• The perfect person does not only try to avoid evil. Nor does he do good for fear of punishment, still less in order to qualify for the hope of a promised reward.

    The perfect person does good through love.

    His actions are not motivated by desire for personal benefit, so he does not have personal advantage as his aim. But as soon as he has realized the beauty of doing good, he does it with all his energies and in all that he does.

    He is not interested in fame, or a good reputation, or a human or divine reward.

    The rule of life for a perfect person is to be in the image and likeness of God.

    —St. Clement of Alexandria, A Perfect Person’s Rule of Life

  • “Faith does not mean understanding, but trust. It is not opposed to rational thought, but transcends and surpasses it. It is not anti-reason, but beyond reason.”

    —Fr. Michael Gillis

  • “If you rebuke someone and do it with anger, you have allowed a passion to control you. You have not saved anyone and have destroyed yourself.”

    — St. Macarius the Great

  • St. Dorotheus of Gaza says there are two kinds of fear: one is the kind of fear that a beginner has and the other the kind of fear that a Saint has. The first person [the beginner] fears God because he is afraid of hell, he is afraid of punishment, he is afraid that at the end of days, he’ll be cast into darkness.

    The other Saint fears God because he seeks to please God because he loves Him. The fear is not of somebody being afraid of some kind of punishment, but because somebody has tasted the sweetness of God, the sweetness of being with God, and because of that, fears losing his relationship with God. St. Dorotheus of Gaza calls this the perfect fear: not a fear of punishment—not a fear of hell, but a fear of upsetting the one he loves.

    Fear God But Don’t Be Afraid
    Fr Daniel Fanous

  • Do not let the Devil sow enmity and malice in your heart against your neighbour; do not let these feelings nestle in any way in your heart; otherwise your malice, even if not expressed in words, but shown only in your glance, may infect through sight the soul of your brother.

    —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

  • “A harsh word makes the good bad, but a good [word] benefits everybody.”

    —Abba Macarius

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
    John Wortley

  • Abba Isaiah was asked: “What is the love of money?” and he answered: “It is not believing in God that He is taking care of you.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers
    John Wortley

  • “You can’t prevent malicious thoughts from coming, but it’s up to you to resist them.”

    —Abba Pimen

  • If you believe in the priest, there are many reasons for disappointment, but if you believe in the Lord, in Him you will never be disappointed! Tragedies occur when people do not know how to distinguish these concepts. The gifts of God are not such that they depend on the priestly virtue.

    —St. John Chrysostom

  • Bodily Exercises

    The body is by nature pure. Therefore we must only estrange from it unnatural cravings and strengthen it in those things which are natural to it; in other words, we must return it to its natural state.

    Besides this, the body should assist the soul as its constant companion. Therefore, besides returning it to its natural state, we must turn the very satisfaction of its basic needs to the benefit of the soul and spirit. In satisfying these needs, some sort of exercise should be assigned to each bodily function as another means of healing our fleshliness, thus benefitting us spiritually as well.

    Here are the prescribed rules:

    1) For the senses: Guard the senses altogether, especially the hearing and vision (nervous system). 2) Guard the tongue. 3) Abstinence and fasting (the stomach). 4) Moderate sleep and vigilance (the stomach). 5) Physical purity (the stomach).

    For the body in general. Wear out (muscular), constrain (nervous system) and emaciate yourself (the stomach). It is obvious how through these ascetic practices the body little-by-little returns to its natural state, becomes alive and strong (muscular), bright and pure (nervous system), light and free. It becomes a most capable instrument of our spirit and a worthy temple of the Holy Spirit.

    —St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path to Salvation: A Manual of Spiritual Transformation