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Do you ask why God was bom among men?
"Here is the reason for God's presence among men. Our nature was sick and needed a doctor. Man had fallen and needed someone to raise him up. He who had ceased to participate in the good needed someone to bring him back to it. He who was shut in darkness needed the presence of Life. The prisoner was looking for someone to ransom him, the captive for someone to take his part. He who was under the yoke of slavery was looking for someone to set him free. Were these trifling and unworthy reasons to impel God to come down to visit human nature?"
- St. Gregory ofNyssa
She Ministered to the Creator
"Since the enemy of our salvation was keeping a watchful eye on virgins, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, who said 'Behold a virgin shall conceive and bare a Son and shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, “God with us” (Mt. 1:23),' in order that 'He who takes the wise in their craftiness'(1 Cor. 3:19) may deceive him who always glories in his wisdom, the maiden is given in marriage to Joseph by the priests... but the marriage was both the protection of the Virgin and the delusion of him who was keeping a watchful eye on virgins. But when the fullness of time was come, the messenger of the Lord was sent to her, with the good news of our Lord's conception. And thus she conceived the Son of God, the hypostatic power of the Father, 'not of the will of the flesh nor the will of man' (Jn. 1:13), that is to say, by connection and seed, but by the good pleasure of the Father and cooperation of the Holy Spirit. She ministered to the Creator in that He was created, to the Fashioner in that He was fashioned, and to the Son of God in that He was made flesh and because man from her pure and immaculate flesh and blood, satisfying the debt of the first mother. "
- St. John of Damascus
On the Holy Forefathers
"Now we have said that the Synagogue could be denoted by the tabernacle which Moses and the children of Israel built in the desert, but the Church of the gentiles by the temple which Solomon and the children of Israel erected with the help of the proselytes and gentiles. The worship and religion of the tabernacle lasted four hundred and eighty years and then work began on the building of the temple because the writing of the Old Testament overflows with such perfection that, if one understands it properly, it contains in itself all the mysteries of the New Testament. Besides, a great many of the Patriarchs of the Old Testament attained such a peak of perfection by the way they lived that they are not in any way to be considered inferior to the Apostles or Apostolic men."
- The Venerable Bede
"Now no longer are we led to believe by signs and types, but being confirmed by the Gospel story we worship that which we believe to have been done; the prophetic lore assisting our knowledge, so that we have no manner of doubt about that which we know to have been predicted by such sure oracles. For hence it is that the Lord says to Abraham: 'In your seed shall all nations be blessed' (Gen. 22:18): hence David, in the spirit of prophecy, sings, saying: 'The Lord swore truth to David, and He shall not frustrate it: of the fruit of your loins will I set upon your seat' (Ps. 31:14); hence the Lord again says through Isaiah: 'Behold a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bear a Son, and His Name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us' (Is. 7:14), and again, 'a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall arise from his root' (Is. 11:1). In which rod, no doubt the blessed Virgin Mary is predicted, who sprang from the stock of Jesse and David, and touched by the Holy Spirit, brought forth a new flower of human flesh, becoming a Virgin other."
- St. Leo the Great
Tokens of Humility
"The first and principal token of humility is the delighted readiness of the soul to accept indignity, to receive it with open arms, to welcome it as something that relieves and cauterizes diseases of the soul and grievous sins. The second token is the wiping out of anger - and modesty over the fact that it has subsided. Third and preeminent is the honest distrust of ones own virtues, together with an unending desire to learn more."
- St. John Climacus
The Hunter of our Souls...
"Since we already know very well that the hunter of our souls has set and laid traps everywhere, let us not be drowsy. Whether at a store or in town, in the comfort of one's family or even in the church of God, we must watch out for the traps that happen to be set under the pretense of piety. Who is able to be delivered from these camouflaged traps and ridicule their masterly craftsman? Behold—let us use the broad experience of our Holy Monastic Fathers to destroy them. They teach that it is essentially only the exalting virtue of humility that is almighty—a sword of the Spirit that destroys evil at its root and completely disables the traps of the tempter. So let us toil to acquire this most salvific virtue of humility that destroys the devil!"
- Elder Ephraim
On Trials and Temptations
"Satan leads us astray—and me, first of ail—because we do not show patience and thus we lose the profit of each temptation. There was a monk who entreated God to deliver him from the passions. So God took the passions away from him and gave him dispassion. Then he went to an experienced abba and said to him: "Geronda, I have found rest from the passions and am at peace" (he was still young). "Listen, my child," said the great Elder to him, "go and entreat God to bring the passions back to you, for man profits not in dispassion but in warfare, because dispassion is not labor but rest. In temptations a person is perfected and becomes spiritual, whereas without temptations, he remains unwise, uneducated, and useless." Therefore be patient, no matter what fights you. In these end times that we are living in, let us not expect anything other than temptations, and they will save us! "
- Elder Ephraim
Doing Good Works
"If you do good, you do it only for God. For this reason you must pay no attention to the ingratitude of people. Expect a reward not here, but from the Lord in Heaven. If you wait here, it will be in vain and you will endure deprivation."
- St. Ambrose ofOptina
Dealing with Non-Christians
"One may have a good worldly relationship with nonbelievers, but one cannot have a relationship in prayer and one must not carry on arguments about religion so that the name of God not be offended during an argument."
- St. Nektary ofOptina
For Consideration
"A vision of Saint Andrew: Once holy Andrew was sitting with his disciple Epiphanius and talking with him of the salvation of the soul. At that time, a demon came to Epiphanius and began to set a trap for him, to turn his thoughts in another direction, but he dared not approach Andrew. Andrew then cried to him in fury: "Get away from here, you impure adversary!" The devil recoiled and replied wickedly: "You're the greatest enemy I have in the whole of Constantinople!" Andrew did not drive him away at once, but let him speak. And the devil began: "I feel that the time is coming when my trade will be destroyed. At that time, men will be worse than I am now, and children more adept at wickedness than those who are full-grown. And I shall then take my rest and shall do nothing more to men, for they will do my will of themselves." Andrew asked him: "At what sins do your people most rejoice?" The devil replied: "The service of idols, slander, evil against one's neighbor, me Sodomite sins of drunkenness and love of money — these give us most joy," Andrew asked again: "And how do you bear it when someone who has served you denies you and your works?" The devil replied: "You know that better than I do. We find it hard to bear, and do our utmost to bring him back, for many who have denied us and turned to God have come back to us." When the evil spirit had said this and much else, holy Andrew breathed on him and he disappeared."
If We Turn Our Attention to Our Mind
"If we turn our attention to our mind, we notice a torrent of successive thoughts and ideas. This torrent is uninterrupted; it is racing everywhere and at all times: at home, in church, at work, when we read, when we converse. It is usually called thinking, writes Bishop Theophan the Recluse, but in fact it is a disturbance of the mind, a scattering, a lack of concentration and attention. The same happens with the heart. Have you ever observed the life of the heart? Try it even for a short time, and see what you find. Something unpleasant happens, and you get irritated; some misfortune occurs, and you pity yourself; you see someone whom you dislike, and animosity wells up within you; you meet one of your equals who has now outdistanced you on the social scale, and you begin to envy him; you think of your talents and capabilities, and you begin to grow proud...All this is rottenness; vainglory, carnal desire, gluttony, laziness, malice - one on top of the other, they destroy the heart. And all this can pass through the heart in a matter of minutes. For this reason one ascetic, who was extremely attentive to himself, was quite right in saying that man's heart is filled with poisonous serpents. Only the hearts of Saints are free from these serpents, the passions."