Category: FAITH

  • None of us is judged for what he does not know, any more than one is counted blessed because he is learned and possesses knowledge. It is rather in regard to these questions that each faces judgment: whether he has kept the faith and sincerely observed the commandments.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • And let us not consider, when we look at the world, that we have given up things of some greatness, for even the entire earth is itself quite small in relation to all of heaven.

    —Athanasius, The Life of Antony

  • “Faith does not mean understanding, but trust. It is not opposed to rational thought, but transcends and surpasses it. It is not anti-reason, but beyond reason.”

    —Fr. Michael Gillis

  • Abba Isaiah was asked: “What is the love of money?” and he answered: “It is not believing in God that He is taking care of you.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
    John Wortley

  • The thought that you could live like a Christian while holding on to the world and worldliness is an empty, deluded thought. Whoever lives by this thought will never learn anything more than pharisaism and imaginary life, that is, he will be a Christian only in his own opinion, and not in fact. At first he will destroy with one hand what he created with another, that is, what he gathered while away from the world will be stolen from him at his first re-entrance into it. From this it is a direct path to opinion, for what was stolen from the heart may still remain in the memory and imagination. Now, remembering and imagining how it was before, the man might think that it is still that way; meanwhile it has evaporated and only traces of it are left in the memory. He will think that he has what he has not. The judgment upon him is this: For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them (Matthew 25.29). It is one step from opinion to pharisaism, and hardened pharisaism is a terrible state.

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

  • Take the trouble to spend only one single day according to God’s commandments, and you will see yourself, you will feel by your own heart, how good it is to fulfill God’s will.

    —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

  • When you see that you’re making no progress in your spiritual life, don’t despair. But neither should you be content with whatever progress you may have already made.

    —Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Mount Athos

  • May God allow you to participate in that wondrous picture of a lamb led to the slaughter, with the knife placed at its throat while it is calm and silent. It is silent because its owner is the one slaughtering it; it trusts him, because he was the one who fed it. How incredible that we learn from lambs and sheep! O Lord, what is this amazing example that You have placed in animals for us? Can you believe that Christ was symbolized as a lamb led to the slaughter? I myself have many times seen a lamb being prepared for slaughter: it exhibits the utmost calmness. You tie its legs, but it doesn’t move; you place the knife, and it doesn’t move. It trusts the person who is its owner, and feeder, and caretaker. Ah, beloved, let us trust exceedingly that the One who shepherds us is the One who will “slaughter” us. It is not at all the work of our adversary; for as He said, “You would have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.” The knife descends from above. The nails were driven by a heavenly hand, and the hammer was sanctioned by the Father, who permitted the Crucified One to be hung on the Cross. Man himself can never bring you to be slaughtered, or harm your reputation, or steal your rights, unless it be allowed from above. Step forward, therefore, and fear not, but accept the cross and the knife—just like your Lord.

    —Matthew the Poor, Words For Our Time: The Spiritual Words of Matthew the Poor

  • I don’t know of a single person who after meeting Father Raphael did not afterwards decisively change and turn back to the spiritual life. This is even though, to be honest, Father Raphael could not even manage to utter the simplest of sermons.


    Everyday Saints and Other Stories
    Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov

  • Wasn’t this conviction also in you, Sisters- this first impulse that caused you to abandon everything and dedicate yourselves to the Lord? At any rate, that’s how it should have been. The difference between you and holy Catherine is that Catherine, having understood the lack of fulfillment in the way of life surrounding her, still had to seek for better ways, for the One in Whom she could find this fulfillment. You, having felt the thirst for what is better, knew in advance that the satisfaction of this thirst is possible only in the Lord, Who is calling all: Let him who thirsts come to Me and drink (John 7:37). Therefore, together with all this, as your coolness towards your surroundings grew, so also grew your desire for the Lord.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, Kindling the Divine Spirit