St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church

The Grace of God

"All knowledge, strength and virtue are the grace of God, as are all other things. And through grace He has given all men the power to become sons of God (John 1:12) by keeping the Divine Commandments. Or, rather, these commandments keep us, and are the grace of God, since without His grace we cannot keep them. We have nothing to offer Him except our faith, our resolution and, in brief, all the true dogmas that we hold with firm faith through the teaching we have heard (Rom. 10:17). "

- St. Peter of Damascus

The Wise Thief

"Let the good thief show us the confidence we can have in pardon. He was not good because he was a thief, since his cruelty led him to that. His confession of guilt made him good. Think how incomprehensible is the mercy of our all-powerful God! The thief was caught red-handed in his thievery and hanged on a cross. There he confessed his guilt, there he was forgiven, there he was found worthy to hear Jesus say to him: 'Today you will be with me in paradise.' How can we begin to describe God's great goodness! How can we begin to value it? From a criminal's punishment the thief came to the prize for virtue. "

- St. Gregory the Great