“If but ten among us lead a Holy life, we shall kindle a fire which shall light up the entire city.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Every day I Pray that I may see you amongst the ranks of women Saints.”
Saint Amphilochios Makris of Patmos
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“Come, then, soldier of Christ… Follow the Heavenly Bridegroom; withstand the onset of invisible foes; wage war against principalities and powers, driving them out first from your own Soul… Earth did not accept you as a citizen, but Heaven will welcome you. The world persecuted you, but the Angels will bear you aloft to the presence of Christ. You will even be called friend by Him and will hear the longed for word of commendation: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant, brave soldier and imitator of the Lord, follower of the King, I shall reward you with My own Gifts and I shall pay heed to your words even as you did to Mine.'”
Saint Basil the Great
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“Let us lay aside all Earthly cares that we may receive the King of All.”
Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr of Russia
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“The glory of God is the human person fully alive.”
Saint Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons
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“We must know that in every age and in every place, people who actually seek their Salvation, find it.”
Saint Luke of Simferopel
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“Two factors are involved in man’s Salvation: the Grace of God and the will of man. Both must work together, if Salvation is to be attained.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“God does not want us split. Either we love Him, or the “world”. We cannot have one foot in the “world” and the other in the Church.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Always be attentive, Pray, and study so as to cultivate your Souls and scale the heights! The Church and our society are waiting for you.”
Elder Amphilochios Makris
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“There is one thing, O Christ, that I want, one thing I desire, one thing I ask for, and that is to be with You.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“Arrange matters as God enlightens you; man must view things with Divine Enlightenment and not through human rationality… Take care not to lose the Grace of God, so as to have Divine Enlightenment; for everything is in vain if there is no Divine Enlightenment… The Holy Spirit is the Divine Light.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“So there is the solution to your puzzle “I do not know what to do with my life”. Look to Heaven, and measure every step of your life so that it is a step towards it.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“I hope you are always in a position for God to use you in His work.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God. And one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the Commandments, with the aid of Divine Grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path – start walking!”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“At the “sound” of Him we should, like the Samaritan woman, leave the “pitcher”. That is the only way God can help.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Food is not evil, but gluttony is. Childbearing is not evil, but fornication is. Money is not evil, but avarice is. Glory is not evil, but vainglory is. Indeed, there is no evil in existing things, but only in their misuse.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“The people with whom you talk and associate have a great influence on you. Conversation and acquaintance: with scientists, result in new knowledge; with poets, in many exalted thoughts and feelings; with travelers, in much information about other countries – their manners and traditions. Therefore, it is obvious that conversation and acquaintance with a Saint will impart Sanctity.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
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“The time is always right to make a beginning of a way of life that will lead to Salvation.”
Saint Gregory Palamas
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“Don’t forget these words. God has given you time to build your Eternal Salvation. Do not waste it!”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“Do not wish for many things, whether they are within or out of reach. Instead, take care to Sanctify the little you have.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“I implore you, my brothers, let the things you yearn for be things that lead to Salvation and the preservation of your Souls so you won’t put off something one day for the next and so spend two days as strangers to the good things of God.”
Saint Makarios the Great of Egypt
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“Your Lord is Love: love Him and in Him all men, as His children in Christ. Your Lord is a 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 neighbours. If you will be such, you will find Salvation yourself with Everlasting Glory.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“What is the use of believing in Christ, if we do not live as He commanded? The demons also believe; what they lack is obedience and love.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“It is not what we say, but what we live. It is not what we do, but what we are.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“The Spiritual life has great joys. You fly away and leave this world and don’t take anything else into consideration. You become a child and God lives in your heart.”
Saint Amphilochios Makris of Patmos
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“Grace is given not to them who speak their Faith but to those who live their Faith.”
Saint Gregory the Theologian
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“We are not Sanctified by the place in which we live, but by the way we live. We may be on the Holy Mountain but, in our thoughts, be in the world. Or we may be here [in the world] in body, but noetically on the Holy Mountain.”
Saint Iakovos Tsalikis of Evia
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“Let us also show forth behaviour constant with our beliefs.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“We may study as much as we will but we shall still not come to know the Lord unless we live according to His Commandments, for the Lord is not made known through learning but by the Holy Spirit.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
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“Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become Holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming Holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence.”
Saint Philaret of Moscow
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“The goal of reading is the application, in our lives, of what we read. Not to learn it by heart, but to take it to heart.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“The goal is to rise Spiritually, not simply to avoid sin.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich.”
Saint Gregory the Theologian
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“When he was asked one day, in what does a perishing sinner differ from a righteous man who is saving his Soul, a Saint, Saint Seraphim answered: ‘Only in his resolve… Our Salvation is in our will, in our firmness, in the steadfastness of our resolve to be Godly to the end. The Lord does not give His Spirit by measure, nor does He give His Grace by measure; He gives everything, and He gives Himself. But we receive Grace and make use of God’s gifts to the measure of our readiness to receive what He gives – and that means what He gives, and not what we want – and bring forth the fruit that He expects from us.'”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“You find yourself in a darken room and you move your hands so as to try to brush away the darkness which, of course, doesn’t move. If you open a window and light enters, the darkness disappears. The same happens with study. The Holy Scripture, the Lives of the Saints, and the Writings of the Fathers are the light that chases away the darkness of the Soul.’
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“An intelligent person is one who is cleansed of passions.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“A certain brother, seeing his Ascetic life, asked him for his own edification: “Why don’t we , Father, lead a strict life as the ancient Ascetics did?” “Because,” replied the Saint “we have no determination to do so. If we had the determination, we should live as those Fathers did who, in olden times, shone with labours and piety; because God gives His Grace and help to the faithful and to those who seek the Lord with all their heart now just as He did before. For according to the Word of God, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever (Heb. 13:8).”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“The slave of the belly ponders the menu with which to celebrate the Feast. The servant of God, however, thinks of the Graces that may enrich him.”
Saint John Climacus
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“If you change from inhumanity to almsgiving, you have stretched forth the hand that was withered. If you withdraw from theatres and go to Church, you have cured the lame foot. If you draw back your eyes from a harlot… you have opened them when they were blind… These are the greatest Miracles.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“I know a man who, when he saw a woman of striking beauty, praised the Creator for her. The sight of her lit within him the love of God.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Dispassion doesn’t mean to no longer feel the passions, but to no longer accept them.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Don’t forget these words: God has given you time to build your Eternal Salvation. Do not waste it!”
Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“It is up to us to add labours in order to ‘go from strength to strength’ (Psalm 83:7), and to come ‘to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ (Ephesians 4:13), so that the words of the Lord may be fulfilled in us: ‘But they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall grow wings like eagles; and they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:31). Only then will our present joy (which now visits us little and briefly) appear in all its fullness; and no one will take it from us, for we shall be filled to overflowing with inexplicable Heavenly delights.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“A time will come… when you will be so certain of the Love of God, and so careful not to judge the other person or do anything which may cause him harm, that you no longer have any burden on your conscience. You will then, with joy, receive the Joy of God and pass it on to others.”
Mother Gavrilia
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“Your Lord is Love: love Him and in Him all men, as His children in Christ. Your Lord is a 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 neighbours. If you will be such, you will find Salvation yourself with everlasting glory.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“The fear of God is when you love Him, when you truly love Him with all your heart and you strive never to offend or sadden Him – not only with your deeds, actions, and words, but also with your thoughts.”
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
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“The sign of purity is: to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; to be in pain with the sick and in anguish with the sinners; to rejoice with the repentant and to participate in the agony of those who suffer; to criticize no man and, in the purity of one’s own mind, to see all men as good and Holy.”
Saint Justin Popovich of Serbia
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“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, 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…”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Let us Pray, let us go to Church, let us commune of the Spotless Mysteries, let us fast Wednesdays and Fridays, let us read Spiritual books, let us have concord and love in our home and with all people; and let us sacrifice everything for the love of our Christ.”
Saint Evmenios Saridakis
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“Girls should seek to be clothed in Divine Grace, not to strip themselves as worldly fashion dictates.”
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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“There is nothing which so much aids to keep the Soul in tranquility and calm as meekness and modesty.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Prayer, fasting, vigil and all other Christian practices, however good they may be in themselves, do not constitute the aim of our Christian life, although they serve as the indispensable means of reaching this end. The true aim of our Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. But fasting, Prayer, alms and every good deed done for the sake of Christ is a means to the attainment of the Holy Spirit.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Do not wish for many things, whether they are within or out of reach. Instead, take care to Sanctify the little you have.”
Mother Gavrilia
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“We ought to make ourselves each day such as we should be when we are to appear before God.”
Saint Philotheos of Sinai
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“I Pray to God and tell Him ‘I’m very weak, my Christ, only You, by Your Grace, can make me worthy,’ Like Saint Paul the Apostle, who had rejoiced and was proudly saying: ‘Yet not I, but Christ Liveth in me.'”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“Ascend brothers, ascend eagerly to the Mountain of the Lord.”
Saint John Climacus
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“Believe in the Light, that you may be the sons of Light. The Christian worldview is based on a bright outlook on life. Christianity is a life-affirming religion that calls people to light and perfection.”
Saint Luke the Surgeon, Archbishop of Simferopel
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“Blessed are they in whom the works of God are made manifest; who feel them, and use them for their Soul’s Salvation.”
Saint Nikolai Velimivoric
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“A person can become a Saint anywhere. He can become a Saint in Omonia Square, if he wants. At your work, whatever it may be, you can become Saints – through meekness, patience and love.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“It seems as though every tree endeavours each year to advance by the strength that God has given it; therefore, say to yourself, I, too, must each day, each year, absolutely grow higher and higher morally, better and better, more and more perfect; must advance on the road to the Kingdom of Heaven, or to the Father Which is in Heaven, through the strength of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit dwelling and working within me.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Nowadays, we know many Prayers, but we Pray little. We eat fasting food, but we do not fast. We gather information about the Spiritual life, but we lack experience in it. We confess our sins, but we do not repent. We go to Churches and stand in Prayer, but the Soul does not humble itself before the Creator. All this is because the heart is closed to the Creator. It must be opened so that Christ may enter.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“Blessed the one who keeps his body for Holiness for the Saviour and has not shamed his Soul by unnatural deeds, but remained well-pleasing to the Lord.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“Everything will perish except that which the Soul has gathered through love and Prayer. Everything virtuous done by a man is written in the Soul and will not be taken from him.”
Saint John Maximovitch
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“True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God. And one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the Commandments, with the aid of Divine Grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path – start walking!”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“The goal of true knowledge is to raise the Soul to God.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“All who truly believe in Christ and cleave to Him with all their Soul, are changed into His image by the power of His Resurrection.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“Do this and you will be an apostle, a fulfiller of what the Lord chose you for, an accomplisher of your calling as messenger. When at first you succeed in all this, then perhaps the Lord will appoint you as a special ambassador – to save others after you have saved yourself; and to help those who are tempted, after you yourself pass through all temptations, and through all experiences in good and evil.”
Saint Theophan the Recluse
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“The purpose of man is to fill himself with the God-man, in His body – the Orthodox Church; to be transfigured in Him through Grace-filled struggles; to become omnipotent. Even while in the body he walks Prayerfully through the gloomy Earthly anthill; in his Soul he lives above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, for his life is constantly stretched out between Earth and Heaven by Prayers, like a rainbow that connects the summit of Heaven with the abyss of Earth.”
Saint Justin Popovich of Serbia
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