Respect the opinion of the person with whom you speak, however much you disagree with it.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, A Whisper of Love: Poems, Prayers and Sayings
Category: DISCERNMENT
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You seem unduly distressed about your relations’ disapproval of your actions. Why this great agitation? Since in all conscience you are certain of not being responsible for their hostile attitude to you, and since you are sure you have done nothing to induce them to feel or think as they do, be at peace. Be at peace and pray for them. We cannot persuade all that our actions are right, our motives pure. Everyone has his own way of approaching life, his own ideas on most things.
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If the Scripture commands me not to have communion with fornicators, adulterers … etc. (1 Cor 6: 9), should I then say: I do not condemn those?! Does not having no communion with them or with others as mentioned in (1 Cor 6: 11) imply condemning them? Likewise, we are commanded not to accept those who deviate from the sound doctrine, as the apostle says: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” (2 Jn 10, 11) Should we in the name of gentleness accept those? The apostle says, “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment.” (1 Tim 5: 24) It is not you who condemn them, but their works do. You have only to avoid them, gently.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Fruits of the Spirit
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One might say that another’s action will destroy the monastery. Yet, if the action is truly wrong, it will surely be revealed; you should not necessarily be the one who reveals it. It will be revealed on its own. If you place yourself as a watchdog over the actions of others, then, as the saying goes, you will have turned from a worshipper into a judge. Did you come to work as judges, or worshippers? Each one of us should say, “I will keep to myself. What business is it of mine? What brought me into all of these affairs?”
The wronged will be avenged by God, the peace of the monastery will be protected by God, those commissioned have their own responsibilities, and each of you should keep to yourself. If you keep to yourself, you will be respected by all, loved by all, and trusted by all, and if you do intervene on any given occasion, your word will have a positive impact.
—Pope Shenouda III, Monastic Treasures for All of Us
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Horrible is the approach of death to those who are passionate, wicked and weak, who have not attempted to live purely in this vain world.
Those who toil, and successful contestants of devoutness, delight at the hour of their departure.
They see before their eyes the great work of their fight, watchfulness, fasting, prostrations, prayer, weeping and sackcloth.
Their souls are glad when they are summoned away from their bodies to go into their rest.
But leaving this life is a cause for great sorrow for the sinner, who sees in front of his eyes his apathy and its caustic fruits.
What repentance will then take hold of the heart of the one who has here ignored his salvation.
O my soul, Woe to you, why do you neglect your life?
Suddenly your call will come and what will you do there if you have been neglectful here?
What will you do in front of the throne of the just Judge?
How is it that the foe robs you, but you do not realize it?
How is it that the foe robs you of heavenly wealth, but you are so preoccupied that you do not even realize it.
Have mercy on me, O long-suffering Son of God and sinless Christ.
O my Savior, allow me to ponder the coming life, so that I will do Your will.
When I get old at very least let me partake of Your grace, so that I finish my unfortunate life with a profitable end.
How will I who am careless stand in front of Your fearful throne?
How will I who am impatient and unprofitable enter into the company of those who have here brought forth the fruits of goodness?
By what characteristics will they recognize me when the saints and the upright on their heavenly beds perceive each other by their works?
No, you have no grounds to laud yourself.
The upright, the pure and the humble will walk in the unattainable light, but the sinful, the lazy, the arrogant, the proud and those who heedlessly live for their own satisfaction like me, will find themselves in the everlasting and inextinguishable fire.
O my soul, be alert, and pray with tears.
Call out with all your heart that before the end comes you might be converted and make a good beginning.
O Lord, grant this to us, through the prayers of our spotless Lady the Theotokos and all Your saints, for You are blessed forever.
—St. Ephraim the Syrian
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The same is true of sins that occur through ignorance: they arise from sins consciously committed. For unless a man is drunk with either wine or desire, he is not unaware of what he is doing; but such drunkenness obscures the intellect and so it falls, and dies as a result. Yet that death has not come about inexplicably: it has been unwittingly induced by the drunkenness to which we consciously assented. We will find many instances, especially in our thoughts, where we fall from what is within our control to what is outside it, and from what we are consciously aware of to what is unwitting. But because the first appears unimportant and attractive, we slip unintentionally and unawares into the second. Yet if from the start we had wanted to keep the commandments and to remain as we were when baptized, we would not have fallen into so many sins or have needed the trials and tribulations of repentance.
—St Peter of Damaskos -
Conversely, the vices of the soul are much worse than the passions of the body, both in the actions they produce and in the punishments they incur. I do not know why, but most people overlook this fact. They treat drunkenness, unchastity, adultery, theft and all such vices with great concern, avoiding them or punishing them as something whose very appearance is loathsome to most men. But the passions of the soul are much worse and much more serious then bodily passions. For they degrade men to the level of demons and lead them, insensible as they are, to the eternal punishment reserved for all who obstinately cling to such vices. These passions of the soul are envy, rancor, malice, insensitivity, avarice – which according to the apostle is the root of all evil (cf. 1 Tim. 6:10) – and all vices of a similar nature.
—St. John of Damaskos
SO GOOD QUOTES 