He also said to a monk who was his friend concerning Egyptian monks, “For our part we have gained nothing from the world’s education, but these rustic Egyptian peasants have acquired the virtues by their own labors.”

Abba Arsenius, The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
Bishop Macarius

Clement stresses the fact that philosophy can never take the place of divine revelation. It can only prepare for the acceptance of the faith. Thus, in the second book, he defends faith against the philosophers. 

(on the book Stromata)

FATHERS OF THE SCHOOL OF ALEXANDRIA – “ST. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA”
Esmat Gabriel

Coptic Church Review
V1 number 1
Spring 1980

The voice of God was the only answer for all my needs. It was the voice of father, friend, comrade and guide. No sooner did I feel the need for his voice than I heard it speaking inside me a thousand times stronger than an ear would ever hear. For what the ear hears, the mind forgets. But what the heart hears, time can never erase.

—Matthew the Poor (Abouna Matta El Meskeen)

A brother asked an old man. ‘What shall I do, father, for I am not acting at all like a monk, but I eat, drink, and sleep carelessly; and I have evil thoughts and I am in great trouble, passing from one work to another and from one thought to another?’ The old man said,

‘Sit in your cell and do the little you can untroubled.

For I think the little you can do now is of equal value to the great deeds which Abba Antony accomplished on the mountain, and I believe that by remaining sitting in your cell for the name of God, and guarding your conscience, you also will find the place where Abba Antony is.’

The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers
Benedicta Ward

No man wise in his own opinion because he has studied all the sciences and is learned in external wisdom, will penetrate God’s mysteries or see them unless he first humbles himself and becomes foolish in his heart, repudiating his self-opinion.
—Symeon

God’s Path to Sanity
Dee Pennock

On Docility

Docility is the willingness to be taught and guided. The virtue of docility refers to our yielding to the influence of the Holy Spirit, the teachings of the Lord, the Church and our spiritual fathers. It is one of the striking contrasts between the disciples and the Pharisees. “But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear…Therefore hear the parable” (Mt 13:16-18). Docility is a reminder that so much of the spiritual life is not about what we do for God but letting God attract us, instruct us and guide us. What makes the disciples’ eyes and ears “blessed” is that they are in a state of humble receptivity. The Pharisees, however, display a cold rigidity which blinds them. Jesus tells them, “but since you claim, we see,’ your guilt remains” (Un 9:41).

The spiritually mature person is always docile to the workings of God through a humble openness which accepts correction from others. One day, St. Pachomius the Great was visiting one of the monastic communities under his care and he sat down to weave some mats. A young boy visiting the monastery that day saw the saint doing his work and, not knowing that this was not only a revered elder but the father of the whole community, approached him saying, “Not so father! Do not turn the thread this way. Father Theodore showed us another style of weaving.” St. Pachomius rose and said to the boy, “Yes, teach me this style!” After the boy taught him, the saint sat to work gladly.

All That I Have Is Yours: 100 Meditations with St. Pope Kyrillos VI on the Spiritual Life
Fr. Kyrillos Ibrahim