“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
Jesus Christ Our God
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“As the Holy Trinity, our God is One Being, although Three Persons, so, likewise, we ourselves must be one.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Close your eyes and give me your hand, that we may all travel to distant Bethlehem… and there may we kneel… united like one great family… asking that His Will be done in our life.”
Archbishop Makarios of Australia
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“Do you know the power of love? Christ passed over all the marvellous works which were to be performed by the Apostles and said, ‘By this shall men know that ye are my Disciples, if ye love one another.'”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“When you see your brother, you see God.”
Saint Clement of Alexandria
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“With all your power, ask the Lord for humility and brotherly love, because God freely gives His Grace for love towards one’s brother. Do an experiment on yourself: one day ask God for love towards your brother, and another day – live without love. You will see the difference.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
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“Wherever there is love, there is a trinity: a lover, a beloved, and a wellspring of love.”
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
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“People who have the same goal and strive towards the one thing needful have oneness of Soul, and they never feel the distance of separation. And no matter how great that distance is, it can never be the cause of hindrance to that Spiritual closeness uniting these people in oneness of Soul.”
Saint John Maximovitch
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“Love every man in spite of his falling into sin. Never mind the sins, but remember that the foundation of the man is the same – the Image of God.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Contemplate in man his Divine origin, the Soul, which is created after the Image and Likeness of God; and for the sake of this origin always respect and love man with your whole heart, unfeignedly.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Blessed is the man who has learned to love everyone secretly. He does not require love from others, he does not care if he is liked or not.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“Imagine that the world is a circle, that God is the centre, and that the radii are the lives of human beings. When those who wish to come closer to God walk towards the centre of the circle, they come closer to one another at the same time as to God. The closer they come to God, the closer they come to one another. And the closer they come to one another, the closer they come to God.”
Saint Dorotheos of Gaza
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“A faithful friend is beyond price, since he regards his friend’s misfortunes as his own and suffers with him, sharing his trials until death.”
Saint Maximos the Confessor
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“The truly merciful person is the one who embraces everyone and leaves no one outside his heart.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“Christ came to Earth to restore in man the Image of God, which had become corrupt, to call people together, uniting them into a single humanity, who would praise their Creator with one voice and one heart.”
Saint John Maximovitch
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“I demand one thing – love one another, so that there will always be peace among you. Peace and love! If you will obey me in this – and I implore you to do this – then you will be my children. I am unworthy and sinful, but the Lord has much love and mercy. I place my hope in Him. And if the Lord will vouchsafe me His radiant abode, I’ll Pray for you unceasingly. I’ll say, ‘Lord, Lord! I’m not alone; all my children are with me. I can’t enter in without them; I can’t be alone in Thy radiant habitations. They were entrusted to me by Thee.’”
Saint Sebastian of Optina
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“Do not regard such people as enemies, but, as sick and straying members, restore them, in order that you may save your body in its entirety. For by doing this you build up one another.”
Saint Polycarp of Smyrna
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“For the people of God, there is no such thing as distance, even if they be thousands of miles apart. However far away our fellow human beings may be, we must stand by them… When Christ unites us, distances don’t exist. When I leave this life it will be better. I’ll be closer to you.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia
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“With all your power, ask the Lord for humility and brotherly love, because God freely gives His Grace for love towards one’s brother. Do an experiment on yourself: one day ask God for love towards your brother, and another day – live without love. You will see the difference.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
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“Whoever will not love his enemies cannot know the Lord and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us to love our enemies in such way that we pity their Souls as if they were our own children.”
Saint Silouan the Athonite
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“Bear in your heart continually the words ‘Christ is Love’ and endeavour to love all.”
Saint John of Kronstadt
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“As soon as the thought settles in us that another person is beneath us, we close ourselves off from God’s help.”
Saint Paisios the Athonite
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“The bond between friends cannot be broken by chance; no interval of time or space can destroy it. Not even death itself can part true friends.”
Saint John Cassian
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“Children are not black or white or red or yellow in the eyes of God. They are Souls which God produced through His heart like drops of blood. Who can say which drop is worth the most?”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“You have not yet acquired perfect love if your regard for people is still swayed by their characters.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“He who loves Christ is bound to imitate Him to the best of his ability. Christ, for example, was always conferring blessings on people; He was long-suffering when they were ungrateful and blasphemed Him; and when they beat Him and put Him to death, He endured it, imputing no evil at all to anyone. These are the three acts which manifest love for one’s neighbour.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“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.”
Saint Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow
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“Your life is my life. If you don’t sacrifice yourself for people, nothing will be accomplished.”
Saint Gabriel the New Confessor of Georgia
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“Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.”
Saint Anthony the Great
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“When the flame of love exists, it consumes whatever evil approaches.”
Saint Amphilochios Makris of Patmos
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“The Christian ought not to grudge another’s reputation, nor rejoice over any man’s faults; he ought in Christ’s love to grieve and be afflicted at his brother’s faults, and rejoice over his brother’s good deeds. He ought not to be indifferent or silent before sinners. He who shows another to be wrong ought to do so with all tenderness, in the fear of God, and with the object of converting the sinner. He who is proved wrong or rebuked ought to take it willingly, recognizing his own gain in being set right.”
Saint Basil the Great
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“The love which binds people together, is the greatest Divine Gift.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“You cannot be a Christian without loving everybody the same. Both those of your own and other faiths. Both of your own and other religions, and nationalities. We are not responsible for where we are born…”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“Every irritation comes from our pride. Why do you get irritated with another person, why do you feel malice toward them? Because deep inside, you consider yourself to be something more than the other.”
Saint Ambrose of Optina
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“Just as the thought of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not actualize the light of Spiritual knowledge in the Soul.”
Saint Maximus the Confessor
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“By being in the Church, we become one with every unfortunate and hurting sinner. No one should want to save himself without others also being saved. It is wrong for a person to pray for himself so that just he will be saved. We should love everyone and we should pray that no one is spiritually lost, that all of them should be part of the Church. That has value. It is with such an attitude that a person should leave this life.”
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia