St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church

On the Only Peace and the Peacemaker

"For He is our peace. Who hath made both one." (Eph. 2:14)

"Between the Israelites and the pagans there lay a wide abyss that no mortal could bridge, or fill in and level off. The Lord Jesus Christ alone was the One Who could do that, and He did it.That which had been estranged, He brought closer and joined. By what? By His Blood. By His sacrifice, He replaced all other sacrifices. By this, He redeemed all of nature and by Himself replaced that which men brought and offered to God (or to the gods) as sacrifice. One sacrifice is sufficient both for the Israelites and for the pagans: the sacrifice of Christ.
Furthermore, the blood of animals separated the Israelites and the pagans-by the places where they were offered, by the divinity to whom they were offered, by the kind of animal that was offered and the manner in which it was offered. Now, Christ's most-pure Blood has come in place of all that blood, and His Blood unites and makes brothers of the Israelites and the pagans. They became blood brothers, even as all of us faithful are blood - brothers - because of the Blood of Christ, by which we are redeemed from the curse, and by which we are now fed. He destroyed the middle wall of partition (Eph. 2:14) that divided and separated, and He joined the hands and the hearts of the Israelites and the pagans. By what? By .His Body. That is, by the living truth, by the Truth Incarnate in Himself. The shadow of the Law had replaced truth for the Israelites, and fables had replaced truth for the pagans. He removed both of them and revealed the living truth in His Body, and the world saw and rejoiced. "

- The Prologue

A Christ Centered Life

"The Lord is everything to me: He is the strength of my heart and the light of my intellect. He inclines my heart to everything good; He strengthens it; He also gives me good thoughts; He is my rest and my joy; He is my faith, hope and love; He is my food and drink, my raiment, my hope and love; As a mother is everything to her infant, so, likewise the Lord is everything to me, when I yield myself completely to Him. "

- St. John of Kronstadt

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. "

- 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. "

- St Gregory of Sinai