men. Whoever has achieved love has God within himself and his intellect is always with God.
St. John Cassian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (198) | ...excessive conveniences make life difficult for people.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (197) | If we become aware of how God cares for us like an all-loving Father, and even more gently, like an adoring mother, then our hearts will be filled to overflowing with ardent and reverent love for Him.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (196) | In order to acquire humility, be silent when you are mocked and when they are angry with you, and pray within yourself the prayer “O Theotokos and Virgin.”
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (195) | If we call upon the saints with faith and love, then they will immediately hear us. The faith is the connecting element on our part, and love on theirs, as well as ours; for they are in God, and we are in God, Who is Love.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (194) | And how can one work for God? You already know: you must pray and be vigilant over yourself, struggle with thoughts, not argue over trifles, humble yourself before others (even if this causes your work to suffer; afterwards you will gain all the more), make peace quickly, reveal your thoughts, partake more often of the Holy Mysteries, and so forth.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (193) | Is it not the same with man? When he lives in full liberty, in abundance and prosperity, then he grows in body and does not grow in spirit, does not bring forth fruits— good works; whilst when he lives in straitness, in poverty, sickness, misfortune, and afflictions, in a word, when his animal nature is crushed, then he grows spiritually, bears flowers of virtue, ripens and brings forth rich fruits. This is why the path of those who love God is a narrow one.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (192) | Vainglory, like a moth, eats away all our good deeds, and therefore it is better to do all our good deeds in secret so that we do not lose the reward from our Father Who is in heaven.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (191) | Many of our departed neighbors, especially those who reposed without proper preparation, need our help incomparably more than those among the living who are extremely impoverished, because the reposed are now incapable of helping themselves. Only we the living can offer help.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (190) | A wandering mind is made stable by reading, vigil and prayer. Flaming lust is extinguished by hunger, labor and solitude. Stirrings of anger are calmed by psalmody, magnanimity and mercifulness. All this has its effect when used at its proper time and in due measure. Everything untimely or without proper measure is short-lived; and short-lived things are more harmful than useful.
Abba Evagrius the Monk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (189) | With all diligence ask the Lord for the greatest and most needful of all gifts — to see your own sins and cry over them. He who has this gift has everything.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (188) | I realized that we all worry about ourselves too much and that only he who leaves everything to the will of God can feel truly joyous, light, and peaceful.
Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (187) | Someone who faces every problem spiritually is not exhausted.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (186) | Worthless is the charity of the man who bestows it unwillingly, because material charity is not his, but God’s gift, whilst only the disposition of the heart belongs to him. This is why many charities prove almost worthless, for they were bestowed unwillingly, grudgingly, without respect for the person of our neighbour.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (185) | The cross is not merely a sort of beautiful spiritual meditation. It is also enduring suffering in order to stand against the sinful world.
Metropolitan Saba (Esber)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (184) | Since we value (and think of) ourselves so highly, we naturally look at others as if from on high (as if from a judgment seat), judging and despising them. For we seem to exempt ourselves from those faults we think others possess. Right there our enemy, the devil, who constantly looks for an opportunity to damage us, finds an opening.
Fr. Jack Sparks
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (183) | Do not fear bodily privations, but fear spiritual privations.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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2019/20
Orthodox Quote of the Week (182) | We must acknowledge all such everyday work that is not opposed to moral law and that we must do according to our position, as God's work, as work entrusted to us by the Lord God Himself. We must acknowledge our daily work as such because the Lord God established various sanctioned positions and professions in human society, and it was the Lord God, and not we, Who put us or allows us to be in the positions or professions in which we find ourselves in life.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (181) | True, unselfish, pure love for God and man is impossible except under the action of faith in the divinity of Christ the Saviour—faith in the fact that He is the Incarnate Son of God who came down to earth to save mankind.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (180) | Yet we, who are slothful and weak-willed, remain hardened, and our fruits never ripen; for we have not the resolve to labor without sparing ourselves, in order to ripen in good works and rightly be gathered into the storehouse of life.
Venerable Ephraim the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (179) | If you are praised, be silent. If you are scolded, be silent. If you incur losses, be silent. If you receive profit, be silent. If you are satiated, be silent. If you are hungry, also be silent. And do not be afraid that there will be no fruit when all dies down; there will be! Not everything will die down. Energy will appear, and what energy!
St. Feofil - Fool for Christ
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (178) | When Christ is in our heart, we are contented with everything: what has been discomfort to us becomes the greatest comfort, what was bitter to us becomes sweet, poverty becomes wealth, our hunger is satisfied, and our sorrow turns into joy!
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (177) | As wax cannot take the imprint of a seal unless it is warmed or softened thoroughly, so a man cannot receive the seal of God's holiness unless he is tested by labours and weaknesses.
St. Diadochus, bishop of Photike in Epirus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (176) | Thus let us purify our heart! Let us throw out all the dusty trash that is stored there; let us scrub the dirty floor, wash the windows and open them, in order that light and air may come into the room we are preparing as a sanctuary for the Lord. Then let us put on clean garments, so that the old musty smell may not cling to us and we find ourselves thrust out (Luke 13:28).
Tito Colliander, Way of the Ascetics
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (175) | Sweet life is not experienced by those who enjoy it in a worldly way, but rather by those who live spiritually and accept bitterness with joy, like a healing herb for the soul's health, and eat only for their bodily preservation.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (174) | Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction and many there be that go in thereat, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
KJV Matthew 7
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (173) | But love will not come of itself without our zeal, efforts and activity.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (172) | Say to yourself, “It is not me that they slander, but my evil passions; not me that they strike, but that viper which nestles in my heart, and smarts when anybody speaks ill of it. I will comfort myself with the thought that, perhaps, these good people will drive it from my heart by their caustic words, and my heart will then cease to ache.”
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (171) | The forgetting of wrongs is a sign of true repentance. But he who dwells on them and thinks that he is repenting is like a man who thinks he is running while he is really asleep.
St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (170) | Those who consider it a misfortune to lose children, slaves, money or any other of their belongings, must realize that in the first place they should be satisfied with what is given them by God; and then, when they have to give it back, they should be ready to do so gratefully, without any indignation at being deprived of it, or rather at giving it back — for since they have been enjoying the use of what was not their own, they are now in fact returning it.
Venerable and Godbearing Father Anthony the Great
Philokalia, Vol. 1 p.334
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (169) | Spiritual pride manifests itself by the fact that a proud man dares to make himself a judge of religion and of the Church, and says: “I do not believe in this, and I do not acknowledge this; this I find superfluous, that unnecessary, and this strange or absurd.”
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (168) | He who loses his cross loses his Christianity.
Metropolitan Saba Esber
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (167) | This is the aim of the enemy of the human race, the devil: to continually sift us like wheat, forcing us to constantly spin in the whirlwind of entertainments and diversions, not allowing us to collect ourselves and contemplate our inner state, our soul.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (166) | We must be prepared to accept the will of God. The Lord permits all sorts of things to happen to us contrary to our will, for if we always have it our way, we will not be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven. Neither heaven nor earth will receive those who are self-willed. God has a Divine plan for each one of us, and we must submit to His plan. We must accept life as it is given to us, without asking, "Why me?" We must know that nothing on earth or in heaven ever happens without the will of God or His permission.
Elder Thaddeus (Strabulovich) of Vitovnica
Philokalia, Vol. 1 p.125.
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (165) | If you love true knowledge, devote yourself to the ascetic life; for mere theoretical knowledge puffs a man up (cf. 1 Cor. 8:1).
St Mark the Ascetic
Philokalia, Vol. 1 p.125.
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (164) | We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life. . . I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (163) | The Devil also manifests his presence in our hearts by unusually violent irritation. We sometimes become so sick with our own self-love that we cannot even endure the slightest contradiction, any spiritual or material obstacles; cannot bear a single, rough, harsh word. But then is the very time for endurance when the waters of malice and impatience reach the depths of our souls.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (162) | A monk was once asked: What do you do there in the monastery? He replied: We fall and get up, fall and get up, fall and get up again.
Tito Colliander
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (161) | Strive never to offend anyone. Never grow angry. Never teach. When something happens against your will, say: “Glory to God! Glory to God!” One needs to restrain oneself.
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (160) | When you perceive in yourself something worthy of praise, and you feel a desire to tell others about it, try immediately to destroy this desire with the thought that you will not receive any benefit from relating it, but only harm.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (159) | The more goods people acquire today, the more problems they have. They neither thank God for His benefactions, nor do they take notice of the misfortunes suffered by their fellowmen to offer their charity.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (158) | A monk also asked Sisoes: How can I attain humility? The saint replied: When someone learns to acknowledge every man as being better than himself, then he has attained humility.
The Prologue of Ohrid. St. Sisoes the Great
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (157) | Faith is not an issue of great knowledge and learning but humble submission not to the prevailing knowledge but to the truth of the Church, timeless and eternal.
Protopresbyter Theodore Zissis
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (156) | You see people abusing and reviling holy and sacred things and others not saying anything. Being meek on such an occasion is demonic.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (155) | Turn your face toward light, o son of light. The Father of light calls you with a fiery love.
Missionary Letters of Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (154) | If you read worldly magazines and newspapers, and derive some profit from them, as a citizen, a Christian, and a member of a family, then you ought still more and still oftener to read the Gospel and the writings of the Holy Fathers; for it would be sinful for a Christian, who reads worldly writings, not to read divinely-inspired ones.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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2018/19
Orthodox Quote of the Week (153) | One may have a good worldly relationship with non-believers, but one cannot have a relationship in prayer and one must not carry on arguments about religion so that the name of God not be offended during an argument.
St. Nektary of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (152) | God in His goodness has arranged things perfectly, so that with our gifts, we can help each other, and with our faults, we can be humbled by each other. For every person has some gifts; but everyone also has some faults which one must struggle to overcome.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (151) | The crucified flesh reconciles itself with the spirit and with God; whilst the flesh that is cherished, that is abundantly and daintily fed, fights hard against the spirit and against God...
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (150) | It is preferable for a sensitive person to die once out of love in order to protect his neighbour, rather than be neglectful or cowardly and then to be constantly tormented by his conscience for the rest of his life.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (149) | In our time we see that if a person prays a little more than is customary, reads a little of the Psalter, keeps the fast—he already thinks of himself as better than others, he judges his neighbors, and begins to teach without being asked. All this shows his spiritual emptiness, his departure from the Lord. Fear a high opinion of yourself.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (148) | If the work that you are doing is prolonged, unpleasant, hard, and is someone else's as well, then to keep your soul in a holy and God-pleasing disposition and to protect yourself from any foolish disposition of soul, support yourself while you work with edifying singing, as long as it is not ruled out by the work itself or the place and time. Edifying singing greatly cheers, softens, and calms the soul. If, as is well known, even unedifying, foolish singing during work greatly cheers a person as he works, so much more will edifying singing.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (147) | If you wish, you can be a slave of passions, and if you wish, you can remain free and not submit to their yoke; for God has created you with that power.
St. Antony the Great
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (146) | Is some poor person asking you for help? Even if you doubt his situation, vou should still help him discreetly so that you are not tempted by negative thoughts.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (145) | Everyone recognizes as vile those who are ungrateful to other people; even more so should we acknowledge as vile those who are ungrateful to the Lord God. The holy Apostle numbers the ingratitude of people among the vices of the people of the last time (II Timothy 3:2), that is, of the most depraved time.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (144) | Sometimes people call prayer that which is not prayer at all; for instance: a man goes to church, stands there for a time, looks at the icons or at other people, their faces and dress, and says that he has prayed to God; or else he stands before an icon at home, bows his head, says some words he has learnt by heart, without understanding and without feeling, and says that he has prayed, although with his thoughts and heart he has not prayed at all, but was elsewhere with other people and things, and not with God.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (143) | If, therefore, we desire to be set free and to enjoy perfect freedom, let us learn to cut off our desires.
Dorotheos of Gaza
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (142) | Why did not the Almighty create the world at once, but in six days? In order to teach man, by deeds, to perform his work gradually, not hurriedly, but with consideration.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (141) | If we do commit some sin again, we should without delay ask forgiveness once again, and the Lord will forgive us, for He came not to save the righteous but the sinners, i.e., those who acknowledge their sins.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (140) | - Geronda, when someone is not needy but pretends to be, should we help him?
- Christ said, We should give to him who begs from us without examining. Even if someone who begs from you is not in need, you should still give to him. Be happy in giving to him.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (139) | Satiety is extremely harmful for the soul. Whoever overindulges in food or drink is incapable of spiritual exercises and can neither pray nor reflect on any thing divine, because excess in food draws a person into laziness, sleepiness, idleness, idle talk, ludicrous behavior, and a great multitude of impure thoughts and desires.
Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (138) | The Christian today—not unlike Christians of other eras, but in ways that are continually “updated” as society carries on—is not told simply that he mustn’t fight the passions, that he mustn’t battle the devil: he is told that the passions are unreal, that the devil does not exist. He is told that ascesis is unnatural, that spiritual warfare is delusional. He is told that judgment is oppressive and the desire to become something defined by another (even God!) is psychologically unhealthy. He is told that to believe in the Church’s tradition is a simplistic, pietistic adherence to the past; that he had better “think for himself.”
Bishop Irenei Steenberg
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (137) | One cannot love God if one has unkind feelings for even a single human being.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (136) | Do not spare yourself, but pray earnestly, even if you have been toiling all day. Do not be negligent in holy prayer; say it to God unto the end from your whole heart, for it is a duty you owe to God.
Righteous John, Wonderworker of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (135) | Let this always be the aim of your conduct: to be courteous and respectful to all.
Venerable Isaac the Syrian, bishop of Nineveh
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (134) | Rationalism considers the understanding to be an infallible organ of knowledge. Therefore, in relationship with the whole human person, it appears as an anarchic apostate. It is like a branch that has cut itself off from the vine, which can have no full life or creative reality on its own. It is in no state to come to a knowledge of the truth, for in its egocentric isolation it is divided, scattered, and full of gaps. Truth, by contrast, is given to an intellect that has been purified, enlightened, transfigured and deified by the action of the virtues.
Venerable Justin (Popovic) of Chelije in Serbia
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (133) | The person who does not despise all material things, glory and bodily comfort, even his own rights, cannot cut off his own will, nor can he be delivered from wrath and sadness or comfort his neighbor.
Abba Dorotheos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (132) | Obedience is love, but disobedience is non-love, it is the trampling upon love. Never decline from obedience.
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (131) | Let’s not mix things up. Did the Saints have the kind of joy we are seeking today? Did Panagia have such joy? Did Jesus go around laughing? Which Saint has gone through this life without pain? Which Saint had the joy sought by many present-day Christians who do not want to hear anything unpleasant, who do not want to worry or lose their serenity?
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (130) | Intending to offer up your prayer to God, cast aside all earthly thoughts and cares. Do not engage in the thoughts which come to you at that time, however important or brilliant or necessary they might seem. Render to God the things that are God’s and you will have time to render what is necessary for temporal life in its own time.
St. Igantius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (129) | This is a great day, it is better than all the other days of my life, for today my soul departs from bodily suffering and goes to rest in its heavenly habitation. Today my body will find respite from its many labors and illnesses. Today the light of my rest will receive me.
St Mark of Thrace
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (128) | It is a good thing to believe in Christ, because without faith in Christ it is impossible for anyone to be saved; but one must also be instructed in the word of truth and understand it. It is a good thing to be instructed in the word of truth, and to understand it is essential; but one must also receive Baptism in the name of the Holy and Life-giving Trinity, for the bringing to life of the soul. It is a good thing to receive Baptism and through it a new spiritual life; but it is necessary that this mystical life, or this mental enlightenment in the spirit, also should be consciously felt. It is a good thing to receive with feeling the mental enlightenment in the spirit; but one must manifest also the works of light. It is a good thing to do the works of light; but one must also be clothed in the humility and meekness of Christ for perfect likeness to Christ. He who attains this and becomes meek and humble of heart, as if these were his natural dispositions, will unfailingly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and into the joy of His Lord.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (127) | When we read the lives of saints we gain two things. Firstly, the example of their struggles wakes us from the numbness of negligence and, secondly, when we read the lives of saints with reverence, the saints intercede to Christ for us.
Elder Arsenios the Cave-dweller (1886-1983)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (126) | Most importantly, preserve peace with your close ones, insofar as this depends on you. Consider that all sorts of sick people have gathered there in a group; this is so. For this reason you must relate to everyone as they do in a hospital. They don’t berate people there (i.e., in a hospital) for having an ailing lung or heart or stomach; they don’t say: “O you good-for-nothing blind woman, what’s the matter with you that your eyes are infected?”! So, too, you mustn’t rail at each other about your spiritual illnesses.
Abbot Nikon Vorobiev
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (125) | ...if we are scandalized, the evil is within us not outside. When you feel scandalized, you should ask yourself, How many do I scandalize? In God’s name, shouldn’t I tolerate my brother or sister? How does God tolerate me with all the things I do?
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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2017/18
Orthodox Quote of the Week (124) |
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Those who keep the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, if they do not see in a Christian the likeness of Christ, as a son to his father, will by no means open them to him and allow him to enter.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (123) |
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Even if we cannot endure much labor because we are weak let us be set on humbling ourselves.
Dorotheos of Gaza
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (122) |
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There are saints who were very anxious, who had nervous tics, and also those who were very brusque. Others were exceptionally slow. Some saints had physical defects. What makes a saint is not outward perfection, it's that the old man is conquered on the inside. The saints are not yet totally transfigured, and the old man continues to be visible on the outside. These appearances can trick us and hide their inner reality from us.
Elder Sergei of Vanves
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (121) |
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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 the grace of God.
St Silouan the Athonite
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (120) |
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For if we refrain from sin merely out of fear of punishment, it is quite clear that, unless punishment had awaited us, we should have done things deserving punishment, since our propensity is for sinning. But if we abstain from evil actions not through threat of punishment, but because we hate such actions, then it is from love of the Master that we practice the virtues, fearful lest we should fall away from Him.
St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (119) |
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The self-indulgent person loves wealth because it enables him to live comfortably; -- the person full of self-esteem loves it because through it he can gain the esteem of others; -- the person who lacks faith loves it because, fearful of starvation, old age, disease, or exile, he can save it and hoard it. He puts his trust in wealth, rather than in God, the Creator who provides for all creation, down to the least of living things.
St Maximos the Confessor
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (118) |
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It is not enough to simply make your confession to the Spiritual Father; you must also truly repent of what you have done.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (117) |
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Someone is tested through the trials of life. It is there that you see if he has real love, a true spirit of sacrifice. And when we say that someone has the spirit of sacrifice, we mean that at the time of danger he does not consider himself but thinks of the others.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (116) |
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...the more closely we imitate the Fathers in their way of life, the more we will be able to attain their successful end.
Archimandrite Cherubim
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (115) |
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Be extremely careful not to offend anyone in word or deed, for it is a grave sin. When someone is offended, God, Who loves the man, is also offended, for there can be no offending man without offending God.
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (114) |
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The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God
St. Clement of Alexandria
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (113) |
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I was diluted in the past when, while still in my childhood, I tried to start by applying to the Divine Scriptures critical discussion rather than pious research. Through my lax morals I closed off my own access to the Lord. In my pride I dared to seek that which no one can find unless he practices humility.
St. Augustine
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (112) |
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In our age of moral and spiritual decline, only the heroic example of righteous men and women is able to ignite a zeal for godly living in accordance with the Divine commandments.
Hieromonk Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (111) |
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Humility restrains the heart.
St. Isaac the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (110) |
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...know who you are in truth, and not who you imagine you are. With this knowledge you become the wisest man.
Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (109) |
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In order to acquire true humility in Christ, one must first bear the humiliation of Christ, one must be the last among his brothers and a servant to them, in order to be a true disciple of Jesus.
Elder Basilisk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (108) |
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He who abandons prayer abandons his salvation; he who is careless about prayer is careless about his salvation; he who quits prayer renounces his salvation.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (107) |
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It is sinful to give up to sadness. We are exiles on earth. Exiles do not wonder at insult an injury. We are under God's penance and a penance consists of deprivations and difficulties. We are ill in soul and body and bitter medicine is useful for the ill.
St. Theophil of the Kiev Caves
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (106) |
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When we approach someone with pain and true love, then this true love of Christ transforms our neighbor.
St. Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (105) |
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A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others, he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent, that is, he says nothing that is not profitable.
Abba Pimen
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (104) |
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A false understanding or conception of prayer always leads to a fruitless or harmful practice of it.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (103) |
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He who is silent for a good end nourishes friendship and goes on his way rejoicing, for he has received the enlightenment which dispels darkness.
St. Maximos the Confessor
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (102) |
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By the purity of our thoughts we can see everyone as holy and good. When we see them as fools, this comes from our frame of mind.
St. Macarius of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (101) |
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God loves us very much; He has us in mind in each and every moment and He protects us. We should know this and not be afraid of anything.
Elder Porphyrios
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2016/17
Orthodox Quote of the Week (100) |
Wherefore on no account suffer any evil habit to master thee; but, while it is yet young, pluck the evil root out of thine heart, lest it fasten on and strike root so deep that time and labor be required to uproot it.
St John Damascene
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (99) |
Because when we say, "Thy will be done," and wholly surrender ourselves to God, it is then that the will of God is indeed done. But we, on one hand, say, "Thy will be done," and on the other hand, keep persisting in our own will. Well, what is God supposed to do then?
St. Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (98) |
Those who labor for the vain things in life strive to make those who labor for God's sake stumble, that they might not be confronted with examples that accuse their conscience; but in so doing they only embellish the crowns of conscientious laborers.
Ephraim the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (97) |
If one loses his cross, his life becomes cold and tepid, without cooperation with God.
Metropolitan Saba (Esber)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (96) |
It is difficult for you, but think of how it was for the Savior on the Cross. The end is near; life passes quickly. We are guests on earth, migratory birds.
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (95) |
By talents we mean not only wealth, education, or fame. Talents are good conditions for salvation of the soul. Each of us has his own given talents. Poverty, sickness, various sorrows — these are all talents. From the worldly point of view, talents mean scholarly, musical, or artistic abilities. They are not sinful; it is good when such abilities are combined with a Christian life, and when they are dedicated to God. If an ability prevents us from living in a godly manner and saving our souls, then it should be abandoned. It is better to be a little stupider and simpler, but to be saved. What benefit is it to you if you gain the whole world but destroy your soul?
St. Nikon of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (94) |
He whose will and desire in conversation is to establish his own opinion, even though what he says is true, should recognize that he is sick with the devil's disease.
St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (93) |
Steep and thorny is the path that leads to the Heavenly Kingdom. What is your path? It is the struggle unto blood against fleshly passions and self-love. Self-love is the soil upon which grow passions, emptiness of life, and sorrow.
Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev) of Bogucharsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (92) |
The Christian who is struggling in the world is helped when he has relationships with spiritual people.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (91) |
Those who inconsiderately toss out comments, even if they are true, can cause harm.
Elder Paisios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (90) |
As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience.
St. Basil the Great
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (89) |
Learn patience, patience, and patience, and humility will sprout with it - "grow out of it". Out of this comes true spiritual life, and not an imitation of it.
Fr. John Krestiankin
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (88) |
The aim is for one to struggle with discretion and philotimo (responsive gratitude), according to one's powers... God knows the struggle of each person and what strength he gave to each person and he will reward each accordingly. I love all equally and am moved by those who struggle with responsive gratitude.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (87) | ...God comes into our lives when we invite Him with all our being, opening the gates of our heart from the inside. He will not come uninvited... The moment you are willing to give over your whole self to God - surrendering your life, your loved ones, your health, your victories and defeats - He will come to you and help you in ways you never dreamed possible.
Fr. Vojislav Dosenovich
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (86) | The way of humility is this: self-control, prayer, and thinking yourself inferior to all creatures.
Abba Thithoes
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (85) | God does not come near to where flesh is in charge: God's contact with man is through his spirit, and the spirit in such a person is out of its proper order. He will feel God's calling for the first time when his spirit begins to claim its rights in the voice of conscience and the fear of God. And when a man finally makes his free deliberate choice for the spirit, then God will join that man and dwell in him. From that moment on begins the conversion of his soul and body, the whole inner and outer man, until "God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28), and the man which once was carnal, transforms into a spiritual being and becomes sanctified. What a marvelous privilege of mankind, and how few of us know about it, appreciate it and seek it!
St. Theophan the Recluse
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (84) | Orthodoxy is life. If we don't live Orthodoxy, we simply are not Orthodox, no matter what formal beliefs we might hold.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (83) | Cheerfulness is not a sin. It drives away weariness; and it is from weariness that despondency comes, and there is nothing worse than that. It brings with it everything negative.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
Source | Comments by students:
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (82) | We should never say that nothing is important. On the contrary, everything is important. Even the smallest of our actions impacts our eternal salvation.
Elder Sergei of Vanves
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (81) |
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A believer is not one who thinks that God can do everything, but one who believes that he will obtain all things. Faith paves the way for what seems impossible...
St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (80) | God give us the strength to pursue the path of crucifixion; there is no other way to be Christian.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (79) | Only really great faith does not fear ridicule, or shrink from failure; it does not even think of ridicule and failure, as it does not doubt success.
Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (78) | A human being who does not endure courageously the unpleasant burdens of temptations, will never produce fruit worthy of the divine wine-press and eternal harvest, not even if one possesses all other virtues. For one is only perfected through zealously enduring both all the voluntary and involuntary afflictions.
St. Gregory Palamas
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (77) | If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option. In the same way a person can get an impression of God: He must either trust those who have stood and stand in immediate proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself.
St. Nicholas of Serbia
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (76) | The man who endures accusations against himself with humility has arrived at perfection. He is marveled at by the holy angels, for there is no other virtue so great and so hard to achieve.
St Isaac of Syria
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (75) |
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Struggle to the very end. The whole point of the struggle is not to be delivered from the struggle, as it will go on forever. The reason to struggle is that the more you do, the better chances you have of being successful in your struggle.
Elder Sergei of Vanves
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2015/16
Orthodox Quote of the Week (74) | The all-good Providence of God always arranges what is most beneficial for us, while in our ignorance, we very often strive for the very opposite.
St. Ambrose of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (73) | ...human reason has been corrupted since the fall of man; therefore, it must be submitted to faith and revelation and thus raised up to a higher level.
Father Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (72) | Nobody can become a Christian by being lazy. It needs work, lots of work.
Elder Porphyrios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (71) | There is no greater love than that a man lays down his life for his neighbor. When you hear someone complaining and you struggle with yourself and do not answer him back with complaints; when you are hurt and bear it patiently, not looking for revenge; then you are laying down your life for your neighbor.
Abba Poemen
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (70) | When there is a respect for small things, there will be an even greater respect towards the bigger things. When there is no respect for small things, then neither will there be for the bigger ones. This is how the Fathers maintained Tradition.
Elder Paisios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (69) | Do not believe brother, that inner thoughts can be controlled without the control of the body. Fear bad habits more than devils.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (68) | A discerning man, when he eats grapes, takes only the ripe ones and leaves the sour. Thus also the discerning mind carefully marks the virtues which he sees in any person. A mindless man seeks out the vices and failings … Even if you see someone sin with your own eyes, do not judge; for often even your eyes are deceived.
St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (67) | He who has realized love for God in his heart is tireless, as Jeremiah says, in his pursuit of the Lord his God, and bears every hardship, reproach and insult nobly, never thinking the least evil of anyone.
St Maximos the Confessor
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (66) | One day, while St. Antony was sitting with a certain Abba, a virgin came up and said to the Elder: "Abba, I fast six days of the week and I repeat by heart portions of the Old and New Testament daily." To which the Elder replied: "Does poverty mean the same to you as abundance?" "No", she answered. "Or dishonour the same as praise?" "No, Abba." "Are your enemies the same for you as your friends?" "No", she replied. At that the wise Elder said to her: "Go, get to work, you have accomplished nothing."
St. Peter of Damaskos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (65) | A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge.
Abba Xanthios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (64) | When conversion does take place, the process of revelation occurs in a very simple way; a person is in need, he suffers, and then somehow the other world opens up. The more you are in suffering and difficulties and are desperate for God, the more He is going to come to your aid, reveal who He is, and show you the way to get out.
Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (63) | 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 salf-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.
St. Isaac the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (62) | Beware of the spirit of despondency, for it gives birth to every evil. A thousand temptations come from it: agitation, rage, blame, complaint against one's fate, profligate thoughts, constant change of place. The soul then avoids people, believing them to be the cause of its trouble, and does not understand that the cause of the illness is within itself.
St. Seraphim of Sarov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (61) | Hell does not appear to the faithless; it is clear and obvious to the faithful....
St. John Chrysostom
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (60) | You should continually and unceasingly call to mind all the blessings which God in His love has bestowed on you in the past, and still bestows for the salvation of your soul. You must not let forgetfulness of evil or laziness make you grow unmindful of these many and great blessings, and so pass the rest of your life uselessly and ungratefully.
St. Mark the Ascetic
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (59) | Maladies in our eyes only appear painful, unpleasant and terrible. It is seldom that any one of us during the time of sickness represents to himself the profit which his illness brings to his soul; but in God's all wise and most merciful Providence, not a single malady remains without some profit to our soul.
St. John of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (58) | If, therefore, we desire to be set free and to enjoy perfect freedom, let us learn to cut off our desires.
Dorotheos of Gaza
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (57) | Our mind is so darkened by the fall that unless we force ourselves to remember death we can completely forget about it. When we forget about death, then we begin to live on earth as if we were immortal, and we sacrifice all our activity to the world without concerning ourselves in the least either about the fearful transition to eternity or about our fate in eternity. Then we boldly and peremptorily override the commandments of Christ; then we commit all the vilest sins; then we abandon not only unceasing prayer but even the prayers appointed for definite times -we begin to scorn this essential and indispensable occupation as if it were an activity of little importance and little needed. Forgetful of physical death, we die a spiritual death.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (56) | One must do good deeds but not place hope in them. To place hope in one's deeds is a sign of self-reliance.
Elder Macarius of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (55) | We see people sinning but we do not see them repenting.
St. John Climacus
Source | Comments by students: Д.К.. |
Orthodox Quote of the Week (54) | Since this habit has acquired power over your heart through frequent repetition of certain actions, which satisfy the passion dwelling in the heart, opposing it in the heart is not enough to weaken and destroy this power; you must use actions which are contrary to the former ones, actions opposed to the passion, smashing and destroying it.
Unseen Warfare
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (53) | For anything that is quickly obtained is also easily lost, whereas everything found with toil is also kept with careful watching.
St. Isaac the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (52) | There are two paths. One, the path of self-reproach and humility. And two, the path of self-justification and despondency.
Elder Michael
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (51) | To love Christ means not to be a hireling, not to look upon a noble life as an enterprise or trade, but to be a true benefactor and to do everything only for the sake of love for God.
St John Chrysostom
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (50) | A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ. Our sins do not in the least hinder our Christianity, according to the word of the Savior Himself. He deigned to say: not the righteous have I come to call, but sinners to salvation; there is more joy in heaven over one who repents than over ninety righteous ones.
St. Herman of Alaska
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (49) |
It is through victories in small things that the fathers won their great battles.
St. Peter of Damaskos
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2014/15
Orthodox Quote of the Week (48) | It is not what man does which counts in eternal life, but what he is; whether he is like Jesus Christ, our Lord, or if he is different and unlike Him.
St. Symeon the New Theologian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (47) | We have to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all of one piece; it has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world... It is actually an education in atheism. We have to fight back by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us...
Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (46) | We have to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all of one piece; it has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world... It is actually an education in atheism. We have to fight back by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us...
Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (45) | In each matter about which a man boasts himself, God permits that he change, so that he should be humbled, and learn humility.
St. Isaac the Syrian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (44) | Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure."
St. Isaac of Syria
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (43) | Whoever says that it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver. Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants, and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert; many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm laborers. Be devout towards God and loving towards men, and you will be saved.
St. Niphon
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (42) | 1. Be always with Christ and trust God in everything.
2. Pray as you can, not as you think you must.
3. Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline.
4. Say the Lord's Prayer several times each day.
5. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied.
6. Make some prostrations when you pray.
7. Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days.
8. Practice silence, inner and outer.
9. Sit in silence 20 to 30 minutes each day.
10. Do acts of mercy in secret.
11. Go to liturgical services regularly.
12. Go to confession and holy communion regularly.
13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings.
14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person regularly.
15. Read the scriptures regularly.
16. Read good books, a little at a time.
17. Cultivate communion with the saints.
18. Be an ordinary person, one of the human race.
19. Be polite with everyone, first of all family members.
20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home.
21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby.
22. Exercise regularly.
23. Live a day, even a part of a day, at a time.
24. Be totally honest, first of all with yourself.
25. Be faithful in little things.
26. Do your work, then forget it.
27. Do the most difficult and painful things first.
28. Face reality.
29. Be grateful.
30. Be cheerful.
31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small.
32. Never bring attention to yourself.
33. Listen when people talk to you.
34. Be awake and attentive, fully present where you are.
35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary.
36. Speak simply, clearly, firmly, directly.
37. Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out.
38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance.
39. Don't complain, grumble, murmur or whine.
40. Don't seek or expect pity or praise.
41. Don't compare yourself with anyone.
42. Don't judge anyone for anything.
43. Don't try to convince anyone of anything.
44. Don't defend or justify yourself.
45. Be defined and bound by God, not people.
46. Accept criticism gracefully and test it carefully.
47. Give advice only when asked or when it is your duty.
48. Do nothing for people that they can and should do for themselves.
49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice.
50. Be merciful with yourself and others.
51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath.
52. Focus exclusively on God and light, and never on darkness, temptation and sin.
53. Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God's mercy.
54. When you fall, get up immediately and start over.
55. Get help when you need it, without fear or shame.
Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko (3/28/39 – 3/18/15). “55 Maxims” – On Living a Christian Life
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (41) | Previously, I wanted everything to go my way, but seeing that nothing was done as I wanted, I began to wish that everything be done as it is done; so it was that everything started to be done as I wanted. Elder Joseph of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (40) | One day, while St. Antony was sitting with a certain Abba, a virgin came up and said to the Elder: "Abba, I fast six days of the week and I repeat by heart portions of the Old and New Testament daily." To which the Elder replied: "Does poverty mean the same to you as abundance?" "No", she answered. "Or dishonour the same as praise?" "No, Abba." "Are your enemies the same for you as your friends?" "No", she replied. At that the wise Elder said to her: "Go, get to work, you have accomplished nothing." St. Peter of Damascus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (39) | The thoughts which originate from God bring internal peace and joy to the person. On the contrary, the thoughts which originate from the devil are filled with agitation, disturbance and grief. Abba Barsanouphios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (38) | And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matt. 10:28 (KJV)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (37) | Compel yourselves; say the prayer; stop idle talk; close your mouths to criticism; place doors and locks against unnecessary words. Time passes and does not come back, and woe to us if time goes by without spiritual profit. Elder Ephraim
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (36) | Perfection... is clearly not achieved simply by being naked, by the lack of wealth or by the rejection of honors, unless there is also that love whose ingredients the apostle described (cf. I Cor. 13) and which is to be found solely in purity of heart. Not to be jealous, not to be puffed up, not to act heedlessly, not to seek what does not belong to one, not to rejoice over some injustice, not to plan evil - what is this and its like if not the continuous offering to God of the heart that is perfect and truly pure, a heart kept free of all disturbance? St. John Cassian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (35) | ...for to be Christian is to be crucified in this time and in any time since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example and warning to us all. We must be crucified personally, mystically; for through crucifixion is the only path to resurrection, if we would rise with Christ, we must be humbled with him even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and spit forth by the uncomprehending world... Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (34) | Because we put ourselves out of the sight of God we are led captive by the passions of the body. Abba Theona
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (33) | When the mind forgets the purpose of piety, then visible works of virtue become useless. St. Mark the Ascetic
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (32) | "But I say to you," the Lord says, "love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you." Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one who loves all equally in imitation of God. St. Maximus the Confessor
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (31) | In spite of our sinfulness, in spite of the darkness surrounding our souls, the Grace of the Holy Spirit, conferred by baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, still shines in our hearts with the inextinguishable light of Christ ... and when the sinner turns to the way of repentance the light smooths away every trace of the sins committed, clothing the former sinner in the garments of incorruption, spun of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. It is this acquisition of the Holy Spirit about which I have been speaking. St. Seraphim of Sarov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (30) | A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart - love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly. And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love - how good will conquer evil. A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good. St. John of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (29) | We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. Christian! So does our life... I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom! St. Tikhon of Voronezh
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (28) | For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way "fly like clouds" as Isaiah says, "and as doves with their young ones"; but sin is a heavy affair, as another of the prophets says, "sitting upon a talent of lead". St. Gregory of Nyssa
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (27) | I have consciousness of my sinfulness, but I live with hope. It is bad to despair, because someone who despairs becomes embittered and loses his willingness and strength. Someone who has hope, on the contrary, advances forward. Elder Porphyrios
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (26) | He who busies himself with the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet even begun to repent or to examine himself so as to discover his own sins... St. Maximos the Confessor
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (25) | Look at all the earth supplies in summer and in autumn! Every Christian, especially the priest, ought to imitate God's bountifulness. Let your table be open to everybody, like the table of the Lord. The avaricious is God's enemy. St. John of Kronstadt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (24) | The forgetting of wrongs is a sign of true repentance. But he who dwells on them and thinks that he is repenting is like a man who thinks he is running while he is really asleep. St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (23) | The mind that realizes it's own weakness has discovered whence it might enter upon salvation and draw near to the light of knowledge and receive true wisdom which does not pass away with this age. St. Gregory Palamas
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (22) | He who wants to do something and cannot is, in the eyes of God who sees our hearts, as though he has done it. This should be understood as being so in relation to good and evil alike. St. Mark the Ascetic
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (21) | God created everything not only for our use, but also that we, seeing the great wealth of His creations, might be astonished at the might of the Creator and might understand that all this was created with wisdom and unutterable goodnness for the honor of man, who was to appear. St. John Chrysostom
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (20) | A life lived in humility and with an irreproachable conscience brings peace, tranquility, and true happiness. But wealth, honor, glory and exalted position often serve as the cause of a multitude of sins, and such happiness is not one on which to rely. St. Makary of Optina
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (19) | The chief evil with relation to the body is love for the body and pitying it. This takes away all the soul's authority over the body and makes the soul the slave of the body. And on the contrary, one who does not spare the body will not be disturbed in whatever he does by apprehensions born of blind love of life. How fortunate is one who is trained to this from childhood! St. Theophan the Recluse
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2013/14
Orthodox Quote of the Week (18) |
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The message of this universal temptation that attacks men today - quite openly in its secular forms, but usually more hidden in its religious forms - is: Live for the present, enjoy yourself, relax, be comfortable. Fr. Seraphim Rose
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (17) |
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...know who you really are in truth, and not what you imagine you are. With this knowledge you become the wisest man. Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (16) |
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In short, let every action be a cause of your remembering and praising God, and lo! you will be praying without ceasing and therein your soul will always rejoice. St. Peter of Damascus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (15) |
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Only the benumbed soul doesn't pray. Preserve in yourselves the feeling of need, and you will always have stimulation for prayer. St. Theophan the Recluse
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (14) |
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Every physical and spiritual task which does not involve pain and toil and trouble never bears fruit for the person who engages in it, for the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence and the violent lay hold of it... St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (13) |
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Blessed is he who strives to please the Lord as others try to please men. St. John Climacus
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (12) |
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Thus, while you are neglecting yourself and hardly taking stock of yourself, the evil spirits enter into you and destroy and lay barren your mind, dissipating your thoughts on things of this world. St. Macarius of Egypt
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (11) |
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Men of the world love the world because they have not yet discovered its bitterness. They are still blind in soul and do not see what is hiding behind this fleeting joy. Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (10) |
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Strive to become for the whole community a good example of every virtue: of humility, gentleness, active compassion, obedience even in the least of things, freedom from anger, detachment, unpossessiveness and compunction, guilelessness and uninquisitiveness, of simplicity and estrangement from the world. St. Simeon the New Theologian
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (9) |
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Those who pursue the carnal mode of life and in whom the will of the flesh is imperious - who are, quite simply, carnal - are not able to conform to God's will (cf. Rom. 8:8). Their judgement is eclipsed and they are totally impervious to the rays of divine light: the engulfing clouds of the passions are like high walls that shut out the resplendence of the Spirit and leave them without illumination. Nikitas Stithatos
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (8) |
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For a man to attempt to teach his neighbor, when he hath not been required [so to do], is the same as offering him a rebuke. from: "Paradise of the Holy Fathers Vol.2"
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (7) |
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If there is any rest for us in this world, then it consists only in purity of the conscience and patience. This is a harbor for us who sail upon the sea of life... St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (6) |
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"Beloved brother, the peace that makes you think your way is right is simply insensitivity and unawareness of your sinfulness due to your negligent life." St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (5) |
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I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth. Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov)
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (4) |
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One of the Fathers said, "The eyes of pigs have a natural conformation which makes them turn toward the ground and they can never look up to heaven, so is the soul of one who lets himself be carried away by pleasure. Once the soul is allowed to slip into the slough of enjoyment, she can no longer get out again." from: Wisdom of the Desert Fathers
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (3) |
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Acts of charity, almsgiving and all the external good works do not suppress the arrogance of the heart; but noetic meditation, the labor of repentance, contrition and humility — these humble the proud mind. Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (2) |
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Beguiling and deceptive is the life of the world, fruitless its labor, perilous its delight, poor its riches, delusive its honors, inconstant, insignificant; and woe to those who hope in its seeming goods: because of this many die without repentance. Elder Nazarius.
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Orthodox Quote of the Week (1) |
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No wonder, then, that it is so hard to be Christian — it is not hard it is impossible. No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the more truly it is lived, leads more surely to one's own destruction. And that is why we constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose — our felicity lies in one world or the other, not in both. Fr. Seraphim Rose.
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