Without Repentance

“Without repentance faith would be like a sapling which is without an animating current-withered and not giving of life.”

- Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Spiritual and the Material

"As the Lord has formed us of two elements--the spiritual and the material, of a reasonable soul and a material body requiring material support, the Devil, in spite of God and ourselves, endeavours by every means to take advantage of this very duality of our nature, by inclining us to put our trust, not in God, but in carnal things, and tempting us, through the flesh, to every sin: to gluttony, fornication and every impurity; to covetousness, envy, slothfulness, theft, avarice, hatred, murder Thus, for instance, he incites us, he makes us trust, not in God, but in money, food and drink, human ties and connections, ranks, honours and privileges, nobility of birth, intellect, education, books; he incites us to find pleasure in food, drink, dress, in concerts of worldly music, theatres, joking, idle-speaking, and in the play of words. But the true servant of God trusts in his Lord, always and in everything, in the common Father and Provider of all, Who worketh all things in all, remembering what has been said: "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you." (1 Peter 5:7). As soon as disturbance and violence arise in your soul, recognise in this the influence of Satan, and immediately set against him the Rock--Christ. Satan will break his teeth against that Rock, and shall not reach you. But also bear in mind that you must love everyone as yourself."

- Saint John of Kronstadt

Prayer is...

“Prayer is by nature a dialog and a union of man with God. Its effect is to hold the world together. It achieves a reconciliation with God.”

- Saint John Climacus

What is Our Life?

“What is our life? The burning of a candle; He Who gave it has but to blow--and it goes out. What is our life? The journey of a traveller; as soon as it reaches a certain limit, the gates are opened to him, he lays aside his travelling dress (the body) and his staff, and enters into his house. What is our life? A prolonged bloody war for the possession of the true country and true freedom. When the war is over, we shall be either conquerors or conquered; we shall be called from the place of combat to the place of reward, and obtain from the Recompenser either eternal reward, eternal glory, or eternal punishment, eternal shame.”

- Saint John of Kronstadt

Everything Good is Given

"Everything good is given by the Lord providentially; and he who has faith that this is so will not lose what he has been given."

- Saint Mark the Ascetic

The Man to Whom Wisdom Has Been Given...

"The man to whom wisdom has been given knows the inward essences of immaterial things and what is the origin and consummation of the world."

- Saint Thalassios the Libyan

The Mark of Dispassion

"The mark of dispassion is true discrimination; for one who has attained the state of dispassion does all things with discrimination and according to measure and rule."

- Saint Thalassios the Libyan