• I don’t know of a single person who after meeting Father Raphael did not afterwards decisively change and turn back to the spiritual life. This is even though, to be honest, Father Raphael could not even manage to utter the simplest of sermons.


    Everyday Saints and Other Stories
    Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov

  • Wasn’t this conviction also in you, Sisters- this first impulse that caused you to abandon everything and dedicate yourselves to the Lord? At any rate, that’s how it should have been. The difference between you and holy Catherine is that Catherine, having understood the lack of fulfillment in the way of life surrounding her, still had to seek for better ways, for the One in Whom she could find this fulfillment. You, having felt the thirst for what is better, knew in advance that the satisfaction of this thirst is possible only in the Lord, Who is calling all: Let him who thirsts come to Me and drink (John 7:37). Therefore, together with all this, as your coolness towards your surroundings grew, so also grew your desire for the Lord.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, Kindling the Divine Spirit

  • The external image remains the same, but the inward image is already different. I want to say that the dissatisfaction with the usual course of life, the desire for what is better, the conviction that the best of everything can be acquired only in the Lord, the deep, warm love towards Him, the decision to serve Him alone and the readiness to sacrifice everything for Him, so as to please Him—all this should characterize your life, your spirit, constantly making it alive and bringing it into motion.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, Kindling the Divine Spirit

  • The wind blows where it wills; you hear its voice but do not know whence it comes and whither it goest (cf. John 3:8). So does it also occur with anyone who is abandoning the world. In a similar way, the beginning of anyone who undertakes the monastic life is surrounded with signs. Those who begin monasticism know about this. It is more than a desire that entices one toward this life, though this desire is the root of it all. It so happens that there are other occurrences in which the finger of God is clearly seen.

    They later serve as hope-bearing supports for the completion of what has been begun, and they convince one to set out and bring to completion one’s purpose. It is impossible to describe what precisely occurs. Everyone has something known only to herself, and only to herself it appears to be quite unusual.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, Kindling the Divine Spirit

  • When you withdraw from the world your business is to talk with yourself, not to have men talk about you. But what shall you talk about? Do just what people are fond of doing when they talk about their neighbours,—speak ill of yourself when by yourself; then you will become accustomed both to speak and to hear the truth. Above all, however, ponder that which you come to feel is your greatest weakness.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • Did nature give us bellies so insatiable, when she gave us these puny bodies, that we should outdo the hugest and most voracious animals in greed? Not at all. How small is the amount which will satisfy nature? A very little will send her away contented. It is not the natural hunger of our bellies that costs us dear, but our solicitous cravings.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • But let even your entertainment be work; and even from these various forms of entertainment you will select, if you have been watchful, something that may prove wholesome.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • And we ought to bear the absence of friends cheerfully, just because everyone is bound to be often absent from his friends even when they are present. Include among such cases, in the first place, the nights spent apart, then the different engagements which each of two friends has, then the private studies of each and their excursions into the country, and you will see that foreign travel does not rob us of much. 11. A friend should be retained in the spirit; such a friend can never be absent. He can see every day whomsoever he desires to see.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • Therefore, a man occupied with such reflections should choose an austere and pure dwelling-place. The spirit is weakened by surroundings that are too pleasant, and without a doubt one’s place of residence can contribute towards impairing its vigour. Animals whose hoofs are hardened on rough ground can travel any road; but when they are fattened on soft marshy meadows their hoofs are soon worn out.

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic

  • How mad is he who leaves the lecture-room in a happy frame of mind simply because of applause from the ignorant! Why do you take pleasure in being praised by men whom you yourself cannot praise?

    —Seneca, Letters from a Stoic