Those things that seem bad to us, leave our soul with more profit when we endure them without complaint. - St. Joseph the Hesychast

 

Precisely because you are a sinner, come to the temple, that you may become righteous. Or do you not know that even those who stand before the holy altar have committed sins? That is why God has provided that priests also suffer from some passions, so that they may understand human weakness and forgive others. - St. John Chrysostom

 

Once St. Paisios was asked:

 

Once St. Paisios was asked:

"When I was attending university, Father, I could observe my progress by looking at my grades. Here, however, in the spiritual life, I don't know where I stand."

He replied:

"You can know where you stand, even here, simply by examining your thoughts. If evil thoughts constantly crop up and you drive them away, and then they crop up again and once again, you drive them away, you must recognize that you have entered the arena of repentance and are struggling. Sometimes, you may have evil thoughts, which you drive away, and other times, good thoughts. If you grade evil thoughts with zero and good thoughts with ten, you can calculate your grade according to the number of points. For example, when you see that evil thoughts have decreased and good ones have multiplied, you know that the zeros have decreased and the tens have increased; therefore, your grade has improved. When evil thoughts cease to crop up and only good thoughts arise, then you should know that purification has taken place: your heart, your cave, has been cleansed and transformed into the Cave of Bethlehem."

In the state of the Saints is found the medicine for every sin, the cure for every passion, the resurrection from every death, the deliverance from every evil spirit, the salvation from all suffering. Through the lives of the Saints it is clearly seen that there is no suffering, sorrow, distress, problem, which the Lord does not transform into a calm and devout joy. - St. Justin Popovich

When someone close and beloved to us dies, we grieve and weep, but when our soul dies from walking the broad way, we laugh. - St. John Chrysostom

 

– How can we love Christ, Geronda?

 

– How can we love Christ, Geronda?

– We attain love for Christ, my child, in the following way: with all our being we strive towards God and call upon Him. Contemplating nature, trees, plants, birds, bees, flowers, the sea, fish, stars, the moon, the sun and the other great multitude of His most beautiful creations, we turn our minds to God and, glorifying Him through them, we try to realize how wonderful and amazing they are, and we try to love them. When we succeed in this, then our love will begin to ascend to our Creator, and then we will truly, truly love Him. Thus, love for creation is an important stage on the path to the love of Christ, but even more important is love for one’s neighbor. Therefore, in order to acquire it, we must visit hospitals, prisons, orphanages, old people’s homes, etc. Then our love will be sincere.”

St. Porphyrios

In the Divine Liturgy, before...

In the Divine Liturgy, before the Gospel is read, the Apolytikia of the Saints are read! Why is that? Because the Saints became Saints with the Gospel! Therefore, with the Gospel we too will acquire the necessary holiness and win the Kingdom of God!" - Fr. Charalambos Vassilopoulos.