Words from the Saints -- March 20, 2025

"When you begin to read or listen to the Holy Scriptures, pray to God thus: "Lord Jesus Christ, open the ears and eyes of my heart so that I may hear Thy words and understand them, and may fulfill Thy will." Always pray to God like this, that He might illumine your mind and open to you the power of His words. Many, having trusted in their own reason, have turned away into deception." --St. Ephraim the Syrian

"Never belittle the significance of your thoughts, for not one escapes God's notice." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Those who submit to the Lord with simple heart will run the good race. If they keep their minds on a leash, they will not draw the wickedness of the demons onto themselves." --St. John Climacus

"Once the soul starts to feel its own good health, the images in its dreams are also calm and free from passion." --St. Maximos the Confessor

Words from the Saints -- March 13, 2025

"It is in vain that we cut off the branches of evil, if we leave intact the root, which continually produces new ones." --St. Gregory the Great

"Perfume is not to be found in mud, nor the fragrance of love in the soul of a rancorous man." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"As long as we assign the causes for our weaknesses to others, we cannot attain perfection in long-suffering." --St. John Cassian

"Affliction was allowed to make those afflicted more careful and more pious." --St John Chrysostom

"Blessed is the one who has before his eyes the day of departure (from this earthly life) and has hated pride, before the weakness of our nature has been proved as it rots in the tomb." --St. Ephraim the Syrian

Words from the Saints -- March 6, 2025

"Let us fast an acceptable and very pleasing fast to the Lord. True fast is the estrangement from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood, and lying. Abstaining from these is true fasting." --St. Basil the Great

"Like the apple of Thine eye preserve me, O Lord God; defend me and beneath Thy wings shelter me from temptations." --St. Ephraim the Syrain

"Without contrition of the heart, it is altogether impossible to rid ourselves of evil. Now the heart is made contrite by threefold self-control: in sleep, in food and in bodily relaxation. For excess of these three things leads to self-indulgence; and this in turn makes us accept evil thoughts, and is opposed to prayer and to appropriate work." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The devil loves and always rejoices over the ungoverned; those who are not subject to one who has power, under God, to help them and to give them a hand." --St. Dorotheos of Gaza

"There is one antidote for evil passions: the purification of our souls which takes place through the mystery of godliness. The chief act of faith in this mystery is to look to Him who suffered the passion for us. The cross is the passion, so that whoever looks to it? is not harmed by the poison of desire. To look to the cross means to render one's whole life dead and crucified to the world." --St. Gregory of Nyssa

Words from the Saints -- February 27, 2025

"'Like a tree planted by streams of water,' [Psalm 1:3] the soul is irrigated by the Holy Scriptures and acquires vigour, produces tasty fruit, namely, true faith, and is beautified with a thousand green leaves, namely, actions that please God." --St. John of Damascus

"Blessed the one who has cleansed himself of every stain of sins, so that with boldness he may receive into his own house the King of glory, our Lord Jesus Christ." --St. Ephraim the Syrian

"If we were to receive the entire universe as a gift, that gift would be less than the Grace of God." --St. Nikolai Velimirovich

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

Words from the Saints -- February 20, 2025

"No cloud is formed without a breath of wind; and no passion is born without a thought." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!" --St. Anthony of Optina

"There are three things which produce love of material wealth: self-indulgence, self-esteem and lack of faith. Lack of faith is more dangerous than the other two." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"The memory of insults is the residue of anger. It keeps sins alive, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul. If anyone has appeased his anger, he has already suppressed the memory of insults, while as long as the mother is alive the son persists. In order to appease the anger, love is necessary." --St. John Climacus

"May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake." --St. Tikhon of Moscow

Words from the Saints -- February 13, 2025

"We are not without hope of salvation, nor is it at all the right time for us to despair. All our life is a season of repentance, for God 'desires not the death of the sinner', as it is written, 'but that the wicked turn from his way and live' (cf. Ez. 33:11 LXX). For, if there were no hope of turning back, why would death not have followed immediately on disobedience, and why would we not be deprived of life as soon as we sin? For where there is hope of turning back, there is no room for despair." --St. Gregory Palamas

"A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life; whereas a diligent heart is an open door." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"As a fish cannot swim without water, and as a bird cannot fly without air, so a Christian cannot advance a single step without Christ." --St. Gregory the Theologian

"Give no ear to the slanderer's talk nor let your talk run on in the fault-finder's hearing, by readily speaking and listening to things against your neighbor; otherwise you will fall from divine charity [love] and be found a foreigner to eternal life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

Words from the Saints -- February 6, 2025

"When the devil sees a soul protected by virtues, he dare not come near it, fearing the strength and power given to it by prayer." --St. John Chrysostom

"To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty." --St. Justin Martyr

"If a man tries to overcome temptations without prayer and patient endurance, he will become more entangled in them instead of driving them away." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

Words from the Saints -- January 30, 2025

"If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the sins we have committed, we even add to them. . . If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. Nobody must rejoice in the security of their own good deeds. As long as we are still experiencing the uncertainties of this life, we do not know what end may follow... we must not trust in our own virtues." --St. Gregory the Great

"Thus it is we ought to love our enemies. This is to love God, Who hath enjoined it, Who hath given it as His law. To imitate Him is to love our enemy. Consider it is not thine enemy thou art benefiting, but thyself; thou art not loving him, but art obeying God. Knowing therefore these things, let us confirm our love one to another, that we may perform this duty perfectly, and attain those good things that are promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, and honor, now, and forever and ever. Amen." --St. John Chrysostom

"Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"The forceful practice of self-control and love, patience and stillness, will destroy the passions hidden within us." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing when your conscience says another. For Scripture places such people under a curse." --St. Mark the Ascetic

Words from the Saints -- January 23, 2025

"Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbor comes to you, always have great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses His will through him. 'It is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). Therefore, do not grudge anything to your brother, but do to him as to the Lord; especially as you do not know in whom the Lord will come and visit you; be impartial to all, be kind to all, sincere and hospitable. Remember that sometimes God speaks even through unbelievers, or disposes their hearts towards us, as it happened in Egypt when the Lord gave Joseph favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison (Genesis 39:21)." --St. John of Kronstadt

"Having read Holy Scripture very carefully, you should also read the holy Fathers who interpret the Scriptures. You will receive no less delight from reading the Fathers than you do from the Scriptures. The Fathers develop the hidden meanings in Scripture and with their own writings help us to understand what we did not before. Because of that philosophic axiom that all men by nature seek knowledge, we must say that great delight follows naturally when we learn about hidden and unknown matters. This is why there will be ineffable joy and gladness that will come to your soul from the interpretations and the words of the holy Fathers. You too will be shouting, ad did David, those enthusiastic words in the Psalms." --St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain

"What is the will of God that St. Paul urges and invites each of us to attain (1 Thessalonians 4:3)? It is total cleansing from sin, freedom from the shameful passions and the acquisition of the highest virtue. In other words, it is the purification and sanctification of the heart that comes about through fully experienced and conscious participation in the perfect and divine Spirit." --St. Makarios of Egypt

"Just as those whose sense of smell is healthy can tell who has hidden perfumes, so the pure soul can recognize in others both the fragrance which he himself has obtained from God, and the stench from which he has been freed." --St. John Climacus

"Fire makes iron impossible to touch, and likewise frequent prayer renders us more forceful in our warfare against the enemy. That is why the demons strive with all their strength to make us slothful in attentiveness to prayer, for they know that prayer is our invincible weapon against them." --St. John of Karpathos

Words from the Saints -- January 16, 2025

"The tongue of a back-biting soul is three-pronged: it injures the speaker, the listener and sometimes the person being maligned." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"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

"Hence it is very clear that disturbing urges are not always aroused in us by other people's faults. Rather, we are to blame -- we who have stored up within ourselves the causes of our offenses and the seeds of our vices that, when the rain shower of temptation drenches our mind, at once break forth into buds and fruits." --St. John Cassian

"The New Man of grace is the result of prayer." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside." --St. Basil the Great

Words from the Saints -- January 9, 2025

"There are many differing methods of prayer. No method is harmful; if it were, it would be not prayer but the activity of Satan." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The person who truly wishes to be healed is he who does not refuse treatment. This treatment consists of the pain and distress brought on by various misfortunes. He who refuses them does not realize what they accomplish in this world or what he will gain from them when he departs this life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"Without contrition of the heart it is altogether impossible to rid ourselves of evil. Now the heart is made contrite by threefold self-control: in sleep, in food and in bodily relaxation. For excess of these three things leads to self-indulgence; and this in turn makes us accept evil thoughts, and is opposed to prayer and to appropriate work." --St. Kosmas Aitolos

"True hope seeks the one Kingdom of God and is sure that everything necessary for this mortal life will surely be given. The heart cannot have peace until it acquires this hope. This hope pacifies it fully and brings joy to it. The most holy lips of the Savior spoke about this very hope: 'Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'" (Matthew 11:28).” --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"No one in this world is happy unless he has opened wide the gates of his spiritual Jerusalem—his soul—and received God into himself. A godless man feels lonely to despair. The society of others does not make his loneliness go away, but only increases it. However he who has taken God into his soul will never feel lonely even in a desert. No one dies an eternal death other than one in whom God has died." --St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Words from the Saints -- January 2, 2025

"No other book so glorifies God as does the Psalter (Book of Psalms). It profits the soul; it glorifies God together with the angels." --St. Basil the Great

"Without sorrows there is no salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven." --St. Jerome

"A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ." --St. Herman of Alaska

"Every single one of the saints acquired humility from the fulfillment of the Commandments. No one can explain how this comes about, how humility is generated in the soul. Unless a man learns this by experience, he cannot learn it by verbal teaching." --St. Dorotheos of Gaza