Difference between revisions of "User:Flux"
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| − | welcome… me… just the sinner… a listener, an observer, a thinker, an admirer… I am an Orthodox Catholic Christian interested in computers, electronics, automation, soccer, music, life, love, Truth, Holy Tradition, the Holy Trinity, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the Holy Bible/Holy Scripture, ethics, morality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, asceticism, Creation, and pro-life. | + | welcome… me… just the sinner… a listener, an observer, a thinker, an admirer… I am an Orthodox Catholic Christian interested in computers, electronics, automation, soccer, music, freedom, life, love, Truth, Holy Tradition, the Holy Trinity, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the Holy Bible/Holy Scripture, ethics, morality, philosophy, religion, spirituality, asceticism, Creation, and pro-life. |
| − | The Orthodox Church in America received me into membership by Chrismation by priest/monk Fr. Rev. E.A. (Simeon) Weare, | + | The Orthodox Church in America - Archdiocese of Canada received me into membership by Holy Chrismation by priest/monk Fr. Rev. E.A. (Simeon) Weare, Memory Eternal, in the parish St. Nicholas the Wonder-Maker in 1992. |
—the unworthy servant and chief of sinners, th | —the unworthy servant and chief of sinners, th | ||
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Orthodoxy [one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church] is the true faith believed by all the Saints, everywhere, at all times. | Orthodoxy [one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church] is the true faith believed by all the Saints, everywhere, at all times. | ||
| − | We are Orthodox… but not Jewish… We are Evangelical… but not Protestant… We are Catholic… but not Papist… We are Pre-Denominational… but not Divided… We are the Christian Church… but not a Church… We have believed, taught, preserved, defended, and died for the Faith of the Saints… We are the ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH… | + | We are Orthodox… but not Jewish… We are Evangelical… but not Protestant… We are Catholic… but not Papist… We are Pre-Denominational… but not Divided… We are the Christian Church… but not a Church… We have believed, taught, preserved, defended, and died for the Faith of the Saints… We are the HOLY ORTHODOX CATHOLIC CHURCH… |
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“Assume the person you're listening to knows something you don't.” —Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos | “Assume the person you're listening to knows something you don't.” —Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos | ||
| − | + | “I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.” —George Bernard Shaw | |
“Inequality is the price of civilization.” —George Orwell | “Inequality is the price of civilization.” —George Orwell | ||
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| + | “When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king, the palace becomes a circus.” —Turkish Proverb | ||
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” —George Orwell | “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” —George Orwell | ||
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“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four | “The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” —George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four | ||
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| + | “We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” —George Orwell | ||
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” —George Orwell | “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” —George Orwell | ||
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“Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” — Potter Stewart | “Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself.” — Potter Stewart | ||
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| + | “Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.” —Mark Twain | ||
“Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings.” —Heinrich Heine | “Where they burn books, so too will they in the end burn human beings.” —Heinrich Heine | ||
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| + | “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” —Friedrich Hegel | ||
“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” —Edmund Burke | “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” —Edmund Burke | ||
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“Those who forget the past, they lose an eye. Those who dwell on the past, they lose both eyes.” —Hungarian Proverb | “Those who forget the past, they lose an eye. Those who dwell on the past, they lose both eyes.” —Hungarian Proverb | ||
| − | “[Behold] I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” —J. Robert Oppenheimer | + | “According to Hegel, man will be completely free only ‘by surrounding himself with a world entirely created by himself.’ But this is precisely what he has done, and man has never been so enchained, so much a slave as now.” —E. M. Cioran |
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| + | “[Behold] I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” —J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 11 verse 32 | ||
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” —John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton | “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” —John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton | ||
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“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” —Mahatma Gandhi | “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” —Mahatma Gandhi | ||
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| + | “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear, and the blind can see.” —Mark Twain | ||
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| + | “There's nothing that divides nations like a common language.” —George Bernard Shaw | ||
“Democracy is the dictatorship of the ignorant masses.” —Plato | “Democracy is the dictatorship of the ignorant masses.” —Plato | ||
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“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.” —G. K. Chesterton | “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to that arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around.” —G. K. Chesterton | ||
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| + | “That the dead are as much a part of the present as the unborn is a fundamental conservative idea.” —Armin Mohler | ||
“Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” —William Wilberforce | “Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.” —William Wilberforce | ||
“He who strikes terror in others is himself continually in fear.” —Claudius Claudianus | “He who strikes terror in others is himself continually in fear.” —Claudius Claudianus | ||
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| + | “Ignorance is the cause of fear.” —Lucius Annaeus Seneca | ||
“Who feareth to suffer suffereth already, because he feareth.” —Michel de Montaigne | “Who feareth to suffer suffereth already, because he feareth.” —Michel de Montaigne | ||
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| + | “…the brain, in and of its physical self, does not think, any more than a musical instrument can give forth melody without the touch of the musician's hand. The brain is indeed the instrument of thinking, but the mind is the skillful player that makes it give forth the beautiful harmony of thought… … It is because of the disastrous results of fear thought not only on the individual but on the nation, that it becomes the duty of every sane man and woman to establish quarantine against fear. Fear is a psychic disease which is highly contagious and extraordinarily infectious. Fear though is most dangerous when it parades as forethought. Combat fear by replacing it with faith. Resist worry with confidence.” —William Samuel Sadler (1875-1969), M.D., F.A.C.S. Director of the Chicago Institute of Research and Diagnosis | ||
“The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson | “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” —Thomas Jefferson | ||
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“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. It is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson | “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else. It is about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson | ||
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| + | “Men are, unfortunately generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.” —William Penn | ||
“The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” —Fred Astaire | “The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any.” —Fred Astaire | ||
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“Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” —Charlton Heston | “Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” —Charlton Heston | ||
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| + | “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” —C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology (Making of Modern Theology) | ||
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| + | “All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.” —George Orwell | ||
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| + | “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” —William Pitt the Younger | ||
“In the time of heroes and tyrants, the true heroes are the small men.” —unknown | “In the time of heroes and tyrants, the true heroes are the small men.” —unknown | ||
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“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.” —unknown | “Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.” —unknown | ||
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| + | “Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both.” —Traditional Proverb | ||
“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.” —Abraham Lincoln | “And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years.” —Abraham Lincoln | ||
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“Birds of a feather flock together.” —English Proverb | “Birds of a feather flock together.” —English Proverb | ||
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| + | “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” —William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2 | ||
“You can want a women for her body, but you can only love her for her character.” —Spanish Proverb | “You can want a women for her body, but you can only love her for her character.” —Spanish Proverb | ||
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“Silence speaks volumes.” —Traditional Proverb | “Silence speaks volumes.” —Traditional Proverb | ||
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| + | “Silence is golden.” —Traditional Proverb | ||
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| + | “Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, which they are thenceforth to rule.” —Thomas Carlyle | ||
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” —Mark Twain | “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” —Mark Twain | ||
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“We must always takes sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” —Elie Wiesel | “We must always takes sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” —Elie Wiesel | ||
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| + | “The reason it is difficult is that we have been conditioned to laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public ridicule by advocating them. On the other hand, to endorse the accidental view is absurd. Almost all of history is an unbroken trail of one conspiracy after another. Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception.” —G. Edward Griffin | ||
“Facts don't care about feelings.” —Ben Shapiro | “Facts don't care about feelings.” —Ben Shapiro | ||
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“Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” —Edward Snowden | “Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” —Edward Snowden | ||
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| + | “[The best solution to offensive speech is] more speech, not enforced silence.” —Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court Justice | ||
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| + | “I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.” —Voltaire | ||
“The holocaust has to be thought as a chapter in the long history of man's inhumanity to man. One cannot ignore the discrimination inflicted on many people because of race, color, or creed. One cannot ignore slavery. One cannot ignore the burning of witches. One cannot ignore the killing of Christians in the Roman period. The holocaust perhaps is the culmination of the kind of horror that can occur when man loses his integrity, his belief in the sanctity of human life.” —Dr. Randolph Braham, Holocaust Survivor | “The holocaust has to be thought as a chapter in the long history of man's inhumanity to man. One cannot ignore the discrimination inflicted on many people because of race, color, or creed. One cannot ignore slavery. One cannot ignore the burning of witches. One cannot ignore the killing of Christians in the Roman period. The holocaust perhaps is the culmination of the kind of horror that can occur when man loses his integrity, his belief in the sanctity of human life.” —Dr. Randolph Braham, Holocaust Survivor | ||
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“Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” —Scottish Proverb | “Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.” —Scottish Proverb | ||
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| + | “Don't talk to me of female beauty, rather virtues of her soul. A beautiful woman who has not decorated herself with virtue is like a painted coffin.” —St. John Chrysostom | ||
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| + | “A wife is appealing not in the beauty of her body, rather for the virtues of her soul, neither in creams and cosmetics, nor gold and expensive clothes, rather chastity, meekness, and abiding awe before God.” —St. John Chrysostom | ||
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| + | “The beauty of woman is the greatest snare. Or rather, not the beauty of woman, but unchastened gazing! For we should not accuse the objects, but ourselves, and our own carelessness. Nor should we say, ‘Let there be no women’, but ‘Let there be no adulteries’. We should not say, ‘Let there be no beauty’, but ‘Let there be no fornication’. We should not say, ‘Let there be no belly’, but ‘Let there be no gluttony’; for the belly makes not the gluttony, but our negligence. We should not say, that it is because of eating and drinking that all these evils exist; for it is not because of this, but because of our carelessness and insatiableness. Thus the devil neither ate nor drank, and yet he fell! Paul ate and drank, and ascended up to heaven!” —St. John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on the Statues, 10 | ||
“Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” —Margaret Mead | “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” —Margaret Mead | ||
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“Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie.” —Russian Proverb | “Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie.” —Russian Proverb | ||
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| + | “Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood.” —Lu Xun | ||
“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” —Friedrich Nietzsche | “Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” —Friedrich Nietzsche | ||
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“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” —Mahatma Gandhi | “Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” —Mahatma Gandhi | ||
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“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” —Alexander Pope | “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” —Alexander Pope | ||
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| + | “It is through error that man tries and rises. It is through tragedy he learns. All the roads of learning begin in darkness and go out into the light.” —Hippocrates of Kos | ||
“When the solution is simple, God is answering.” —Albert Einstein | “When the solution is simple, God is answering.” —Albert Einstein | ||
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“There's no mask for a treacherous heart like an honest face.” —Captain Kidd (1945) | “There's no mask for a treacherous heart like an honest face.” —Captain Kidd (1945) | ||
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| + | “[S]he has an honest face even if it is the result of triumph of plastic surgery.” —The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), s2e13 | ||
“Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt, you pour yourself into things that can't hurt back.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | “Sometimes when you're troubled and hurt, you pour yourself into things that can't hurt back.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | ||
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Man never is, but always to be blest: | Man never is, but always to be blest: | ||
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, | The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home, | ||
| − | Rests and expatiates in a life to come.” —Alexander Pope | + | Rests and expatiates in a life to come.” —Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733 |
“Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen.” —Ambrose Bierce | “Patriotism is as fierce as a fever, pitiless as the grave, blind as a stone, and irrational as a headless hen.” —Ambrose Bierce | ||
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“They knew that the tree is known by its fruit and that injustice corrupts a tree, that its fruit withers and shrivels and falls at last to that dark ground of history where other great hopes have rotted and died, where equality and freedom remains still the only choice for wholeness and soundness in a man or in a nation.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | “They knew that the tree is known by its fruit and that injustice corrupts a tree, that its fruit withers and shrivels and falls at last to that dark ground of history where other great hopes have rotted and died, where equality and freedom remains still the only choice for wholeness and soundness in a man or in a nation.” —Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | ||
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| + | “Freedom – truthful free speech, open discourse, and debate – is the soil for real science to emerge from which we may uncover truth to identify real problems so as to innovate real solutions for the health of our body, community and world.” —Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai | ||
“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” —Abraham Lincoln | “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” —Abraham Lincoln | ||
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“Only the courteous can love, but it is love that makes them courteous.” —C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love | “Only the courteous can love, but it is love that makes them courteous.” —C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love | ||
| − | “How long is love blind? Love has eyes and sees. And if love can see, and seeing, you love anyway, that's love.” —Gertrude Berg | + | “How long is love blind? Love has eyes and sees. And if love can see, and seeing, you love anyway, that's love.” —Gertrude Berg, The Goldbergs, s1e10, 1955 |
| − | “You never receive love until you learn how to accept it.” —Mr. Roarke | + | “You never receive love until you learn how to accept it.” —Mr. Roarke, Fantasy Island, s4e7 |
“You never deny love until you learn how to reject it.” —th | “You never deny love until you learn how to reject it.” —th | ||
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“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.” —William Blake | “Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.” —William Blake | ||
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| + | “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of… We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart.” —Blaise Pascal | ||
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| + | “The human heart can see what is hidden to the eyes, and the heart knows things that the mind does not begin to understand.” —They Might Be Giants (1971) | ||
“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.” —Thomas Merton | “At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely…I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.” —Thomas Merton | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Humility collects the soul into a single point by the power of silence. A truly humble man has no desire to be known or admired by others, but wishes to plunge from himself into himself, to become nothing, as if he had never been born. When he is completely hidden to himself in himself, he is completely with God.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | ||
“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” —Frank A. Clark | “Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” —Frank A. Clark | ||
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“And she [Athens] has brought it about that the name "Hellenes" suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title "Hellenes" is applied rather to those who share our culture then to those who share a common blood.” —Isocrates | “And she [Athens] has brought it about that the name "Hellenes" suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title "Hellenes" is applied rather to those who share our culture then to those who share a common blood.” —Isocrates | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed by the masses.” —Plato | ||
“He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare; and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson | “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare; and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson | ||
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“What a lot of things there are a man can do without.” —Socrates | “What a lot of things there are a man can do without.” —Socrates | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” —Aristotle | ||
“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” —Aristotle | “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” —Aristotle | ||
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“Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, | “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, | ||
| − | Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” —William Congreve | + | Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.” —William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII |
“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.” —Epictetus | “Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee.” —Epictetus | ||
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That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him | That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him | ||
In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, | In my heart’s core, ay, in my heart of heart, | ||
| − | As I do thee.” —William Shakespeare | + | As I do thee.” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, Page 3 |
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C. S. Lewis | “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C. S. Lewis | ||
“There are more things in heaven and earth, … | “There are more things in heaven and earth, … | ||
| − | Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” —William Shakespeare | + | Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5, Page 8 |
“A philosophical vogue is as irresistible as a gastronomic one: an idea is no better refuted than a sauce.” —E. M. Cioran | “A philosophical vogue is as irresistible as a gastronomic one: an idea is no better refuted than a sauce.” —E. M. Cioran | ||
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“Mankind is made of two kinds of people: wise people who know they're fools, and fools who think they are wise.” —Socrates | “Mankind is made of two kinds of people: wise people who know they're fools, and fools who think they are wise.” —Socrates | ||
| − | “I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.” | + | “I am indeed amazed when I consider how weak my mind is and how prone to error.” —René Descartes |
“…a…transparent mind, …in no way implies clear thinking.” —Columbo (1971) | “…a…transparent mind, …in no way implies clear thinking.” —Columbo (1971) | ||
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“While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance would violate the very objectivity of science itself.” —Werner Von Braun, Ph.D., the father of the NASA space program | “While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance would violate the very objectivity of science itself.” —Werner Von Braun, Ph.D., the father of the NASA space program | ||
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| + | “With me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy.” —Charles Darwin | ||
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| + | “Evolutionary naturalism implies that we should not take any of our convictions seriously, including the scientific world picture on which evolutionary naturalism depends. | ||
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| + | That is, naturalism, and therefore atheism, undermines the foundations of the very rationality that is needed to construct or understand or believe in any kind of argument whatsoever, let alone a scientific one.” —Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos | ||
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| + | “Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I call thought. But, if so, how can I trust my own thinking to be true? It's like upsetting a milk jug and hoping that the way it splashes itself will give you a map of London. But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course I can't trust the arguments leading to Atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an Atheist, or anything else. Unless I believe in God, I cannot believe in thought: so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God.” —C. S. Lewis | ||
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| + | “Do not say, ‘this happened by chance, while this came to be of itself.’ In all that exists there is nothing disorderly, nothing indefinite, nothing without purpose, nothing by chance… … How many hairs are on your head? God will not forget one of them. Do you see how nothing, even the smallest thing, escapes the gaze of God?” —St. Basil the Great | ||
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| + | “There are no coincidences in life. All things are providential. They are allowed for our salvation, in correspondence with our inner state and needs.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | ||
“Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.” —Albert Einstein | “Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.” —Albert Einstein | ||
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“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything.” —G. K. Chesterton | “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing – they believe in anything.” —G. K. Chesterton | ||
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| + | “Those who stand for nothing, fall for everything.” —Alexander Hamilton | ||
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” —Rick Warren | “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” —Rick Warren | ||
| − | “If everyone has his own truth, where is falsehood? Falsehood hides behind the guise of truth. They say to us: Every person has his own truth, we should respect | + | “Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good.” —Charles J. Chaput |
| + | |||
| + | “If everyone has his own truth, where is falsehood? Falsehood hides behind the guise of truth. They say to us: Every person has his own truth, we should respect everyone's opinion and have no right to express any opposition to his error because that would be ‘intolerant’. Then where is Truth? Have we erased it? God is absolute Truth.” —Archbishop Stephan (Kalaidjishvili) of Tsageri and Lentekhi, Georgia | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Tolerance of falsehood is intolerance to Truth.” —th | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Orthodox Christianity is not true because I believe It, I believe It because It is Truth.” —th | ||
“Faithful copies of a counterfeit original yield only more counterfeits.” —unknown | “Faithful copies of a counterfeit original yield only more counterfeits.” —unknown | ||
| + | |||
| + | “Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed any more.” —Terry Pratchett | ||
“To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark – that is faith.” —Charles Spurgeon | “To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark – that is faith.” —Charles Spurgeon | ||
“Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” —Abraham Joshua Heschel | “Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.” —Abraham Joshua Heschel | ||
| + | |||
| + | “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.” —Malachi 1:11 | ||
“God tends the pagans too, but the Christian knows the donor.” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh | “God tends the pagans too, but the Christian knows the donor.” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh | ||
| + | |||
| + | “We do not worship a created thing, but the Master of created things, the Word of God made flesh. Although the flesh itself, considered separately, is a part of created things, yet it has become the body of God. We do not worship this body after having separated it from the Word. Likewise, we do not separate the Word from the body when we wish to worship Him. But knowing that ‘the Word was made flesh,’ we recognise the Word existing in the flesh as God.” —St. Athanasius the Great, Ep. ad Adelph., par. 3 | ||
“Take, in the next place, the subjection by which you subject the Son to the Father. What, you say, is He not now subject, or must He, if He is God, be subject to God? You are fashioning your argument as if it concerned some robber, or some hostile deity. But look at it in this manner: that as for my sake He was called a curse, who destroyed my curse; and sin, who taketh away the sin of the world; and became a new Adam to take the place of the old, just so He makes my disobedience His own as Head of the whole body. | “Take, in the next place, the subjection by which you subject the Son to the Father. What, you say, is He not now subject, or must He, if He is God, be subject to God? You are fashioning your argument as if it concerned some robber, or some hostile deity. But look at it in this manner: that as for my sake He was called a curse, who destroyed my curse; and sin, who taketh away the sin of the world; and became a new Adam to take the place of the old, just so He makes my disobedience His own as Head of the whole body. | ||
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“The Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, whilst the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and resteth in the Son. But at the same time each Person has Its own particular properties: God the Father is not begotten, not created, does not proceed; the Son is begotten; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, whilst the substance of the three Persons is one, a Divine, incomplex substance. This similarity is based upon the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who calls Himself the Light of the world, and thus speaks of the Holy Ghost, comparing It in Its actions to the element water: ‘He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ 415 He also compared the Holy Ghost to the air or wind: ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ | “The Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, whilst the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and resteth in the Son. But at the same time each Person has Its own particular properties: God the Father is not begotten, not created, does not proceed; the Son is begotten; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father, whilst the substance of the three Persons is one, a Divine, incomplex substance. This similarity is based upon the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who calls Himself the Light of the world, and thus speaks of the Holy Ghost, comparing It in Its actions to the element water: ‘He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.’ 415 He also compared the Holy Ghost to the air or wind: ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ | ||
| − | “For the Father only is Unbegotten, the Son only is Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from Father Proceeding, Co-eternal to the Father and the Son, for there is One Work, and there is One Operation of the Will in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Father Unbegotten, the Son Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from the Father Proceeding, Co-Eternal to the Father and Son; but That One [i.e. the Son] is Born, yet This One [i.e. the Holy Ghost] Proceeds, just as in the Gospel of Blessed John ye read: ‘The Spirit, Who Proceeds from the Father, He shall announce all things to you.’ Therefore the Holy Ghost is neither to be the Father Unbegotten, nor held to be the Son Begotten; but the Holy Ghost, Who from the Father Proceeds.” —St. Mochta of Ireland, "Profession of Faith" of St. Mochta | + | “For the Father only is Unbegotten, the Son only is Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from Father Proceeding, Co-eternal to the Father and the Son, for there is One Work, and there is One Operation of the Will in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. The Father Unbegotten, the Son Begotten, and the Holy Ghost from the Father Proceeding, Co-Eternal to the Father and Son; but That One [i.e. the Son] is Born, yet This One [i.e. the Holy Ghost] Proceeds, just as in the Gospel of Blessed John ye read: ‘The Spirit, Who Proceeds from the Father, He shall announce all things to you.’ Therefore the Holy Ghost is neither to be the Father Unbegotten, nor held to be the Son Begotten; but the Holy Ghost, Who from the Father Proceeds.” —St. Mochta of Ireland, "Profession of Faith" of St. Mochta |
| − | “For when we mention the Omnipotent Father, the appelation of this Fatherly Name is directed to the Person of the Son, and when we mention the Eternal Son, He is referred to the Person of the Eternal Father; and when we name the Holy Ghost we demonstrate Him to Proceed from the Person of the Eternal Father.” —St. Mansuetus, Letter of St. Mansuetus (Archbishop of Milan) at 679 Synod of Milan to Emperor Constantine IV | + | “For when we mention the Omnipotent Father, the appelation of this Fatherly Name is directed to the Person of the Son, and when we mention the Eternal Son, He is referred to the Person of the Eternal Father; and when we name the Holy Ghost we demonstrate Him to Proceed from the Person of the Eternal Father.” —St. Mansuetus, Letter of St. Mansuetus (Archbishop of Milan) at 679 Synod of Milan to Emperor Constantine IV |
“This I give you to share, and to defend all your life, the one Godhead and power, found in the three in unit, and comprising the three separately; not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities nor inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of three infinite ones, each God when considered in himself; as the Father, so the Son; as the Son, so the Holy Spirit; the three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of anyone of the three I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Orations 40.41, as quoted by Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 378 | “This I give you to share, and to defend all your life, the one Godhead and power, found in the three in unit, and comprising the three separately; not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased nor diminished by superiorities nor inferiorities; in every respect equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of three infinite ones, each God when considered in himself; as the Father, so the Son; as the Son, so the Holy Spirit; the three one God when contemplated together; each God because consubstantial; one God because of the monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three; no sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of anyone of the three I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Orations 40.41, as quoted by Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 378 | ||
“The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the very power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. For its sake the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 77 | “The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the very power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. For its sake the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ (Ecclus 3:19). The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 77 | ||
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“‘And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (John 14:23). My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God's coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend's eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.” —St. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost in Be Friends of God | “‘And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’ (John 14:23). My friends, consider the greatness of this solemn feast that commemorates God's coming as a guest into our hearts! If some rich and influential friend were to come to your home, you would promptly put it all in order for fear something there might offend your friend's eyes when he came in. Let all of us then who are preparing our inner homes for God cleanse them of anything our wrongdoing has brought into them.” —St. Gregory the Great, on Pentecost in Be Friends of God | ||
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The three persons of the Holy Trinity constitute the eternal Church.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Wounded by Love | The three persons of the Holy Trinity constitute the eternal Church.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Wounded by Love | ||
| − | + | “Christ, invisible to the bodily eye, manifests Himself on earth clearly through His Church … The Church is the Body of Christ both because its parts are united to Christ through His divine mysteries and because through her Christ works in the world.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco | |
| − | + | “Whosoever should ever call himself a bishop over all bishops or a universal bishop shall be the forerunner to the Antichrist.” —Pope St. Gregory (I) the Great (Gregory the Dialogist), Forty Gospel Homilies | |
| − | + | “And so I, by the will of God Allmighty the Bishop of Rome, am the Universal Bishop, the Bishop over Bishops, the only Vicar of Christ on Earth.” —Pope Gregory VII, Dictatus Papae | |
| − | + | “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” —Pope Boniface VIII, Bull Unam Sanctam | |
| − | “Even if the | + | “Even if the Pope were Satan incarnate, we ought not to raise up our heads against him, but calmly lie down to rest on his bosom. |
| − | + | He who rebels against our Father is condemned to death, for that which we do to him we do to Christ: we honor Christ if we honor the Pope; we dishonor Christ if we dishonor the Pope. | |
| − | “Chrysostomos loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have communion with them, to be enemies of God.” —St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot Theophilus | + | I know very well that many defend themselves by boasting: ‘They are so corrupt, and work all manner of evil!’ But God has commanded that, even if the priests, the pastors, and Christ-on-earth were incarnate devils, we be obedient and subject to them, not for their sakes, but for the sake of God, and out of obedience to Him.” —Catherine of Siena, ‘St. Catherine of Siena’, SCS, pp. 201-202, p. 222 (‘Canonized’ by the RC ‘Church’ in 1461) |
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| + | “In the history of the human race there have been three principal falls: that of Adam, that of Judas, and that of the pope.” —St. Justin Popovich | ||
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| + | “But the Church of God is not subject to a wicked pope; nor even absolutely, and on all occasions, to a good one.” —Archbishop Arnulf of Orléans, Synod of Verzy, 991 | ||
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| + | “They [Rome] do not know and do not wish to know the truth; they argue with those who proclaim the truth to them, and assert their heresy.” —St. Basil the Great, letter to Eusebius of Samosata | ||
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| + | “The Greeks [Orthodox]… are not heretics or schismatics but the most Christian people and the best followers of the gospel on earth.” —Martin Luther, Luther, Martin (1999), Luther's Works, Vol. 32: Career of the Reformer II, J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed., 59, Philadelphia: Fortress Press | ||
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| + | “When we Greeks find fault with the filioque, they shake Peter's keys at us… … Nevertheless differences of custom and usage are no sufficient ground for schism. Experience shows that arguing about azyma and Lenten fasts gets nowhere. The Greeks should be accommodating and make concessions to the ignorant western barbarians, hoping that in time they will correct their errors to conform to the apostolic tradition stemming from Jerusalem.” —Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid, The Errors of the Latins in Ecclesiastical Matters | ||
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| + | “For Petra (Rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from Petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, ‘On this Rock will I build my Church,’ because Peter had said, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On this Rock, therefore, He said, which thou hast confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this Foundation was Peter himself also built. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, Tractate, CXXIV | ||
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| + | “…anyone joining the Church ought to become renewed [by baptism], in order that within, through the holy elements, he become sanctified… There being but one baptism, and there being but one Holy Spirit, there is also but one Church, founded by Christ our Lord… And for this reason whatever they [heterodox] do is false and empty and vain, everything being counterfeit and unauthorized… And to those who from error and crookedness come for knowledge of the true and ecclesiastic faith we ought to give freely the mystery of divine power, of unity as well as of faith, and of truth.” —St. Cyprian of Carthage, Third Holy Council held under St. Cyprian of Carthage, On the Reception of the Heterodox, p. 81 | ||
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| + | “One Baptism has been handed down to us Orthodox Christians (Ephesians 4:4) by our Lord as well as by the divine Apostles and the holy Fathers; because the Cross and the Death of the Lord, in the type or similitude of which baptism is celebrated, were but one. | ||
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| + | For this reason the present Apostolic Canon prescribes that any Bishop or Priest will be deposed should he baptize a second time anew and beginning all over again someone who has been truly baptize as though he were dealing with one utterly unbaptized. | ||
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| + | This is in accordance with the order given by the Lord and which was spoken of by the Apostles and divine Fathers. He shall be deposed if he rebaptizes someone who has been baptized in the very same manner as Orthodox Christians, because with this second baptism he is re-crucifying and publicly ridiculing the Son of God, which St. Paul says is impossible, and he is offering a second death to the Lord, over whom death no longer has dominion (Hebrews 6:4; Romans 6:5), according to the same St. Paul. | ||
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| + | Likewise in the event that any Bishop or Priest should refuse to baptize with the regular Orthodox baptism of the Catholic Church one who has been polluted, that is a person who has been baptized by the impious, or in plain language, baptized by heretics. Such a Bishop is to be deposed, since he is mocking the Cross and death of the Lord.” —St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite | ||
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| + | “Even if the whole universe holds communion with the [heretical] patriarch, I will not communicate with him. For I know from the writings of the holy Apostle Paul: the Holy Spirit declares that even the angels would be anathema if they should begin to preach another Gospel, introducing some new teaching.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, The Life of St. Maximus the Confessor | ||
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| + | “Those who do not belong to the Truth do not belong to the Church of Christ either; and all the more so, if they speak falsely of themselves by calling themselves, or calling each other, holy pastors and hierarchs; [for it has been instilled in us that] Christianity is characterized not by persons, but by the truth and exactitude of Faith.” —St. Gregory Palamas | ||
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| + | “Faith is the unreserved acceptance of divine revelation and the full conviction that all things preached by the grace of God constitute the only truth.” —St. Basil the Great, On Faith, PG 31.677D-680A. | ||
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| + | “Chrysostomos loudly declares not only heretics, but also those who have communion with them, to be enemies of God.” —St. Theodore the Studite, Epistle of Abbot Theophilus | ||
“Some have suffered final shipwreck with regard to the faith. Others, though they have not drowned in their thoughts, are nevertheless perishing through communion with heresy.” —St. Theodore the Studite | “Some have suffered final shipwreck with regard to the faith. Others, though they have not drowned in their thoughts, are nevertheless perishing through communion with heresy.” —St. Theodore the Studite | ||
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“All the teachers of the Church, and all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures advise us to flee from the heterodox and separate from their communion.” —St. Mark of Ephesus | “All the teachers of the Church, and all the Councils, and all the Divine Scriptures advise us to flee from the heterodox and separate from their communion.” —St. Mark of Ephesus | ||
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| + | “Therefore, in so far as this is what has been commanded you by the Holy Apostles, stand aright, hold firmly to the traditions which you have received, both written and by word of mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:15), that you be not deprived of your firmness if you are led away by the delusions of the lawless. | ||
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| + | May God, Who is all-powerful, make them also to know their delusion; and having delivered us from them as from evil tares, may He gather us into His granaries like pure and useful wheat, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to Whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, with His Father Who is without beginning, and His All-holy and Good and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.” —St. Mark of Ephesus | ||
“‘But if,’ they say, ‘we had devised some middle ground between the dogmas (of the Papists and the Orthodox), then thanks to this we would have united with them and accomplished our business superbly, without at all having been forced to say anything except what corresponds to custom and has been handed down (by the Fathers).’ This is precisely the means by which many, from of old, have been deceived and persuaded to follow those who have led them off the steep precipice of impiety; believing that there is some middle ground between the two teachings that can reconcile obvious contradictions, they have been exposed to peril.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, Encyclical Letter, Orthodox Word, March-April-May, 1967 | “‘But if,’ they say, ‘we had devised some middle ground between the dogmas (of the Papists and the Orthodox), then thanks to this we would have united with them and accomplished our business superbly, without at all having been forced to say anything except what corresponds to custom and has been handed down (by the Fathers).’ This is precisely the means by which many, from of old, have been deceived and persuaded to follow those who have led them off the steep precipice of impiety; believing that there is some middle ground between the two teachings that can reconcile obvious contradictions, they have been exposed to peril.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, Encyclical Letter, Orthodox Word, March-April-May, 1967 | ||
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“Whoever preserves himself from them (the Latins) and keeps his faith pure will stand rejoicing at the right hand of God, but whoever willfully draws close to them will stand weeping bitterly with them on the left. For there is no eternal life for those living in the faith of the Latins or the Saracens… | “Whoever preserves himself from them (the Latins) and keeps his faith pure will stand rejoicing at the right hand of God, but whoever willfully draws close to them will stand weeping bitterly with them on the left. For there is no eternal life for those living in the faith of the Latins or the Saracens… | ||
| − | If | + | My son, it is not appropriate to praise another's faith. Whoever praises an alien faith is like a detractor of his own Orthodox faith. If anyone should praise his own and another's faith, then he is a man of dual faith and is close to heresy. If anyone should say to you: ‘Your faith and our faith is from God,’ you, my son, should reply: ‘Who are you, you heretic? Do you consider God to be of two faiths? Have you not heard, accursed and perverted as you are by an evil faith that which is written: Thus saith the Lord: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism’ (Ephesians 4:5)?… |
Thus they of evil faith, after holding to the Orthodox faith for so many years, have turned away to an evil faith and to Satan's teaching… | Thus they of evil faith, after holding to the Orthodox faith for so many years, have turned away to an evil faith and to Satan's teaching… | ||
| − | They have renounced the preaching of the apostles and the edification of the holy fathers, and have accepted a faith based on error and a perverted dogma leading to perdition. Therefore, they have been torn away from us and set apart…” —St. Theodosius of Kiev, | + | They have renounced the preaching of the apostles and the edification of the holy fathers, and have accepted a faith based on error and a perverted dogma leading to perdition. Therefore, they have been torn away from us and set apart…” —St. Theodosius of Kiev Caves, Testament to the Great Prince Izyaslav of Kiev |
| − | + | “It is impossible to recall peace without dissolving the cause of the schism – the primacy of the Pope exalting himself equal to God.” —St. Mark of Ephesus | |
| − | “The | + | “The Holy Spirit is nowhere to be found among them (the Papists), because their mysteries are graceless.” —Dositheos of Jerusalem |
| − | + | “Holy Orthodoxy has two eternal enemies: Mecca and Rome.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos | |
| − | + | “You should curse the Pope, because he will be the cause.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos | |
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| − | + | “We do not have merely ‘a group of Orthodox that consider Roman Catholics and Protestants to be heretics’ or ‘only pronouncements by particular ecclesiastical writers’, as some erroneously contend, but the totality of the Saints of our Church who dealt with this issue unanimously conclude that Papism is heresy. There is not one Saint of our Church – no, not one – who contends that Papism is not a heresy.” —Fr. Anastasios Gotsopoulos, On Common Prayer with the Heterodox | |
| − | + | “The Anglican Communion ignores the Orthodox Church's dogmas and teachings, such as the invocation of Saints, prayers for the dead, special honor to the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God, and reverence for sacred relics, holy pictures and icons. They say of such teaching that it is ‘a foul thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the word of God’ (Article of Religion, XXII). | |
| − | + | There is a striking variance between their wording of the Nicene Creed and that of the Holy Orthodox Church; but sadder still, it contains the heresy of the ‘filioque.’ | |
| − | + | I do not deem it necessary to mention all the striking differences between the Holy Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion in reference to the authority of Holy Tradition, the number of the General Councils, etc. Sufficient has already been said and pointed out to show that the Anglican Communion differs but little from all other Protestant bodies, and, therefore, there cannot be any intercommunion until she returns to the ancient Holy Orthodox Faith and practices, and rejects Protestant omissions and commissions. | |
| − | + | Therefore, as the official head of the Syrian Holy Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church in North America and as one who must ‘give an account’ (Hebrews 13:17) before the judgment throne of the ‘Shepherd and Bishop of Souls’ (I St Peter 2:25), that I have fed the ‘flock of God’ (I St. Peter 5:2), as I have been commissioned by the Holy Orthodox Church, and inasmuch as the Anglican Communion (Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States) does not differ in things vital to the well being of the Holy Orthodox Church from some of the most errant Protestant sects, I direct all Orthodox people residing in any community not to seek or to accept the ministrations of the Sacraments and rites from any clergy excepting those of the Holy Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church, for the Apostolic command, that the Orthodox should not commune in ecclesiastical matters with those who are not of ‘the same household of Faith’ (Galatians 6:10), is clear: ‘Any Bishop; or presbyter or deacon who will pray with heretics, let him be anathematized; and if he allows them as clergymen to perform any service, let him be deposed’ (Apostolic Canon 45). ‘Any bishop, or presbyter, who accepts baptism or the Holy Sacrifice from heretics, we order such to be deposed, for ‘what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?’’ (Apostolic Canon 46).”—St. Raphael of Brooklyn, On the Anglican Communion | |
| − | + | “If a Bishop or Priest baptize anew anyone that has had a true baptism, or fail to baptize anyone that has been polluted by the impious, let him be deposed, on the ground that he is mocking the Cross and Death of the Lord and for failing to distinguish priests from pseudo-priests.” —Apostolic Canon 47 | |
| − | + | “Whosoever has fallen from the True Faith cannot be called a Christian.” —St. Athanasius the Great | |
| − | + | “The heretics obey the demons; they honor falsehood, and at every moment they provoke God to anger.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian | |
| − | + | “Ecumenism is the common name for the pseudo-Christianity of the pseudo-churches of Western Europe. Within it is the heart of European humanism, with Papism as its head. All of pseudo-Christianity, all of those pseudo-churches, are nothing more than one heresy after another. Their common evangelical name is: ‘pan-heresy.’ Why? This is because through the course of history various heresies denied or deformed certain aspects of the God-Man and Lord Jesus Christ; these European heresies remove Him altogether and put European man in His place. In this there is no essential difference between Papism, Protestantism, ecumenism, and other heresies, whose name is ‘Legion’.” —St. Justin Popovich | |
| − | + | “For Western Christendom God is indeed dead, and its leaders only prepare for the advent of the enemy of God, Antichrist. But Orthodox Christians know the living God and dwell within the saving enclosure of His True Church. It is here, in faithful and fervent following of the unchanging Orthodox path – and not in the dazzling ‘Ecumenical’ union with the new unbelievers that is pursued by Orthodox modernists – that our salvation is to be found.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Orthodoxy has one thing to say to the ecumenical movement: here is the truth, join yourself to it; to remain to ‘discuss’ this truth not merely weakens the Orthodox witness, it destroys it.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “The Ecumenism is a huge lie; they speak in the name of a love outside of Christ, which excludes you from the Truth. If the Ecumenists really loved the world, they would not disown the truth of the value and the spiritual richness of Church Tradition and of the Holy Fathers. They disown Christianity from the gracious beauty. God has left from them, what remains is only their ego. No, we don’t need You. We lead the world, we rule the world, we give the bread, we give the happiness on this earth. Jesus must be arrested again not to disturb our march. Eliminating God from the world and of the soul in any way – this is the goal of the Ecumenism also repelled by Saint Justin Popovich. The Ecumenism and the globalization are at the forefront of the apocalyptic times. They want to accustom the eye and the spirit of the Orthodox with the habit to serve together with these heretics, until they get to have Communion from the same chalice. Because this could give them the right to build their own churches. But no, they want strategically to compromise the shrines and the faint hearted priests who are quick to ‘obedience’. The Ecumenists have the false impression that they will bring something new in the Church of Christ. Let us not forget that the Church is the body whose head is Christ. You can not break it from Christ Who is the Path, the Truth and the Life. The Ecumenists will not fulfill anything. You can not change the reality according to the human interests. The divine reality remains the same in every age. The Holy Spirit speaks through the mouths of the bearers of God, not of the bearers of human interests. The Christian Church has never gone after the crowd; not the many lead or hold the truth, but the few, chosen, as the carriers of the Holy Spirit. We do work only under this Father’s truth, the Gospel of our Lord and the Orthodox Church Tradition. All this falsehood which has appeared in our world has no other purpose than to embarrass and undermine the whole tradition and the beliefs of a nation. Questions are not posed and answers are not given, and people take for granted everything that has been written at the official level. But, by not solving these dogmatic problems the untruth slowly settles in our Orthodox Christian Church. All the Ecumenical attempts of unifying the other Christian communities found in heresy, the dialogues which have developed in our Orthodox Christian Church, since I know, haven’t got any result because they have false basis, they are untrue and do nothing but disturb the authentic Christian life.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania, Din învățăturile și minunile Părintelui Justin | |
| − | + | “We must prepare for martyrdom and beyond this, I would not have to speak if people were not powerless in spirit and mind to understand. It's not easy to live these days. But if the Lord has so pleased that we should suffer these times, then we must obey and receive with joy all that comes upon us, as from the hand of God, and not from the enemy… | |
| − | + | Therefore, please stop looking for solutions. Human solutions are not existent, my dears! The solution is to die for Christ. Fathers will give up their sons, mothers, their daughters, unto death. Behold, we witness the fulfillment of this prophecy. If the mother will let the child be vaccinated, it's as if giving him over to die… | |
| − | + | Therefore I say to you, trust that the Lord will give you power to confess Him. We live in an anarchic world, the entire political class is an enemy of Christ and a servant of evil, that is why even living our simple life without abdicating our Christian principles is a daily confession and martyrdom. | |
| − | + | So: do not receive this vaccine or anything that the new political powers bring you today. The Zionists rule the world and the Americans work for them and they think they have come to own it because they have no shyness. Everything is in sight and they are aware that they have no opponent to fear and they fight to depopulate the world, with the few who will remain to worship them. Now they're studying and sorting, and the way they're going to distinguish people from each other is the chips. Do you or do you not have a chip? For what is the chip after all? A weapon against Man. And we have no weapons; our youth is weary, that even if they want to rise from the spell in which they live, they have no power. | |
| − | + | Our only weapons are spiritual ones: prayer, humility, love, but also confession [of Faith]. You can't love without confession [of Faith]. Love is sacrificial, and if we fear to confess the truth, what sacrifice do we have? Or if we do not care about our neighbor who is unaware and we do not inform him and we let him fall prey to this system, what love do we have? Those who still struggle today to awaken their brother, who have not remained indifferent to the future of a nation and a church, those are the children of the love of God, who lay their lives down for their brethren… | |
| − | + | It is important to oppose all antichrists and die with dignity; not to have a cowardly position.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania | |
| − | + | “Modern man lives on the dregs of Christianity, on Christian experience digested and turned into ‘ideas’ for mass consumption. Hence the parody of Christianity is to be seen in modern ideas like ‘equality’, ‘brotherhood’, ‘charity.’ … And Christian messianism - the coming Kingdom which is not of this world (Jon 18:36) - has been perverted into the coming Kingdom in this world that practically everyone believes in today. Even those who see through the delusion of idealism… fall prey to the second idea, the idea that Truth can somehow be realized in this world, in the coming age of the ‘spirit,’ or in the relation of ‘man with man.’ But this world cannot hold the Truth in its fullness, any more than it could tolerate the presence in it of the God-Man; for man is called upon to be more than man, he is called to deification, and this can only happen fully in the ‘other world’ - which, though it constantly impinges on this world, never does so more than partially, giving us warnings and indications of what is to come. This world must end, man as we know him must die, must be crucified before that ‘other’ world can come into being.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Let not us, who would be Christians, expect anything else from it than to be crucified. For to be Christian is to be crucified, in this time and in any time since Christ came for the first time. His life is the example – and warning – to us all. We must be crucified personally, mystically; for through crucifixion is the only path to resurrection. If we would rise with Christ, we must first be humbled with Him – even to the ultimate humiliation, being devoured and spit forth by the uncomprehending world. And we must be crucified outwardly, in the eyes of the world; for Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, and the world cannot bear it, even a single representative of it, even for a single moment. The world can only accept Antichrist, now or at any time. No wonder then, that it is hard to be a Christian – it is not hard, it is impossible. No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the more truly it is lived, lead the more surely to one’s own destruction. And that is why we constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose – our felicity lies in one world or the other, not in both. God give us the strength to pursue the path to crucifixion; there is no other way to be Christian.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, from his journal as printed in the biography Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works by Hieromonk Damascene | |
| − | + | “One who merely knows these truths in the mind will be helpless to resist the temptations of those times, and many who recognize the Antichrist when he comes will nonetheless worship him – only the power of Christ given to the heart will have strength to resist him.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “A lukewarm clergy lulls the people to sleep, leaves them in their former condition so they won't be upset. ‘Look’, they say. ‘By all means don't say that there'll be a war, or the Second Coming, that one must prepare oneself for death. We must not make people alarmed!’ | |
| − | + | And others speak with a false kindness, saying: ‘We mustn't expose heretics and their delusions, so as to show our love for them.’ Today's people are water-soluble. There's no leaven in them. | |
| − | + | If I avoid upsetting myself to protect my fleshly comfort then I'm indifferent to holiness! Spiritual meekness is one thing, and softness and indifference are quite another. Some say: ‘I'm a Christian and therefore I have to be joyful and calm.’ But they're not Christian. They're simply indifferent. And their joy is only a worldly joy. | |
| − | + | He in whom these worldly seeds are present is no spiritual person. A spiritual person consists of nothing but pain. In other words, he's in pain at what's going on, he's in pain for people's condition. And divine comfort is bestowed upon him for his pain.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “You have grown soft. So the worthless have risen up against the honourable, the disreputable against the renowned, the foolish against the wise, the young against the aged. Righteousness and peace are far from you, inasmuch as you have abandoned the fear of God and become blind in faith.” —St. Clement of Rome | |
| − | + | “In our evil time, when the servants of the coming Antichrist are putting forth all their efforts so as to undermine and replace authentic Orthodoxy with a false ‘Orthodoxy’ - an Orthodoxy only in name, there have appeared not a few ‘pastors’ also who bear only the name of Orthodox but deny the authentic power and spirit of true Orthodoxy. Precisely such false pastors filled up the ranks of the (Soviet) ‘Living Church’ and the ‘Renovationist Church’ clergy in our Russia. | |
| − | + | But the ‘Living Church’ and ‘Renovationalism’ were not recognized by the believing Russian people, who felt in their hearts their whole falsity; and they brilliantly collapsed on the Russian soil, ceasing their official existence. However, the spirit of the ‘Living Church’ and ‘Renovationalism’ has not died, but has continued and up until now continues to live among us also in the Russian homeland, which has been enslaved by the godless, and also abroad among all the Orthodox Local Churches who have become infected with this pestilential spirit, not without, of course, the most strenuous cooperation of those same servants of the coming Antichrist. | |
| − | + | These pseudo-pastors, modernists and ecumenists, in place of true Orthodoxy, preach and insistently propagandize a false Orthodoxy, flattering all the sinful passions and vices of fallen man - striving in everything to go in step with the times and to adapt the Christian to the ‘world which lies in evil,’ under all possible cunning and well sounding pretexts. Everywhere now they are seizing the reigns of government in the contemporary Orthodox Local Churches. They are striving to play everywhere the leading guiding role, and often they have success, for they skillfully and cunningly make themselves seem to be zealots of Orthodoxy. | |
| − | + | But their actual aim is to undermine true Orthodoxy by a false ‘Orthodoxy,’ in order to make it come about, in the expression of Christ the Savior, ‘that the salt has lost its savor’ (Matthew 5:13), that it might lose its saltiness - that it might lose its spirit and power. This is a special kind of battle against the Church! | |
| − | + | Behold of what a frightful undertaking (of which) we are the living and immediate witnesses! By all means there is being conducted in the world a frightful battle against the Faith of Christ, by a path of falsification and imitations! | |
| − | + | …(this) truly most frightful and nightmarish phenomenon (is) something more frightful than open atheism and warfare against God, (for it) threatens to destroy our holy Orthodoxy from the root, having corrupted it from within…” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse | |
| − | + | “The fundamental task of the servants of the coming Antichrist is to destroy the old world with all its former concepts and ‘prejudices’ in order to build in its place a new world suitable for receiving its approaching ‘new owner’ who will take the place of Christ for people and give them on earth that which Christ did not give them… | |
| − | + | One must be completely blind spiritually, completely alien to true Christianity not to understand all this!” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse | |
| − | + | “Those forces that are preparing the appearance of Antichrist will have a leading significance in public life. Antichrist will be a man and not the devil incarnate. … That man wants to be in place of Christ, to occupy His place and possess that which Christ ought to possess. He wants to possess the same attraction and authority over the whole world. | |
| − | + | And he will receive that authority before his own destruction and that of the whole world. He will have a helper, a Magus, who, by the power of false miracles, will fulfill his will and kill those that do not recognize the authority of Antichrist.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, The Antichrist and the Signs of the End of the World, Homily on the Last Judgement | |
| − | + | “The faithful remnant of Christians in the last days, as our Lord has told us, will be very small; the vast majority of those who call themselves Christians will welcome Antichrist as the Messiah … those who are not true Orthodox Christians belong the ‘new Christianity’, the ‘Christianity’ of Antichrist. | |
| − | + | The Pope of Rome and practically everyone else today speaks of ‘transforming the world’ by Christianity: priests and nuns take part in demonstrations for ‘racial equality’ and similar causes. These have nothing to do with Christianity: they do nothing but distract men from their true goal, which is the Kingdom of Heaven. | |
| − | + | The coming age of ‘peace’, ‘unity’, and ‘brotherhood’, if it comes, will be the reign of Antichrist: it will be Christian in name, but Satanic in spirit. | |
| − | + | Εveryone today seeks happiness on earth, and they think this is ‘Christianity’; true Orthodox Christians know that the age of persecutions, which began again under the Bolsheviks, is still with us, and that only by much sorrow and tribulation are we made fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “It may be, brethren, that soon you will again experience a time of turmoil, and some of you will be called to take the path of denying those sacred laws and to submit to laws established by mere human authority. Beware of such a path! Beware of the path taken by the thief on the left, for by the weight of blasphemy, by the weight of reviling Christ he went to his eternal perdition. Those who revile the laws of the Church revile Christ Himself, Who is the Head of the Church, for the laws of the Church were given by the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. And the laws of local Churches are based on those same laws and canons of the Church. Let us not consider ourselves wiser than those saints and hierarchs who established the rules of the Church; let us not imagine ourselves to be great sages. Rather, let us humbly call out together with the wise thief: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom!” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily on the Sunday of Orthodoxy | |
| − | + | “Brothers and sisters! Let us aspire towards ascetic labor, in which is expressed precisely the essence of our Orthodox Christian faith, which is the labor of imitating Christ in bearing the cross and self-crucifixion – a faith of labor and, laboring lawfully as the Word of God teaches, let us suffer all things for the Truth, not moving away from it, as do many because of their poverty of spirit or self-interest. And let us remember well: where there is no labor, where there is no steadfastness in the faith – there is neither Orthodoxy nor true faith in God and in His Christ. Amen.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse | |
| − | + | “Being born, then, of the light of truth, shun division and bad doctrines. Where the shepherd is, there you, being sheep, must follow. For many wolves there are, apparently worthy of confidence, who with the bait of baneful pleasure seek to capture the runners in God's race; but if you stand united they will have no success…” —St. Ignatius of Antioch | |
| − | + | “We must not mind insulting men, if by respecting them we offend God.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’” —St. Anthony the Great | |
| − | + | “There will come a time when corruption and lewdness among the youth will reach the utmost point. There will hardly be any virgin youth left. They will see their lack of punishment and will think that everything is allowable for them to satisfy their desires. God will call them, however, and they will realize that it will not be possible for them to continue such a life. | |
| − | + | Then in various ways they will be led to God… that time will be beautiful. That today they are sinning greatly, will lead them to a deeper repentance. Just like the candle before it goes out, it shines strongly and throws sparks; with its light, it enlightens the surrounding darkness; thus, it will be the Church’s life in the last age. | |
| − | + | And that time is near.” —St. Seraphim of Vyritsa | |
| − | + | “When I remember the evil sins from which the Lord has delivered me, I have imperishable food for salvation.” —St. Mary of Egypt | |
| − | + | “We all want God to give unity of faith to the world. But you are confusing things. | |
| − | + | The reconciliation of people is one thing, while the reconciliation of religions is another. Christianity requires all of us to love everyone with all our hearts, whatever faith they may have. | |
| − | + | At the same time we are ordered to keep our faith and doctrines intact. As Christians you must be merciful to the whole world, to all people. Even your life you should give on their behalf. | |
| − | + | But you have no right to touch the truths of Christ. Because they are not yours. The faith of Christ is not our property to do with it as we wish.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “We do not change the boundaries marked out by our Fathers. We keep the Tradition we have received. If we begin to lay down the Law of the Church even in the smallest things, the whole edifice will fall to the ground in no short time.” —St. John of Damascus | |
| − | + | “At this dawn of modern history, the thirteenth century, all the seeds of modern mentality are present. And modern history follows logically from these seeds. Essentially, it is one thing – the search for a new Christianity which is better than Orthodoxy, better than the Christianity of the Holy Fathers, which Christ gave to us. | |
| − | + | Later on, this will take forms which go through atheism and all kinds of wild beliefs, but essentially the search remains the same, and in the end the world will be Christian, because it's Antichrist who gives them a new religion, which is not something foreign to Christianity. It will not be some kind of paganism. It will be something which everyone will accept as Christianity, but will be anti-christian. A substitute for Christianity which denies the very essence of Christianity. | |
| − | + | And that is why the main history of the rebellion against Christ is no less than the apostasy which St. Paul talks about. It is not by means of persecution as it was in the beginning, but by means of taking Christianity and changing it so that it will no longer be Christian. And this is what we can call the Unfolding of the Mystery of Iniquity in preparation for Antichrist.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, excerpt from Orthodox Survival Course | |
| − | + | “We who wish to remain in the true tradition of Orthodoxy will have to be zealous and firm in our Orthodoxy without being fanatics, and without presuming to teach our bishops what they should do. Above all we must strive to preserve the true fragrance of Orthodoxy, being at least a little ‘not of this world’, detached from all the cares and politics even of the Church, nourishing ourselves on the otherworldly food the Church gives us in such abundance.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Test your bishops in only one respect: try and find out whether they are Orthodox, whether they teach dogmas contrary to the true Faith, and whether they concelebrate with heretics, or schismatics. As far as other things, they act out of ignorance or because the days are evil and they will give an account to God only.” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople | |
| − | + | “Regarding the affairs of the Church, in the words of the Saviour, one of the most awesome phenomena of the last days is that at that time ‘the stars shall fall from heaven’ (Matt. 24.29). According to the Saviour’s own explanation, these ‘stars’ are the Angels of the Churches, in other words, the Bishops (Rev. 1.20). The religious and moral fall of the Bishops is, therefore, one of the most characteristic signs of the last days. The fall of the Bishops is particularly horrifying when they deviate from the doctrines of the faith, or, as the Apostle put it, when they ‘would pervert the Gospel of Christ’ (Gal. 1.7). The Apostle orders that such people be pronounced ‘anathema’. He said, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed (anathema)’ (Gal. 1.9). And one must not be slow about this, for he continues, ‘A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, being condemned of himself’ (Titus 3.10-11). Moreover, you may be subject to God’s judgement if you are indifferent to deviation from the truth: ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth’ (Rev. 3.16).” —Archbishop Theophan of Poltava | |
| − | “The | + | “The bishops of the end times will be subservient [obedient and compliant] to the powerful of the world, and they will make decisions according to the gifts they receive from everywhere, and consulting the rational logic of the academics.” —St. Pambo |
| − | + | “Do not show obedience to bishops who exhort you to do and to say and to believe in things which are not to your benefit. What pious man would hold his tongue? Who would remain completely calm? In fact, silence equates to consent.” —St. Meletios of Antioch | |
| − | + | “The clergy in the last years will become an instrument of the Antichrist. They will teach blind obedience as a virtue of peace and salvation. A satanic obedience, which will require from the believer ‘ignorance’ and contempt for the teachings of the Saints and indifference to the truth and superficial piety.” —St. Niphon of Constantia (Cyprus) | |
| − | + | “Christian shepherds, that is, bishops and priests, are going to be filled with vainglory (with some exceptions), utterly failing to distinguish the right way from the left… The Churches of God are going to be deprived of godly and pious shepherds.” —St. Nilus the Myrrhgusher of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “Just as the unskilled doctor sends many people to the gates of Hades [physical death], similarly, the incompetent and irresponsible spiritual father sends many souls to Hades. O, what a terrible evil for someone to find [spiritual] death while seeking treatment.” —St. Nektarios of Aegina | |
| − | + | “The time will come when you will be sold by your shepherds. They will watch you being ripped apart by the wild beasts and they will not come to your help.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania | |
| − | + | “In the last days, evil and heresy will have spread so widely that the faithful will not be able to find a priest or shepherd to protect them from delusion and guide them to salvation. At that time, the faithful will not receive safe guidance from men; but their guide will be the writings of the Holy Fathers. Especially at this time, every believer will be responsible for the whole fulness of the Church. Brethren, it is time for us all to undertake our responsibility to God and to history. Do not tolerate any more foolishness or misguidance from priests or archpriests. Do not turn a blind eye for you will be co-responsible. The Saints are forewarning you.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco | |
| − | + | “The last days are starting. Soon, there will be an ecumenical council called ‘holy’. But that will be the very ‘eighth council’ which will be the assembly of the godless. All religions will unite into one at that council. Then, all fasts will be canceled, monasticism will be completely destroyed, bishops will be married. The new calendar will be implimented in the Universal Church. | |
| − | + | Be vigilant. Try to go to God's church while they are still ours. Soon, you won't be able to go there. Everything will change. Only the chosen will see this. They will be forcing people to go to church, but we should not go there under any circumstances. Stand in the Orthodox Faith until the end and you will be saved!” —St. Kuksha (Velichko) of Odessa | |
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| − | + | “When the traces of the past historical order have become extinguished, and the new order has taken ground, the Holy Mount will have no peace. Monastic dignity will be destroyed or disposed of for the freedom of the state and the bishops to squander its priceless treasures and relics.” —Elder Costas the Caveot and Fool for Christ of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “But woe to the monks in those days who will be bound with possessions and riches, who because of love of peace will be ready to submit to the heretics. They will lull to sleep their conscience, saying, ‘We are preserving and saving the monastery and the Lord will forgive us.’ The unfortunate and blind ones do not at all consider that through heresy the demons will enter the monastery and then it will no longer be a holy monastery, but merely walls from which grace will depart.” —St. Anatoly the Younger of Optina | |
| − | + | “Let us flee from those who reject patristic interpretations and attempt by themselves to deduce the complete opposite. While pretending to concern themselves with the literal sense of the passage, they reject its godly meaning. We should run away from them more than we would from a snake, for when a snake bites it kills the body temporarily, separating it from the immortal soul, but when these evil men get their teeth into a soul, they separate it from God, which is eternal death for that soul. Let us escape as far as we can from such people, and take refuge with those who teach piety and salvation in accordance with the traditions of the Fathers.” —St. Gregory Palamas, Homily 34, On the Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus | |
| − | + | “Brother Christians! Raise your voices in defense of the Church's Apostolic Faith, the holy things of the Church, the Church's heritage. Defend your right to believe and confess your faith as you learned it in days of old, as you were taught it by the holy apostles, the holy martyrs, the God-wise fathers of the Church, the Christian ascetics. Take care of the holiness of your souls, the freedom of your consciences. Say loudly that you have been accustomed to pray and save yourselves in the churches, that the holy things of the Church are dearer to you than life itself, that without them salvation is impossible. No power can demand from you that which is against your faith, your religious conscience: ‘We must obey God rather than men’, said the holy apostles. That is what we, too, must say. The apostles joyfully suffered for the faith. Be you also ready for sacrifice, for podvig, and remember that physical arms are powerless against those who arm themselves with powerful faith in Christ. Faith moves mountains, ‘the faith of the Christians has conquered the pagan boldness’. May your faith be bold and courageous! Christ destroyed Hades. He will also destroy the snares of the enemies of our Church. Believe - and the enemy will flee from before your face. Stand in defense of your faith and with firm hope say: ‘Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered!’” —St. Hermogenes, Hieromartyr and Bishop of Tobolsk, response to the Bolshevik tyranny in 1918 | |
| − | + | “The times ahead, more perhaps than ever before in the Church's history, are a time of what St. Gregory the Theologian called ‘suffering Orthodoxy.’ We truly live in apocalyptic times: atheism is conquering the public sphere in the whole world, false religion increases as never before and captures many of those who awaken from the sleep of unbelief, the ecumenical movement draws nearer its goal of a false world church (the harlot of the Apocalypse), and the spirit of the coming Antichrist begins to place its seal on everywhere. Those who would be faithful to Christ in these terrible times must be prepared for sufferings and trials which will truly test the faithfulness of our hearts to Him. And yet, greater than these sufferings and the prince of this world who will inflict them upon us is He Who has promised to be with us even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse, The Apocalypse, translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Satan has spread 666 traps. His seal will be made not only invisibly but also visibly, on the forehead and arm. If the seal impression is made by force, in God’s sight it will be considered like a virgin disgraced. The hardest trial for Christians will be their relatives who accepted the seal. The seal won’t affect if made against someone's will. But imagine the trap set by the antichrist for a mother having left with five children. How to feed them if she does not accept the seal? | |
| − | + | At first, the seal will be offered to volunteers. However, within the enthronement of Antichrist everyone will be forced to accept the seal. Disobedience will be claimed a treachery. People will flee to the forests. Precautions should be taken to move in groups of about ten-fifteen, as the demons might try to nudge single people from the cliffs. The believers will be protected by the Holy Spirit. Whatever happens, never lose your hope. Help each other. God will clear your mind and you will know how to react. The one who endures will be saved. No true believer will feel either hunger, or thirst. The believers won't wither in the time of disasters. The Lord will work miracles for them. One leaf of a plant will be enough food for a month. Even the lump of the earth will be changed into the bread by making a sign of the cross over it.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ | |
| − | + | “The servants of Antichrist more than anything else strive to force God out of the life of men, so that men, satisfied with their material comfort, might not feel any need to turn to God in prayer, might not remember God, but might live as though He did not exist. Therefore, the whole order of today's life in the so-called ‘free’ countries, where there is no open bloody persecution against faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, is an even greater danger for the soul of a Christian (than open persecution), for it chains him entirely to the earth, compelling him to forget about heaven. The whole of contemporary ‘culture’, directed to purely earthly attainments and the frantic whirlpool of life bound up with it, keeps a man in a constant state of emptiness and distraction which gives no opportunity for one to go at least a little deeper into his soul, and so the spiritual life in him gradually dies out.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse, True Orthodoxy and the Contemporary World | |
| − | + | “They have built a church career for themselves on a false but attractive premise: that the chief danger to the Church today is lack of strictness. No – the chief danger is something much deeper – the loss of the savor of Orthodoxy, a movement in which they themselves are participating, even in their ‘strictness.’… ‘Strictness’ will not save us if we don't have any more the feeling and taste of Orthodoxy.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “We ourselves have a feeling–based on nothing very definite as yet–that the best hope for preserving true Orthodoxy in the years ahead will lie in such small gatherings of believers, as much as possible ‘one in mind and soul.’ The history of the twentieth century has already shown us that we cannot expect too much from the ‘Church organization’; there, even apart from heresies, the spirit of the world has become very strong. Archbishop Averky, and our own Bishop Nektary also, have warned us to prepare for catacomb times ahead, when the grace of God may even be taken away from the ‘Church organization’ and only isolated groups of believers will remain. Soviet Russia already gives us an example of what we may expect–only worse, for the times do not get better.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Hope, His Life and Works | |
| − | + | “In those days the remnant of the faithful are to experience in themselves something like that which was experienced once by the Lord Himself when He, hanging on a cross, felt Himself so forsaken by His Divinity, that He cried out ‘My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?’ The last Christians will experience in themselves a similar abandonment of humanity by the Grace of God, but only for a short time.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “Finally, in the twilight of history, the dictator of the world will come, the son of perdition… whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth (2 Thess. 2:8). And in all that time of peace, happiness and prosperity, there ‘will be great tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor will ever be after’ (Mat. 24:21). Because of these troubles, many will repent and turn to God the Saviour. And in them the Lord will have His last harvest. | |
| − | + | The countries of the world will lead the fight against Christ and His Church… The Church of Christ will be put outside the law, and public commemoration of Christ's name will be proscribed with severe penalties. But only those who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And the Son of Man, when He suddenly comes and destroys the ‘son of perdition’ [i.e. Antichrist], that last tyrant, will He find faith on the earth? | |
| − | + | It will be found, but not in public. It will be found, but not in magnificent temples, such as are present, but in the caves and deserts. It will be found, but not as approved and protected, but as something tossed to and fro. It will be found, but not in lavish liturgies and psalmody but in the temples of the human heart and in whispered speakings. For the Church began in Martyrdom, and in the end there She will find Martyrdom, O holy brethren.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Orthodox Church in the "twilight of history" | |
| − | + | “During the days of Antichrist, the strongest temptation will be the anticipation of salvation coming from the cosmos, from humanoids–that is from extraterrestrials, who are actually demons. One should rarely look up to search the skies with the naked eye, since the signs might be deceptive and one might be deceived.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ | |
| − | + | “So mine is a little flock? But it is not being carried over a precipice. So mine is a narrow fold? But it is unapproachable by wolves; it cannot be entered by a robber, nor overcome by thieves and strangers. I shall yet see it, I know well, grow wider… I fear not for the little flock; for it is seen at a glance. I know my sheep and am known of mine. Such are they that know God and are known of God. My sheep hear from my voice that which I have heard from the oracles of God, which I have been taught by the Holy Fathers, which I have taught in like manner on all occasions, not conforming myself to fashion, and which I will never cease to teach; in which I was born, and in which I will depart.” —St. Gregory the Theologian | |
| − | + | “If it should happen that a patriarch, metropolitan, or bishop is a heretic, and such a heretic publicly professes heresy and disseminates heretical opinions boldly and confidently among the people, whoever separates from him will not only not be punished, but rather honored, for they deserve recognition for separating from an association with a certain faith.” —Fr. Joannes Zonaras (9th century Byzantine canonist and historian on Canon 15) | |
| − | + | “Concerning the Patriarch I shall say this, lest it should perhaps occur to him to show me a certain respect at the burial of this my humble body, or to send to my grave any of his hierarchs or clergy or in general any of those in communion with him in order to take part in prayer or to join the priests invited to it from amongst us, thinking that at some time, or perhaps secretly, I had allowed communion with him. And lest my silence give occasion to those who do not know my views well and fully to suspect some kind of conciliation, I hereby state and testify before the many worthy men here present that I do not desire, in any manner and absolutely, and do not accept communion with him or with those who are with him, not in this life nor after my death, just as (I accept) neither the Union nor Latin dogmas, which he and his adherents have accepted, and for the enforcement of which he has occupied this presiding place, with the aim of overturning the true dogmas of the Church. I am absolutely convinced that the farther I stand from him and those like him, the nearer I am to God and all the saints, and to the degree that I separate myself from them am in union with the Truth and with the Holy Fathers, the Theologians of the Church; and I am likewise convinced that those who count themselves with them stand far away from the Truth and from the blessed Teachers of the Church. And for this reason I say: just as in the course of my whole life I was separated from them, so at the time of my departure, yea and after my death, I turn away from intercourse and communion with them and vow and command that none (of them) shall approach either my burial or my grave, and likewise anyone else from our side, with the aim of attempting to join and concelebrate in our Divine services; for this would be to mix what cannot be mixed. But it befits them to be absolutely separated from us until such time as God shall grant correction and peace to His Church.” —St. Mark of Ephesus, The Example of, [as quoted in The Orthodox Word, June-July, 1967, pp. 103ff.] | |
| − | + | “With all our strength let us beware lest we receive Communion from or give it to heretics. ‘Give not what is holy to the dogs,’ says the Lord. ‘Neither cast ye your pearls before swine’, lest we become partakers in their dishonour and condemnation.” —St. John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, IV, 13 | |
| − | + | “And, you see, people are not at all aware that we are living during the signs of the times, that the sealing is already advancing. This is why the Sacred Scripture says that even the elect will be deceived.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos, Spiritual Counsels, Vol. II, Spiritual Awakening, p. 198 | |
| − | + | “The Church is suffering today because Divine illumination is missing and people understand things as it suits them. The human element gets involved; passions are aroused, and then, the devil comes and thrashes about. That is why people who are governed by their passions should not seek to govern others.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “In sum, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in theory embracing almost the whole universe and in fact extending its authority only over several dioceses, and in other places having only a higher superficial supervision and receiving certain revenues for this, persecuted by the government at home and not supported by any governmental authority abroad: having lost its significance as a pillar of truth and having itself become a source of division, and at the same time being possessed by an exorbitant love of power--represents a pitiful spectacle which recalls the worst periods in the history of the See of Constantinople.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, from Orthodox Word, vol. 8, no. 4 (45), July-August 1972, pp. 166-168, 174-175. | |
| − | + | “The Lord of all gave to His apostles the power of the gospel, and by them we also have learned the truth, that is, the teaching of the Son of God—as the Lord said to them, ‘He who hears you hears Me, and he who despises you despises Me, and Him Who sent Me’ [Lk.10:16]. For we learned the plan of our salvation from no other than from those through whom the gospel came to us. The first preached it abroad, and then later by the will of God handed it down to us in Scriptures, to be the foundation and pillar of our faith. For it is not right to say that they preached before they had come to perfect knowledge, as some dare to say, boasting that they are the correctors of the apostles. For after our Lord had risen from the dead, and they were clothed with the power from on high when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were filled with all things and had perfect knowledge. They went out to the ends of the earth, preaching the good things that come to us from God, and proclaiming peace from heaven to all men, all and each of them equally being in possession of the gospel of God.” —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III | |
| − | + | “Those that wish to discern the truth may observe the apostolic tradition made manifest in every church throughout the world. We can enumerate those who were appointed bishops in the churches by the apostles, and their successors (or successions) down to our own day, who never taught, and never knew, absurdities such as these men produce. For if the apostles had known hidden mysteries which they taught the perfect in private and in secret, they would rather have committed them to those to whom they entrusted the churches. For they wished those men to be perfect and unbelievable whom they laughed as their successors and to whom they handed over their own office of authority. But as it would be very tedious, in a book of this sort, to enumerate the successions in all the churches, we can found all those who in any way, whether for self-pleasing, or vainglory, or blindness, or evil mindedness, hold on authorized meetings. This we do by pointing to the apostolic tradition and the faith that is preached to men, which has come down to us through the successions of bishops; the tradition and creed of the greatest, and most ancient church, the church known to all men, which was founded and set up at Rome by the two men most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul. For with this church, because of its position of leadership and authority, must needs agree every church, that is, the faithful everywhere; for in her the apostolic tradition has always been preserved by the faithful from all parts.” —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, III | |
| − | + | "True Christianity is glorifying God with our own lives. To glorify God with our own life is possible only when we have true faith and when that faith indeed exists, we express it in words and in deeds.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco | |
| − | + | “When I, while still in Australia, began to receive information from America already post factum that here [in New York City] there had been protests, demonstrations, and even molebens in front of the Soviet consulate, I became quite alarmed and regretted that I was not here, since I would have decisively opposed much of what took place. In particular, holding a moleben in such a place. Did they not sing the Lord's song in a strange land? What cause was there to display the holy things of the Church's services before the gaze of the frenzied servants of Antichrist? Was it really not possible to pray in church? | |
| − | + | I must say frankly that I am always seized by dismay when I hear of protests, demonstrations, and the like. In the USSR, life is governed by him (the one with horns) who fears only Christ and His Cross; and who fears nothing else in the world. And he merely chortles over protests and demonstrations. Public opinion? Why, the antichrist regime has nothing but the uttermost contempt for it! They wanted to seize Czechoslovakia and they seized it, paying no heed to the commotion that was raised. They wanted to invade Afghanistan and they invaded it, again paying no attention to the protests and threats of the various Carters & Co. All attempts to shape public opinion in the so-called Free World in favor of those suffering from Communism are powerless and fruitless, since the Free World stubbornly closes its eyes and imitates the ostrich, which hides its head under its wing and imagines that it cannot be seen…” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York, A letter from Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) to ROCOR Priest Victor Potapov concerning Father Dimitry Dudko and the Moscow Patriarchate | |
| − | + | “That only the canonical Scriptures have infallibility is testified by Blessed Augustine in the words which he writes to Jerome: ‘It is fitting to bestow such honour and veneration only to the books of Scripture which are called 'canonical,' for I absolutely believe that none of the authors who wrote them erred in anything. … As for other writings, no matter how great was the excellence of their authors in sanctity and learning, in reading them I do not accept their teaching as true solely on the basis that they thus wrote and thought.’ Then, in a letter to Fortunatus [St. Mark continues in his citations of Augustine] he writes the following: ‘We should not hold the judgment of a man, even though this man might have been orthodox and had an high reputation, as the same kind of authority as the canonical Scriptures, to the extent of considering it inadmissible for us, out of the reverence we owe such men, to disapprove and reject something in their writing if we should happen to discover that they taught other than the truth which, with God's help, has been attained by others or by ourselves. This is how I am with regard to the writings of other men; and I desire that the reader will act thus with regard to my writings also.’” —St. Mark of Ephesus, Second Homily on Purgatorial Fire, chs. 15-16; Pogodin, pp. 127-132 | |
| − | + | “All who foolishly and proudly reject the Holy Fathers, who approach the Gospels directly with foolish brazenness and unclean mind and heart, fall into lethal self-deception. The Gospel has rejected them, for it only accepts those who are humble.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, The Field, chapter 3 | |
| − | + | “The holy scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them in our hearts.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “I will tell you my opinion briefly and without reserve. We ought to remain in that Church which was founded by the Apostles and continues to this day. If ever you hear of any that are called Christians taking their name not from the Lord Jesus Christ, but from some other, for instance, Marcionites, Valentinians, Men of the mountain or the plain, you may be sure that you have there not the Church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antichrist. For the fact that they took their rise after the foundation of the Church is proof that they are those whose coming the Apostle foretold. | |
| − | + | And let them not flatter themselves if they think they have Scripture authority for their assertions, since the devil himself quoted Scripture, and the essence of the Scriptures is not the letter, but the meaning. Otherwise, if we follow the letter, we too can concoct a new dogma and assert that such persons as wear shoes and have two coats must not be received into the Church.” —St. Jerome | |
| − | + | “Christianity did not come from Judaism: rather, Judaism is a perversion of Christianity.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch | |
| − | + | “Jesus Christ is King of Israel. Christians are the Israelite race.” —St. Justin the Martyr | |
| − | “The | + | “The synagogue is a refuge for demons, and it is more correct to say not only the synagogue but also Jewish souls; if you consider yourself a true Jew, then why are you burdening the Church.” —St. John Chrysostom, Against the Jews (Adversus Judeos), Homily 1 IV:2 |
| − | + | “But do not be surprised that I called the Jews pitiable. They really are pitiable and miserable. When so many blessings from heaven came into their hands, they thrust them aside and were at great pains to reject them. The morning Sun of Justice arose for them, but they thrust aside its rays and still sit in darkness.” —St. John Chrysostom, Against the Jews (Adversus Judeos) | |
| − | + | “Certainly it is the time for me to show that demons dwell in the synagogue, not only in the place itself but also in the souls of the Jews. As Christ said: ‘When an unclean spirit is gone out, he walks through dry places seeking rest. If he does not find it he says: I shall return to my house. And coming he finds it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter into him and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this generation.’ Do you see that demons dwell in their souls and that these demons are more dangerous than the ones of old? And this is very reasonable.” —St. John Chrysostom, Against the Jews (Adversus Judeos) | |
| − | “The | + | “The teachers of Judaism refuse to admit that the Septuagint is correct. They attempt to frame another translation of the Scriptures. Observe that they have taken away many Old Testament Scriptures, by which the proof of Christ's crucifixion is set forth.” —St. Justin the Martyr |
| − | + | “The Jews are wise only in doing evil, and are thus unable to know the hidden plan of God.” —St. Justin the Martyr | |
| − | + | “It is absurd to speak of Jesus Christ with the tongue, and to cherish in the mind a Judaism which has now come to an end. For where there is Christianity there cannot be Judaism. For Christ is one, in whom every nation that believes, and every tongue that confesses, is gathered unto God. And those that were of a stony heart have become the children of Abraham, the friend of God and in his seed all those have been blessed who were ordained to eternal life in Christ.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, On the Delusion of Being a ‘Jewish’ Christian, Epistle to the Magnesians, Chapter X | |
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| − | + | “Jews are slayers of the Lord, murderers of the prophets, enemies of God, adversaries of Grace, enemies of their Fathers’ faith, advocates of the devil, a brood of vipers, slanderers, scoffers, men of darkened minds, the leaven of Pharisees, a congregation of demons, sinners, wicked men, haters of Goodness!” —St. Gregory of Nyssa | |
| − | + | “It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil.” —St. Gregory Palamas | |
| − | + | “They furthermore accuse us of being idolaters, because we venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is it, then, that you rub yourselves against a stone in your Ka'ba and kiss and embrace it?’ Then some of them say that Abraham had relations with Agar upon it, but others say that he tied the camel to it, when he was going to sacrifice Isaac. And we answer them: ‘Since Scripture says that the mountain was wooded and had trees from which Abraham cut wood for the holocaust and laid it upon Isaac, [108] and then he left the asses behind with the two young men, why talk nonsense? For in that place neither is it thick with trees nor is there passage for asses.’ And they are embarrassed, but they still assert that the stone is Abraham's. Then we say: ‘Let it be Abraham's, as you so foolishly say. Then, just because Abraham had relations with a woman on it or tied a camel to it, you are not ashamed to kiss it, yet you blame us for venerating the cross of Christ by which the power of the demons and the deceit of the Devil was destroyed.’ This stone that they talk about is a head of that Aphrodite whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabár. Even to the present day, traces of the carving are visible on it to careful observers. | |
| − | + | As has been related, this Mohammed wrote many ridiculous books, to each one of which he set a title. For example, there is the book On Woman, in which he plainly makes legal provision for taking four wives and, if it be possible, a thousand concubines—as many as one can maintain, besides the four wives. He also made it legal to put away whichever wife one might wish, and, should one so wish, to take to oneself another in the same way. Mohammed had a friend named Zeid. This man had a beautiful wife with whom Mohammed fell in love. Once, when they were sitting together, Mohammed said: ‘Oh, by the way, God has commanded me to take your wife.’ The other answered: ‘You are an apostle. Do as God has told you and take my wife.’ Rather—to tell the story over from the beginning—he said to him: ‘God has given me the command that you put away your wife.’ And he put her away. Then several days later: ‘Now,’ he said, ‘God has commanded me to take her.’ Then, after he had taken her and committed adultery with her, he made this law: ‘Let him who will put away his wife. And if, after having put her away, he should return to her, let another marry her. For it is not lawful to take her unless she have been married by another. Furthermore, if a brother puts away his wife, let his brother marry her, should he so wish.’ [110] In the same book he gives such precepts as this: ‘Work the land which God hath given thee and beautify it. And do this, and do it in such a manner’ –not to repeat all the obscene things that he did.” —St. John of Damascus, Fount of Knowledge, Heresies in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin | |
| − | + | “Sometimes Japanese protestants come to me and ask me to clarify some place in the Holy Scriptures. ‘You have your own missionary teachers,’ I tell them, ‘Go ask them. What do they say?’ ‘We have asked them. They say: understand as you know how. But I need to know the real thought of God, not my own personal opinion.’ … It's not like that with us [Orthodox]. Everything is clear, trustworthy and simple, since we accept Holy Tradition in addition to the Holy Scriptures. And Holy Tradition is a living, unbroken voice of our Church from the time of Christ and His Apostles until now, and which will exist until the end of the world. In it all the meaning of the Holy Scriptures are preserved.” —St. Nicholas of Japan, Diary, January 15, 1897 | |
| − | + | “It is Christ Himself, not the Bible, Who is the true word of God. The Bible, read in the right spirit and with the guidance of good teachers, will bring us to Him. We must not use the Bible as a sort of encyclopedia out of which texts can be taken for use as weapons.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “If Scripture is perfect and sufficient for everything, why is the Church's interpretation necessary? Because, quite plainly, Scripture is not accepted by everyone as having the same meaning.” —St. Vincent of Lérins | |
| − | “The | + | “The humility of Jesus is not a superfluous detail in the gospel narrative. The humility of Jesus is essential to the gospel. If Jesus lacked humility, there would be no incarnation, no crucifixion, and no redemption.” —Jack Wisdom |
| − | + | “When they are refuted by the Scriptures, they take to maligning the Scriptures themselves. … But when we refer them to that tradition which originates with the apostles and which is preserved in the churches through the succession of the presbyters, they attack the tradition, claiming that they themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters but even than the apostles. [However] anyone who wants to see the truth can look to the tradition of the Apostles which is clearly manifested throughout the whole world; and we can list those who were set up as bishops in the different churches as well as their successors right down to our own time, men who neither taught nor knew anything like what these [Gnostics] are raving about. For if the apostles had known secret doctrines which they were in the habit of teaching to the “perfect” clandestinely and apart from the rest, they would most certainly have communicated these things to those to whom they were entrusting the churches themselves. | |
| − | + | And if a dispute should arise over some point or other, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches, in which the apostles were actively interested, and find out from them what is certain and clear with regard to the point at issue? What if, in fact, the apostles had left us no Writings? Would it not be necessary to follow the line indicated by the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they entrusted the churches?” —St. Irenaeus of Lyons | |
| − | + | “[Heretics] should not be admitted to any discussion of the Scriptures… | |
| − | + | The Lord Jesus sent the apostles to preach. … Now what they actually preached can, as I must here likewise prescribe, be proved only by those very same churches which the apostles themselves founded by preaching to them both viva voce, as they say, and later by letters. Such being the case, it is consequently certain that any doctrine which agrees with [what is held by] these apostolic churches, moulds and original sources of the faith, must be considered the truth, undoubtedly containing that which these churches received from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God; but any other doctrine must be presumed false, since it smacks of opposition to the truth of the churches, of the apostles, of Christ, of God. | |
| − | + | Come now! Would they all have fallen into error? Would the steward of God, the Vicar of Christ [the Holy Spirit] have neglected His duty by allowing the churches to understand and believe otherwise than what He Himself taught the apostles? Is it likely that so many and such outstanding churches would all have strayed into the one [false] faith? No chance happening ever has the same outcome in the case of many different individuals. A doctrinal error in so many different churches would of necessity have taken different forms. But when unity exists amid diversity, this can be the result, not of error, but only of Tradition. | |
| − | + | Let us inquire, therefore, whether tradition, unless it be written, should be accepted. Certainly we shall say that it ought not to be accepted if we can allege as precedent no cases of other practices which we justify without any written document, but solely on the grounds of tradition and because of the approval of subsequent custom… If you demand scriptural justification for these and other such practices, you will find none. Tradition will be held out to you as their author, custom as their consolidator, and faith as their observer.” —Tertullian | |
| − | + | “Since there are many who think they share the mind of Christ and yet some of them think differently from their predecessors, let the preaching of the Church be held fast, that preaching which has been handed down from the apostles through the ranks of succession and perdures in the churches to the present day. That alone is to be believed as the truth which varies in no wise from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition.” —Origen | |
| − | + | “It suffices as proof of our thesis that we have a tradition coming to us from the fathers, like a legacy handed down from the apostles through the saints who followed them in succession.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa | |
| − | + | “Of the beliefs and practices [disciplinary regulations] preserved in the Church, some we possess from teaching handed down in written form; others we have received as delivered to us in a mystery from the tradition of the Apostles, and both of these have the same force as far as religion is concerned.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “There is need of tradition also; for not everything can be found in Scripture. That is why the most holy apostles left some things in writing and others in tradition. Paul affirms this very fact as follows: ‘as I handed it on to you.’ Likewise in another passage: ‘This is my teaching and thus have I handed it on to the churches.’ Similarly: ‘If you continue to cling firmly to it, as I preached it to you—unless your faith has all been for nothing.’” —St. Epiphanius | |
| − | + | “Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.” —St. Hippolytus of Rome, The Apostolic Tradition, 21:16 | |
| − | + | “We baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by sins, so they too may be given holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and membership in Him.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “We believe the first man created by God to have fallen in Paradise, when, disregarding the Divine commandment, he yielded to the deceitful counsel of the serpent. And as a result hereditary sin flowed to his posterity; so that everyone who is born after the flesh bears this burden, and experiences the fruits of it in this present world. But by these fruits and this burden we do not understand [actual] sin, such as impiety, blasphemy, murder, sodomy, adultery, fornication, enmity, and whatever else is by our depraved choice committed contrarily to the Divine Will, not from nature. For many both of the Forefathers and of the Prophets, and vast numbers of others, as well of those under the shadow [of the Law], as well as under the truth [of the Gospel], such as the divine Precursor, and especially the Mother of God the Word, the ever-virgin Mary, did not experience these [sins], or such like faults. But only what the Divine Justice inflicted upon man as a punishment for the [original] transgression, such as sweats in labor, afflictions, bodily sicknesses, pains in child-bearing, and, finally, while on our pilgrimage, to live a laborious life, and lastly, bodily death.” —Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, Decree 6 | |
| − | + | “We believe Holy Baptism, which was instituted by the Lord, and is conferred in the name of the Holy Trinity, to be of the highest necessity. For without it none is able to be saved, as the Lord says, ‘Whoever is not born of water and of the Spirit, shall in no way enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens.’ {John 3:5} And, therefore, baptism is necessary even for infants, since they also are subject to original sin, and without Baptism are not able to obtain its remission. Which the Lord showed when he said, not of some only, but simply and absolutely, ‘Whoever is not born [again],’ which is the same as saying, ‘All that after the coming of Christ the Savior would enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens must be regenerated.’ And since infants are men, and as such need salvation, needing salvation they need also Baptism. And those that are not regenerated, since they have not received the remission of hereditary sin, are, of necessity, subject to eternal punishment, and consequently cannot without Baptism be saved. So that even infants should, of necessity, be baptized. Moreover, infants are saved, as is said in Matthew; {Matthew 19:12} but he that is not baptized is not saved. And consequently even infants must of necessity be baptized. And in the Acts {Acts 8:12; 16:33} it is said that the whole houses were baptized, and consequently the infants. To this the ancient Fathers also witness explicitly, and among them Dionysius in his Treatise concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; and Justin in his fifty-sixth Question, who says expressly, ‘And they are guaranteed the benefits of Baptism by the faith of those that bring them to Baptism.’ And Augustine says that it is an Apostolic tradition, that children are saved through Baptism; and in another place, ‘The Church gives to babes the feet of others, that they may come; and the hearts of others, that they may believe; and the tongues of others, that they may promise;’ and in another place, ‘Our mother, the Church, furnishes them with a particular heart.’ | |
| − | + | Now the matter of Baptism is pure water, and no other liquid. And it is performed by the Priest only, or in a case of unavoidable necessity, by another man, provided he is Orthodox, and has the proper intention to Divine Baptism. And the effects of Baptism are, to speak concisely, firstly, the remission of the hereditary transgression, and of any sins of any kind that the baptized may have committed. Secondly, it delivers him from the eternal punishment, to which he was liable, as well for original sin and for mortal sins he may have individually committed. Thirdly, it gives to the person immortality; for in justifying them from past sins, it makes them temples of God. | |
| − | + | And it cannot be said that there is any sin which may have been previously committed that remains, though not imputed, that is not washed away through Baptism, For that were indeed the height of impiety, and a denial, rather than a confession of piety. Indeed, truly, all sin existing, or committed before Baptism, is blotted out, and is to be regarded as never existing or committed. For the forms of Baptism, and on either hand all the words that precede and that perfect Baptism, do indicate a perfect cleansing. And the same thing even the very names of Baptism do signify. For if Baptism is by the Spirit and by fire, {Matthew 3:11} it is obvious that it is in all a perfect cleansing; for the Spirit cleanses perfectly. If it is light, {Hebrews 6:4} it dispels the darkness. If it is regeneration, {Titus 3:5} old things are passed away. And what are these except sins? If the baptized puts off the old man, {Colossians 3:9} then sin also. If he puts on Christ, {Galatians 3:27} then in effect he becomes free from sin through Baptism. For God is far from sinners. This Paul also teaches more plainly, saying: ‘As through one [man] we, being many, were made sinners, so through one [are we made] righteous.’ {Romans 5:19} And if righteous, then free from sin. For it is not possible for life and death to be in the same [person]. If Christ truly died, then remission of sin through the Spirit is true also. Hence it is evident that all who are baptized and fall asleep while babes are undoubtedly saved, being predestinated through the death of Christ. Forasmuch as they are without any sin; – without that common [to all], because delivered from it by the Divine laver, and without any of their own, because as babes they are incapable of committing sin; – and consequently are saved. Moreover, Baptism imparts an indelible character, as does also the Priesthood. For as it is impossible for any one to receive twice the same order of the Priesthood, so it is impossible for any once rightly baptized, to be again baptized, although he should fall even into myriads of sins, or even into actual apostasy from the Faith. For when he is willing to return unto the Lord, he receives again through the Mystery of Penance the adoption of a son, which he had lost.” —Confession of Dositheus, Synod of Jerusalem, 1672, Decree 16 | |
| − | + | “A dangerous lie is preached by sectarians when they say that children should not be baptized, but when children grow up and know what faith is, then they should be baptized. Man and son of man, shut your ears from such crazy words. Because if your child dies unbaptized, he will enter the other world as unclean and undone by God. With whom, then, will he be in eternity, and whose name will he be? Look, you don't wait for your child to grow up and find out what water and milk and honey and bread and medicine are, and only then can you give him all that. But you give it to him even though he doesn't know it. You know what's good and life saving for her, does she have to know that in the cradle? And if your child has cough, will you treat it, or will you wait until it grows up and find out what cough is? And hereditary sin is an unequally heavier pain than gout. So when you are treating your child from gout, treat him also from that more serious illness, for which the cure is baptism. Don't let your unbaptized child die, because otherwise you will never and anywhere in eternity meet his soul.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “…[T]here were no New Testamental writings for the earliest Christians and yet they possessed the fullness of the truth and faith of Christianity. On the day of Pentecost the Church was born and yet there were no Gospels as we know them today. It would not be a theological exaggeration to assert that the Church would be the Church in Her fullness even if She did not possess the New Testament. For many raised on the Reformational principle of ‘sola scriptura’ this may seem a radical – even heretical – statement. …[T]here was a time when the Church did not possess this corpus of inspired writing and yet the Church existed in Her fullness, Christians experienced the truth of the faith in all its fullness.” —Fr. Georges Florovsky, The Byzantine Fathers of the Fifth Century | |
| − | + | “… Word and sacrament long ago lost touch with each other and became subjects of independent study and definition … I daresay that the gradual ‘decomposition’ of scripture, its dissolution in more and more specialized and negative criticism, is a result of its alienation from the Eucharist - and practically from the Church herself - as an experience of a spiritual reality.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist, p. 66 | |
| − | + | “Anti-sacramental, anti-ritual evangelicalism emphasizes a personal relationship with God, but tends to encourage what Anthony Giddens calls ‘pure relationship,’ a relationship that is not tacked down with external anchors and supports. A live-in relationship, without benefit of the rites and legalities of marriage, is a pure relationship. Evangelicalism tends to encourage a live-in relationship with Jesus. This is wrong, a departure from Christian tradition, and unbiblical. It also places unbearable burdens on the soul. Tempted by the devil, Luther slapped his forehead to remind himself of his baptism. His standing before God was anchored in Christ, to whom he had been joined by baptism. For evangelicals, assurance cannot be grounded in anything so external and objective. Spontaneous enthusiasm is the test of sincerity, and the source of assurance. But eternal, self-scrutinizing vigilance is necessary to ensure that the enthusiasm is really spontaneous. Enthusiasm was supposed to liberate the soul from all the dead forms, but it comes with its own set of chains.” —Rev. Dr. Peter J. Leithard | |
| − | + | “In the Orthodox approach to Scripture, it is the job of the individual not to strive for originality in interpretation, but rather to understand what is already present in the traditions of the Church. We are obliged not to go beyond the boundary set by the Fathers and Creeds of the Church, but to faithfully pass on the Tradition just as we have received it. To do this requires a great deal of study and thought–but even more, if we are to truly understand the Scriptures, we must enter deeply into the mystical life of the Church.” —ibid., p. 44 | |
| − | + | “The scriptures and the Church are reduced here to the category of two formal authorities, two ‘sources of faith’ – as they are called in the scholastic treatises, for which the only question is which authority is the higher: which ‘interprets’ which…” —Ibid., p. 66 | |
| − | + | “For if we proclaim holy scripture to be the supreme authority for teaching the faith in the Church, then what is the ‘criterion’ of scripture? Sooner or later it becomes ‘biblical science’ – i.e., in the final analysis, naked reason…” —Ibid., p. 66-67 | |
| − | + | “It is therefore clear that [the apostles] did not teach everything in epistolary form, but that they taught many things besides in unwritten form, and these things, too, are worthy of acceptance. Wherefore we should consider the tradition of the Church also as worthy of belief. If there is a tradition, look no further.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “Certain men who hold different opinions (i.e. heretics) misuse these passages. They essentially destroy free will by introducing ruined natures incapable of salvation and by introducing others as being saved in such a way that they cannot be lost.” —Origen | |
| − | + | “A false interpretation of Scripture causes that the gospel of the Lord becomes the gospel of man, or, which is worse, of the devil.” —St. Jerome | |
| − | + | “Truth cannot be acquired, the flesh with its passions and lusts cannot be crucified, the heart cannot be filled with the Light of Christ and united with Him, through salvation, unless these are preceded by frequent prayer.” —The Way of a Pilgrim | |
| − | + | “How long shall we continue in this manner, our intellect reduced to futility, failing to make the spirit of the Gospel our own, not knowing what it means to live according to our conscience, making no serious effort to keep it pure?” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “It is self evident, however, that sincere Christians who are Roman Catholics, or Lutherans, or members of other non-Orthodox confessions, cannot be termed renegades or heretics—i.e. those who knowingly pervert the truth… They have been born and raised and are living according to the creed which they have inherited, just as do the majority of you who are Orthodox; in their lives there has not been a moment of personal and conscious renunciation of Orthodoxy. The Lord, ‘Who will have all men to be saved’ (I Tim. 2:4) and ‘Who enlightens every man born into the world’ (Jn. 1.43), undoubtedly is leading them also towards salvation in His own way.” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York | |
| − | + | “You ask, will the heterodox be saved… Why do you worry about them? They have a Saviour Who desires the salvation of every human being. He will take care of them. You and I should not be burdened with such a concern. Study yourself and your own sins… I will tell you one thing, however: should you, being Orthodox and possessing the Truth in its fullness, betray Orthodoxy, and enter a different faith, you will lose your soul forever.” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | + | “The Orthodox confess that SHE IS the One, Holy, Universal (katholikos) and Apostolic Ecclesia! Any other model is gnostic.” —St. Irenaeus of Lyons | |
| − | + | “Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, the apostles preached, and the Fathers kept.” —St. Athanasius the Great | |
| − | + | “He is ‘the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). Orthodox Christians are committed to the truth claim of the Christian Faith not as ideology but as an expression of holiness.” —Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetriou, An Orthodox Reflection on Truth & Tolerance | |
| − | + | “The beginning of theology is not the card catalogue, but doing battle against the passions; and the end of theology is not becoming a professor, but becoming a saint.” —Dr. David Fagerberg | |
| − | + | “Men are converted to God not because someone was able to give brilliant explanations, but because they saw in him that light, joy, depth, seriousness, and love which alone reveal the presence and power of God in the world.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann | |
| − | + | “Men are often called intelligent wrongly. Intelligent men are not those who are erudite in the sayings and books of the wise men of old, but those who have an intelligent soul and can discriminate between good and evil. They avoid what is sinful and harms the soul; and with deep gratitude to God they resolutely adhere by dint of practice to what is good and benefits the soul. These men alone should truly be called intelligent.” —St. Anthony the Great, On the Character of Men and on the Virtuous Life: One Hundred and Seventy Texts, Text 1, The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Vol. 1 | |
| − | + | “Our religion is founded on spiritual experience, seen and heard as sure as any physical fact in this world. Not theory, not philosophy, not human emotions, but experience.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “Only the Religion of Christ unites and all of us must pray that they come to this. Thus union will occur, not by believing that all of us are the same thing and that all religions are the same. They are not the same… our Orthodoxy is not related to other religions.” —St. Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite | |
| − | + | “Orthodoxy is life, one must not talk about it, one must live it.” —St. Nektary of Optina | |
| − | + | “Orthodoxy can't be comfortable unless it is fake.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “As for all those who pretend to confess sound Orthodox Faith, but are in communion with people who hold different opinion, if they are forewarned and still remain stubborn, you must not only be in communion with them, but you must NOT even call them brothers.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | “It should be | + | “It is a commandment of the Lord that we should not be silent when the Faith is in peril. So, when it is a matter of the Faith, one cannot say, ‘Who am I? A priest, a ruler, a soldier, a farmer, a poor man? I have no say or concern in this matter.’ Alas! The stones shall cry out, and you remain silent and unconcerned?” —St. Theodore the Studite |
| − | + | “At the present time of universal wavering, disturbance of minds and corruption, it is especially demanded of us that we should confess the true teaching of the Church no matter what might be the person of those who listen and despite the unbelief which surrounds us. If for the sake of adaptation to the errors of this age we shall be silent about the truth or give a corrupt teaching in the name of pleasing this world, then we would actually be giving to those who seek the truth a stone in place of bread. The higher is the standing of one who acts in this way, the greater the scandal that is produced by him, and the more serious can be the consequences.” —Metropolitan Philaret of New York | |
| − | + | “Today, while the overall teachings of the Fathers is under attack and the shipwrecks of Faith are numerous, the mouths of the faithful are silent. Anyone who is capable of speaking the truth but remains silent, will be heavily judged by God, especially in this case, where the faith and the very foundation of the entire Church of the Orthodox is in danger. To remain silent under these circumstances is to betray these, and the appropriate witness belongs to those that reproach (stand up for the faith).” —St. Basil the Great, ep. 92 | |
| − | + | “I beseech you to do and to carry out good to all men with care and assiduity, becoming all things to all men, as the need of each is shown to you; I want and pray you to be wholly harsh and implacable with the heretics only in regard to cooperating with them or in any way whatever supporting their deranged belief. For I reckon it hatred towards man and a departure from Divine love to lend support to error, so that those previously seized by it might be even more greatly corrupted.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 91 | |
| − | + | “Be aware not to be corrupted from love of the heretics; for this reason do not accept any false belief (dogma) in the name of love.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “If anyone prays with heretics, he is a heretic.” — Pope St. Agatho I | |
| − | + | “Genuine love is displayed, not by the common table, nor by lofty addresses or flattering words, but by the correcting and the seeking of the benefit of one's neighbour and the lifting up of the one who has fallen.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “Never, never, never let anyone tell you that, in order to be Orthodox, you must also be eastern. The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable liturgy is far older than any of her heresies.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco | |
| − | + | “Where the bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch | |
| − | + | “Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and with the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and is at last made manifest.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Magnesians 2, 6:1 | |
| − | + | “Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense ‘Catholic,’ which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.” —St. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies., Chapter II (circa 434 AD) | |
| − | + | “‘Shun profane novelties of words,’ which to receive and follow was never the part of Catholics; of heretics always was. In truth, what heresy ever burst forth save under a definite name, at a definite place, at a definite time? Who ever originated a heresy that did not first dissever himself from the consentient agreement of the universality and antiquity of the Catholic Church? That this is so is demonstrated in the clearest way by examples. For who ever before that profane Pelagius attributed so much antecedent strength to Free-will, as to deny the necessity of God's grace to aid it towards good in every single act? Who ever before his monstrous disciple Cœlestius denied that the whole human race is involved in the guilt of Adam's sin?” —St. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory, 62 | |
| − | + | "But if neither injunctions nor ecclesiastical decrees may be violated, by which, in accordance with the sacred consent of universality and antiquity, all heretics always, and, last of all, Pelagius, Cœlestius, and Nestorius have been rightly and deservedly condemned, then assuredly it is incumbent on all Catholics who are anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of Mother Church, to adhere henceforward to the holy faith of the holy Fathers, to be wedded to it, to die in it; but as to the profane novelties of profane men— to detest them, abhor them, oppose them, give them no quarter.” —St. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory, 86 | |
| − | + | “Roman Catholics teach that original sin robbed Adam of the original righteousness, grace-filled perfection, but did not harm his very nature. And the original righteousness, according to their teachings, was not an organic part of the spiritual and moral nature of man, but an external gift of grace, a special addition to the natural forces of man. Hence the sin of the first man, which consists in rejecting this purely external, supernatural grace, separating man from God, is nothing more than depriving a person of this grace, depriving a person of primitive righteousness and returning man to a purely natural state, a state of grace. The very same human nature remained after the fall as it was before the fall. Before sin, Adam was like a royal courtier, from whom external glory was taken away because of a crime, and he returned to the original state in which he had been before. | |
| − | + | The decrees of the Council of Trent concerning original sin state that the progenitor sin consisted in the loss of the holiness and righteousness granted to them, but it did not define exactly what kind of holiness and righteousness they were. There it is stated that there is absolutely no trace of sin or anything in a regenerated person that would be unpleasant to God. Only lust remains, which, due to its motivation of a person to fight, is more useful than harmful to people. In any case, it is not sin, although it itself from sin and entails sin. The fifth decree says: ‘The Holy Council confesses and knows that lust remains among baptized persons; but she, as left to fight, cannot bring harm to those who disagree with her, and those who bravely fight by the grace of Jesus Christ, but, on the contrary, crowns the one who will gloriously struggle. The Holy Council declares that this lust, which the Apostle sometimes calls sin, the Universal Church never called sin in the sense that it is true and proper to the regenerated, but that it is from sin and entails sin.’ | |
| − | + | This Roman Catholic teaching is unfounded, since it represents the original righteousness and perfection of Adam as an external gift, as an advantage, which is added to nature from the outside and from nature separable. Meanwhile, it is clear from the ancient apostolic-church doctrine that this primitive righteousness of Adam was not an external gift and advantage, but an integral part of his divinely-created nature. The Holy Scripture claims that sin has shaken and upset human nature so deeply that a person is weak for good and when he wants, he cannot do good ( Romans 7: 18-19 ), but he cannot commit it just because sin has a strong influence on the nature of man. In addition, if sin did not damage human nature so much, there would be no need for the Only Begotten Son of God to incarnate, come into the world as the Savior and demand from us a complete bodily and spiritual rebirth ( John 3: 3, 3: 5-6 ). In addition, Roman Catholics can not give the correct answer to the question: how can the intact nature carry lust in itself? What is the relation between this lust and the healthy nature? | |
| − | In | + | In the same way, there is an inaccurate Roman Catholic statement that in a regenerated person nothing remains sinful and unpleasant to God and that all this gives way to that which is immaculate, holy and pleasing to God. For we know from Holy Revelation and the teachings of the ancient Church that the grace given to a fallen man through Jesus Christ does not act mechanically, does not give sanctification and salvation immediately, in the blink of an eye, but gradually penetrates all the psychophysical powers of man, in proportion to his personal feat in the new thus he simultaneously heals from all sinful ailments, and sanctifies in all thoughts, feelings, desires and deeds. It is an unreasonable exaggeration to think and argue that the regenerated have absolutely no remnants of sinful ailments when the mystery beloved by Christ clearly teaches: ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us’ ( 1 John 1: 8 ); and the great Apostle of the Nations writes: ‘I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil that I do not want. But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me’ ( Romans 7: 19-20, Romans 8: 23-24 ).” —St. Justin Popovich, Orthodox philosophy of truth (Dogma of the Orthodox Church) |
| − | + | “In all the Eastern Churches, candles are lit even in the daytime when one is to read the Gospels, in truth not to dispel the darkness, but as a sign of joy…in order under that factual light to feel that Light of which we read in the Psalms (119:105): Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.” —St. Jerome, Works, part IV, 2nd ed., Kiev, 1900, pp.301-302 | |
| − | + | “The candles lit before icons of saints reflect their ardent love for God for Whose sake they gave up everything that man prizes in life, including their very lives, as did the holy apostles, martyrs and others. These candles also mean that these saints are lamps burning for us and providing light for us by their own saintly living, their virtues and their ardent intercession for us before God through their constant prayers by day and night. The burning candles also stand for our ardent zeal and the sincere sacrifice we make out of reverence and gratitude to them for their solicitude on our behalf before God.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “The saints of God live even after their death. Thus, I often hear in church the Mother of God singing her wonderful, heart-penetrating song which she said in the house of her cousin Elizabeth, after the Annunciation of the Archangel. At times, I hear the song of Moses; the song of Zacharias--the father of the Forerunner; that of Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel; that of the three children; and that of Miriam. And how many holy singers of the New Testament delight until now the ear of the whole Church of God! And the Divine service itself--the sacraments, the rites? Whose spirit is there, moving and touching our hearts? That of God and of His saints.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ | |
| − | + | “Each person is an icon of God, of God in heaven and of God on the cross. Yet, each person is also an icon of the Mother of God, who bears Christ through the Holy Spirit. Our soul, therefore, unites itself in two images; participating in the principles and realities of both Christ and his Mother. These are age old archetypes, symbols by which the soul orients itself on the journey.” —St. Maria Skobtsova, On The Imitation of the Mother of God | |
| − | + | “The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan.” —Jorge Mario Bergoglio ("Pope Francis") | |
| − | + | “Creating man according to his image, God diffused into man's very being the longing for the divine infinitude of life, of knowledge, and of perfection. It is precisely for this reason that the immeasurable longing and thirst of humanity is not able to be completely satisfied by anything or anyone except God. Declaring divine perfection as the main purpose for humanity's existence in the world – ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father who is in heaven is perfect.’ (Matth. 5: 48) – Christ, the Savior, answered the most elemental demand and need of our God-like and God-longing humanity.” —St. Justin Popovich, Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ, Highest Value and Last Criterion in Orthodoxy | |
| − | + | “He who refuses to give in to his passions does the same as he who refuses to bow down and worship idols.” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | + | “Concerning the charge of idolatry: Icons are not idols but symbols. Therefore, when an Orthodox venerates an icon, he is not guilty of idolatry. He is not worshiping the symbol, but merely venerating it. Such veneration is not directed toward wood, or paint or stone, but towards the person depicted. Therefore relative honor is shown to material objects, but worship is due to God alone.” —St. John of Damascus | |
| − | + | “We do not bow before the nature of wood, but we revere and bow before the one who is depicted.” —St. John of Damascus | |
| − | + | “We do not make obeisance to the nature of wood, but we revere and do obeisance to Him who was crucified on the Cross… When the two beams of the Cross are joined together I adore the figure because of Christ who was crucified on the Cross, but if the beams are separated, I throw them away and burn them.” —St. John of Damascus | |
| − | “The | + | “The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God. … I do not worship matter, but the Creator of matter, who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, who through matter effected my salvation. Never will I cease honoring the matter which wrought my salvation! I honor it, but not as God. Because of this I salute all remaining matter with reverence, because God has filled it with his grace and power. Through it my salvation has come to me.” —St. John of Damascus |
| − | + | “That which the word communicates by sound, the painting shows silently by representation.” —St. Basil the Great, On the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste | |
| − | + | “We depict Christ as our King and Lord, and do not deprive Him of His army. The saints constitute the Lord's army. Let the earthly king dismiss his army before he gives up his King and Lord. Let him put off the purple before he takes honour away from his most valiant men who have conquered their passions. For if the saints are heirs of God, and co-heirs of Christ, (Rom. 8.17) they will be also partakers of the divine glory of sovereignty.” —St. John of Damascus | |
| − | + | “We define that the holy icons should be exhibited in the holy churches of God… and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and those of all saintly people… We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of veneration and honor… He who venerates the icon, venerates in it the reality for which it stands.” —The Seventh Ecumenical Council | |
| − | + | “It is [the Lord] that sitteth upon the orb (חוּג, γῦρον, gyrum) of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” —Isaiah 40:22 | |
| − | + | “For if the world, being made spherical, is confined within the circles of heaven, and the Creator of the world is above the things created, managing that by His providential care of these, what place is there for the second god, or for the other gods? … Beautiful without doubt is the world, excelling, as well in its magnitude as in the arrangement of its parts, both those in the oblique circle and those about the north, and also in its spherical form.” —St. Athenagoras of Athens, A Plea for the Christians, Ch. 8 and 16 (Father of the Church, Ante-Nicene Christian apologist, c. 175, E) | |
| − | + | “Let's start with the earth: you see how big it is and how many every creature is on it – living and soulless. Looking at the earth in all directions, you notice that it seems to be flat; in fact, it is round like a ball: land surveyors have found this out as surely as possible, and we ourselves can be sure of this. You are often by the sea – look into the distance for departing ships or steam ships. At first you see the whole ship, but the farther it goes, the more the bottom of the ship is hidden from you, so that at last you see only the sails or one smoke from the steam ship, and finally this also disappears, as if the ship had sunk into a hole. Why does this happen? Because the earth is spherical. If at first glance it seems flat to us, it is because we are very small in comparison with the earth, and the earth is too large and, with its size, its sloping is imperceptible to us, insignificant ones. So, brethren, the earth is round.” —St. John of Kronstadt, Diaries of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt, 1857–1858 | |
| − | + | “You often see, brethren, that the Lord Almighty is mostly written on icons with a ball, on top of which is a cross. This ball means the globe of the earth and is called the power – from the fact that in ancient times the Roman kings had the custom, on solemn occasions, to hold it in their hands. Our Lord Jesus Christ holds in his hand the globe of the earth, as the king of heaven and earth, as the Almighty. We say this in order to show you that our earth is round like a ball. But how is the sphericity of the earth proved by the phenomena at the rising and setting of the sun? As follows: if the earth were not spherical, but flat; then the sun would now hide under the earth, or come out from under it, and immediately leave us either in the full shadow of the earth, or illuminate us with full light. Now, since the earth is round, we use the remnants of light from the sun even when it illuminates the sloping side of the earth, when the sun, so to speak, is under the mountain and produces a dawn for us, as if the glow of a huge fire. This dawn happens because the rays of the setting or rising sun, illuminating the sloping side of the earth, at the same time illuminate the air that is near the earth and surrounds it like water, and thus makes the light of dawn. Watching the dawn, we see from the gradual decrease in light – from the way it gradually becomes paler and paler from light pink - that the earth is exactly round, and the sun, as it were, glides, step by step, evenly, in a circle.” —St. John of Kronstadt, Catechetical Talks | |
| − | + | “How does the sun rule by day? Because carrying everywhere light with it, it is no sooner risen above the horizon than it drives away darkness and brings us day. Thus we might, without self deception, define day as air lighted by the sun, or as the space of time that the sun passes in our hemisphere… Those who have written about the nature of the universe have discussed at length the shape of the earth. If it be spherical or cylindrical, if it resemble a disc and is equally rounded in all parts, or if it has the forth of a winnowing basket and is hollow in the middle; all these conjectures have been suggested by cosmographers, each one upsetting that of his predecessor. It will not lead me to give less importance to the creation of the universe, that the servant of God, Moses, is silent as to shapes; he has not said that the earth is a hundred and eighty thousand furlongs in circumference; he has not measured into what extent of air its shadow projects itself while the sun revolves around it, nor stated how this shadow, casting itself upon the moon, produces eclipses. He has passed over in silence, as useless, all that is unimportant for us.” —St. Basil the Great, Hexaemeron, Homily 6:8; 9:1 | |
| − | + | “As, when the sun shines above the earth, the shadow is spread over its lower part, because its spherical shape makes it impossible for it to be clasped all round at one and the same time by the rays, and necessarily, on whatever side the sun's rays may fall on some particular point of the globe, if we follow a straight diameter, we shall find shadow upon the opposite point, and so, continuously, at the opposite end of the direct line of the rays shadow moves round that globe, keeping pace with the sun, so that equally in their turn both the upper half and the under half of the earth are in light and darkness.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection | |
| − | + | “Further, some hold that the Earth is in the form of a sphere, others that it is in that of a cone. At all events it is much smaller than the heaven, and suspended almost like a point in its midst. And it will pass away and be changed. But blessed is the man who inherits the Earth promised to the meek.” —St. John of Damascus, Orthodox Faith, Book 2, Ch 10 | |
| − | + | “Thus, by His transcendent might He established the heavens, and by His incomprehensible understanding He ordered them: the earth He separated from the water now encircling it, and firmly grounded it on the unshakable foundation of His own will … about antipodes: ‘The ocean, impassable for men, and the worlds beyond it are governed by the same decrees of the Master’…” —St. Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians | |
| − | + | “Clement indeed, a disciple of the apostles, mentions those whom the Greeks call ‘people of the opposite earth’, and speaks of other parts of the world which none of our people can reach, nor can any of those who live there cross over to us; and these parts themselves he called ‘worlds’, when he says, ‘The ocean is impassable to men, and the worlds beyond it are governed by the same ordinances of God the Ruler’…” —Origen, On First Principles | |
| − | + | “But if the light first created enveloped the earth on all sides, whether it was motionless or travelling round, it could not be followed anywhere by night, because it did not vacate any place to make room for night. But was it made on one side, so that as it travelled it would permit the night to follow after from the other? Although water still covered all the earth, there was nothing to prevent the massive watery sphere from having day on one side by the presence of light, and on the other side, night by the absence of light. Thus, in the evening, darkness would pass to that side from which light would be turning to the other … These writers are then asked why Saturn is cold. Its temperature should be higher in proportion to the rapid movement it has by reason of its height in the heavens. For surely when a round mass is rotating, the parts near the center move more slowly, and those near the edge more rapidly, so that the greater and lesser distances may be covered simultaneously in the same circular motion…” —St. Augustine of Hippo, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis | |
| − | + | “The prophet David, our Saints, Basil the Great, who wrote about creation, all of them, with the Grace of God knew everything about the creation by God. The Holy Spirit took them to the depths of the waters, He showed them and they saw the earth revolving around the sun, and many other things. The Saints, however, spoke to people according to the knowledge of their age. This is so that they wouldn't look like fools by revealing everything to their age that they saw with the Grace of God. Since simple people were not able to see all those things and understand them, they would not have believed them!” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos, «ΣΚΕΥΟΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΗΣ: ΓΕΡΩΝ ΠΑΙΣΙΟΣ», 1924-1994, p. 142 | |
| − | For, | + | “Truly, is this necessary? No, not at all, for we know that many and great scientists were at the same time great believers. For example, such was the Polish astronomer Copernicus who laid the foundation of all contemporary astronomy. Copernicus was not only a believer but was also a cleric. Another great scientist, Newton, whenever he mentioned the word God, he removed his hat. He was a great believer… Would Haeckel therefore dare say that these men did not have enlightened minds because they believed in God?” —St. Luke the Surgeon, On Science and Religion |
| − | + | “The faithful have little need for scientists now, the world is full of them! They are in need of holy men, of those who live the holy life; of those who can attract the Grace of God to them.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania | |
| − | + | “As for the ‘scientific’ information given in the book of Genesis – and since it talks about the formation of the world we know, there cannot but be some scientific information there – contrary to popular belief, there is nothing ‘out-of-date’ about it. Its observations, it is true, are all made as seen from earth and as affecting mankind; but they do not put forth any particular teaching, for example, on the nature of the heavenly bodies or their relative motions, and so the book can be read by each generation and understood in the light of its own scientific knowledge. The discovery in recent centuries of the vastness of space and the immensity of many of its heavenly bodies does nothing but add grandeur in our minds to the simple account of Genesis. When the Holy Fathers talk about Genesis, of course, they try to illustrate it with examples taken from the natural science of their time; we do the same thing today. All this illustrative material is open to scientific criticism, and some of it, in fact, has become out-of-date. But the text of Genesis itself is unaffected by such criticism, and we can only wonder at how fresh and timely it is to each new generation. And the theological commentary of the Holy Fathers on the text partakes of this same quality.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina, Genesis, Creation and Early Man: The Orthodox Christian Vision, p. 87 | |
| − | + | “One who has the judgment of Christ before his eyes, who has seen the great danger that threatens those who dare to subtract from or add to those things which have been handed down by the Spirit, must not be ambitious to innovate, but must content himself with those things which have been proclaimed by the saints.” —St. Basil the Great, Against Eunomius 2, PG 29.573-652 | |
| − | + | “Our afflictions are well known without my telling; the sound of them has now gone forth over all Christendom. The doctrines of the fathers are despised; apostolical traditions are set at nought; the speculations of innovators hold sway in the churches. Men have learned to be theorists instead of theologians. The wisdom of the world has the place of honour, having dispossessed the boasting of the cross. The pastors are driven away, grievous wolves are brought in instead, and plunder the flock of Christ, Houses of prayer are destitute of preachers; the deserts are full of mourners: the old bewail, comparing what is with what was; more pitiable are the young, as not knowing what they are deprived of. What has been said is sufficient to kindle the sympathy of those who are taught in the love of Christ, yet compared with the facts, it is far from reaching their seriousness.” —St. Basil the Great, ep. 90 | |
| − | + | “I urge you not to faint in your afflictions, but to be risen by the love of God and to increase every day to your zeal, knowing that it is necessary to preserve in you this relic of the true religion that the Lord will find when He comes to the earth. Even if the bishops are trained out of their churches, don't be dismayed. If traitors have appeared among the clergy, do not betray your trust in God. We are saved not by names, but by our mind and by our purpose, and by a true love to our Creator. Think that in the attack of our Lord, the great priests and the scribes and the elders have designed the conspiracy, and that few people have been found getting the Word. Remember that it is not the multitude that is being saved, but the elected ones of God. So don't be scared by the multitude of people who are swept away by the winds like the waters of the sea. If one is saved, as a Lot in Sodom, he must remain in a fair judgment, keeping his hope in Christ steadfast, for the Lord will not abandon His saints. Say hello to all the brothers in Christ from me. Pray with fervor for my miserable soul.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “So, to the question, ‘Do we believe in conspiracy theories?’, the answer is, ‘We don't believe in them, we have long experience of them.’” —Fr. Peter Heers, On Demonic Methodology, Part II: Q & A, May 6, 2020 | |
| − | + | “Let us be firm, my brothers, on the rock of faith, in the tradition of the Church, and not remove or change the boundaries established by our Holy Fathers. Let us close the road to innovators and not permit them to demolish the structure of the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of God. If we allow, however, the introduction of any innovation, we unconsciously support the collapse of the Church. No, my brothers, you who love Christ, no, you children of the Church, you will never want to surround your Mother Church with confusion.” —St. John of Damascus, Concerning Images, III.41 | |
| − | + | “Therefore, brethren, let us stand on the rock of faith and on the tradition of the Church, and not remove the boundaries which our Holy Fathers have set. Thus, we will not give the opportunity to those who wish to innovate and destroy the edifice of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church of God. For if permission is granted to everyone who wants it, little by little the whole body of the Church will be destroyed. Do not, brethren, do not, oh Christ-loving children of the Church of God …” —Jeremiah II (Jeremias II) Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, letter to the Most Wise Theologians, Residents of the Famous City of Tübingen, in the month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, pp. 197-8 (prophetic warning of to the Lutheran scholars) | |
| − | + | “For to err is human, but the correction is angelic and salvific.” —Jeremiah II (Jeremias II) Tranos, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, letter to the Most Wise Theologians, Residents of the Famous City of Tübingen, in the month of May, 1579, Indiction 7, p. 210 | |
| − | + | “Unbelief is an evil offspring of an evil heart; for the guileless and pure of heart discovers God everywhere, everywhere discerns Him, and always unhesitatingly believes in His existence.” —St. Nectarios of Aegina | |
| − | + | “He who learns must suffer | |
| + | And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget | ||
| + | Falls drop by drop upon the heart, | ||
| + | And in our own despite, against our will, | ||
| + | Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” —Aeschylus | ||
| − | + | “The greatest wisdom often emerges from the deepest wounds.” —Jane Lee Logan | |
| − | + | “Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. … Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: … For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “There is nothing impossible unto those who believe; lively and unshaken faith can accomplish great miracles in the twinkling of an eye. Besides, even without our sincere and firm faith, miracles are accomplished, such as the miracles of the sacraments; for God's Mystery is always accomplished, even though we were incredulous or unbelieving at the time of its celebration. 'Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?' (Rom. 3:3). Our wickedness shall not overpower the unspeakable goodness and mercy of God; our dullness shall not overpower God's wisdom, nor our infirmity God's omnipotence.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ | |
| − | + | “The quality of mercy is not strained. | |
| + | It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven | ||
| + | Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: | ||
| + | It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. | ||
| + | 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes | ||
| + | The thronèd monarch better than his crown. | ||
| + | His scepter shows the force of temporal power, | ||
| + | The attribute to awe and majesty | ||
| + | Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; | ||
| + | But mercy is above this sceptered sway. | ||
| + | It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings; | ||
| + | It is an attribute to God Himself; | ||
| + | And earthly power doth then show likest God's | ||
| + | When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, | ||
| + | Though justice be thy plea, consider this: | ||
| + | That in the course of justice none of us | ||
| + | Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, | ||
| + | And that same prayer doth teach us all to render | ||
| + | The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much | ||
| + | To mitigate the justice of thy plea, | ||
| + | Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice | ||
| + | Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant | ||
| + | there.” —William Shakespeare, Portia, The Merchant of Venice, Act 4, Scene 1 | ||
| − | + | “The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.” —unknown | |
| − | + | “People were created to be loved. Things were created to be used. The reason why the world is in chaos is because things are being loved and people are being used.” —unknown | |
| − | + | “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” —unknown | |
| − | + | “If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.” —Marvin J. Ashton | |
| − | + | “Teach me to feel another's woe, to hide the fault I see; that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.” —Alexander Pope | |
| − | + | “Tolerance is the last virtue of a depraved society. When you have an immoral society that has blatantly, proudly, violated all of the commandments of God, there is one last virtue they insist upon: tolerance for their immorality.” —Dennis James Kennedy | |
| − | “The | + | “The greatest thing a man can do to a woman is to lead her closer to God than to himself.” —unknown |
| − | + | “A snowflake is one of God's most fragile creations, but look what they can do when they stick together!” —unknown | |
| − | + | “God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself.” —Victor Hugo | |
| − | + | “It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “Hell can't be made attractive, so the devil makes attractive the road that leads there.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “If you die before you die, than when you die, you will not die.” —written on a cell wall, St. Paul's Monastery, Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “War in the name of religion is war against religion.” —His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew | |
| − | + | “Believe me, if God revealed to us the disasters to which we were exposed and from which He protected us, our whole lives would not suffice to offer Him thanks.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda | |
| − | + | “In heaven, God will not ask us why we have sinned; He will ask us why we did not repent.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda III | |
| − | + | “Even if all spiritual fathers, patriarchs, hierarchs, and all the people forgive you, you are unforgiven if you don’t repent in action.” —St. Kosmas Aitolos | |
| − | + | “Nobody is as gracious and merciful, as the Lord is, but even He does not forgive the sins of the man who does not repent; … we are being condemned not because of the multitude of our evils, but because we do not want to repent.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mercy of God.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “Just as a strongly flowing fountain is not blocked up by a handful of earth, so the compassion of the Creator is not overcome by the wickedness of his creatures.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “God is loving to man, and loving in no small measure. For say not, I have committed fornication and adultery: I have done dreadful things, and not once only, but often: will He forgive? Will He grant pardon? Hear what the Psalmist says: ‘How great is the multitude of Your goodness, O Lord!’ Your accumulated offenses surpass not the multitude of God's mercies: your wounds surpass not the great Physician's skill. Only give yourself up in faith: tell the Physician your ailment: say thou also, like David: ‘I said, I will confess me my sin unto the Lord’: and the same shall be done in your case, which he says immediately: ‘And you forgave the wickedness of my heart.’” —St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 2, On Repentance and Remission of Sins and Concerning the Adversary, Ezekiel xviii. 20-23 | |
| − | + | “The Lord calls to Him all sinners; He opens His arms wide, even to the worst among them. Gladly He takes them in His arms, if only they will come to Him.” —St. Macarius of Optina | |
| − | + | “Repentance is the daughter of hope and the refusal to despair.” —St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent | |
| − | + | “Years are not needed for true repentance, and not days, but only an instant.” —St. Ambrose of Optina | |
| − | + | “There is no sin which cannot be pardoned except that one which lacks repentance, and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the portion of the fool is small in his eyes.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “When a man abandons his sins and returns to God, his repentance regenerates him and renews him entirely.” —St. Isaiah the Solitary | |
| − | + | “Through repentance the filth of our foul actions is washed away. After this, we participate in the Holy Spirit, not automatically, but according to the faith, humility and inner disposition of the repentance in which our soul is engaged. For this reason it is good to repent each day as the act of repentance is unending.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian, The Philokalia | |
| − | + | “There is nothing higher than what is called repentance and confession. The sacrament is the offering of God's love to mankind. In this perfect way a person is free of evil. We go and confess and we sense our reconciliation with God; Joy enters us and guilt departs. In the Orthodox Church there is no impasse.” —St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia | |
| − | + | “…confession is such a potent treatment that it immediately neutralizes every poison of pardonable and mortal sin, which is an infinite evil, and causes every invisible illness to disappear, restoring to the soul its initial health and grace. It is such a wondrous treatment that it instantly changes the sinner into a beautiful angel from that which it was before…” —St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Exomologetarion: A Manual of Confession, p. 234 | |
| − | + | “And so it is incumbent upon us to strive, rather, to correct our faults and to improve our behavior.” —St. John Cassian | |
| − | “If your | + | “If the grace of God doesn't enlighten man, though you say many words, they won't be beneficial. The person listens to you for a moment, but soon after returns to that which holds him captive. If, however, grace works immediately, together with your words, then a change is effected at that moment, corresponding to the person's predisposition. And from that moment on, his life is changed. This happens with those who haven't hardened their hearing and conscience.” —Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit |
| − | + | “Let us strive to purify ourselves through repentance and humility, and to unite all our senses as one to the God who is good, and transcends the good. Then, truly, everything which I have not quite been able to say or to demonstrate with my many words, you will be taught in an instant, all at once. You will hear with your sight, and see with your hearing. You will be taught while seeing and, again, hear what is unveiled.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian | |
| − | + | “Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment of his own imperfections and humility. | |
| + | |||
| + | When a person accepts anything Godly, then he rejoices in his heart, but when he has accepted anything devilish, then he becomes tormented. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The devil is like a lion, hiding in ambush (Ps 10:19, 1Pe 5:8). He secretly sets out nets of unclean and unholy thoughts. So, it is necessary to break them off as soon as we notice them, by means of pious reflection and prayer. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us. | ||
| + | |||
| + | A sign of spiritual life is the immersion of a person within himself and the hidden workings within his heart.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | ||
| − | + | “There is nothing better than peace in Christ, for it brings victory over all the evil spirits on earth and in the air. When peace dwells in a man's heart it enables him to contemplate the grace of the Holy Spirit from within. He who dwells in peace collects spiritual gifts as it were with a scoop, and he sheds the light of knowledge on others. All our thoughts, all our desires, all our efforts, and all our actions should make us say constantly with the Church: ‘O Lord, give us peace!’ When a man lives in peace, God reveals mysteries to him.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “The Spirit offers its own light to every mind, to help it in its search for truth.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “Sometimes a man's happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it's there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, an illusion.” —Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14) | |
| + | |||
| + | “If he seeks answers to questions related to his faith, his purpose in life, he will find happiness.” —Elder Justin (Pârvu) of Romania | ||
| − | + | “The person who loves God values knowledge of God more than anything created by God, and pursues such knowledge ardently and ceaselessly.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “Adorn yourself with truth, try to speak truth in all things; and do not support a lie, no matter who asks you. | |
| − | + | If you speak the truth and someone gets mad at you, don’t be upset, but take comfort in the words of the Lord: | |
| − | + | Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of truth, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt. 5:10).” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 26,2 | |
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| − | + | “You that are strong with all might in the inner man ought by rights to carry on the struggle against the enemies of the truth, and not to shrink from the task, that we fathers may be gladdened by the noble toil of our sons; for this is the prompting of the law of nature: but as you turn your ranks, and send against us the assaults of those darts which are hurled by the opponents of the truth, and demand that their hot burning coals and their shafts sharpened by knowledge falsely so called should be quenched with the shield of faith by us old men.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa | |
| − | + | “Be the bee and not the fly… The fly only knows where the unclean things are, while the honeybee knows where the beautiful flowers are!” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “I shall set forth the best contributions of the philosophers of the Greeks, because whatever there is of good has been given to men from above by God, since ‘every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights’ (Js. 1.17). If, however, there is anything that is contrary to the truth, then it is a dark invention of the deceit of Satan and a fiction of the mind of an evil spirit, as that eminent theologian Gregory once said (Homily 39.3). In imitation of the method of the bee, I shall make my composition from those things which are conformable with the truth and from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of salvation. But all that is worthless and falsely labeled as knowledge I shall reject. Then, next, after this, I shall set forth in order the absurdities of the heresies hated of God, so that by recognizing the lie we may more closely follow the truth. Then, with God's help and by His grace I shall expose the truth–that truth which destroys deceit and puts falsehood to flight and which, as with golden fringes, has been embellished and adorned by the sayings of the divinely inspired prophets, the divinely taught fishermen, and the God-bearing shepherds and teachers–that truth, the glory of which flashes out from within to brighten with its radiance, when they encounter it, them that are duly purified and rid of troublesome speculations. However, as I have said, I shall add nothing of my own, but shall gather together into one those things which have been worked out by the most eminent of teachers and make a compendium of them, being in all things obedient to your command.” —St. John of Damascus, The Fount of Knowledge | |
| − | + | “If we have obtained the grace of God, none shall prevail against us, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion.” —St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, 4:18:5 | |
| − | + | “The Eucharist is the Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, in his loving-kindess, raised from the dead.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrnians, 7:1 | |
| − | + | “If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.” —St. Cyril of Alexandria | |
| − | + | “Don't be anxious about what you have, but about what you are.” —St. Gregory the Great | |
| − | + | “Teach your child this lesson: the rewards of evil are temporary; the rewards of Godliness (good character) are eternal.” —St. Cyprian of Carthage | |
| − | + | “Let everything take second place to our care of our children, our bringing them up to the discipline and instruction of the Lord. If from the beginning we teach them to love true wisdom, they will have greater wealth and glory than riches can provide. If a child learns a trade, or is highly educated for a lucrative profession, all this is nothing compared to the art of detachment from riches; if you want to make your child rich, teach him this. He is truly rich who does not desire great possessions, or surrounds himself with wealth, but who requires nothing…Don’t think that only monks need to learn the Bible; Children about to go out into the world stand in greater need of Scriptural knowledge.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians, Homily 21 | |
| − | + | “If a man really sets his heart upon the will of God, God will enlighten a little child to tell that man what is His will. But if a man does not truly desire the will of God, even if he goes in search of a prophet, God will put into the heart of the prophet a reply like the deception in his own heart.” —Abba Dorotheos of Gaza | |
| − | + | “Learn from small children: if a child is attacked by someone in the presence of his parent, he does not respond to the attacker himself, but looks at the parent and cries. He knows that the parent will protect him. And how can you not know what the little child knows? Your heavenly Parent is continually beside you. Therefore do not revenge, do not repay evil for evil, but look at the Parent and cry. Only in this way will you secure your victory in a clash with evil people.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “The soul that is in all things devoted to the will of God rests quiet in Him, for she knows of experience and from the Holy Scriptures that the Lord loves us much and watches over our souls, quickening all things by His grace in peace and love. Nothing troubles the man who is given over to the will of God, be it illness, poverty or persecution. He knows that the Lord in His mercy is solicitous for us. The Holy Spirit, whom the soul knows, is witness therefore. But the proud and the self-willed do not want to surrender to God's will because they like their own way, and that is harmful for the soul.” —St. Silouan the Athonite (From the Life and Teachings of Elder Siluan by Bishop Alexander and Natalia Bufius translated by Anatoly Shmelev) | |
| − | + | “The man who cries out against evil men, but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
| − | + | “Begin to pray with those whom you love most, for example, for your children. Then pray for the rest of the family. Then for the people around you, then bless the city in which you live…bless the residents of other cities… Then ask God to calm the hearts of other countries so that there is no war. Then, when you have already prayed for the whole world, you only have to pray for enemies. And to not miss them, ask God to fill their hearts with kindness, and the mind with wisdom. You see, it turns out that you can pray for enemies too.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ | |
| − | + | “True faith is found in one's heart, not mind. People who have faith in their mind will follow the antichrist. But the ones who have it in their heart will recognize him.” —St. Gabriel Urgebadze of Georgia, Confessor and Fool for Christ | |
| − | + | “When people are so steeped in evil that they do not yield to any admonishment and continue doing evil, a Christian cannot and should not take refuge in this teaching of the forgiveness of all, sit indifferently with his arms crossed, and apathetically watch evil abuse good, as it increases and destroys people, his close ones. To indifferently watch the ruin of a close one by one who has lost his senses and become a bearer of evil is nothing other than the breaking of the commandment of love for one's neighbor.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse | |
| − | + | “Those who dislike and reject their fellow-man are impoverished in their being. They do not know the true God, who is all-embracing love.” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
| − | + | “If we detect hatred in our hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any fault, we are utterly estranged from love for God, since love for God absolutely precludes us from hating any man.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “One must not harbour anger nor hatred towards a person that is hostile towards us. On the contrary. You must love him and do as much good as possible towards him. Following the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “As fire is not extinguished by fire, so anger is not conquered by anger, but is made even more inflamed. But meekness often subdues even the most beastly enemies, softens them and pacifies them.” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk | |
| − | + | “For wherever love disappears, hatred immediately appears in its place. And if God is love, then hatred is the devil. Therefore, at one who has love has God within himself, so he who has hatred within himself nurtures the devil within him.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “Do not ask for love from your neighbor, for if you ask and he does not respond, you will be troubled. Instead show your love for your neighbour and you will be at rest, and so will bring your neighbour to love.” —St. Dorotheos of Gaza | |
| − | + | “Love should never be sacrificed for the sake of some dogmatic difference.” —St. Nektarios of Aegina | |
| − | + | “No term is used–and misused–among the Orthodox people in America more often than the term canonical.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann, The Problems of Orthodoxy in America, The Canonical Problem | |
| − | + | “Even the slightest thought that is not founded on love destroys peace.” —Archimandrite Thaddeus Strabulovich | |
| − | + | “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” —St. Augustine of Hippo | |
| − | + | “Your Lord is love: love Him and in Him all men, as His Children in Christ. Your Lord is fire: do not let your heart be cold, but burn with faith and love. Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith. Your Lord is a God of mercy and bountifulness: be also a source of mercy and bountifulness to your neighbors. If you will be such, you will find salvation yourself with everlasting glory.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “To love our brothers is a need that is endemic to our nature. Contemporary man does not recognize this need, because it is suppressed and suffocated by egoism.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev), The Struggle for Virtue: Asceticism in a Modern Secular Society, p.54 | |
| − | + | “Many think that love is a feeling, but this is not the case. It is a state of the will. If love were a feeling it would not be a commandment. Naturally, love is accompanied by certain feelings, but in essence it is a state of the will.” —Fr. Daniel Sysoev, How Can I Learn God's Will? | |
| − | + | “I guard you in advance against beasts in the form of men, whom you must not only not receive, but if it is possible not even meet, but only pray for them, if perchance they may repent…” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, A.D. 117 | |
| − | + | “Until you have eradicated evil, do not obey your heart; for it will seek more of what it already contains within itself.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Whatever of that which is best has flowed into the heart, we should not pour out without need; for that which has been gathered can be free of danger from visible and invisible enemies only when it is guarded in the interior of the heart.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “No one professing faith sins, nor does anyone possessing love hate. The tree is known by its fruit; thus those who profess to be Christ's will be recognized by their actions. For the work is a matter not of what one promises now, but of persevering to the end in the power of faith.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Ephesians | |
| − | + | “Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.” —St. Augustine of Hippo | |
| − | + | “The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” —St. Augustine of Hippo | |
| − | + | “The evil powers love the darkness and tremble at every light, especially at that which belongs to God and to those who please Him.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “There is no benefit to be gained from a pure life when one possesses heretical dogma. And likewise the opposite is true. Correct dogma is of no benefit when one leads a corrupt life. Let us not think that holding faith alone is alone sufficient for salvation if we do not also show forth a pure life.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated by love makes a lot of the religious works he performs. But the one who has been deemed worthy to obtain this says with conviction the words which the patriarch Abraham spoke when he was graced with the divine appearance, ‘I am but earth and ashes.’” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “Do not say that ‘mere faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can save me.’ For this is impossible unless you acquire love for him through works. For in what concerns mere believing, ‘even the devils believe and tremble.’” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “Our faith then must be different from the faith of devils. For our faith purifies the heart; but their faith makes them guilty. For they do wickedly, and therefore say they to the Lord, ‘What have we to do with You?’ When you hear the devils say this, do you think that they do not acknowledge Him? ‘We know,’ they say, ‘who You are: You are the Son of God.’ This Peter says, and is commended; the devil says it, and is condemned. Whence comes this, but that though the words be the same, the heart is different? Let us then make a distinction in our faith, and not be content to believe. This is no such faith as purifies the heart. ‘Purifying their hearts,’ it is said, ‘by faith.’ But by what, and what kind of faith, save that which the Apostle Paul defines when he says, ‘Faith which works by love.’ That faith distinguishes us from the faith of devils, and from the infamous and abandoned conduct of men. ‘Faith,’ he says. What faith? ‘That which works by love,’ and which hopes for what God does promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than this definition. There are then in faith these three things. He in whom that faith is which works by love, must necessarily hope for that which God does promise. Hope therefore is the associate of faith. For hope is necessary as long as we see not what we believe, lest perhaps through not seeing, and by despairing to see, we fail. That we see not, does make us sad; but that we hope we shall see, comforts us. Hope then is here, and she is the associate of faith. And then charity also, by which we long, and strive to attain, and glow with desire, and hunger and thirst. This then is taken in also; and so there will be faith, hope, and charity. For how shall there not be charity there, since charity is nothing else but love? And this faith is itself defined as that ‘which works by love.’ Take away faith, and all you believe perishes; take away charity, and all that you do perishes. For it is the province of faith to believe, of charity to do. For if you believe without love, you do not apply yourself to good works; or if you do, it is as a servant, not as a son, through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Therefore I say, that faith purifies the heart, which works by love.” —St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon III on the New Testament, Section XI | |
| − | + | “Refuse to listen to the Devil when he whispers to you: ‘Give me now, and you will give tomorrow to God.’ No, no! Spend all the hours of your life in a way pleasing to God. Keep in your mind the thought that after the present hour, you will not be given another, and that you will have to render a strict account for every minute of this present hour.” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | + | “Human life is but of brief duration. ‘All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand forever’ (Isa. 40:6). Let us hold fast to the commandment that abides, and despise the unreality that passes away.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “We see the water of a river flowing uninterruptedly and passing away, and all that floats on its surface, rubbish or beams of trees, all pass by. So does our life. I was an infant, and that time has gone. I was an adolescent, and that too has passed. I was a young man, and that too is far behind me. The strong and mature man that I was is no more. My hair turns white, I succumb to age, but that too passes; I approach the end and will go the way of all flesh. I was born in order to die. I die that I may live. Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!” —St. Tikhon of Voronezh | |
| − | + | “You should look downward. Remember: you are earth and you will return to the earth.” —St. Ambrose of Optina | |
| − | + | “Just as a pauper, seeing the royal treasures, all the more acknowledges his own poverty; so also the spirit, reading the accounts of the great deeds of the Holy Fathers, involuntarily is all the more humbled in its way of thought.” —St. John Climacus | |
| − | + | “Do not shun poverty and affliction, the fuel that gives wings to prayer.” —Evagrios the Solitary | |
| − | + | “What is the meaning of the exclamation so often sung in church: ‘Lord, have mercy upon us’? It is the lament of the guilty, condemned sinner, imploring forgiveness of an irritated justice. We are all under the eternal curse and doomed to eternal fire for our innumerable sins, and it is only the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, interceding for us before the Heavenly Father, that saves us from eternal punishment. It is the lament of the repentant sinner, expressing his firm intention to amend and begin a new life, becoming for a Christian. It is the lament of the repentant sinner, ready to forgive others, as he himself was and is immeasurably forgiven by God, the Judge of his deeds.” —St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ, pg. 406 | |
| − | + | “It seems that we do not understand one thing: it is not good when we return the love of those who love us, yet hate those who hate us. We are not on the right path if we do this. We are the sons of light and love – the sons of God, his children. As such, we must have His qualities and His attributes of love, peace, and kindness towards all.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica | |
| − | + | “Pride is trying to imagine a world and live in it. Humility receives the world as God created it.” —St. Sophrony of Essex | |
| − | + | “We suffer because we have no humility and we do not love our brother. From love of our brother comes the love of God. People do not learn humility, and because of their pride cannot receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, and therefor the whole world suffers.” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
| − | + | “Some suffer much from poverty and sickness, but are not humbled, and so they suffer without profit. But one who is humbled will be happy in all circumstances, because the Lord is his riches and joy, and all people will wonder at the beauty of his soul.” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
| − | + | “My joy, I beg you, acquire the Spirit of Peace. That means to bring oneself to such a state that our spirit will not be disturbed by anything. For one must go through many sorrows to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the way all righteous men were saved and inherited the Heavenly Kingdom…” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “My will, therefore, He took to Himself, my grief. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine is the will which He called His Own, for as Man He bore my grief, as Man He spake, and therefore said, ‘Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.’ Mine was the grief, and mine the heaviness with which He bore it, for no man exults when at the point to die. With me and for me He Suffers, for me He is sad, for me He is heavy. In my stead therefore, and in me He grieved Who had no cause to grieve for Himself. | |
| − | + | Not Thy Wound, but mine, hurt Thee, Lord Jesus; not Thy Death, but our weakness, even as the Prophet saith: ‘For He is afflicted for our sakes’--and we, Lord, esteemed Thee afflicted, when Thou grievedst not for Thyself, but for me. | |
| − | + | And what wonder if He grieved for all, Who wept for one? What wonder if, in the hour of death, He is heavy for all, Who wept when at the point to raise Lazarus from the dead? Then, indeed, He was moved by a loving sister's tears, for they touched His human heart,--here by secret grief He brought it to pass that, even as His Death made an end of death, and His Stripes healed our scars, so also His Sorrow took away our sorrow.” —St. Ambrose of Milan, (+397), Ch. 7, Book II, Exposition on the Christian Faith | |
| − | + | “Peace is not absence of struggle, but absence of uncertainty and confusion.” —Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh | |
| − | + | “Humility is perfect quietness of heart, it is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble.” —Andrew Murray | |
| − | + | “However great the afflictions we suffer, what are they compared with the promised future reward.” —St. Macarius the Great | |
| − | + | “Shun the praise of men and love the one who, in the fear of the Lord, reprimands you.” —St. Pachomius | |
| − | + | “When people begin to praise us, let us hurry to remember the multitude of ours transgressions, and we will see that we are truly unworthy of that which they say and do in our honor.” —St. John Climacus | |
| − | + | “…Don't be frightened at your burden; our Lord will help you to carry it.” —St. John Vianney | |
| − | + | “Every tribulation reveals the state of our will.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Every affliction tests our will, showing whether it is inclined to good or evil. That is why an unforeseen affliction is called a test, because it enables a man to test his hidden desires.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Many are the wiles of the enemy to despoil us of inner peace, so watch!” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | + | “In every situation confusion is from the devil, from whom may the Lord shield and protect us.” —St. Leo of Optina | |
| − | + | “It should be noted that when the fallen spirit wants to get dominion over Christ's ascetics, he does not act imperiously or domineeringly, but tries to draw a man to consent to the proposed delusion, and after getting his consent he takes possession of the person who has given his consent. Holy David, in describing his the fallen angel attacks man, has very rightly said: "He lurketh in secret as a lion in his den, that he may ravish the poor; to ravish the poor, when he getteth him into his net."” —St. Ignaty Bryanchaninov, The Arena, chapter 11, On the Solitary Life | |
| − | + | “The devil presents minor sins as insignificant in our eyes, because otherwise he would not be able lead us into major ones.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, for it may lead you on to greater sins.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Obedience is necessary not only for monks, but for all people. Even the Lord was obedient. The proud and self-regarding do not allow grace to live in them, and therefore they never have spiritual peace, while in the obedient soul the grace of the Holy Spirit enters easily and gives joy and peace. Whoever bears even a little grace in himself joyfully submits himself to all direction. He knows that God directs even the heavens and the netherworld, and himself, and his business, and everything in the world, and therefore he is always at peace.” —St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, XV.2 | |
| − | + | “He who honours the Lord does what the Lord bids. When he sins or is disobedient, he patiently accepts what comes as something he deserves.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “It is a great error to think that you must undertake important and great labors, whether for heaven, or, as the 'progressives' think, in order to make one's contribution to humanity. That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord's commandments.” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | + | “When we are immersed in sins, and our mind is occupied solely with worldly cares, we do not notice the state of our soul. We are indifferent to who we are inwardly, and we persist along a false path without being aware of it.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco | |
| − | + | “We have to be aware that what is being pounded in upon us is all of one piece; it has a certain rhythm, a certain message to give us, this message of self-worship, of relaxing, of letting go, of enjoying yourself, of giving up any thought of the other world … It is actually an education in atheism. We have to fight back by knowing just what the world is trying to do to us…” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, ‘What can get through from such snares?’ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Humility.’” —St. Anthony the Great | |
| − | + | “Learn to love humility, for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repugnant before God but the most repugnant of all is pride of the heart. | |
| − | + | Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise, all your effort will be destroyed and your boat will reach the harbor empty. | |
| − | + | If you have great authority, do not threaten anyone with death. Know, that according to nature, you too are susceptible to death and that every soul sheds its body from itself as the final garment. | |
| − | |||
| − | + | In Byzantium there existed an unusual and instructive custom during the crowning of the emperors in the Church of the Divine Wisdom [St. Sophia]. The custom was that when the patriarch placed the crown on the emperor's head, at the same time, he handed him a silk purse filled with dirt from the grave. | |
| − | + | Then, even the emperor would recall death and to avoid all pride and become humble.” —St. Anthony the Great, The Prologue of Ochrid | |
| − | + | “What made our Lord Jesus Christ lay aside His garments, gird Himself with a towel, and, pouring water into a basin, begin to wash the feet of those who were below Him, if not to teach us humility? For it was humility He showed us by the example of what He then did. And indeed those who want to be accepted into the foremost rank cannot achieve this otherwise than through humility; for in the beginning, the thing that caused downfall from heaven was a movement of pride. So, if a man lacks extreme humility, if he is not humble with all his heart, all his mind, all his spirit, all his soul and body – he will not inherit the kingdom of God.” —St. Anthony the Great, Early Fathers from the Philokalia, E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, 1954, pp. 45-46 | |
| − | + | “People who are filled with egoism and pride because of their education, resemble satellites that orbit in the sky, giving one the impression that they are stars. If, however, you observe them carefully you will see their crooked steps and see that it is all a human sham… Internally-oriented people, on account of their humility, are the true stars that move at dizzying speeds, but noiselessly and humbly, without anyone understanding how they move even though they are immense planets. They hide in the depths of heaven and give men the impression that they are little oil lamps aflame with a humble light.” —St. Paisios of Mt. Athos | |
| − | + | “Wouldst thou comprehend the height of God? First comprehend the lowliness of God. Condescend to be humble for thine own sake, seeing that God condescended to be humble for thy sake too, for it was not for his own.” —St. Augustine of Hippo | |
| − | + | “The greatness of a man consisteth of humility, for in proportion as a man descendeth to humility, he becometh exalted to greatness.” —Paradise of the Holy Fathers, Vol. 2 | |
| − | + | “It is easier to measure the entire sea with a tiny cup than to grasp God's ineffable greatness with the human mind.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “This is the wisdom and power of God: to be victorious through weakness, exalted through humility, rich through poverty.” —St. Gregory Palamas | |
| − | + | “You will lose nothing of what you have renounced for the Lord’s sake. For in its own time it will return to you greatly multiplied.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Where can I flee? A place cannot save you because there is no place you can flee from yourself.” —St. Nikon of Optina | |
| − | + | “No one and nothing can harm a man if he does not harm himself; on the contrary, if one does not avoid sin, a thousand means of salvation will not help him. Consequently, the only evil is sin: Judas fell while in the presence of the Savior, but the righteous Lot was saved while living in Sodom.” —St. Nikon of Optina, November 15-16/28-29, 1922, Optina Monastery, The Orthodox Word, 1980, vol. 16, no. 2 (91), March-April | |
| − | + | “If our purpose is to fight the spiritual fight and to defeat, with God's help, the demons of malice, we should take every care to guard our heart from the demon of dejection, just as a moth devours clothing and a worm devours wood, so dejection devours a man’s soul. It persuades him to shun every helpful encounter and stops him accepting advice from his true friends or giving them a courteous and peaceful reply. Seizing the entire soul, it fills it with bitterness and listlessness. Then it suggests to the soul that we should go away from other people, since they are the cause of its agitation. It does not allow the soul to understand that its sickness does not come from without, but lies hidden within, only manifesting itself when temptations attack the soul because of our ascetic efforts. | |
| − | + | A man can be harmed by another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that God, the Creator of all and the Doctor of men’s souls, who alone has accurate knowledge of the soul’s wounds, does not tell us to forsake the company of men; He tells us to root out the causes of evil within us and to recognize that the soul’s health is achieved not by a man’s separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstances.” —St. John Cassian | |
| − | + | “A life lived in the world can be as good, in the eyes of God, as one spent in a monastery. It is indeed only the keeping of God's commandments, love of all, and a true sense of humility that matter, wherever we are.” —Elder Macarius of Optina | |
| − | + | “Those who, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealous, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorant.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “A remedy against straying thoughts is mental attention, attention to the fact that the Lord is before us and we are before Him.” —St. Theophan the Recluse | |
| − | “The | + | “The roots of evil thoughts are the obvious vices, which we keep trying to justify in our words and actions.” —St. Mark the Ascetic |
| − | + | “Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | "The higher a person’s position in society the more he should help others without ever reminding them of his position.” —Tsar St. Nicholas II | |
| − | + | “If you want your sins to be absolved by Christ, then don't speak to others about any virtue that you may have, because God will treat our sins the same way we treat our virtues.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “If any man is able in power to continue in purity, to the honour of the flesh of our Lord, let him continue so without boasting; if he boasts, he is undone; if he become known apart from the bishop, he has destroyed himself.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch | |
| − | + | “Guarding the mouth wakes up the conscience to God, if it is with knowledge that a man keeps silence.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “Silence is more profitable than speech, for as it has been said, ‘The words of wise men are heard even in quiet.’” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “Never give your opinion if you are not asked for it, even if you think that your view is the best.” —Josemaria Escriva | |
| − | + | “Not only for every idle word must man give an account, but for every idle silence.” —St. Ambrose of Milan | |
| − | + | “Somewhere we know that without silence words lose their meaning, that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure.” —Henri Nouwen | |
| − | + | “Let your mouth continually administer blessing; then the scorn of anyone will never hurt you.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “Just as swine run to a place where there is mire, and bees dwell where there are fragrances and incense, likewise demons gather where there are carnal songs and the grace of the Holy Spirit settles where there are spiritual melodies, sanctifying both mouth and soul.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “A psalm implies serenity of soul; it is the author of peace, which calms bewildering and seething thoughts. For, it softens the wrath of the soul, and what is unbridled it chastens. A psalm forms friendships, unites those separated, conciliates those at enmity. Who, indeed, can still consider as an enemy him with whom he has uttered the same prayer to God? | |
| − | + | So that psalmody, bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining the people into a harmonious union of one choir, produces also the greatest of blessings, charity. A psalm is a city of refuge from the demons, a means of inducing help from the angels, a weapon in fears by night, a rest from toils by day, a safeguard for infants, an adornment for those at the height of their vigor, a consolation for the elders, a most fitting ornament for women. | |
| − | + | It peoples the solitudes; it rids the market place of excesses; it is the elementary exposition of beginners, the improvement of those advancing, the solid support of the perfect, the voice of the Church. It brightens the feast days; it creates a sorrow which is in accordance with God. | |
| − | + | For, a psalm is the work of angels, a heavenly institution, the spiritual incense.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all ‘fullness of blessing,’ both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | + | “Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | “The | + | “The source of self-delusion and demonic deception is the false thought…” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus |
| − | + | “Spiritual deception is the state of all men without exception, and it has been made possible by the fall of our original parents. All of us are subject to spiritual deception. Awareness of this fact is the greatest protection against it. Likewise, the greatest spiritual deception of all is to consider oneself free from it.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus | |
| − | + | “Knowing the perpetual impurity of our spiritual state must bring us humility of heart.” —Tonia Howell | |
| − | + | “Where there is pride and at the same time one has a vision – it can not be from God, but by all means – from the evil one.” —Archimandrite Seraphim Alexiev | |
| − | + | “If you are silent in a good way, desiring to be with God, never accept any physical or spiritual appearances, either outside or inside yourself, even if it might be an image of Christ, or an angel, or some Saint, or if light should appear, or imprint itself in the mind...Be attentive, that you may not come to believe something, even if it is something good, and be not captivated by it before consulting those who are experienced and are able to analyze the matter, so that you do not suffer harm...God is not displeased with the person who is attentive to himself, even if he, out of fear of deception, does not accept even that which is from Him, without consulting and testing…” —St. Gregory of Sinai | |
| − | + | “Children, I beseech you to correct your hearts and thoughts, so that you may be pleasing to God. Consider that although we may reckon ourselves to be righteous and frequently succeed in deceiving men, we can conceal nothing from God. Let us therefore strive to preserve the holiness of our souls and to guard the purity of our bodies with all fervor. Ye are the temple of God, says the divine Apostle Paul; If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” —St. Nicholas of Myra | |
| − | + | “Those who suffer for the sake of true devotion receive help. This must be learnt through obeying God's law and our own conscience.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “When you are wronged and your heart and feelings are hardened, do not be distressed, for this has happened providentially; but be glad and reject the thoughts that arise within you, knowing that if they are destroyed at the stage when they are only provocations, their evil consequences will be cut off, whereas if the thoughts persist the evil may be expected to develop.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “Struggle to become immortal from now, by dying here on the earth to your bad self. In this way, you won't be sad, but you'll be very glad, living together with Christ.” —Elder Porphyrios | |
| − | + | “Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, the devil confounded, the demons take to flight, the power of death is broken, paradise is unlocked, the curse is taken away, sin is removed from us, error driven out, truth has been brought back, the speech of kindliness diffused, and spreads on every side, a heavenly way of life has been inplanted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels. Why is this? Because God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Nativity | |
| − | + | “This Christmas night bestowed peace on the whole world; | |
| + | So let no one threaten. | ||
| + | This is the night of the Most Gentle One; | ||
| + | Let no one be cruel. | ||
| + | This is the night of the Humble One; | ||
| + | Let no one be proud. | ||
| + | Now is the day of joy; | ||
| + | Let us not revenge. | ||
| + | Now is the day of good will; | ||
| + | Let us not be mean. | ||
| + | In this day of peace -- | ||
| + | Let us not be conquered by anger. | ||
| + | Today the Bountiful impoverished Himself for our sake; | ||
| + | So, rich one, invite the poor to your table. | ||
| + | Today we receive a Gift for which we did not ask; | ||
| + | So let us give alms to those who implore and beg us. | ||
| + | This present day throws open the doors of heaven to our prayers; | ||
| + | Let us open our doors to those who ask our forgiveness. | ||
| + | Today the Divinity took upon himself the seal of our humanity, | ||
| + | In order for humanity to be decorated by the seal of Divinity.” —St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily on the Nativity | ||
| − | + | “This being He placed in Paradise, whatever the Paradise may have been, having honoured him with the gift of Free Will (in order that God might belong to him as the result of his choice, no less than to Him who had implanted the seeds of it), to till the immortal plants, by which is meant perhaps the Divine Conceptions, both the simpler and the more perfect; naked in his simplicity and inartificial life, and without any covering or screen; for it was fitting that he who was from the beginning should be such. Also He gave him a Law, as a material for his Free Will to act upon. This Law was a Commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not touch. This latter was the Tree of Knowledge; not, however, because it was evil from the beginning when planted; nor was it forbidden because God grudged it to us…Let not the enemies of God wag their tongues in that direction, or imitate the Serpent…But it would have been good if partaken of at the proper time, for the tree was, according to my theory, Contemplation, upon which it is only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter; but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy in their habit; just as solid food is not good for those who are yet tender, and have need of milk. (Hebrews 5:12) But when through the Devil's malice and the woman's caprice, to which she succumbed as the more tender, and which she brought to bear upon the man, as she was the more apt to persuade, alas for my weakness! (for that of my first father was mine), he forgot the Commandment which had been given to him; (Genesis 3:5) he yielded to the baleful fruit; and for his sin he was banished, at once from the Tree of Life, and from Paradise, and from God; and put on the coats of skins…that is, perhaps, the coarser flesh, both mortal and contradictory. This was the first thing that he learned – his own shame; (Romans 1:22-31) and he hid himself from God. Yet here too he makes a gain, namely death, and the cutting off of sin, in order that evil may not be immortal. Thus his punishment is changed into a mercy; for it is in mercy, I am persuaded, that God inflicts punishment.” —St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 38, XII, On Theophany, On the Birth of our Saviour (On the Nativity of Christ) | |
| − | + | “It is no wonder that the shepherds were able to know of the world's redemption before rulers, for the Angels made their announcement not to kings or judges but to countryfolk. It is not to be wondered at, then, if innocence merited to know the Grace of Christ before power did and simple country manners merited to recognize the Truth before proud dominion. For what the Shepherds recognized the rulers were unable to recognize; hence the Blessed Apostle says: 'What none of the rulers of this age recognized,' and so forth. At the Birth of Christ, therefore, the Angels rejoiced together with the Shepherds, giving God high glory, for in close and even joined choruses, so to speak, they preached the glory of God.” —St. Maximus of Turin, Homily on the Nativity, sec. 2 | |
| − | + | “I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth.” —Archimandrite Sophrony | |
| − | + | “The Christian world nowadays presents a terrifying and cheerless picture of profound religious and moral decay. The servants of Antichrist do their utmost to completely displace God from people’s lives, in order that mankind, content with its material well-being, would not feel any need to turn to God in prayer, would not think of God at all, but would live as though God did not exist. Thus the entire structure of contemporary life in the so-called ‘free’ world, where there is no open and bloody persecution of faith, where everyone has the right to believe as he wishes, represents a far greater danger to a Christian’s soul by drawing the Christian wholly down to earth and making him forget heaven. | |
| − | + | The entire modern culture, which is aimed at purely worldly achievements, and the resultant whirlwind of everyday life, keep a person in such a state of constant bustle and absent-mindedness that he has no opportunity for any soul-searching, and spiritual life within him gradually becomes extinguished.” —Archbishop Averky (Taushev) of Syracuse | |
| − | + | “In advising against being carried away by artificial practices such as Transcendental Meditation I am but repeating the age-old message of the Church … The way of the Fathers requires firm faith and long patience, whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, including even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, by force and speedily, and will often draw a parallel between prayer in the Name of Jesus and yoga or Transcendental Meditation and the like. I must stress the danger of such errors … He is deluded who endeavors to divest himself mentally of all that is transitory and relative in order to cross some invisible threshold, to realize his eternal origin, his identity with the Source of all that exists, in order to return and merge with him, the nameless transpersonal Absolute. Such exercises have enabled many to rise to suprarational contemplation of being, to experience a certain mystical trepidation, to know the state of silence of mind, when mind goes beyond the boundaries of time and space. In such like states man may feel the peacefulness of being withdrawn from the continually changing phenomena of the visible world, may even have a certain experience of eternity. But the God of Truth, the Living God, is not in all this. | |
| − | + | It is man's own beauty, created in the image of God, that is contemplated and seen as divinity, whereas he himself still continues within the confines of his creatureliness. This is a vastly important concern. The tragedy of the matter lies in the fact that man sees a mirage which, in his longing for eternal life, he mistakes for a genuine oasis. This impersonal form of ascetics leads finally to an assertion of the divine principle in the very nature of man. Man is then drawn to the idea of self-deification—the cause of the original Fall. The man who is blinded by the imaginary majesty of what he contemplates has in fact set his foot on the path to self-destruction. He has discarded the revelation of a personal God … The movement into the depths of his own being is nothing else but attraction towards the non-being from which we were called by the will of the Creator.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. Athos, His Life is Mine, 115-116 | |
| − | + | “Blessed is the mind that prays, worships God without imagination, for Christ had no imagination, being God. Adam lost his paradise after falling into imagination, because he imagined, at the instigation of Lucifer, that if he tasted from the forbidden tree, he would never die. The Holy Fathers say that the greatest disease and temptation during prayer is the imagination of the mind, which they called the ‘soul cuttlefish with eight tentacles’ or ‘octopus’. Imagination is also called the ‘bridge for demons’. During the prayer offered from the heart, it is most difficult to preserve the imagination; it is even harder than keeping the mind away from thoughts. Let's not forget that everything limited, represented is not God. In the meantime, if we stop at the images, we are being deceived and we can neither pass through the narrow gate to the heart nor reach God.” —Archimandrite Cleopas (Ilie) of Romania | |
| − | + | “Yes, one must disregard doubts, just like lustful and blasphemous thoughts; pay no attention to them. Disregard them, and your enemy, the devil, will not be able to withstand it; he'll leave you, since he's proud and cannot bear the disdain. But if you enter into conversation with them – since the lustful thoughts, blasphemies and doubts are not yours – he'll bombard you, swamp you, kill you.” —Elder Barsanuphius of Optina | |
| − | + | “Christ said, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' and 'division'. Christ summoned us to war on the plane of the spirit, and our weapon is 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.' Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are tied hand and foot. We dare not strike with fire or sword: our sole armament is love, even for enemies. This unique war in which we are engaged is indeed a holy war. We wrestle with the last and only enemy of mankind death. Our fight is the fight for universal resurrection.” —Archimandrite Sophrony of Mt. Athos, His Life is Mine | |
| − | + | “But since our discourse has now turned to the subject of blasphemy, I desire to ask one favour of you all, in return for this my address, and speaking with you; which is, that you will correct on my behalf the blasphemers of this city. And should you hear anyone in the public thoroughfare, or in the midst of the forum, blaspheming God; go up to him and rebuke him; and should it be necessary to inflict blows, spare not to do so. Smite him on the face; strike his mouth; sanctify your hand with the blow; and if they are accused, and be brought to court, go. And if a judge before the court demands an answer, boldly say that he blasphemed the King of angels, for if those who blaspheme the earthly king are to be punished, how much more insulting is it to Him (the King)…” —St. John Chrysostom, Conversations on Statues, address to the people of Antioch, Conversation 1, pt. 1 12 | |
| − | + | “I ask you to try something. If someone grieves you, or dishonors you, or takes something of yours, then pray like this: ‘Lord, we are all your creatures. Pity your servants, and turn them to repentance,’ and then you will perceptibly bear grace in your soul. Induce your heart to love your enemies, and the Lord, seeing your good will, shall help you in all things, and will Himself show you experience. But whoever thinks evil of his enemies does not have love for God and has not known God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite, Writing, IX.21 | |
| − | + | “Where there is pride there cannot be grace, and if we lose grace we also lose both love of God and assurance in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil thoughts and does not understand that she must humble herself and love her enemies, for there is no other way to please God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
| − | + | “The whole therapeutic method of the Orthodox Church is not aimed simply at making human beings morally and socially balanced, but at re-establishing their relationship with God and one another. This comes about through the healing of the soul's wounds and the cure of the passions through the Sacraments and the Church's ascetic practice.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, The Science of Spiritual Medicine: Orthodox Psychotherapy in Action | |
| − | “The | + | “The acquisition of of holiness is not the exclusive business of monks, as certain people think. People with families are also called to holiness, as are those in all kinds of professions, who live in the world, since the commandment about perfection and holiness is given not only to monks, but to all people.” —Hieromartyr Onuphry Gagaluk |
| − | + | “Many passions are hidden in our souls; they can be brought to light only when the objects that rouse them are present.” —St. Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love | |
| − | + | “What is holiness? Freedom from every sin and the fullness of every virtue. This freedom from sin and this virtuous life are only attained by a few zealous persons, and that not suddenly, but gradually, by prolonged and manifold sorrows, sicknesses, and labors, by fasting, vigilance, prayer, and that not by their own strength, but by the grace of Christ…” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “A wise heart can transfer an affliction into a blessing, even sin!! He benefits from it: contrition, humility, keenness and sympathy for sinners.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda III | |
| − | + | “Humility and suffering free a man from all sin; for the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” —C. S. Lewis | |
| − | + | “Christ did not come into the world to eliminate suffering, Christ has not even come into the world to explain it. Rather, He came to fill human suffering with His presence.” —Fr. George Calciu | |
| − | + | “The soul of man is not impure at birth, but pure.” —Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos | |
| − | + | “By nature the soul is passionless… so you must believe that the passions do not belong to the soul by nature.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “Just as in legal marriage, the pleasure derived from procreation cannot exactly be called a gift of God, because it is carnal and constitutes a gift of nature and not of grace (even though that nature has been created by God); even so the knowledge that comes from profane education, even if well used, is a gift of nature, and not of grace-a gift which God accords to all without exception through nature, and which one can develop by exercise. This last point-that no one acquires it without effort and exercise-is an evident proof that it is a question of a natural, not a spiritual, gift. | |
| − | + | It is our sacred wisdom that should legitimately be called a gift of God and not a natural gift, since even simple fishermen who receive it from on high become, as Gregory the Theologian says, sons of Thunder, whose word has encompassed the very bounds of the universe. By this grace, even publicans are made merchants of souls; and even the burning zeal of persecutors is transformed, making them Pauls instead of Sauls, turning away the earth to attain ‘the third heaven’ and ‘hear ineffable things’. By this true wisdom we too can become conformed to the image of God and continue to be such after death.” —St. Gregory Palamas, Triads in Defence of the Holy Hesychasts, Philosophy does not save, pages 29-30 | |
| − | + | “We know that even the facts that a marriage means relations between a man and a woman and that a choice of gender is not an intellectual and volitional one, but a Divine choice, are now being disputed. Children are already being taught this. They are told: ‘You should choose yourself whether you are a boy or a girl’; that is, what was founded by God is being destroyed by people, ostensibly for the sake of freedom. | |
| − | + | But then, what is freedom like? If freedom ruins the Divine plan of the world and of mankind, then it is not freedom, but slavery. And we know that the devil enslaves a man, because the most dangerous captivity is to be not free from sin, when a person cannot live in accordance with his or her calling.” —His Holiness Patriarch Kirill | |
| − | + | “Fiery lust, the desire for marriage, sexual union … and all the other things that, as most people think, the body seeks for - it is not the body as such … but the soul, which through the body seeks pleasure by their means… Let no one think he is being driven towards these things and compelled by his own body… the body cannot be moved to anything apart from the soul.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian | |
| − | + | “Pornography is the devil's iconography.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Just as the virtues are begotten in the soul, so are the passions. But the virtues are begotten in accordance with nature, the passions in a mode contrary to nature. For what produces good or evil in the soul is the will's bias… For our inner disposition is capable of operating in one way or another, since it bears within itself both virtue and vice, the first as its natural birthright, the second as the result of the self-incurred proclivity of our moral will.” —St. Gregory of Sinai | |
| − | + | “Afflictions, illness, ill health and the pains that our bodies experience are counted for the remission of our trespasses. They are the furnace in which we are purified…” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “The heart of a perfectly healthy man becomes weakened for faith and love to God and his neighbor, and easily gives itself up to carnal desires: to slothfulness, negligence, coldness, gluttony, avarice, fornication, pride. Whilst the heart of a sick man, or a wounded, oppressed, weary heart, is strengthened in faith, hope, and love, and is far removed from carnal passions. This is why the Heavenly Father, Who careth for our salvation, chastises us by various sicknesses. The oppression and afflictions of sickness make us turn again to God.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “Gluttony says that her child is war against chastity.” —St. John Climacus | |
| − | + | “You can't stop smoking tobacco? What is impossible for man is possible with God's help. Just firmly decide to quit, realizing how harmful it is for the soul and the body, since tobacco weakens the soul, and increases and strengthens the passions, darkens the mind, and destroys physical health with a slow death.” —St. Ambrose of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy: Spiritual Counsels of the Holy Elders of Optina, pg. 70 | |
| − | + | “If you wish to live long on the earth, do not hurry to live in a carnal manner, to satiate yourself, to get drunk, to smoke, to commit fornication, to live in luxury, to indulge yourself. The carnal way of life constitutes death, and therefore, in the Holy Scripture, our flesh is called mortal, or, ‘the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.’ If you wish to live long, live through the spirit; for life consists in the spirit: ‘If ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live,’ both here on earth and there in heaven. | |
| − | + | One cannot eat and drink and smoke continually. One cannot turn human life into constant eating, drinking, and smoking, although there are men who do eat, drink, and smoke almost uninterruptedly; and thus the spirit of evil has turned life into smoking, and made the mouth, which ought to be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a smoking furnace. The less and lighter the food and drink you take, the lighter and more refined your spirit will become. | |
| − | + | Smoking is a whim. From this comes foot pain and depression. That the devil is the father of the cigarette I especially figured out today: something impacted negatively upon me from head to toe. I felt that the enemy nested in my sides and in my heart and he opposed me strongly, preventing me from saying the prayer, scaring me, paralyzing me and saddening me to the point of sin. | |
| − | + | By smoking an unclean spirit enters a person. Last night after smoking the devil made his presence felt through continuous hiccups which pestered me from the time of the Cherubic Hymn until a little before Holy Communion. My nerves were stretched, my voice was ‘escaping’ me, I was shivering and I was exhausted. That's why smoking is futile. It is a silly whim, a desecration of the lips, a large and unnecessary irritation, a fog that covers voluntarily. | |
| − | + | The taste of a cigarette I cannot compare to anything but something diabolical. And how do I know this smoking? How do I allow myself to do something like this? | |
| − | + | I came to church, falling on my knees with a contrite heart before the Holy Altar. How could I serve my enemy every day and not the Lord with zeal? Lord, help me to be free from all evil, because I am an evil man, dirty, full of sins. | |
| − | + | The Lord knows our weaknesses. He is ready to forgive us everything, as long as we repent and seek forgiveness. The essential thing is that our hearts not become petrified, that is to stop hesitating to think of our committed sin, to immediately repent, and to leave ourselves to the mercy of God.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “Suffering is an indication of another Kingdom which we look to. If being a Christian meant being ‘happy’ in this life, we wouldn't need the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Fr. Seraphim Rose of Platina | |
| − | + | “Suffering reminds the wise man of God, but crushes those who forget Him.” —St. Mark the Ascetic | |
| − | + | “God permits tribulations and adversities to befall people – even the saintly – so that they may persist in humility. But if we harden our hearts against adversities and tribulations, He also hardens these tribulations against us. On the other hand if we accept them in humility and with a contrite heart, God will mingle tribulation with mercy.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “But do not be troubled or sad. The Lord sometimes allows people who are devoted to Him to fall into such dreadful vices; and this is in order to prevent them from falling into a still greater sin – pride. Your temptation will pass and you will spend the remaining days of your life in humility. Only do not forget your sin.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | “We | + | “We must be prepared to accept the will of God. The Lord permits all sorts of things to happen to us contrary to our will, for if we always have it our way, we will not be prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, "Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives" |
| − | + | “Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, Who created and arranged all things for your benefit--to have you know, love, and praise their Creator.” —St. Basil the Great | |
| − | “The | + | “The Lord gives Himself freely, for His mercy's sake alone. I did not know this before but now every day and every hour every minute, I see clearly the mercy of God. The Lord gives peace even in sleep, but without God there is no peace in the soul.” —St. Silouan the Athonite |
| − | + | “What should not be heard by little ears, should not be said by big mouths.” —unknown | |
| − | + | “I am incurably convinced that the object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” —G. K. Chesterton | |
| − | + | “What is slander? It is every sort of wicked word we would dare not speak in front of the person whom we are complaining about.” —St. Anthony the Great | |
| − | + | “If you want to overcome the spirit of slander, blame not the person who falls, but the demon that prompted them to sin.” —St. John Climacus | |
| − | + | “You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.” —St. Seraphim of Sarov | |
| − | + | “A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others, he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent, that is, he says nothing that is not profitable.” —Abba Poemen | |
| − | + | “If your tongue is used to chattering, your heart will remain dim and foreign to the luminous intuitions of the Holy Spirit.” —St. John of Dalyatha | |
| − | + | “He who does not control his tongue when he is angry, will not control his passions either.” —Abba Hyperchius | |
| − | + | “Are you angry? Be angry at your sins, beat your soul, afflict your conscience, be strict in judgement and a terrible punisher of your own sins. This is the benefit of anger, wherefore God placed it in us.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Ephesians 2 | |
| − | + | “These eight passions should be destroyed as follows: gluttony by self-control; unchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by goodwill and love for all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, perseverance and offering thanks to God; self-esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite heart; and pride by not judging or despising anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee (cf. Luke 18 : 11–12), and by considering oneself the least of all men. When the intellect has been freed in this way from the passions we have described and been raised up to God, it will henceforth live the life of blessedness, receiving the pledge of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 1 : 22). And when it departs this life, dispassionate and full of true knowledge, it will stand before the light of the Holy Trinity and with the divine angels will shine in glory through all eternity.” —St. John of Damascus, On the Virtues and the Vices, from The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Vol. 2 | |
| − | + | “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.” —St. Nikon of Optina | |
| − | + | “As in the theater, when the audience departs, and the kings remove their costumes, they are revealed to be what they are; so also when death arrives and the theater of this life is dissolved, everyone puts off their masks of wealth or poverty and departs. Some are revealed as truly wealthy, others poor.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “A sinful soul, full of passions, cannot have peace and rejoice in the Lord, even if it had charge over all earthly riches, even if it ruled over the whole world. If it was suddenly said to such a king, happily feasting and sitting on his throne, 'King, now you will die,' his soul would be troubled and he would tremble with fear, and he would see his powerlessness. But how many beggars there are, whose only wealth is love for God, and who, if you said to them, 'You will die now,' would answer peacefully, 'Let God's will be done. Glory to the Lord, that He has remembered me and wants to take me to Himself.'” —St. Silouan the Athonite | |
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| − | + | “Sometimes in the affliction of your soul you wish to die. It is easy to die, and does not take long; but are you prepared for death? Remember that after death the Judgment of your whole life will follow. You are not prepared for death, and if it were to come to you, you would shudder all over. Therefore do not waste words in vain. Do not say: ‘It is better for me to die,’ but say rather, ‘How can I prepare for death in a Christian manner?’ By means of faith, by means of good works, and by bravely bearing the miseries and sorrows that happen to you, so as to be able to meet death fearlessly, peacefully, and without shame, not as a rigorous law of nature, but as a fatherly call of the eternal, heavenly, holy, and blessed Father unto the everlasting kingdom.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “Nevertheless one who regards only the dissolution of the body is greatly disturbed, and makes it a hardship that this life of ours should be dissolved by death; it is, he says, the extremity of evil that our being should be quenched by this condition of mortality. Let him, then, observe through this gloomy prospect the excess of the Divine benevolence.”” —St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, §VIII | |
| − | + | “Man is, by nature, afraid of both death and the dissolution of the body; but there is this most startling fact: that he who has put on the faith of the Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and for Christ's sake is not afraid even of death.” —St. Athanasius the Great | |
| − | + | “Limitless and without consolation would have been our sorrow for close ones who are dying, if the Lord had not given us eternal life. Our life would be pointless if it ended with death. What benefit would there then be from virtue and good deed? Then they would be correct who say: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’ But man was created for immortality, and by His resurrection Christ opened the gates of the Heavenly Kingdom, of eternal blessedness for those who have believed in Him and have lived righteously. Our earthly life is a preparation for the future life, and this preparation ends with our death. ‘It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment’ (Heb 9:27). Then a man leaves all his earthly cares; the body disintegrates, in order to rise anew at the General Resurrection. Often this spiritual vision begins in the dying even before death, and while still seeing those around them and even speaking with them, they see what others do not see.” —St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, Homily on Life After Death | |
| − | + | “Let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings, breakings, and dislocations of bones; let cutting off of members; let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the dreadful torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.” —St. Ignatius of Antioch | |
| − | + | “To reach satisfaction in all | |
| + | desire its possession in nothing. | ||
| + | To come to possession in all | ||
| + | desire the possession of nothing. | ||
| + | To arrive at being all | ||
| + | desire to be nothing. | ||
| + | To come to the knowledge of all | ||
| + | desire the knowledge of nothing. | ||
| + | To come to the pleasure you have not | ||
| + | you must go by the way in which you enjoy not. | ||
| + | To come to the knowledge you have not | ||
| + | you must go by the way in which you know not. | ||
| + | To come to the possession you have not | ||
| + | you must go by the way in which you possess not. | ||
| + | To come by the what you are not | ||
| + | you must go by a way in which you are not. | ||
| + | When you turn toward something | ||
| + | you cease to cast yourself upon the all. | ||
| + | For to go from all to the all | ||
| + | you must deny yourself of all in all. | ||
| + | And when you come to the possession of the all | ||
| + | you must possess it without wanting anything. | ||
| + | Because if you desire to have something in all | ||
| + | your treasure in God is not purely your all.” —St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel | ||
| − | + | “Man’s will, out of cowardice, tends away from suffering, and man, against his own will, remains utterly dominated by the fear of death, and, in his desire to live, clings to his slavery to pleasure.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “Sin makes man a coward; but a life in the Truth of Christ makes Him bold.” —St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Statues, VIII. 2 | |
| − | + | “Of all the good things in the world, life is dearest to men, and men love life better than truth, although there is no life in truth. The highest good, then, is life, but truth is the foundation of life. He who loves life must also love truth. But what is the way to truth? 'I am the way', says the Lord. 'I am the way', that none should think that there is some other way to the truth besides the Lord Jesus. It was for that He was born as a man: to show men the way. And for this that He was crucified, to make the way plain by His blood.” —St. Nikolai Velimirovich | |
| − | + | “See how many and great the evils it has brought on us – this self-justification, this holding fast to our own will, this obstinacy in being our own guide. All this was the product of that hateful arrogance towards God. Whereas the products of humility are self-accusation, distrust in our own sentiments, hatred of our own will. By these one is made worthy of being redeemed, of having his human nature restored to its proper state, through the cleansing operation of Christ's holy precepts. Without humility it is impossible to obey the Commandments or at any time to go towards anything good. As Abba Mark says: without a contrite heart it is impossible to be free from wickedness or to acquire virtue.” —St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings | |
| − | + | “Begin gradually, do not trust yourself. Do not depend on your own understanding, reject your will, and the Lord will give you true understanding.” —St. Macarius of Optina, Living Without Hypocrisy | |
| − | + | “If you deny yourself and constantly renounce your own opinions, your own will, your own righteousness-or what amounts to the same thing: the knowledge, understanding, will, and righteousness of fallen nature-in order to plant within you the knowledge of God, the will of God, and the righteousness of God taught us in the holy Gospel by God Himself, then fallen nature will open fire within you and declare a savage war against the Gospel and against God. Fallen spirits will come to the help of fallen nature. | |
| − | + | Do not fall into despondency on this account. By your firmness in the struggle, show the tenacity of your purpose and the stability of your free will. When thrown down, get up. When duped and disarmed, rearm yourself afresh. When defeated, again rush to the fight. It is extremely good for you to see within yourself both your own fall and the fall of the whole of mankind. It is essential for you to recognize and study this fall in your own experience, in your heart and mind. It is essential for you to see the infirmity of your knowledge and intellect, and the weakness of your will.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus, The Arena, chapter 8 | |
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| + | “Do not say: ‘I have sinned much, and therefore I am not bold enough to fall down before God.’ Do not despair. Simply do not increase your sins in despair and, with the help of the All-merciful One, you will not be put to shame. For He said, ‘he who comes to Me I will not cast out.’ (John. 6:37) And so, be bold and believe that He is pure and cleanses those who draw near to Him. If you want to accomplish true repentance, show it with your deeds. If you have fallen into pride, show humility; if into drunkenness, show sobriety; if into defilement, show purity of life. For it is said, ‘Turn away from evil and do good.’ (I Pet. 3:11)” —St. Gennadios (II) Scholarios, Patriarch of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, The Golden Chain, 87-89 | ||
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| + | “The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them from the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and sadness into corrective repentance for present evil.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | ||
| − | + | “How good it is to conquer the passions! After the victory one feels such lightness of heart, such peace and greatness of spirit!” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | “He | + | “He who believes, fears; he who fears is humble; he who is humble becomes gentle.” —St. Maximus the Confessor |
| − | + | “For every humble person is gentle, and every gentle person is invariably humble. A person is humble when he knows that his very being is on loan to him.” —St. Maximus the Confessor | |
| − | + | “A humble person lives on earth as if in the Kingdom of Heaven - always happy, peaceful and satisfied with everything.” —St. Anthony of Optina | |
| − | + | “Not every quiet man is humble, but every humble man is quiet.” —St. Isaac the Syrian | |
| − | + | “If you wish to be truly humble, then consider yourself lower than all, worthy of being trampled on by all; for you yourself daily, hourly trample upon the law of the Lord, and therefore upon the Lord Himself.” —St. John of Kronstadt | |
| − | + | “You wish to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is to be, the deeper does he dig his foundation.” —St. Augustine of Hippo | |
| − | + | “In them [the Lives of the Saints] it is clearly and obviously demonstrated: There is no spiritual death from which one cannot be resurrected by the Divine power of the risen and ascended Lord Christ; there is no torment, there is no misfortune, there is no misery, there is no suffering which the Lord will not change either gradually or all at once into quite, compunctionate joy because of faith in Him.” —St. Justin Popovich | |
| − | + | “A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer.” —St. John Climacus | |
| − | + | “In the Christian East – in fact, in the East in general – we love old age because we think that it is made for praying. When one is old, and feels the nearness of God across the increasingly transparent surface of biological life, one becomes in consciousness a child, returned to the Father, made light in spirit by the proximity of death, transparent to another kind of light. | |
| − | + | A civilization in which one no longer prays is a civilization in which old age has no meaning. One walks backward towards death, pretending to be young; it’s an agonizing spectacle, because a wonderful possibility is offered, a journey towards ultimate relinquishment, and it is not taken advantage of. | |
| − | + | We need old people who pray, who smile, who live with a disinterested love, who marvel; they alone can show young people that that living is worth the effort, and that oblivion is not the last word. | |
| − | + | Every monk whose spiritual practice has born fruit is called in the East, whatever his age, 'a beautiful old man.' He is beautiful with the beauty that rises from the heart. In him all the periods of his life have come into harmony, as with a symphony, one might say. And especially the original child is found again: shining with a transfigured shining, the beautiful old man has the eyes of a child.” —Olivier Clément | |
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| − | + | “It is of great significance if there is a person who truly prays in a family. Prayer attracts God's grace and all the members of the family feel it, even those whose hearts have grown cold. Pray always.” —Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica | |
| − | + | “A Christian should never and for no reason worry, for God's Providence carries him in its arms. Our only care should be that we would ever remain faithful to the Lord.” —St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (Bryanchaninov) of Caucasus | |
| − | + | “Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.” —St. John Chrysostom | |
| − | + | “He who angers you, controls you!” —Bishop Melchisedek Pleska | |
| − | + | “[The desire for] equality is from the Devil, because it comes entirely from envy.” —Fr. Alexander Schmemann | |
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