Christian

"When you are insulted by someone or humiliated, guard against angry thoughts, lest they arouse a feeling of irritation, and so cut you off from love and place you in the realm of hatred." St. Maximos the Confessor

"The world, as the work of the living, Most Wise God, is full of life. There are life and wisdom in everything, and we find everywhere the expression of thought in the whole, as also in every separate part. This is the true Book, from which, though not so clearly as from revelation, we may learn the knowledge of God. Before the world was, there was only the living infinite God. When the world was called into being from its non-existence, God, of course, did not become finite; all the fulness of life and of infinity have remained in Him. But this fulness of life and infinity are also expressed in creatures, living and organic, which are innumerable, and which are all endued with life." St. John of Kronstadt

"Learn then, brethren, what is the true imprint of the seal of Christ. You faithful ones, recognize the features of His mark! Indeed, there is but one seal, the illumination of the Spirit, although the forms of its energies are numerous and the tokens of its virtues are manifold. The first and most necessary of these is humility, for it is their beginning and foundation, as of it He says, 'On whom will I look, but on him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word?' (cf. Is. 66:2)." St. Symeon the New Theologian

"Unceasing prayer is prayer that does not leave the soul day or night. It consists not in what is outwardly perceived - outstretched hands, bodily stance, or verbal utterance - but in our inner concentration on the intellect's activity and on mindfulness of God born of unwavering compunction, and it can be perceived noetically by those capable of such perception." Niketas Stithatos

"If you give to one who asks, let the joy of your countenance precede your gift, and comfort his sorrow with good words." St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Jesus Christ loved everyone, and did every kind of good to all. So we too should love our neighbours and, as far as possible, do good to them either by deed, or word, or thought." St. Innocent of Alaska

"When the faithful man, who always pays strict attention to the commandments of God, performs all that the divine commandments enjoin and directs his mind toward their sublimity, that is, to a conduct and purity that are above reproach, he will discover his own limitations. He will find that he is weak and lacks the power to attain to the height of the commandments, indeed that he is very poor, that is, unworthy to receive God and give Him thanks and glory, since he has as yet failed to attain any good of his own. One who thus reasons with himself in the perception of his soul will indeed mourn with that sorrow which is truly most blessed, which will receive comfort and make the soul meek (cf. Matt. 5:5)." St. Symeon the New Theologian

"As near as the body is to the soul in intimate interrelationship, so nearer is God Who is present to come and open the locked doors of our heart and to fill us with heavenly riches. He is, indeed, good and He loves mankind. His promises cannot deceive, provided we only persevere to the end, zealously seeking Him." St. Maximus the Great

"The good workman with assurance receives the bread of his labor; the slack and slothful cannot look his employer full in the face. It is our duty, therefore, to be prompt to do good; for on Him depends everything. Indeed, He says to us by way of warning: 'Here comes the Lord, and with Him comes the award He makes, to pay each one according to his work.' He urges us on, therefore, to trust in Him with all our heart and not to be slack and indolent in any good work. Let Him be our boast and the ground of our confidence; let us be subject to His will; let us consider the vast multitude of His angels, and see how they stand in readiness to minister to His will." St. Clement of Rome

"God is nearer to us than any man at every time. He is nearer to me than my raiment, nearer than the air or light, nearer than my wife, father, mother, daughter, son, or friend. I live in Him, soul and body. I breathe in Him, think in Him, feel, consider, intend, speak, undertake, work in Him. 'For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.' " St. John of Kronstadt

"The state of love may be recognized in the giving of money, and still more in the giving of spiritual counsel and in looking after spiritual needs." St. Maximos the Confessor

"Humble yourself and you will see the glory of God in yourself." St. Seraphim of Sarov

"A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer." St. John Climacus

"All my happiness and unhappiness are contained in the thoughts and inclinations of my heart. If the thoughts and inclinations of my heart are in accord with God's truth or with the will of my God, then I am at rest, filled with divine light, joy, and blessedness; if not, I am uneasy, filled with spiritual, soul-corrupting darkness, heaviness, and despondency. If I completely change the false, impious thoughts and inclinations of my heart into true ones, pleasing to God, then I again obtain rest and blessedness." St. John of Kronstadt

"We see many men who are moved by the desire of transitory things to endure many toils and labors. They will travel great distance and even disregard wife and children and every other glory and enjoyment, and prefer nothing to their purpose in order that they may secure the attainment of their goal. If, then, there are some who make every effort to attain transitory and temporal ends even to the point of laying down their very lives, shall we not deliver our souls and bodies to death for the sake of the King of kings and Lord of lords (I Tim 6:15), the Creator and Sovereign of all things?" St. Symeon the New Theologian

"The reception of wisdom is normally accomplished through keeping the commandments, for God does not grant it before receiving our good works. As someone versed in true godliness said: "If thou desirest wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord God will supply thee with it." St. John of Karpathos

"He who has realized love for God in his heart is tireless...in his pursuit of the Lord his God, and bears every hardship, reproach and insult nobly, never thinking the least evil of anyone." St. Maximos the Confessor

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 Jn. 2:16-17). These things were well understood by our holy and inspired fathers; and mindful of the Apostle's word that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, they strove, after holy baptism, to keep their garment of immortality spotless and undefiled." St. John Damascene

"How many have suffered and still suffer because their hearts were not firm in their good inclinations, because they imprudently looked with impure eyes, because they heard with ears unaccustomed to discern between good and evil, because they tasted greedily! The senses of the sin-loving, greedy flesh, unrestrained by reason and by God's commandments, have drawn them into various worldly passions, have darkened their minds and hearts, deprived them of peace of heart, and taken away their free-will, making them the slaves of these senses. Thus you see how necessary it is to look, listen, taste, smell, and feel prudently; or, rather, how necessary it is to guard your heart so that through your outward senses, as through a window, no sin may steal in, and that the author himself of sin - t... Read Morehe Devil - may not darken and wound that heavenly fledgling, our soul, with his poisonous and deathly arrows." St. John of Kronstadt

"Envy is the passion which causes evil, the father of death, the first entrance of sin, the root of wickedness, the birth of sorrow, the mother of misfortune, the basis of disobedience, the beginning of shame. Envy banished us from Paradise, having become a serpent to oppose Eve. Envy walled us off from the tree of life, divested us of holy garments, and in shame led us away clothed with fig leaves." St. Gregory of Nyssa