Words from the Saints – September 8, 2022
Gerald Largent
"If He Who is without sin prayed, how much more ought sinners to pray?" --St. Cyprian of Carthage
"The saints were people like all of us. Many of them came out of great sins, but by repentance they attained the Kingdom of Heaven. And everyone who comes there comes through repentance, which the merciful Lord has given us through His sufferings." --St. Silouan of Mt. Athos
"We must receive the one who curses us as a messenger from God, rebuking our hidden evil thoughts, so that we, seeing our thoughts with exactness, might correct ourselves. For we do not know how many hidden evils we have; Only a perfect man can understand all of his own shortcomings." --St. Mark the Ascetic
"Fearful afflictions await the hard of heart, for without great sufferings they cannot become pliable and responsive." --St. Thalassios the Libyan
"At the time of struggle with defilement, punish your thoughts with lack of nourishment, so that you will think not of defilements, but of hunger, and reject the [temptation]." --St. Nilus of Sinai
"It is not lawful to differ even by a single word from the... apostolic doctrine, or to think otherwise than as the blessed Apostles and our fathers learned and taught concerning the Holy Scriptures." --St. Leo the Great of Rome