“As we rise daily, let us suppose that we shall not survive ‘till evening and again as we prepare for sleep, let us consider that we shall not awaken.”
- St. Anthony the Great
“To us, however, it often seems that God’s help is slow in coming, and sometimes even arrives too late. But this is not so, for God’s help arrives exactly when it is needed, neither too soon nor too late, but exactly on time.”
- Elder Aimilianos of Simonapetras, Mt. Athos
“I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Jeremiah 17:10
The person who loves spiritually, feels prayerful, that he can be found within God and his brother. He is saddened when his brother is not advancing well and prays for his progress. Whoever has Christian love never changes.
- Elder Amphilochios Makris
…By our fasting we are reminded that this is not simply the birth of a baby, but God being united with man. It is the moment when the unchangeable is joined with the changeable, eternal life with mortal life, He who holds the universe in His hand and who created all comes in the flesh for our salvation.
- An excerpt from the “Nativity Fast” article
(Source: orthodoxwayoflife.blogspot.gr)
The most blessed of all people are those who exhibited the greatest repentance, with pain and inner contrition, and, in this way, extinguished the proud enemy. They humbled their unruly flesh with asceticism - subdued it to the spirit - and granted the greatest joy to Heaven with their repentance (their return to God).
- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos
In remembrance of that tragic day on September 11, 2001, I leave us all with a quote from St. John of Damascus, that employs as a reminder for us living and a supplication for those departed;
”Where is now our affection for earthly things? Where is now the alluring pomp of transient questing? Where is now our gold, and our silver? Where is now the surging crowd of domestics, and their busy cries? All is dust, all is ashes. Wherefore now we implore Your aid, grant that Your servants now gone to rest where the just that are Yours abide, Life-bestower and Friend of Mankind.”
“If you want to know God, read the Holy Bible. If you want to know your neighbor, read the Fathers of the Church. If you want to know yourself, read Dostoevsky.”
- Fr. Iakovos of Simona Petra Monastery
“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
- Mathew 19:14 and Luke 18:17
An Icon of St. Peter and St. Paul
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If i give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Therefore make Love your aim.”
-1 Corinthians 13
