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Quote 323
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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Quote 323 - Форум
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Quote 323
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| readeralexey | Дата: Среда, 15.10.2025, 20:36 | Сообщение # 1 |
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| The only thing man has is his will, and God helps him according to this will. This is why I say that all the good things we may have are gifts from God. Our works are zero, and our virtues are a long series of zeros. We must try to constantly add zeros and beseech Christ to put a digit at the beginning so that we may become rich. If Christ doesn’t put the digit at the beginning, our efforts will be in vain.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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| boriskorsun3 | Дата: Вторник, 21.10.2025, 00:05 | Сообщение # 2 |
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| I completely agree with this quote, and I also find it an extremely interesting analogy of God's grace. We can do a lot of good deeds in our entire lives. Let's pretend for a second that we're mathematicians. Let's denote every good deed as zero. And these very zeros accumulate in the account of our soul all our lives. Someone will say - well done, he always helped everyone, did a lot of good deeds. However, no matter how many zeros you have, in total it's still the same zero, or to be more precise, nothing. And only God determines whether our deeds will have any value. Were your actions selfless? Were they supported by a blissful thought? You can ask yourself all these questions to see if God will appreciate your actions and add a one at the beginning of all your zeros.
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Сообщение отредактировал boriskorsun3 - Понедельник, 22.12.2025, 19:26 |
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| busiginaliza00 | Дата: Вторник, 21.10.2025, 23:36 | Сообщение # 3 |
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| I understand the quote's point that our efforts are like zeros needing God's grace to have value, and I agree with this view. Our human will represents the starting point where we choose to do good works. For example, when we decide to help someone in need, we create one of these zeros. I agree that spiritual wealth comes only when Christ puts His grace before our efforts.We must always remember that true transformation comes from God. The cooperation between our will and God's grace is what makes our spiritual life complete. This balance between human effort and divine help seems right to me.
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| davydenkololita | Дата: Среда, 22.10.2025, 20:54 | Сообщение # 4 |
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| To my mind, it is a very beautiful thought. I do not think I fully agree with it, though. I suppose that our Lord has already promised us a "digit", so I don't believe it is necessary to beg or plead for it. Why not just go and do things as if we already had it, because we trust Him and don't doubt His promises? I think that it is when I feel rich and generous I behave like one, and when I am a beggar, I am not a giver. If He gives things and we can spread them further, doesn't it mean that by His grace we become rich and He wants us to be generous? How one would continue to think they are still beggars? It's ungrateful to be pretending they are, if they really believe that He gives them something.
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Сообщение отредактировал davydenkololita - Среда, 22.10.2025, 20:55 |
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| sophianesterenok | Дата: Среда, 22.10.2025, 23:14 | Сообщение # 5 |
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| What I like about this analogy is that our works, while being zeros on their own, do not add up to zero, but accumulate and potentially have infinite value, provided that Christ puts the digit first. This image reconciles two of Christ's parables, the parable of the workers in the vineyard and the parable of the talents: every one can receive the same help from God, but our willingness to make an effort still influences the end result of our works.
On a less mathematical note, this saying reminds me of one of my favourite quotes from Florence Nightingale: "If I could tell you all, you would see how God has done all, and I nothing. I have worked hard, very hard, that is all; and I have never refused God anything." It expresses the same idea of hard work being necessary, but ultimately only achieving anything by God's strength that "is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9). I hope that one day this quote could be applied to my life as well.
Добавлено (22.10.2025, 23:31)
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davydenkololita,
If I may: I think you are completely right in saying that we are to freely give out what the Lord has given us, and that in that we are already rich. As for your final points, I suppose thinking that one is a beggar is not "pretending", but a disposition of self-awareness and gratitude for being able to give something that we do not really possess. As I understand it, this is the disposition of the "poor in spirit" who completely trust in God's promises but never take them for granted.
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| davidkushakov | Дата: Пятница, 19.12.2025, 13:10 | Сообщение # 6 |
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| I understand the point completely, and I agree with it. Well, our efforts, no matter how sincere, are like zeros, meaningless on their own. Their real value comes only when Christ places His grace before them, like the number 1 that gives a string of zeros its true worth. This idea is both humbling and freeing. It means I can stop trying to “earn” spiritual credit through my own willpower. Instead, my job is to faithfully offer my effort (that zero) while trusting God to provide the grace that makes it matter. I’ve felt this when trying to forgive someone on my own; it felt hollow and forced. But when I prayed first and asked for God’s help to forgive, it took the load off my mind. My effort was the same, but His grace made it real. So the practical step for me is simple: before I act, especially when it’s difficult, I pause and ask Christ to lead. That turns my striving into partnership, and my actions into grace.
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Сообщение отредактировал davidkushakov - Понедельник, 22.12.2025, 23:48 |
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| claudholloway | Дата: Пятница, 19.12.2025, 20:28 | Сообщение # 7 |
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| This quote is about one of the most important things in our faith - about synergy, cooperation between man and God in salvation. This idea really warms my soul, because it determines our lives and what we have to do to be saved. Life is way more easier when you know that you can't do more that leading righteous and good life, hoping that you will be saved (and you will).
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Мария П.
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| solkinaanna57 | Дата: Пятница, 19.12.2025, 21:51 | Сообщение # 8 |
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| Saint Paisios of Mount Athos speaks about human works as "zeros" that receive meaning only when Christ places a digit before them. At first, this teaching provokes inner resistance in me, because it seems to reduce human effort almost to nothing. It may create the feeling that without God a person is incapable of even a single step, as if human freedom were an illusion. Such an interpretation appears troubling, because it risks turning a person into a passive instrument rather than a responsible moral agent.
However, deeper reflection helps me understand this image differently. Saint Paisios does not deny free will; on the contrary, he emphasizes it as the only thing truly belonging to man. The will to choose good, to struggle against sin, and to turn toward God is real and necessary. Yet even the best human effort remains limited without divine grace. Good deeds are not erased, but fulfilled by God’s participation. This is not spiritual passivity, but synergy: human freedom cooperating with God’s mercy. In this light, prayer is not weakness, but wisdom - a conscious request for strength so that our imperfect efforts may bear fruit.
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| mariablansh | Дата: Пятница, 19.12.2025, 22:29 | Сообщение # 9 |
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| Saint Paisios of Athos formulated an absolutely correct idea in a very original way, in my opinion. Our pride and vanity are fueled by thoughts that we can do something on our own, worth something, and so on. In fact, we are nothing without God. He wanted to give us some kind of skill, and He gave it to us, and if he wants to take it away, he'll take it away. All our so-called successes, from the smallest to the biggest, are not really ours - it's God's will. This should always be remembered, especially when doing something good and helping others, good deeds should also be done not on their own, but for the glory of God. This needs to be learned. Yes, we have freedom of choice. I think the person who voluntarily puts himself and his will in the hands of the Lord is happy, because he is much wiser than us and knows better than us how to use this gift. In other words, he knows better than we do how to live our lives in order to inherit the Kingdom of heaven and save ourselves from many troubles.
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Баушова М.
Сообщение отредактировал mariablansh - Понедельник, 22.12.2025, 17:52 |
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| oksanaoni2159 | Дата: Пятница, 19.12.2025, 23:48 | Сообщение # 10 |
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| Saint Paisios of Mount Athos once said that all our works are big zeros, and it is God who puts a digit at the beginning so that we may become rich. I believe it is only appropriate to remember the story of King David and his gaining immense fortunes. What proved him to be a loving servant of God was the humility with which he received the riches at the end of his life. He accumulated great wealth, and his destiny was to gain resources to build the temple for the one true God. And the way David prayed to God was in line with what St Paisios said. King David said unto God, 'I am nothing, and these riches are Yours, and You have given me those. And now, my Lord, You want me to take a smaller part of these riches and put it into the building of Your temple when, in fact, all of this wealth is Yours and I am in no position to decide anything about these finances, as they are from You, gained by You and given to me by You.' And I think King David understood very well that we are but dust, and human beings by their nature are fragile and are not in control of their own lives or their own bodies, much less weather or fortune.
So all there is for us to do is to continue to pray and rely only on God in all matters, our financial well-being among them.
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С уважением, Онищенко Ксения
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| runovasveta2005 | Дата: Суббота, 20.12.2025, 01:51 | Сообщение # 11 |
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| This quote represents a very beautiful metaphor. I think this thought reflects the idea of human virtues perfectly. On the one hand, our virtues, no matter how numerous they may be, will be just “a long series of zeros” without God’s digit, because everything is nothing without God, that's true. But on the other hand, exactly the number of zeros determines how big and significant the number is. This "mathematical" image shows us, that salvation is possible only with cooperative participation of man and God, without detracting the importance of both participants of the process. As one of the commentators of this post justly noticed, this process is called by a beautiful Greek word "synergy".
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Сообщение отредактировал runovasveta2005 - Воскресенье, 21.12.2025, 17:13 |
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| vvecheslova | Дата: Пятница, 16.01.2026, 03:12 | Сообщение # 12 |
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| Our will is real, but fragile, I think. Our actions, however virtuous they seem, are like a string of zeros, worthless on their own. Only when Christ "puts a digit at the beginning" do they gain true value.
This speaks directly to the danger of spiritual pride. I’ve noticed in myself and in others that it’s easy to start believing that being "good" or "disciplined" makes us worthy or superior. But that mindset quickly turns virtue into performance. For example, I might fast, pray, or help someone, but if I’m doing it to feel righteous or to be seen, it loses its soul. It becomes mechanical and even selfish. Saint Paisios reminds us that humility isn’t just a nice addition to virtue, it’s the foundation.
I don’t fully agree with the idea that "our works are zero" if taken too literally. Scripture also says that "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:17). So our actions matter, but only as a response to God’s grace, not as a way to earn it.
In my own life, I often struggle with wanting results like recognition, clarity, progress. But this quote can bring me back: keep adding those zeros through prayer, small acts of kindness, discipline, and never forget to ask Christ to lead.
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