Category: PRAYER

  • Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross.” 

    —Elder Cleopa of Sihastria

  • “Christians should regard their occupations as sidelines and prayer as their work.”

    —St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite

  • Believe me, if you are willing to start at seven o’clock in the evening, without having duties to busy you, and even to put off supper if needed, and to sit with God and read His Word at length without looking at the clock, you will find yourself up until morning. “O Lord, I’ve been up seven hours reading and praying without feeling the time pass!”

    —Matthew the Poor, Orthodox Prayer Life

  • There will be a storm of issues. Worries will surround you, and maintaining your Christian life will not be easy.  But don’t worry.  God will help you. Do what is within your power.  Can you pray for five minutes a day? Then pray. And if you can’t manage five minutes, pray for two. The rest is God’s affair. Contrary to our expectations, there is no ‘must.’  Such a word does not exist within the Christian life. The idea that something ‘must’ be, or ‘must’ take place, is a product of the intellect,…a logical conclusion….But the word ‘must’ has never moved anyone to do anything. On the contrary, it makes you feel like a slave and discourages you from moving forward.

    —Elder Aimilianos

  • I always remember an alcoholic friend who expressed to me his frustration at praying daily for God to remove his desire for drink. Was God even listening? Later it dawned on him that the desire for alcohol was the main reason he prayed so diligently. Persistent temptation had compelled persistent prayer.

    Unanswered prayer: God, where are you?

  • “There must be a time of day when the man who makes plans forgets his plans, and acts as if he had no plans at all.

    There must be a time of day when the man who has to speak falls very silent. And his mind forms no more propositions, and he asks himself: Did they have a meaning?

    There must be a time when the man of prayer goes to pray as if it were the first time in his life he had ever prayed; when the man of resolutions puts his resolutions aside as if they had all been broken, and he learns a different wisdom: distinguishing the sun from the moon, the stars from the darkness, the sea from the dry land, and the night sky from the shoulder of a hill.”

    —Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

  • If there is a problem in my life, my fight is not with people, my fight is with God. I’m on my knees talking to God. I’m not fighting with people, I’m not talking to people.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • For myself, I am working to make voluntary what will eventually happen anyway. Learning to bear my own company and seeking to bear the company of God are proper to this time. I am noticing some changes. For example, I can barely stand to have the radio or music playing in the car when I’m driving – they’re distractions. I’d rather pray. Nevertheless, the noise of my ADD-addled brain provides ample distraction by itself most of the time. What to do with that noise is a matter of constant learning.

    Slowing Down for the Necessary Thing
    ARCHPRIEST STEPHEN FREEMAN

  • “Pray more than you think.”

    —H.G. Bishop Basil

  • Those who pray, read the Bible, and work and sleep, will be given enlightenment at a moment of God’s grace.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri