SO GOOD QUOTES

The curse of loneliness

Oh, my dear friends, all the people around you, in your home and outside it as well, need you. There is a terrible curse in our life, which afflicts many people, the curse of loneliness. You remember that woman who killed herself at the age of seventy because, she said, there had never been anyone in her life who loved her. Many people live shut away in their loneliness, and often there is no one to show them a little love. Everyone around us, poor and rich, small and great, needs us. Let our life be characterized by loving care, tenderness, and compassion. Let us live close to others, and for others. As one of the ascetics says, ‘our foundation is our neighbor’, which means that the criterion of our spiritual life is found in those around us. We should love others, not out of any presumed ‘goodness’, but out of a sense of responsibility which we have towards them. 

—Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra