Spiritual Commerce

"Spiritual commerce consists in being detached equally from the pleasures and the pains of this life for the sake of the blessings held in store."

- Saint Thalassios the Libyan

Learning the Prayer of the Heart

"All who wish to learn prayer of the heart must confess more often, so that they might be delivered from the spirits that disturb us."

- Father Proclus (Niceu)

Reference: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/47107.htm

Already Condemned

“He that believeth not in the Son of God is condemned already (John 3:18). For what? For the fact that when light is all around, he remains in darkness, due to his love for it. Love of darkness and hatred of the light make him entirely to blame, even without his determining where the truth lies; because he who has sincere love for the truth will be led by this love from the darkness of deception to the light of truth. One example is the holy apostle Paul. He was a sincere lover of the truth, devoted with all his soul to what he considered to be true, without any self-interest. Therefore, as soon as he was shown that the truth lay not in what he considered to be true, that very moment he cast aside the old—which proved to be untrue—and cleaved with all his heart to the new, which was tangibly proven to be the truth. The same occurs with every sincere lover of truth. The truth of Christ is clear as day: seek and ye shall find. Help from above is always ready for one who sincerely seeks. Therefore, if someone remains in the darkness of unbelief, it is only due to his love for that darkness, and for this he is already condemned.”

- Saint Theophan the Recluse

Reference: http://days.pravoslavie.ru/en/Days/20120411.htm

Repaying Evil for Evil

“Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”

- 1 Peter 3:9, ESV

Preferring the Body to the Soul

"The person who in his actions shows that he prefers his body to his soul, and the world to God, is a pathetic creature."

- Saint Thalassios the Libyan

Unite with Christ

"Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way (Prov. 23:19). Out of the heart continually proceed thoughts which sometimes are good, but more often are evil. The evil ones should not be followed at all, but even the good ones should not always be carried out. It happens that even thoughts which are good in and of themselves are inappropriate in reality, due to circumstances. This is why it is prescribed to be attentive toward oneself, to keep an eye on all that proceeds out of the heart—to reject the evil, consider what is good, and fulfil only what proves to be truly good. But best of all would be to totally imprison the heart, so that nothing leaves it and nothing enters it without the permission of the mind; so that the mind would come first in all things, determining the movements of the heart. But the mind is this way only when it is the mind of Christ. Thus, unite with Christ in mind and heart and everything within you will be in good working order."

- Saint Theophan the Recluse

Reference: http://days.pravoslavie.ru/en/Days/20120323.htm

To Love God...

“ To love God with all your heart means--to love with all your soul, with meekness, humility, purity and chastity, wisdom, truth, mercy, obedience, for the sake of God, and never to act contrarily to these virtues; that is, not to become proud, irritated, angry against anyone; not to commit adultery even in the heart; not to violate chastity, either by look, thought, or gesture; to avoid every inconsiderate, needless word and deed; to shun every iniquity; to hate avarice and covetousness; to flee from self-will and disobedience.”

 - Saint John of Kronstadt