Abba Zosima Palestinian

Destroy temptations and thoughts, and there will be no saint. He who flees from the temptation of salvation, flees from eternal life. - Abba Zosima Palestinian

Anonymous sayings of desert fathers

A brother asked an elder: "How is it that this generation cannot maintain the discipline [askêsis] of the fathers?" The elder said: “Because it neither loves God nor flees from men nor hates the material goods of the world. Sorrow for sin and spiritual discipline come naturally to the man who flees from human company and from material goods. For just as one who wants to put out a fire burning in his field will not extinguish it unless he gets ahead of the fire and cuts away the brush in front of it; so too, unless a man go to a place where he gains his very bread with toil, he cannot attain spiritual discipline; for if the soul cannot see, neither does it speedily desire. ”


Anonymous sayings of desert fathers

Whenever Abba Moses had the thought that he had conquered his passions, he spent a day trying to herd cats until his mind was freed of the illusion.

Abba Philemon

Since many fantasies are also expressed in dreams, the holy Fathers recommend that we should say many prayers before going to bed. Abba Philemon advises: Before going to sleep, say many prayers in your heart...as far as you can, take care to sleep only after reciting psalms and attentive reading... Say the holy Creeed of the Orthodox Faith before falling asleep.

Lessons of the fathers

Elder why does God allow misfortunes? There are many reasons. Sometimes God allows misfortunes so that something good would come from it, and sometimes He allows it for educational purpose. Someone is receiving a salary and someone is paying off debts. (The lessons of the fathers).

An elder used to say that isolation was the most excellent of spiritual virtues. From “The Paradise of the Fathers”