“Whatever you do in revenge to a brother who has done you wrong will all become an obstacle for you at the time of prayer.”

—Abba Nil, Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

There is a difference between saying ‘I’m sorry’ and saying ‘Forgive me.’

—Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis, Forgiveness

“You know, Don, there’s a difference between apologizing and asking for forgiveness,” he said. “An apology is a statement, as informal as a press release, but asking forgiveness involves giving power to the person you’re seeking forgiveness from.”

Scary Close: Dropping the Act and Finding True Intimacy

Forgive yourself. Even if everyone else forgives you, it wouldn’t matter.

You will not move forward until you forgive yourself. This is when healing begins.

There Are No Regrets In This Life, Only Lessons
By Natalie Madeline

Humility is, when the other person is at fault, for us to do a metanoia (prostration) to him and say, ‘Forgive me, my brother, I am sorry!’ before he has time to seek forgiveness.

—Saint Joseph the Hesychast

Forgiveness has nothing to do with forgetting…A wounded person cannot – indeed, should not – think that a faded memory can provide an expiation of the past. To forgive, one must remember the past, put it into perspective, and move beyond it. Without remembrance, no wound can be transcended.

—Beverly Flanigan

So, fathers, brothers, sisters: let us forgive one another. Let us not think about why. There is enough to think about. Let us do it. 

—Fr. Alexander Schmemann