St. Symeon the New Theologian Orthodox Church

On Christ and His Mother

"Just as we all receive of His fullness, so do we all partake of the immaculate flesh of His all - holy Mother which He assumed, and so, just as Christ our God, true God, became her son; even so we, too - 0, the ineffable love for mankind! - become sons of His mother, the Theotokos, and brothers of Christ Himself, as through the all-immaculate and ineffable marriage which took place with and in her, the Son of God was born of her, and from Him in turn, all the Saints. "

- St. Symeon the New Theologian

Life in the Church

"It will be shown that God's holy Church, an image confirming to its Archetype, does God's work in us. The men, women, and children coming into the Church, reborn and recreated by her in the Spirit, are just about infinite in number; they are very different from each other in race and appearance, they are of all languages, life styles, and ages; there are great differences in their mentalities, customs, and interests, their social station, their skills and their professions; their fortunes, their characters, and their abilities are all very different, but the Church confers one and the same divine character and title equally on all: that they be, and be called, Christians; the Church bestows unity in that simple, indivisible relationship which comes from faith, and does not allow the many untold differences to stand out, even though they exist in every one. "

- St. Maximus the Confessor

Focus on God

"Through mindfulness of God, you will always reflect on 'whatever is true, whatever is modest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, whatever is holy and deserving praise' (Phil. 4:8); and in this way you will banish from yourself the pernicious evil of forgetfulness. "

- St. Mark the Ascetic

Homily on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

"This sacred Feast that we are keeping is the first to commemorate our recall and re-creation according to grace, for on it all things began to be made new, enduring precepts began to be brought in instead of temporary ones, the spirit instead of the letter, the truth instead of shadows. Today a new world and a mysterious paradise have been revealed, in which and from which a New Adam came into being, re-making the Old Adam and renewing the universe. He is not led astray by the deceiver, but deceives him, and bestows freedom on those enslaved to sin through his treachery. Today a paradoxical book has been made ready on earth, which in an indescribable way can hold, not the imprint of words, but the living Word Himself; not a word consisting of air, but the heavenly Word; not a word that perishes as soon as it is formed, but the Word Who snatches those who draw near Him from perdition; not a word made by the movement of a man's tongue, but the Word begotten of God the Father before all ages. Today the living Tabernacle of God not made with hands appears, the inspired human Ark of the true Bread of Life sent down from heaven for us (cf. Jn. 6:32 ff.).
Today, according to the Psalms 'Truth has sprung up from the earth,' the true image of human nobility which comes from above, 'and righteousness has looked down from heaven' (Ps. 85:11 LXX). This righteousness has deposed the unrighteous ruler from his just dominion, after being wrongfully condemned by him and rightly condemning him, and having bound the strong and evil one, plundering his goods (cf. Mt. 12:29), and transformed them, rendering them receptive to divine righteousness. Thus Christ took sin's prisoners to live with Him forever, justifying them by faith in Him, but He bound the prince of sin with inescapable bonds, and delivered him to eternal fire without light. Today, as prophesied, out of the 'stem of Jesse' a rod has come forth (cf. Isa. 11:1), from which a flower has grown which knows no wilting. This rod recalls our human nature, which had withered and fallen away from the unfading garden of delight, makes it bloom again, grants it to flourish forever, brings it up to heaven, and leads it to paradise. With this rod the great Shepherd moves His human flock to eternal pastures, and supported by this rod, our nature lays aside its old age and feeble senility, and easily strides towards heaven, leaving the earth below for those who, devoid of support, are plunging downwards. "

- St. Gregory Palamas

He Was Manifested in the Flesh

"The holy Paul, the priest of the divine mysteries, writes: 'Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory' (I Tim. 3:16). What then does 'manifested in the flesh' mean? It means that the Word of God the Father became flesh, not by a change or alteration of His own nature, but because having made the flesh taken from the holy Virgin His own, one and the same subject is called Son, before the Incarnation as the Word still incorporeal and after the Incarnation as the same Word now embodied. That is why we say that the same subject is simultaneously both God and man, not dividing Him conceptually into a human being with a separate individual identity and God the Word also with a separate identity, that we may exclude any idea of two Sons, but acknowledging that one and the same subject is Christ and Son and Lord. "

- St. Cyril of Alexandria

By Holy, Eternal Divine Truths

"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. En the Lives 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

On the Saint's Love for the Theotokos (Mother of God)

"A characteristic mark of all Saints is their Theotokophilia, their great love for the Most-Holy Theotokos. The Saints' love for the Theotokos is either a fruit of their love for Christ, who was born of her, or a condition for attaining love for her Son. Consequently, the Saints' love for the Panagia is very closely connected with love for Christ. Theotokology is closely connected with Christology.
According to the teaching of St. Symeon the New Theologian, the Saints are related to the Theotokos in three ways:
1. They are related because of human nature, since both they and she come from the same clay and the same breath.
2. They are related because it through the flesh taken from her that they have a part in common with her. When we commune of the sacraments, of the Body and Blood of Christ, we commune of the deified flesh of the Word which He assumed from the Virgin. Therefore, as St. Symeon teaches, in communing of the Body and Blood of Christ, we commune also of the flesh of the Theotokos.
3. The Saints are related to the Panagia because through the holiness in spirit which came to them thanks to her, each one conceives and also possesses in himself the God of all, just as possessed Him within herself.
Thus the Saints are, on the one hand, her servants in that she is the Mother of God, and on the other hand, they are her children, in that they commune of the all-pure flesh of her Son. "

- Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

In Death

"...In death the soul that has come to know God through the Holy Spirit experiences a measure of dread when the angels bring her before the Lord, since while living in the world she was guilty of sin. But when the soul beholds the Lord, she rejoices in His meek and merciful countenance, and the Lord in the abundance of His gentleness and love remembereth not her sins. One glance at the Lord, and love of Him will take up its abode in the soul, and from love of God and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit she will be completely transformed. "

- St. Silouan the Athonite

Thoughts of Despair

"The devil, having failed in all his other schemes, tempts us with thoughts of despair: he tries to persuade us that in the past things were different and that the men through whom God performed wonders for the strengthening of the faith were not like us. He also tells us that there is now no need for such exertion. For are we not all of us Christians and all baptized? 'He who believes and is baptized is saved' (Mark 16:16). What more do we need? But if we succumb to this temptation (to relax) and remain as we are, we will be completely barren.
We will be Christians only in name, not realizing that he who has believed and been baptized must keep all Christ's commandments; and even when he has succeeded in doing this, he should say, 'I am a useless servant' (Luke 17:10), as the Lord told His Apostles when he instructed them to carry out all He had laid down for them. "

- St. Peter of Damascus

The Passions

"What are the passions in themselves? They are 'a certain hardness or insensitivity of being.' Their causes are to be found in the things of life themselves. The passions are the desire for wealth and amassing of goods, for ease and bodily comfort; they are thirst for honor and the exercise of power; they are luxury and frivolity; they are the desire for glory from men and fear for one's own body. All these passions have one common name - 'the world.' The world means carnal conduct and a carnal mind. The passions are the attacks of the world on man by means of the things of the world. Divine grace is the only power capable of repulsing them. " "

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The Gift of Life

"He who shall preserve the life bestowed upon him, and give thanks to Him Who imparted it, shall receive also length of days forever and ever. But he who shall reject it, and prove himself ungrateful to his Maker, inasmuch as he has been created, and has not recognized Him Who bestowed the gift upon him, deprives himself of the privilege of continuance forever and ever. And, for this reason, the Lord declared to those who showed themselves ungrateful towards Him: 'If you have not been faithful in that which is little, who will give you that which is great?' (cf. Lk. 16:11) indicating that those who, in this brief temporal life, have shown themselves ungrateful to Him Who bestowed it, shall justly not receive from Him length of days forever and ever. "

- St.Irenaeus of Lyons