• Walk then in the spirit, like Abraham, without knowing whither you go; be content with your daily bread, and remember that in the desert the manna of today could not be preserved until tomorrow without corrupting.

    —François Fénelon, Spiritual Progress

  • As the holy fathers say, when the intellect forgets the purpose of a religious observance, the outward practice of virtue loses its value. For whatever is done indiscriminately and without purpose is not only of no benefit – even though good in itself – but actually does harm. Conversely, what appears to be evil is really good if it is done for a godly purpose and accords with God’s will. The action of a man who goes into a brothel to rescue a prostitute from destruction is a case in point.

    Hence it is clear that someone who occasionally shows compassion is not compassionate, and someone who occasionally practices self-control is not self-controlled.

    —St John of Damaskos

  • Always keep the same measure of self-control; otherwise through irregularity you will go from one extreme to another.

    —St. Thalassios the Libyan

  • How true is the saying, “The road to hell is full of excuses!”

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

  • 36. In everything that we do God searches out our purpose to see whether we do it for Him or for some other motive.

    —St. Maximos the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love

  • “He who believes the divine Scriptures with sure judgment, receives in the voice of God a demonstration that cannot be disputed. Faith, then, is not established by demonstration.”

    —Clement of Alexandria

  • God waits for the right moment to come and illumine your intellect. What you’ve been craving for one, two, three, five, twenty, or fifty years, you’ll be given in a moment.

    —Elder Aimilianos Simonopetritis

  • You will get as many opinions – if not more – from the number of people you talk to.


    —Fr. Antony Paul, Discerning God’s Will

  • “You will always be able to tell your parents or siblings or close friends’ voices even if you can’t see them or they are really far away. If you love someone, you can easily recognize their voice. Can you say the same for Christ? Do you know His voice? You must be able to recognize God’s voice even if you can’t see Him.”

    —Fr. Bishoy El Antony

  • 169. SPARE TIME

    The one who knows the value of time would use it for his benefit. This person would never have spare time, because his time will never be enough for the responsibilities that he has.

    The one with spare time must have empty space in his life that has not been filled yet. Having emptiness in life, in aim or in ambition is really a sad matter!

    Therefore, those with great endeavours never have spare time.

    Those with ambitions in life. either spiritual or academic or even materialistic would have no spare time.

    Spare time is the result of man’s failure to know how to use his time. Once he does, this problem would not be there any more.

    The problem of spare time could face the old or those who reached the retiring age and thought that their message in life has ended. Their life became without job and without aim!

    Those people need to search for a job so their world does not become boring and a burden on them.

    The spiritual concept of using the spare time is not to look for a way to pass time! It is looking for a way to benefit from time.

    Time is a part of life and it is unlawful to kill it or waste it uselessly.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Words of Spiritual Benefit Vol. IV