Concerning a great old man...

…some of the Fathers used to relate that if one came to him to ask for a word, he would say, “Look, I am going to play the part of God and seat myself on the throne of judgment. What do you want me to do for you, then? If you say, `Have mercy on me,’ God says to you, `If you want me to have mercy on you, do you also have mercy on your brother; if you want me to for give you, do you also forgive your neighbor.’ Can there be injustice in God? Certainly not; but it depends on us whether we wish to be saved.”

A certain Abramius, of Egyptian descent...

…lived a most harsh and rough life in the desert. He was smitten in his mind with troublesome self-conceit; he went to church and argued with the priests, and he said, “I was ordained priest just this past night by Christ; now allow me to perform the functions of a priest.”

The fathers took him away from the desert and brought him to a less ascetic and less exacting way of life, and they cured this man of his arrogance by bringing him, who had been the sport of demons, to a knowledge of his own weakness.

Palladius, Historia Lausiaca 53

Two old men had lived together...

…in the desert for many years and had never quarreled. The first said to the other, “Let us also have a fight like other men do.” The other replied, “I do not know how to fight.” The first said to him, “Look, I will put a brick between us, and I will say it is mine, and you say, `No, it is mine,’ and so the fight will begin.” So they put a brick between them and the first said, “This brick is mine,” and the other said, “No, it is mine,” and the first responded, “If it is yours, take it and go” – so they gave it up without being able to find an occasion for an argument.

When you read the Gospels...

…Christ speaks to you; when you pray, you are speaking to Him… The Bible should be read not just for analysis, but as an immediate dialogue with the living Word Himself – to feed our love for Christ, to kindle our hearts with prayer and to provide us with guidance in our personal life.

St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Try to attain...

…to the full measure of this Name, and you will find it on your mouth and on the mouths of your children. When you make high festival and when you rejoice, cry “Jesus.” When anxious and in pain, cry “Jesus.” When little boys and little girls are laughing, let them cry, “Jesus.” And those who flee before barbarians, cry, “Jesus.” And those who go down to the river, cry “Jesus.” And those who see wild beasts and sights of terror, cry “Jesus.” Those who are taken off to prison, cry “Jesus.” And those whose trial has been corrupted and who receive injustice, cry the Name of Jesus.

Shenoute of Atripe, Contra Origenistas 821
5th century

A brother whom another brother had wronged...

…came to see Abba Sisoes and said to him, “My brother has hurt me and I want to avenge myself.” The old man pleaded with him saying, “No, my child, leave vengeance to God.” He said to him, “I shall not rest until I have avenged myself.” The old man said, “Brother, let us pray.” Then the old man stood up and said, “God, we no longer need you to care for us, since we do justice for ourselves.” Hearing these words, the brother fell at the old man’s feet, saying, “I will no longer seek justice from my brother; forgive me, abba.”

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Abba Sisoes expressed himself freely one day, saying, “Have confidence: for thirty years I have not prayed to God about my faults, but I have made this prayer to him: “Lord Jesus, save me from my tongue,” and until now every day, I fall because of it, and commit sin.”

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Abba Joseph asked Abba Sisoes, “For how long must a man cut away the passions?” The old man said to him, “Do you want to know how long?” Abba Joseph answered, “Yes.” Then the old man said to him, “So long as a passion attacks you, cut it away at once.”

Abba Sisoes the Great, commemorated 6 July

If you cannot be merciful...

…at least speak as though you are a sinner. If you are not a peacemaker, at least do not be a troublemaker. If you cannot be assiduous, at least in your thought be unlike a sluggard. If you are not victorious, do not exalt yourself over the vanquished. If you cannot close the mouth of a man who disparages his companion, at least refrain from joining him in this.

St. Isaac of Syria

An ascetic, having found someone possessed by a devil...

…and unable to fast, and being (as it is written) moved by the love of God, and seeking not his own good but the good of the other, prayed that the devil might pass into himself and that the other might be liberated. God heard his prayer. The ascetic, overwhelmed by the devil, gave himself with redoubled insistence to fasting, prayer, and ascesis. At last, because of his charity, God drove the devil away from him after a few days.

Monk Nikandros the Konstamonitan was once asked...

…”Even though we daily read the biographies of saints and pious monks and do our rule of prayer, why don’t we become like them?”

“When a metal worker wants to apply pewter on copper,” he answered, “first he must scrape the copper clean and put it through fire. Unless the rust is removed, the pewter does not stick on copper. The same applies to us. We enter a monastery to become monks, but the rust we gathered while in the world comes with us. Thus until it is removed, God’s grace does not come to sanctify and make us shine.”

from An Athonite Gerontikon

The goal of reading...

…is the application, in our lives, of what we read. Not to learn it by heart, but to take it to heart. Not to practice using our tongues, but to be able to receive the tongues of fire and to live the mysteries of God. If one studies a great deal in order to acquire knowledge and to teach others, without living the things he teaches, he does no more than fill his head with hot air. At most he will manage to ascend to the moon using machines. The goal of the Christian is to rise to God without machines.

Elder Paisios the Athonite (1924-1994)

When Abba Sophronius and I were in Alexandria...

…one day we went to the Church of St. Theodosios. A bald man came towards us who was wearing sack cloth down to his knees. He seemed to be insane. Abba Sophronius said to me, “Give me a coin and you shall see the virtue of the man who is approaching us.” I gave him five copper coins which he took and gave to the one who seemed to be insane. He received them without a word. Keeping ourselves out of sight, we followed him. When he had turned the street corner, he stretched out his right hand in which he held the coins towards heaven, held it up high, and then prostrated himself before God. Then, he went his way, leaving the coins on the ground.

John Moschus, Leimonarion (The Spiritual Meadow) 111

In the material world of things around us...

the farmer works the earth. So also in the spiritual world there are two elements to be considered. It is necessary for man to work the soil of his heart by a free deliberation and hard work. For God looks to man’s hard work and toil and labor. But if the heavenly clouds from above do not appear and the showers of grace, the farmer for all his labor avails nothing. 

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An old man said...

…”Do not do anything before you ask your heart if what you are about to do is according to God.”

It was said of young John the Theban...

…a disciple of Abba Ammoes, that he spent twelve years serving the old man when he was ill. He stayed sitting with him on his mat. But the old man did not pay much attention to him, so much so that though he worked very hard for him, never did he say to him, “Salvation be yours.” But when he was at the point of death and the old men surrounded him, he took his hand and said to him, “Salvation be yours, salvation be yours, salvation be yours!” Then he entrusted him to the old men saying, “He is an angel, not a man.”

A brother who had withdrawn from the world...

…and taken the monastic habit shut himself up immediately, saying, “I am now an anchorite.” When they heard him say this, the old men came to drive him away and made him go the round of all the brethren’s cells, bowing before them and saying, “Forgive me, for I am not an anchorite, but a beginner.”

A brother asked Abba Joseph, saying...

…”What should I do, for I do not have the strength to bear evil, nor to work for charity’s sake?” The old man said to him, “If you cannot do any of these things, at least guard your conscience from all evil with regard to your neighbor and you will be saved.”

A holy soul cares for his neighbor...

…either close at hand or far away. He cares where the homeless will spend the night, how the hungry will be fed, with what the naked will be clothed. He cares and he prays for the salvation of his neighbors: that their hearts may be filled with love towards God, that their minds may be directed towards God, that the wicked may turn from the paths of wickedness, that the hesitant may be confirmed in the Faith, that the firm may persevere, that the departed may behold the Face of God, that the living may be written in the Book of Life in the Kingdom of Light.

St. Nikolai Velimirovic +1956

Amma Syncletica said...

…”Just as a treasure that is exposed tarnishes and loses its value, so a virtue which is known vanishes; just as wax melts when it is near fire, so the soul is destroyed by praise and loses all the results of its labor.”

Abba Macarius the Great said...

…“If we keep remembering the wrongs which men have done us, we destroy the power of the remembrance of God. But if we remind ourselves of the evil deeds of the demons, we shall be invulnerable.

The man who wants to keep in mind the hour of death...

…and God’s judgment and who, at the same time, gives in to material cares and distractions is like someone trying to swim and clap his hands at the same time.

St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, 6