• He said to me: “I have forgiven him for his disloyalty to me
    after I had left all my secrets in his hands. I forgave him because of the Lord’s commandment and because we had been together as servers in the Church for a long time, but…”

    Then when I asked him, “But what … ?”, he answered with a
    profound gaze,

    “Forgiveness is one thing and trust something else…”

    I have forgiven him but I no longer trust him, because of his
    disloyalty. I no longer tell him my secrets. I don’t leave my
    office open for him any more. I simply don’t have confidence in him any longer.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life

  • Sometimes a person apologises for mistakes he had made and imagines that the matter is then done with, but his apology is not acceptable.

    This is because when he apologises his apology is too
    meagre in relation to the offence he has committed. This glib superficial apology does not satisfy the heart of the one who has been hurt, and cannot cover up the previous mistakes.

    Also, just apologising is insufficient.

    He ought to help deal with the consequences of the errors
    he has made by making amends to the one whom he has
    wronged.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life

  • One of his brother monks offended him very deeply so that he came and said to me: “Should I go and tell him off?!”

    So I said to him, “If his conscience is alive he will come of his
    own accord to apologise to you. Otherwise there is no use in
    telling him off. It will probably make this end up worse.

    However, if he is really ignorant of the seriousness of what he
    has done, it would be better for a third party to intercede
    between you in this matter, to explain to him the extent of his offence.

    Whatever the case, it is better for you to wait, and who knows, you might be lucky enough to forget him and forget his offence!”

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Experiences in Life

  • “The person that is struggling to the best of his abilities, who has no desire to live a disorderly life, but who – in the course of the struggle for faith and life – falls and rises again and again, God will never abandon. And if he has the slightest will not to grieve God, he will go to Paradise with his shoes on.

    The Benevolent God will, surprisingly, push him into Paradise. God will ensure that he takes him at his best, in repentance . He may have to struggle all his life, but God will not abandon him; He will take him at the best possible time.”

    —Saint Paisios of Mt. Athos

  • How rarely does one who has lost innocence succeed in regaining it!

    —St. Theophan the Recluse
    Raising Them Right: A Saint’s Advice on Raising Children p.75

  • “St. Augustine asserted that God considers more the purity of the intention of our actions above the actions themselves.”

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

    Fr. Kyrillos Ibrahim

  • If you are faithful in loving your relative, God will set you over loving the enemy. He will give you the grace which enables you to love your enemy.

    —Pope Shenouda III, Words of Spiritual Benefit Vol. 1

  • “Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”

    — Benjamin Franklin

  • To Abba Pambo, who asked him, “What ought I to do?”  the old man said: “Do not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach.”

    The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
    Henri Nouwen

  • “There is a useful sorrow, and a destructive sorrow. Sorrow is useful when we weep for our sins, and for our neighbour’s ignorance, and so that we may not relax our purpose to attain to true goodness, these are the real kinds of sorrow. Our enemy adds something to this. For he sends sorrow without reason, which is something called lethargy. We ought always to drive out a sadness like that with prayers and psalms.”

    —Syncletica of Alexandria