Category: BEST OF

  • Let not we who are reasonable show ourselves to be more savage than the unreasoning animals. For even the animals use in common the plants that grow naturally from the earth. Flocks of sheep graze together upon the same hillside, herds of horses feed upon the same plain, and all living creatures permit each other to satisfy their need for food. But we hoard what is common, and keep for ourselves what belongs to many others.

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • “Truly, this is the worst kind of avarice: not even to share perishable goods with those in need.”

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • “You, however, have regard for gold, but not for your own brothers and sisters. You recognize the inscription on the face of a coin, and can tell the counterfeit from the genuine, but you completely ignore your brothers and sisters in their time of need.”

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • Imagine a society in which no one sold anything, but everyone shared freely their skills and wealth. Then every action in that society would bring not only material benefits, but spiritual benefits also. Such societies already exist in miniature: families operate in this way. How wonderful it would be if villages and towns could become like large families.

    On Living Simply
    St. John Chrysostom

  • “The pleasure is fleeting, while the pain is lasting.”

    —St. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty

  • Hold fast to your purpose and do not look back. We have been given a warning example in Lot’s wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back [Genesis 19:26]. You have cast off your old humanity; let the rags lie.

    Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
    Tito Colliander

  • “At a time of affliction, expect a provocation to sensual pleasure; for because it relieves the affliction it is readily welcomed.”

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

  • Curiosity consists of trying to know everything without order, without aim, without distinguishing whether it is needful or not. It is only necessary that one should preserve a measure and order in exercising the senses, and direct them only to what is needful and to awareness of what is needful—then there will be no food for curiosity.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation

  • Once again, be silent! Let no one notice what you are about. You are working for the Invisible One; let your work be invisible.

    Way of the Ascetics: The Ancient Tradition of Discipline and Inner Growth
    Tito Colliander

  • I am not responsible for the war in Syria, and I have nothing to contribute to resolve that tragedy.  In contrast, I am responsible for my neighbor down the hall if I learn that he is sick or alone.

    The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise
    Cardinal Robert Sarah, Nicolas Diat