“Destroy within you the devil’s rule over you; destroy all his influence over you; acquire Spiritual freedom. The foundation for your struggle is the Grace of Holy Baptism; your weapon is the Prayer of Jesus.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“Stop defiling your flesh with shameful deeds and polluting your Soul with wicked thoughts; then the Peace of God will descend upon you and bring you love.”
Saint Maximos the Confessor
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“Every Christian has the power to heal infirmities – not of others, but his own, and not of the body, but of the Soul – that is, sins and sinful habits – and to cast out devils, rejecting evil thoughts sown by them, and extinguishing the excitement of passions enflamed by them.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“The Martyrs gave their blood for the truth, and you are not able to come to Church? They gave their lives for Christ, and you cannot make a small journey for Him? But you say, ‘I am a sinner, I cannot come.’ Then come, and cease to be one!”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Because I am a slave of Christ, and slaves of Christ are really the most free of all creation because they acquired self-mastery by His Grace… I Confess Christ with my lips, and I never cease to call upon Him in my heart.”
Saint Agatha the Virgin Martyr
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“What is the Spiritual Battle? Well, the Soul is a garden divided into two parts. On one half are planted thorny bushes, and on the other half, flowers. We also have a water pump with two taps and two channels. The one guides the water to the thorns and the other to the flowers. I always have the choice to open one or the other tap. I leave the thorns without water and they dry up; I water the flowers and they blossom.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“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.”
Saint Nicholas Archbishop of Myra
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“You have a long struggle ahead of you. You have to cultivate within yourself a courageous frame of mind. Take a look at the objects of your love. Do you like them a lot? Are you very tied to them? Get rid of them! That rejection is what the Lord asks of you.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“Be ruled by God and rule over your senses; and, being on a higher level, do not give authority to what is inferior to you.”
Saint Thalassios the Libyan
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“The Loving Lord is here: how can I let even a shadow of evil enter into my heart?”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“We cannot have one foot here and the other there. God wants us whole. So when we say that we belong to God and that we love Him, how can we and how dare we not be a hundred per cent His?”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Grant me the heart of Jesus, around which darkness waited in vain to enter, but never could.”
Saint Nikolai Velimivorich
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“We must keep in mind that whatever we do, openly or in secret, we do in the presence of our Guardian Angel.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“…do not sin… by carefully guarding the Divine Image in us and our supernal dignity.”
Saint Symeon the New Theologian
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“People hate the truth for the sake of whatever it is they love more than the truth. They love truth when it shines warmly on them, and hate it when it rebukes them.”
Saint Augustine of Hippo
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“Be sure to guard in your heart the joy of the Holy Spirit, and do not allow the evil one to pour out his bitterness. Beware! Beware, lest the Paradise that exists in you turns into Hell.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“The devil does not hunt after those who are lost; he hunts after those who are aware, those who are close to God. He takes from them trust in God and begins to afflict them with self-assurance, logic, thinking, criticism. Therefore we should not trust our logical minds.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Evidently we are not yet perfect, but at least we desire to be so, and this is the beginning of our Salvation. For from this desire we shall come in God’s company both into the combat and through the combat.”
Saint Dorotheos of Gaza
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“You know, of course, that your whole purpose at the moment is to change yourself inwardly. And so, corresponding to these inward changes and obeying the impulse that comes from them, external things must be changed as well.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“When a person accepts anything Godly, then he rejoices in his heart, but when he has accepted anything devilish, then he becomes tormented.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Everything that disturbs peace and moderation in our life is called temptation.”
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi
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“Whatever a man loves he inevitably clings to, and in order not to lose it he rejects everything that keeps him from it. So he who loves God cultivates pure Prayer, driving out every passion that keeps him from it.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“Without having freed itself from the world, the Soul cannot love God sincerely. For worldly things, in the words of Saint Antioch, are as it were a veil for the Soul.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Self-pleasing and self-pity testify that in the heart abides the ego, and not the Lord.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“When a man is not with God, he is a plaything of the devil. And the devil plays with him: one moment he fills his Soul with impure thoughts, another moment he kindles his tongue with cursing, another moment he leads him into slandering, into thievery, into debauchery, and into every other evil deed And it continues this way until a man remembers God, takes refuge in the temple of God, and falls down before God. Then he is entirely in Heaven and neither the human evils of the world, nor demons can touch him.”
Saint Justin Popovich of Serbia
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A Spiritual child asked Saint Paisios the Athonite
“‘Geronda, why do temptations often occur on Feast Days?’ Saint Paisios replied: ‘Don’t you know? On Holy Feast Days, Jesus Christ, Panagia and the Saints are most joyful, treating us with Blessings and other Spiritual gifts. If parents offer treats when their children celebrate their Nameday why shouldn’t the Saints also offer us treats? In fact, the joy they give is very powerful and very beneficial to our Souls. Knowing this, the devil creates temptations in order to deprive people of these Divine gifts and prevent them from rejoicing and benefiting from these Feast Days. And you can see sometimes when a family is preparing for Holy Communion on a feast day, the evil one will cause them to argue for some reason, and they end up not receiving Holy Communion, but also not going to Church. The devil will so entangle things that they are deprived of all Divine help.'”
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“One must examine oneself while reading the Writings of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church, who help us use the light of the Gospels without error. The more a person delves deeply into himself and comes to know himself, the more he comes to recognise his passions, the different ways they act on him and attack him. Then he comes to know his weaknesses; then he can begin to destroy within himself all sinful qualities grafted into his nature by the fall. Then he can acquire the qualities indicated by the Gospels. And only then will his foundation for the edifice of Prayer be completely firm.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“A man who hates the passion cuts off their causes. But a man who remains among their causes experiences even against his will the conflict from the passions. It is not possible to be mentally inclined toward a passion if one does not love its cause. For who, disdaining shame, is given to vainglory? Or who, loving lowliness, is bothered by dishonour? Who, having a broken and humble heart, accepts fleshly sweetness? Or who, believing in Christ, is concerned about temporal things, or argues about them?”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“With all my strength I Pray to God for you, that He may send into your hearts that fire, which our Lord Jesus Christ has come to send on the Earth (Luke 12:49), that you may have power to govern rightly your intentions and senses and to distinguish good from evil.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“Blessed the one who seated in his cell, like a noble warrior, guards the treasure of the Kingdom, that is his body with his Soul, blameless in the Lord.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“At every gate of your Soul post a sentry, lest arrogance invade your temple. For if it enters, it will at once blow out the candles of all your Virtues.”
Saint Nikolai Velimirovich
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“If a vessel is to be filled, it must first be empty. So cast all evil away from you, that you may be filled to the brim.”
Saint Augustine of Hippo
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“Conscience is a small God. Before going to bed, render a short account to yourself: how you spent the day, what you did, when you sinned, what should have been done. Be demanding towards yourself.”
Saint Gabriel the New Confessor of Georgia
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“The conscience is a true teacher, and whoever listens to it will not stumble.”
Saint Thalassios the Libyan
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“When a sparrow tied by the leg tries to fly, it is held back by the string and pulled down to the Earth. Similarly, when the intellect that has not yet attained dispassion flies up towards Heavenly knowledge, it is held back by the passions and pulled down to the Earth!’”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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A brother asked Abba Sisoes, ‘Did satan pursue them like this in the early days?’ The old man said to him, ‘He does this more at the present time, because his time is nearly finished and he is enraged.’
Saint Sisoes the Great
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“Cast the world out of yourself, my heart, and then observe how feeble it is. And then observe yourself, and you will feel unheard-of power. The world seems powerful to us only when we serve it as its slave.”
Saint Nikolai Velimivoric
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“God has placed a power in man’s Soul. But it is up to him how he channels it – for good or for evil. If we imagine the good as a garden full of flowers, trees and plants and the evil as weeds and thorns and the power as water, then what can happen is as follows: when the water is directed towards the flower-garden, then all the plants grow, blossom and bear fruit; and at the same time, the weeds and thorns, because they are not being watered, wither and die. And the opposite, of course, can also happen. It is not necessary, therefore, to concern yourselves with the weeds. Don’t occupy yourself with rooting out evil. Christ does not wish us to occupy ourselves with the passions, but with the opposite. Channel the water, that is, all the strength of your Soul, to the flowers and you will enjoy their beauty, their fragrance and their freshness.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“The faculty of judgment comes naturally to man. Criticism and reproval spring from malice. Discernment is a gift from God and we should Pray for it. It is essential to our protection and progress.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Carefully attend to yourself, so that with complete readiness and faith you may always submit to the Will of God and Our Lord Jesus Christ, both in life and in death, and in disappointment. Always expect great and terrible trials, sorrows, disappointments, temptations, and deaths, so that they may not defeat you by finding you unprepared.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“Blessed the one who meditates on death each day and destroys the base passions lurking in the vines of the heart, for he will be consoled in the moment of separation.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“When you follow the truth you are in the light, you are with Christ. He Himself said, “The truth will make you free”. But from who? From your own self! From passion. And then, no power will be able to enslave you because God Himself will help with His power.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Just as God has given us sight in order that we may recognise visible things – what is white, and what is black, so, too, He has given us intelligence in order that we may discern what benefits the Soul.”
Saint Anthony the Great