And beware you do not blindly insist that things must work out according to what you consider to be right and good. God sometimes does permit such blind insistence to be followed by the fulfilment of our ardent desires. This always leads to misery and disaster (intended to open our eyes on our folly), and happens particularly often when our desires are founded on wild passions.
Category: SILENCE
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“When harmed, insulted or persecuted by someone, do not think of the present but wait for the future, and you will find he has brought you much good, not only in this life but also in the life to come.”
—St. Mark the Ascetic -
Make a rule never to speak to any one but your confessor either of your illusions or of your temptations.
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He was full of wisdom, advanced in age; and we know that silence is the trait of the wise. After three years had passed, through which he persisted in asking God to help him that he may be saved, he heard a voice saying to him, “Flee, keep silence, and be still.”37 And these three words are suitable, as an approach, for all. For when you are surrounded by troubles, when you feel unsure toward something, when you need to take a critical decision, or when you are approaching a new stage [in your life], do this: “Flee, keep silence, and be still.”
Abba Arsenius The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
book by Bishop Macarius -
“When you perceive in yourself something worthy of praise, and you feel a desire to tell others about it, try immediately to destroy this desire with the thought that you will not receive any benefit from relating it, but only harm.”
— Metropolitan Gregory (Postnikov) of St. Petersburg, How to Live a Holy Life
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There was this that set him above many [others]: if he were asked about a phrase in Scripture or some spiritual matter, he did not answer immediately, but would say he did not know the answer. And if he were pressed further, he would not give an answer.
—Abba Pambo
Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers -
The spiritual man does not say all that comes to his mind from words or ideas. He weighs each word before he utters it. His scale does not stop at the essence of the word, if it is right or wrong in itself… But his concern is also about the effect of the word on others, its reactions and the result of that.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III,The Spiritual Man
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One may talk much, so he loses the virtues of silence, thinking and contemplating. And one may remain silent and loses the advantage of the word of benefit, the word of consolation, the word of advice and also loses witnessing for the truth. As for the integral man, he knows when to remain silent and when to talk.
He does not remain silent when it is good to talk, and does not talk when it is good to remain silent.
When he is silent, it is by wisdom. And when he talks, it is for a benefit. He controls the two matters together and uses each of them at its good time.
—H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Spiritual Man
SO GOOD QUOTES 