St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church

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The Spirit Comes to us when...

The Spirit does not take up His abode in someone’s life through a physical approach; how could a corporeal being approach the Bodiless one? Instead, the Spirit comes to us when we withdraw ourselves from evil passions, which have crept into the soul through its friendship with the flesh, alienating us from a close relationship with God. Only when a man has been cleansed from the shame of his evil, and has returned to his natural beauty, and the original form of the Royal Image has been restored in him, is it possible for him to approach the Spirit. Then, like the sun, He will show you in Himself the image of the invisible, and with purified eyes you Will see in this blessed image the unspeakable beauty of its prototype. "

- St. Basil the Great

Truth and Humility

"Truth without humility is blind. That is why it becomes contentious: it tries to support itself on something, and finds nothing except malice."

- St. Ilias the Presbyter

He is Holy, and Rests in the Saints

"Christ being led into the heart by faith, dwells in it with peace and joy. It is not without reason that it is said of God, ‘He is Holy, and rests in the Saints.’ "

- St. John of Kronstadt

The Debt of Thanksgiving

"The debt of thanksgiving to God, all the Saints considered as their main debt. Without thanksgiving to God there can be no progress in the spiritual life. Thanksgiving to God, without ceasing, is the fruitful seed from which, if it is watered by the tears of continual repentance, a beautiful fruit blossoms - love toward God. "

- St. Nikolai of Serbia

The Lives of the Saints: Applied Dogmatics

"Saints are people who live on earth by holy, eternal Divine truths. That is why the Lives of the Saints are actually applied dogmatics, for in them all the holy eternal dogmatic truths are experienced in all their life-creating and creative energies. In The Lifes of the Saints it is most evidently shown that dogmas are not only ontological truths in themselves and for themselves, but that each one of them is a wellspring of eternal life and a source of holy spirituality. "

- St. Justin Popovich of Serbia

Divine Consolation

"When a person is helped to believe in God and in the future eternal life - that is, when he grasps the deeper meaning of life - and repents and changes his way of life, divine consolation comes immediately with the Grace of God; which transforms the person, and dispels all his inherited shortcomings. Many people who repented and struggled with philotimo (self-sacrificing love) and humility, received Grace and became Saints --- whom we now revere with devotion, and ask for their intercessions; whereas before, they had many passions and inherited weaknesses. "

- Elder Paisios (+1994)

Four Cardinal Virtues

"Indeed, we know that there are four cardinal virtues: temperance, justice, prudence and fortitude. He who is poor in spirit is not greedy; he who weeps is not proud, but is meek and tranquil; he who mourns is humble; he who is just does not deny what he knows is given jointly to all for us; he who is merciful confers of his own; he who bestows his own does not seek another’s, nor does he contrive a trap for his neighbor. Then, the virtues are interwoven and interlinked, so that he who has one may be seen to have several, and a single virtue befits the Saints; but where virtue abounds, the reward too abounds. "

- St. Ambrose of Milan

Speeding Minds

"If people would only put the brakes on their speeding minds, not only would their mind find rest, but it would be more receptive to divine Grace. Without divine illumination, knowledge ends in disaster. Those who strive and labor for their spiritual life have their mind illumined by God; they receive divine illumination, divine experiences, and these give them foresight, so that they don’t see things only through their own understanding. A short-sighted person sees clearly the things that are close, but not what is far away. As for a person with normal vision, well, he may be able to see a bit farther, but that too is not an accomplishment. We cannot have more than two physical eyes; but we can have many spiritual eyes. "

- Elder Paisios

No Spirit of Repentance

"Look what modern man has come to! The bad thing is that he himself obstructs divine intervention, because he has no spirit of repentance. If there was repentance, many things would have been corrected. But now we will go through storm after storm. God save us! We must ask for everyone to be granted a spirit of repentance. And for those who deliberately harm the Church and have no intention of correcting themselves, may God grant them repentance before they are taken from this life. "

- Elder Paisios

The Way of the Saints

"See here, I pray, how great is the difference between us and God; for the distance is immeasurable. He is slow to anger and long-suffering, of incomparable gentleness and love to mankind; but we children of earth are quick to anger, hasty to be impatient, and refuse with indignation to be judged by others when we are found out in committing any wrong act; while we are most ready to find fault with others. "

- St. Cyril of Alexandria

"Prayer is a conversation directly with God, being always with God, having one’s soul united with Him and one’s mind inseparable. A person becomes one with the angels and unites with them in perpetual praise and longing for God. "

- St. Symeon of Thessalonica

"Wherever we decide to withdraw or to settle, we will drag along our inner chaos; for just as everywhere is an earthly paradise to the humble soul, everywhere will be torture and hard labor to the proud... "

- St. Anthony of Optina

"There was a wealthy man who became destitute. This was difficult, but it could be overcome. There was a healthy man who became ill, and this too could be remedied; for the poor and the sick, there is always Christ. However, if you lose your faith, it is a great tragedy. It is truly terrible for the man who has lost his faith, for he has no one to support him. "

- St. Barsanuphios of Optina

"On account of his sufferings, the man engaged in ascetic practice wants to leave this life and to be with Christ; the contemplative, on the contrary, is quite content to remain in the flesh, both because of the joy that he receives from prayer, and because of the use that he can be to his fellow-men (cf. Phil. 1:23-24). "

- Elias the Presbyter

"Who hated sin more than the Saints? But they did not hate the sinners at the same time, nor condemn them, nor turn away from them. But they suffered with them, admonished them, comforted them. gave them remedies as sickly members, and did all they could to heal them. "

- St. Dorotheos of Gaza

"At all times indeed, but especially then when I reflect upon the achievements of the Saints, it comes over me to feel despondency concerning my own condition, because we have not even in dreams experienced the things among which those men spent their whole lives, not paying the penalty of sins, but always doing rightly and yet always afflicted... "

- St. John Chrysostom

"Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. "

- St. Seraphim of Sarov

"It is indispensable for every Christian to acquire the habit of turning quickly to God in prayer about everything. "

- St. John of Kronstadt