Category: FAITH

  • “As he who carries perfumes with him makes his presence felt by the fragrance whether he wants to or not, so he who has the Spirit of the Lord is known by his words and his humility.”

    —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent

  • The devil says to you and me: “yesterday!” or “tomorrow!” But the Holy Spirit says to us: “today!”

    —Kallistos Ware, Discovering the Inner Kingdom

  • Just as people do not enter a war in order to enjoy war, but in order to be saved from war, so we do not enter this world in order to enjoy this world, but in order to be saved from it. People go to war for the sake of something greater than war. So we also enter this temporal life for the sake of something greater: for eternal life. And as soldiers think with joy about returning home, so also Christians constantly remember the end of their lives and their return to their heavenly fatherland.

    —St. Nicholas of Serbia, Thoughts on Good and Evil

  • “If you want to do something but cannot, then before God, who knows our hearts, it is as if we have done it. This is true whether the intended action is good or bad.”

    —St. Mark the Ascetic

  • “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

  • In my life, wherever I was, I accepted everything as the Will of God and lived as if I were to stay in that place forever. This is the only way God wants us to be. Never a thought about the future. The future is His! The whole earth is but a waiting room for Eternity. Are we doing what we should at every moment of our life? Do we love according to the Commandments of God? Do we follow the example of Christ? …We must think always, “How would I behave if Christ were here, visible, near us, everywhere and at all times?” This should be the way of our life… Do not think about tomorrow, for “the morrow will take care of itself.” He Who has freed you from bondage will – if you believe – guide you, like Moses, to the Promised Land… Have no fear… If you have faith, follow the Good Shepherd and everything will be joy, peace, tranquility, and love for everyone and everything.

    —Mother Gavrilia (The Ascetic of Love)

  • “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

  • “You ask about eternal life, yet show yourself completely bound to the enjoyment of this present life.”

    —St. Basil the Great, On Social Justice

  • …even should he lie beside rivers and streams; For what is the use of this abundance of water while his thirst is unquenched?

    —St. John Chrysostom, On Wealth and Poverty

  • The one who is a stranger here will be a citizen up there; the one who is a stranger here will not be happy to live among present realities, will not be concerned for dwellings, money, food, anything else of that kind. Instead, just as people living in foreign parts do everything and busy themselves with a view to their return to their homeland, and daily strive to see the land that bore them, so too those in love with future realities are neither dejected by present griefs nor buoyed up by success, but ignore both like a traveler on the road.

    —St. John Chrysostom