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Thanksgiving
"Let us learn how many legitimate occasions for rejoicing are made available to us through God's beneficence. We were brought from non-being into being; we were made in the image of the Creator; we have the mind and reason to perfect our nature, and through them we have knowledge of God. And perceiving the beauties of nature carefully, we thereby recognize, as though through letters, God's great providence and wisdom concerning all things. We are capable of discerning good and evil; we are taught by nature itself to choose what is beneficial and to avoid what is harmful. Having been estranged from God through sin, we have been called back to kinship with Him, being released from ignominious slavery by the blood of His Only-begotten Son. We have the hope of resurrection, the enjoyment of angelic goods, the Kingdom of Heaven and promised goods, which transcend the grasp of mind and reason. How is it not proper to think that these things are sufficient reasons for unending joy and unceasing gladness?
...We should call blessed those who endure the present life in the hope of the age to come and who exchange present joys for future joys. Whether they stand amid flames, as did the Three Youths in Babylon, who were united to God (Dan 3:21), or are shut up with lions (Dan 6:16-23), or swallowed by a whale (Jonah 2:1), we should call them blessed, and they should pass their lives in joy, not being distressed over present sufferings, but rejoicing in the hope of what is in store for us in the next life.
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- St. Basil the Great
"The Scripture tells of different ways of how God has fought on our behalf to attain the good so that we might have abundant occasions to thank Him for His benefits. Psalm 106 immediately begins with '0 give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever.' This verse is an acknowledgment of thanksgiving; they are not merely words, for we are bidden to glorify God for His goodness only. Both the good and salvation for mankind come from God, for all things come through His grace and goodness. "
- St. Gregory of Nyssa
"When we despised Thee, we were not despised. In case we should have forgotten Thy divinity and should lose Thee, Thou even tookest upon Thyself our humanity. Thanks be unto Thee, 0 God! When and where can there not be thanks? "
- St. Augustine of Hippo
"The man of understanding restrains his own will...Thus through self-control he practices the other virtues as well. He looks on himself as in God's debt for everything, finding nothing whatsoever with which to repay to his Benefactor, and even thinking that his virtues simply increase his debt. For he receives and has nothing to give. He only asks that he may be allowed to offer thanks to God. Yet even the fact that God accepts his thanks puts him, so he thinks, into still greater debt. But he continues to give thanks, ever doing what is good and reckoning himself an ever greater debtor, in his humility considering himself lower than all men, delighting in God his Benefactor and trembling even as he rejoices (cf. Ps. 2:11). "
- St. Peter of Damascus
Humility and Grace
"God wants and desires only one thing from us: our humbleness. He does not need anything else; just to humble ourselves, so He can make us partakers of His divine grace, which was granted to us through the mystery of holy Baptism. Although we did not love Him yet, neither had we struggled to acquire His grace, He gave it to us as a gift out of His extreme kindness. He is only asking from us to humble ourselves and respond out of gratefulness and appreciation to His love. Thus, divine grace, which abides in us, will be activated and function accordingly. It will make us love God and get to know Him; it will do everything for us, if only we humble ourselves and allow for it to act. The only obstacle to the energy of God's grace is our pride, our lack of humility. "
- Elder Paisios of the Holy Mount
The First and Second Adam : The First and Second Eve
"And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a Virgin... "
"That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was exhibited by Himself when He hung upon a tree, the effects also of that deception being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already espoused to a man. was unhappily misled,—was happily announced, through means of the truth spoken by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was also espoused to a man. For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain God, being obedient to His word.
And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a Virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man receives amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of
the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death.
For indeed the enemy would not have been fairly vanquished, unless it had been a man born of a woman who conquered him. For it was by means of a woman that he got the advantage over man at first, setting himself up as man's opponent. And therefore does the Lord profess Himself to be the Son of Man, comprising in Himself that original man out of whom the woman was fashioned, in order that, as our species went down to death through a vanquished man, so we may ascend to life again through a victorious one; and os through a man death received the palm of victory against us, so again by a man we may receive the
palm of victory against death.
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- St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies
Faith and Works
"It is pointless for someone to say that he has faith in God if he does not have the works which go with faith. What benefit were their lamps to the foolish virgins who had no oil (Mt. 25:1-13), namely, deeds of love and compassion? "
- St. Gregory Palamas
The Fear of God
"Do you want to live a pleasant and peaceful life? Keep the commandments of God; keep the fear of God in your every thought, as well as in everything you say and do. The fear of the Lord is the beginning and the end of wisdom. (Prov.1:7). Just as a lamp illuminates the path we are walking on, in the same way the fear of God illuminates us spiritually so that we can see how we must walk the path of our salvation. Also, as a lamp keeps us from tripping and falling, likewise the fear of God frees us from the obstacles of sin and guides us to our destination, which is the acquisition of God. "
- Elder Ephraim
"The Prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the place of God, tells us that from above there comes the very fear of God by which we may cling to Him. 'I shall give them one heart and one way so that they may fear Me during all their days, so that all will be well for them and for their sons after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them and I shall not cease to do good things for them and, as a gift, I shall put fear of Me in their hearts so that they may never go away from Me' (Jer. 32:39-40)... Quite obviously all this teaches us that the first good stirring of the will in us comes under the Lord's inspiration. He brings us along the road to salvation either Himself or by way of the exhortation of some man or through necessity. And our virtues are perfected also as a gift from Him. Our task is, laxly or zealously, to play a role which corresponds to His grace and our reward or our punishment will depend on whether we strove or neglected to be at one, attentive and obedient, with the kindly dispensation of His providence toward us. "
- St. John Cassian
Refreshment in the Desert
"We are the people of &od who, liberated from the yoke of Egyptian servitude, passed through the Red Sea, for when we were baptized by water we received forgiveness of the sins which were oppressing us. In the midst of the hardships of the present life. as though in the dryness of a desert, we await the entry promised to us into our heavenly Fatherland, In this desert we are in danger of wasting away from spiritual thirst and hunger, if our Redeemer's gifts do not strengthen us, if the Sacraments of His Incarnation do not renew us. He Himself is the manna which refreshes us with heavenly nourishment so that we may not waste away in the journey of this world. He Himself is the rock Who, when struck by the wood of the Cross, pours forth from His side the drink which is life for us. Hence He says in the Gospel, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will not thirst.' "
- The Venerable Bede
Heavenly Treasures
"It is true, therefore, that a man's life is not from his possessions, by reason of his having an abundance; but very blessed, and of glorious hope is he who is rich towards God. And who is he? Evidently one who loves not wealth, but virtue rather, and to whom a few things are sufficient; one whose hand is open to the necessities of the indigent, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty, according to his means, and the utmost of his power. It is he who gathers in the storehouses that are above, and lays up treasures in heaven. "
- St. Cyril of Alexandria
The True Philosopher
"A true philosopher is one who perceives in created things their spiritual Cause, or who knows created things through knowing their Cause, having attained a union with God that transcends the intellect and a direct, unmediated faith. He does not simply learn about divine things, but actually experiences them. "