Words from the Saints -- August 29, 2017

"The room of the soul is the body; its doors are the five bodily senses. The soul enters its room when the mind does not wander here and there, roaming among the things and affairs of the world, but stays within, in our hearts. Our senses become closed and re main closed when we do not let them be passionately attached to external sensory things and in this way our mind remains free from every worldly attachment, and by secret mental prayer unites with God our Father." --St.Gregory Palamas

"Never confuse the person, formed in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, an illness, a devilish reverie. But the very essence of the person is the image of God, and this remains in him despite every disfigurement." --St. John of Kronstadt

"It may be that a man seems to be silent, but if his heart judges others, then he is always speaking." --St. Pimen the Great

"Estrangement and turning away from God are more unbearable than the punishments expected in hell." --St. Basil the Great

Words from the Saints -- August 22, 2017

"Do not listen gleefully to gossip at your neighbor's expense or chatter to a person who likes finding fault. Otherwise you will fall away from divine love and find yourself cut off from eternal life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"Purity is the fellowship with and likeness to God, so far as is possible for men." --St. John of the Ladder

"Just as a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensation of the world to come." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"Understand the words of Holy Scripture by putting them into practice, and do not fill yourself with conceit by elaborating on theoretical ideas." --St. Mark the Ascetic
 

Words from the Saints -- August 15, 2017

"Control your appetites (passions) before they control you." --St. John Climacus

"No sinner can escape future judgment without experiencing in this life either voluntary hardships or afflictions he has not chosen." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"I reckon prosperity, O men, to consist in nothing else than in living according to truth. But we do not live properly, or according to truth, unless we understand the nature of things." --St. Justin Martyr

"When a person accepts anything Godly, then he rejoices in his heart, but when he has accepted anything devilish, then he becomes tormented." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"The man ensnared by pride will need God's help, since man is of no use to him." --St. John Climacus

"Blessed the one who has not been worsted by the passion of despondency like a coward, but has found perfect endurance, by which all the Saints received their crowns." --St. Ephraim of Syria

Words from the Saints -- August 8, 2017

"The secret sinner is worse than those who do evil openly; and so he receives a worse punishment." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"We must keep in mind that whatever we do, openly or in secret, we do in the presence of our guardian angel." --St. Nikolai of Zicha

"It is not darkness and desolateness of place that give demons power against us, but barrenness of soul." --St. John Climacus

"I have found the words and the commandments of Christ pure, holy, true, splendid, brighter than the sun; and whoever believes in Christ and calls Him God and lives in accordance with His teaching, contained in the Holy Gospels, is fortunate and thrice-blessed." --St. Kosmas Aitolos

"Beloved, even if we should attain the very pinnacle of virtue, let us consider ourselves least of all, as we have learned that pride is able to cast down even from the heavens the person who does not take heed, and humility of mind is able to bring up on High from the very abyss of sin the person who knows how to be sober. For this is what placed the Publican before the Pharisee. By pride I mean an overwhelming boastful spirit, surpassing even incorporeal powers, that of the devil himself while humility of mind and acknowledgment of sins by the robber is what brought him into Paradise before the Apostles." --St. John Chrysostom

"The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and to conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things. For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul." --St. Anthony the Great
 

Words from the Saints -- August 1, 2017

"Theology without action is the theology of the devil." - St. Maximos the Confessor

"Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace."
--St. Augustine of Hippo

"Just as a basic concern is to be careful of anything that might be harmful to our physical health, so our spiritual concern should watch out for anything that might harm our spiritual life and the work of faith and salvation. Therefore, carefully and attentively assess your inner impulses: are they from God or from the spirit of evil?" --St. John Maximovitch
 
"Pray not pharisaically but publicanly, for you to also be justified by the Lord. Praise of prayer is not the quantity but the quality. This becomes obvious from the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee and from the word of Christ: 'When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, who think that with their much talking they will be heard'" (Matthew 6:7). --St. Nilus of Sinai

"A good conscience is found through prayer, and pure prayer through the conscience. Each by nature needs the other."  --St. Mark the Ascetic

"If the Holy Spirit is peace of soul, as He is said to be, and as He is in reality, and if anger is disturbance of heart, as it actually is and as it is said to be, then nothing so prevents His presence in us as anger." 
--St. John Climacus

"Do not wish what concerns you to be as seems (best) to you, but as God wishes; and you will be free from cares and thankful in your prayer." --St. Nilus of Sinai