Since our Lord Jesus Christ has said: “Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened for you” (Mt 7.7), then pray to this good God in order that he might send his Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to us. When this comes,it shall teach us about everything (Jn 14.26) and reveal all of the mysteries to us. Seek to be guided by this Spirit. It will not allow deceit or distraction in the heart. It will not permit despondency or melancholy in the mind. It illumines the eyes, supports the heart, and uplifts the intellect.“
Other Old Man John
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When God has granted you a degree of spiritual knowledge, do not neglect love and self-control; for it is these which, once they have purified the soul’s passible aspect, always keep open for you the way to such knowledge.
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While the “knowledge that comes from men is strengthened by careful meditation and diligent exercise,” the knowledge “that by God’s grace has come to be within us” requires the virtues of justice, angerlessness, and compassion. “The first [knowledge] can be received by those still subject to passion; the second [knowledge] is received only by those [who have obtained] passionlessness—those who are also able at the time of prayer to contemplate the illuminating gentle radiance proper to their intellect.” Thus Evagrius heard from the mouth of his teacher Basil, “the pillar of truth.”
The “external wisdom,” that of the “wise of this world,” is only a question of intellectual accomplishment. Its preferred means, next to study and practice, is “dialectic.” An error in this domain is, so to speak, only a “technical failure,” which as such does not bring discredit to the “scientist” and likewise can hardly be imputed to him as a moral failure.
Standing in complete contrast to this is the knowledge that flows toward us “from God,” “from God’s grace”—to become a partaker of which intellectual accomplishments do not suffice.
The knowledge of Christ requires not a soul [skilled in] dialectic, but one that sees: for while impure souls may become dialecticians, seeing is reserved for the pure.
“Purity” means “passionlessness”: above all, freedom from “wrath, resentment and what follows these,” such as envy, suspicions, resentment, and the like.
Dragon’s Wine and Angel’s Bread: The Teaching of Evagrius Ponticus on Anger and Meekness by Gabriel Bunge
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Wisdom of Solomon 6:12 [Orthodox Study Bible]
Wisdom is radiant and unfading
And is easily perceived by those who love her;
For she is found by those who seek her.
She comes upon those who long to know her beforehand.
He who rises early in the morning to seek her
Will not grow weary,
For he will find her sitting at his gates.
Commentary
Wisdom will be easily perceived and found when she is the sole desire of the heart. -
Wisdom of Solomon 8:7 [Orthodox Study Bible]
Therefore I decided to take her [wisdom] to live with me, knowing she would give me good counsel and encouragement in cares and sorrows. Because of her I will have glory among the multitudes and honor in the presence of the elders, though I am young. I will be found keen in judgment and be admired in the sight of rulers. When I am silent, they will wait for me, and when I speak, they will give heed to me; and when I speak longer, they will put their hand over their mouth. I will have immortality because of her and will leave an eternal remembrance for those who exist after me. I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me. Dread tyrants shall be afraid of me when they hear of me; Among the people I will show myself to be good and courageous in war. When I enter my house, I shall find rest with her, for association with her has no bitterness, neither does living with her have any sorrow, but only gladness and joy. When I considered these things within myself and thought about them in my heart, that in kinship with wisdom there is immortality, and in friendship with her there is good pleasure, and in the labors of her hands there is unfailing wealth, and in the shared training of her company there is discernment, and in the fellowship of her words there is good repute—Thus I searched about that I might take her for myself. As a child I was good by nature and received a good soul. And much more, since I was good, I entered an undefiled body. Yet I knew otherwise that I would not be self-controlled unless God gave me wisdom, and that it was a mark of discernment to know whose gift she was. -
Therefore, do not let yourself be troubled by what’s happening. And stop beseeching this or that person for help, and running after shadows—for this is what human assistance amounts to—and instead, ceaselessly beseech God, whom you serve, simply to give a nod; and in one moment of time everything is brought into proper order. But if, in beseeching him for help, this does not come about quickly, this is how He often works—not crushing the evils immediately, but when they come to a head, when they increase, when there remains almost nothing that has not been ravaged by the evils of the enemies, then all at once he changes everything to tranquillity, and leads things to an unexpected stability. For He is able to accomplish not only what we expect and hope for, but what is much more, and what is infinitely greater. Therefore Paul says, “to the One who is able to do more than everything, even exceedingly more than we can ask or think.”
—Saint John Chrysostom, Letters to Saint Olympia -
“If you want spiritual health, listen to your conscience, do all it tells you, and you will benefit.”
—St. Mark the Ascetic
SO GOOD QUOTES 