“It is important to get up immediately after a fall and to keep on walking towards God.”
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
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“When you are ascending Golgotha, it is impossible not to fall. The cross is heavy: many times you will fall to your knees. But why do you listen to the tempter? In the end, he will be defeated.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“Don’t be sad, my child. Don’t worry so much. Even though you have fallen again, get up again. You have been called to a Heavenly Road. It is not surprising for someone running to stumble. It just takes patience and repentance at every moment.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“We should feel that Christ’s our friend. He Himself confirms this when He says: ‘You’re my friends…’ (Jn. 15,14). We should look on Him and approach Him as a friend. Have we fallen? Have we sinned? We should run to Him with love, familiarity and confidence. Not with fear that He’ll punish us, but with the courage that comes from feeling of being His friend.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“I have consciousness of my sinfullness, but I live with hope. It is bad to despair, because someone who despairs becomes embittered and loses his willingness and strength. Someone who has hope, on the contrary, moves forward.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“When we fall, we are empty and have no one that is close to us but our own self.”
Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
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“Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“It’s so important that we don’t let our falls set us back but rather we need to keep persisting in repentance, because patience and persistence shows humility, giving up is pride.”
Fr Demosthenes Nicolaou
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“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.”
Saint Basil the Great
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“A brother said to Abba Poemen, ‘If I fall into a shameful sin, my conscience devours and accuses me saying: ‘Why have you fallen?” The old man said to him, ‘At the moment when a man goes astray, if he says, ‘I have sinned’, immediately the sin ceases.'”
Abba Poemen the Great
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“Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for Forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Praxis is not to try out and then retreat, but to enter the battle, duel, defeat, and be defeated, win and lose, fall and rise, crush the gates everywhere, and to expect struggles and fights until one’s last breath.”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“The Saints were not Saints because they never erred, but because they never persisted in their errors; they fell, but they arose; they sinned, but they repented; they went astray, but they returned.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Do not despair when you fall into temptations and afflicitions. Do not think that God has abandoned us because of our sins… If we are not fought against how will we show that we are soldiers of Christ? A soldier might get wounded in the battle, but this does not mean that he has been defeated. Even if we are defeated, once again we shall rise and fight.”
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
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“So every time you fall, get up again and at once seek forgiveness. Don’t hide sorrow in your heart, because sorrow and despondency are the joy of the evil one…”
Saint Joseph the Hesychast
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“Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God’s Grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing so until the day of your death. For it is written, ‘If a righteous man falls seven times’ – that is, repeatedly throughout his life – seven times ‘shall he rise again’ (Prov. 24: 16; LXX).”
Saint John Karpathos
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“To say that God turns away from the sinful, is like saying the sun hides from the blind.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“I slipped and fell into sin. Extend to me Thy right hand and I will arise.”
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
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“Sin, to the one who loves God, is nothing other than an arrow from the enemy in battle.”
Saint Herman of Alaska
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“God’s Grace always assists those who struggle, but this does not mean that a struggler is always in the position of a victor. Sometimes in the arena the wild animals did not touch the righteous ones, but by no means were they all preserved untouched. What is important is not victory or the position of a victor, but rather the labor of striving towards God and devotion to Him. Though a man may be found in a weak state, that does not at all mean that he has been abandoned by God. On the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ was in trouble, as the world sees things. But when the sinful world considered Him to be completely destroyed, in fact He was victorious over death and hades. The Lord did not promise us positions as victors as a reward for righteousness, but told us, “In the world you will have tribulation — but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). The power of God is effective when a person asks for the help from God, acknowledging his own weakness and sinfulness. This is why humility and the striving towards God are the fundamental virtues of a Christian.”
Saint John Maximovitch
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“Believe in Him and Pray to Him. Sin is powerful, but our Lord is stronger; sin is quick to catch and destroy us, but our Lord is swifter to save us.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that He will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Do not despair if you keep falling into your old sins. Many of them are strong because they have received the force of habit. Only with the passage of time and with fervour will they be conquered. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope.”
Saint Nektarios of Aegina
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“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 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.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Only those who get up after each fall and continue on their path reach Heaven.”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“The most powerful Prayer and deliverance from evil is humility. When we ask for forgiveness, we humble ourselves, and when we humble ourselves, the devil’s power disappears at that moment.”
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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“Sensitive people must be very careful of self-accusation, because the devil tries to convert it into despair (through hypersensitivity). Self-accusation must always be accompanied by hope in God. When someone feels anxiety in this case, he must realize that the evil one has his tail in it.”
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
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“It often happens that the struggler cannot win over his former-self despite hating and detesting his passions. According to the tradition of our Church, this state is regarded as ‘repentance’. It stops being ‘repentance’ as soon as the person gives up struggling and says: ‘I cannot go on anymore. There is nothing for me’. This is regarded as ‘despair’. The Church condemns it as ‘a blasphemy’ against the Holy Spirit and severs and rejects this member as rotten and blasphemous, because it turns against the Lord’s kindness. Under no circumstances must we let our Faith diminish. Let no one ever think that it is impossible for him to reach comprehensive repentance which is the state that Our Jesus has called him to follow. We will accomplish this with the Grace of Jesus. It is not possible to attain to it through human exertion and effort alone. This is selfish and the Holy Fathers have condemned it… If we remain faithful and do not go back in our intention, we will certainly succeed. This is the truth. Our Fathers accept no other way. Any other way of thinking is regarded as ‘despair. There is no such a thing as ‘I cannot go on anymore. Why can’t you go on? We derive strength through Our Jesus. ‘I can do all things through Him who strengthens me’ (Phil 4:13).”
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi
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“Sometimes we make mistakes, do not be embarrassed, in the same moment fix your mistake, God is our Father: ‘All-Good One, I beg you don’t take this into account you know I was tricked, I didn’t want to do this but slipped’ and He will forgive us.”
Elder Joseph of Vatopedi
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“The devil does not destroy a man with one blow, but he whispers, ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow.’ And so the heart is lulled to sleep, and the Soul forgets Eternity. But the wise man says, ‘Today is the day of Salvation,’ and he rises to repent while there is still time.”
Saint Moses the Ethiopian
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“No matter how much you fall, get up again.”
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos