• A frightened person focuses on the cause of fear, not on God who delivers him from it.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, Fruits of the Spirit

  • Did someone slander you? Leave it to Me; be attached to Me so that you can hide from the “contradiction of the nations.” I will make your righteousness shine like light and your life like midday noon.

    This was from Me.
    St. Seraphim of Viritsa

  • Leave all human injustices to the Lord, for God is the Judge, but as to yourself, be diligent in loving everybody with a pure heart.

    —St. John of Kronstadt

  • WHEN SOMEONE INJURES US IN WHATEVER WAY, WHETHER WITH SLANDERS OR WITH INSULTS, WE SHOULD THINK OF HIM AS OUR BROTHER WHO HAS BEEN TAKEN HOLD OF BY THE ENEMY. WE HAS FALLEN VICTIM TO THE ENEMY. ACCORDINGLY WE NEED TO HAVE COMPASSION FOR HIM AND ENTREAT GOD TO HAVE MERCY BOTH ON US AND ON HIM, AND GOD WILL HELP BOTH, IF, HOWEVER, WE ARE FILLED WITH ANGER AGAINST HIM, THEN THE ENEMY WILL JUMP FROM HIM TO US AND MAKE A MOCKERY OF US BOTH A PERSON WHO CONDEMNS OTHERS DOES NOT LOVE CHRIST. OUR EGOTISM IS AT FAULT.

    Elder Porphyrios
    Wounded by Love

  • The saint sees that one hour of sleep per day is sufficient for a monk. While many people see that a person must sleep for eight hours per day, some specialists and those who have experience assert that the body, through habit, may be satisfied with less than that, without any effect on the productivity of the person, just like the stomach which gets used to being small or large in size.

    Abba Arsenius The Tutor of the Emperor’s Sons
    Bishop Macarius

  • The more you have a clear goal, the more you are settled and balanced.

    The brain functions the best when there is a goal that the person is pursuing. The higher the goal, the more positive the emotions.

    —Fr. Luke Istafanous, MD

  • 7. The first thing which kindles ardour in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to love virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did she disagree with her neighbours? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoid the needy? Being wont only to go to such gatherings of men as mercy would not blush at, nor modesty pass by. There was nothing gloomy in her eyes, nothing forward in her words, nothing unseemly in her acts, there was not a silly movement, nor unrestrained step, nor was her voice petulant, that the very appearance of her outward being might be the image of her soul, the representation of what is approved. For a well-ordered house ought to be recognized on the very threshold, and should show at the very first entrance that no darkness is hidden within, as our soul hindered by no restraints of the body may shine abroad like a lamp placed within.

    St. Ambrose, Concerning Virginity (Book II)

  • Even in the case of best friends, one should be sensitive regarding continuously visiting and intruding. It is an easy thing to wear out one’s welcome. If one does not respect their neighbors in space, the neighbor may become weary and eventually come to hate them.

    Frequently people who wear the best of friends become the bitterest enemies because of neglect of so simple a scripture as this.

    —H.E. Metropolitan Youssef

  • God forms character in obscurity. Right now you might feel forgotten. Do not despise the hidden season. Hidden years are not wasted years.

    —Fr. Paul Girguis

  • If I’m not able to enjoy the life I have today, I will not enjoy the imaginary life that I have in mind, because God has granted me the moment to enjoy what he has for me at that moment.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri