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On Fasting
"Through His Incarnation God gave us the model for a holy life and recalled us from our ancient fall. In addition to many other things/ He taught us, feeble as we are, that we should fight against the demons with humility, fasting, prayer and watchfulness. For when, after His baptism. He went into the desert and the devil came up to Him as though He were merely a man. He began His spiritual warfare by fasting and won the battle by this means - though, being God. and God of gods. He had no need of any such means at all. "
- St. Hesychios the Priest
The Most-Holy Virgin Theotokos
"Mary properly bore the name of Virgin, and possessed to the full all the attributes of purity. She was a virgin in both body and soul, and kept all the powers of her soul and her bodily senses far above any defilement. This she did authoritatively, steadfastly, decisively and altogether inviolably at all times, as a closed gate preserves the treasure within and a sealed book keeps hidden from sight what is written inside. The Scriptures say of her, 'This is the sealed book' (cf. Rev. 5:1-6:1; Dan. 12:4)and 'this gate shall be shut, and no man shall enter by it' (Ezek. 44:2). "
- St. Gregory Palamas
"'I have hid the words of His mouth in my breast (Job 23:12). For we 'hide the words of His mouth in the bosom of our heart when we hear His commandments not in a passing way, but to fulfill them in practice. So it is that of the Virgin Mother herself it is written, 'But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart (Lk. 2:19). "
- St. Gregory the Great
On the Habit of Prayer
"Of all ascetic practices the striving for prayer is the most arduous. Our spirit will be in constant flux. At times prayer flows like a strong current; at other times our heart will feel withered and dry. But the spells when we lose fervor should get briefer. "
- Elder Sophrony
"Frequency in prayer creates a habit of prayer, which quickly becomes second nature. "
- Elder Ephraim
"Even the devil, having lost the knowledge of God, and so inevitably becoming ignorant in his ingratitude and pride, cannot of himself know what to do. On the contrary, he sees what God does to save us and maliciously learns from this and contrives similar things for our destruction. For he hates God and, being unable to fight Him directly, he fights against us who are in God's image, thinking to avenge himself on God in this way... "
- St. Peter of Damascus
On Thoughts
"When we struggle against demonic thoughts, the struggle will be considered a martyrdom. This is because one suffers a great deal when evil thoughts attack, and God, seeing the toil and pain of his soul, considers it to be a martyrdom. "
- Elder Paisios
" Before the evil one can control our souls, he must first control our mind. "
- St. John Cassian
Wisdom from the Fathers
"When you are depressed, bear in mind the Lord's command to Peter to forgive a sinner seventy times seven (cf. Mt. 18:22). And you may be sure that He Who gave this command to another, will Himself do very much more. "
- St. John Climacus
" Consider to what a dignity he exalts himself who esteems his brother's salvation as of great importance. Such a man is imitating God, as far as lies with the power of man. And God says so through His Prophet [Jer. 15:19]. What He says is that he who is eager to save a brother who has fallen into careless ways, he who hastens to snatch his brother from the Jaws of the devil, that man imitates Me as far as lies in human power. What could equal that? This is greater than all good deeds; it is the peak of all virtue. "
- St. John Chrysostom
" Men that seem worthy of confidence, yet teach strange doctrines, must not upset you. Stand firm, like an anvil under the hammer. It is like a great athlete to take blows and yet win the fight. For God's sake above all we must endure everything, so that God, in turn, may endure us. Increase your zeal. Read the signs of the times. Look for Him Who is above all time - the Timeless, the Invisible, Who for our sake became visible, the Impassible, Who became subject to suffering on our account and for our sake endured everything. "
- St. Ignatius of Antioch
" If you love to delight, to move, and to attract your heart with the sweetness and the attraction of the love of Jesus, read continuously the Testament of the Lord as contained in the Gospel of St. John. The new Scripture is greater than the old; the four Gospels are greater than the new Scripture as a whole; the fourth Gospel is greater than the other three; and the Lord's Testament (Ch. 13-17) is greater than the Gospel of St. John as a whole. In the Lord's Testament the Lord Himself spoke in a very special and most sweet and loving manner, not as a lord and teacher to his servants and disciples, but rather as a most compassionate and loving father to his beloved sons. He emptied Himself and poured upon His holy Apostles, and through them upon all of us, that depth of His heartfelt love. "
- St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain
" Love is fittingly been called the citadel of the virtues, the sum of the Law and the Prophets. So let us make every effort until we attain it. Through love we shall shake off the tyranny of the passions and rise to heaven, lifted up on the wings of the virtues; and shall see God, so far as this is possible for human nature. "
- St. Theodores the Great Ascetic
" The man who has once chosen pleasure in this life, and has not cured his inconsiderateness by repentance, places the land of the good beyond his own reach; for he has dug against himself the yawning impassable abyss of a necessity that nothing can break through. "
- St. Gregory of Nyssa
" The devout soul, even if it practices all the virtues, ascribes everything to God and nothing to itself. God, on the other hand, when He sees its sound and healthy understanding and knowledge, attributes everything to the soul, and rewards it as though it had achieved everything through its own efforts. He does this in spite of the fact that, if He were to bring us to judgment, no true righteousness would be found in us. For material possessions and everything that man regards as valuable and through which he is able to do good. the earth and whatever is in it, all belong to God. Man's body and soul, and even his very being, are his only by grace. "
- St. Macarios of Egypt
They have no Prophets ...
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Gregory of Nyssa informs his readers that heresies appear in those churches which have no Prophets. The reason is that their leaders attempt to commune with God by means of meditation and contemplation about Him instead of by illumination and glorification. To confuse one's concepts about God with God is idolatry, not to mention bad scientific method.
It is about Apostles and Prophets that St. Paul says, 'For the spiritual person examines all, but he is examined by no one' (1 Cor. 3:15). The reason for this is that by their glorification in the uncreated glory of God in Christ they became witnesses to the fact that 'the leaders of this age' 'crucified the Lord of Glory' (1 Cor. 2:8). This is the very same Lord of Glory (the Angel of Great Council), Who calls Himself 'He Who Is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob', the Almighty, the Wisdom of God, the Rock which followed (1 Cor. 10:1-4), which the Old Testament Prophets saw. St. John the Baptist was the first of the Prophets to see this same Lord of Glory in the Flesh. Of course the Jews also. who formally believed in the Lord of Glory, 'had they known, would not have crucified the Lord of Glory' (1 Cor. 2:8).
St. Paul adapts the sayings, 'that which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not arisen in the heart of man. which God has prepared for those who love him', to the crucifixion of the Old Testament Lord of glory, which 'God has revealed to us by His Spirit' (1 Cor.3:9-10). Those thus glorified are the only authorities within the Orthodox Church. They produce the doctrinal formulations which serve as guides to the cure of the center of the human personality and as warning signs to stay away from quack doctors who promise much and have nothing to give in preparation for the experience of God's glory in Christ which everyone will finally have.
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- Fr. John Romanidcs, 20th century Greek Theologian
Tradition
" What are 'our traditions'? They are everything that the God-man Christ, He Himself, and by the Holy Spirit, gave the commandment to hold and to live according to then; whatever He delivered in His Church, in which He dwells continuously with His Holy Spirit (cf. Mt. 28:19-29). 'Our traditions' are our whole life in grace in God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the life of us Christians, which began in the Church of Christ, through the Apostles, by the descent of the Holy Spirit. All of this life of ours is not from us. but from the Lord Jesus, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, or, more precisely, our entire life is from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. "
- St. Justin Popovich
On the Will of God That All Christians Should Be Holy
" According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4). "
" Only the Church teaches and demonstrates that first there was a plan for the world and then the world was created. That plan was in the wisdom and will and power of God. And we Christians, as the Church of God, are in this plan. According to this plan, God chose us before the foundation of the world for holiness and righteousness and love. God chose us beforehand and adopted us through Him-through Whom? Through the Lord Jesus Christ. For all that we are to God, we are to Him through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ man has no other bond, no other relationship, no other kinship with God, and therefore our choosing and adoption was through our Lord Jesus Christ. He chose us, His Holy Church, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:5), as He had once chosen Israel from among all the nations on earth. Let no one say that this choosing of God destroys man's free will, so that neither does a Christian have merit because he is a Christian, nor is a pagan condemned because he is a pagan. No, this is a totally erroneous interpretation. For at one time God also chose Israel and some in Israel perished while some were saved. He also chose His Holy Church, calling all nations and peoples to it. But the salvation of those among the chosen does not depend on God's choice alone, but also on man's will and effort. "
- St. Nikolai of Ochrid
On Repentence
" Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our whole soul is engaged... For this reason it is good to repent each day. "